Orders of the Day — FACTORY AND WORKSHOP (COTTON CLOTH FACTORIES) BILL [Lords]. – in the House of Commons at on 18 March 1929.
Colonel Sir Vivian Henderson
, Bootle
On the Second Reading of this Bill on Friday last, the hon. Member for Rochdale (Mr. Kelly) asked a question about this Clause, which I promised to answer. He wanted to know why in this Clause we are repealing Sections 90, 91, 92 and 94 and one Schedule of the Act of 1901. The reason is this: The 1911 Act was passed, as he
may remember, in a rather peculiar way. Sub-section (2) of Section 1, says:
Any regulations so made shall have effect as if embodied in Part V of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901…..and may be substituted for the provisions contained in sections ninety, ninety-one, ninety-two, and ninety-four, and the Fourth Schedule.
In other words, these sections of the Act in 1901, which we are now repealing, have been a dead letter ever since the Act of 1911 was passed. The hon. Member will agree that, where legislation is a dead letter, it is very much better that it should be repealed. That is the reason we are repealing these Sections.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
The Second Reading is the most important stage for a Bill. It is when the main purpose of a Bill is discussed and voted on. If the Bill passes it moves on to the Committee Stage. Further information can be obtained from factsheet L1 on the UK Parliament website.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
