HOUSE OF LORDS - United Kingdom Parliament

8.50 Instructions may be either mandatory or permissive. The most
common mandatory instruction directs the committee to consider the
clauses and Schedules in an order other than that of the bill. Permissive
instructions enable a committee to do something that it could not
otherwise do, such as divide a bill into two.
8.51 Instructions to extend the scope of a bill (that is, to make
admissible amendments which would otherwise be excluded by the rules
of relevance) are not in order. 1
AMENDMENTS
Tabling of amendments
8.52 Amendments may be moved in committee, on report and on
third reading. The following section describes general procedure for
dealing with amendments. Issues specific to particular stages are
described in the sections relating to those stages.
8.53 Amendments may be tabled in the Public Bill Office at any time
after second reading. When the second reading and committee stages
are expected to take place on the same day, amendments are accepted
by the Public Bill Office before second reading. The late tabling of
amendments is strongly deprecated since members have only a limited
time to consider them and, if necessary, move amendments to them. 2
8.54 Amendments which are intended to be published the next
working day should be tabled between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Mondays
to Thursdays, and 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Fridays. Amendments may be
tabled with the duty Clerk during recesses, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
8.55 A Guide to House of Lords amendment style is available to
members from the Public Bill Office.
Admissibility of amendments
8.56 The Public Bill Office advises on whether an amendment is
admissible and it is expected that this advice will be taken. If a member
insists on tabling an amendment which the Public Bill Office has advised is
inadmissible, the Leader of the House draws the House’s attention to the
1 Procedure 2nd Rpt 1990–91.
2 Procedure 2nd Rpt 1976–77.
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