Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 13 Rhagfyr 1973.
In Section 8 as originally enacted, it was provided that every person appointed to be head of a Department in Northern Ireland was automatically to be a member of the Northern Ireland Executive. The new provisions in Section 8 will, however, be more flexible. It is no longer provided that every head of Department shall automatically be a member of the Executive. It is instead provided, in the new subsection (3)(a), that a head of Department may be appointed to be a member of the Executive. That this new degree of flexibility is a welcome one is shown by the fact that the Northern Ireland parties have agreed that two of the heads of Department should not be members of the Executive.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
