legislation.gov.uk
Type of site | Government website |
---|---|
Available in | English and Welsh |
Owner | The National Archives, UK Government |
URL | legislation.gov.uk |
Commercial | No |
Current status | Active |
legislation.gov.uk, formerly known as the UK Statute Law Database, is the official
New Statute Law Database
This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (January 2013) |
In December 2008, the Statute Law Database team transferred to The National Archives, which meant the responsibility for the Office of Public Sector Information and SLD websites became the responsibility of one department. A major consideration of the transfer was to enable the rationalization of the two websites in order to provide one point of access to all UK legislation and in doing so reduce duplication in effort, increase efficiency (for example taking advantage of technological developments to streamline processes) and provide a more user-friendly and accessible service across the board. Since December 2008 a considerable amount[vague] of work has taken place to look at who the customers of the joint services are and look carefully at their requirements.[citation needed]
The content of the new Statute Law Database consists of the combined content of the previous UK Statute Law Database (SLD)[2] and the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website.[3] Updated legislation on the new website is the same data as that available on SLD. The only exceptions are a few acts that are being updated by the editorial team that is available on SLD but will not be available on the new site until the revisions are complete and they are ready to be published to SLD and the new website. Many of the revised documents held by SLD are also available in the OPSI dataset as an "as enacted" version. The new website combines these so one can switch between the different versions.
Aspects of the new site:
- The majority of revised legislation, now held the 'as enacted' and 'revised' versions. The different versions can be accessed via the buttons in the 'What Version' area on the table of contents.
- 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons are now available when navigating the content of legislation (this has only been made possible because of the way the legislation is held on the new site).
- 'Change to Legislation' – Much work[vague] has been done in order to make the revised legislation as usable as possible although it is not fully up to date. The development of the new site has allowed us[who?] to take the 'Tables of Legislative Effects' information currently published on SLD and incorporate the 'unapplied effects' into the content of the legislation at the provision level. This means that instead of having to look through the 'Tables of Effects' year by year in order to establish the current position of a piece of legislation, one can access all the outstanding effects when viewing the act. The outstanding effects also include links to the affecting legislation meaning that one can view the amendments more easily.
- Links in annotations – all annotations giving authority for amendments that have been applied now contain links to the affecting legislation (on SLD will only be able to do this for amendments carried out post-2002.)
- Probably one of the main areas of difference from SLD is that the 'attributes' information has been removed from the foot of the provisions in order to make it more meaningful to users. The 'geographical extent' can now be turned on and off using the 'show geographical extent' button and the 'start date' information is now presented on the 'Timeline of Changes' so as to give the ability to navigate through the legislation at specific points in time.
History
Background
Access to statute law in the United Kingdom was, for some time, a difficult matter. As the Hansard Society noted in 1992, "[a]t present the accessibility of statute law to users and the wider public is slow, inconvenient, complicated and subject to several impediments. To put it bluntly, it is often very difficult to find out what the text of a law is – let alone what it means. Something must be done."[4]
Development
1991 to 1995
The idea for creating a UK-wide legislation database dates back to 1991 when the government awarded a contract to
The original database consisted of an
In 1995 Syntegra developed the first version of the Statute Law Database website. This was only ever available in pilot form and to a limited number of government users.
1996 to 2000
On 9 February 1996, Roger Freeman, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, announced that the copyright and charging policy of the Statute Law Database would "be decided nearer the time of implementation in 1997".[7] This date was pushed forwarded to 1999[8] and then to 2000.[9]
In March 1999, it was disclosed that "[t]he partially updated database is presently available to a number of users within central government who have access to the Statutory Publications Office Intranet. The Lord Chancellor's Department are considering options for the future marketing of the Statute Law Database. These options include free Internet access, the granting of non-exclusive licences to legal information publishers and the provision of a subscription on-line service."[10] In September a demonstration version of the database was made available on the Syntegra Track Record website, containing legislation for the years 1985 to 1995, though this was quickly removed.[11]
2001 to 2006
In 2004, it was announced that the system designed by Syntegra would be modernised by replacing its editorial database, developing two new enquiry systems (one for government departments (accessible via the Government Secure Intranet, "GSI") and the other for the general public), and the revision and updating of the statute book.[11] Two contracts were signed by the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) with Computacenter, one for the delivery of the editorial system, the other for the government enquiry system. The combined cost of the contracts was £458,000.[12]
A
The government's enquiry system was launched on 31 May 2006 with a plan to roll out general access in three phases. The first stage would open the database to a very limited number of users for testing. On 2 August 2006 the
The delays involved in realising the database led to a number groups requesting the raw data of the legislation in order to put together their own versions. Among those refused access was Julian Todd, the co-creator of the website TheyWorkForYou, who stated "I can't comprehend what the DCA thinks it is gaining by not giving us a database dump of the law."[16] Todd had submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for disclosure of the data, but this was refused and he brought an appeal before the Information Commissioner.
