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Official publications and statistics - UK: Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments

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Bills

Bills are a type of Parliamentary paper.  A Bill will often appear as a different document at each of its Commons or Lords readings. Every Bill is given a running number through the session, a new sequence starting each session. A Bill is identified in a short form by its title, number and session. For example:

  • Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill 2021-22 [Bill 287]
  • Parking Places (Variation of Charges) Bill 2016-17 [Bill 18]

Current bills before Parliament, those from previous sessions (back to 2002-03), and draft bills (prior to being issued formally) can all be found via the Bills & legislation page of the UK Parliament website, with details of their progress through Parliament. There is also a Passage of a Bill guide to give further information about how a bill becomes a law.

Statutory Instruments

Statutory Instruments are orders made by ministers under powers granted to them by existing Acts. Each one is numbered consecutively through the year and referred to by number and title, eg SI 2023 no.459 The Hornsea Three Offshore Wind Farm (Amendment) Order 2023.

All statutory instruments from 1987 onwards, and selected ones from 1948 to 1986, are available online via Legislation.gov.uk .  You can search for a particular SI, or browse by year or by title (within a particular group of years).  Alternatively you can use Lexis+ or Westlaw - see the Acts of Parliament box for details.

Print versions of most Statutory Instruments from 1949 to 1993 are held in the University Library at KB 221 S79.

Introduction

Bills are proposals for legislation which, if adopted by Parliament, become Statutes (generally referred to as 'Acts of Parliament' or just 'Acts'). Statutes and Statutory Instruments are statements of the law itself: Statutes are primary or original legislation, while Statutory Instruments ('SIs' or 'Secondary legislation') are secondary or subordinate. It can be helpful to think of Acts as laying out the general principles of legislation, and of SIs as setting out in detail how they will be implemented.

This page summarises what is available online and gives details of selected titles which are available in print in the Brynmor Jones Library.

Acts of Parliament (Statutes)

Online sources of Acts of Parliament:

Most current Acts, and many historic (back to 1267), although there are some exceptions for pre-1988 acts - for more details, see the FAQs. You can search for a particular act, or browse by date or by title (within a particular group of years).  In addition, for most acts which are still in force, you can view either the original text ("as originally enacted") or the current text incorporating later amendments.

  • Lexis+ (available to University of Hull students and staff in the UK)

Full, amended, text of Acts which are currently in force. From the home page, select Legislation in Explore - Content. You can search for specific Acts, or those on a particular subject, but it is not possible to browse a list.

  • Westlaw (available to University of Hull students and staff)

Full, amended, text of Acts which are currently in force. From the home page, select the appropriate link from the Legislation dropdown menu, e.g. Primary & Secondary will allow you to browse Acts by either date or title.

Printed source available in the University Library:

From 1950 onwards. Annual volumes are kept up to date by the use of loose leaf binders. Annotations are given for each Act.

Historical sources available in the University Library: