Secretariats website
Last updated: 08 July 2009
46.1 In the House of Commons Members may introduce a Bill once they have given notice of presentation. The right to introduce the first twenty Bills each session is given to Twenty Members successful in a ballot held on the First Thursday of each Session. Once the twenty ‘ballot’ Bills have been introduced on the fifth Wednesday, any other Member may introduce further Bills after giving due notice of presentation under standing order No. 57 (ordinary “Presentation” or “back of the chair” Bills) or following a successful “ten minute rule” motion.
46.2 Introduction of ordinary Presentation or “back of the chair” Bills does not require the agreement of the House, and there is no opportunity to speak on the issue. The Member sponsoring the Bill has to give the long and short title of the Bill to the Public Bill Office before close of business on the day before it is to be introduced.
46.3 Under Standing Order No.23, “ten minute rule” motions seeking leave to introduce Bills may be put down in the Commons, but not until after the ballot Bills are introduced on the fifth Wednesday in the session. Normally fifteen sitting days' notice is given of the subject of a motion, though it may be as little as five sitting days (it is open to Members to change the short title of their Bills before they seek leave to bring them in, and initially to use a ‘holding’ title such as ‘A Bill to amend the Statutory Instruments Act 1946’). Only one ten minute rule motion may be considered at the beginning of public business on each subsequent Tuesday and Wednesday (unless that day turns out to be a Budget Day in which case it is taken on the following Monday).
46.4 On the day of the ten minute rule motion the proposer speaks for up to ten minutes and another Member, not a Minister, may speak against it for a similar time. If the motion has been opposed the House usually divides and, if the proposer secures a majority, the Bill can then be formally introduced and listed for Second Reading on one of the Private Members' Fridays.
46.5 Often, ten minute rule Bills are introduced more with the aim of airing the subject than with any expectation of carrying them through, but if the Bill is formally introduced and listed for Second Reading then the Government will need to agree its position before the Second Reading debate. A Member could choose a Second Reading date very soon after introduction (but the Bill will not appear on the order paper if it has not been published).
46.6 In the House of Lords a peer may introduce a Bill on any sitting day without prior notice of presentation. The Peer usually agrees the date with the Public Bill Office, who will notify the Government Whips' Office on the morning of the day the Bill is introduced. There is no equivalent of the Commons' ten minute rule procedure. There is a standard minimum interval of two weekends between introduction and Second Reading, by which point an agreed Government handling position is required.
Order of precedence for PMB debate in the Commons
46.7 Thirteen Fridays (9.30am-2.30pm) are reserved for debates on Private Members' Bills. The dates are agreed by motion at the beginning of each session. Second Readings take precedence on the first seven of these, while remaining stages take precedence on the remaining Fridays. On these later Fridays, Bills are arranged according to the stage they have reached, with Bills returning from the Lords with Lords amendments taken first and Second Readings last (except that Report stages which have not already been entered upon take precedence over Report stages which have been adjourned at a previous sitting).
46.8 Only those Bills which are high in the order for Second Reading on the first seven Fridays stand a good chance of going on to complete all their Parliamentary stages, if they are at all controversial. Exceptionally, a Bill which is straightforward, uncontroversial and has cross party support can complete all stages without a debate, ‘on the nod’.
46.9 The 20 Members who are successful in the Ballot present their Bills on the fifth Wednesday of the session in the order in which they drew places in the ballot. For this purpose they hand in the long and short title of their Bill, but not normally the full text, to the Public Bill Office by the previous day at the latest.
46.10 On presentation, a Bill is given a formal First Reading and the Member lists it for Second Reading on one of the reserved Fridays. Normally the first seven Members successful in the ballot will choose the first seven Fridays in turn, and the remainder, together with Members who introduce Bills subsequently after giving notice or following a successful ten minute rule motion, will select whichever day they think gives them the best chance of securing a Second Reading debate.
46.11 A Private Member's Bill originating in the House of Lords which has completed its progress through the Lords can only proceed through the Commons if it is taken up by a Member of the Commons, and will take its turn for debate on the Friday selected by that Member.
46.12 Normally only the first two or three Bills listed for a particular Friday have much prospect of debate, though Parliamentary Branches with an interest in listed Bills should always check in advance with the Government Whips' Office what is expected to happen on a particular Friday, as the speed with which Bills further down the list are reached cannot always be accurately predicted. Irrespective of whether the Bill is first on the list for debate or last in a long line of PMBs, the Government needs to reach an agreed position on every PMB on the order paper that day and, if a Minister is designated to respond to a PMB, they will need to be within easy reach of the House to speak, should they be called upon, until dismissed by the Private Members' Bill Whip.
