The scope and design of the delegation of legislative powers in any Bill affects the long-term balance of power between Parliament and Government. The House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee (DPRRC) scrutinises all such delegation. This report distils standards for the delegation of powers from 101 DPRRC reports from 2017 to 2021.
Dheemanth Vangimalla
Researcher, Hansard Society
Dheemanth joined the Hansard Society in July 2021 as a Researcher to contribute to the Review of Delegated Legislation. His role also involves supporting the day-to-day delivery of the Society’s legislative monitoring service, the Statutory Instrument Tracker®.
Dheemanth has a diverse professional background that includes experience in both the legal and non-legal sectors. He completed his MBBS degree at the University of East Anglia. He has since attained a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) while working full-time as a junior doctor at an NHS hospital trust. He has previously conducted legal research with the hospital’s legal services department. As a research assistant, he has also contributed to a public international law project concerning citizenship and statelessness. Additionally, he has experience conducting scientific and laboratory-based research during his BMedSci degree in Molecular Therapeutics at Queen Mary University of London.
Get our latest research, insights and events delivered to your inbox
We will never share your data with any third-parties.
Share this and support our work
We hope that, by drawing DPRRC standards across a range of issues together into a single document, this Compendium will prove a useful resource for all those involved in the production, scrutiny, interpretation and use of delegated powers and what they should – or should not – be used for. By distilling over a hundred DPRRC reports, the Compendium should convey a sense of the Committee’s thinking and concerns, and the wider landscape of debate and recommendations about delegation and scrutiny procedures across government. The standards presented in the Compendium have been derived from a comprehensive analysis of DPRRC reports over three parliamentary Sessions (2017-19, 2019 and 2019-21) – Sessions that have seen Bills introduced and delegated powers sought during exceptional and tumultuous social and political circumstances. The Compendium presents the list of legislative standards derived from DPRRC reports in four categories:
General principles underpinning the delegation of legislative powers: What may constitute inappropriate delegation of power, and are there certain principles that apply to assessing the scope of such delegation?
Parliamentary scrutiny of the use of delegated powers: What standards apply to prescribing parliamentary scrutiny procedures and requirements as to the nature of accompanying documents?
Types of provision: What standards apply to certain types of legislative provision?
Policy areas: What standards apply to delegated powers in certain policy areas?
Appendix I sets out in more detail the remit and practice of the DPRRC, utilising material from the Committee’s own reports. Appendix II comprises an extract from the DPRRC’s ‘Guidance for Departments’. Appendix III comprises a glossary of key terms.
This work is supported by the Legal Education Foundation as part of the Hansard Society's Delegated Legislation Review.
In our latest ‘Whipping Yarn’, we talk with Simon Hart, former Conservative Chief Whip during Rishi Sunak’s Premiership. Hart opens up about his time in one of Westminster’s most demanding and discreet roles, chronicled in his new book, ‘Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip’.
If a crisis or major national event occurs during a period when Parliament is adjourned, there are often demands from MPs, the media and the public for Parliament to be ‘recalled’. But the House of Commons Standing Orders stipulate that only Government Ministers - in reality, the Prime Minister - can ask the Speaker to recall the House. In recent years the House of Lords has generally been recalled at the same time as the House of Commons.
In response to the Modernisation Committee's call for views on 17 October 2024, we submitted evidence outlining key areas we believe the Committee should prioritise. Our submission recommended a focus on: strengthening legislative scrutiny, with particular emphasis on reforming the delegated legislation system; enhancing financial scrutiny, especially in relation to the Budget and the Estimates; addressing strategic gaps in parliamentary scrutiny; making more effective use of parliamentary time; and reviewing the Standing Orders, language and rituals of the House of Commons.
This briefing explains what to watch for during the Second Reading debate of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on 29 November. It outlines the procedural and legislative issues that will come into play: the role of the Chair in managing the debate and how procedures such as the 'closure' and 'reasoned amendments' work. It looks ahead to the Committee and Report stage procedures that will apply if the Bill progresses beyond Second Reading. It also examines the government's responsibilities, such as providing a money resolution for the Bill and preparing an Impact Assessment, while addressing broader concerns about the adequacy of Private Members’ Bill procedures for scrutinising controversial issues.
In this ninth instalment of our special mini-podcast series, we continue to explore the latest developments in the progress of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, often referred to as the assisted dying bill. We are joined by Dr Marie Tidball MP to discuss the amendments she has secured for a Disability Advisory Board and an independent advocate for people with learning disabilities.
