House of Commons (United Kingdom)

The statistics in this article are quoted from the report of the House of Commons Commission for the financial year 2010/11[1]

The House of Commons shares with the House of Lords the functions of scrutinising the actions of government and examining and approving proposed legislation, and it alone can authorise government expenditure. It has legislative priority in the sense that it cannot be overruled by the House of Lords. The conduct of its business is governed by rules and conventions that usually serve to facilitate the conduct of government, and is carried out by elected Members of Parliament with the support of an administrative staff. Members of Parliament serve in a range of rôles, including "ministers" who are the political managers of government departments, and "shadow ministers" who are their opposition counterparts; the "Leader of the House" and the "whips", who together manage the business of the House; and "backbenchers" to whom none of those duties have been assigned. The chief officer of the House of Commons is "the Speaker", who chairs its debates, enforces its rules and acts as its spokesman. The Speaker also chairs the "House of Commons Commission", which employs its administrative staff and directs its administrative departments.

History

(additional links are available on the timelines subpage of the Parliament article)
The development of the House of Commons as a representative body started in the early 14th century with the regular appointment of representatives of the counties (knights of the shire) and of the towns (burgesses). After 1341 they sat together in one chamber, became known as the House of Commons, and deliberated separately from the King and his nobles. . A restricted right to vote in elections of Members of Parliament was establised in the 15th century by The Franchise Act, 1429, which conferred that right upon freeholders of land worth more than 40 shillings, and it was expanded in stages that culminated in the establishment of universal adult suffrage by the Representation of the People Acts of 1918 and 1928.

The business of the House

The functions of the House of Commons include the scrutiny of the actions of government, the initiation and passage of legislation, and the approval of finance bills. Except for the approval of finance bills, it shares those responsibilities with the House of Lords, but it takes legislative precedence over the House of Lords. Most of its work is done in committees that consider policy issues, scrutinise the work and expenditure of the government, and examine proposals for legislation. "Select committees" conduct investigations into the conduct of government departments, or produce reports on specialist subjects. "Legislative committees" debate the detailed content of proposed legislation and decide upon its approval. Legislative procedures normally ensure that the government's legislative proposals pass into law in accordance with a predetermined timetable. The business of the House is executed by its elected Members with the support of its administrative staff.

Members and staff

Members of Parliament are elected to represent the inhabitants of regions termed "constituencies". A Member must be (i) aged 18 or over,(ii) a citizen of the United Kingdom, Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland, and (iii) not a disqualified person such as a government employee, or a member of the House of Lords. , and anyone with those qualifications can stand for election who has been nominated by ten registered electors. Most Members belong to one of the political parties and had been adopted as candidates by their parties' constituency committees. The annual salary for a Member of Parliament is ₤65,738, in addition to which they receive allowances to cover the costs of having somewhere to live in London and in their constituency, and of travelling between Parliament and their constituency. The members of the party that is in power make up the pool of talent from which the "ministers" who conduct the political management of government departments are drawn; and "the cabinet", which is the government's top policy-making body, is drawn from among the ministerial heads of the largest departments. The Leader of the House of Commons is also a government minister and member of the Cabinet. He is responsible for the organisation of government business in the Commons, and he chairs a number of Cabinet Committees, including the Ministerial Committee on Constitutional Affairs and the Legislative Programming Committee. The Party Whips are responsible for the control of the day-to-day business by persuasive control over the actions of Members of Parliament. The chief officer of the House of Commons is the Speaker who is a Member who has been elected to the post by his or her fellow-members. Once elected, the Speaker is expected to discard party connections and act with complete impartiality. Other officers of the House include the Chairman of Ways and Means and two deputy chairmen, who may all act as Deputy Speakers. The Speaker or one of the Deputy Speakers, chairs debates, decides who is to be allowed to speak, maintains order and disciplines users of "unparliamentary language". Permanent officers (who are not MPs) include the Clerk of the House of Commons, who is the principal adviser to the Speaker on the House's privileges and procedures, and the Serjeant at Arms, who is the housekeeper of the Commons' part of the Palace of Westminster. The work of the House is supported by around 2,900 Members Staff and 1,800 House Staff. Their employer is the House of Commons Commission, whose Chairman is the Speaker of the House. The House Staff provide a range of services that includes the daily production of an edited verbatim report of proceedings of both the House of Parliament, averaging about 160 pages a day, and known as Hansard. A further 880 people are employed by the National Audit Office that scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament and is headed by the Comptroller and Auditor General, who is an Officer of the House.

