X where another hospital has been closed?’. Conversely sycophantic

questions by government supporters are frequently asked.

By convention, ministers must provide the information requested but

can refuse to answer on various grounds. and cannot be pressed upon a

refusal to answer. Moreover answers can be perfunctory and incomplete

although ministers must not ‘knowingly’ mislead Parliament and must

correct any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity (see Ministerial

Code). Apart from the prime minister, ministers have about two weeks’

advance notice. Questions can be put in writing without limit and the

answers are recorded in Hansard, the official parliamentary journal.

280 General Principles of Constitutional and Administrative Law

The Speaker has no power to call a minister before the House and a

common contemporary abuse of Parliament is for ministers to give

information to the press before making a statement in Parliament.

However, ‘Private Notice’ questions can be asked by any member

without prior warning, which requires a minister to answer. This must,

however, be of an ‘urgent character’ and relate either to matters of

public importance or to the arrangement of business (SO 17 (3)).

Questions are unlikely to reveal detailed information but do have the

advantage of putting ministers under pressure and exposing weak-

nesses in public.

Debates

There are various opportunities for debating general matters. All

involve limited time, sometimes at the tail-end of a sitting in the late

evening.

(i) Adjournment debates: these can be on any matter for which a

minister is responsible. The most common is a half-hour daily

adjournment debate which can be initiated by a backbencher.

There is a weekly ballot (SO 9). There can also be all-night

adjournment debates following the passage of a Consolidated

Fund or Appropriation bill (above), emergency adjournment

debates (which are rarely permitted), and ‘recess’ debates in

which miscellaneous topics can be debated for up to three hours.

Amendments cannot be moved to adjournment motions, so

adjournment motions can be used by the government to restrict

the opposition. Adjournment debates do not result in a formal

vote, and a minister’s response cannot be questioned.

(ii) Opposition days after the proceedings on the annual Appropria-

tion Act (above).

(iii) Emergency debates: to open the debate the support of 40 mem-

bers or a vote of the House is required (SO 20). The Speaker must

hold that the matter is urgent and relates to the responsibilities of

ministers. Only three minutes are allowed for the application.

(iv) The debate following the Queen’s Speech at the opening of a

session.

(v) Censure motions: by convention a government is expected to resign

if defeated on a censure motion (also called a no-confidence

motion). The government must provide time to debate the motion.

Until the 1970s the convention also seemed to include other

government defeats on important matters, but the latter seem no

longer to require resignation (870 HC Deb. 71–2 (1974)). The

281

Parliamentary Procedure

possibility that a government can be defeated on a major part of its

programme but also remain in office strengthens a weak govern-

ment by providing a safety valve for dissidents within its party.

Since 1964 a government has resigned only once following a cen-

sure motion (1979). On that occasion the government was a

minority government, again a rare event. A no-confidence motion

has no particular form. Either government or opposition can

declare any vote to be one of confidence. In today’s conditions the

procedure seems to be essentially a publicity stunt. However, such

a vote does require the government to publicly defend itself.

(vi) The budget debate.

(vii) Ministerial statements which can be followed by questions and

discussion.