Parliamentary procedure
All Standard Notes
49 Documents
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 31.05.2013 | House Business Committee |
| In November 2009, the Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons recommended the establishment of a House Business Committee to 'assemble a draft agenda to put to the House in a weekly motion'. On 4 March 2010, the House approved the establishment of a House Business Committee in the current Parliament. | |
| 25.04.2013 | PIL: House of Commons Budget Debates and Finance Bills |
| Budget dates and Chancellors since 1968 | |
| 20.03.2013 | PIL: Emergency Debates since 1979 |
| Emergency Debates since 1979 | |
| 20.03.2013 | PIL: Expedited legislation: Government Bills receiving their Second and Third Reading on the same day in the House of Commons |
| A list of Government Bills since 1979 whose main Commons stages have been passed within one day | |
| 29.01.2013 | Select Committees: evidence and witnesses |
| This Note reviews the power of select committees 'to send for persons, papers and records', that is to obtain oral and written evidence. The Note considers arguments that have been made to increase select committees' abilities to enforce these powers without recourse to the House. It reviews the arguments for requiring witnesses to give evidence on oath to select committees. | |
| 18.12.2012 | House of Commons Background Paper: Statutory Instruments |
| This House of Commons Background Paper discusses statutory instruments and outlines how they are considered by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. | |
| 18.12.2012 | House of Commons Background Paper: Private Bills |
| This House of Commons Background Paper sets out how private bills are passed through the House of Commons and the House of Lords. | |
| 18.12.2012 | House of Commons Background Paper: Public Bills |
| This House of Commons Background Paper sets out how legislation is passed through the House of Commons and the House of Lords and explains the terms involved. | |
| 03.10.2012 | House of Commons Background Paper: Traditions and customs of the House |
| This note outlines a number of the lesser-known and more unusual customs, procedures and behaviours of the House of Commons. It covers aspects of debate in the Chamber of the House; aspects of protocol; and specific traditions. | |
| 22.08.2012 | Public Reading Stage of Bills |
| This note examines the proposals for introducing a public reading stage for bills | |
| 06.08.2012 | House of Commons Background Paper: Divisions in the House of Commons |
| This Standard Note describes the current practice and historical development of divisions. | |
| 24.07.2012 | Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry |
| On 16 July 2012 a Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards was established by a motion in the House of Commons. The powers of the Commission are as set out by the motion. It is due to report its main recommendations on legislation action before 18 December 2012 before the Banking Reform Bill is published. | |
| 18.07.2012 | Parliamentary privilege: current issues |
| This Note provides information on developments in parliamentary privilege since the last major review by the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege report in 1999. | |
| 18.07.2012 | Sitting hours |
| This Note outlines changes to the Commons sitting hours that will apply from 15 October 2012. | |
| 28.06.2012 | The Parliament Acts |
| This Standard Note sets out the procedures governing the use of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949. It notes occasions when they have been used. It also reports on challenges to the validity of the Parliament Acts. | |
| 12.04.2012 | National Parliaments and EU law-making: how is the 'yellow card' system working? |
| This Note considers the background to the 'yellow card' subsidiarity early warning mechanism and its application in practice since the Lisbon Treaty came into force. | |
| 19.10.2011 | UK Government opt-in decisions in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice |
| The creation of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice is based on the Tampere (1999-04), Hague (2004-09) and Stockholm (2010-14) programmes. It derives from the pre-Lisbon Title IV TEC (Visas, asylum, immigration and other policies related to free movement of persons) and Title VI TEU (Provisions on police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters) and is now Title V of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the 'Area of freedom, security and justice' (AFSJ). The AFSJ therefore comprises policies relating to border controls, asylum and immigration; judicial cooperation in civil matters; judicial cooperation in criminal matters and police cooperation. | |
| 23.09.2011 | House of Commons : hours sat and late sittings since 1979 |
