Legislation

• Bill - legislation to be passed through HOC and HOL to become law
• Green paper - government document setting out the issues and options for legislation - essentially a discussion document
• White paper - government document setting out detailed plans and proposals for legislation
• Public bills - bills that affect everyone in the country once passed to become law
• Private bills - only affects certain groups in certain areas once passed to become law
• 1. First reading of a bill - relevant government minister formally introduces the bill to the House of Commons
  2. Second reading - debate on the principles of the bill in the Commons
  3. Committee stage - public bill committees consider the bill line by line and consult an expert
  4. Report stage - previous amendments considered in the HOC - accepted, rejected or changed
  5. Third reading - final debate and no further change
  6. HOL stage - Lords may vote against aspects of the bill but they usually don't outright vote against the premise of the bill
• Parliamentary ping pong sometimes occurs when HOC and HOL pass a bill back and forth until both Houses agree on the same version of the bill