Advantages and Disadvantages of delegated legislation

Advantage - saves parliamentary time

Parl passes about 30-40 Acts a year

3000 stat instruments get made annually

parl does not have time to consider all details so DL allows parl to focus on major issues

Advantage - access to techinical expertise

allows technical expertise to be dealt with by properly qualified experts

necessary for a rapidly changing modern society

Advantage - allows consultation

brings in expertise and public opinion

consultation important on technical matters where necessary to make regulations that are workable

Advantage - allows quick law making

process of act of parliament can take a long time and in emergency parl may not be able to pass laws juicily enough to orders in council can be made very quickly to deal with disasters or terrorist threats (in a matter or hours)

Advantage - easy to amend

delegated legislation can be amended or revoked easily when necessary so that law can be kept up to date

useful where monetary limits have to change each year

Disadvantage - Undemocratic

takes law away from democratically elected House of Commons and allows non-elected people to make law

acceptable provided there is sufficient control by limited scrutiny in parliament

why can’t criticism be made of by-laws by local authorities?

because they are elected bodies and accountable to local citizens

Disadvantage - Sub-delegation

law-making authority passed down another level

argument that law made by civil servants and ‘rubber stamped’ by minister of that department

Disadvantage - large volume and lack of publicity

over 3000 stat instruments are made annually

may be difficult to find when it came into force

problem aggravated by lack of publicity as much of DL is made in private and passed through parliament without debate

Disadvantage - difficult wording

delegated legislation shatters with Act of Parliament the prime of complex language that can lead to difficulty of understanding

rules of stat interpretation may have to be used by courts to understand legislation

Disadvantage - Length and expense of judicial review

no legal aid available for this procedure and a person must have sufficient standing or interest before a case can be launched