• Our work

      Themes

    • Brexit and Parliament
    • Future Parliament
    • Governance of Parliament
    • Making better law
    • Parliaments around the world
    • Parliamentary scrutiny
    • Political engagement
    • Representation
    • publications

    • Publications Home
    • Procedural and constitutional guides
    • Briefings
    • Reports
    • Submissions
    • projects

    • Audit of Political Engagement
    • Mock Elections 2019
    • services

    • Statutory Instrument Tracker®
  • About

      about

      who we are

    • What we do
    • Our history
    • contact

    • Our people
    • Contact us
    • Contacts for the media
    • careers

    • Jobs
    • subscribe

    • Insight Notes newsletter
    • Hansard Society newsletter
  • Blog
  • News
  • Events
  • Journal
  • Scholars
Hansard Society logoHansard Society logo
  • Our work

    • Themes

      • Brexit and Parliament
      • Future Parliament
      • Governance of Parliament
      • Making better law
      • Parliaments around the world
      • Parliamentary scrutiny
      • Political engagement
      • Representation
    • publications

      • Publications Home
      • Procedural and constitutional guides
      • Briefings
      • Reports
      • Submissions

      projects

      • Audit of Political Engagement
      • Mock Elections 2019

      services

      • Statutory Instrument Tracker®
  • About

    • about

        who we are

      • What we do
      • Our history
      • contact

      • Our people
      • Contact us
      • Contacts for the media
      • careers

      • Jobs
      • subscribe

      • Insight Notes newsletter
      • Hansard Society newsletter
      • Join our newsletter

        Get the latest updates on our research and events, together with expert comment and analysis, delivered to your inbox each month.

        You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

        Thank you!

        You have been successfully added to our newsletter list.

        Follow us

        :( Oops! Something went wrong...

        Please reload the page and try again.

        Insight Notes

        Subscribe to our regular Insight Notes on parliamentary data, procedures and the legislative process at Westminster, including updates on Brexit Statutory Instruments - in your inbox every sitting Monday afternoon.

        You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

        Thank you!

        You have been successfully added to our Insight Notes email list.

        Follow us

        :( Oops! Something went wrong...

        Please reload the page and try again.

      Follow us

  • Blog

    Blog

    • blog

      • Despatch Box Blog
  • News

    News

    • news

      • News Home
  • Events

    Events

    • events

      • Events
  • Journal

    Journal

    • journal

      • Parliamentary Affairs
  • Scholars

    Scholars

    The inside of a prison
    blog / 10.11.15

    Lifting the Lid: The Prison and Young Offender Institution (Amendment) Rules 2015

    Share this

    Our ‘Lifting the Lid’ blog series aims to open up the delegated legislation process by revealing the stories behind some recently published Statutory Instruments. This week: The Prison and Young Offender Institution (Amendment) Rules 2015.

    Joel Blackwell

    Joel Blackwell

    Senior Researcher, Hansard Society

    Joel conducts the Society’s continued research into the legislative process, the effectiveness of Parliament in scrutinising and holding the executive to account and the public’s engagement with politics.

    He is co-author of ‘The Devil is in the Detail: Parliament and Delegated Legislation’. Prior to joining the Hansard Society in 2014, Joel was a Political Consultant for Dods Parliamentary Communications and has also worked at the Electoral Commission. He graduated from Bristol University in 2005 with a degree in Politics and Social Policy.

    Up on the committee corridor this morning (10 Nov) was the rather innocuous looking First Delegated Legislation Committee where a group of MPs considered the Prison and Young Offender Institution (Amendment) Rules 2015.

    This in fact represented the third attempt by Parliament in 16 days to block a Statutory Instrument (SI) and follows hot on the heels of the two controversial votes in the House of Lords on Tax Credit cuts and Individual Electoral Registration.

    However, unlike the two SIs considered in the House of Lords, the SI debated today has very little chance of making it to a substantive vote on the Floor of the House due to a number of ‘quirks’ associated with the scrutiny procedure allocated to this type of instrument.

