Research Tasks/Initial Edit
Instructions for Online Initial Edit task
Online initial edit and review tasks can be allocated from the research tasks tab for the specific document on the editorial site.
Admin user can reset online initial edit tasks using More menu and selecting Delete online initial edit tasks.
Once tasks are allocated the editor must wait for the preparation task to complete before starting the task.
Click Start Task button on landing page to begin.
First stage: Provision Extent
You will be presented with a form consisting of the table of contents (ToC) for the document you wish to enter extent values for (which can be expanded/contracted by clicking on +/- buttons next to the parent provisions).
The form will be pre-populated with a default extent based on what legislation type it is. In the case of UK SIs and UK PGAs the default is EWSNI and may be wrong.
| Legislation type | Default extent |
|---|---|
| ukpga | EWSNI |
| ukla | EWSNI |
| asp | S |
| anaw | EW |
| mwa | EW |
| ukcm | E |
| nia | NI |
| aip | NI |
| apgb | EWS |
| uksi | EWSNI |
| wsi | EW |
| ssi | S |
| nisi | NI |
| nisr | NI |
| ukci | E |
| ukmd | EWSNI |
| ukmo | EWSNI |
| uksro | EWSNI |
| nisro | NI |
| mnia | NI |
| apni | NI |
You should check the extent values in the ToC against the extent provisions of the document itself, its Explanatory Memorandum (if there is one) and/or original power-conferring provision/s in the enabling Act (where necessary) to satisfy yourself that the extent is correct. See Editorial Principles - Extent and Territorial Application for further details.
The extent values for each provision are entered in the Edit Extent column using the dropdown menu.
Where a provision has a mixed extent (e.g. s. 1(1) extends to EW, s. 1(2) to S and s. 1(3) to NI) the whole provision should receive the widest extent of the combination (e.g. in this case, s. 1 = EWSNI). This scenario would be worth a note to the reviewer.
If you change a parent provision, a message will appear asking if you want the value to be cascaded down into all its children or not:
You are setting the extent at parent level. Press 'Ok' to take it down to all children or press 'Cancel' to keep the change to the parent level only
Where you have already changed a specific child provision value and then subsequently change its higher level parent’s value and agree to cascade the parent value into its children, all the children will be changed EXCEPT for that child value. If you wish to change that value as well you will need to go into that child and change its value.
Where the extent provisions are complicated you should enter details of the authority (i.e. the specific instruction in the extent provision) for the extent value you’ve chosen in the Extent Provision(s) column. This will help the reviewer later on and is not used for any other purpose.
You can also enter a Note against a provision where you think this will be helpful.
There are two tick boxes next to each child provision to allow you to show whether or not it confers a power to make subordinate legislation (Confers power) or contains a blanket amendment (Blanket amendments).
The form should save your changes as you go along and tell you as it does so.
When you make any changes to the form, the Validate Extent button at the top left will change from a green tick to a red exclamation mark warning.
Before leaving the extent stage you should click the Validate Extent button so the form can check that the values are correct.
Where the extent value of a parent provision is narrower than the extent of any of its children that parent provision will be shown with a red border to prompt you to correct it before moving on.
The Introductory Text, Signature and Explanatory Notes and/or Note as to earlier Orders (which are not technically parent provisions) should also share the widest extent of any provision in the document.
If you find you’ve made a complete hash of it and wish to start again from scratch, you can click the Reset button at the top left of the screen.
When you are satisfied with all the extent values and they have all validated successfully you can move on to the next stage by clicking the Next stage button at the top right. Doing this will prompt a final save of the form.
Second stage: Commencement
The Commencement form is similar to the previous form in that it consists of a ToC and buttons to Reset, Validate and move to the Next stage.
Where the document has a simple Coming into force date, that date will used as the default start date for all provisions. Otherwise prosp will be the default start date.
You enter the start date for each whole provision by entering a date value in the Commencement Date column.
If the provision comes into force at Royal Assent (primary) or on the Made date (secondary) then you can use the tick box in that column to populate the date.
As in the previous form, if you change a parent value you will be asked if you wish to cascade that value into the children. Click OK to cascade or Cancel to change only the parent value. Any child date that has already been entered separately will not be changed if you subsequently cascade a parent value.
When you enter a start date the form will automatically populate the Qualification column (which corresponds to the IF Date Qualification field in TOES) with the value wholly in force. If this is incorrect and the provision is not wholly in force you should change it to the appropriate value (e.g. for specified purposes) using the dropdown menu. If you choose the qualification Other or Other(no date) here you should also ensure you enter text in the Other Qualification column (e.g. comes into force on exit day).
