After a bill is introduced at First Reading, the Speaker will ask the MP 'Second Reading what day?'

The MP must name an available Friday sitting day.

The first seven of the 13 sitting Fridays are set aside for Second Reading of Ballot Bills: those MPs who secured the top seven places in the ballot thus have the first choice of dates.

MPs outside the top seven are likely to be listed second or third on the Order Paper on the Friday that is chosen, and their bills will therefore have less chance of being debated.

The remaining 8th to 13th sitting Fridays are dedicated to consideration of those PMBs that have made most progress.

The 13th and final sitting Friday allotted for PMBs - colloquially known as the 'slaughter of the innocents' on account of its attrition rate - is largely taken up with Lords amendments.

At this point, a complex order of precedence dictates which bills can make use of the remaining time. This order of precedence includes:

• consideration of Lords amendments;

• Third Readings;

• new Report stages;

• adjourned Report stages;

• adjourned Committee proceedings;

• bills appointed to Committees of the Whole House; and

• Second Readings.

A backbencher can also lay down a PMB for consideration on any non-sitting Friday.

In the event that sitting days are extended (as happened in the longer-than-usual 2010-12 session) then the PMBs on the Order Paper for these new sitting days have priority.

Hansard Society (2022), Guide to Private Members' Bills, (Hansard Society: London)