Defence Reform Act 2014

The Defence Reform Act 2014 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerned with defence procurement and the UK Reserve Forces, particularly the Territorial Army. It has 51 sections and seven schedules.

Defence Reform Act 2014

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision in connection with any arrangements that may be made by the Secretary of State with respect to the provision to the Secretary of State of defence procurement services; to make provision relating to defence procurement contracts awarded, or amended, otherwise than as the result of a competitive process; to make provision in relation to the reserve forces of the Crown; and for connected purposes.[1]
Citation	2014 c 20
Introduced by	Philip Dunne
Territorial extent	United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent	14 May 2014
Other legislation
Relates to	Reserve Forces Act 1980, Reserve Forces Act 1996, Armed Forces Act 2006
Status: Current legislation

Part 1 of the Act relates to defence procurement in general. Part 2 created a statutory framework for single-source contracts, operating in accordance with the Single Source Contract Regulations. The Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO) was established under the Act.^[2] Part 3 is concerned with reserve forces: the Army Reserve was renamed the Regular Reserve and the Territorial Army was renamed the Army Reserve.^[3]

Parliamentary history

First reading

The Act had its first reading in the House of Commons on 3 July 2013. Its backers were the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander, Business Secretary Vince Cable, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, Dominic Grieve and the Bill Minister, Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Philip Dunne.

Second reading

The second reading in the House of Commons took place on 16 July 2013.^[4]

Subsequent stages

Subsequent Parliamentary stages were as follows:

House	Stage	Date(s)
Commons	Committee	3 September 2013 - 22 October 2013
	Report	20 November 2013
	3rd Reading	20 November 2013
Lords	1st Reading	21 November 2013
	2nd Reading	10 December 2013
	Committee	3 February 2014 - 25 February 2014
	Report	24 March 2014 - 26 March 2014
	3rd Reading	2 Apr 2014

The Bill returned to the House of Commons on 29 April 2014, where a programme motion was passed, and Commons Consideration of Lords' Amendments took place.

Royal Assent

The Bill was given Royal Assent (and thus became an Act) on 14 May 2014.^[5]

Further reading

• House of Commons Hansard, http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard/commons/
• House of Lords Hansard, http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard/lords/