UK Legal Research

Get Legislation Table of Contents

legislation_get_toc

Read-onlyIdempotent

USE THIS TOOL WHEN you have a known Act / SI and want the structural table of contents (parts, chapters, individual sections/regulations/articles).

Returns structural elements with XML id and title, in document order, e.g. 'section-47: Definitions' for an Act or 'regulation-4: Maximum weekly working time' for an SI. Individual provisions are listed alongside their enclosing Part/Chapter/crossheading headings — both levels matter: the heading entries give you the document's shape, the provision entries give you what to pass to legislation_get_section. A provision with no heading in the source (rare) is listed as a bare id with no title. AFTER calling, pass the numeric identifier (use '47', NOT 'section-47') into legislation_get_section for full text.

Large statutes (Companies Act 2006 has many hundreds of items) are paginated via offset/limit. Check has_more and total_items.

Alternative: call read_resource(uri="legislation://{type}/{year}/{number}/ toc") for the full TOC as a newline-separated id: title string (no pagination). Use this tool when you need the structured response with offset / limit / has_more for stepping through large statutes.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`type`	Yes	Legislation type code: 'ukpga' (Acts), 'uksi' (SIs), 'asp' (Scottish Acts), 'nia' (NI Acts). Use the value from legislation_search results.
`year`	Yes	Year of enactment
`limit`	No	Maximum items to return in this call (default 200, max 1000). Raise only when you need a larger slice in one response. Check has_more and total_items to know if further pages exist.
`number`	Yes	Chapter or SI number
`offset`	No	Number of items to skip from the flattened TOC. Use with limit to page through very large statutes like the Companies Act 2006 (1300+ items).

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`type`	Yes	Legislation type code echoed from the request
`year`	Yes	Year of enactment echoed from the request
`items`	No	TOC entries in XML document order, formatted as '<id>: <title>', e.g. 'section-47: Definitions'. When calling legislation_get_section pass only the numeric part ('47', not 'section-47').
`limit`	Yes	Page size applied after offset
`number`	Yes	Chapter or SI number echoed from the request
`offset`	Yes	Offset applied to the full TOC item list
`has_more`	Yes	True if more items remain beyond offset+returned
`returned`	Yes	Number of items in this response
`total_items`	Yes	Total structural items parsed from the XML, before offset/limit. Compare to `returned` and `has_more` to decide whether to paginate.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed7 schema fields changedJun 14, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / limit

Added value: +{
+  "default": 200,
+  "description": "Maximum items to return in this call (default 200, max 1000). Raise only when you need a larger slice in one response. Check has_more and total_items to know if further pages exist.",
+  "maximum": 1000,
+  "minimum": 1,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / number

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Chapter or SI number",
+  "minimum": 1,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / offset

Added value: +{
+  "default": 0,
+  "description": "Number of items to skip from the flattened TOC. Use with limit to page through very large statutes like the Companies Act 2006 (1300+ items).",
+  "minimum": 0,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

removedInput schema / properties / params

Removed value: -{
-  "additionalProperties": false,
-  "description": "LegislationGetTocInput.",
-  "properties": {
-    "limit": {
-      "default": 200,
-      "description": "Maximum items to return in this call (default 200, max 1000). Raise only when you need a larger slice in one response. Check has_more and total_items to know if further pages exist.",
-      "maximum": 1000,
-      "minimum": 1,
-      "type": "integer"
-    },
-    "number": {
-      "description": "Chapter or SI number",
-      "minimum": 1,
-      "type": "integer"
-    },
-    "offset": {
-      "default": 0,
-      "description": "Number of items to skip from the flattened TOC. Use with limit to page through very large statutes like the Companies Act 2006 (1300+ items).",
-      "minimum": 0,
-      "type": "integer"
-    },
-    "type": {
-      "description": "Legislation type code: 'ukpga' (Acts), 'uksi' (SIs), 'asp' (Scottish Acts), 'nia' (NI Acts). Use the value from legislation_search results.",
-      "maxLength": 10,
-      "minLength": 2,
-      "type": "string"
-    },
-    "year": {
-      "description": "Year of enactment",
-      "maximum": 2100,
-      "minimum": 1800,
-      "type": "integer"
-    }
-  },
-  "required": [
-    "type",
-    "year",
-    "number"
-  ],
-  "type": "object"
-}

addedInput schema / properties / type

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Legislation type code: 'ukpga' (Acts), 'uksi' (SIs), 'asp' (Scottish Acts), 'nia' (NI Acts). Use the value from legislation_search results.",
+  "maxLength": 10,
+  "minLength": 2,
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / year

