8. Stages of a Government Bill

A Government Bill has to pass through several stages in Parliament, each having a clear purpose. Most stages are known as 'readings' because in the day before printing, the only way in which Members could find out what Bill said was by having the contents read out in each Chamber.

The House of Commons

First Reading (Introducing a Bill)

The first reading is a way of letting Members know that a Bill is coming up for discussion. There is no vote on the First Reading, so a Bill automatically goes through that stage. Then it is printed so that Members have a chance to read it and decide what they think about it. Explanatory notes are often published to accompany the Bill.

Second Reading (Explaining the purpose of the Bill)

This is an important stage of a Bill, when its main purpose is explained and general questions answered by the Minister in charge.

Committee Stage (Looking at the details)

It is during the Committee Stage that MPs are, for the first time, allowed to examine all the detail of a Bill and suggest some changes or amendments to it. Most Government Bills are considered by small committees of between 15 and 50 MPs known as Standing Committees. At least one Minister from the Government Department responsible for the Bill is on the committee, as is a front-bench spokesperson from each of the main opposition parties. A separate committee is formed for the consideration of each Bill.

There are several reasons why Bills have to be sent to committees. First of all, 15 to 50 is better number than 659 for discussing the details of a Bill. The committee members can sit in a smaller room which provides a better atmosphere for discussion than the large House of Commons Chamber. Debates in the Chamber are governed by a fairly strict set of rules.

Many debates are programmed to last only a few hours because the House is so short of time that it cannot afford to allow discussion on an individual Bill to last several weeks. Often, however, several months are required if the details of a Bill are to be properly examined. Committee proceedings are altogether more flexible than debates in the House of Commons.

Often a Bill which has constitutional significance or requires a very rapid passage will be heard by a Committee of the Whole House, i.e. in the Chamber, so that all Members can contribute. Sometimes a suggested amendment to a Bill does not get as far as a vote. It may instead be withdrawn by a Member who is either satisfied that he or she has drawn the problem to the attention of the Minister or because the Member realizes that he or she cannot win the vote.

Report Stage (further consideration and changes by the whole House)

After the Committee Stage, the whole House of Commons has to be told what changes have been instituted since only a small number of Members are involved in the committee meetings. If there have been amendments, the Bill will be reprinted before the Report Stage so that Members could see how the changes fit into the Bill as a whole. MPs can suggest further changes if they want to. The Report Stage is not necessary if the Bill has been considered by a Committee of the Whole House.

Third Reading (Overall examination of the Bill)

At this stage the House of Commons is given a chance to look again at the Bill as a whole, with all its amendments, and decide whether it should go any further. The Bill cannot be changed substantially at this stage - it is either accepted or rejected. Once a Bill has passed its Third Reading in the Commons, it is forwarded to the House of Lords for further consideration.

The House of Lords

To spread legislative workload more evenly between the two Houses a sizeable proportion of all Bills begins in the House of Lords. By convention the Lords do not reject legislation on matters which were in the Government's manifesto (election pledge). The Act 1949 provides that any Public Bill passed by the Commons in two successive parliamentary sessions and rejected both times by the Lords, may be presented for the Royal Assent, even though it has not been passed by the Lords. The Lords, therefore, can only delay the passage of a Public Bill, they cannot reject it.

The stages of a Bill in the House of Lords are pretty much the same as those in the House of Commons. At the Committee stage instead of going to a small committee for a detailed examination Bills usually go to a Committee of the Whole House, and any Lord who is interested can contribute. The detailed deliberation of a Bill provides a sort of a safety net in case there is a problem which nobody has spotted before.

Any changes made to a Bill in the House of Lords have to be considered in the House of Commons, for which purpose they are taken back to the lower chamber.

The Commons normally accept most of the Lords' amendments which are not non-controversial. At times a Bill can go to and fro for a while, a process known as 'ping-pong', until an agreement can be reached. If the two Houses are unable to compromise, the Commons will eventually get its way by reintroducing the Bill the following year. The Royal Assent

Once both Houses of Parliament have passed a Bill, it has to go to the Queen for the Royal Assent. Had she been living 500 years ago, Queen Elisabeth II would have signed all Bills herself. She would also have gone in person to the House of Lords to announce in French whether she agreed to a Bill ('La Reyne le veult') or wished to reject it ('Le Reyne s'avisera'). No monarch since the sixteenth century has signed Bills themselves. Queen Anne, whose reign was notable for the emergence of all the two-party political system, in 1707, became the last monarch to reject a Bill, while Queen Victoria was the last to give the Royal Assent in person in 1854.

These days the Queen signs a document which commands certain Lords to inform the members of both Houses that the Royal Assent has been given. Though the Queen always known which Bills she is contesting to, it is unlikely that she reads through the contents of every Bill before giving the Royal Assent because she is aware of the fact that both Houses of Parliament have already considered the Bill very carefully. However, most important Bills are sure to be mentioned in some of her weekly meetings with the Prime Minister.

Once a Bill has received the Royal Assent it becomes an Act of Parliament.

The Principles of Government

Partly as a result of the electoral system, Britain, unlike much of Western Europe, normally has a 'single-party government'. In other words, all members of the government belong to the same political party. There were however several governments in Britain whose members were drawn from a variety of different parties (this is known as "coalition government").

