Office of Public Sector Information
This page provides links to the full text of all UK Parliament Public General Acts (from 1988 onwards) and all Local Acts (from 1991 onwards) as they were originally enacted. As an exception The European Communities Act 1972 and Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975 are also available.
Legislation made prior to 1988 is only available in its original print format as before this date legislation was not produced electronically.
Bills currently before the UK Parliament are available on the UK Parliament website.
With effect from the first Public General Act of 1999, all new Public Acts which result from Bills introduced into either House of Parliament by a Government Minister (with the exception of Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts), are accompanied by Explanatory Notes. The text of the Explanatory Notes is produced by the Government Department responsible for the subject matter of the Act. The purpose of these Explanatory Notes is to make the Act of Parliament accessible to readers who are not legally qualified and who have no specialised knowledge of the matters dealt with. They are intended to allow the reader to grasp what the Act sets out to achieve and place its effect in context.
Explanatory Notes are optional for Acts which result from the successful passage of Private Members Bills and it is expected that few (if any) will be published for such Acts.
The aim is to publish these documents on this website simultaneously with their publication in printed form. Explanatory Notes should be published on this website at the same time as the Act but this might not always be possible and may follow some days after the publication of the Act on this site.
A template for the creation of Explanatory Notes is available for authorised users. https://www.the-stationery-office.co.uk/entemplate/tp_download.html