On further Consideration of the City of London (Ward Elections) Bill, as amended, to move, That the Bill be further considered upon this day six months.

    [For Amendments see pp 262 to 270 of the Notice Paper relating to Private Business.]

    On Second Reading of the Alliance & Leicester Group Treasury plc (Transfer) Bill [Lords] to move, That the Bill be read a second time upon this day six months.

Preliminary Business

Ten minute rule Motion

ROGUE TRADERS    [Up to 20 minutes]

    That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the Fair Trading Act 1973 to introduce further powers to regulate rogue traders.

    The Member moving and a Member opposing this Motion may each speak for up to ten minutes (Standing Order No. 23).

Main Business

OPPOSITION DAY [18th allotted day]    [Until 10.00 p.m.]

FUEL PROTESTS

    That this House notes that, despite warnings from Her Majesty's Official Opposition, the Government refused to listen to the grievances brought to them by business and commerce, most particularly by hauliers, farmers, pensioners, the disabled and by those on low incomes or living in rural areas, thereby provoking the fuel protests in September; condemns the Government's initial complacency about the protests which later turned to panic; deplores the Government's repeated increases in taxation, despite having no mandate to do so and notes that the increases in the tax on petrol and diesel have become the symbol of the Government's betrayal of their tax promises; urges the Government to address the problems their tax increases have caused, by reducing tax on hard-working families, pensioners and businesses, including an immediate reduction in road fuel duty; and laments the fact that, despite the increases in tax on the travelling public, the Government has allowed the road system to deteriorate and has failed to deliver the improvements in the transport system which it promised and which the public expected.

    As Amendments to Mr William Hague's proposed Motion (Fuel Protests):

    Line      1,      leave out from `House' to end and add `applauds the tough, long-term economic decisions taken by the Government to create a platform of stability on which to invest in education, health, transport and law and order, building a Britain where there is opportunity and security for all; recognises the difficulty that has been caused to some sectors of the economy due to the rapid increase in world oil prices over the past 18 months; welcomes the Government's determination to set its economic and fiscal policy within the context of the normal budget and democratic processes; deplores the previous Government's record of boom and bust and under-investment in the nation's vital public services; notes that the proportion of the cost of petrol accounted for by VAT and duty is lower than when this Government took office in May 1997; welcomes the Government's environmental record which has seen Britain lead the world in the fight against global warming; and welcomes the Government's 10-year plan to modernise the nation's transport system, cut congestion, deliver real choice and see a 42 per cent. real term's increase in spending.'.

    Line      1,      leave out from `House' to end and add `notes that the Conservative government introduced the fuel duty escalator in 1993, continued to increase the fuel duty above the rate of inflation until they lost office and failed to use all the additional revenues raised to ease the burden on the travelling public; regrets that the present Government in its first three years in office cut the level of government financial support for public transport and during the fuel protests in September failed to make any reference to environmental issues; recognises the need to balance economic competitiveness, social justice and environmental prioirities across the country; and calls on the Government to reconfirm the environmental objectives of its policies, cap fuel duties over the next five years, shift the balance of environmental taxation to congestion charges in urban areas subject to prior improvements in the availability of public transport, develop further the system of annual car tax based on environmental criteria, move to establish a system of road haulage taxation which allows fair competition between United Kingdom road hauliers and other who use the roads and implement a package of measures to tackle transport problems in rural and remote parts of the United Kingdom.'.

SUPPLY AND RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS

    That this House views with concern the growing crisis of teacher supply and recruitment which is affecting the quality of education in the country's schools; notes that there has been a net outflow of teachers from the profession since 1997; deplores the Government's complacency and failure to deal with the underlying problems leading to the decline of the teaching profession; recognises that, unless action is taken, education standards will fall in the future; and calls on the Government to set the schools free, give heads the power to exercise discipline policy in their schools, rid teachers of the excessive bureaucratic burdens they face and let teachers teach.

    As Amendments to Mr William Hague's proposed Motion (Supply and Recruitment of Teachers):

    Line      1,      leave out from `House' to end and add `welcomes the successful new measures introduced by the Government to support teacher recruitment, including training salaries, incentives for shortage subjects and an expanded graduate teacher programme; welcomes the fact that there has been a significant increase in applications and acceptances for teacher training as a result; further welcomes the support given by the School Teachers Review Body for the Government's plans to better reward good teaching; notes that there are nearly 7,000 more teachers in post now than in 1998; further notes that primary and infant class sizes have fallen after rising annually under the previous administration; recognises that headteachers have got both the resources and the powers to deal effectively with discipline for the first time; and commends the work of the Government in addressing specific recruitment difficulties in London and the positive and pro-active approach of this administration towards recruiting and rewarding teachers more generally.'.

    Line      1,      leave out from `House' to end and add `notes the current crisis in teacher supply and the failure of successive governments to recruit, retain and reward an adequate supply of teachers to meet the needs of the nation's children; condemns the present Government for its complacency in failing to react to the early warning signs of a growing teacher shortage; is disappointed that it has not addressed the issue of teacher morale by reducing bureaucracy and centralist intervention and allowing teachers the freedom to use their professional skills; is worried that increasingly creativity is driven out of the classroom as teachers are told what to teach, when to teach and how to teach; is concerned that the polemic of the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment and the Chief Inspector of Schools undermines public confidence in state schools and their teachers; and calls on the Government to take immediate action to introduce a comprehensive package of recruitment, retention and training proposals to promote the teaching profession and prevent future teacher shortages in schools.'.

    The selection of the matters to be debated this day has been made by the Leader of the Opposition (Standing Order No. 14 (2)).

FLAGS    [Up to 1½ hours]

    That the draft Flags Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000, which were laid before this House on 23rd October, be approved.

    The Speaker will put the question not later than 1½ hours after proceedings begin (Standing Order No. 16).

SELECT COMMITTEE ON MODERNISATION OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS    [No debate after 10.00 p.m.]

    That Sir George Young be discharged from the Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons and Mrs Angela Browning be added to the Committee.

ADJOURNMENT

    Proposed subject: Unemployment and factory closures in Bassetlaw (Mr Joe Ashton).

    Debate may continue until 10.30 p.m. or for half an hour, whichever is later (Standing Order No. 9).

COMMITTEE MEETINGS

STANDING COMMITTEES

SELECT COMMITTEES

COMMITTEE ON PRIVATE BILLS

[The decision of a Committee to sit in public may be rescinded without notice.]

Written Questions tabled on Tuesday 24th October for answer today++