What's new in version 15.0?

Version 15 introduces a range of new features and improvements together with further bug fixes.

It was released on [x August] 2023.

New features and improvements

Amendments and ping pong

Better number allocation for Lords amendment lists - several improvements have been made here with the result that:

• the numbering algorithm used is now the same as that in the Editor for assigning numbers to new provisions so can better cope with complex numbers like 4ZABB; and

• number allocation to new amendments (in a marshalled or manuscript list) now takes account of all published amendments, not just the amendments in a specific list with the result that the numbers automatically allocated should be correct in a much greater range of cases.

There are still limitations in the numbering algorithm that exist in the Editor as well and we’ll look to improve that further in the future. (LMS-680, LMS-118)

Distinguishing between Commons and Lords versions and stages - some significant changes have been made to how Lawmaker manages published versions of Bills to avoid an issue that arose previously where Bills published by the different Houses were treated as being the same Bill causing severe problems around amendment management. Now, whenever a Bill is published by the Commons or Lords, an additional “Commons” or “Lords” label is added to the version, enabling both Lawmaker and users to clearly distinguish the versions even if the version rubric (e.g. “As amended in Committee”) is the same. (LMS-1397)

Sorting ping pong motions by sort code - you can now add a sort code to ping pong motions, as you already can with ordinary amendments, to control the order of motions in an amendment list where the motions would otherwise be sorted to the same place in the list. This will be particularly useful for amendments to amendments. (LMS-390)

Opening dialog boxes from the Amendment actions menu on the Amendment Manager tab - dialog boxes for Submit amendments and other actions now open quicker when working on Bills with a large number of amendments.

Editor

Simplified and improved folding of provisions - “Folding” is the name given to the feature in Lawmaker that allows you to hide provisions in the Editor so you can only see the title or number. This can made it easier to navigate around the document and also improves performance.

Following feedback from users, we’ve reworked this feature substantially so that:

• it only operates at one level, rather than nested levels, so that you can quickly expand and collapse provisions without multiple clicks and so that, even when everything is collapses, the overall document structure remains more apparent.

• the functionality has been extended across Bills, SIs and amendment lists in a consistent way. It now applies to:

  • Sections/Clauses, and schedule paragraphs, of a Bill;

  • Regulations/articles/rules, and schedule paragraphs, of an SI/SSI;

  • the quoted structure (i.e. the provisions being inserted) by an amendment.

• the toolbar in the Editor now has two buttons so you can quickly and easily access the functionality to expand all provisions or collapse all provisions (other than the one your cursor is in).

  

• All provisions in a Bill etc. will be open by default when the document is first opened. (You can use the button the toolbar to quickly collapse them if needed.)

Validation, document checks and data quality

Improvements to document checks (schematron) - there were a few updates to the document check validation:

• Checks for correct number format will now accept “legal numbering” style (e.g. 3.13B or 1.2);

• A new check has been added to highlight where two lists have been inserted back to back (this is mostly likely an error and there should only be one list) (LPS-92);

• A check has been added to identify schedule paragraph numbers in SI quoted structures that are missing a full stop after the number;

• A new check highlights any locked numbers that are not within a quoted structure - this helps users manage locks created elsewhere while using the Edit Portion feature or the auto-application of amendments feature that may get in the way of subsequent actions (e.g. renumber) (LMS-949, LMS-1078);

• Various rules have been tweaked to remove false positives (LMS-1460, LMS-1452, LMS-1466) include some errors relating to numbering that would show when using the Edit Portion feature and errors relating to cross-references within amendments.

Quoted structures

You can now change the document type of an existing quoted structure. This is mainly to allow for the correction of cases where the type was set to a UK Act when you want it to be a Scottish Act instead. (Changing the type more substantially, e.g. from an Act to an SI, will not convert the provisions within quoted structure.)

XML Data quality improvements - we’ve fixed various issues with unnecessary whitespace being created by the Editor in the XML which can cause problems downstream in the publishing workflow, including:

• whitespace being added to the preface when converting a Bill into an Act;

• whitespace being added when a quoted structure is inserted into a Bill or SI;

• unnecessary whitespace in the template for Commons resolutions.

Performance

Some significant changes have been implemented in relation to how locking is managed in the Editor to improve the performance of the Editor and make it less dependent on the performance of the back-end servers. This should have an impact particularly when the system is under load (i.e. when lots of users are using it at the same time).

Edit portion functionality

This functionality hasn’t changed but a number of issues and edge cases have been resolved, following a thorough review of the existing code with the result that the feature should now be more robust.

Importing legislation from www.legislation.gov.uk

Version 15 introduces a significant new feature, that enables you to import a document or portion of a document from www.legislation.gov.uk into Lawmaker. As part of importing the document, you can convert it from primary to secondary and you can also convert retained EU legislation. More information on the new feature can be found here: Import legislation from www.legislation.gov.uk.

The feature is still in beta as there are a number of edge cases that may need further refinement in future and some of the infrastructure used to support this feature is temporary while we await some important updates to legislation.gov.uk. Subsequent versions of Lawmaker will update this feature.

SI/SSI improvements

Editor formatting of regulations/articles that are divided into paragraphs - we’ve improved the way the Editor handles the presentation of regulations containing paragraphs so that there isn’t any overlap between the regulation number, the em-dash that follows it and the paragraph number (1) - this was particularly a problem when the regulation number was longer than usual or appeared within a quoted structure.

Legal numbering - limited support has been added for legal numbering (i.e. numbering which consists of numbers separated by a full stop, e.g. 1.1, 1.2, 3.4A, etc. in regulation/article/rule numbers. In particular, the renumbering and cross-referencing features will now behave correctly in relation to them (although some numbers will need to be manually locked). See Legal Numbering - DRAFT for how to use this number format. (LMS-810)

List of support fixes

Editor and misc

Amendments

PDF generation

SI/SSI