ABSTRACT
The role of the House of Commons in the Constitution can be understood only through an analysis of its performance. From time to time the House appoints a select committee of its own members to consider possible changes. It receives memoranda from other Members, including ministers, from officers of House, and from other persons who may wish to offer ideas for its consideration, and it may invite people to appear before it to give evidence. After the hearings the committee prepares its report, which may contain recommendations upon which the House takes its decisions after debate. Important aspects of the working of the House are provided for by sessional orders, applying only to the session in which they are passed. Convention has established that once a person has become Speaker he will never again sit in the House of Commons except as Speaker, and it has been the practice for a retiring Speaker to receive a peerage immediately on retirement.
