– in the House of Commons at 9:59 pm on 25 October 2005.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to
That the following provisions shall apply to the Electoral Administration Bill:
Committal
1. The following shall be committed to a Committee of the whole House—
(a) Clauses 9 to 18;
(b) any new Clauses or new Schedules relating to Part 2 or Part 3 of the Bill;
(c) any new Clauses or new Schedules relating to the procedure to be followed at an election on the death of a candidate;
(d) any new Clauses or new Schedules relating to candidates standing in more than one constituency at an election. 2. The remainder of the Bill shall be committed to a Standing Committee. Proceedings in Committee 3. Proceedings in Committee of the whole House shall be completed in one day. 4. Those proceedings shall be taken in the order shown in the first column of the following Table and shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the times specified in the second column of that Table.
| Proceedings | Time for conclusion of proceedings |
| Clauses 9 to 12, new Clauses relating to Part 2 of the Bill, new Schedules relating to Part 2 of the Bill. | Two and a half hours after the commencement of proceedings on the Bill. |
| Clauses 13 to 18, new Clauses relating to Part 3 of the Bill, new Schedules relating to Part 3 of the Bill. | Two and a half hours after the commencement of proceedings on Clause 13. |
| New Clauses and new Schedules relating to the procedure to be followed at an election on the death of a candidate or relating to candidates standing in more than one constituency at an election. | The moment of interruption or one hour after the commencement of proceedings on the first such new Clause, whichever is the later. |
5.
Proceedings in Standing Committee
6. Proceedings in the Standing Committee shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion on Thursday 24th November.
7. The Standing Committee shall have leave to sit twice on the first day on which it meets.
Proceedings after Committee
8. When the provisions of the Bill considered respectively by the Committee of the whole House and by the Standing Committee have been reported to the House, the Bill shall be proceeded with as if it had been reported as a whole from the Standing Committee.
Consideration and Third Reading
9. Proceedings on consideration shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion one hour before the moment of interruption on the day on which those proceedings are commenced.
10. Proceedings on Third Reading shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the moment of interruption on that day.
11.
Programming of proceedings
12. Any other proceedings on the Bill (including any proceedings on consideration of Lords Amendments or on any further messages from the Lords) may be programmed.—[Mr. Cawsey.]
Question agreed to.
The clause by clause consideration of a parliamentary bill takes place at its committee stage.
In the Commons this usually takes place in a standing committee, outside the Chamber, but occasionally a bill will be considered in a committee of the Whole House in the main chamber.
This means the bill is discussed in detail on the floor of the House by all MPs.
Any bill can be committed to a Committee of the Whole House but the procedure is normally reserved for finance bills and other important, controversial legislation.
The Chairman of Ways and Means presides over these Committees and the mace is placed on a bracket underneath the Table.
In a normal session there are up to ten standing committees on bills. Each has a chair and from 16 to 50 members. Standing committee members on bills are appointed afresh for each new bill by the Committee of Selection which is required to take account of the composition of the House of Commons (ie. party proportions) as well as the qualification of members to be nominated. The committees are chaired by a member of the Chairmen's Panel (whose members are appointed by the Speaker). In standing committees the Chairman has much the same function as the Speaker in the House of Commons. Like the Speaker, a chairman votes only in the event of a tie, and then usually in accordance with precedent. The committees consider each bill clause by clause and may make amendments. There are no standing committees in the House of Lords.
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.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
