Support for Private Members’ Bills in the United Kingdom and Japan

Abstract

It is a common arrangement in different legislatures that individual members who are not ministers can bring forward bills (private members’ bills), but the drafting of a bill may involve certain technicalities that are usually outside their knowledge. How, then, do legislators prepare the text of private members’ bills? This article presents the way in which support is provided to those members who seek to introduce their bills in the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the National Diet of Japan. It then discusses two common challenges for such support: how to avoid the risk that demand will outstrip supply and how to make sure that the drafting of private members’ bills meets the quality standards (if any).