Lords debates private members’ bills at second reading

What is a private members’ bill?

A private member's bill is a type of public bill introduced by an individual member of the house rather than the government. Public bills affect everyone. Private members' bills must go through the same set of procedures as other public bills.

Status of Workers Bill

Members debated the key areas and main purpose of the Status of Workers Bill.

This bill was proposed by Lord Hendy (Labour) and aims to give statutory employment rights to all workers (other than the self-employed) by amending the meaning of 'employee', 'worker', 'employer' and other expressions in existing trade union legislation.

Education (Assemblies) Bill

Members debated the key areas and main purpose of the Education (Assemblies) Bill.

This bill was put forward by Baroness Burt of Solihull (Liberal Democrat) and seeks to use assemblies to further the spiritual, moral, social and cultural education of all pupils in English state schools without a designated religious character, and to repeal the requirement for these schools to hold collective worship.

Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill

Members debated the key areas and main purpose of the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill.

This bill was proposed by Baroness Ludford (Liberal Democrat) and aims to improve and provide legal aid for leave to enter or remain in the UK for family members of refugees and of people granted humanitarian protection.

Get involved

Watch and read

Catch up on Parliament TV or read transcripts of debates in Lords Hansard.

Explore further information

Read background on the bills in the House of Lords Library briefings:

• Status of Workers Bill [HL]
• Education (Assemblies) Bill [HL]
• Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill [HL]

Next steps

Dates for committee stage, the first chance for line by line examination of the bills, are yet to be scheduled.

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