§ Sir Richard BodyTo ask the President of the Council what percentage of statutory instruments introduced into Parliament in(a) 1976, (b) 1986 and (c) 1996 had the European Union as their legislative source; if she will take steps to introduce a physical distinction in the publication of such statutory instruments in the future; and if she will make a statement. [6482]
§ Mrs. Ann TaylorThe total number of Statutory Instruments (SIs) registered as General Instruments in 1976, 1986 and 1996 was:
Year Number of SIs 1976 1,168 1986 1,359 1996 1,832 Source:
Statutory Instruments Publication Office. Statutory Instruments are classified as General Instruments if they are in the nature of a public general Act. SIs may also be registered as Local Instruments if they are in the nature of local and personal or private Acts. SIs implementing EC legislation will always be classified as General Instruments.
It is not possible without incurring disproportionate cost to determine how many of these SIs were introduced to comply with European Community obligations. However, the number of SIs, including amending Instruments, registered in the three years concerned to comply with European Community Directives which were still in force on 31 October 1996 was:
Year Number of SIs 1976 26 1986 28 1996 80 Source:
Butterworth's EC Legislation Implementator 1997, Issue 1. The figures are based on material collated up to 31 October 1996 and relate to Directives in force on that date. Directives for which no implementing material has been identified, or which have been repealed or spent, have not been included.
I have no plans to introduce a physical distinction in the publication of such Statutory Instruments.
An earlier answer given by the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Official Report, 28 January 1997, columns 131–32 gave figures for the number of Statutory 166W Instruments implementing EC Directives between 1992 to 95. An error has since been discovered in the compilation of these figures and corrected figures are now given in the table.
Year Number of SIs 1992 124 1993 86 1994 137 1995 127 1996 80