Joint Committee on Consolidation, &c, Bills

41.9The Joint Committee on Consolidation, &c, Bills is appointed pursuant to a standing order of each House.1 There are 12 Members from each House.

Consolidation bills bring together into one Act a number of existing pieces of legislation on the same subject. They are invariably introduced in the House of Lords. After second reading, the following classes of bills2 are referred3 without motion to the committee as set out in the standing orders:4

  1. consolidation bills, whether public or private;
  2. statute law revision bills;
  3. bills prepared pursuant to the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act 1949, together with any memoranda laid pursuant to that Act and any representations made with respect thereto;
  4. bills to consolidate any enactments with amendments to give effect to recommendations made by one or both of the Law Commissions together with any report containing such recommendations;
  5. bills prepared by one or both of the Law Commissions to promote the reform of the statute law by the repeal, in accordance with Law Commission recommendations, of certain enactments which (except insofar as their effect is preserved) are no longer of practical utility, whether or not they make other provision in connection with the repeal of those enactments, together with any Law Commission report on any such bill.5

The committee usually considers a bill in a single sitting in which it takes evidence from the drafter responsible for the bill and from any departmental or other witnesses. The bill is then reported to the House of Lords with or without amendment, and a report is made to each House on the bill. The proceedings before the committee are also reported.6 The bill is then re-committed to a Committee of the whole House. In the Commons, further proceedings are governed by Standing Order No 58 (see para 28.52 ).

The function of the joint committee is to assure itself that all the provisions of a bill fall properly within one of the categories previously indicated, and to report accordingly to each House. It is not therefore concerned with the merits of the policies which are being consolidated or with changing existing law beyond the Law Commission recommendations.

The Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act 1949 allows minor amendments to be made in Acts to be consolidated, without departure from the consolidation procedure (see para 28.110 for a further description of the effects of the 1949 Act on proceedings in Parliament).7 Following the introduction of the Law Commissions Act 1965, s 3(1)(d), a comprehensive programme of consolidation and statute law revision was undertaken giving effect to Law Commission recommendations. In considering such recommendations, the Committee has expressed the view that amendments to the law in a consolidation bill:

‘should be for the following purposes: to tidy up errors of the past, to remove ambiguities, and generally to introduce common sense on points where the form of drafting in the past appeared to lead to a result which departed from common sense; though not to introduce any substantial change in the law or one that might be controversial—indeed, nothing that Parliament as a whole would wish to reserve for its consideration.’8

A further test was enunciated by the committee in 1983: that amendments arising from Law Commission recommendations should be necessary in order to produce a satisfactory consolidation.9

Footnotes

  1. 1. SO No 140 [HC], SO No 51 [HL]. A joint committee was first appointed in 1894 to consider consolidation bills. In 1893–94, only Statute Law Revision Bills were so referred, CJ (1893–94) 92, 111. See also Report of the Joint Committee on Statute Law Revision, Session 1892, HC 258; Joint Committee on Consolidation, &c, Bills, Sixth Report of Session 1966–67, HC 341-I, pp 12–29.
  2. 2. From October 1980 to 1998 the joint committee also considered Orders in Council subject to affirmative resolution which, but for the provisions of the Northern Ireland Act 1974, would have been enacted by a consolidation bill, whether public or private, or a statute law revision bill, CJ (1979–80) 821. The Northern Ireland Act 1974 was repealed by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, but the provision to make legislation for Northern Ireland by Order in Council when the devolved institutions are suspended was provided for in the Northern Ireland Act 2000; the 2000 Act has also been repealed, but the Commons standing order establishing the committee still makes provision for this.
  3. 3. Bills in the same form as bills which fell after being reported from the Joint Committee in the previous session have not been referred, LJ (1992–93) 58, CJ (1992–93) 54.
  4. 4. For reference on motion of other bills linked to the consolidation process, see para 28.110; for example, LJ (1987–88) 645; ibid (1989–90) 164; ibid (1996–97) 107.
  5. 5. In 1947, 1959 and 1973, the joint committee was empowered to consider ‘Bills for re-enacting, in the form in which they apply to Scotland, the provisions of an existing statute’, LJ (1946–47) 200; CJ (1958–59) 265, 267; LJ (1972–73) 383.
  6. 6. Where amendments are made by the committee, the bill is usually reprinted as amended.
  7. 7. The joint committee is precluded from approving any corrections or minor improvements under the 1949 Act if they effect changes in the existing law of such importance that they ought, in the opinion of the committee, to be separately enacted by Parliament (s 1(5)). Corrections and minor improvements are defined in the 1949 Act as those amendments the effect of which is confined to resolving ambiguities, removing doubts, bringing obsolete provisions into conformity with modern practice, removing unnecessary provisions or anomalies not of substantial importance, or facilitating improvement in the form or manner in which the law is stated. Necessarily, consequential transitional provisions are included (s 2).
  8. 8. LJ (1976–77) 514. However, Law Commission recommendations may give rise to additional expenditure, and in such cases a privilege amendment in the Lords and a financial resolution in the Commons may be necessary: see Rent Bill 1977; Justices of the Peace Bill 1979; Town and Country Planning Bill 1990; Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Bill 1990; Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Bill 1997; Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Bill 1997.
  9. 9. Sixth Report of Session 1982–83, HL 155-I, HC 345-I (Medical Bill), pp 4–7; for an example of a provision considered to be beyond these criteria, see ibid pp 11–13; and for an example of a provision in a Statute Law Repeals Bill, see Third Report of Session 1992–93, HL 88-II, HC 669-II, pp 2–7. The committee has approved a procedure for dealing with amendments which do not fall within these guidelines but are desirable to achieve a satisfactory consolidation, which was set out in its First Report of Session 1981–82, HL 46-I, HC 103-I. Proposed amendments of this kind are to be examined by the committee together with Law Commission recommendations but the committee, instead of being asked to make the amendments, is to be invited to report to both Houses that the amendments change the law no more than is necessary to achieve a satisfactory consolidation. The amendments, supported by such a report, would then be moved on the floor of the House of Lords on re-commitment. The procedure has not been used to date.