– in a Public Bill Committee am ar 27 Chwefror 2003.
Gregory Campbell
DUP, East Londonderry
8:55,
27 Chwefror 2003
On a point of order, Mr. Gale. I wish to clarify why, despite being a member of the Committee, I did not receive notice of the sitting on Tuesday. My hon. Friend the Member for North Antrim (Rev. Ian Paisley) apologised for my absence from the debate in the House of Commons on 10 February, which was due to my mother's critical illness. I would have attended Tuesday's Committee sitting but I did not receive notice. Perhaps it could be established why that happened. My absence was unavoidable because I did not receive any notice.
Roger Gale
Vice-Chair, Conservative Party
The hon. Gentleman's disappointment is a matter of record. It is always regrettable if members of the Committee do not receive papers in a timely fashion, and we will certainly examine the issue. However—this is not specific to the hon. Gentleman—it is generally up to hon. Members to ensure that they organise forwarding arrangements if they are not collecting their mail directly from the House of Commons.Clause 18 Provision of information to Board
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
