| Justification relied on to fast-track a bill
| Examples of fast-tracked bills
| Time spent on the Bill in the HL
(All bills, unless otherwise stated, went through the HC in one day)
|
| To remedy an anomaly, oversight, error or uncertainty that has come to light in legislation
| Lands Valuation Amendment (Scotland) Bill 1982: to nullify the unintended consequences of a repeal made by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975
Companies (Beneficial Interests) Bill 1983: the legal profession had become concerned that certain common practices were contrary to the Companies Act 1948— 'in the Government's view, it is right and proper not only to validate transactions in the past that would otherwise be void, but to enable past practices to continue in future'[19]
Local Authorities (Expenditure Powers) Bill 1983: doubts had arisen about the scope of local authorities under section 137 of the Local Government Act 1972 to 'grant aid' land acquisition and building works comprised in projects approved for urban development grant
Caravans (Standard Community Charge and Rating) Bill 1990: to rectify an unintended consequence of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, which had made holiday caravan owners liable to the standard community charge
Representation of the People Bill 1993: to clarify the status of members of the Royal Irish Regiment (formed by the merger of the Ulster Defence Regiment and Royal Irish Rangers) in relation to the electoral role in time for the annual registration round
British Transport (Police) Jurisdiction Bill 1994: the jurisdiction of the British Transport Policy would have been inadvertently curtailed by the coming into force of the Railways Act 1993
Statutory Instruments (Production and Sale) Bill 1996: to correct an anomaly in existing legislation, whereby HMSO was permitted to contract out the printing of all legislative and official material, with the single exception of statutory instruments; HMSO had for over 30 years been acting unlawfully in charging for SIs
| Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
Second Reading and Third Reading in one day (Committee negatived)
First Reading, Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
Second Reading on 20/12/90 Committee and Report on 22/1/91 Third Reading on 28/1/91
Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading and Royal Assent in one day
Second Reading on 16/7/96
Committee and Report on 23/7/96 3a on 24/7/96
|
| To respond to the effects of a court judgment
| Importation of Milk Bill 1983: European Court of Justice held that import regime for UHT milk and cream contrary to EU law and new regime had to be created
Town and Country Planning (Compensation) Bill 1985: a response to the Court of Appeal ruling in Camden BC v Peaktop Properties (Hampstead) Ltd: "The effect of the court's decision has been dramatic and wholly unacceptable to the Government".[20]
Insolvency (No. 2) Bill 1994: Paramount Airways Ltd in Court of Appeal cast doubt on effectiveness of disclaimers in receivership cases
Public Order (Amendment) Act 1996: to clarify power of arrest under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 following Court of Appeal judgment and doubts expressed by the Crown Prosecution Service
Social Security (Overpayments) Bill 1996: in response to ruling of the Social Security Commissioner on section 71 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992
Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill 2008
| Second Reading, Committee, Report, Third Reading in one day
Usual intervals seem to have been observed
Second Reading, Committee, Report, Third Reading in one day
Second Reading on 24/7/96
Third Reading (Committee negatived) on 16/10
Committee, Report and Third Reading taken in one day
Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
|
| To ensure that legislation is in force in time for a forthcoming event
| Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Bill 1985: to put in place restrictions in time for the start of the football season.
Parliamentary Corporate Bodies Bill 1992: necessary step in the implementation of the Ibbs report on House of Commons services
| Commons - all stages apart from First Reading taken in 1 day.
Lords - Second Reading and Committee on 11/7/85
Rpt and Third Reading taken on 17/7/85
Second Reading on 6/3/92
Order of commitment discharged 10/3/92
Third Reading on 12/3/92
|
| To deal with economic crisis
| Gold Standard (Amendment) Bill 1931
Social Security (Mortgage Interest Payments) Bill 1992: in order to reduce the number of repossessions of homes, the bill provided for the direct payment to qualifying lenders of the mortgage interest component of income support
Stamp Duty (Temporary Provisions) Bill 1992: in response to the problem of mortgage arrears and repossessions and to stimulate the housing market generally, the Bill increased the stamp duty threshold from £30,000 to £250,000 for eight months starting from 20 December 1991
Banking (Special Provisions) Bill 2008
| All stages in one day
Second Reading on 24/2/92
Committee 5/3/92
Third Reading 12/3/92
Second Reading, Committee, Report, Third Reading in one day
First Reading and Second Reading on 20/2/08
Committee, Report and Third Reading on 21/2/08
|
| To change a public authority's borrowing or lending limit or other funding issues
| Iron and Steel (Borrowing Powers) Bill 1981: to raise from £5,500m to £6,000m the statutory limit of the amount of finance which the British Steel Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiaries could raise by borrowing and by receipt of sums paid by the Secretary of State
Redundancy Fund Bill 1981: to the amount that could be borrowed by the redundancy fund from the national loans fund
Commonwealth Development Corporation Bill 1982
British Shipbuilders (Borrowing Powers) Bill 1983
International Monetary Arrangements Bill 1983: to substitute a new limit for the limit on lending to the IMF imposed by the International Monetary Fund Act 1979
Welsh Development Agency Bill 1991
Humber Bridge (Debts) Bill 1995
| 2a on 24/2/81 and Committee negatived
Third Reading on 26/2/81
Money Bill
Second Reading, Committee, Report, Third Reading in one day
Usual intervals seem to have been observed
Second Reading on 18/7/83 and Committee negatived
Third Reading on 21/7/83
Second Reading (Committee negatived) and Third Reading on one day
Usual intervals seem to have been observed
|
| To deal with a crisis in prisons as a result of industrial action
| Imprisonment (Temporary Provisions) Bill 1980: a response to industrial action by the Prison Officers' Association, the bill allowed among other things the establishment of temporary accommodation to which the Prison Rules could be applied; removed the duty to produce remand prisons to court; and provided the Home Secretary with powers to override the decisions of courts and to authorise the release of unsentenced prisoners whom courts have decided should be kept in custody.
