– in the Scottish Parliament at on 20 December 2016.
Kenneth Macintosh
Labour
The next item of business is consideration of legislative consent motion S5M-03181, in the name of John Swinney, on the Higher Education and Research Bill, which is United Kingdom legislation.
Motion moved,
That the Parliament agrees that the relevant amendments to the Higher Education and Research Bill, introduced in the House of Commons, relating to extending the power of the Office for Students (OfS) to make arrangements under Clause 25 of the Bill so as to also include Scottish higher education providers where Scottish Ministers consent; to allow joint working with Research England (UKRI) and the OfS and the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council and clarify the Secretary of State’s powers to fund research, to ensure that they are as broad as the Research Councils, so far as these matters fall within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament or alter the executive power of Scottish Ministers, should be considered by the UK Parliament.—[
John Swinney.
]
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
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.
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.
