7.125  If a bill has been amended in Committee of the whole House, the report stage cannot be taken until a later day, unless SO 47 has been suspended or dispensed with.

7.126  The motion "That this report be now received" may be objected to and debated and voted on; an amendment may be moved to postpone the report; or a dilatory or reasoned amendment[289] may be moved in opposition to the motion or to record a particular point of view in assenting to the motion.

Amendments on report

7.127  When the Question that the report be now received has been agreed to, any amendments are called in the usual way. Notice of these is given in the same way as for committee, and the same practices apply for marshalling and grouping. The proceedings are confined to dealing with amendments, either in the order in which they relate to the bill or in a particular sequence agreed to in advance by order of the House.

Repeat amendments[290]

7.128  Amendments identical (or of identical effect) to amendments pressed to a vote by the mover and defeated in committee may not be retabled on report. However, an issue which has been debated and voted on in committee can be reopened, provided that the relevant amendment is more than cosmetically different from that moved in committee.

7.129  An amendment agreed to on a vote in committee may not be reversed on report except with the unanimous agreement of the House.

Amendments grouped and en bloc

7.130  As in committee, amendments may be grouped, and a member may ask leave to speak to a number of related amendments. Likewise consecutive amendments may be moved en bloc but without any need to confine each bloc within a clause or Schedule.

Opposition to clause or Schedule

7.131  The Question that the clauses and Schedules stand part is not put on report, so a proposal to leave out a clause or Schedule appears as an amendment. Such an amendment should not be tabled if the purpose underlying the amendment is to initiate a general debate, rather than a genuine desire to leave out the clause or Schedule: it may, however, be appropriate when, for instance, a member wishes to learn the outcome of an undertaking given in committee.[291]

Manuscript amendments

7.132  Manuscript amendments are not out of order on report, but the disadvantages and inconvenience attaching to the moving of manuscript amendments on report are even greater than at committee stage. The rule requiring the text of such amendments to be read out to the House applies on report as in committee.

Rules of debate on report

7.133  On report no member may speak more than once to an amendment, except the mover of the amendment in reply or a member who has obtained leave of the House, which may only be granted to:

• a member to explain himself in some material point of his speech, no new matter being introduced;
• the Lord in charge of the bill; and
• a minister of the Crown.[292]

7.134  Only the mover of an amendment or the Lord in charge of the bill speaks after the minister on report except for short questions of elucidation to the minister or where the minister speaks early to assist the House in debate.[293]

7.135  Arguments fully deployed in Committee of the whole House should not be repeated at length on report.[294]

Conclusion of proceedings on report

7.136  When the amendments have been disposed of, the bill is reprinted if amended, and awaits its third reading on a day to be fixed.

290   Procedure 1st Rpt 1998-99. Back

291   Procedure 9th Rpt 1970-71. Back

292   SO 31. Back

293   Procedure 1st Rpt 1987-88. Back

294   Procedure 2nd Rpt 1976-77. Back