Part of Legal Deposit Libraries Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 5:45 pm on 4 June 2003.
Andrew Lansley
Conservative, South Cambridgeshire
5:45,
4 June 2003
Clause 10 brings into effect the schedule. Perhaps I should have done my homework beforehand, but I am unaware of what the British Museum Act 1932 did that requires it to be repealed, and what in the Bill supersedes it. Perhaps we might be informed of that before we pass the provision.
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.
