Orders of the Day – in the House of Commons at 5:45 pm on 11 June 2008.
'(1) Where an order under section [Power to declare reserve power exercisable] is made—
(a) the Secretary of State must as soon as is reasonably practicable lay the order before Parliament, and
(b) the order shall lapse at the end of the period of seven days beginning with the date of laying unless during that period each House of Parliament passes a resolution approving it.
(2) If the order lapses under this section, the officer having custody of a person whose detention—
(a) was authorised by virtue of the reserve power, and
(b) is not otherwise authorised by law,
must release that person immediately.
(3) Nothing in this section—
(a) prevents the making of a new order, or
(b) affects anything done by virtue of the order before it lapsed.'.
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.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
