Ruth Fox

10/ My colleague @matthewengland.bsky.social who first spotted this problem alerted numerous contacts in the Commons, Cabinet Office and National Archives last Friday and again today and we await a response. But it's Summer recess....🤷

Statutory Instrument Tracker® app Monitoring 1000+ regulations each year is a painstaking job. Use our SI Tracker to make sure you don't miss out on any critical legislative developments.

9/ Government departments (and anyone else who needs to track SIs) don’t let errors like this slip through the cracks! Stay on top of your SIs with our HansardSociety Statutory Instrument Tracker®.
Learn more & subscribe 👇
🔗 www.hansardsociety.org.uk/services/sta...

8/ This isn’t just about compliance — it’s about accountability and good governance. Mistakes in law-making can be costly — legally, politically, and reputationally.

7/ Our SI Tracker online app:
🔍 monitors every stage of every Statutory Instrument laid before Parliament
📆 tracks where an SI is in the parliamentary process
📢 alerts subscribers to any updates (debates, votes, reports etc)

Extract from the Hansard Society's Statutory Instrument Tracker for the Legislative Reform Order

6/ Could this have been avoided? Yes! If the Cabinet Office had been using our @HansardSociety Statutory Instrument Tracker, it would have been immediately clear that the House of Commons had not yet approved it!

5/ This looks like an important procedural failure. An Order has been formally published as valid law and in force but it does not appear to have been properly authorised by both Houses of Parliament. In practical terms it creates legal risk and confusion.

4/ The House of Lords approved it on 21 July. But the House of Commons does not appear to have done so. Despite this, the Order was:
✅ made
✅ published as law
✅ stated it was approved by both Houses
❌ without MPs actually having approved it.🤯

3/ Problem: That Order required approval by both Houses of Parliament under the affirmative scrutiny procedure. Why? Because that’s what the Government itself recommended — and two parliamentary committees agreed.

2/ Last Friday (25 July), a new Order appeared on legislation.gov.uk: The Legislative Reform (Disclosure of Adult Social Care Data) Order 2025. It says it was made on 22 July by Cabinet Office Minister Georgia Gould MP and came into force on 23 July.

🧵1/ Something appears to have gone wrong with a new piece of legislation (and shows why even Government departments should be using our Statutory Instrument Tracker!) Here's what happened 👇

Three and a half hours and still stuck in the hospital car park..it's like a bad dream. And others have been here longer. How many staff could not get in or out this afternoon? How many appointments have been lost. How many people's treatment has been affected? Complete disgrace

...in place at all. Police say it's not their responsibility. Essex Highways nowhere to be seen. This is a hospital. Lives depend on access. How was this allowed to happen?

🧵Traffic chaos outside Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford today is a complete disgrace. Ambulances have been stuck unable to get in or out. Cars trapped in the hospital car park for over two hours due to total gridlock caused by minor roadworks on the main access road - with no traffic management...

Parliament Matters Bulletin: What’s coming up in Parliament this week? 21-24 July 2025 The Prime Minister will appear before the House of Commons Liaison Committee. Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP and the Governor of the Bank of England will also appear before committees. Opposition Peers…

🔔 MONDAY ALERT: What’s on Parliament’s agenda today?

❓ PM will be grilled by the Liaison Committee of select committee chairs
🇯🇵 MPs mark 80 years since Victory over Japan
🔴 Lords debate Renters' Rights, Employment Rights & Hereditary Peers Bills

🔽 buff.ly/V2K6kZj

📣 Tomorrow: Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces questions from the House of Commons Liaison Committee.

Will select committee chairs press him on the super-injunction and the Ministry of Defence data breach?

Stay tuned – this is an important test of parliamentary accountability.

Today will be written up as Govt chaos, but it should also be a wake up call
1. Parliament matters
2. MPs are not lobby fodder
3. Govts should not hardwire symbolic intentions and fiscal rules into law
4. The way our laws are made is not fit for purpose in a 21st century economy

Excellent post about House of Lords reform. Peers have consistently urged successive Governments to reduce the size of the House, to no avail. This is a rare legislative opportunity - if not now, when?

There's a debate on an unspecified Statutory Instrument related to terrorism on Wed. The procedure is explained in our Parliament Matters Bulletin. It's the 3rd item of main business after MPs vote for an Armed Forces Commissioner & to keep a standing army! www.hansardsociety.org.uk/news/parliam...

A big week ahead at Westminster:

📌 Key vote on disability benefits
📌 House of Lords reform bill
📌 Chagos Islands deal: will Peers oppose ratification?
📌 And MPs must vote to keep a standing army for another year!

Follow all the action in the Chamber and on the Committee corridor 👇

This was a really interesting - and fun - discussion.

Sarah, on the comparison between GP surgeries and MP surgeries: I thought it was extraordinary how similar my surgeries were.... except nobody took their clothes off!

Also good on Select Cmtts, Treasury power & rebellion

The House of Commons Order Paper says it is expected to be a Money Bill. Ultimately it's the Speaker's judgement and he won't make a decision until the end of proceedings in the Commons so amendments are taken account of. But it's an indicator.

See commonsbusiness.parliament.uk/Document/959...

But it would depend on where they are with amendments - would there be enough time for minsters/officials to do all the work necessary in time for Report and honour all the necessary amendment deadlines. Probably more likely that it would be a Backbench Business debate to fill time...

Sustainable Aviation has been sent to a Public Bill Cmtt and they are planning a witness evidence session on the 15 July. So they would have to scrap that to put the Bill into Cmtt of the Whole House. Victims & Courts is awaiting a date for Report so is a possibility.

I've no idea! But it won't be Employment Rights because that's still in the Lords (report stage is 14 July). Renters Rights is also still in the Lords but its report stage is 1 July. However, there are three days scheduled for Report and the last day is 15 July. So that's not an option either.

This underlines how important the Commons scrutiny is. There is no revising backstop for money bills.

...on almost in real time. The Bill will go to the House of Lords but it is a money bill so the Lords does not normally have a Committee and Report stage (it is "negatived" in parliamentary parlance) to amend the Bill. They debate it at 2nd Reading and then the remaining stages are a formality.

...of the sitting on Friday 4 July. But if MPs are not happy with the proposals made they will have to be resolved on the floor of the Chamber itself on the 9th. This is where the lack of time for reflection, taking advice, can get messy with amendments being proposed and voted...

...changes. If normal procedures are followed the Government should table amendments at least one sitting week in advance - so by the end of Wed 2nd July, the day after 2nd Reading. Non Government MPs will be able to table their own amendments up to three sitting days beforehand - so by the end...

...those Labour MPs who have signed the reasoned amendment. If the Govt promises concessions in advance of 2nd Reading those will only crystallise at Committee Stage on the 9 July. If they are not quite right, or what the MPs think they were signing up for there will be little time for making...

The Government cramming Committee, Report & 3rd Reading into 1 day the week after 2nd Reading (so much for intervals between stages...) means if they pull the Bill they will have 2 days of Commons business to fill. But of greater concern is that this timetable has important implications for...