Legislation process

A statute starts of as a Bill and the process it follows depends on whether the Bill is a Public Bill or a Private Bill. I am going to concentrate on describing the process for Public Bills, as they are the most common type.

The first stage of a Public Bill is the Green paper, which is the first stage in the process of public consultation. Green papers are tentative proposals issued by the appropriate Government Minister; they are consultation papers that set out government proposals which are still taking shape and seek comments from the public. The Government then has the opportunity to consider the points of view of those who support and those who oppose the potential changes.

A White paper is then issued after the Green paper process is finished, which is a statement of policy and contains definite proposals for legislation. The White paper offers a more focused debate on the developed proposals. Eventually a Bill based on the White paper will be introduced to Parliament for its consideration. A Bill goes through several stages before…