Westminster Hall debates

E20104

Westminster Hall debates are secondary parliamentary proceedings in the UK House of Commons where MPs discuss a wide range of issues in a less formal, non-voting forum than the main chamber.

All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Westminster Hall debates canonical 1
Westminster Hall sittings 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf UK parliamentary procedure
parliamentary proceeding
access open to the public in the gallery
broadcastBy Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit (Parliamentlive.tv)
surface form: Parliamentlive.tv
chair Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons
member of the Panel of Chairs
chamberType secondary debating chamber
city London, England
surface form: London
country United Kingdom
decisionMaking no amendments to bills voted on
no legislative decisions taken
governingLaw Standing Orders of the House of Commons
surface form: Standing Orders of the House of Commons relating to Westminster Hall
hasCharacteristic backbench-focused
less formal than main chamber
no formal divisions
non-voting forum
time-limited debates
topic-based debates
introducedBy House of Commons Modernisation Committee recommendations
language English
legislativeBody House of Commons of the United Kingdom
surface form: House of Commons
locatedIn Palace of Westminster
Palace of Westminster
surface form: Westminster Hall
meetingFrequency regular sitting days when the House is in session
origin United Kingdom Parliament reforms of the late 1990s
outcomeType expressions of opinion
ministerial responses
participants Members of Parliament
partOf House of Commons of the United Kingdom
purpose to allow MPs to raise issues of concern
to enable discussion without binding votes
to provide additional debating time beyond the main chamber
to scrutinise government policy
recordedIn Hansard
relatedTo House of Commons committees
surface form: Backbench Business Committee

House of Commons main chamber debates
Petitions Committee
rulesOfProcedure Standing Orders of the House of Commons
scheduling parallel to main chamber business
timetabled by the House authorities
startTime 1999
subjectMatter constituency issues
national and international affairs
wide range of public policy issues
topicSelection adjournment debates
backbench business
petitions debates
select committee reports

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Standing Orders of the House of Commons regulates Westminster Hall debates
this entity surface form: Westminster Hall sittings