PROVISIONAL

ORDER  , a method of procedure followed by several government departments in England, authorizing action on the part of local authorities under various acts of parliament . Procedure by provisional order is a substitute for the more expensive course of private bill legislation; it is usually employed for such purposes as alteration of areas, compulsory purchase of land, building of light railways, &c . A preliminary local inquiry is first held in public by an inspector of the department to whom application has been made to issue it . Upon the report of the inspector and other information the department decides whether or not to issue the order . The order when issued has no force until it is confirmed by parliament . For this purpose it is included with other orders in a confirming bill, introduced by the minister at the head of the department concerned . In both houses of parliament all provisional order bills are referred to examiners for compliance with standing orders . In the House of Lords, if a provisional order bill is opposed, it is referred to a select committee and then to a committee of the whole house; if not opposed, it goes, after second reading, to a committee of the whole house, and in both cases then proceeds as a public bill . In the House of Commons, the bill goes after second reading to the committee of selection or to the general committee on railway and canal bills; if unopposed it is treated as an unopposed private bill; if opposed it goes to a private bill committee, which hears evidence for and against .