Part of Children and Adoption Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee am 9:15 am ar 16 Mawrth 2006.
Margaret Moran
Llafur, Luton South
9:15,
16 Mawrth 2006
I am disappointed with the response of the hon. Member for Basingstoke, but not with that of the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke), who was supportive. I fear that the hon. Member for Basingstoke is wrong on two counts. The paramountcy principle is reduced in clauses 4 and 5, and the courts are required to take into account only those things that pertain to risks to the child, not to enforcement. If the paramountcy principle is important, we must ensure that it runs throughout the Bill.
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.
