HCPP (House of Commons Parliamentary Papers)

Today I learnt about HCPP (House of Commons Parliamentary Papers).

It's a paid-for service that provides access to 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present day. It is complete from 1801 to present day. According to the website HCPP "includes the full text from Hansard, the Official Report of debates in Parliament, from both the House of Commons and House of Lords, from 1803 to 2005". Each page includes images, detailed indexing, and you can search across the full-text.

It's a service aimed at academic institutions, public libraries and other specialist art libraries so I don't think commercial law firms qualify (but I'm not 100% sure on this point). In any case it looks useful if you are a law student, academic law librarian or a private researcher.

HCPP website:
http://parlipapers.chadwyck.co.uk/

Thanks to my colleague Sam for this one.

Parliament TV's on-demand archive

Today I learnt that Parliament TV provides an on-demand archive of parliamentary proceedings back to 2009. It covers all public proceedings, including debates and committee meetings of both Houses.

You can search the archive by date, institution or keyword:
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Archive.aspx

Find out more about it:
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/About.aspx

And, of course, Parliament TV allows you to watch the live debates as well.

Private Members' Bills

Today I learnt that only a minority of Private Members’ Bills become law because little time is allocated to them.

Private Members’ Bills are Public Bills introduced by MPs and Lords who aren not government ministers. They follow the same stages through Parliament as other Public Bills but because less time is allocated to them they are less likely to go through all stages.

There are three ways to introduce a Private Members' Bills in the House of Commons:

The Ballot

Ballot Bills have the best chance of becoming law, as they normally get a day of debate each. The names of Members applying for a Bill are drawn from a ballot at the beginning of the parliamentary year.

Ten Minute Rule

Members make 10 minute speeches outlining their proposal. Ten Minute Rule Bills are “are often an opportunity for Members to voice an opinion on a subject or aspect of existing legislation, rather than a serious attempt to get a Bill passed”.*

Presentation

Members “formally introduce a title of the Bill but do not speak in support of it”.*

All of this information is taken from the Parliament website:

http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/bills/private-members/

Tracking the Passage of Bills Through Parliament

Today I learnt that the UK Parliament website publishes guides explaining the passage of Bills through Parliament. There are two guides; one for Bills starting in the House of Commons and one for Bills starting in the House of Lords. Each stage of the process is described, from First Reading to Royal Assent:

http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/

Daily Prayers in the Houses of Parliament

Today I learnt that sittings in both Houses begin with daily prayers. The prayers follow the Christian faith, and attendance is voluntary. In the Commons the Speaker's Chaplain reads the prayers and in the Lords it's a senior Bishop (Lord Spiritual). The practice is thought to have started in 1558. According to the UK Parliament website:

MPs and Peers stand for prayers facing the wall behind them. It is thought this practice developed due to the difficulty Members would historically have faced of kneeling to pray while wearing a sword.

http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/business/prayers/