E-petition debate on disclosure of Hillsborough documents
17 October 2011
In response to an e-petition MPs debate the disclosure and publication of public documents relating to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. Steve Rotheram MP appeared before the Backbench Business Committee to request this debate
Watch the debate and read a transcript.
- Parliament TV: E-petition debate on disclosure of Hillsborough documents
- Commons Hansard: Hillsborough Disaster
- E-Petition: Full disclosure of all government documents relating to 1989 Hillsborough disaster (external website)
E-Petitions which have collected more than 100,000 signatures on the Government’s e-petitions website are sent to the House of Commons. The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons checks the petition against the terms and conditions for e-petitions and the rules of the House of Commons. Successful e-petitions are then sent to the Backbench Business Committee to be considered for debate.
- HM Government's e-petitions website (external website)
Further Information
The Backbench Business Committee meets every week to consider requests for debates from any backbench Members of Parliament on any subject. This includes subjects suggested by constituents where there is no e-petition, or where there is a traditional paper petition. When considering petitions, the committee will follow its usual procedure of hearing a sponsoring Member or Members of Parliament making the case for a debate. The committee will only be able to schedule a debate on a petition if several Members of Parliament tell the committee that they will take part in the debate. The committee then has to decide how to allocate the very limited Parliamentary time it has at its disposal; demand always outstrips supply. The committee's meetings are always conducted in public and can be watched on Parliament TV.