When the House of Commons went into recess at the close of business on 20 July, and with no further proceedings on Bills expected in the House of Lords in its remaining two pre-summer sitting days, the status of the 56 Bills that the Government has introduced so far in the 2022-23 Session was as shown in the following chart:

The 56 Bills that the Government has introduced so far in the 2022-23 Session break down, on our count, into 31 that were included in the May 2022 Queen’s Speech and 25 that were not. (The 25 include Finance and Supply Bills, which are so routine that they are not mentioned explicitly in the Speech.)

In our overview of the state of the legislative programme in May, we highlighted the low proportion of Queen’s Speech Bills that had achieved Royal Assent by that point (28%).

The two charts below show the status of the Bills in these two groups separately, as of 21 July, breaking down the data presented in Figure 1 above:

Compared to the situation in May, the proportion of Queen’s Speech Bills that have achieved Royal Assent has now risen (to 45%); but so has that of non-Queen’s Speech Bills (from 64% to 80%), so the gap between the two groups has barely narrowed. The continuing relatively low figure for Queen’s Speech Bills partly reflects the fact that the Government has introduced a new tranche of Queen’s Speech Bills since March and almost immediately made most of them subject to carry-over motions.

The focus in the remainder of the 2022-23 Session will be on the 10 Government Bills that have yet to pass and for which a carry-over motion has not been agreed.

Of these, there are two Bills that are still only in their first House but otherwise in very different positions:

• the Northern Ireland Budget (No.2) Bill received its Second Reading in the Commons on 10 July and is set to complete its further proceedings in a day each in the Commons and Lords respectively, on 4 and 14 September;

• the Renters (Reform) Bill was introduced in the Commons on 17 May but has yet to be scheduled for a Second Reading; it will presumably need to be carried-over to the next Session if it is to survive.

The remaining eight Bills are in their second House and so are beyond the point at which they could be made subject to a carry-over motion: they must pass by the end of the Session.

These eight Bills can be placed into two groups reflecting the stage they have reached in the legislative process:

1. Bills that are already in ‘ping-pong’ and can therefore be expected to conclude relatively quickly, probably during September (three Bills). These are:

• the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, on which ‘ping-pong’ is scheduled for 5 and 6 September;

• the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, on which ‘ping-pong’ is scheduled for 4 September (Commons) and 11 September (Lords); and

• the Procurement Bill, a Bill that started in the Lords and of which the Lords is due to consider the Commons’ version for the first time on 11 September.

2. Bills that have yet to secure a Third Reading in their second House (five Bills).

Of these, three will definitely need to return to their first House once they have finished in their second, because the second House has amended them:

• The Energy Bill is a Lords Bill which is now scheduled for its Report stage and Third Reading in the Commons on 5 September. The Lords have pencilled in their consideration of Commons amendments for 12 September.

• The Online Safety Bill completed its Report stage in the Lords on 19 July and is scheduled for Third Reading there on 6 September. Having been carried-over from the 2021-2022 Session, the Bill missed the default deadline to complete its proceedings (one year since its First Reading in its first Session) and has seen the Commons agree two motions to extend the deadline, which now stands at 31 October.

• The Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill is only due to finish its Report stage in the Lords on 13 September, and no date has yet been published for its Third Reading there.

The remaining two Bills in this group are the Non-Domestic Rating Bill and the Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fee Limits) Bill. These await their Report stages and Third Readings in the Lords during September, and have not been amended in Committee there. If the Lords amend them on Report or Third Reading, these too will need to return to the Commons.

So far, six Bills are being carried over to the 2023-24 Session. These comprise:

1. Two Hybrid Bills, the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill and the Holocaust Memorial Bill. Hybrid Bills are subject to a different legislative procedure than Public Bills and can take very much longer to reach the statute book. (Indeed, provision has already been made for the High Speed Rail Bill to survive the end of the current Parliament.)

2. Four regular Government Bills, all of which were included in the May 2022 Queen’s Speech and, as carried-over Bills, must complete their passage during the 2023-24 Session: the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill; the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill; the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill; and the Victims and Prisoners Bill.

Prime candidates to be either introduced after the Summer and carried-over into the new Session, or included in the November 2023 King’s Speech, are three Bills that in draft form have been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny:

• the draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, on which the Home Affairs Committee has just agreed (but not yet published) a report;

• the draft Media Bill, on which the Culture, Media and Sport Committee published its first report today (21 July); and

• the draft Mental Health Bill, on which a Joint Committee reported in January, and on which the Minister “hope[s] to be able to respond fully shortly after the summer recess”.

There are also Bills that were included in the 2022 Queen’s Speech but either never introduced (Higher Education Bill, Modern Slavery Bill, Transport Bill), or introduced and abandoned (Schools Bill). The Conversion Therapy Bill has been promised in draft form for pre-legislative scrutiny “very shortly”.

Among new legislative items, the Explanatory Memorandum on the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) notes that the move requires UK primary legislation in three areas (technical barriers to trade, Government procurement and intellectual property).

Fowler, B. (21 July 2023), What is the state of the Government’s legislative programme as Parliament enters its Summer break? (Hansard Society blog)