The key issues I deal with every day in Parliament are explained below:

                                         Parliament

Member of Parliament

The 659 Members of Parliament (MPs), which are democratically elected by the 659 constituencies of the UK, form the House of Commons.

Constituency

The United Kingdom consists of 659 constituencies. These are geographical areas, each of which is represented by a Member of Parliament. I have represented North Dorset since 1997. I was re-elected with an increased majority on June 2001.

Backbenchers

I am currently a Backbencher in Parliament (Previous to this I was on the opposition front bench as Spokesman on Constitutional Affairs and Welsh Affairs. Backbenchers (or private members) are MPs who are neither ministers nor shadow-ministers. Our name is due to the fact that we sit on the back benches, whereas ministers and shadow-ministers sit on the front benches in the Chamber. 

Forms of address

During debates, MPs do not address each other by name but by titles indicating their status. Usually MPs are addressed as “the Honorable Member for name of their constituency”. If the addressed person belongs to the same party, he/she is referred to as “my honorable friend”. Practicing lawyers are addressed “Honourable and Learned”. Members of the Privy Council are referred to as “Right Honorable”. 

                                    Committees

Committees

Committees are small groups of MPs, which task it is to deal with specific policy topics and pieces of legislation. The most important Committees groups are the Standing Committee, the Select Committee and the Backbench Committee. 

Select Committees

Select Committees scrutinise the work done by various governmental departments and report the results to the House of Commons. Between 2001 and 2003 I served in the international Development Select committee. Currently I am serving in the Treasury Select Committee. 

Standing Committee

A standing committee of about 60 MPs and a chairman must deal with a bill in committee stage. This committee system with a rather small number of MPs allows Parliament to treat with more bills in a shorter time. There are five different standing committees in charge of legislation. One of them is responsible for bills concerning Scotland and Welsh and two of them are responsible for proposals from the European Union. I am currently serving in the Economic Affairs and Culture, Science and Education committees as well as the Defence Committee.

Backbencher Committees

There are Backbench committees that belong to the Labour Party and Backbench committees that belong to the Conservative Party. Backbench committees meet regularly and discuss specific political issues. There are also Regional Backbench committees dealing with topics concerning their regions. I serve on the 1922 committee. Previous to this I was Vice-chairman of Agriculture (1997-99) and Secretary of European Affairs (1997-99).

1922 Committee

All the Conservative backbench MPs form the 1922 Committee, which meets weekly in order to discuss parliamentary issues. Its name refers to the year in which the first formers of this committee were elected. I am an Executive on this.

                                            Bills

Private Bills

A Private Bill, compared to a “ Normal ” Bill, is a proposal for a new piece of legislation that only concerns a particular group of people, i.e. companies. Individuals who fear being affected by the Private Bill may present a petition to Parliament. 

Private Member’s Bills

A Private Member’s Bill is a piece of legislation introduced by a so-called Private or Individual MP. The three different types of Private Member’s Bills are the Balloted Bill, the Ten Minute Rule Bill and the Presentation Bill. I have recently drafted a Private Member's Bills entitled 'Amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act'. Details of this can be found on this site. 

Ten Minute Rule Bill

A Ten Minute Rule Bill is a special type of a Private Member’s Bill, which is introduced by a backbench MP on their own initiative on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, before the Public Business session. They have got ten minutes to justify and support their proposal. Backbenchers wishing to do so must inform the Public Bill Office of their intention at least fifteen days in advance, since only one Ten Minute Rule Bill may be presented per day. I have recently tabled a Ten Minute Rule Bill entitled 'Restricted Byways Bill'. Details of this can be found on this site.

Blocking Motion

A backbench MP may put down a Blocking Motion against a Private Bill in order to prolong the discussion of that Bill. A two hour blocking slowed the passing of my Restricted Byways Bill.

                         Other Parliament work

Questions

Every day (except Friday) MPs have the possibility to ask ministers questions concerning government policies. There are always ministers from different government departments, but every minister must come at least once a month to these question time sessions. Questions must be handed in two weeks before the meeting and the ministers have thus time to prepare answers. I have asked numerous questions which can be found by clicking on the Advanced Search text and typing Robert Walter in the Speakers search box on: http://pdvnsco.parliament.uk/homepage.html

Petitions

Every UK citizen has got the right to petition Parliament. The citizen must direct the petition to the MP of his/her constituency and the MP, even if he/she does not agree with the petition, presents it to the House. I recently presented a Bill intended to change the Coroners law after a Constituents baby was tragically kept for two years before he was buried. 

                               Other 

All-party groups

All-party subject groups are groups made up by backbench MPs from all parties, whose task is to deal with and discuss a wide variety of political issues to keep the government and MPs informed about parliamentary and public concerns. An all-party group has to comprise only MPs (at least five members of the governmental party and five members of the opposition parties), otherwise it is referred to as a Parliamentary group. Currently I am Vice-chairman of the Human Rights Group and the Lupus Group.  Treasurer of the British-Japanese Group, the British-Caribbean Group and Charities and Voluntary Sector Group and Secretary of the British Turkish Group.  As well as this I am a member of the Free Trade Group and the Human Rights Group. 

Early day motion

Originally, an early day motion (EDM) was to be discussed in the first half of a day, but now, there is no fixed time for it any more. It is tabled by a group of MPs wishing to discuss a certain topic. Due to the increasing number of EDMs, they are rarely discussed nowadays.

                                      And finally 

Fridays

Fridays are usually dedicated to Private Members’ issues, such as Private Members’ Bills or Private Members’ motion. There is no question time session on Fridays. Since these issues are of less national importance, I take this opportunity to work in North Dorset dealing with my constituents issues.