    The Prison and Young Offender Institution (Amendment) Rules 2015 amend a previous instrument from 1999 following the outcome of a recent Supreme Court judgment which found that arrangements allowing prison governors to authorise segregation of a prisoner for periods longer than 72 hours were unlawful because the 1999 instrument required such decisions to be taken under the authority of the Secretary of State.

    The revised rules allow governors in a prison, or young offender institution, to authorise continuing segregation beyond 72 hours for a period of up to 14 days (authority for which can be renewed for subsequent periods of up to 14 days). They also provide additional safeguards including a requirement for the Secretary of State to give permission before decisions can be taken to continue segregation beyond 42 days.

    However, organisations such as the Howard League for Penal Reform have expressed concern over the amendments, particularly regarding the delay in the requirement for external review of a segregation decision from 72 hours to 42 days.

    The Rules are subject to the negative procedure which means that it will become law on a stated date unless a ‘prayer’ motion (so called because of the precise wording used in the formal motion) is passed in either House annulling the instrument. If a member of either House wishes to reject a negative instrument they have to do so within 40 days of the instrument being laid before Parliament.

    In the House of Commons, any member can table a ‘prayer’ as an Early Day Motion (EDM). These are motions for which no fixed parliamentary time has been allocated, and therefore whether they are heard is entirely in the hands of the government. If the official opposition tables a prayer motion there is some chance that it will be debated as the whips and business managers can seek to negotiate time for debate through the ‘usual channels’. This was the case with the prison institution Rules in which Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn successfully tabled a prayer motion via an EDM on 26 October.

    If time is allocated to debate a prayer on the Floor of the House of Commons, MPs have up to 90 minutes to debate the instrument before voting on the question that the SI be annulled. However, the prayer motion relating to these Rules was referred to a Delegated Legislation Committee because the government successfully moved a ‘motion of referral’ last week. This means that today’s debate (also the final day of the SI’s 40-day scrutiny period) in committee was held on a non-fatal motion ‘that the Committee has considered the instrument’ so the prayer motion still has to be moved to the Floor of the House for the substantive annulment question to be put. This almost never happens because there is no requirement for a subsequent motion to be tabled even if today’s consideration motion was negatived.

    Even though the 40-day scrutiny period will have ended, a motion could still be tabled calling for the rules to be revoked rather than annulled, although it would be incumbent on the opposition to use one of their allotted debate days for this to occur. An added complication is that, by then, the Prison and Young Offender Institution (Amendment) Rules 2015 would have been in force for over two months and given that the Ministry of Justice plans to review the impact and success of the amended procedures early next year, the opposition may perhaps be less inclined to pursue revocation after November recess.

    To find out more about our weekly Statutory Instrument Tracker subscription service, contact joel.blackwell@hansardsociety.org.uk

    You can buy our book, The Devil is in the Detail: Parliament and Delegated Legislation.

    Want to know more about delegated legislation? This 5 minute video with our Director, Dr Ruth Fox, explains what it is and why it needs reforming.

    Our research into delegated legislation was funded by the Nuffield Foundation.


    Enjoy reading this? Please consider sharing it

    Related

    EU flag missing a star, symbolising Brexit
    blog / 22.01.21

    Brexit and Beyond: Delegated Legislation

    Royal Courts of Justice
    blog / 12.11.20

    Did you get the memo? Post-legislative scrutiny and the case of judicial review

    Photo of a clock showing the countdown to Brexit
    news / articles

    In the rush to prepare for Brexit, parliamentary scrutiny will suffer

    Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP during the Urgent Question on COVID-19, 7 July 2020 © UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor
    publica… / briefings / 2020

    Building on the 'Brady amendment': how can Parliament scrutinise Coronavirus regulations more effectively?

    Houses of Parliament at Dusk, Westminster
    publica… / briefings / 2020

    What to look out for in Parliament in Autumn 2020

    Parliament with icons overlay
    services

    Statutory Instrument Tracker®

    Join our newsletter

    Get the latest updates on our research and events, together with expert comment and analysis, delivered to your inbox each month.

    You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

    Thank you!

    You have been successfully added to our newsletter list.

    Follow us

    :( Oops! Something went wrong...

    Please reload the page and try again.