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Year of enactment",
+  "maximum": 2100,
+  "minimum": 1800,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

changedInput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "params"
-]New value: +[
+  "type",
+  "year",
+  "number"
+]

Changed1 schema field changedMay 30, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / params / description

Previous value: -"LegislationGetTocInput with type, year, number, offset, limit."New value: +"LegislationGetTocInput."

Changed1 schema field changedMay 29, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / total_items / description

Previous value: -"Total number of structural items parsed from the XML, before offset/limit. Use this to know the full size of the TOC."New value: +"Total structural items parsed from the XML, before offset/limit. Compare to `returned` and `has_more` to decide whether to paginate."

Changed10 schema fields changedApr 29, 2026

removedInput schema / properties / date

Removed value: -{
-  "anyOf": [
-    {
-      "type": "string"
-    },
-    {
-      "type": "null"
-    }
-  ],
-  "default": null,
-  "description": "Optional point-in-time date YYYY-MM-DD for historical version"
-}

removedInput schema / properties / number

Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Number, e.g. '46'",
-  "maxLength": 10,
-  "minLength": 1,
-  "type": "string"
-}

addedInput schema / properties / params

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "LegislationGetTocInput with type, year, number, offset, limit.",
+  "properties": {
+    "limit": {
+      "default": 200,
+      "description": "Maximum items to return in this call (default 200, max 1000). Raise only when you need a larger slice in one response. Check has_more and total_items to know if further pages exist.",
+      "maximum": 1000,
+      "minimum": 1,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "number": {
+      "description": "Chapter or SI number",
+      "minimum": 1,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "offset": {
+      "default": 0,
+      "description": "Number of items to skip from the flattened TOC. Use with limit to page through very large statutes like the Companies Act 2006 (1300+ items).",
+      "minimum": 0,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "type": {
+      "description": "Legislation type code: 'ukpga' (Acts), 'uksi' (SIs), 'asp' (Scottish Acts), 'nia' (NI Acts). Use the value from legislation_search results.",
+      "maxLength": 10,
+      "minLength": 2,
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "year": {
+      "description": "Year of enactment",
+      "maximum": 2100,
+      "minimum": 1800,
+      "type": "integer"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "type",
+    "year",
+    "number"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

removedInput schema / properties / type

Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Legislation type, e.g. 'ukpga', 'uksi'",
-  "maxLength": 20,
-  "minLength": 3,
-  "type": "string"
-}

removedInput schema / properties / year

Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Year, e.g. '2006'",
-  "maxLength": 4,
-  "minLength": 4,
-  "type": "string"
-}

changedInput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "type",
-  "year",
-  "number"
-]New value: +[
+  "params"
+]

removedOutput schema / additionalProperties
```
Removed value: -true
```

addedOutput schema / description

Added value: +"Paginated table of contents for an Act or Statutory Instrument.\n\nThe upstream XML is fetched in one shot (legislation.gov.uk has no\nserver-side pagination), then sliced client-side via offset/limit.\nFor very large statutes like the Companies Act 2006 (1300+ items)\nuse offset to page through. Check has_more and total_items to\nknow the full size."

addedOutput schema / properties

Added value: +{
+  "has_more": {
+    "description": "True if more items remain beyond offset+returned",
+    "type": "boolean"
+  },
+  "items": {
+    "description": "TOC entries in XML document order, formatted as '<id>: <title>', e.g. 'section-47: Definitions'. When calling legislation_get_section pass only the numeric part ('47', not 'section-47').",
+    "items": {
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "type": "array"
+  },
+  "limit": {
+    "description": "Page size applied after offset",
+    "type": "integer"
+  },
+  "number": {
+    "description": "Chapter or SI number echoed from the request",
+    "type": "integer"
+  },
+  "offset": {
+    "description": "Offset applied to the full TOC item list",
+    "type": "integer"
+  },
+  "returned": {
+    "description": "Number of items in this response",
+    "type": "integer"
+  },
+  "total_items": {
+    "description": "Total number of structural items parsed from the XML, before offset/limit. Use this to know the full size of the TOC.",
+    "type": "integer"
+  },
+  "type": {
+    "description": "Legislation type code echoed from the request",
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "year": {
+    "description": "Year of enactment echoed from the request",
+    "type": "integer"
+  }
+}

addedOutput schema / required

Added value: +[
+  "type",
+  "year",
+  "number",
+  "offset",
+  "limit",
+  "returned",
+  "total_items",
+  "has_more"
+]

