HOUSE OF LORDS - United Kingdom Parliament

8.102 Any bill may be committed to a Grand Committee. The
proceedings and forms of words in Grand Committees are identical to
those in a Committee of the whole House save that no votes may take
place. Only one bill per day may be considered in Grand Committee.
Amendments, which may be tabled and spoken to by any member, are
printed and circulated as for Committee of the whole House.
8.103 As divisions are not permitted in Grand Committee, decisions to
alter the bill may only be made by unanimity. Thus when the Question is
put, a single voice against an amendment causes the amendment to be
negatived. If there is opposition to an amendment, it should be
withdrawn in Grand Committee, to enable the House to decide the
matter on report. For the same reason the Question that a clause or
Schedule stand part cannot be disagreed to unless there is unanimity;
provided there is a single voice in favour, the clause or Schedule must be
agreed to.
8.104 Unless the House orders otherwise, the next stage of a bill
reported from a Grand Committee is report.
OTHER COMMITTEE PROCEDURES FOR PUBLIC BILLS
8.105 Certain other procedures have been developed to scrutinise
public bills, either instead of or additional to that in Committee of the
whole House or Grand Committee. These are:
public bill committee;
special public bill committee;
select or joint committee.
8.106 The purpose of these procedures is either to save the time of the
House itself by taking the committee stage off the floor or to enable
more detailed examination of bills to take place, involving the hearing of
evidence. Public bill committees (like Grand Committees) fall into the first
category 1 and the other procedures fall into the second.
8.107 Unless the House orders otherwise, the next stage of a bill
reported from a special public bill committee or public bill committee is
report; but a bill reported from a select or joint committee is
1 Public bill committees have been largely superseded by Grand Committees. The last
appointment of a public bill committee was in 1994.
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