The Petitions Committee is a

parliamentary committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

of the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

. Its role is to oversee

petitions A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...

submitted to Parliament, including both electronically through the UK Parliament petitions website, and traditional paper petitions. The committee is one of the youngest in the Commons, formed in 2015, and is made up of 11 backbench Members of Parliament.

Procedure

The process for e-petitions differs from the process for paper petitions, which can only be presented to the House of Commons by an MP. E-petitions can be submitted by British citizens and UK residents to the UK Government and Parliament via the UK Parliament petitions website. Petitions must be about something which Government or Parliament is responsible for, and must ask for a specific action from Parliament or Government. An e-petition must be signed by the petition creator and five supporters before it will be sent for moderation. Moderation ensures that draft petitions meet the website's standards for publication. Petitions which do not meet the website's standards are rejected. Petitions published on the website are available for members of the public to sign. Petitions remain open for signatures for six months. At the end of six months, petitions are closed and formally reported by the Petitions Committee to Parliament. All petitions which are published are reviewed by the Petitions Committee. Petitions which reach 10,000 signatures receive a written response from the UK Government. The committee can schedule debates in the House of Commons' second debating chamber (

Westminster Hall Westminster Hall is a medieval great hall which is part of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. It was erected in 1097 for William II (William Rufus), at which point it was the largest hall in Europe. The building has had various functio ...

), on Monday evenings at 4.30 pm. When Parliament is dissolved, all open petitions on petition.parliament.uk are closed, and new petitions are not accepted. After a new Petitions Committee is set up by the House of Commons, closed petitions are not reopened. Petitions which reach 100,000 signatures are considered by the committee for debate. Petitions may not be put forward for debate if the issue has been debated recently, or is already scheduled for debate in the near future. Most petitions which reach the threshold are debated. The Petitions Committee may also take other action on published petitions. On 1 March 2016 the Committee published its first report, ''Funding for research into brain tumours'', in response to a petition which had gained over 120,000 signatures. The Petitions Committee has also taken oral evidence jointly with the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on grouse shooting, with the

Health Select Committee The Health and Social Care Select Committee (abbreviated to HSC, HSCC and HSCSC) is a Departmental Select Committee of the British House of Commons, the lower house of the United Kingdom Parliament. Its remit is to examine the policy, administ ...

on the meningitis B vaccine, and with the

Women and Equalities Committee The Women and Equalities Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was established following the 2015 general election to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Govern ...

on high heels and workplace dress codes in response to petitions.

Membership

2024-present

Membership of the committee is as follows:

Changes since 2024

2019-2024

The chair was elected on 29 January 2020, with the members of the committee being announced on 2 March 2020.

Changes 2019-2024

Petitions debated by the Commons

2015–2017 Parliament

2017–2019 Parliament

References

External links

Petitions Committee
{{UKParliamentCommittees Select Committees of the British House of Commons