Britain: An official handbook > 1993

GOVERNMENT
Officers of the House of Commons
The chief officer of the House of Commons
is the Speaker, elected by MPs to preside
over the House. Other officers include the
Chairman of Ways and Means and two
deputy chairmen, who act as Deputy
Speakers. They are elected by the House on
the nomination of the Government but are
drawn from the Opposition as well as the
government party. They, like the Speaker,
neither speak nor vote other than in their
official capacity. Overall responsibility for the
administration of the House rests with the
House of Commons Commission, a statutory
body chaired by the Speaker.
Permanent officers (who are not MPs)
include the Clerk of the House of Commons,
who is the principal adviser to the Speaker
on its privileges and procedures. The Clerk’s
departmental responsibilities relate to the
conduct of the business of the House and its
committees. The Clerk is also accounting
officer for the House. The Serjeant-at-Arms,
who waits upon the Speaker, carries out
certain orders of the House. He is also the
official housekeeper of the Commons’ part of
the building, and is responsible for security.
Other officers serve the House in the
Library, the Department of the Official
Report (Hansard), the Finance and
Administration Department and the
Refreshment Department.
Parliamentary Electoral System
For electoral purposes Britain is divided into
constituencies, each of which returns one
member to the House of Commons.11 To
ensure the size of constituencies is kept
roughly equivalent, four permanent
Parliamentary Boundary Commissions, one
each for England, Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland, review the constituencies
periodically. They recommend any
adjustment of seats that may seem necessary
in the light of population movements or
other changes. The Government has
introduced legislation to shorten the intervals
11 For further details see Parliamentary Elections (Aspects of
Britain: HMSO, 1991).
at which reviews are carried out. Elections
are by secret ballot.
Voters
British citizens, together with citizens of
other Commonwealth countries and citizens
of the Irish Republic resident in Britain, may
vote provided they are aged 18 or over,
included in the annual register of electors for
the constituency and not subject to any
disqualification. People not entitled to vote
include members of the House of Lords,
patients detained under mental health
legislation, sentenced prisoners and people
convicted within the previous five years of
corrupt or illegal election practices. Members
of the armed forces, Crown servants and staff
of the British Council employed overseas
(together with their wives or husbands if
accompanying them) may be registered for an
address in the constituency where they would
live but for their service. The Representation
of the People Act 1989 extended the right to
vote for British citizens living abroad by
increasing from 5 to 20 years the period
during which they may apply to be registered
to vote.
Voting Procedures
Each elector may cast one vote, normally in
person at a polling station. Electors whose
circumstances on polling day are such that
they cannot reasonably be expected to vote in
person at their local polling station—for
example, electors away on holiday—may
apply for an absent vote at a particular
election. Electors who are physically
incapacitated or unable to vote in person
because of the nature of their work or
because they have moved to a new area may
apply for an indefinite absent vote. People
entitled to an absent vote may vote by post
or by proxy, although postal ballot papers
cannot be sent to addresses outside Britain.
Electors who are physically incapacitated or
unable to vote in person because of the
nature of their work may vote either by post
(unless they are abroad at the time of the
election) or by proxy for an indefinite period.
Voting is not compulsory; 76 9 per cent of
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