At-a-glance: Queen' Speech 2013 bill-by-bill

8 May 2013

The Queen at the state opening of Parliament

The Queen's Speech sets out the government's legislative programme for the next year. Here is a guide to all the bills in it.

Immigration Bill

This bill is designed to make it easier to deport people who do not have the right to stay in the UK, and to prevent immigrants accessing services to which they are not entitled. Businesses that use illegal labour will face increased fines, and private landlords will be required to check the immigration status of their tenants. The right of appeal against immigration decisions will be restricted, and immigration officers will be given more powers. Foreign nationals who commit serious crimes will be deported except in extraordinary circumstances, and the law will be changed so this principle is reflected in the courts. The bill will apply to all of the UK.

Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill

This bill will include measures to tackle anti-social behaviour, forced marriage, dangerous dogs and illegal firearms. The offence of being in charge of an out-of-control dog will be extended to cover private property, including people's houses. Forced marriage will become a criminal offence, as will a breach of a forced-marriage protection order. The police will be able to prosecute uncontested minor offences of shoplifting, and the witness-protection scheme will be extended to other vulnerable individuals. Magistrates will no longer have the power to reduce the victim surcharge by giving additional days in prison as a substitute. The police will also be reformed, with a new Police Remuneration Review Body replacing the Police Negotiating Board. This bill applies mainly to England and Wales, with some provisions extending to the rest of the UK.

Pensions Bill

This will introduce a single-tier state-pension system, replacing the current basic state pension and earnings-related top-up. It will be implemented from April 2016. The bill will also bring forward the increase in the retirement age to 67 by eight years, so it will now come in to force between 2026 and 2028. It also makes provision to continually review the retirement age in light of the increase in people's life expectancy. It will make it a legal requirement for the pensions regulator to consider minimising the economic impact pension provision has on a company that provides it for its employees. The bill will apply to England, Scotland and Wales.

Care Bill

This bill will introduce a cap on the cost of social care, and give carers the legal right to support from their local council. It will provide protection to people whose care provider goes out of business and give everyone a legal entitlement to a personal care budget, which they can receive as a direct payment to spend as they wish. The bill will introduce an Ofsted-style rating system for hospitals and care homes and give new powers of intervention to the chief inspector of hospitals. It will create two new public bodies, Health Education England and the Health Research Authority. These will provide additional training and support for health professionals. The bill will apply to England only, although the Health Research Authority will co-operate with organisations across the UK.

Offender Rehabilitation Bill

Offenders who serve custodial sentences of less than a year will be put under supervision for 12 months after their release. At the moment, they receive no supervision, and it is hoped this measure will reduce re-offending. The six month supervision period that currently applies to people who serve between one and two years in prison will be extended to a year. This bill will apply to England and Wales.

National Insurance Contributions Bill

This bill is designed to reduce the cost to small businesses of employing people. If it passes, from April 2014 every business and charity will be entitled to a £2,000 employment allowance. It also aims to stop the use of offshore companies that are sometimes used by companies to avoid paying their National Insurance contributions. The bill will remove the presumption of self-employment for limited liability partnership members. It will apply to the whole of the UK

Defence Reform Bill

This bill will increase the size of the reserve forces so they can play a greater role in the country's defence. The measure was first outlined in the Strategic Defence Review 2010, and the government believes it will save a significant amount of money. The bill will also change the way defence equipment is purchased by the government. It will apply to the whole of the UK.

High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill

This bill will give parliamentary authorisation for the government to spend the money necessary to build the new rail link between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. It will allow the government to pay for the preparatory work needed before construction begins, for example ecological surveys and ground investigations. The government needs to pass this before it can pass the High Speed Two Hybrid Bill. This bill will apply to England, Scotland and Wales.

High Speed Two Hybrid Bill

This bill will give the government the legal power to compulsorily buy the land needed to construct the proposed high speed rail line linking Britain's biggest cities. Those affected by the bill will have the opportunity to petition Parliament and have their case heard by the bill select committee. It will apply to England, Scotland and Wales.

Intellectual Property Bill

This bill is designed to simplify patent and design protection laws. It will implement the Unified Patent Court, which will mean that a single patent application will be valid in almost all EU countries. The bill will introduce criminal penalties for breaching UK protected designs, and bring in measures to speed up the patent-application process. It will apply to the whole of the UK.

Local Audit and Accountability Bill

This bill will close down the Audit Commission and replace it with a new local audit framework. The government estimates this will save £1.2bn over ten years. It will allow local council taxpayers to veto rises in council tax caused by bodies such as waste disposal authorities and integrated transport authorities. The bill will also cut down on the amount of council-funded newspapers produced. It will apply to England and Wales.

Water Bill

This bill will change the way the water industry works. It will allow all business, charity and public-sector customers to switch their water supplier, in order to increase competition, and make it easier for new companies to enter the water market. It will also become easier for water companies to trade water with each other, which should help manage drought situations better. The bill will apply to England and Wales, and a small number of provisions will extend to Scotland.

Mesothelioma Bill

This bill is designed to help people who suffer from Mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos. It establishes a payment scheme for those people who cannot trace their employer or their employer's insurance company, where the employer was responsible for the asbestos exposure. Anyone diagnosed with mesothelioma from 25 July 2012 will be able to make a claim. The bill will be funded by a levy on insurance companies, and it will apply to the whole of the UK.

Northern Ireland Bill

This introduces technical changes to the way the politics and institutions in Northern Ireland operate. It will increase the transparency of political donations, and will prevent members of the Northern Ireland Assembly also being members of parliament in the House of Commons or the Dail, the lower house of the Irish Parliament. It will change the way Northern Irish elections are administered, following recommendations by the Electoral Commission and the chief electoral officer for Northern Ireland. Although the bill is specific to Northern Ireland, as a technical matter it applies to the whole of the UK.

Gambling (licensing and advertising) Bill

This was not mentioned in the speech, but does appear in the briefing notes attached to the speech line "other measures will be laid before you". This bill will mean that gambling operators based overseas will be required to hold a licence from the UK Gambling Commission. At the moment they are regulated in the jurisdiction in which they are based. This will also apply to operators who advertise in the UK. Because this will mean that overseas operators will be required to inform British authorities of suspicious betting patterns, it should help prevent corruption in sport. This will apply to Great Britain, with some provisions extending to Northern Ireland.

European Union Approvals Bill

This also appears in the briefing notes attached to the line "other measures will be laid before you". It is a technical bill which allows the UK to take part in EU measures against counterfeiting the Euro, allows us access to historical archives and makes us a part of an EU-wide civic education program called Europe for Citizens. The bill extends to all of the UK.

Draft Consumer Rights Bill

This proposed bill would update consumer-protection laws so they cover digital purchases such as downloaded music and e-books. Trading Standards will be granted new powers, such as being able to get a court to order a trader to pay compensation when consumer law is breached. The bill would apply to all of the UK.

Draft Wales Bill

This is a proposed bill to alter the way elections in Wales work. Candidates would be able to stand on both a regional list and in a constituency, but would no longer be able to sit as an MP in the House of Commons at the same time. It would also move the Welsh assembly on to sitting for fixed five-year terms, reducing the likelihood of assembly elections clashing with parliamentary elections. Although the bill would be specific to Wales, as a technical matter much of it would apply to the whole of the UK.

Draft Deregulation Bill

This draft bill lays out how the government intends to reduce the amount of regulation with which businesses, individuals and public bodies have to comply. Measures include exempting from health-and-safety legislation people who are self-employed and whose work poses no risk of harm to other people, and removing the ability of of employment tribunals to make wider recommendations in successful discrimination cases, which they were granted in the Equality Act 2010. The whole bill would apply to England and Wales, and some parts of it would apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Energy Bill (carried over from previous session)

The government is going to continue with the legislation it started in the last Parliament to reform the energy sector. It is designed to ensure there is always enough capacity to generate the amount of electricity the UK needs, and that this is done in a low-carbon way. It also contains measures to ensure people are always on the best energy tariff for their needs. It will apply to all of Great Britain, with some measures extending to Northern Ireland.

Things which were not mentioned in the speech...

The speech contained no mention of new bills to bring in plain packaging on cigarettes, or a minimum price for alcohol, which were both changes that had been mooted. According to the BBC's Robin Brant, ministers say some of the public health issues are being consulted on, that they haven't been abandoned. Although the communications data bill was dropped from the speech after Lib Dem opposition, the government still wants to take action against cyber-crime.