Commons Marshalled List
- Edward Griffiths
Purpose of the list
There are two types of Commons Marshalled List:
the “rolling” Marshalled List, which records all tabled and withdrawn amendments from the current stage and gives notice of newly tabled amendments
a Daily list, which includes all amendments selected for debate by the Chair or Speaker; this is produced on the days that the amendments are to be debated
Both lists look extremely similar and are generated using the same Marshalled List template in Lawmaker. There is a slight difference between the rubrics which appear at the start of each list: the Daily makes reference to the grouping and selection of amendments by the Speaker/Chair.
The function of both lists is to publicise newly submitted amendments and maintain a running list of all amendments submitted so far; the Daily list has the additional function of presenting all the amendments which have been selected for debate on a sitting day. The lists also include Motions, Orders, and Resolutions which are also voted on and determine to the procedure governing the progress of the bill through that parliamentary stage.
Content
The list includes all amendments (or Ping Pong motions) tabled to the bill so far, from the current bill stage.
Amendments must have the status “Ready for publishing” in order to be included; amendments with outcomes recorded against them are not included.
Note that Lawmaker does not immediately populate a newly created list with amendments; the ‘Update List’ action (on the Tools menu in the Editor) will add all the relevant amendments to the list.
The lists can also contain Motions, Orders, and Resolutions, which are manually added to the list in the Editor:
Withdrawn amendments are listed at the end; these are not reproduced in full but referred to by their number:
Ordering
Amendments are first sorted by the clause or schedule to which they relate. If there is an Order of Consideration then this is applied to the sort. Otherwise amendments will be sorted in the order the clauses and schedules appear in the Bill.
Amendments relating to the same clause/schedule are sorted by their page and line numbers (and column 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. “M1” before “M2” etc.
Numbering
Amendments (and ping pong motions) will not be automatically numbered by Lawmaker when a Marshalled List is first generated or updated.
Numbers are manually assigned to amendments as part of the process of readying the list for publication.
Simple consecutive numbers can be assigned to amendments using the renumber function in the Editor menu Tools > Renumber Amendments; this function is available in temporary lists ('ephemeral lists') created from the Amendment Manager tab.
New Clause amendment numbers have the form NC1, NC2 etc.
OPC-drafted Government amendments are automatically assigned a Gov prefix before the number.
Format
Each amendment’s proposer and the first five supporters' names appear left-aligned, before the amendment instruction; any additional supporters' names appear in three columns.
When updating the list in Lawmaker, a black star will automatically appear before an amendment or ping pong motion that has never appeared on a previous Marshalled List.
A white (hollow) star will automatically appear before an amendment or ping pong motion that has been published once already on a Marshalled List (converting the black star to a white star)
It is possible to add or remove black and white stars by right-clicking on an amendment in the Editor and selecting 'update star status'.
White stars can also be added to amendments by choosing a ‘white star date’ in the ‘Update list’ modal; a white star will then appear next to amendments tabled on or after that date.
Short rules appear between amendments in the list.
Interstitial headings can be manually added between amendments, usually to indicate grouped amendments.