The database was finally made available to the public on 20 December 2006. Announcing its launch,
2007–present
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2014) |
Content
The database contains the text of
In addition, a "table of effects" has been published every year since 2002 which lists all the legislation repealed, the effects of primary and secondary legislation brought into force since 2002 on primary legislation in the database.[citation needed]
Primary legislation
The database content includes the following primary legislation in
- Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain (1707–1800);
- Acts of the English Parliament(1267–1706);
- Acts of the pre-UK parliaments (1424–1707);
- UK local acts (from 1991);
- Acts of the Scottish Parliament (1999 to date);
- Measures of the Welsh Assembly (2007 to 2011);
- Acts of Senedd Cymru (Welsh Assembly)(2011 to date);
- Acts of the Irish Parliament (1495–1800);
- Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921–1972);
- Measures of the Northern Ireland Assembly (1974);
- Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly (2000–2002, 2007 to date);
- Orders in Councilmade under Northern Ireland Acts (1974 to date);
- Church of England measures (1920 to date).
Other primary legislation that is held in unrevised form includes:
- Post-1991 local acts (and a small number of pre-1991 local acts).
Secondary legislation
The database also contains certain secondary legislation which is mostly updated:
- Statutory instruments (from 1948);
- Welsh statutory instruments (from 1999);
- Scottish statutory instruments (from 1999);
- Statutory rules of Northern Ireland (from 1991);
- Church instruments (from 1991).
Current limitations
While the database reflects amendments to primary legislation, it is not up to date.
Also the database does not currently include:
- Some of the pre-1991 repealed legislation;
- Most pre-1991 local acts;
- Secondary legislation pre-dating 1823;
- Orders in Council made under the royal prerogative;
- Byelaws.
There are no plans to extend the database to include the above material. However, a
See also
References
- ^ "Changes to Legislation". Legislation.gov.uk.
- ^ "The UK Statute Law Database". UK Statute Law Database. Archived from the original on 16 November 2009.
- ^ "Office of Public Sector Information". Office of Public Sector Information. Archived from the original on 24 May 2005.
- ^ ISBN 0-521-60989-5.
- ^ Brooke, Heather (16 August 2006). "Access denied to the laws that govern us". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014.
- ^ Talk pagefor information from staff of the Office of Public Sector Information, 30 August 2009.
- ISSN 1361-4169.
- ^ "Acts of Parliament in Force (1997)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Lords. 2 July 1997.
- ^ "Statute Law Database (1998)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Written-Answers. 16 December 1998.
- ^ "Statute and Case Law Internet (1999)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Written-Answers. 22 March 1999.
- ^ a b Holmes, Nick (5 September 2006). "The Statute Law Database – finally a reality". Binary Law. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
- ^ Hodgett, Norman (1 July 2005). "Re: Request by Heather Brooke for Information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000" (DOC). Archived from the original on 29 November 2005.
- ^ Horne, Roger. "The Statute Law Database". number7.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 September 2007.
- ^ White, Rupert (5 October 2006). "Statutes free on web". The Law Society Gazette. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012.
- ^ Brook, Heather (18 October 2006). "At last, the price is right for access to our laws". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014.
- ^ Brooke, Heather (23 May 2006). "Article: Denying the law to the public". Heather Brooke. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012.
- ^ a b "Statute Law Database launched today". Your Right to Know. 20 December 2006. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008.
- ^ "About us". UK Statute Law Database. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009.
- Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee (7 November 2006). "Forty-Ninth Report". House of Lords. Appendix 3: The Management of Secondary Legislation: Government Response. Archivedfrom the original on 1 August 2008.