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How to submit an amendment

Step-by-step:

You or your staff can complete these steps, but your staff will need to be authorised with the Public Bill Office to act on your behalf before they can complete them.

  1. Get a copy of the bill and the explanatory notes. They are available on Bills before Parliament on Parliament’s website or in hard copy from the Vote Office.
  2. Contact the Public Bill Office (email PBOHoC@parliament.uk or phone 3251), or visit in person, and ask to speak to one of the Clerks working on the bill. If you already have a draft of your amendment, you can run it past them. If not, explain what you would like your amendment to achieve and ask their advice on which part of the bill to amend and how to write your amendment.
  3. Use their advice and the guidance on writing effective amendments to write your amendment. Amendments can be typed or handwritten. You must include the name of the bill and make it clear which part of the bill you’re amending. You can look at an example of an amendment.
  4. Consider writing an explanatory statement of about 50 words to accompany your amendment. This should objectively describe the effect of the amendment. An explanatory statement isn’t compulsory but is recommended.
  5. Submit your amendment (and any accompanying explanatory statement). There are three ways for you as an MP to do this:
    • in person in the Public Bill Office or Table Office
    • in hard copy (including by post), with your handwritten signature (photocopied, stamped or faxed signatures are not accepted)
    • by email from your parliamentary email account (or another email account if you’ve agreed this in advance with the Public Bill Office).

Once your staff have been authorised with the Public Bill Office, they can submit an amendment in two ways: - in person in the Public Bill Office - by email from a parliamentary email account. 6. The Public Bill Office will check your amendment and contact you if there are any problems. Once the Public Bill Office has accepted your amendment, it has been tabled.