Part of Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 11:00 am on 9 March 2010.
Gerald Kaufman
Labour, Manchester, Gorton
11:00,
9 March 2010
If it is in order, Mr. Chope, will you allow me to say how sorry I am that my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) is not here today owing to serious illness, and how grateful we are to him for carrying on the Bill after my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North initiated it? I pay great tribute to my hon. Friend for the knowledge, persistence and dedication she has shown in bringing the Bill forward and getting it to this stage.
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.
