Describe the role of the House of Commons, The House of Lords and The Crown in statute creation. Including Advantages and disadvantages.

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Describe the roles of the House of Commons, House of Lords and the Crown in the formal process of Statute Creation.

    The formal process of creating an Act of Parliament starts with Green Paper, a consultative document containing proposals for reform/new law. This paper allows interested parties to send comments to the government department. Next is the white paper: the actual bill that contains the governments firm proposals. There are two main types of bills, Private Bills and Public Bills. Private bills generally affect a certain area of policy or a specific organisation whereas Public Bills affect the whole nation. Public Bills include: Government Bills and Private Members Bills from individual MPs.

    When the bill has been drafted it is passed to the House of Commons, although in rare cases bills can start in the House of Lords e.g. Personal Bills– a type of Private Bill that affects one or two people. The House of Commons firstly have to introduce the bill, set a date for the second reading and have the bill printed up. This is known as the first reading. In the second reading, the House of Commons discuss the principles of the bill, questions are answered and the outlines given. Suggestions with expertise and amendments are made at the committee stage and then in the third reading the House of Commons look at the bill as a whole, here it is either accepted or rejected. So overall the main role of the House of Commons is to propose, draft and scrutinise the points of the bill.

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    Next the bill is passed to the House of Lords where they will hold a first and second reading, basically outlining and discussing the bill– much like the House of Commons did. Next is the committee stage, the bill is scrutinised bit by bit by any Lord who is interested on the bill, this removes anomalies and absurdities with language. Parts can be changed or accepted. The report stage gives all the members of the House of Lords a chance to hear the changes made by the committee and also gives another chance to think about further changes ...

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