Sessional Information Digest: 1995-96
SECTION A1
SITTINGS OF THE HOUSE AND DATES OF SESSION
The House sat on every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and all but seven Fridays during the following periods (all dates inclusive).
15 November - 20 December 1995
9 January - 3 April 1996
16 April - 3 May 1996
7 May - 22 May 1996
4 June - 24 July 1996
14 - 17 October 1996
The total number of sitting days was 146. The House sat for 1,278 hours and 29 minutes and the average length of daily sitting (including Fridays) was 8 hours and 45 minutes.
The House did not sit on the following Fridays: 1 & 15 December 1995; 12 January, 23 February; 15 March; 3 & 24 May; 14 & 28 June; 5 July 1996
Analysis of the time of the session
| Type of Business | Total time spent
(hours:minutes) |
| 1. | Addresses, other than Prayers | 37:08 |
| (including debate on Queen's Speech) |
| 2. | Government Bills |
| a) Second Reading debate (Bills committed to a Standing Committee) | 101:17 |
| b) Second Reading debate (Bills committed to a Committee of the | 19:56 |
| Whole House) |
| c) Committee of the Whole House | 44:13 |
| d) Consideration (Report stage) | 98:04 |
| e) Third Reading | 12:58 |
| f) Lords Amendments | 16:37 |
| g) Allocation of Time Orders | - |
| h) Committal motion | 3:16 |
| 3. | Private Members' Bills |
| a) Second Reading | 40:46 |
| b) Other stages | 19:19 |
| 4. | Private Business | 5:51 |
| 5. | Government motions |
| a) European Community Documents | 6:05 |
| b) Business motions | 1:03 |
| c) General | 54:42 |
| 6. | Opposition motions |
| a) Opposition Days | 122:53 |
| b) Opposition Motions in Government Time (No Confidence Motions) | - |
| 7. | Private Members' Motions |
| a) Substantive motions (Ballotted, etc) | 3:30 |
| b) Motions for the introduction of Ten Minute Rule Bills | 13:35 |
| 8. | Adjournment |
| a) Government debates on motions for the Adjournment | 111:43 |
| b) Debates on motions for Recess adjournments (SO No 22) | 11:40 |
| c) Last day before Recesses | 14:40 |
| d) Emergency debates (SO No 20) | - |
| e) Daily (at end of business) | 70:36 |
| f) Wednesday morning adjournment | 128.31 |
| 9. | Estimates | 17:42 |
| 10. | Money Resolutions | 0:17 |
| |
| 11. | Ways and Means Resolutions (including Budget Debate) | 28:36 |
| 12. | Affirmative Statutory Instruments | 65:42 |
| 13. | Prayers against statutory instruments etc. | 11:56 |
| 14. | a) Oral Questions | 115:55 |
| b) Private Notice Questions | 5:27 |
| c) Statements | 47:35 |
| d) Business statements | 14:40 |
| e) SO No 20 Applications | 0:11 |
| f) Points of Order and Speaker's Rulings | 6:01 |
| g) Miscellaneous | 1:06 |
| h) Presentation of Public Petitions | 27:39 |
| | _______ |
| | 11:59 |
| | _______ |
| | 1278:29 |
Note: The time taken up by Divisions is included with the class of business upon which the divisions were called.
SECTION A2
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS
Statistics of Parliamentary Questions are available in two forms. The figures for each, which for various reasons (mainly owing to methods of counting and recording) are not exactly comparable, are as follows:
Questions appearing on the Order Paper calculated by the Journal Office
| |
| Appearing on the Order Paper for Oral Answer | 4,464(1) |
| Put down for priority Written Answer | 16,059 |
| Put down for non-priority Written Answer | 40,307 |
| | ________ |
| Total | 49,897 |
(Not more than about half of all questions put down for Oral Answer will receive such an answer - the rest are answered in writing).
Questions appearing in Hansard, and indexed in the Parliamentary On-line Information System (POLIS)
| Oral replies (including supplementaries)* | 5,859 |
| Written replies+ | 42,570 |
| | ________ |
| Total | 48,429 |
The total number of private notice questions (excluding Business Questions) was 9.
* Number of tabled questions answered (excluding supplementaries) was 2,387.
+ With POLIS, several written questions from the same Member, if answered together by the Minister, may have been treated as one question.
(1) Of which 2,127 received an oral answer in the House on one of the 122 days on which such answers were given.
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