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About Private Bills

This is a general summary of how Private Bills are introduced and progress through the Parliament.

Introduced: the Bill and its documents

What happens

This is when the promoter presents the bill to the Scottish Parliament. The promoter must pay a fee to introduce the bill. With the bill, the promoter also provides:

  • Explanatory Notes (to explain the legal effect of the bill)
  • a Promoter’s Memorandum (to explain why the bill is being proposed)
  • a Promoter’s Statement (to give details of things the promoter must do before the bill is introduced, including consulting on the bill and letting people know that it is going to be introduced)
  • a statement on legislative competence (to say that the changes to the law included in the bill are changes that the Parliament has the power to make)

Once a Private Bill is introduced, it follows a 3-stage process. These stages are quite different from the stages of a Government Bill, and they have different names.

Preliminary stage

What happens

A small committee is set up to consider the Private Bill. MSPs are not chosen to be members of the committee if they have any connection to the promoter, or if they are MSPs for any area that is directly affected by the Bill. The committee is responsible for examining the bill. It hears from the promoter and from objectors, if there are any. It may also hear from experts, organisations and members of the public about what the bill would do.

The committee then writes a report about what it has heard and gives its own view of the bill. This Preliminary Stage report usually makes a recommendation about whether the Parliament should support the bill.

The Parliament then debates the bill and decides whether it should go on to Consideration Stage, or be rejected.

How you can get involved

As soon as the bill is introduced, there is a period of 60 days when other people or organisations can object to the bill if they think it will affect them unfairly. These people or organisations are known as “objectors”. To be an objector, it is not enough just to disagree with the bill, or think it will affect some people unfairly. You must show that it will have an unfair effect on you.

Information for objectors to Private Bills

Consideration stage

What happens

If there are objections to the bill, they are considered in detail by the Private Bill committee. The committee members listen to the arguments on both sides and decide between them (like the judge in a court would do). Sometimes, the committee will publish a report to explain the decisions it makes on objections.

Members of the committee can then propose changes to a bill – these are called ”amendments”. Some amendments may be suggested by the promoter. The amendments are debated and decided on by the Private Bill committee. Only the committee members can vote on amendments at this stage.

If any amendments are agreed to at Consideration Stage, a new (amended) version of the bill is published. This is the version considered at Final Stage.

Final stage

What happens

MSPs can propose further amendments to the bill. These are debated and decided on in the Debating Chamber, and at this stage all MSPs can vote on them. MSPs then debate and vote on whether to pass the bill. If the bill is not passed, it falls and can’t become law.  

Reconsideration Stage

Following a challenge by Law Officers or the Secretary of State, the Parliament may decide to reconsider a Bill. The main purpose of a Reconsideration Stage is to allow the Bill to be amended to remove the basis on which it was blocked. 

Challenge by Law Officers

The Law Officers are the Attorney General, the Advocate General for Scotland and the Lord Advocate.

Law Officers can ask the Supreme Court (the highest court in the UK) to decide:

  • if what the Bill sets out to do is something the Scottish Parliament has power to do
  • if the Bill should have been passed by a "super-majority” 

The Bill cannot be submitted for Royal Assent until the Supreme Court has made its decision. 

Order issued by Secretary of State

The Secretary of State is the UK Government Cabinet Minister representing Scotland. 

Sometimes a Bill cannot be submitted for Royal Assent because of an order issued by the Secretary of State. An order might be issued because the Secretary of State believes the Bill would:

  • not respect international obligations 
  • not be in the interests of defence or national security
  • have an adverse effect on the changes to laws on reserved matters 

Reconsideration of a bill

At Reconsideration Stage, the bill is considered by all MSPs in the Debating Chamber.

MSPs can submit amendments to the Bill. Only amendments aimed at fixing the problem are allowed.  Amendments cannot be submitted if the bill is being reconsidered because it needs to be passed by a super-majority. 

MSPs discuss the Bill with these amendments and vote on each amendment. They then vote on if the bill should be approved.

The Law Officers can challenge a Bill again. The Secretary of State can issue a further order about the Bill.

There is no limit to the number of times that the Scottish Parliament may approve a Bill and that Bill is then challenged. 

Turning the bill into an act

If the bill is passed, it is normally sent for Royal Assent after about 4 weeks. Royal Assent is when the bill gets formal agreement by the King and becomes an act of the Scottish Parliament.

Some acts become law straight after Royal Assent. Some only become law on a later date. Sometimes different parts of the same act become law on different dates.

See all Acts of the Scottish Parliament