    Top three

    Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer in a socially distanced House of Commons chamber, 23 September 2020. ©UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor
    publica… / briefings / 2020

    Expediting of the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill through Parliament: five issues

    EU and UK flags in front of Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster
    blog / 29.12.20

    Parliament’s role in scrutinising the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is a farce

    Coronavirus medical animation
    publica… / data / 2020

    Coronavirus Statutory Instruments Dashboard

    Latest

    EU flag missing a star, symbolising Brexit
    blog / 22.01.21

    Brexit and Beyond: Delegated Legislation

    The end of the transition period is likely to expose even more fully the scope of the policy-making that the government can carry out via Statutory Instruments, as it uses its new powers to develop post-Brexit law. However, there are few signs yet of a wish to reform delegated legislation scrutiny, on the part of government or the necessary coalition of MPs.

    Brexit and Beyond: Delegated Legislation
    EU and UK flags in front of Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster
    blog / 29.12.20

    Parliament’s role in scrutinising the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is a farce

    Parliament’s role around the end of the Brexit transition and conclusion of the EU future relationship treaty is a constitutional failure to properly scrutinise the executive and the law. As the UK moves to do things differently after 1 January, MPs must do more to ensure they can better discharge their responsibilities regarding the making of UK treaties.

    Parliament’s role in scrutinising the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is a farce
    Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer in a socially distanced House of Commons chamber, 23 September 2020. ©UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor
    publications / briefings / 2020

    Expediting of the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill through Parliament: five issues

    The EU (Future Relationship) Bill is to be considered by both Houses in just one sitting day. How unusual is such an expedited timetable and how much time will parliamentarians really have to look at the Bill? How will MPs participate in proceedings given Covid-19 restrictions? And how will proceedings, particularly the amendment process, work on the day?

    Expediting of the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill through Parliament: five issues
    'First virtual PMQs and Ministerial statement on Coronavirus', © UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor.
    blog / 04.12.20

    Why the exclusion of pregnant MPs from the House of Commons during Covid-19 matters – for them and for others

    The debate about remote participation in House of Commons proceedings raises critical questions about what constitutes a ‘good parliamentarian’, what ‘fair’ participation looks like, and who gets to decide. As things stand, the exclusion from much parliamentary business of pregnant women, among others, undermines equality of political representation.

    Why the exclusion of pregnant MPs from the House of Commons during Covid-19 matters – for them and for others
    blog / 04.12.20

    Reviewing Restoration and Renewal and planning for a post-pandemic Parliament

    The Coronavirus pandemic has added to the questions surrounding the nature of the Parliament that should emerge from the Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal programme. But, with concerns over the programme’s governance and public engagement rising, the report arising from the current review of the programme will not now be published this year.

    Reviewing Restoration and Renewal and planning for a post-pandemic Parliament
    Covent Garden Market, Westminster election, 1 Jully 1808 (designed and etched by Thomas Rowlandson), This print records temporary wooden stands erected outside St.Paul's Church in Covent Garden Market to allow politicians running for Parliament in the Westminster election to address voters. On this occasion a large crowd has gathered, carrying banners and spilling out into the square, with some figures perched on a roof at right to listen to a speaker. (Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
    blog / 13.11.20

    Controverted elections: how disputed results used to be part and parcel of English political and parliamentary life

    Disputed parliamentary election results – often taking months to resolve – were a frequent feature of English political culture before the reforms of the 19th century. But how could defeated candidates protest the result of an election, and how were such disputes resolved?

    Controverted elections: how disputed results used to be part and parcel of English political and parliamentary life
    Prev
    Next
    • Recent pages
      • Lifting the Lid: The Prison and Young Offender Institution (Amendment) Rules 2015blog
    • Home
    • Contact us
    • What we do
    • Jobs
    • Privacy policy
    • Site map

    Join our newsletter

    Get the latest updates on our research and events, together with expert comment and analysis, delivered to your inbox each month.

    You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

    Thank you!

    You have been successfully added to our newsletter list.

    Follow us

    :( Oops! Something went wrong...

    Please reload the page and try again.

    Copyright © 2020 Hansard Society • Charity No: 1091364 • Registration No: 4332105.