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{{short description|Official
{{lowercase title}}
{{Infobox website
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| screenshot =
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| owner = [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National
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'''
▲'''Legislation.gov.uk''', formerly the '''UK Statute Law Database''', is the official [[Worldwide Web|web]]-accessible [[database]] of the [[statute law]] of the [[United Kingdom]], hosted by [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]]. It contains all primary legislation in force as of 1991, and all primary and secondary legislation since that date; it does not include legislation which was fully repealed prior to 1991. The contents have been revised to reflect legislative changes up to 2002, with material that has been amended since 2002 noted in a table but not yet fully updated.{{update after|2014|2|18}}
==New Statute Law Database==
{{tone|section|date=January 2013}}
In December 2008, the Statute Law Database team transferred to [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]], which meant
The content of the new Statute Law Database consists of the combined content of the previous UK Statute Law Database (SLD)
Aspects of the new site:
*
*
*
* Links in annotations – all annotations giving authority for amendments that have been applied now contain links to the affecting legislation (on SLD will only be able to do this for amendments carried out post
* Probably one of the main areas of difference from SLD is that the
==History==
=== Background ===
Access to statute law in the United Kingdom was, for some time, a difficult matter. As the [[Hansard Society]] noted in 1992, "[a]t present the accessibility of statute law to users and the wider public is slow, inconvenient, complicated and subject to several impediments. To put it bluntly, it is often very difficult to find out what the text of a law is – let alone what it means. Something must be done."<ref name="Zander">{{cite book |last=Zander
===Development===
==== 1991 to 1995 ====
The idea for creating a UK-wide legislation database dates back to 1991 when the government awarded a contract to [[Syntegra]], a [[BT Group|BT]] company previously known as "Secure Information Systems Limited", to create a database containing all the [[public Act]]s comprised in the publication ''[[Statutes in Force]]'' together with all amendments made since a "base date" of 1 February 1991. The database was delivered by Syntegra in November 1993, but not accepted by the government until Summer 1995 at a cost of £700,000.<ref>{{cite
The original database consisted of an [[Interleaf]] editorial system which allowed legislation to be held and edited in [[SGML]]. In 1991 there were no plans to make the database available on the
In 1995 Syntegra developed the first version of the Statute Law Database website. This was only ever available in pilot form and to a limited number of
====1996 to 2000====
On 9 February 1996, [[Roger Freeman, Baron Freeman|Roger Freeman]], the [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]], announced that the copyright and charging policy of the Statute Law Database would "be decided nearer the time of implementation in 1997".<ref>{{cite
In March 1999, it was disclosed that "[t]he partially updated database is presently available to a number of users within central government who have access to the Statutory Publications Office Intranet. The Lord Chancellor's Department are considering options for the future marketing of the Statute Law Database. These options include free Internet access, the granting of non-exclusive licences to legal information publishers and the provision of a subscription on-line service."<ref>{{
====2001 to 2006====
In 2004, it was announced that the system designed by Syntegra would be modernised by replacing its editorial database, developing two new enquiry systems (one for government departments (accessible via the [[Government Secure Intranet]], "GSI") and the other for the general public), and the revision and updating of the [[statute book]].<ref name="binary"/> Two contracts were signed by the [[Department for Constitutional Affairs]] (DCA) with [[Computacenter]], one for the delivery of the editorial system, the other for the government enquiry system. The combined cost of the contracts was £458,000.<ref>
A [[content management system]] named '''TSO ActiveText''' (after TSO, [[The Stationery Office]]) is used in the new system to store legislation in [[XML]] with a specific [[Document Type Definition|DTD]]. Documents in ActiveText are fragmented and can be edited using [[XMetaL]] which allows editors to check documents in and out of the database for editing. All the legislation from the original SGML database was converted into XML. After the editorial system was completed, further development began on a new online Statute Law Database '''Enquiry System'''.<ref name="talkopsi"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.number7.demon.co.uk/papers/SLD/SLD.htm |title=
The government's enquiry system was launched on 31 May 2006 with a plan to roll out general access in three phases. The first stage would open the database to a very limited number of users for testing. On 2 August 2006 the [[Department for Constitutional Affairs]] (DCA) commenced the second stage of the database project, allowing the system to be tested in use by issuing login details and passwords to a wide range of selected customers including
The delays involved in realising the database led to a number groups requesting the raw data of the legislation in order to put together their own versions. Among those refused access was Julian Todd, the co-creator of the website [[TheyWorkForYou]], who stated "I
The database was finally made available to the public on 20 December 2006. Announcing its launch, [[Catherine Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland|Baroness Ashton]], a Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the [[Department for Constitutional Affairs]], said that "[t]he Statute Law Database provides an authoritative and easy-to-use historical database of UK statute law. I hope it will be welcomed as a useful tool for professionals who need to keep up with changes to the law as well as those who simply have an interest in historic and current legislation."<ref name="YRTK">
====2007–present====
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==Content==
The database contains the text of [[primary legislation]]
In addition, a "table of effects" has been published every year since 2002 which lists all the legislation repealed, the effects of primary and secondary legislation brought into force since 2002 on primary legislation in the database.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}
===Primary legislation===
The database content includes the following '''primary legislation''' in ''
* Acts of the [[Parliament of Great Britain]] (1707–1800);
* Acts of the [[English Parliament]] (
* Acts of the pre-UK
* UK local
* Acts of the [[Scottish Parliament]] (1999 to date);
* [[Measure of the National Assembly for Wales|Measures of the Welsh Assembly]] (2007 to 2011);
* [[Act of the National Assembly for Wales|Acts of
* Acts of the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] (
* Acts of the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]] (1921–1972);
* Measures of the [[Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)|Northern Ireland Assembly]] (1974);
* Acts of the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] (2000–2002, 2007 to date);
* [[Orders in Council]] made under Northern Ireland Acts (1974 to date);
* [[List of Church of England
Other primary legislation that is held in '''unrevised''' form includes:
* Post-1991 local
===Secondary legislation===
The database also contains certain '''secondary legislation''' which is '''
* Statutory
* [[List of
* [[Scottish
* [[Statutory
* [[List of Church of England
==Current limitations==
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Also the database does not currently include:
*
* Most pre-1991 local
* Secondary legislation pre-dating
▲* Orders in Council made under the [[Royal Prerogative]];
* [[Byelaws]].
There are no plans to extend the database to include the above material. However, a [[Parliamentary select committees of the United Kingdom|Select Committee]] report on the "Merits of Statutory Instruments", published on 7 November 2006, recommended that the database should be extended to cover secondary as well as primary legislation. The government responded that this was indeed important, but that "[t]he immediate priority is to ensure that a fully revised and up to date version of the official statute book is delivered for use by the public and that work on this is maintained. After this has been achieved consideration will then be given as to how work can be extended to updating secondary legislation."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldselect/ldmerit/275/
==See also==
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{{UK legislation}}
▲{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2010}}
[[Category:Law
[[Category:Government databases in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Online law databases]]
[[Category:Government services web portals in the United
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