The preparatory work on Bills will be the responsibility of 'parliamentary draftsmen' who are specialist lawyers. They undertake this at the direction of the relevant government department.
Some Bills are preceded by a consultation document 'Green Paper,' but this does not always happen and Bills can be introduced without prior notice. Green Papers are proposals which are published as an aid to public debate.
Once the consultation period for a Green Paper has finished, ministers normally publish their recommendations in a 'White Paper', which may then be put before MPs in the form of a Bill.
The correct name for White and Green papers is Command Papers. Command Papers get their name from the fact that they are presented to Parliament by a Government Minister "by Command of Her Majesty".
This is the formal announcing of the Bill to parliament. There is no debate and the Bill may not be printed at this stage. Explanatory notes are also produced to accompany the Bill but sometimes they are not available immediately upon the publication of the Bill.
This is the first opportunity for the Bill to be debated, as it is at this stage where the principle of the Bill is to be discussed. As a consequence the debate is likely to be wide ranging as particular MPs seek to bring out particular aspects of the Bill. This is also the first opportunity for MPs to vote on the Bill and consequently there is the chance that a government bill may be defeated.
After the Second Reading a committee of MPs will be selected to scrutinise the Bill. The membership of the Committee will reflect the state of the parties in the House of Commons which means that there will always be a majority for the governing party.
During this stage MPs will go through the Bill examining each clause and each line within the clauses. If they wish to they are able to propose amendments to particular aspects. Opposition amendments are unlikely to be successful due to the make up of the committee. The Government may sometimes propose amendments if they consider that the Bill is in need of improving.
At this point the Bill returns to the whole House to enable them to consider what changes have been made during the Committee stage. The report stage provides an opportunity for MPs who were not members of the Committee to suggest amendments.
This is the final stage in the House of Commons. MPs can view the Bill as amended after the two previous stages but cannot suggest further amendments. This usually means that debates are often quite short.
The journey taken by a bill in the House of Lords is the same as that of the House of Commons. The one difference takes place when the Bill reaches its committee stage when the whole House usually acts as the committee. If the House of Lords disagree with the House of Commons they can amend the Bill accordingly and will then send the Bill back to the House of Commons. The House of Commons will consider the amendments made and if they disagree the House of Lords will have to consider their position again and will usually agree to the bill as returned to them from the House of Commons. The House of Lords are most unlikely to reject a government bill more than once but if they were to do so the House of Commons have the option of ignoring them. The House of Commons can override the views of the House of Lords by use of 'The Parliament Act' which sets out the superiority of the Commons over the Lords by virtue of the Commons having been directly elected.
After a Bill has been agreed by the House of Commons and Lords it then goes to the Monarch for their approval.
After the Bill has received Royal Assent it becomes an Act of Parliament.
This is the process by which the majority of laws are made, however, it is worth noting that bills which deal with money such as the Budget do not go to the House of Lords for scrutiny.
April 2008
