United Kingdom

Structure

Data on parliamentary sessions, parliamentary committees and parliamentary groups.

Sessions

Number of ordinary sessions of parliament per year
Dates of parliamentary sessions
Dates of parliamentary sessions
Parliament is usually in ordinary session Extraordinary sessions can be held
January x x
February x x
March x x
April x x
May x x
June x x
July x x
August x
September x x
October x x
November x x
December x x
Number of days parliament met in plenary, per year
152 (2022)
See historical data for this field.
Notes For some parliaments, data can not be presented on an annual basis, for example because parliamentary sessions run from April to March of the following year. In such cases, the period to which the data corresponds is specified here.
Figures are calculated by parliamentary session, not by calendar year. For e.g., figures refer to a session running from 11 May 2021 to 28 April 2022.

Committees

Number of permanent committees This number does not include sub-committees or joint committees in bicameral parliaments.

Parliamentary groups

Parliamentary groups are recognized in the parliamentary rules “Parliamentary groups” are the primary means by which political parties organize themselves in parliament. They may also be known as “party groups”, “caucuses” or “fractions”. They are different from all-party groups on specific issues, or inter-parliamentary friendship groups.
Number of parliamentary groups
12 (2022)
See historical data for this field.
Not applicable. There is no minimum number of members to form a parliamentary group
Yes
Notes
There are no UK provisions for ‘Party Groups’ in the sense recognised in many other Parliaments, but of course MPs operate through their parties, thus figures refer in practice to individual parties. In the House of Commons, this is the number of parties that won seats in the previous General Election (excluding the House of Commons Speaker).
Independent members can jointly form a parliamentary group
Yes
Several parties can jointly form a parliamentary group
Yes
Relevant provisions about parliamentary groups in the parliamentary rules of procedure
There are no provisions. ‘Party Groups’ in the sense recognised in many other Parliaments are not recognised, but of course MPs operate through their parties; the above answers refer in practice to individual parties.