House of Commons
This page highlights some of the current parliamentary material available on the House of Commons. This includes select committee reports, briefing papers on current legislation and other subjects produced by the parliamentary research services, and the latest Early Day Motions put down by MPs.
Standard Notes
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 19.07.2013 | PIL: Cabinet Ministers suffering electoral defeat while holding office |
| Cabinet ministers since 1900 who have lost their seats. | |
| 19.07.2013 | PIL: Opposition Day Debates 2010 - present |
| Opposition Day debates | |
| 18.07.2013 | House of Commons Background Paper: Resignation from the House of Commons |
| Under a Resolution of the House of 2 March 1624, Members of Parliament cannot directly resign their seat. The only means by which a Member's seat may be vacated during the lifetime of a Parliament are through death; expulsion by resolution of the House; or disqualification, either by the voiding of the Member's election or through accepting one of a number of offices which are incompatible with membership of the House of Commons. Members who resign in this way may contest the subsequent by-election. | |
| 16.07.2013 | 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. | |
| 15.07.2013 | PIL: MPs who have withdrawn from the House of Commons or who have been suspended |
| A list of Members who have withdrawn from the Commons Chamber or who have been suspended. |
Research Papers
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 01.08.2013 | House of Commons Trends |
| This paper sets out key statistics about the House of Commons. The aim is to provide comparisons over time, though periods may vary according to relevance and the availability of consistent data. Some are for Parliamentary sessions, some by calendar year and some by financial year. This should be borne in mind when comparing different sets of information. | |
| 11.11.2010 | Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-11: Commons Stages |
| This Paper summarises all Commons stages of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-11. It supplements Research Paper 10/55 which was produced for the Bill's Second Reading and replaces Standard Note 5697 'Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill: Progress of the Bill'. No major changes were made during the passage of the Bill in the Commons, but the text of the referendum question was altered and legislative provision was made for the combination of polls on 5 May 2011. | |
| 01.09.2010 | The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill [Bill 63 of 2010-11] |
| This Paper has been prepared for the Second Reading debate in the House of Commons. The Bill seeks to enable the next general election to be fought under the Alternative Vote system, provided this change is endorsed in a referendum on 5 May 2011 and boundary changes have been made to reduce the size of the House of Commons to 600. New rules for the redistribution of seats are designed to give primacy to numerical equality in constituencies and regular redistributions would take place every five years. | |
| 25.02.2010 | Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill: Committee stage report |
| There were some significant amendments during the Committee Stage of this Bill. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority was given control over setting Members' pay and pensions by amendments to the Parliamentary Standard Act 2009. There is to be a new Compliance Officer to investigate alleged misuse of Members' allowances; amendments would ensure that all MPs and peers would be liable to UK taxes; there would be a referendum on whether to adopt the Alternative Vote by 31 October 2011; and a new requirement on Returning Officers to begin election counts four hours after a general election poll closes. | |
| 15.06.2009 | The Departmental Select Committee System |
| On 25 June 1979 the House of Commons agreed to establish a new system of departmental select committees to scrutinise the expenditure, administration and policy of government departments. This paper briefly sets out the historical background to the departmental select committees system before charting their development over the last 30 years, considering evaluations made of the system and recent proposals for reform. |
Select Committee Reports
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 08.02.2012 | 2010 elections for positions in the House. |
| Government response. Procedure Select Committee report [Commons] | |
| 26.10.2011 | Lay membership of the Committee on Standards and Privileges. |
| Procedure Select Committee report [Commons] | |
| 19.10.2011 | 2010 elections for positions in the House. |
| Procedure Select Committee report [Commons] | |
| 27.07.2010 | House of Commons Commission and Administration Estimate Audit Committee report for 2009-10. |
| House of Commons Commission report [Commons] | |
| 21.07.2010 | The work of committees in session 2008-09. |
| Government response. House of Commons Liaison Committee report [Commons] |
Early Day Motions
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 13.12.2011 | HOUSE OF COMMONS CHEFS |
| That this House congratulates the House of Commons chefs' football team on successfully retaining The State Opening Challenge Cup after a hard fought 2-2 draw against hon. Members on15 ... | |
| 05.12.2011 | PROPOSED COMMONS TWITTER HASHTAG |
| That this House notes that it is important to keep up with modern communication techniques; further notes that hon. Members are now allowed to tweet from the Chamber; believes that ... | |
| 30.06.2011 | GENDER AND FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION RULES |
| That this House calls on the Football Association (FA) to abandon their outdated rules, which deny membership of the House of Commons football team to all hon. and Rt hon. lady Members; ... | |
| 28.06.2011 | HOUSE OF COMMONS ATTENDANTS AND HON. MEMBERS' POST |
| That this House is concerned at the intentions of the House of Commons Commission to remove the delivery of hon. Members' post from attendants to the Royal Mail; praises the hard work ... | |
| 11.05.2011 | TRIBALISM IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS |
| That this House notes that the success of any non-Government or Opposition amendment to proposed legislation, if pressed to a vote, is regarded as a likely occasion for lamentation, ... |
Lords Library Notes
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 09.11.2010 | Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill (HL Bill 26 of 2010-11). LLN 2010/028 |
| Parliamentary Voting System and Constitutencies Bill. House of Lords Library Note 2010/028 |
