M4 – Development Process
Meetings
If the policy is needed and the idea is good it becomes subject to a great deal of discussion in governmental meetings such as cabinet meetings and parliamentary committees and subcommittees. If the idea is still considered to be worthwhile after these discussions then the procedure becomes more formal – the idea is put into a green paper.
Green Paper
A green paper is a document about a proposed change in the law which is distributed to interested parties to gather their views on the change and open up a period of consultation and debate. This debate might take the form of public meetings, specialist consultation meetings or open enquiries.
White Paper
These contain a set of formal proposals on the new law or policy. White papers are the drafts of what will become known as bills in later stages of development.
Representation from outside government
Ways in which the new public policy can be influenced from outside government include:
• Letters to MPs
• seeing an MP in their surgery
• taking into account the views of the opposition.

Bills
All potential statutes begin life as a bill. A bill is a proposal for a piece of legislation. There are three kinds:
• Public bill
• Private bill
• Private members bill.
Public bill
A public bill is usually a proposal for a large piece of legislation which will affect the whole country. They are created by the government currently in power. They are sometimes preceded by a green paper which allows interested parties to consult and comment upon the ideas put forward.
Private bill
A private bill is typically proposed by a local authority or large corporation and will usually affect only the people who proposed it in the first place. For instance, a private bill might deal with the compulsory purchase of land by a local authority in order to build a new motorway.
Private members bill
A private members bill is usually prepared by ordinary members of Parliament who have to enter a ballot in order to be guaranteed the time in Parliament that it takes to introduce a bill. This allocated time is very important – the reason private members bills often fail is lack of time for them to be debated.
The drafting of the statute
There are seven stages through which a bill must proceed before it can become law.
First reading
This is the notification to the House that a proposal is made. The title of the bill is read out and copies of it are made available. There is little or no debate at this stage.

Second reading
At this stage the proposals contained within the bill are debated. The House must then decide whether to send the bill forward for the next stage, so it is a critical moment. However, in practice a government with a clear majority will almost always get its bill through this stage.
Committee stage
This is when the bill is examined in detail and the committee considers the changes it would recommend to the House. Committee members are chosen for their qualifications and personal or professional interests. For private bills the committee stage might be judicial. This enables anyone whose business or property may be affected to lodge a petition to amend the bill in order to protect their interests.
Report stage
The committee now reports back to the House with the suggested amendments to the bill. These are then debated and voted on by the House at large.
Third reading
The bill is now represented to the House of Commons and a final vote is taken on whether to accept the proposed legislation. If the bill is accepted it is said to have ‘passed the House’ and is then sent on to the next stage.
House of Lords
The bill now goes through a similar procedure in the House of Lords. It must pass all of these stages in one session of Parliament. The House of Lords cannot reject most legislation passed from the House of Commons although they do retain some powers such as the ability to reject a bill which attempts to extend the duration of a government for longer than 5 years and 3 weeks.
Royal assent
References
http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/UniformedPublic Services/Sample/
References
http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/UniformedPublic Services/Sample/
When a bill has successfully passed through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords it must pass to the monarch for approval and consent. It will then become law on a specified date.