Private members’ Bill ballot The ballot for private members’ Bill for the 2014-15 session will be drawn on Thursday June 12 2014. This guide provides insight into how members’ drawn in the ballot decide the subject of their Bill, the legislative process for ballots Bills and their relative success in gaining royal assent in comparison to other types of PMBs (ten minute rule motion and ordinary presentation). Contents Private members’ Bill ballot .................................................................................................................... 2 The ballot ............................................................................................................................................ 2 Bill subjects ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Drafting assistance ............................................................................................................................. 3 Legislative process .............................................................................................................................. 3 How successful are ballot Bills in comparison to ten minute rule and presentation Bills?................ 4 Key points ................................................................................................................................................ 5 Glossary ................................................................................................................................................... 5 May 2014 Private members’ Bill ballot Thirteen Friday sittings are set aside in the House of Commons each session for the consideration of private members’ Bills (approximately 65 hours). Private members’ Bills can be introduced by (i) ballot; (ii) ten minute rule motion; or (iii) ordinary presentation. Priority for the use of the thirteen sitting Friday’s is given to PMBs introduced by the ballot. Ballot Bills therefore have the best chance of becoming law, or being debated on the floor of the House. The ballot The private members’ Bill ballot is drawn on the second Thursday of each session. On the two preceding days members wishing to enter the ballot must add their names against a number in the ballot book placed in the No lobby. Members can only add one name to the book – either their own or that of another member who has authorised them to do so. Over 400 members enter the ballot each session. On the day of the draw, tickets corresponding to the numbers which members have signed their names against are placed in a box. 20 numbers are picked out by the chairman of ways and means. The list of members’ successful in the ballot (and the order which they were drawn) is placed initially in the No lobby and then in the Vote Office. Bill subjects Some members will choose to bring in a Bill on a controversial issue they feel strongly about. However with the chances of being drawn in the ballot so low (approximately 1:20), a substantial majority of members have no particular subject in mind. Around half of the MPs successful in the ballot will be contacted by the government to introduce a handout Bill. These are usually Bills the government has not been able to find time for in their legislative programme, or do not wish to introduce themselves. Handout Bills are by no means offered exclusively to their own backbenchers, but current trends indicate the majority of handout Bills introduced do come from the government backbenches. For instance in the 2012-13 session, 11 Conservative MPs were successful in the ballot. Out of those 11, 10 introduced handout Bills: Order selected in Conservative MP Title of handout Bill ballot 2. Richard Ottaway Scrap Metal Dealers Bill 4. Gavin Barwell Mental Health (Discrimination) (No. 2) Bill 5. Peter Aldous Mobile Homes Bill 7. Neil Carmichael Antarctic Bill 8. Paul Beresford Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) Bill 9. Richard Harrington Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Bill 11. Stuart Andrew Prisons (Property) Bill 12. Sheryll Murray Marine Navigation (No. 2) Bill 14. John Glen Presumption of Death Bill 17. Simon Kirby Disabled Persons' Parking Badges Bill Douglas Carswell, who was drawn 20th in the ballot, was the only Conservative MP not to introduce a handout Bill. His bill sought to repeal the European Communities Act 1972 and related legislation. The remaining opposition MPs will receive a large number of approaches from individuals and organisations with suggestions of legislation they should bring forward. The only rule that MPs must abide by when introducing a PMB is that their Bill must not create a “charge upon the people” (a new tax, a tax increase or a similar kind of charge) or a “charge upon the public purse” (the establishment of a new cause for public expenditure). Drafting assistance The first 10 members selected in the ballot can claim no more than £200 towards the cost of drafting assistance for their Bill, however this rarely happens. Drafting assistance can be given by the Public Bill Office or by the