Secretariats website

Commons Remaining Stages (Report and Third Reading)

Report stage

29.1 When the Committee Stage is concluded the Bill is reported to the House, and formally set down for consideration on the next sitting day, so it appears on the Remaining Orders (“Future Business C” in the order paper). A later day is appointed for its consideration by the House, and announced in the Business Statement. Consideration on Report takes place on the floor of the House and the arrangements for attendance of officials are as for Second Reading. A Bill reported without amendment from Committee of the whole House proceeds directly to Third Reading.

29.2 The Chief Whip and Leader of the House will decide when Report stage is to be taken. In giving advice on this the Bill team should bear in mind the time needed for preparing Government amendments, especially those requiring collective agreement.

29.3 When a Bill has completed its Committee stage (whether in a Public Bill Committee, a Committee of the Whole House, or both), it will ordinarily be reprinted.  There is an exception in relation to emergency Bills, where the report stage follows on immediately after completion of proceedings in a Committee of the Whole House. The Parliamentary Clerk should obtain a sufficient number of copies of any reprints of the Bill.

29.4 If the Bill has not been amended in Committee, the proceedings at Report are purely formal.

Amendments at Report

29.5 On Report the House considers the whole Bill, not merely the amendments already made, but no question is put for each clause to stand part of the Bill. Therefore, a proposal to leave out a clause takes the form of an amendment, of which due notice must be given.

29.6 At this stage, amendments fulfilling commitments made by the Minister in Committee may need to be put down by the Minister; or possibly a Government‑drafted amendment will have been offered to a backbencher whose amendment in Committee was accepted in principle, and will be put down by him/her. However, amendments at Report should be kept to a minimum. If a large number of Government amendments are tabled for Report, there may be calls for the Bill to be recommitted to Public Bill Committee, which will significantly delay the progress of the Bill.

29.7 The order in which the Bill is discussed on Report differs from that in Committee and is normally as follows (though it can be changed, usually through a Programme Motion):

1. new clauses, together with any amendments proposed to these;
2. amendments to existing clauses;
3. new Schedules, together with any amendments proposed to these;
4. amendments to existing Schedules;
5. amendments to the long title.

29.8 Except in the case of Private Members' Bills (where that Member's amendments take precedence), Government new clauses are taken before other new clauses and Government new Schedules are taken before other new Schedules.

29.9 Non-Government amendments for Report may be tabled up to two days before the debate (this also applies to Government amendments). It is advisable for somebody from the Bill team or departmental Parliamentary Branch to go to the Clerk's office about 30 minutes after the House has risen to collect any further amendments tabled that day, as policy leads will of course need to prepare speaking notes on the amendments in time for the Minister's box the following day.

Selection of amendments

29.10 On the afternoon before the day when Report stage is to be taken the Speaker considers the amendments tabled (unless this is a Monday, in which case it would be that morning). The power of selection is more freely used on Report than in Committee. In 1967 Speaker King set out the criteria that he used for selection and these remain a good guide:

• All Government amendments – equally all amendments by the Member in charge of a Private Member's Bill;
• All involving some undertaking by the Government;
• New “compromises” or “halfway” proposals;
• Important issues carefully debated in Committee, but still containing vital matters worthy of a “last look”;
• New matters brought in by members of the Committee or non-members;
• New developments that have occurred since the Committee examined the Bill.

29.11 Departmental Parliamentary Branches should collect the Speaker's selection and grouping of amendments once it is available on the afternoon of the day before Report, as it may affect the way in which the Minister will handle the debate. As in Committee, Parliamentary Counsel, who assist the House authorities on selection and grouping, will normally be able to give advance notice. A flood of amendments at short notice may make Report stage on a contentious Bill the busiest stage of all for officials.

29.12 Notes on Government and other amendments or new schedules will be needed on Report in the same way as in Committee. Members may speak only once on each amendment, except that the Member who moves it may be permitted with the leave of the House to reply to the debate. There are no clause stand part debates.

Recommittal

29.13 A Bill may be recommitted to a Public Bill Committee or to a Committee of the whole House (in whole or in part) at the conclusion of Report stage or before Third Reading has been moved, if a motion to that effect is agreed to. Standing Order No. 74 provides that if a motion to recommit a Bill as a whole is made, debate is limited to a brief explanatory statement by the Member moving it (normally the Minister in charge of the Bill) and a brief statement from an opponent.

Third Reading

29.14 Third Reading is usually taken immediately after Report. Its purpose is to allow the Commons to look at the Bill as it has been amended and to reaffirm the decision taken at Second Reading that the Bill should proceed. It would, for example, be open to the House to decide that the amendments made to the Bill, or the fact that no amendments had been made, meant that in spite of the broad decision taken at Second Reading that such a Bill was desirable, this particular Bill should not be passed.

29.15 No amendments may be made to a Bill on Third Reading in the Commons unless they are very minor, non-material amendments. If material amendments were necessary the order for Third Reading would have to be discharged and the Bill recommitted.

29.16 For certain important Bills, more than an hour may be allocated for debate on Third Reading; in such cases it may be that more than one Minister will participate in the debate.

29.17 The Bill team should check that if the Bill requires Queen's Consent the Order Paper mentions this; if this has been omitted, it should be pointed out to Parliamentary Counsel who will alert the House authorities. Parliamentary Branch should arrange for a Minister who is a Privy Counsellor to signify Consent just before Third Reading.

Preparing for second House

29.18 On completion of Third Reading the Bill will be sent to the Lords, normally on the following day. Further details on arrangements for sending a Bill to the Lords are in the Lords section of this guide but at this stage Bill teams should ensure that:

• Bill as amended in Commons is proof read and approved for publication when sent to the Lords
• Explanatory Notes revised as necessary to publish alongside Bill
• Impact Assessment and Delegated Powers Memorandum revised and republished as necessary, with the Delegated Powers Memorandum now formally submitted to the Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee
• Fresh ECHR statement signed for second House
• “Take up” arrangements clear (i.e. which Minister is to take charge of the Bill in the second House)

29.19 Completing passage through the first House is also a good time for Bill teams to take stock – for example to ensure that all first House papers are correctly filed – and to check that plans are in place for any work that may need to be done post-Royal Assent, as second House will be a very busy period for Bill teams. In particular, Bill teams should ensure that arrangements have been made to draft any guidance needed once the Bill becomes an Act (e.g. implementation guidance for business or the third sector). This is unlikely to be a task for the Bill team itself, but the Bill team should ensure that arrangements are in place for any such guidance to be prepared (and if appropriate published in draft before Royal Assent).