Guidance on Private Bills
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GUIDANCE ON PRIVATE BILLS Revised Edition, June 2014 Guidance on Private Bills Contents Foreword Part 1: Private Bills Definition of a Private Bill Devolution and the limits of legislative competence Works Bills Transport and Works (Scotland) Act 2007 Part 2: Preparation for introduction Initial steps Pre-introduction consultation etc. Preparation of the Bill Preparation of accompanying documents Promoter statement on legislative competence Explanatory Notes Promoter’s Memorandum Promoter’s Statement Accompanying documents required only for “works” Bills Estimate of Expense and Funding Statement Maps, plans, sections and books of references Environmental Statement Finalisation of accompanying documents Introduction of the Bill Part 3: Objections Who may lodge objections When objections may be lodged Admissibility of objections Layout and content of objections How objections are lodged What happens after objections are lodged Data protection Withdrawal of objections Changes in objectors’ circumstances Guidance on Private Bills Part 4: Private Bill Committees Establishment and membership Attendance at meetings First meeting Assessors Clerks, advisers and other staff Committee meetings Part 5: Stages of the Bill The three-Stage process Preliminary Stage Consideration Stage Final Stage Reconsideration Stage Financial resolution Carry-over of Private Bill Withdrawal of Private Bill Change of promoter Royal Assent and after Part 6: Amendments Basic principles Admissibility of amendments Lodging amendments Rules on marshalling Daily lists of amendments Marshalled List Grouping of amendments Selection of amendments Proceedings on amendments – all Stages Proceedings at Consideration Stage Guidance on Private Bills Annexes Annex A – Stages in the passage of a Private Bill Annex B – Classes of works (PO determination) Annex C – Environmental impact (PO determination) Annex D – Form and content of Private Bills (including PO determination) Annex E – Structure and drafting of Private Bills Annex F – Form of accompanying documents (PO determination) Annex G – Notification and consent (including PO determinations) Annex H – Advertisement of intention to introduce Private Bill (PO determination) Annex J – Distribution of documents (PO determination) Annex K – Fees and costs (including SPCB determination) Annex L – Estimate of Expense and Funding Statement (PO determination) Annex M – Maps, plans, sections and books of references (PO determination) Annex N – Environmental Statement (PO determination) Annex O – Form of objections (including PO determination) Annex P – Form of amendments (PO determination) Guidance on Private Bills Foreword This Guidance has been prepared by the Parliament’s Non-Government Bills Unit, mainly to assist: people wishing to promote a Private Bill in the Scottish Parliament anyone seeking to object to such a Bill MSPs involved in the scrutiny of such a Bill. The Guidance describes the procedures and requirements for the processing of a Private Bill through the Parliament, and aims to do so in as clear and understandable a way as possible. So far as possible, the Guidance follows the chronological order of events in the preparation and Parliamentary scrutiny of a Private Bill. Part 1 explains what a Private Bill is, and how it differs from a Public Bill. It also puts the Parliament’s procedures for considering Private Bills in a wider context, contrasting them with the alternative mechanisms provided by the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936 and the Transport and Works (Scotland) Act 2007. Part 2 sets out the steps a promoter must take in preparing for the introduction of a Private Bill. In particular, this explains the information that must be included in all the accompanying documents required on introduction. Part 3 explains the rights of affected persons to lodge objections to a Private Bill. Part 4 is about Private Bill Committees – their establishment, membership and role. Part 5 describes the 3-stage process of scrutiny, in committee and in the Chamber, to which each Private Bill is subject. This explains, in particular, the role that the promoter and any objectors have in presenting their arguments directly to the Private Bill Committee. Part 6 provides additional detail on the amendment stages – including about how amendments are lodged, how they are marshalled and grouped for debate, and how they are moved and disposed of. A series of annexes provides supplementary information, including the full text of the various “determinations” that have been made (by the Parliament’s Presiding Officer and corporate body) under powers conferred on them by the Rules. The Rules that provide the procedural framework for the passage of Private Bills in the Parliament are