Parliament and Legislation: A Practical Guide to Bills and Hybrid bills

Parliament and Legislation:

A Practical guide to Bills and Hybrid Bills

• A service from the Houses of Parliament

• Politically neutral

• Aim is to increase knowledge and engagement with work and processes of Parliament

• Not an alternative to MPs

In your groups, complete the quiz: Circle or tick the answers you think are

correct Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers

– have a guess!

House of Commons

House of Lords

The Monarch

Makes and passes laws(Legislation)

Holds Government to account

Enables the Government to set taxes

Politically neutral Signs off laws passed by Parliament (Royal

Assent) Opens Parliament each year

The democratically elected chamber of Parliament

There are 650 MPs All MPs are elected at least every 5 years

Making and passing laws Holding the Government to account Representing constituents Approving the Budget and setting taxes

The House of Lords is the second chamber of Parliament, also known as ‘the revising House’

There are 778 Members (as at April 2014) Members include:

◦ 665 Life Peers◦ 87 Hereditary Peers◦ 26 Bishops

Making and passing laws Holding the Government to account Debating key issues Scrutinising EU legislation

The party or parties who can command the confidence of the House of Commons forms the Government

The Government:• runs public departments i.e. The Home

Office, NHS• proposes new laws to Parliament• is accountable to Parliament

Commons, Lords and Monarch

holds Government to account

passes laws

Government (Whitehall)

• some MPs and some Lords, chosen by the Prime Minister

• runs Government departments and public services

Bill is introduced to the House; a formality

First opportunity for debate of the main principles of the Bill. Vote on whether the Bills proceeds

Amendments can be proposed. Detailed examination of the Bill in a Public Bill Committee

Further amendment to the content of the Bill. All MPs may speak and vote; Speaker selects amendments for discussion

Final chance for the Commons to debate the contents of a Bill, but no amendments. Vote on whether the Bill is approved

Bill is introduced to the House; a formality

First opportunity for debate of the main principles of the Bill. List of Speakers is opened. Vote on whether the Bills proceeds

Amendments can be proposed. Detailed examination of the Bill in a Committee of the Whole House (any Member). No time limit.

Further line by line consideration of the Bill. All amendments can be discussed and any Member can take part.

Final chance to debate and change the Bill. Amendments can be made. Vote on whether the Bill is approved

‘Ping-pong’ . Both Houses must agree on the exact wording of a Bill before it can become an Act of Parliament

Monarch's agreement to make the Bill into an Act and is a formality. When Royal Assent has been given, the announcement is usually made in both Houses by the Lord Speaker in the Lords and the Speaker in the Commons

Ways to influence legislation: Green Papers White Papers Pre-legislative Committees Public Bill Committees MPs and Members of the House of Lords

Hybrid bills are so called because they combine features of public bills and private bills. Essentially they are Government bills which affect certain individuals and bodies in ways that do not affect everybody

Infrastructure bills – and in particular transport infrastructure bills – tend to do this because they have different effects for different geographical parts of the route

http://www.parliament.uk/business/bills-and-legislation/current-bills/previous-bills/hybrid-bills/hybrid-bill-faqs/

The HS2 Phase One Hybrid Bill Video As Chairman of Ways and Means and

Deputy Speaker, Rt Hon Lindsay Hoyle MP has oversight of House of Commons proceedings relating to hybrid bills

A petition is to Parliament not Government Petitioning period 21 days A summary of objections to particular

aspects of the bill stating what you’d like the Committee to do about it

It is a formal request for the petitioner to argue their cause to the Select Committee

Any Individual, group of individuals or organisation directly and specially affected by the bill

The bill title Which clauses of the bill are relevant to you

with an explanation of why Who you (the petitioner) are Why the bill affects you What you would like the Committee to do

about it

The petition should not ask the Committee to reject the bill as they are not able to do that. However you can lobby your MP on this before second reading.

Following Second Reading petitioning period and arrangements will be announced

Petitions submitted to Parliament at Portcullis House

£20 fee

Approximately 10 weeks after petitioning ends

Quasi-judicial evidence taken under oath Mitigation, compensation and adjustment Judges the locus standi (the right of a party

to appear and be heard before a court) Petitioners heard sequentially by location Can give much more detail than the petition

but can only refer to things highlighted in the petition – the petition is the basis of your case

Unlike a normal Public Bill Committee they don’t take written and oral evidence

Examine Bills clause by clause Members of the Committee can ask for

changes by tabling amendments Reports its findings to the main Chamber

Bill may have changed in some significant ways

This affects who can petition the bill as they need to be directly and specially affected

As the examiners have already looked at the bill they don’t look again

Second Reading debate on main principles of the Bill. You can contact members of the House of Lords

You can contact any Member of the House of Lords about issues that you would like Parliament to look at

You can find out what individual Lords are interested in by looking on the Parliament website

Members pages list subjects and topics that they are particularly interested in

Look for members of relevant APPG’s Look at what Members have said in previous

debates View the list of speakers at Second Reading

Five members that are chosen by the Chair of Committees

Petitioning period usually 21 days Private Bill Office in the House of Lords can

assist   Petitioners must be directly and specially

affected by the bill   Can petition in the House of Lords if you have

already petitioned in the House of Commons Double check that the bill still contains the

aspect that you may not agree with

In groups:Look at the Guide to PetitioningDecide if you meet the criteria to petition or if your ‘locus standi’ could be challenged Read the example of cross rail petition Appendix BWrite your own petition using the format set out in Appendix A

www.parliament.uk and @UKParliament

Commons Information Office020 7219 4272 [email protected]

Lords Information Office020 7219 3107 [email protected]

Parliament’s Outreach Service020 7219 [email protected]