Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, how many statutory instruments (a) required correction slips and (b) were (i) made and (ii) issued under the free issue procedure between 2006 and 2016.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The National Archives is responsible for determining the publishing costs of legislation, and for operating the correction slip and free issue process on behalf of the Government.
Departments pay a publishing fee for each correction slip or free issue Statutory Instrument (SI). Since January 2019, the publishing costs have been as follows:
SI publishing fee - £305
Explanatory Memoranda (if relevant) - £145
Impact Assessment (if relevant) - £55
Correction slip - £20.50
Issuing an SI under the free issue procedure incurs a cost on top of the SI publishing fee. The average additional cost for issuing an SI under the free issue procedure is £39.90.
The distribution of the SI also incurs a cost. If an SI is issued free of charge due to an error in an earlier SI, The Stationery Office (TSO) will identify everyone who bought a copy of the original SI and arrange for them to receive a free copy of the new version, paid for by the department. The cost of this will vary for each SI.
The number of SIs between 2006 and 2016 that required correction slips and were made and issued under the free issue procedure is as follows:
Year | Number of UKSIs made that year | Correction slips issued for made UKSIs | Number of UKSIs issued under the free issue procedure |
2006 | 1554 | 110 | 48 |
2007 | 1639 | 121 | 53 |
2008 | 1483 | 127 | 51 |
2009 | 1817 | 112 | 68 |
2010 | 2801 | 76 | 51 |
2011 | 2808 | 63 | 38 |
2012 | 3002 | 74 | 31 |
2013 | 2969 | 79 | 24 |
2014 | 3131 | 49 | 38 |
2015 | 1743 | 42 | 41 |
2016 | 948 | 64 | 23 |
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what the average cost to the public purse is for (a) issuing a correction slip for a statutory instrument and (b) statutory instruments (i) made and (ii) issued under the free issue procedure.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The National Archives is responsible for determining the publishing costs of legislation, and for operating the correction slip and free issue process on behalf of the Government.
Departments pay a publishing fee for each correction slip or free issue Statutory Instrument (SI). Since January 2019, the publishing costs have been as follows:
SI publishing fee - £305
Explanatory Memoranda (if relevant) - £145
Impact Assessment (if relevant) - £55
Correction slip - £20.50
Issuing an SI under the free issue procedure incurs a cost on top of the SI publishing fee. The average additional cost for issuing an SI under the free issue procedure is £39.90.
The distribution of the SI also incurs a cost. If an SI is issued free of charge due to an error in an earlier SI, The Stationery Office (TSO) will identify everyone who bought a copy of the original SI and arrange for them to receive a free copy of the new version, paid for by the department. The cost of this will vary for each SI.
The number of SIs between 2006 and 2016 that required correction slips and were made and issued under the free issue procedure is as follows:
Year | Number of UKSIs made that year | Correction slips issued for made UKSIs | Number of UKSIs issued under the free issue procedure |
2006 | 1554 | 110 | 48 |
2007 | 1639 | 121 | 53 |
2008 | 1483 | 127 | 51 |
2009 | 1817 | 112 | 68 |
2010 | 2801 | 76 | 51 |
2011 | 2808 | 63 | 38 |
2012 | 3002 | 74 | 31 |
2013 | 2969 | 79 | 24 |
2014 | 3131 | 49 | 38 |
2015 | 1743 | 42 | 41 |
2016 | 948 | 64 | 23 |
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to her oral contribution of 12 June 2023 on Members of Parliament: Risk-based Exclusion, Official Report column 83, who she is bringing in to advise her on these matters.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Government is carefully considering this appointment to ensure that an adviser has the necessary expertise and shall provide an update in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what proportion of Prime Minister's Questions were attended by each of the last five Prime Ministers.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
This information is not held centrally.
I refer the hon. member to the research briefing provided by the House of Commons Library (https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04401/).
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to her oral contribution of 12 June 2023, Official Report, column 83, what recent progress she has made on appointing an adviser on standards.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Government is carefully considering this appointment to ensure that an adviser has the necessary expertise and shall provide an update in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, how many oral statements the Rt Hon Member for Richmond (Yorks) has made to the House of Commons in each of the last five years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
This information is not held centrally. I would refer the hon. member to the House of Commons Library service.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, how many Statutory instruments required (a) correcting and (b) replacing in the last five sessions.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Correction slips are used to correct typographical errors. A statutory instrument (SI) containing a substantive error must be replaced by amending secondary legislation. This is issued under the free issue procedure, further information on which can be found at page 128 of the National Archives’ Statutory Instrument Practice (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/pdfs/StatutoryInstrumentPractice_5th_Edition.pdf).
The National Archives holds information on SI statistics by calendar year. Information from 2016 to 2022, which covers the last five parliamentary sessions, is provided below.
Correction slips issued for made SIs | Number of SIs made and issued under the free issue procedure | |
|---|---|---|
2022 | 67 | 66 |
2021 | 67 | 112 |
2020 | 96 | 77 |
2019 | 95 | 57 |
2018 | 63 | 35 |
2017 | 71 | 30 |
2016 | 64 | 23 |
Information on SIs replacing legislation not issued under the free issue procedure is not held centrally. To provide this information would therefore incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what the average number of clauses in government bills that received Royal Assent was in the last five sessions.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
In the last five sessions, the following number of Government Bills reached Royal Assent:
Session | Number of Bills reaching Royal Assent |
|---|---|
2021-22 | 34 |
2019-21 | 44 |
2019 | 3 |
2017-19 | 51 |
2016-17 | 32 |
The average number of clauses in Government Bills that received Royal Assent in that period is not held centrally. To provide this information would therefore incur disproportionate cost.
The full text of each Government Act from each of the last five sessions is available on legislation.gov.uk.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of scrutiny of the Illegal Migration Bill in the light of the date of publication of an impact assessment of that Bill.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Government is clear that Parliament should have the information it needs and that impact assessments should be published, where possible, when legislation is laid before Parliament.
On 13th March 2023, the House agreed a programme motion for the Illegal Migration Bill. The Bill will receive further scrutiny when it returns to the House for consideration of Lords amendments on the 11th July 2023.
The Hon. Member may wish to note that the Home Office also published the Child’s Rights Impact Assessment on the 5th July 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Debbonaire (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what steps she is taking to programme business to help prevent a build-up of legislation in the House of Lords.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Government has brought forward an ambitious legislative programme, with 24 bills currently before Parliament, and we will continue to make progress. So far this session 40 bills have been exchanged between the Houses, of which 24 have received Royal Assent.
The arrangement of business in the House of Lords is a matter for that place. I will announce future business in the House of Commons in the usual way.