Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020

2 Orders in Council giving effect to reports

(1) Section 4 of the 1986 Act (Orders in Council) is amended as follows.

(2) For subsections (1) to (4) (procedure for draft Orders in Council) substitute—

“(1) After all four reports under section 3(1) which are required by section 3(2) to be submitted before a particular date have been laid before Parliament under section 3(2ZB), the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office must submit to Her Majesty in Council a draft of an Order in Council for giving effect to the recommendations in those of the four reports (if any) which are reports under section 3(1)(a) (report with recommendations).

(2) The draft of an Order in Council must be submitted under subsection (1)—

(a) as soon as reasonably practicable after all four reports have been laid before Parliament as mentioned in that subsection, and

(b) in any case, no later than the end of the four month period unless there are exceptional circumstances.

(3) “The four month period” means the period of four months beginning with the first date on which all four reports have been laid before Parliament as mentioned in subsection (1).

(4) If the draft of an Order in Council is not submitted under subsection (1) before the end of the four month period, the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office must lay one or more statements before Parliament in accordance with subsection (4A) specifying the exceptional circumstances.

(4A) A statement must be laid—

(a) before the end of the period of 10 sitting days beginning with the first sitting day after the end of the four month period, and

(b) before the end of each subsequent period of 20 sitting days beginning with the first sitting day after the previous statement was so laid, until the draft of an Order in Council is submitted under subsection (1).

(4B) A draft of an Order in Council submitted under subsection (1)—

(a) may give effect to recommendations in the reports with modifications only if that is required under section 4A, and

(b) may make provision for any matters which appear to the Secretary of State or, as the case may be, the Minister for the Cabinet Office to be incidental to, or consequential on—

(i) the recommendations in the reports, or

(ii) those recommendations together with the modifications that the draft is required to give effect to under section 4A.”

(3) In subsection (7) (validity of Order in Council not to be called in question), omit the words from “and” to “Parliament”.

(4) After subsection (7) insert—

“(7A) In this section, “sitting day” means a day on which both Houses of Parliament sit; and for that purpose a day is only a day on which a House sits if the House begins to sit on that day.”