organisation/individual whose Bill approach has been taken forward as a private members’ Bill. Legislative process In order to achieve Royal Assent, a private members’ Bill is required to follow and complete the same parliamentary stages afforded to all public Bills. However, there are a number of significant procedural differences between PMBs and government Bills. On the fifth Wednesday of each session, all 20 MPs successful in the ballot formally present their Bills by lining up behind the speaker’s chair and handing their dummy Bills (a card showing the short and long title of the proposed PMB) to the clerk at the table. Each MP will then choose one of the allotted private members’ Bill Fridays for their second reading. In practice, the first seven Fridays are usually allocated as second reading days and the final eight days are reserved for the “remaining stages”. MPs can postpone their allocated second reading day but may not bring their second reading forward to an earlier day. At the beginning of each Friday PMB sitting, a motion is moved calling for the House to sit. A quorum of 40 is required for the motion to be passed, as such, if less than 40 MPs vote the Bill is deferred to the next allocated day, in effect spelling the end of that Bill’s chances. In practice, only the first Bill on the order paper of the allotted Friday is guaranteed debate due to the fact that, unlike government Bills, private members’ Bills are not timetabled. If the debate on the first Bill ends before 2.30pm, subsequent Bills may get a chance of debate, but after 2.30pm only unopposed Bills can make progress. If a Bill is objected to, the member can seek another Friday for consideration of the Bill but this usually signals the end of the PMB due to the lack of parliamentary time. The vast majority of Bills will be opposed either by the government, or if it is a hand-out Bill, by the opposition. In order to stop Bills lower down the order paper from being debated, MPs can ‘talk out’ the first Bill to ensure that debate on subsequent Bills cannot be reached. The speaker has the power to place time limits on speeches, but this rarely happens. If debate on a Bill continues until 2:30pm without May 2014 interruption, that debate automatically ends and the member must find another Friday to resume progress of the Bill because rescheduling in effect spells the end of a PMB. Supporters of the Bill will try to move a closure motion as the 2.30pm deadline nears calling for the second reading question to be put to the House. The speaker will reject a closure motion if they think there has been insufficient debate. If a closure motion is successful then the Bill moves to committee stage. This requires 100 MPs to vote in favour of the motion. This is especially difficult given the fact that most MPs will return to their constituencies on Thursday evenings. If a PMB successfully receives its committee stage it will be sent to a public Bill committee. It is up to the supporting member to find MPs to sit on the committee. Under current arrangements only one public Bill committee for a PMB can be active at any one time. Therefore, if a number of PMBs have had second readings at the same time, substantial delays can occur. At the moment there is no mechanism to call for public evidence during a PMB public Bill committee. PMBs that are lucky enough to reach report stage usually fail here as ‘talking-out’ can be achieved by tabling just a couple of amendments. If a PMB reaches the Lords, it must be sponsored by a backbench peer. The Bill will be automatically given a first reading without any action by the sponsoring peer. Second readings are often a formality, but members of the House who take up Commons Bills should be prepared for amendments. How successful are ballot Bills in comparison to ten minute rule and presentation Bills? PMBs rarely make legislative progress or reach the statute book. Ballot Bills achieve the most legislative success but compared to government Bills, the numbers are low and a significant number of the successful ballot Bills are government ‘handouts’. For instance, of the 133 PMBs introduced in the House of Commons in the 2012-13 session, only 10 achieved royal assent. All were ballot Bills and all were handout Bills introduced by Conservative MPs (see tabled above for list of Bills) 2013- 14 session Type of PMB No. introduced No. received royal assent Ballot Bills 20 4 Ten minute rule Bills 60 0 Presentation Bills 66 1 Lord’s private members’ Bills 31 0 Percentage of ballot Bills which have received royal assent Session Number of ballot Bills achieving Royal Assent 2013-14 4 (20%) 2012-13 10 (50%) 2010-12 6 (30%) 2009-10 5 (28%) 2008-09 2 (10%) 2007-08 3 (15%) 2006-07 3 (15%) 2005-06 3 (15%) Presentation and ten minute rule Bills rarely make it beyond their second reading. In the last ten years there has been a combined total of 802 presentation and ten minute rule Bills. Of that only three have reached Royal Assent, the most recent of which was the Leasehold Reform (Amendment) Act 2014.