Introduction
This page sets out the logic and rules applied by Lawmaker when generating or updating Commons detail of how Lawmaker generates and updates Commons amendment lists including:
what amendments/motions are included,
how they are sorted,
if and how they are numbered,
other rules relating to headings etc. that are automatically generated.
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Amendments (or ping pong motions depending on the stage) will appear in the Rolling Marshalled List if they were recorded as having been “Ready for Publishing” up to the date of the amendment list and and they haven’t already got an outcome recorded against them e.g. Withdrawn before debate, Agreed to etc..
How are they sorted?
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Amendments are sorted according to a number of factors when they are inserted into a Marshalled list. The sorting algorithm currently sorts by the follows criteria:
Amendments are first sorted by the clause or schedule to which they relate. If there is
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an Order of Consideration
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then this is applied to the sort. Otherwise amendments will be sorted in the order
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the clauses and schedules appear in the Bill.
Amendments
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relating to the same clause/schedule are then sorted by
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their
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page and line numbers (and column
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their published amendment number (if they are new Clause or new Schedule amendments), and
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numbers, for amendments to tables).
New Clause and new Schedule amendments are sorted by amendment number.
Amendments to amendments are sorted after the amendment to which they relate.
Finally, amendments that would otherwise be sorted to the same place are sorted by their user-specified sort code e.g.
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“M1” before “M2” etc.
Ping pong motions are sorted by the amendment they are referring to on the Consolidated List of Amendments (CLOA)
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Amendments (and ping pong motions) will not be numbered by the system Lawmaker when a Marshalled List is generated or updated.
Numbers should be manually assigned to amendments as part of setting the list ready for publication
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You can assign simple consecutive numbers to amendments using the renumber function in the Tools menu > Renumber Amendments.
Starred amendments
A black star will automatically appear before an amendment or ping pong motion that has never appeared on a previous rolling marshalled list
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You can manually add or remove black and white stars by right-clicking on your selected amendment and selecting 'update star status'
Headings and rules
The system will automatically insert short rules between amendments and motions in the list
Interstitial headings can be inserted by selecting 'Interstitial heading' from the insert menu when you are editing a Marshalled List
Amendments to amendments (A2A)
Amendments to amendments (A2A)
Amendments to amendments will appear after their target amendment in the sorted list
Line numbers will appear automatically against the target amendment in the PDF (not in the Editor) when you generate a PDF of the Rolling Marshalled List/Daily (as long as the A2A is in the same list)
You can manually specify whether an amendment or ping pong motion should be line numbered in a PDF by right-clicking in the Editor on the selected amendment/motion and selecting "Update line numbering status"
A heading will automatically appear before the amendment to amendment
If you have more than one A2A amending the same target amendment, delete the text from the subsequent A2A's headings without deleting the heading element and the headings then will not appear in the PDF
Interstitial headings
Can be inserted by selecting 'Interstitial heading' from the insert menu when you are editing a Marshalled List
Withdrawn amendments
This section can be inserted byWithdrawn amendments
The “Withdrawn amendments” section of the marshalled list does not appear by default when you create or update a marshalled list. You can insert it by placing your cursor at the appropriate point, pressing Enter and selecting "Withdrawn Amendments" from the insert menu
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These will be listed at the end of the list whenever they are withdrawn before debate
Motions and resolutions and Orders
Motions and resolutions must be manually inserted into the Marshalled list by selecting 'motion' or 'resolution' from the insert menu
Orders cannot be inserted, they are created by converting a resolution into an order by right-clicking on the selected resolution and selecting 'Convert to order'
Proceedings
It is assumed that outcomes against motions and amendments will be recorded in the appropriate Marshalled List. Once you have finished updating the amendments and motions with outcomes, you can generate the Proceedings.
If you are planning on generating a Proceedings at the end of each day, you will need to create a new Proceedings each day of the sitting.
The system will create an empty document. You will need to copy and paste motions and resolutions into the Proceedings from the Marshalled List. Amendments will be automatically inserted when you run 'Update List'.
The 'Update List' operation will not remove any amendments, motions, resolutions, interstitial headings, witness information or section/schedule outcomes. This means that you can build up a running Proceedings document if you prefer - with new amendments appended to the end of the list and before the glossary and adjournment statement.
An interstitial heading will be inserted before the group of inserted amendments allowing you to record the sitting day information if required. If not, select the interstitial heading element from the breadcrumb or from the structure view and delete it from the list. They can be manually inserted from the insert menu (CCA) if you later decide you want one.
The system will insert any amendments that have an outcome recorded against them on or between the supplied start and end dates in the 'Update List' dialogue box. This is why you should record outcomes against the amendments before generating a proceedings.
You can insert Witness List information using the insert menu - as well as clause/schedule outcome statements. Short rules will be inserted automatically in the appropriate place as you build up the content of the document.
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