1. Turning a Bill into an Act of Parliament:
The Pre-Parliamentary Process
What do you need to know?
What a bill is
What a bill actually looks like
 How a bill comes before Parliament
 The three main types of Bill

2. Starter:
How much do you already know?
1. Which three institutions do I mean when I say
‘Parliament’ Queen, House of Lords, House of
Commons
2. What colour are the seats in the House of
Lords? Red
3. What the job of the speaker? To maintain order in the HC
4. Who is the leader of the opposition? Ed Miliband
5. Who currently makes up the government? Conservatives & Liberal Democrats
6. How many MPs are there? 650
7. How many Lords are there? 790

3. What information do you need to know?
What is a Bill?
What types of Bill are there?
Public Private Private Members
Can you match the definition?
Universities of PACE 2004 Abortion Act 1967
Manchester Act 2004

4. Student task:
How confident are you with the types?
Can you sort out these Acts and Bills into the three types?
Criminal Justice Act Grandparents Minimum Font
2003 (Access) Bill 2011 (Sizing) Bill 2008
Public Private Members Private Members
Kent County Council
Human Rights Act Liverpool City Council
(Filming on highways) Act
2011 1998 Act 2006
Private Public Private
Murder (Abolition of
Coroners and Justice Offences Against the
Death Penalty) Act
Act 2009 Person Act 1861
1965
Private Members Public Public

5. What are you going to do?
You are going to follow the pre-parliamentary process
Stage One: Why the green paper?
Ideas! Well, this is what we call the first
broad proposals for a law that might
In your groups talk about your be put forward.
pet peeves and things you’d
like to change. They are not written in legal
language
Each table has four sheets of
green paper They don’t have to become laws!
Between you, decide on four
of your ideas which you think
might be a good law.
Each on one piece of paper

6. Next stage:
Consultation
You now need to get the feedback from interested parties....
Pass the suggestions onto
all of the other groups
You, as the consultees can write
a response – what do you think
of it? Good idea? Bad?
Thoughts? Write down your
responses onto the card
Although the green paper can be commented on by
anybody... it is also sent to specific interested parties.
It’s really about them finding out if there is really a
need to bring in this law.

7. Stage 2
A more detailed proposal
Now you have your ideas back, look at the
feedback and pick one to take forward
Task:
Write a short paragraph
This is known as the
explaining your law and white paper stage and is
name it! a firm proposal for a law.
Include It can be quite different
who it is going to cover, from the green
why we need it paper, but is written in
‘normal’ language.

8. A little more...
Consultation (2)
Pass the law onto at least two This is the selected
consultation phase, where
other groups. they will send it to people
who are directly affected or
This is the selected consultation phase. have a specialist interest.
Look carefully at the proposal:
what do you think?
Have they considered all options?
Do you agree?
Are there any loopholes you can spot?
Any words which might need defining?
Have they considered all the elements?

9. Now you have the feedback back, all that is left is to...
Write the Bill!
Long Title:
What is the Bill going to cover? You
need to make sure that this covers
Short title: everything which is included in the
Bill
What is the name of the bill?
... If its not in the long title, it can’t
be in the Bill!
Definitions:
Clauses and sub-clauses: Any words which might be unclear or
Who it applies to, and why, vague need to be defined as clearly
Punishments and enforcement as possible
monitoring e.g. Child, house, payment etc
conditions ‘large shop’.
any paperwork
Include at least four clauses.

10. Which idea is the winner?
Well, in Parliament all the ideas are published so that everyone can have a look at them and decide whether
or not they want to support it.
This is called the First
You have 15 minutes to have a look at Reading
all the Bills, ask questions of the
group and try to get support for your
own.
Each group will nominate a spokesperson
who will stand up and “My Lords, I beg
to introduce a bill to... “
And then read out the long title of the
Bill
Group Group Group Group
You will then get to vote ‘aye’. 1 2 3 4
(You may only vote aye once!)

11. Finally...
How confident are you in what you have learnt this lesson?
A Evaluate whether the pre-parliamentary stages are effective at
ensuring only useful, needed bills come before the Houses.
B Explain what the purpose is of the consultation stages in
preparing a Bill.
C Describe the point of the First Reading
D Identify the three types of Bill
E Say what is meant by the term ‘Parliament’