| All stages in one day |
| To respond to international agreements
| Zimbabwe Bill 1980: providing for the establishment of the independent Republic of Zimbabwe, citizenship and an amnesty in UK law for certain acts. The urgency related to the need to have an Act on the statute book rather than to bring it into force immediately.[21]
Belize Bill 1981: providing for the independence of Belize. As with the Zimbabwe Bill, the Belize Bill was put on the statute book in anticipation of continued negotiations with Guatemala and the approval of a constitution
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Bill 1996: providing for the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's London economic and trade office with a limited range of privileges and immunities
Landmines Bill 1998: to enable ratification of the Ottawa Convention
| Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
Usual intervals seem to have been observed
Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
|
| To implement Treasury announcements in the Budget or autumn statement
| Community Charges (General Reduction) Bill 1991: to give effect to an announcement made in the Budget the week previously that there would be a substantial switch from local to central taxation and the a reduction in the personal community charge by £140
Car Tax (Abolition) Bill 1992: to give effect to an announcement made the Chancellor's autumn statement
| First Reading, Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
|
| To respond to public concerns
| Dangerous Dogs Bill 1991 ("During the past few weeks, a number of horrific attacks by dogs on adults and young children had led to a clear demand for swift action by the Government to end this menace".[22]
Aggravated Vehicle-Taking Bill 1991: "The Bill is one of a wide range of urgent measures that we are taking to stop the plague of car crime getting out of hand".[23]
| Usual intervals seem to have been observed - the bill was passed just a few days before a summer recess.
Usual intervals seem to have been observed
|
| Counter-terrorism related
| Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Bill 1974
Reinsurance (Acts of Terrorism) Bill 1993: in response to the insurance industry announcement that, with effect from 1 January 1993, it would cease to renew or to provide new insurance cover on industrial and commercial property which included provision for damage or loss caused by acts of terrorism
Prevention of Terrorism (Additional Powers) Bill 1996: in response to the bombing of South Quay in London. Provisions related to stop and search powers, cordoning off areas and the imposition of temporary parking restrictions
Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Bill 1998: a response to the bombing of Omagh and 'and the clear and present danger from international terrorism'. Provisions included powers intended to make it easier to secure conviction of those who are members of specified proscribed organisations; enabling a court to draw inferences from a failure to answer relevant questions in respect of a membership offence; and extra-territorial jurisdiction for terrorist offences committed abroad.
| All stages in one day
Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
All stages in one day
All stages in one day
|
| Northern Ireland peace process and devolution settlement
| Northern Ireland (Remission of Sentences) Bill 1995: to restore the practice which existed in Northern Ireland until 1989 and which had obtained since 1976, that all prisoners serving fixed terms of imprisonment, regardless of the nature of their offence, became eligible for release at the halfway point of their sentence
Northern Ireland Bill 1999: provisions on devolution and decommissioning of weapons following proposals put forward by the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach
Northern Ireland Bill 2000: enabled the temporary return to Northern Ireland of direct rule
Northern Ireland Assembly Elections Bill 2003: provided for a 28-day postponement of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections scheduled for 1 May 2003
Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections and Periods of Suspension) Bill 2003: provided for the deferment of elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly that were due to be held on 29 May 2003
Northern Ireland (Monitoring Commission etc) Bill 2002-2003: gave the Secretary of State powers to exclude Ministers from the Assembly when certain conditions were met.
Northern Ireland Bill 2006. Required recall of Assembly for purposes of electing an Executive.
Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Bill 2006: to make provision for preparations for the restoration of devolved government
Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Bill 2007: to modify the effect of the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 by altering dates from March to May
| Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
Committee, Report and Third Reading in one day
Second Reading, Committee, Report, Third Reading in one day
2a on 13/5/03
Committee, rpt and Third Reading on 14/5/03
Second Reading on 12/9/03
Committee, Report, Third Reading on 15/9/03
Commons - Second Reading on 26/4/06, Committee, Report, and Third Reading on 27/4/06
Second Reading on 2/5/06, Committee, Report, Third Reading and Royal Assent on 8/5/06
Committee, Report, Third Reading and Royal Assent in one day
First Reading, Second Reading, Committee, rpt and Third Reading in one day
|
| Miscellaneous | Elections Bill 2001: to postpone local elections because of foot-and-mouth disease
| Committee, Report, Third Reading and RA in one day
|