If only a part (a certain sub-provision or sub-provisions) and not the whole provision is commenced then you can specify which sub-provision or sub-provisions in the Affected Sub-Provision(s) column. These should be grouped together if they share the same date AND qualification, otherwise sub-provisions with different dates or different qualifications should be dealt with separately.
The sub-provision with the earliest start date should be entered first, then if you require to enter further details for further commencements within the provision you should click on the Further Detail icon. You can then add as many rows as you need (by clicking the Add Row button) to enter all the commencement data for that provision. When you’ve finished adding data you can click Save. If you make a mistake and add a row you don’t want, you can remove it by clicking the Remove button next to it.
Where more than one row of commencement data is added to a provision the Further Detail icon is highlighted in purple.
The authority for the start date and qualification (i.e. the specific instruction in the commencement provision) should be cited in the Commencement Provision column. This information is not only there to help the reviewer, but will also included in the eventual In Force notes (I-notes).
Notes can be added for the reviewer next to each provision by the editor if felt to be really necessary.
For advice about commencements, please see Editorial Principles - Commencement.
Before leaving the commencement stage you should click the Validate button so the form can check that the values are correct.
Where the start date value of a parent provision is later than the extent of any of its children that parent provision will be shown with a red border to prompt you to correct it before moving on.
The Introductory Text, Signature and Explanatory Notes and/or Note as to earlier Orders (which are not technically parent provisions) should also share the earliest start date of any provision in the document. The validation is currently not working to check these elements. This is with TSO to fix.
When you are satisfied the commencement data is correct and validated, you should click Next stage to move on to the third and final stage.
Third stage: Preview Initial Edit
The preview stage allows you to generate the points in time for the revised document based on the data you have entered in the previous two stages. You can preview what the revised document will look like when it is published on legislation.gov.uk and check that the extents, start dates and I-notes for all its provisions are correct.
Click the Generate PiTs button to generate the revised version of the document. And thereafter the button becomes Regenerate PiTs if you need to use it again. NB There is a slight issue with this button in that if the document is reset by deleting the tasks the rdf is not completely cleared and the button says Regenerate instead of Generate.
Use the Website preview button to see how the document will look on the website.
Use the Website skeleton preview button to see a skeleton view of the document (minus content), showing dates and altdates, extents, confers power and blanket amendments attributes and I-notes.
Each whole provision should receive its widest extent and each parent the widest extent of any of its children.
Each whole provision should receive its earliest start date and each parent the earliest start date of any of its children.
You should check that the I-notes have the correct date, qualification and commencement provision.
Each prosp provision should show its status as prospective and show an I-note explaining it is not in force at Royal Assent/Made date.
Where any provision has a start date more than one month after the Royal Assent or Made date of the document, it will show as prospective but with an I-note explaining it has a fixed future date (FFD). Instead of receiving a start date (which may interfere with updating interim amendments), it will be given a coming into force effect in TOES which will be added to its update timeline to be applied as part of update.
Where this happens you will see a message like this:
The Made Date is set at 08/01/2019. Any Pits after 07/02/2019 will not be generated and be recorded as future effects. Please use the Effects Preview to review these.
Use the Effects preview button to see such +1 mth FFD effects, which will be marked as unapplied, along with the coming into force effects for prospective provisions (marked as applied) and the applied effects for provisions coming into force on either RA/Made date or dates within one month of RA/Made date. After checking the previews to make sure everything is correct, the editor clicks Complete to finish the task and make it available to the reviewer.
If you are unhappy with how the start dates and I-notes are appearing you can click Undo Commencement to return to the Commencement form and correct your data. If the extents are wrong at this stage, you’ll need to ask someone with Admin permissions to reset the whole initial edit task and start again from scratch.
The reviewer task has an extra fourth stage after the preview and publishing stage: Upload Scanned PDF. Here the reviewer can upload a corrected marked up pdf if necessary or otherwise tick the box to skip this stage and complete the review task.
Issues with Initial Edit
Missing xml
If you find your initial edit preparation task get stuck, it may be an idea to check if the document has xml on legislation.gov.uk when you allocate the initial edit task and, if not, ask a reviewer to do a toes correction to mark the effects with Ns.
Finance Acts
We need to suppress I-notes for Finance Acts, as Finance Acts have complex coming into force scenarios.
The coming into force effects can be removed at Review Stage by TOES correction.