46.13 If a Bill which has been tabled for a particular Friday has not in fact been printed and published (a process which the Member concerned must arrange with the Commons Public Bill Office) by the day before, then it will be removed from the list of Bills for that Friday – though it may be put down again for a subsequent Friday.
46.14 If debate starts on a Bill but is not finished by 2.30pm it is said to be “talked out”. A Member may seek to prevent this by moving the closure of the debate, but the Speaker will not necessarily accept such a motion if the debate has begun late in the day and insufficient debate has taken place; and a closure motion is only carried if at least a hundred members vote in support of it. If the closure motion is carried, the question for Second Reading is then put forthwith. Members may also seek to delay proceedings by moving that the House should sit in private at the beginning of a discussion on a Bill; if not, proceedings move to the next Bill on the list.
46.15 When the time for opposed business ends at 2.30pm, the titles of all remaining Bills are read. In principle, as long as a Bill is not opposed, it can pass at this stage. (Indeed, the Member in charge may move that it be considered in Committee of the whole House, take Committee immediately, take Report and Third Reading immediately after Committee, and have the Bill passed, in two or three minutes – as long as no one objects.) A single objection, however, prevents a Bill from proceeding further that day after 2.30pm. In recent sessions, it has been usual for Bills on which there has been no debate to be objected to.
Commons Committee and remaining stages
46.16 Private Members' Bills that secure a Second Reading are committed, as with Government Bills, to a Public Bill Committee. Only one Public Bill Committee of a Private Members' Bill may be active at any one time, unless (under Standing Order No 84 A(5)) the Government tables a motion allowing an additional Public Bill Committee on such a Bill to operate in parallel, or unless the Member in charge allows a later Bill to leapfrog his/her Bill.
46.17 Names for Public Bill Committee members can be put forward by the sponsoring MP on the Wednesday after the Bill obtained Second Reading, and the Committee usually convenes the following Wednesday after members have been selected. The Committee traditionally meets on Wednesday morning, although meetings in the afternoon or on other days are not unknown. If a Private Members' Bill is straightforward, Committee may last only one sitting. No Public Bill Committees for Private Members' Bills have taken written or oral evidence so far and it would be exceptional for them to do so as this would have to be programmed.
46.18 It is possible immediately after Second Reading to move that the Bill's Committee stage be taken on the floor of the House. If this motion is carried, time must be found on one of the Private Members' Bill days. A completely uncontroversial Bill might have its Committee stage taken “on the nod” on the floor of the House, possibly on the same day as it secures Second Reading; but an opposed Bill might be deferred at that stage through lack of time.
46.19 The Government does not provide Government time on the floor of the House for debate (ie on Monday-Thursday) on Private Members' Bills except in the most exceptional circumstances.
46.20 A Minister of the lead department will be expected to take part in all debates on the floor of the House, but will not open or close the debate. Normally they will also be a member of the Committee and departmental officials will need to provide briefing on amendments etc, as for a Government Bill.
46.21 Report and Third Reading may be taken on the same day in the Commons. As noted above, remaining stages take precedence over Second Readings on the final six Private Members' Bill Fridays of the session.
46.22 The main differences in Lords procedures for Private Members' Bills are:
46.23 If a Private Member's Bill enters the Lords from the Commons, the sponsor will need to find a Peer to take the Bill forward. If the Government has supported the Bill the Minister may, in consultation with the Government Whips' Office, wish to suggest a suitable Peer and instruct the department to assist, much as with the Government's own legislation (the Commons Member will need to be kept in touch throughout). The Lords will always give a Second Reading to any Bill which has passed the Commons, but subsequently may alter it substantially – sometimes on the Government's initiative – or even reject it. A Commons Bill may not formally be withdrawn in the House of Lords by the Lord who has taken it up, although it is open to him/her not to proceed further with it. Beyond a certain point in the Session, any Lords amendment is fatal to a Commons Private Member's Bill, because the Commons will have no opportunity to consider it.
46.24 The new requirements on post-legislative scrutiny (that the responsible department will, within the period 3-5 years after an Act has received Royal Assent, submit to the relevant Commons departmental Select Committee a Memorandum reporting on certain key elements of the Act's implementation and operation) applies to Acts which began life as a Private Member's Bill just as for any other Act, as they form part of the body of primary legislation for which departments are responsible. The “responsible department” is the one responsible for the Act at the time a Memorandum is to be submitted, irrespective of whether it was the responsible department at the time the Act was passed.