Business of the House – in the House of Commons at 8:47 pm on 7 April 2010.
Alan Haselhurst
Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Ways and Means
8:47,
7 April 2010
I must say to the Committee that before I propose the Question that Clause 1 stand part of the Bill, I must inform hon. Members that two manuscript amendments have been tabled by the Minister to clause 11. Copies of a supplementary Amendment paper with the texts have been in the Vote Office for some time. The amendments are numbered 44 and 45. I have selected them and grouped them with the second group of amendments under clause 4, where the lead amendment is amendment 39.
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.
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.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