| Changes to the times the House of Commons meets mean that late sittings are far less common than 20 and 30 years ago. In 2009-10 the Commons sat after midnight on 3 occasions, 4% of the days it met; in 1989-90 36% of Commons sittings went after midnight. | |
| 25.01.2011 | Recess questions and September sittings |
| This note reviews the background to the House sitting in September 2003, September 2004 and September 2010; and the introduction of the tabling of questions for answer during the summer recess. | |
| 25.10.2010 | PIL: Government Bills introduced each session (by department) |
| 16.09.2010 | PIL: Ballot Bills since 1997 |
| Ballot Bills since 1997 | |
| 27.07.2010 | Parliamentary scrutiny of opt-in decisions to the EU Area of Freedom, Security and Justice |
| The UK has an opt-in arrangement to measures in the "Area of Freedom, Security and Justice", which concern mainly immigration and asylum, border control, judicial cooperation in civil law, policing and criminal law. This Note looks at parliamentary scrutiny of the opt-in arrangement. | |
| 22.07.2010 | PIL: Bills Gaining Royal Assent by Session |
| 22.07.2010 | PIL: Time Spent on Government Bills |
| 17.06.2010 | Reform of the House of Commons: The establishment of a Backbench Business Committee |
| This note briefly sets out the way in which the business of the House of Commons is currently decided. It summarises the proposals on the scheduling of business from the Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons and the decisions made by the House on 4 March 2010. It considers the March 2010 report of Reform Committee and their proposed changes to Standing Orders, along with the Government's own proposals. | |
| 09.06.2010 | The election of Deputy Speakers |
| This note outlines the moves made to elect the deputy speakers by ballot. It also gives details of Procedure Committee reports into the issue. | |
| 02.06.2010 | Fixed term parliaments- early dissolution arrangements |
| This Note is intended to be a companion to Library Standard Note 831 Fixed Term Parliaments. It explains how fixed term parliaments operate in a number of other advanced democracies, both parliamentary and presidential. | |
| 27.05.2010 | PIL: Summary of Bills Introduced Since 1979 |
| 09.04.2010 | Pre-legislative scrutiny |
| Note: Appendix 2 was last updated on 9 February 2011 This note provides a brief background to the introduction of pre-legislative scrutiny and the establishment of the Committee Office Scrutiny Unit. It then sets out the procedures followed in allocating draft bills to committees and by the committees in examining draft bills. Details of draft bills announced since the 2010 general election can be found in the Library Standard Note SN/PC/5859, Pre-legislative scrutiny under the Coalition Government. | |
| 25.03.2010 | Wash-up |
| This note provides a brief outline of the procedures followed at the end of Parliament to ensure the enactment of some of the legislation that has not completed its passage through Parliament when a general election is called. The note also gives details of the time available for wash-up following the announcement of general elections since 1983. | |
| 11.03.2010 | The election of a Speaker |
| This note briefly reviews the election of the Speaker in 2000, the Procedure Committee's review, and the House decision to adopt the Procedure Committee's recommendations. | |
| 19.02.2010 | The Report of the Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons, Rebuilding the House |
| On 10 June 2009 the Prime Minister announced that the Government would support a proposal from Tony Wright, the Chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee, to establish a time-limited committee on reform of the House of Commons. The Committee published its report on 24 November. This Note examines the prposals made in the Committee's report and progress made in implementing them. | |
| 25.01.2010 | Establishment of the Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons |
| On 20 July 2009, the day before it rose for the summer recess, the House of Commons agreed to establish the 18-member Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons. This note outlines the evolution of the Committee's terms of reference in addition to discussing the Committee's report, published on 24 November 2009. | |
| 06.10.2009 | Prime Minister's Questions |
| This note looks at the history of the Prime Minister facing questions in the Chamber of the House of Commons, the changes to Prime Minister's Questions, and the current situation. The procedures for the tabling of questions for and answering of questions at Prime Minister's Question Time are also described. | |
| 12.05.2009 | Comptroller and Auditor General |
| This note traces a brief history of the office of Comptroller and Auditor General and examines current proposals to reform the corporate governance of the National Audit Office. | |
