Guides

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman or PMOS is a civil servant charged with presenting the Prime Minister and the Government to the media in the best light possible, whilst maintaining the independence and objectivity of the Civil Service. The PMOS briefs press and broadcast journalists most weekdays when Parliament is sitting, giving the Prime Minister's...Read More

Where a Bill has fallen because it has been endorsed by the Commons but opposed repeatedly by the Lords, the Parliament Acts may be used. The Acts – the first in 1911 and the second in 1949 – allow for a Bill to become law without the agreement of the Lords when certain conditions have...Read More

The head of the British Government is the Prime Minister. The leader of the largest party in the House of Commons is by convention asked by the monarch to be Prime Minister and to form a government. This can only take place after the loser of the election has conceded defeat and tendered his or...Read More

All Government Bills are programmed (also known as timetabling). After Second Reading, a programme motion is put to the House. A programme motion specifies the amount of time allocated to each of the following stages of the Bill in the Commons. It normally gives the date on which the Bill should leave Standing Committee as...Read More

In our guide to plenary sessions in the Scottish Parliament you will find useful information regarding the business agenda of Parliament decided by the Parliamentary Bureau, how debates and motions are tabled in Parliament, the rules of weekly question sessions, voting in the Parliament and the passing of legislation including which areas the Scottish Parliament...Read More

Increasingly new pieces of government legislation are published in draft about one Session ahead of their intended introduction and passage. Draft Bills are normally subjected to pre-legislative scrutiny at the hands of a joint-committee of MPs and peers formed for that purpose. Such a committee will take evidence from individuals and organisations who express an...Read More

Pillar three relates to justice and home affairs (JHA), another highly sensitive political area. As such, decision-making under pillar three continues to be primarily intergovernmental. This is probably the least developed area of EU common policy, because of the cultural and legal barriers to harmonisation and the implications it has for national sovereignty. Indeed, the...Read More

Private Members' Bills are Public Bills that are introduced by back-benchers. Any MP can introduce a Bill on any day by informing the Speaker that he or she wishes to do so but there are a number of formal ways in which this can be arranged, some of which increase the chances of the Bill...Read More

Pillar two relates to common foreign and security policy (CFSP). The Maastricht Treaty provides for the EU to develop CFSP, covering all areas of foreign and security policy with the following objectives: 1. To safeguard the common values, interests, independence and integrity of the EU, in conformity with the UN Charter 2. To protect the...Read More

Primary legislation (Bills and Acts) is split into two categories – Public Bills and Private Bills (with Hybrid Bills in a sub-category between the two). Public Bills are pieces of legislation that affect everyone and every organisation in the same way. For example, a Bill that introduces a new driving offence applies to everyone who...Read More

Once the political decision has been taken to pursue a specific policy or legislative objective, work on drafting a proposal begins within the relevant DG. Most initial proposals are drafted by a middle-ranking 'A' grade civil servant, and is gradually passed upwards (being revised throughout) through the DG's hierarchy, to the commissioner's cabinet, to the...Read More

Prime Minister's Questions (widely known as PMQs) is the set-piece of the Parliamentary week. The Prime Minister comes to the Commons at noon every Wednesday when Parliament is sitting and answers questions from back-benchers and opposition leaders. Unlike other oral question sessions, the Prime Minister has no foreknowledge of what is to be asked, although...Read More

Where a Bill has fallen because it has been endorsed by the Commons but opposed repeatedly by the Lords, the Parliament Acts may be used. The Acts – the first in 1911 and the second in 1949 – allow for a Bill to become law without the agreement of the Lords when certain conditions have...Read More