text_body: --- DIVISION TITLE ---
  
  Government Spending (Website) Bill - Quorum not attained
  
  --- MOTION EFFECT ---
  
  
  
  The [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmbills/081/07081.i-i.html Government Spending (Website) Bill] would have required the Treasury to create a freely accessible and publicly searchable website containing information about expenditure by Government departments and executive agencies.[1]
  
  This Bill is identical in purpose to a law that was passed in the United States in 2006.[2][3]  It was first [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2007-03-13b.571.115 debated] in the House of Lords and moved to the House of Commons on without a vote.[4]
  
  This vote in the House of Commons did not reach the quorum of 40 MPs voting, and since the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usual_channels Usual Channels] chose not to reschedule a debate, no further action was taken.
  
  Earlier in the day there was a [http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/faq.php#sitinprivate motion to sit in private] in which 40 MPs did vote,[5] and one Bill that was passed on to the next stage unopposed (without a vote),[6] while another was also lost due to lack of quorum.[7]  
  
  The lack of progress for this legislation was therefore determined by a combination of scheduling (which is off the record), the decision of whether or not to hold a vote (not apparent from the record), and the  widespread lack of attendance by the MPs in the chamber even though there were probably enough of them available on in the day.  
  
  It is notable that six weeks earlier on a similar Friday afternoon, over a hundred MPs made themselves available to vote through a Private Members Bill[8] to exempt themselves from the [http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/house_of_commons Freedom of Information Act], following inquiries after their claims for expenses. 
  
  * [1] [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmbills/081/07081.i-i.html Government Spending (Website) Bill], House of Commons, 2006-07
  * [2] [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2007-06-29c.628.2 David Gauke MP], House of Commons, 29 June 2007
  * [3] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Funding_Accountability_and_Transparency_Act_of_2006 Federal Funding Accoundability and Transparency Act 2006].
  * [4] [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2007-03-13b.571.115 Baroness Noakes], House of Lords, 13 March 2007.
  * [5] [http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2007-06-29&number=167 Division 167], House of Commons, 29 June 2007.
  * [6] [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2007-06-29c.574.1 Crown Employment (Nationality) Bill], House of Commons, 29 June 2007
  * [7] [http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2007-06-29&number=168 Division 169], House of Commons, 29 June 2007
  * [8] [http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2007-05-18&number=119 Division 119], House of Commons, 18 May 2007
  
  
  
  
  
  --- COMMENTS AND NOTES ---
  
  (put thoughts and notes for other researchers here)
  