The legislation programme, and how it's prioritised

What’s the issue?

Governments usually have a long list of things they want to achieve, but limited resources to achieve them. They have to prioritise – including the number of laws they will try to pass in an electoral term.

That prioritisation happens through something called the ‘legislation programme’. Ministers are the final decision makers on the legislation programme, but officials play an important role.

Why does it matter?

Of course, legislation has to go through a parliamentary process to be passed. The problem is, Parliament only sits for a limited number of days every year. And it has to fit a lot of activity into those sitting days: not just legislation, but oral parliamentary questions, holding debates on other issues, and more.

In some situations the legislative process can be sped up by progressing a Bill under urgency and making sitting days longer. Ultimately, though, parliamentary time is finite, and it has to be planned carefully to make sure the critical things get attention.

What’s the solution?

A legislation programme sets out which Bills will take priority, and about how much time each one will need, to help create a kind of forward agenda for Parliament.

Early each year, the legislation programme is figured out by a process using ‘legislative bids’ that are owned by Ministers but prepared by officials. A legislative bid describes a Bill that needs to go through the House. It sets out what the Bill is about – for example, it might be a key government policy, a minor amendment Bill, or part of a regular process like the Budget.

The legislative bid will also place the Bill in one of nine categories that describes how quickly the Bill needs to be passed (or in some cases, if it’s an already-existing Bill, whether it should be paused or dropped). Not every Bill will be in a hurry. Some Bills will only need to be introduced before the end of the electoral term.

Once all the legislative bids are submitted by Ministers, Cabinet Legislation Committee (LEG) looks across them and does the prioritisation. A legislation programme for the year now exists – but it’s never set in stone. Inevitably, new priorities will crop up over time, and the legislative programme will be tweaked to include them.

If you’re working on a legislative bid, or you’d just like to know more, the CabGuide (a practical guide to Cabinet processes) is a great start.