A Consolidated Fund Act is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed to allow, like an Appropriation Act, the Treasury to issue funds out of the Consolidated Fund.[1]
The typical structure of such an act begins with the long title, which defines which financial years the act applies to. This is followed by a preamble and then the enacting clause:
Whereas the Commons of the United Kingdom in Parliament assembled have resolved to authorise the use of resources and the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund towards making good the supply which they have granted to Her Majesty in this Session of Parliament:—
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Until 2000 an older form of preamble was used:[citation needed]
Most Gracious Sovereign,
WE, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom in Parliament assembled, towards making good the supply which we have cheerfully granted to Your Majesty in this Session of Parliament, have resolved to grant unto Your Majesty the sums hereinafter mentioned; and do therefore most humbly beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted and be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
If, as most of the acts do, the legislation covers two fiscal years the legislation's first two sections will contain the amounts to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund for each particular financial year. The third section of the act defines its short title. Typically two or three consolidated fund acts are passed each calendar year.[1]
A Consolidated Fund Act normally becomes spent on the conclusion of the financial year to which it relates.[2] However, the Consolidated Fund Act 1816 (56 Geo. 3. c. 98) is still in force, since it combined the consolidated funds of Great Britain and Ireland into one consolidated fund of the United Kingdom.[3]
List
editConsolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Acts
edit
| Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Act 1873 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to make provision for the Redemption of divers permanent Charges on the Consolidated Fund and on the Votes of Parliament. |
| Citation | 36 & 37 Vict. c. 57 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 28 July 1873 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by |
|
| Repealed by | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2004 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Act 1883 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| | |
| Long title | An Act to amend the Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Act 1873. |
| Citation | 46 & 47 Vict. c. 1 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 20 March 1883 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends |
|
| Amended by | |
| Repealed by | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2004 |
Status: Repealed | |
The Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Acts 1873 and 1883 was the collective title of the Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 57) and the Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 1).[4]
Northern Ireland
edit| Consolidated Fund Measure (Northern Ireland) 1974 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Long title | A Measure to apply certain sums out of the Consolidated Fund to the service of the years ending on 31st March 1974 and 31st March 1975. |
| Citation | 1974 c. 1 (N.I.) |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 26 March 1974 |
The Consolidated Fund Measure (Northern Ireland) 1974 (c. 1 (NI)) was a measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly. See further section 5(1) of the Appropriation (Northern Ireland) Order 1974 (SI 1974/1266) (NI 1).[5]
References
edit- ^ a b Bradley & Ewing (2003) pp202-203
- ^ The Law Commission. Statute Law Revision: Third Report. Draft Statute Law (Repeals) Bill. Law Com 37. Cmnd 4546. HMSO. London. December 1970. Page 23.
- ^ Consolidated Fund Act 1816 as in force today (as of November 2020)
- ^ The Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 1), section 1
- ^ Measures and Orders in Council 1974, pp 1 & 28. Parliamentary Papers (House of Commons and Command), Volume 17. Northern Ireland Assembly, Official Report of Debates, vol 2, cols 1415, 1430 to 1446, 1466 to 1468, 1480, 1481, 1488, 1489. "Northern Ireland Measures" (1974) 25 Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 196. Hadfield, The Constitution of Northern Ireland, 1989, p 117. Bleakley, Faulkner: Conflict and Consent in Irish Politics, 1974, p 194.
Bibliography
edit- Bradley, A.W.; Ewing, K.D. (2003). Constitutional and Administrative Law (13th ed.). London: Pearson. pp. 202–203. ISBN 0-582-43807-1.
- HM Treasury (2000). Government Accounting: A Guide on Accounting and Financial Procedures. London: Stationery Office Books. ISBN 0-11-702668-9.
- Norman Wilding and Philip Laundy. "Consolidated Fund Acts". An Encyclopaedia of Parliament. Third Edition. Frederick A Praeger. New York and Washington. 1968. Pages 167 and 168. See also pages 24, 25, 255, 264, 536 and 596.
- Will Bateman. Public Finance and Parliamentary Constitutionalism. Cambridge University Press. 2020. Page 30 et seq.
- Edward Hamilton, "Ways and Means Advances", 1893, reproduced in Wormell (ed). National Debt in Britain, 1850-1930. Routledge. 1999. Volume 6. Pages 117 & 118 to 121. See also pages 83 and 202.
External links
edit- "Consolidated Fund Act 2007". Office of Public Sector Information. Retrieved 3 March 2008.