The conduct of business

When the House is in full session, government and opposition members sit on rows of benches facing each other, and the Speaker or Deputy Speaker is seated in the Speaker's chair, at one end of the intervening "floor". Debates follow a traditional pattern. After the opening speeches from both sides, Members wishing to speak rise from their seats, one of them is called upon by the Speaker, and the others return to their seats. A Members wishing to interrupt the Member who is speaking, rises to his feet, but may not interrupt unless the Member who is speaking indicates his willingness to give way by sitting down. Everyone else must remain seated, and everyone must sit down when the Speaker rises from his chair. Amendments are voted on in turn, followed by a vote on the opening motion. Voting is by "divisions" in which the "ayes" and the "noes" leave the chamber along opposite corridors to its right and to its left, to be counted by government and opposition Whips. The conduct of business is otherwise regulated by published Standing Orders , which normally permit a debate to be curtailed by a timetable motion known as "the guillotine". In addition to legislative motions, there are "Early Day Motions", which are used for reasons such as publicising the views of individual MPs, drawing attention to specific events or campaigns, and demonstrating the extent of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view. They are seldom debated. Adjournment debates are held in the Commons chamber at the end of each sitting, and in the Westmister Hall on Tuedays and Wednesdays. Some are general open-ended debates, some are on individual Members' constituency issues, and some are designed to elicit policy responses from departmental Ministers. The proceedings of House of Commons committees are less formal than debates in the House: Members speak seated and refer to each other by name, rather than "the honourable member for ...". Statements made in the course of parliamentary business are exempted from legal action by "parliamentary privilege" , but Members are expected to conform at all times to the House of Commons Code of Conduct.

Sittings of the House of Commons take place on an average of about 145 days a year and about 8 hours a day.

The legislative process

Nearly all legislation is initiated by government departments as "Public Bills". "Private Bills" are Bills that are intended to change the law only as it applies to specific individuals or organisations rather than the general public; and "Hybrid Bills" contain elements of both. The initiation of "Private Member's Bills" by members of the House is comparatively rare and is seldom successful. The full-scale legislative process for a public Bill normally involves several stages of preparation before it is presented to the House of Commons, and it must then pass through a customary five parliamentary stages in the House of Commons, including scrutiny by a Legislative Committee and two debates of the full House. The fully-amended Bill is then sent for consideration by the House of Lords from whence - and for a limited period - it may be returned for further consideration. The annual Finance Bill encompasses all the changes to be made to tax law for the year. Its formal description is "a Bill to grant certain duties, to alter other duties, and to amend the law relating to the National Debt and the Public Revenue, and to make further provision in connection with finance. The passage of legislation is usually facilitated by cooperation between government and opposition Whips, the effect of which is to limit the time allowed for the discussion of its clauses (a process that is known as "the usual channels"). "Statutory Instruments" are ministerial orders that become law without going through the full-scale legislative process. They can be either affirmative instruments that require the approval of both Houses of Parliament, or negative instruments that come into force unless anulled by either House of Parliament. They are classed as secondary legislation because they are legislation that has been authorised by previous legislation. Around 40 Bills and 4,000 Statutory Instruments become law each year.

Select committees

The duty of scrutinising the activities of government is performed by the Select Committees The results of their inquiries are made public, and many of them require a response from the government. There is a Select Committee that examines the work of each government and there are Select Committees with more general remits such as the Public Accounts Committee and the Environmental Audit Committees. The Chairs of most select committees are elected by their fellow Members of Parliament, and their party compositions reflect that of the House. They are each supported by a permanent enquiry team, in addition to which they may engage specialist advisers for particular enquiries. They have extensive powers to require written and oral evidence . The facts that, in particular, they have access to all departmental files, and that they have the power to question any civil servant, may be expected to influence the conduct of government departments. Departmental Select Committees usually publish between 200 and 300 reports each year.

Parliamentary questions

Parliamentary Questions provide another means by which Members of Parliament can hold the Government to account. Departmental Ministers can be obliged to provide information, explain policy decisions or defend the actions of their departments. Members can "table" questions to Ministers for answer either orally, or in writing. Oral questions are answered by departmental Ministers in the Commons chamber for an hour on every sitting day from Monday to Thursday, in accordance with a departmental rota called the "Order of Oral Questions". Questions have to be tabled three days in advance, and are randomly selected for putting to Ministers. Members can put follow-up "Supplementary Questions" (for which no notice is required) to a Minister, after he or she has answered each tabled question. The Prime Minister answers questions for half an hour at miidday every Wednesday. The session normally starts with a routine question about the Prime Minister's engagements, and that is usually followed by a supplementary question on a topical subject. The Leader of the Opposition then follows, with up to six questions on a subject of his own choosing. Questions for written answer are put directly to Ministers, and are normally answered within a nine working days. Upwards of 400 oral questions and 40,000 written questions are answered every year.