Legislation A to Z
One of the key functions of the Northern Ireland Assembly is to legislate. The Assembly has the power to enact primary Legislation for Northern Ireland and plays a key role in the scrutiny and making of secondary legislation.
Click on a letter below to read more about any terms that begin with that letter:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
- Accelerated Passage
- Accelerated passage happens when legislation is needed urgently and the normal legislative process is shortened.
- Act
- When a bill passes through all of the stages of the legislative process in the Northern Ireland Assembly and receives Royal Assent, it becomes a law and is called an act.
Helpful links to learn more about acts:
- Affirmative Resolution
- A statutory rule which is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure is made by the rule making body, often a department, and laid before the Assembly. A statutory rule which is subject to affirmative resolution requires a debate and a vote in Plenary on a motion to affirm the statutory rule. It shall not come into operation unless and until affirmed by a resolution of the Assembly. The enabling primary legislation will set out whether an affirmative resolution is required.
Rules that are subject to affirmative resolution are reported on by the Examiner of Statutory Rules and considered by the relevant committee in advance of the Plenary debate.
Helpful links to learn more about affirmative resolution:
- View more information about Statutory Rules (SRs)
- Statutory Rules are published online at www.legislation.gov.uk and are collected and published by the Statutory Publications Office in an official annual volume
- You can find information on individual statutory rules that have been scrutinised by the Northern Ireland Assembly on our website.
- View the Examiner of Statutory Rules' reports
- Amendments
- Amendments are designed to add to, or otherwise alter the wording of a motion or a clause or a schedule of a bill. Ministers, committees or individual MLAs can suggest changes, known as amendments, to bills and motions by proposing them to the Speaker who will chose which amendments will be debated in Plenary. MLAs will debate and then vote on which amendments should be accepted. (See also Marshalled List of Amendments.)
B
- Bill
- A bill is a proposal for a new law and is often referred to as primary legislation. All bills have to be passed by the Assembly and secure Royal Assent before they become laws. Once passed, a bill is called an Act.
- Bill Office
- The Bill Office supports the work of the Assembly in considering primary legislation.
C
- Clause
- A bill is made up of individual clauses which should contain a single idea. The Assembly considers and votes on each clause of the bill, some of which may be amended, replaced or removed during the legislative process. This allows the bill to be debated and agreed, or rejected in parts, so that the bill can be passed, even if some of the clauses are rejected.
- Commencement Order
- A bill becomes law when it is granted Royal Assent and is known as an act. If any part of the bill is not coming into force until a later date, a commencement order is needed for that part of the act/bill to come into force.
- Committee Stage of a Bill
- The third stage of the law-making process, the Committee Stage, involves detailed consideration of a bill. During this stage, the committee can take evidence from interested bodies (including the relevant government department) and individuals. Committee members then examine each part of the bill and discuss possible changes to it. Committees then prepare a report on the bill, including any proposals it has for amendments, to inform debates in the Chamber on the remaining bill stages.
- Confirmatory Resolution
- A Statutory Rule which is subject to confirmatory resolution procedure is made by the rule making body, often a department, and laid before the Assembly. It has legal effect when it is made, but it will cease to have effect unless approved by the Assembly on a motion in Plenary within a specified period. That period is provided for in the primary legislation. The enabling primary legislation will set out whether a confirmatory resolution is required.
- Consideration Stage of a Bill
- There are two amending stages of a bill, Consideration and Further Consideration, and these are the 4th and 5th stages of the law-making/legislative process. They follow the Committee Stage. During Consideration Stage of a Bill, the Assembly considers, in detail, the clauses and schedules of a bill together with any amendments selected by the Speaker for debate. Amendments may be proposed by individual members, committees or by ministers and, following selection by the Speaker, appear on the marshalled list of amendments. Following debate, Members vote on all amendments selected for debate, and on every clause and schedule. The Further Consideration Stage, which follows the Consideration Stage, is the final time for members to put forward amendments. Helpful links to learn more about the consideration stage of a bill:
D
- Draft Affirmative Resolution
- A statutory rule which is subject to the draft affirmative resolution procedure is prepared in draft form by the rule making body, often a department, and laid before the Assembly. It does not have effect in draft form, and the Assembly must approve the draft statutory rule, on a motion in Plenary, before it is made. If the Assembly approves the draft statutory rule, the rule making body may then proceed to make the statutory rule. The enabling primary legislation will set out whether the draft affirmative resolution is required.
