Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government – in the House of Commons at 7:00 pm on 3 June 2013.
Amendment made: 52, page 5, line 10, at end insert—
‘(4) The Secretary of State must before 31st December in each year, beginning with 2014, prepare and lay before Parliament a report setting out how the Secretary of State has carried out during the year the functions under this Part of this Act.
(5) The Secretary of State must publish the report and send a copy of it to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, the Scottish Ministers and the Welsh Ministers.’.—(Michael Fallon.)
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.
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.