The habit of a 'single-party government' has helped to establish the tradition known as collective responsibility. That is, every member of the government shares the responsibility for every policy made by the Government. Since the Second World War, all governments have been formed either by the Labour Party or the Conservative Party. Members of the same party are likely to agree on a programme of policies. Having won the election, they will also have the support of the majority of MPs in the House of Commons. This will enable them to put their policies into practice. Of course, individual government members may hold different opinions, but they are expected to keep these private. By convention, no member of the government can criticize government policy in public. Any member who does so must resign. Another principle of the Cabinet's work, the doctrine of ministerial responsibility, demands that a Minister should accept a full administrative responsibility for the administration of his/her department. A

Minister's resignation is the only publicly acceptance course of action if grievous errors of judgement, significant mistakes, or miscarriages of justice occur. The doctrine provides direct and effective political accountability for the actions of the executive. It is one of the central components of the doctrine of the separation of powers which is itself a cornerstone of any democratic and responsible government.

Government Departments

Most Cabinet ministers are heads of Government Departments. Governing in the 21^st century is a very complicated business. The work of Government is, therefore, divided among Departments, each specializing in a particular subject, e.g. defence, education, trade and industry. The number and responsibilities of Government Departments can be changed by the Prime Minister according to the needs of the country.

These are the key Government Departments:

• Her Majesty's Treasury is responsible for formulating and putting into effect the UK Government's financial and economy policy. The treasury works to achieve economic stability, low inflation, sound public finances, efficient public services and more productive economy. The Minister in charge is the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Prime Minister is its political head.

• The Cabinet Office supports the Prime Minister in ensuring that the government delivers its priorities, particularly in relation to health, education, transport and crime policies. It provides secretarial support to the Cabinet and services Cabinet committees, where ministers work together on key issues. It also provides practical advice and support on the machinery of government.

• The Home Office is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales. It seeks to promote a safe, just and tolerant society through its policies to reduce crime, deliver justice and regulate entry to the United Kingdom. It is headed by the Home Secretary.

• The Ministry of Defence provides the defence capabilities to ensure the security and defence of the United Kingdom and the Overseas Territories. It supports the government's foreign policy objectives, particularly those relating to peace and security. It is headed by the Secretary of State for Defence.

• The Foreign and Commonwealth Office promotes UK interests abroad and works with international bodies to support a strong world community. The FCO is responsible for the conduct of business with other governments and international organizations. This includes developing Britain's role as a member of the European Union, the Commonwealth and the United Nations Organization. The Minister responsible is the Foreign Secretary.

The above list is not comprehensive. There are several other lesser known ministries.

The ministers in charge of Departments are usually of Cabinet rank. They are chosen for their special interest in, or knowledge of, the subjects handled by the Department. They are usually assisted by one or more junior ministers who are not in the Cabinet. The majority of the Government members belong to the House of Commons, but major Departments often have at least one minister who is a Lord. While ministers act as political heads of Government Departments, the actual administration of the departments is carried out by civil servants also known as permanent secretaries.

As well as government departments there are government agencies formed to operate public services, e.g., the Post Office, British Rail, etc. Most of these agencies are subject to the control of one of the government departments.

The Civil Service

In order to maintain continuity of policy, Government Departments and their agencies are staffed with politically neutral permanent officials, known as civil servants. These serve each Government regardless of which party is in power. Governments come and go, but the civil service remains. Some ministers stay in a post for only a short time moving elsewhere. Civil servants, on the other hand, may spend many years in one department, and they therefore have the time to become experts in their work. In fact, they may know far more about it than the minister does, although they look to him or her for political direction. Moreover, civil servants know the secrets of the previous government which the present minister is unaware of. The most senior civil servant in a Government Department has the title of "Permanent Secretary".

The civil service in Britain today has at least five distinct but interconnected functions to perform. These are:

• informing and advising Ministers;

• helping them to formulate policy and, if it involves legislation, to get it through Parliament;

• implementing the decision once taken by Ministers;

• representing Ministers in meetings with and dealing with Ministers' correspondence from other Departments, interest groups and members of the public;

• managing the bureaucratic machine of central Government.

For those who belong to it, the British civil service is a career. Its most senior positions are usually filled by people who have been working in the system for twenty years or more. These people get a high salary (higher than that of their ministers), have absolute job security (unlike their ministers) and stand a good chance of being awarded an official honour. For all these reasons, top civil servants exercise quite a lot of control over their ministers, and it is sometimes said that it is they, and not their ministers, who really govern the country.

The British civil service has a largely deserved reputation for absolute political impartiality. Top civil servants know that their power depends on their staying out of "politics" and on their being absolutely loyal to their present minister.

Modern criticism of the civil service does not question its loyalty but its efficiency. Despite reforms, the top rank of the civil service is still largely made up of people from the same narrow section of society - people who have been to public school and then on to Oxford or Cambridge, where they studied subjects such as history or classical languages. The criticism therefore is that the civil service does not have enough expertise in matters such as economics and technology, and that it lives too much in its own closed world, cut off from the concerns of the most people in society.