Changed10 schema fields changedApr 29, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / date

Added value: +{
+  "anyOf": [
+    {
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    {
+      "type": "null"
+    }
+  ],
+  "default": null,
+  "description": "Optional point-in-time date YYYY-MM-DD for historical version"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / number

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Number, e.g. '46'",
+  "maxLength": 10,
+  "minLength": 1,
+  "type": "string"
+}

removedInput schema / properties / params

Removed value: -{
-  "additionalProperties": false,
-  "description": "LegislationGetTocInput with type, year, number, offset, limit.",
-  "properties": {
-    "limit": {
-      "default": 200,
-      "description": "Maximum items to return in this call (default 200, max 1000). Raise only when you need a larger slice in one response. Check has_more and total_items to know if further pages exist.",
-      "maximum": 1000,
-      "minimum": 1,
-      "type": "integer"
-    },
-    "number": {
-      "description": "Chapter or SI number",
-      "minimum": 1,
-      "type": "integer"
-    },
-    "offset": {
-      "default": 0,
-      "description": "Number of items to skip from the flattened TOC. Use with limit to page through very large statutes like the Companies Act 2006 (1300+ items).",
-      "minimum": 0,
-      "type": "integer"
-    },
-    "type": {
-      "description": "Legislation type code: 'ukpga' (Acts), 'uksi' (SIs), 'asp' (Scottish Acts), 'nia' (NI Acts). Use the value from legislation_search results.",
-      "maxLength": 10,
-      "minLength": 2,
-      "type": "string"
-    },
-    "year": {
-      "description": "Year of enactment",
-      "maximum": 2100,
-      "minimum": 1800,
-      "type": "integer"
-    }
-  },
-  "required": [
-    "type",
-    "year",
-    "number"
-  ],
-  "type": "object"
-}

addedInput schema / properties / type

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Legislation type, e.g. 'ukpga', 'uksi'",
+  "maxLength": 20,
+  "minLength": 3,
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / year

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Year, e.g. '2006'",
+  "maxLength": 4,
+  "minLength": 4,
+  "type": "string"
+}

changedInput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "params"
-]New value: +[
+  "type",
+  "year",
+  "number"
+]

addedOutput schema / additionalProperties
```
Added value: +true
```

removedOutput schema / description

Removed value: -"Paginated table of contents for an Act or Statutory Instrument.\n\nThe upstream XML is fetched in one shot (legislation.gov.uk has no\nserver-side pagination), then sliced client-side via offset/limit.\nFor very large statutes like the Companies Act 2006 (1300+ items)\nuse offset to page through. Check has_more and total_items to\nknow the full size."

removedOutput schema / properties

Removed value: -{
-  "has_more": {
-    "description": "True if more items remain beyond offset+returned",
-    "type": "boolean"
-  },
-  "items": {
-    "description": "TOC entries in XML document order, formatted as '<id>: <title>', e.g. 'section-47: Definitions'. When calling legislation_get_section pass only the numeric part ('47', not 'section-47').",
-    "items": {
-      "type": "string"
-    },
-    "type": "array"
-  },
-  "limit": {
-    "description": "Page size applied after offset",
-    "type": "integer"
-  },
-  "number": {
-    "description": "Chapter or SI number echoed from the request",
-    "type": "integer"
-  },
-  "offset": {
-    "description": "Offset applied to the full TOC item list",
-    "type": "integer"
-  },
-  "returned": {
-    "description": "Number of items in this response",
-    "type": "integer"
-  },
-  "total_items": {
-    "description": "Total number of structural items parsed from the XML, before offset/limit. Use this to know the full size of the TOC.",
-    "type": "integer"
-  },
-  "type": {
-    "description": "Legislation type code echoed from the request",
-    "type": "string"
-  },
-  "year": {
-    "description": "Year of enactment echoed from the request",
-    "type": "integer"
-  }
-}

removedOutput schema / required

Removed value: -[
-  "type",
-  "year",
-  "number",
-  "offset",
-  "limit",
-  "returned",
-  "total_items",
-  "has_more"
-]

