Published 20 August 2012 | Standard notes SN03236
Authors:
Richard Kelly
Topic:
Legislative process, Parliament
The carry-over of public bills from one session to the next was suggested by the Modernisation Committee as a way of reducing the fluctuations in legislative activity caused by Parliamentary sessions. After briefly summarising the Modernisation Committee’s views, this note describes the different approaches to allowing bills to be carried forward in this way in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
On 29 October 2002, the House of Commons introduced carry-over on an experimental basis until the end of the 2001 Parliament. In the House of Lords, an ad hoc procedure, following recommendations from the House of Lords Procedure Committee, was agreed on 24 July 2002.
On 26 October 2004, the House of Commons agreed to make slightly amended arrangements for carry-over permanent. The permanent Standing Order was effective from the beginning of the 2004-05 Session of Parliament.
The note includes details of the bills that have been carried over. Before the permanent Standing Order became effective, six bills were carried over. Since the Standing Order became permanent, further bills have been carried over.
Under the Standing Order, proceedings lapse on bills that have not received Royal Assent within twelve months of their original introduction. However, the Standing Order does allow the period to be extended: these provisions have been used twice.
In December 2011, the Standing Order was amended and a new Standing Order was made to allow bills introduced under ways and means resolutions to be carried over. This followed moving from spring to spring parliamentary sessions, in the wake of the passage of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. The Finance (No 4) Bill 2010-12 was the subject of a carry-over motion under the new Standing Order.
The note also provides examples of the form of words used in carry-over motions.