Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which statutory instruments can be made as an Order in Council without parliamentary approval.

An Order in Council made under an Act of Parliament is a form of secondary legislation. The enabling Act will specify whether or not an Order in Council is subject to a Parliamentary procedure, and if so what that parliamentary procedure is.

There are over 400 Acts of Parliament which provide Order in Council making powers to Her Majesty in Council. Orders in Council made under Act of Parliament without a parliamentary procedure cover a range of subject matter, including the commencement of primary legislation, the UK armed forces and devolution issues, as well as fishing limits, the carriage of goods by sea, and the implementation of international agreements such as those on child abduction, reciprocal enforcement of court judgements, and the Geneva Conventions.

Some other prerogative business made on the advice of the Privy Council by Order in Council is not subject to parliamentary procedure and relates almost exclusively to the affairs of Chartered bodies.