One of Parliament's oldest functions is to answer public 
grievances made by petition. Any individual or small group 
has the right to prepare a petition, and ask an MP to 
present it to the House. The MP does this either by 
dropping the petition in the bag behind the Speaker's 
Chair, or making a short speech in the house. 

The use of petitions has dropped off dramatically during 
the 20th century. In many ways, it appears a fruitless 
exercise, as government departments are not obliged to respond. 
Nor is there a committee to consider petitions. However, they do 
attract publicity, and are a useful way of informing MPs and Government departments that the public holds strong views on a subject.