How Laws And Social Policies Are Formed - 2196 Words

Within this essay I will discuss how Laws and social policy are formed, developed and what the legislation intendeds to do. I will also discuss why the legislation has being developed in the practice area from a recent and historical perspective. Finally I will discuss what recent legislative and policy changes have happened in the practice area and what the impact upon service users and social workers is due to the changes. Laws are created by parliament which is made up by the MP’S society votes for during the election process. The Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) was introduced to prevent the misuse of controlled drugs. The Act attempts to prevent the misuse of drugs by making it a criminal offence to be in possession or supply, manufacture,†¦show more content†¦A bill goes through a consultation stage where the opinion of others is noted on what the proposed Law should say. A Bill can either go through the House of Commons or Lords and must be agreed by both Houses before becoming an Act (Parliament UK, n.d). The bill then goes through different stages in parliament. For this essay I will give an example of a Bills passage through the House of Commons. First reading is when members of the house are made aware that a Bill is going to be introduced for discussion. When the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) was a Bill it was reviewed by the Health Committee after the first reading stage, they suggested that the Bill should not be amended (Hiebert Kelly, 2015). Once a Bill has completed the first reading stage it then moves onto the second, this is when the Minister who is conducting the Bill through Parliament explains the key principles and purpose of the Bill. This then leads to debates and MP’s vote on whether the Bill should continue to the next stage (Making laws: How a law is made part 2 of 2, 2009). After second reading the bill goes to committee stage this is where thorough examination and debate over potential adjustments takes place by a separate committee of MP’S these are formed for each Bill. The house is then updated with any adjustments the committee have made to the Bill, this is called the report stage. The house then decides by voting if the Bill should continue to progress through parliament, if they decide that it