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What happens after an e-petition has been accepted?

If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the Government will publish a written response. If any of your constituents have signed the e-petition and opted to receive updates, the response will be emailed to them. Departments should provide responses within 14 days and at the latest within 21 days.

If an e-petition receives more than 100,000 signatures, the Petitions Committee will consider whether it should be debated. Some e-petitions are considered for a debate before they reach 100,000 signatures, but this is rare. Most e-petitions that meet the threshold are debated, but the Committee may decide not to put an e-petition forward for debate, especially if the issue has been debated recently or will be debated soon.

If the topic of an e-petition is already due to be debated in a different type of debate, the Petitions Committee may ask for the petition to be ‘tagged’ to the debate. This means that the e-petition is listed in the Order Paper as being relevant to the debate.

Information about any upcoming debates on the e-petition will be emailed to any of your constituents who have signed it, where they have opted in to receive updates about the petition they signed.