WIKIStatutory Instrument
A Statutory Instrument is a piece of generally administrative or "secondary" legislation. Acts of Parliament provide for "orders" to be made, which are put before parliament and passed, generally without scrutiny or debate.
Types of procedure
Statutory Instruments are passed into law by a set procedure, specified in the Act that gives rise to it. The main procedures are defined by the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 in clauses 16-18.
There are three main kinds of procedure:
- Negative resolution procedure; meaning that the SI passes into law if neither house takes a vote;
- Affirmative resolution procedure; meaning that both houses have to pass a resoution in favour, with the opportunity for a debate;
- Super-affirmative resolution procedure; which is a longer version of the affirmative procedure, allowing opportunities for scrutiny by committees and for the government to amend the SI in response
Other procedures exist, for instance for financial instruments.
External links
- See Section 16, Section 17 and Section 18 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006
- Wikipedia, Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006
- Wikipedia, Statutory instrument (UK)