Freedom for Children to Grow

Parliamentary Schedule leading up to the General Election: more details

Parliamentary dates

June 3rd is the latest possible date the election could be held, therefore it is necessary to make contingency plans for continued dialogue between home educators and members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords right up to the latest possible dissolution of parliament on May 10th and the "wash-up" in the few days preceding dissolution.

February

Tuesday February 23rd Report and Third Reading in the Commons

Wednesday February 24th First Reading in the House of Lords

March

w/c Tuesday March 9th House of Lords Second Reading (confirmed)

w/c Monday March 22nd to Thursday March 25th House of Lords Committee stage (? to be confirmed)

Thursday March 25th to Monday April 12th Parliamentary Easter holiday ( ? to be confirmed)

April

Monday April 12th House of Lords resumes Committee stages leaving no time for Report stage in the Lords since by convention Report does not begin until 14 days after Committee finishes.

May

w/c Monday May 3rd announcement of General Election date ( ? to be confirmed, but no later than this date)

w/c Monday May 3rd "wash-up" ( ? to be confirmed, but no later than this date)

Thursday May 6th local elections

Monday May 10th dissolution parliament ( ? to be confirmed, but no later than this date)

June

June 3rd General Election ( ? to be confirmed, but no later than this date)

We have given the date of June 3rd because this is the latest possible date the election could be held. It is necessary to make contingency plans for continued dialogue between home educators and members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords right up to the latest possible dissolution of parliament on May 10th and the "wash-up" in the few days preceding dissolution.

The Prime Minister could call an election at any point between now and May 10th, giving a minimum of 17 working days notice plus a few days added on for "the wash-up" before parliament is dissolved. A number of political commentators favour May 6th as the most likely date, combining the general election with the local election but there are also supporters for an earlier election date before more bad news about the recession. Other commentators have predicted that the Prime Minister will go for the latest possible election date on June 3rd since this is the default decision.

The Children Schools and Families Bill will reach the House of Lords on February 24th. Second Reading in the Lords will be "no less than two weekends after first reading" and Committee stage where all peers can propose amendments and take part in debate "usually starts no fewer than two weeks after the second reading". The earliest date for Committee in the Lords would therefore be Monday March 22nd, giving only 4 days for line by line discussion before the Easter recess. It is not likely that the Lords would finish Committee stage in four days, therefore the debate will resume after April 12th. Report stage in the Lords takes place two weeks after Committee stage finishes.

Easter holiday

Good Friday falls on April 2nd. The date of recess for Easter has not yet been announced but last year parliament closed for slightly over two weeks, commencing the Thursday of the week before Easter, with a full week's holiday to Good Friday and a further full week beginning on Easter Monday. If this pattern were repeated, we would expect the House to rise on Thursday March 25th and return on Monday April 12th

Calling a General Election and the dissolution of parliament

Parliament must be dissolved 17 days notice before a General Election excluding weekends and bank holidays. The latest date for holding the General Election is June 3rd which means that parliament must be dissolved no later than May 10th.

It is conceivable that the Prime Minister could wait until the last possible moment on May 10th to announce the election date, however this is felt to be extremely unlikely since it is advantageous for the Government to have a few days between the announcement of the election and the dissolution of parliament in order to negotiate with opposition parties over which Bills will be allowed through. The latest time for the "wash-up" would be in the week beginning Monday May 3rd and the "wash-up" would have to be finished by Monday May 10th.

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