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What is a debate?
The main business for members of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords is debating, this can include debates on legislation, general topics of interest or issues selected by the major parties.  

Debates will generally take place in the following manner,

    1) A Member introduces a subject (moving a motion)

    2) The Speaker in the Commons proposes a question which repeats the terms  of the motion

    3) The motion is debated

    4) The original question is repeated and the House comes to a decision.  This can sometimes take the form of a vote

Debates in the Commons are chaired by the Speaker of the House, who calls Members in turn to provide their opinion during a debate.  Members must attract the Speaker's attention, a process know as 'catching the Speaker's eye'.  If they are successful they will then stand and address their speech to the Speaker of the House.  Generally speaking a Member will speak only once during a debate, though he or she may intervene with a brief comment on another Member's speech.

Adjournment Debates


In simplest terms, an adjournment debate represents an opportunity for the House to have a general debate without requiring a vote.  The adjournment debate is particularly useful for backbench MPs who wish to raise specific issues within their constituencies or discuss a particular policy with Government Ministers.  

There is a half hour period set aside for adjournment debates at the end of each day's sitting.  If a Member wishes to have a debate, they must apply to do so through the Speaker's Office.  Whilst subjects are often very localised and vary immensely, the Speaker always choses Thursday's subject, whilst on other days, Members are selected through a ballot.  

Once the House reaches the end of the day's business, the Member is called to speak, and the Minister will then provide a response.  Members have no right of response, though the Minister may allow them to intervene.  This is referred to as 'giving way'.

Adjournment debates take place in both the Commons Chamber and also within Westminster Hall on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Each government department is available to respond to debates only every other week, according to rota.   
 
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© 2008 Dr Howard Stoate - Member of Parliament for Dartford
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