– in a Public Bill Committee at on 8 June 2020.
Philip Davies
Conservative, Shipley
11:30,
8 June 2020
Before we begin, I have a few preliminary points to make. Members will understand the need to respect social distancing guidance, and I will intervene if necessary to remind everyone. I also remind Members to switch electronic devices to silent, and that tea and coffee are not allowed during sittings.
Today, we will first consider the programme motion on the amendment paper. We will then consider a motion to enable the reporting of written evidence for publication, and I hope we can take these matters without too much debate. The Hansard reporters would be most grateful if Members emailed any electronic copies of their speaking notes to hansardnotes@parliament.uk. I call the Minister to move the programme motion, which was agreed by the Programming Sub-Committee last week.
Ordered,
That—
(1) the Committee shall (in addition to its first meeting at 11.30 am on Monday 8 June) meet—
(a) at 3.30 pm on Monday 8 June;
(b) at 9.25 am and 2.00 pm on Wednesday 10 June;
(2) the proceedings shall be taken in the order shown in the first column of the following Table;
(3) the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the times specified in the second column of the Table.
TABLE
Proceedings
Time for conclusion of proceedings
Clauses 1 to 4
1 pm on Monday
Clauses 5 to 11
6 pm on Monday
Clauses 12 to 26; Schedule 1; Clauses 27 to 33
11.25 am on Wednesday
Clauses 34 to 36; Schedule 2; Clauses 37 to 45; new Clauses; new Schedules; remaining proceedings on the Bill
5 pm on Wednesday
—(Jo Churchill.)
Philip Davies
Conservative, Shipley
Copies of written evidence that the Committee receives will be made available in the Committee Room.
We now begin line-by-line consideration of the Bill. The selection list for today’s sitting, which shows how the selected amendments have been grouped together for debate, is available in the room. Amendments grouped together are generally on the same, or a similar, issue. Please note that decisions on amendments do not take place in the order they are debated, but in the order they appear on the Amendment paper. The selection and grouping list shows the order of debates; decisions on each amendment are taken when we come to the Clause that the amendment affects. We will begin with amendment 9 to clause 1.
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.
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.