E
- Examiner of Statutory Rules
- The Examiner of Statutory Rules helps the Assembly and the statutory committees in the technical scrutiny of statutory rules which are subject to the procedures of the Assembly. These include those statutory rules which are subject to the affirmative resolution procedure, negative resolution procedure, confirmatory resolution procedure, and draft affirmative resolution procedure statutory rules. The remit of the Examiner of Statutory Rules is set out in Standing Order 43.
- View the Examiner of Statutory Rules' reports
- Explanatory and Financial Memorandum (EFM)
- All bills that come before the Assembly are accompanied by a document known as an explanatory and financial memorandum (sometimes referred to as the EFM). The explanatory and financial memorandum sets out the purpose of the proposed bill, provides information on the background and policy objectives, as well as financial, human rights, and other impacts of the bill.
Once the bill is enacted, the explanatory and financial memorandum is converted into explanatory notes which accompany the published act.
L
- Legislative Consent Motion
- A legislative consent motion is a motion which seeks the agreement of the Assembly to Westminster considering provisions of a bill, or amendment to a bill, which deal with devolution matters.
- Legislative Process
- The legislative process is the process by which a bill becomes a law. All proposed legislation is debated and examined by the Assembly in committee during Committee Stage, or in Plenary. Proposed legislation is introduced to the Assembly in the First Stage where the bill is read out. In the Second Stage, the members debate the general principles of the bill and vote on whether it should proceed to the Committee Stage, where more detailed examination takes place. Once the committee has completed its examination of the proposed legislation, and produced a report, the Assembly discusses and votes on each clause and any amendments which have been proposed by the committee, minister and individual members. Members have a final chance to debate amendments to the proposed legislation in the Further Consideration Stage. In the Final Stage, members debate and agree on whether to pass the bill.
If the Assembly agrees, the bill is referred to the Attorney General and the Advocate General to decide whether the bill falls within the legislative powers or the legislative competence of the Assembly. If that is agreed, the bill is sent for Royal Assent. Once this has been granted, the bill becomes a law.
M
- Marshalled List of Amendments
- Members may table an amendment or amendments to most motions, and to bills at their Consideration Stage and Further Consideration Stages. If a tabled amendment has been selected for debate by the Speaker, the amendment is marshalled and published on a marshalled list of amendments in advance of the debate.
N
- Negative Resolution
- A statutory rule that is subject to the negative resolution procedure is made by the rule making body, usually a department, and laid before the Assembly. It has legal effect when its 'comes into force' date is reached. It can be annulled by passing a resolution of the Assembly (on a motion called a prayer of annulment) within the statutory period. It is then void from the date of that annulment. The statutory period is 30 days or 10 days on which the Assembly has sat after the date on which the statutory rule was laid, whichever is the longer. This is the most common Assembly procedure for statutory rules.
P
- Primary Legislation
- Primary legislation is legislation or a law that does not owe its authority to any higher piece of legislation. An act of the Assembly is an example of primary legislation.
- Private Member’s Bill (PMB)
- A Private Member’s Bill is a proposal for a new law introduced by an individual MLA.
R
- Royal Assent
- Royal Assent is the Monarch's agreement that is required to make a bill into an Act of Parliament.
S
- Second Stage
- Following introduction of a bill (First Stage), the bill moves on to Second Stage which is a debate in Plenary on the general principles of the bill.
- Single Transferable Vote (STV)
- The Single Transferable Vote (STV) is a form of Proportional Representation (PR). It is the system of voting used to elect MLAs to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Multi-member constituencies are required for STV which means constituencies elect several representatives rather than just one. There are 5 MLAS elected for each of the 18 Northern Ireland constituencies.
- Statutory Rules (SRs)- also known as subordinate or secondary legislation
- Statutory Rules are laws which are made by rule making bodies, often departments, under rule making powers contained in primary legislation such as Acts of Parliament or Acts of the Assembly. Statutory rules can also be referred to as subordinate or secondary legislation. They are laws which are often made to provide the detail of how an area of law is to be implemented.
