Menu
UK Parliament

Health and Social Care Bill

22 December 2011

Image of UK Parliament portcullis

Line by line examination of the Health and Social Care Bill committee stage concluded in the House of Lords yesterday (Wednesday 21 December). We look back at the 15 days of scrutiny that has taken place and what's next

Final day of committee stage: Day 15

Lords covered amendments 345 to 354, which look at how the final act should be reviewed.

Members supported Amendment 348ZA put forward by Earl Howe (Conservative), which looks at the powers of the Information Centre and 'enables the Information Centre to charge the Commissioning Board where the board has directed it to collect information'.

Lord Kakkar (Crossbench) suggested Amendment 354 and suggested: 'Annually, the Secretary of State shall review the operation of this Act.' He withdrew is amendment after reassurance that there would be 'post-legislative scrutiny'.

Next steps: Report stage

Report stage in the Chamber gives all Members of the Lords further opportunity to consider all amendments (proposals for change) to a bill. It usually starts at least 14 days after committee stage. It can be spread over several days (but usually fewer days than at committee stage).

The day before report stage starts, amendments are published in a Marshalled List – in which all the amendments are placed in order.

On the day, amendments on related subjects are grouped together and a list (“groupings of amendments”) is published.

After the report stage, the bill is reprinted to include all the agreed amendments. The bill moves to third reading for the final chance for the Lords to debate and change the bill.

More about the report stage

The House of Lords Constitution Committee report

The Constitution Committee published a follow-up report calling for changes to the Health and Social Care Bill to ensure that ministerial responsibility to Parliament and legal accountability for the NHS are not diluted.

Looking back at the committee stage

Further information

Follow the passage of a bill through the House of Lords.

Any questions on tracking a bill? Contact our Information Office to find out what’s coming up and more.

Related news