2.3-the legislative process

Question 1

what is the difference between public and private bills?

Answer 1

• public bills affect the whole population
• private bills only apply to a certain group and give powers that are beyond or in conflict with general law

Question 2

what is the difference between government bills and private members bills?

Answer 2

• government bills are introduced by government and seek to fill the governments manifesto commitements
• private members bills are introduced by back benchers

Question 3

what is a key example of a succesfull private members bill?

Answer 3

voyeurism act 2019
Wera Hobhouse

Question 4

why are private members bills often unsuccesfull?

Answer 4

• government controls most of the legislative angenda
• they are very suseptable to filibustering as there is very little time allocated to them

Question 5

how can private members bills be introduced?

Answer 5

• ballot: mps enter a ballot at the start of the parliamentary session. 20 Mps are chosen and can propose their bill on one of the 13 fridays in the parliamentary session
• 10 minute bills: allow mps to make a case for a bill lasting up to 10 mins
• presentation: mps introduce a PMB but do not speak to support it.

Question 6

what happens to a bill before it enters the HOC?

Answer 6

• can start with a green paper (a consultation)
• then turned into a white paper (a firm proposal)
• committees are allowed to comment
• the bill is drafted

Question 7

what stages does a bill go through before it enters the lords?

Answer 7

• first reading: the bill is formally introduced by a minister
• second reading: a minister defends the bill, takes questions, at this stage the bill may be contested
• if the bill is contested their is a vote, which government generally wins
• committee stage: the bill is sent to a public bill committee (reflect the composition of the house)
• report stage: mps can propose and vote on any ammendments
• third reading: the bill is voted on

Question 8

how is the process of a bill in the lords different to that of the commons?

Answer 8

• the committee stage is normally done in the chamber
• this is called the commitee of the whole house

Question 9

what is the role of the lords in the legislative process?

Answer 9

• provides technical ammedments, only opposes a bill when it is truly justifies
• if the lords ammendements are rejected by the commons the lords generally accepts it lack of legitimacy and stands down

Question 10

give an example of when the lords back down after the commons rejected its ammendements?

Answer 10

• the 2020 EU withdraal act was sent back to the commons with 5 ammendments
• one ammendments included the guarentee of the continuance of the ERASMUS (education) scheme
• the commons rejected all 5 and the lords backed down

Question 11

what is parliamentary ping pong?

Answer 11

• when a bill goes back and forth between the houses before an agreement is made?

Question 12

give an example of when parliamentary ping pong took place.

Answer 12

• the 2021 trade act
• the lords tried to introduce an ammendment that trade deals could not be agreed with countries who had committed genocide
• the bill went back and forth 6 times until the lords backed down

Question 13

what is the salisbury convention?

Answer 13

• the house of lords should not vote down a bill that attempts to fulfill the governments manifesto
• they can introduce technical ammendements but not ‘wrecking ammendments that change the intention’

Question 14

what limits do the 1911 and 1949 parliament acts put on the lords?

Answer 14

• 1911: removed the power to delay financial bills, veto power way replaced with the power to delay for 2 years
• 1949: reduced the power to delay to 1 year

Question 15

what is secondary legislation?

Answer 15

allows ministers to introduce statutory instruments to make further changes witin the scope of the law

Question 16

give an example of the use of statutory instruments? 2 examples

Answer 16

• statutory instruments are used to ban new substances by adding them to a list under the misuse of drugs act 1971
• during covid, the government created the coronavirus act 2020 which allowed them to implement lots of secondary legislation

Question 17

how has the legislative scrutiny of the commons decreased in recent years?

Answer 17

• mps spend less time in the chamber
• the use of oral evidence in the committee stage has fallen
• very few bills recieve pre-legislative scrutiny (when they are green/white papers)
• the government often rushes bills through parliament

Question 18

give evidence to show that mps spend less time in the chamber than peers.

Answer 18

• betwen 2006-2021 on average Mps spend 24% of time in the chamber
• while peers spent on average 44%

Question 19

contrast 2 pieces of legislation to show that government has been rushing legislation through the commons.

Answer 19

• the recent illiegal immigration bill was given just 2 days in the committee of the whole house
• the 2016 immigration act had 15 committee sessions and recieved 55 written pieces of evidence

Question 20

how long can committe reports take?

Answer 20

• up to 4 months

Question 21

what % of bills passed recieve pre- legislative scrutiny?

Answer 21

10%

Question 22

what % of bills passed were subject to atleast 1 oral evidence session?

Answer 22

27%

Question 23

how does the government control the legislative timetable? (2)

Answer 23

standing order 14
- states that govt business takes precedence

programme motion
- the government sets the ammount of time given to each stage

Question 24

give an example of a committee chair who was in the role for a long time.

Answer 24

• margaret hodge
• chair of the public accounts select committee from 2010 - 2015

Question 25

which committee questioned dominic cummings?

Answer 25

• joing inquiry from the health and social care committee and the science and technology committee

Question 26

how long was given to the scrutiny of the 2005 prevention of terrorism act?

Answer 26

17 days
- included an all night sitting in order to pass the bill in time

Question 27

what factors undermine the effectiveness of public bill committees?

Answer 27

• membership is chosen by party whips
• very few ammendments arise as a result

Question 28

how does the 2021 domestic abuse act show the effectiveness of public bill committees?

Answer 28

• 96 pieces of written evidence
• jess philips (labour) sat on the commitee- extensive experience in this area