Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am ar 27 Tachwedd 2007.
Nicholas Winterton
Ceidwadwyr, Macclesfield
10:30,
27 Tachwedd 2007
I welcome hon. Members to the 13th sitting of the Committee. It is a miserable, damp and depressing day outside, but I trust that it will be more interesting and exciting here. We have a clean start this morning. I have selected Amendment No. 351 to Clause 71 and therefore call the hon. Member for Somerset and Frome.
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.
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.
David Heath
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons