Finding House of Commons Library Research on Welfare ReformSteven KennedySocial Policy Section

Overview

• What we do for Members

• What we do on Bills• How the public can

access our work

More than a “Library”

• Impartial and confidential enquiry service for Members• Briefing papers on topical issues and legislation• Intranet material and hard-copy resources• Debate packs• Statistics

We can assist with all aspects of Members’ work:• Speeches; Committees; Media appearances; Constituency

matters; Policy development

How we work

• Research directorate: 122 FTE, including:around 60 subject specialists and 20 information specialists

• Eight research teams, plus front-of-house team• Mixture of specialist and generalist researchers• Huge knowledge base

Our work on Bills

• What? Research Paper at Commons 2nd Reading and Report Stage

• Which Bills? All Government, top 7 in the Private Members Ballot plus others likely to make progress

• Also, some briefings at other stages (e.g Consideration of Lords Amendments) or on other Bills attracting attention

Papers for Second Reading

Background to the Bill (e.g White Papers) Previous legislation Analysis of the Bill (to complement Explanatory Notes) Relevant statistics Political party and other comment Progress in Lords (if relevant)

Committee Stage Reports

• Published after Committee Stage• Ordered by Modernisation Committee – “a straightforward,

dispassionate account of the committee stage”

Amendments Key debates/reasons for not debating Undertakings by Ministers

Resources

• Parliamentary material – Bill, explanatory notes, Hansard, Select Committee reports

• Related documents – e.g. Impact Assessments, White Papers• External comments• Contacts – Bill teams, subject-matter experts

Summary

• Independent, impartial, specialist service to Members

• Briefings available to the public

• Research papers to inform debate on Bills