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Department
5. The Department which would take the lead in preparing the Bill needs to be mentioned here, but other major Departmental interests should also be indicated.
Political Aspects
6.
the
Please state briefly what, if any, commitments Government have made about the legislation in question.
in question. Please also cover briefly:
a.
the Bill's likely reception in Parliament, including whether it is likely to arouse particular interest in the
House of Lords;
b.
what the attitude of the Opposition parties is likely
to be;
c.
whether it is likely to be controversial politically or
for any other reason;
d.
whether there is pressure for representing particular interests;
the Bill from groups
whether it is likely to appeal to or be strongly opposed by any particular sections of the community.
e.
Length
7. An estimate of the length of the Bill is needed so that the
demands on the drafting capacity and Parliamentary time can be assessed at the earliest possible stage. It will not normally be possible to give an accurate forecast of the number of clauses and schedules, but some indication such as 'very short' (ie not
more than 4 clauses), 'short' (5-12 clauses), 'medium' (13-25 clauses), 'substantial' (26-50 clauses) or 'long' (over 50 clauses) should be given. The approximate number of clauses for substantial and long Bills should be indicated. If the Bill would be short but the schedules lengthy please say so. Where a Bill would cover more than one distinct topic, please indicate roughly what proportion of
of the Bill would be devoted to each