| 24.02.2009 | The UK Parliament and European Business: recent reforms and scrutiny issues |
| This Note looks at changes to EU scrutiny procedures in 2008 and 2009, as well as other scrutiny issues, such as the Government's use of the scrutiny override and Parliament's role in considering agreement on a "general approach" in the Council of Ministers. | |
| 26.06.2008 | Deferred divisions |
| This note discusses the procedure and history of deferred divisions. | |
| 19.05.2008 | Modernisation: Programming of legislation |
| This note describes these developments and the background to them in more detail. It then describes earlier proposals for the timetabling of legislation. Finally, it reviews some recent comments on the programming of legislation. | |
| 05.03.2008 | EU Treaty Bills: the Whip and Referendum Clauses |
| 03.11.2006 | Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill - the Bill's progress and further reaction to the Bill |
| This note briefly reviews the changes made to the Bill in the Commons and, so far, in the Lords, and the background to those changes. | |
| 06.03.2006 | Modernisation: Westminster Hall |
| This note gives a chronological account of the events that have led to proceedings in Westminster Hall becoming a permanent feature of the House of Commons. | |
| 25.11.2005 | The "Sewel Convention" |
| The Sewel Convention applies when the UK Parliament legislates on a matter which is devolved to the Scottish Parliament. | |
| 13.10.2005 | Draft Bills 2001-2005 |
| This standard note lists draft bills introduced in each session since the 2001 general election and gives the following details for each bill: (1) introduction as a draft; (2) any pre-legislative scrutiny at Westminster including government responses; (3) formal introduction of the final bill; and (4) date of royal assent. | |
| 22.09.2005 | Drafting Legislation and the Parliamentary Counsel Office |
| The Parliamentary Counsel is a team of lawyers which drafts government bills before they are introduced into Parliament and works on other legal aspects of parliamentary business. This note describes the work of the Parliamentary Counsel Office, and its structure. It also briefly considers the implications of the growing use of pre-legislative scrutiny on the work of the Office. | |
| 12.11.2004 | The Hunting Bill 2003/4 and the Parliament Act |
| The Hunting Bill 2003/4 and the Parliament Act. By Elena Ares and Richard Kelly. SN/SC/3181. | |
| 10.06.2004 | Draft bills 1997-2001 |
| This paper lists the draft bills which were published during each session of the 1997 to 2001 Parliament. | |
| 10.05.2004 | IGC 2004: issues surrounding UK ratification of the European Constitution |
| IGC 2004: issues surrounding UK ratification of the European Constitution. By Vaughne Miller. SN/IA/3040. | |
| 20.12.2002 | Modernisation of the House of Commons: Changes agreed on 29 October 2002 |
| Modernisation of the House of Commons: Changes agreed on 29 October 2002. By Chris Sear. SN/PC/2014. | |
| 13.02.2002 | Delegated Legislation: the Procedure Committee report and proposals |
| Delegated Legislation: the Procedure Committee report and proposals. By Chris Pond. SN/PC/469. |
All Research Papers
8 Documents
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 11.02.2011 | Wash-up 2010 |
| The wash-up period at the end of a Parliament allows a Government to get onto the statute book essential or non-controversial legislation that would not otherwise complete its passage through Parliament because of Dissolution. This paper describes the wash-up process; reviews the proceedings on wash-up in 2010; and provides details of Bills that received Royal Assent in each of the last six wash-up periods. | |
| 06.02.2006 | Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (Bill 111 2005-06) |
| The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (Bill 111 of 2005-06). House of Commons Library Research Paper 06/06 | |
| 08.08.2005 | Armed Forces (Parliamentary Approval for Participation in Armed Conflict) Bill: Bill 16 of 2005-06 |
| 10.05.2002 | Departmental select committees |
| Departmental select committees. House of Commons Library Research Paper 02/35. This paper has been superseded by Research Paper 09/55 | |
| 19.03.2001 | Election of a commons speaker |
| Election of a Commons Speaker (2nd ed). House of Commons Library Research Paper 01/30. (Replaces Research Paper 00/90) | |
| 14.03.2001 | Regulatory Reform Bill (HL):order-making power and parliamentary aspects (Bill 51 of 2000-01) |
| Regulatory Reform Bill (HL):order-making power and parliamentary aspects. (Bill 51 of 2000/01). House of Commons Library Research Paper 01/27. | |
| 12.12.2000 | Shifting control? |
| Shifting control? Aspects of the executive-parliamentary relationship. House of Commons Library Research Paper 00/92. | |
| 14.02.2000 | Parliamentary Oath |
| The Parliamentary Oath. House of Commons Library. Research Paper 00/17. |