set out in Chapter 9A of the Standing Orders. The Standing Orders can be accessed via the Parliament’s website. Chapter 9A was added to the standing orders in November 2000, based on recommendations by the Procedures Committee.1 The Chapter has since been amended on several occasions, the main changes being— 1 Procedures Committee, 2nd Report, 2000 (Session 1), Report on Private Legislation in the Scottish Parliament, available at: Guidance on Private Bills to enhance the scrutiny of the environmental impact of “works Bills”, to impose new restrictions on the membership of Private Bill Committees, and to allow a change of promoter,2 and to allow the appointment of an assessor to carry out detailed consideration of objections on behalf of a Private Bill Committee.3 This new version of the Guidance reflects a number of changes to the Rules that came into effect on 27 June 2014, based on recommendations made by the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee as part of an inquiry on Hybrid Bill procedure.4 It also reflects recent changes to various Presiding Officer determinations made under Chapter 9A. The opportunity has also been taken to revise and update the Guidance more generally. If you have any comments on Private Bill procedure generally, or this Guidance, these should be sent to— The Non-Government Bills Unit The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh EH99 1SP Tel: 0131 348 5246 Fax: 0131 348 6467 [email protected] For information in languages other than English or in alternative formats (for example Braille, large print or audio), please send your enquiry to Public Information, The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, EH99 1SP. You can also contact Public Information by telephone on 0800 092 7500 or 0131 348 5000, by Textphone on 0800 092 7100 or by using the Text Relay service. Alternatively, you can email [email protected] or text 07786 209888. Written correspondence in any language is welcomed. Non-Government Bills Unit June 2014 http://archive.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/historic/procedures/reports-00/prr00-02- 01.htm 2 Procedures Committee, 4th Report, 2005 (Session 2), Private Legislation, available at: http://archive.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/procedures/reports-05/prr05-04-vol01- 00.htm 3 Procedures Committee, 1st Report, 2006 (Session 2), Private Bill Committee assessors, available at: http://archive.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/procedures/reports-06/prr06-01.htm 4 Standards, Procedure and Public Appointments Committee, 4th Report, 2014 (Session 4), Hybrid Bills, available at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/75887.aspx Guidance on Private Bills – Part 1 Part 1: Private Bills Definition of a Private Bill 1.1 A Private Bill “is a Bill introduced for the purpose of obtaining for an individual person, body corporate or unincorporated association of persons (“the promoter”) particular powers or benefits in excess of, or in conflict with, the general law, and includes a Bill relating to the estate, property, status or style, or otherwise relating to the personal affairs, of the promoter” (Rule 9A.1.1). The definition of a Private Bill, therefore, includes what are sometimes known as “personal Bills”. 1.2 Private Bills differ from Public Bills and are subject to substantially different procedures (see Part 5). Public Bills may be introduced by a Minister in the Scottish Government, an individual MSP, or a committee convener, and vary widely in their scale and subject-matter – but what they have in common is that their purpose is to alter or clarify the public and general law.1 As such, they are subject to a process that is entirely parliamentary in character and in which only MSPs, elected to serve the public interest, participate. Private Bills are different in that they involve measures sought in the private interests of the promoter, and to which others may object, also in a private capacity. The role of the Parliament remains to legislate but, because of the nature of the issues at stake, it is also to arbitrate between competing private interests. That calls for procedures that are both parliamentary and quasi- judicial in character. Devolution and the limits of legislative competence 1.3 Before the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, most private legislation affecting Scotland was subject to the procedures established by, and under, the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936. Other UK private legislation (including some that applied in part to Scotland) was, and still is, subject to the Private Bill Standing Orders of the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster. 1.4 Paragraph 5 of Schedule 8 to the Scotland Act 1998 amended the 1936 Act so that the procedures it provides