Provision of time for debate on bills

28.25The Government has access to procedures under standing orders which can help secure the passage of bills in line with its planned legislative programme. The traditional method of achieving this up until the introduction of programme orders in 2000 was through allocation of time orders (colloquially known as guillotines) under Standing Order No 83. Such orders were typically used when attempts were made by a minority to prolong debate on controversial legislation and to delay its passage. They are still in occasional use for purposes which cannot be achieved through programme orders, such as setting a timetable for second reading as well as remaining stages of a bill.1

The guillotine represents the limit to which procedure goes in affirming the rights of the majority at the expense of the minorities of the House and may be seen in some cases as upsetting the balance between the claims of business and the rights of debate. Programme orders bear some similarities with traditional allocation of time orders, but programming standing orders incorporate more opportunities for the minority to have matters voted upon than customarily were provided in guillotines. A programme order may reflect to a greater extent informal consultation between party representatives. Even so, opposition parties have sometimes expressed dissatisfaction with the way that programming has curtailed debate on bills, particularly at report stage.

Programme orders are now the method generally used for apportioning time for consideration of government bills. The standing orders on programming (Standing Order Nos 83A to 83I) date from 26 October 2004 and have been subject to only minor modification since. They evolved from nine sessional orders agreed to on 7 November 2000 and subsequently renewed.2

The application of standing orders on programming to consideration of bills in committee, on report and on third reading, is described at appropriate points in this chapter. Programming sub-committees are described in Chapter 39, on public bill committees. The application of standing orders on programming to proceedings on consideration of Lords amendments or Lords messages is described in Chapter 30.