This House of Lords Library briefing gives a brief overview of the ceremony for the 2017 State Opening of Parliament and how it differs from previous years.
State Openings of Parliament: Reduced Ceremonial (527 KB , PDF)
It has been announced that the State Opening which will take place on 21 June 2017 will be conducted on the following basis:
This briefing gives an outline of the traditional State Opening Ceremony, followed by a description of the State Openings of 1939 and March 1974, setting out how the ceremonies in these years differed from the norm.
State Openings of Parliament: Reduced Ceremonial (527 KB , PDF)
The House of Lords made several changes to its procedures during the Covid-19 pandemic. This included the use of virtual sittings and sittings which featured both physical and remote participation. This article provides a chronology of these developments.
Several Lords committees have expressed concern about the increasing use of skeleton bills. These set out the principles for a policy but leave the detail to be filled in later by ministers through delegated powers. Because these powers are subject to less rigorous scrutiny than bills, there have been calls for the use of skeleton bills to be restricted alongside a broader reset in the balance of power between Parliament and government.
Assessing Scotland’s contribution to the wider UK economy and to UK wellbeing is complex. This article presents information on factors involved in this relationship, including data on the Scottish and UK economies and the effect of devolution on the UK economy as a whole. It also summarises surveys of peoples’ wellbeing in the UK.