Changed1 schema field changedApr 20, 2026
- addedInput schema / properties / params / description
```
Added value: +"LegislationGetTocInput with type, year, number, offset, limit."
```

Changed15 schema fields changedApr 15, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / params / properties / limit

Added value: +{
+  "default": 200,
+  "description": "Maximum items to return in this call (default 200, max 1000). Raise only when you need a larger slice in one response. Check has_more and total_items to know if further pages exist.",
+  "maximum": 1000,
+  "minimum": 1,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / params / properties / offset

Added value: +{
+  "default": 0,
+  "description": "Number of items to skip from the flattened TOC. Use with limit to page through very large statutes like the Companies Act 2006 (1300+ items).",
+  "minimum": 0,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

changedOutput schema / description

Previous value: -"Generic wrapper for non-object return types."New value: +"Paginated table of contents for an Act or Statutory Instrument.\n\nThe upstream XML is fetched in one shot (legislation.gov.uk has no\nserver-side pagination), then sliced client-side via offset/limit.\nFor very large statutes like the Companies Act 2006 (1300+ items)\nuse offset to page through. Check has_more and total_items to\nknow the full size."

addedOutput schema / properties / has_more

Added value: +{
+  "description": "True if more items remain beyond offset+returned",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / items

Added value: +{
+  "description": "TOC entries in XML document order, formatted as '<id>: <title>', e.g. 'section-47: Definitions'. When calling legislation_get_section pass only the numeric part ('47', not 'section-47').",
+  "items": {
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / limit

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Page size applied after offset",
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / number

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Chapter or SI number echoed from the request",
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / offset

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Offset applied to the full TOC item list",
+  "type": "integer"
+}

removedOutput schema / properties / result

Removed value: -{
-  "type": "string"
-}

addedOutput schema / properties / returned

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Number of items in this response",
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / total_items

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Total number of structural items parsed from the XML, before offset/limit. Use this to know the full size of the TOC.",
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / type

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Legislation type code echoed from the request",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / year

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Year of enactment echoed from the request",
+  "type": "integer"
+}

changedOutput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "result"
-]New value: +[
+  "type",
+  "year",
+  "number",
+  "offset",
+  "limit",
+  "returned",
+  "total_items",
+  "has_more"
+]

removedOutput schema / x-fastmcp-wrap-result
```
Removed value: -true
```

First observedApr 14, 2026

TDQS

A4.3/5.0

Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations cover safety (readOnly, idempotent, openWorld), so the lower bar applies. The description adds real behavioral context beyond that: pagination via offset/limit, has_more/total_items signals, document-order return, bare-id entries, and a critical downstream id-format rule. It doesn't describe the actual return shape in depth, but output schema exists and covers that.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Front-loaded trigger, then behavior, then alternative — well organized. Slightly long for the content, with examples that partially repeat schema-provided defaults, but every sentence carries information.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness4/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a paginated read tool with annotations and an output schema, the description supplies the pagination model, the downstream id handoff, and the read_resource alternative. Complete enough to call correctly; only minor return-shape detail is left to the output schema.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 100%, so the schema already documents offset, limit, year, number, type. The description adds the '47 not section-47' id-format rule, which is meaningful, but that concerns downstream passage rather than these parameters. Baseline 3 is correct since structured fields do the param work.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

States a specific verb and resource ('get the structural table of contents') and explicitly scopes it to a known Act/SI. It contrasts directly with legislation_get_section and read_resource, so an agent can place it without opening any schema.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines5/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Explicit trigger ('WHEN you have a known Act / SI'), an explicit alternative (read_resource for the full non-paginated TOC), and the condition that selects each. The when-to-use-this-vs-alternative is fully resolved.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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Input Schema

Output Schema

Schema Changelog

TDQS

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