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(1) This order applies for the purpose of bringing proceedings on any further message from the Lords to a conclusion in accordance with a programme order.
(2) The Speaker shall first put forthwith any question which has been proposed from the chair and not yet decided.
(3) The Speaker shall then put forthwith the question on any motion made by a Minister of the Crown which is related to the question already proposed from the chair.
(4) The Speaker shall then put forthwith the question on any motion made by a Minister on or relevant to any of the remaining items in the Lords message.
(5) The Speaker shall then put forthwith the question that this House agrees with the Lords in all the remaining Lords proposals.
H. Programme orders: Reasons Committee1
(1) This order applies in relation to any Committee to be appointed to draw up Reasons after proceedings have been brought to a conclusion in accordance with a programme order.
(2) The Speaker shall put forthwith the question on any motion made by a Minister of the Crown for the appointment, nomination and quorum of a Committee to draw up Reasons and the appointment of its chairman.
(3) The Committee shall report before the conclusion of the sitting at which it is appointed.
(4) Proceedings in the Committee shall be brought to a conclusion not later than half an hour after their commencement.
(5) For the purpose of bringing any proceedings to a conclusion in accordance with paragraph (4), the Chairman shall--
(a) first put forthwith any question which has been proposed from the Chair and not yet decided; and
(b) then put forthwith successively questions on motions which may be made by a Minister of the Crown for assigning a Reason for disagreeing with the Lords in any of their Amendments.
(6) The proceedings of the Committee shall be reported without any further question being put.
I. Programme orders: supplementary provisions
(1) The provisions of this order apply to proceedings in the House or in Committee of the whole House on a Bill which is subject to a programme order.
(2) Standing Order No. 15(1) (Exempted business) applies to the proceedings for any period after ten o'clock (or on Thursday, seven o'clock) allocated to them in accordance with the programme order.
(3) The proceedings may not be interrupted under any Standing Order relating to the Sittings of the House.
(4) If, on a day on which the Bill has been set down to be taken as an order of the day, a motion for the adjournment of the House under Standing Order No. 24 (Emergency debates) would, apart from this order, stand over to seven o'clock--
(a) that motion stands over until the conclusion of any proceedings on the Bill which, in accordance with the programme order, are to be brought to conclusion at or before that time; and
(b) the bringing to a conclusion of any proceedings on the Bill which, in accordance with the programme order, are to be brought to a conclusion after that time is postponed for a period of time equal to the duration of the proceedings on that motion.
(5) If a day on which the Bill has been set down to be taken as an order of the day is one to which a motion for the Adjournment of the House under Standing Order No. 24 stands over from an earlier day, the bringing to a conclusion of any proceedings on the Bill which, in accordance with the programme order, are to be brought to a conclusion on that day is postponed for a period equal to the duration of the proceedings on that motion.
(6) No dilatory motion may be made in relation to the proceedings except by a Minister of the Crown; and the question on any such motion is to be put forthwith.
(7) If at any sitting the House is adjourned, or the sitting is suspended, before the expiry of the period at the end of which proceedings are to be brought to a conclusion under a programme order, no notice is required of a motion made at the next sitting by a Minister of the Crown for varying or supplementing the provisions of the programme order.
Mr. Speaker: I understand that, with this, it will be convenient to discuss the following: Amendment (d) to the above motion, in paragraph (6) of order A, leave out 'three-quarters of an hour' and insert 'three hours'.
Amendment (g) to the above motion, after paragraph (10) of order A, insert--
- '(11) On a day on which a programme motion is to be moved, the Speaker shall put the Question on a second reading of the bill to which that Motion applies not later than 9.30 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 6.30 p.m. on Thursdays'.
That in the next Session of Parliament the following Order shall have effect:
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), Standing Order No. 38 (Procedure on divisions) shall not apply if, after the time for the interruption of business, the opinion of the Speaker as to the decision on a question is challenged in respect of any question.
(2) Standing Order No. 38 (Procedure on divisions) shall apply (and this order shall not apply) to questions--
(a) on motions or amendments in the course of proceedings on bills or allocating time to or programming such proceedings;
(b) on motions which may be made without notice;
(c) on motions to be disposed of immediately following the disposal of amendments proposed thereto, and on such amendments;
(d) on motions made under--
(i) paragraph (2) of Standing Order No. 15 (Exempted business);
(ii) paragraph (3) of Standing Order No. 51 (Ways and Means motions);
(iii) sub-paragraph (1)(a) of Standing Order No. 52 (Money resolutions and Ways and Means resolutions in connection with bills);
(iv) paragraph (5) of Standing Order No. 54 (Consideration of estimates); and
(v) paragraph (1) of Standing Order No. 55 (Questions on voting of estimates, &c.); and
(e) on motions made under paragraph 3 below or to which an order made under that paragraph applies.
(3) After the moment of interruption and the conclusion of proceedings under any other Standing Order which fall to be taken immediately after it, a minister of the Crown may make a motion to the effect that this order shall not apply to questions on any specified motions; such motion may be proceeded with, though opposed, and the question thereon shall be put forthwith.
(4) If the opinion of the Speaker is challenged under paragraph (1) of this order, he shall defer the division until half-past Three o'clock on the next Wednesday on which the House shall sit.
(5) On any Wednesday to which a division has been deferred under paragraph (4) above--
(a) Members may record their votes on the question under arrangements made by the Speaker;
(b) votes may be recorded for one and a half hours after half-past Three o'clock, no account being taken of any period during which the House or committee proceeds to a division; and
(c) the Speaker, or the Chairman, shall announce the result of the deferred division as soon as may be after the expiry of the period mentioned in sub-paragraph (b) above.
Amendment (d) to the above motion, in paragraph (5), leave out from beginning of sub-paragraph (a) to end of sub-paragraph (c) and insert--
- '(a) a list of the deferred divisions to be taken on that day shall be printed in that day's Order Paper;
(b) deferred divisions shall be taken at the commencement of public business; and
(c) Standing Orders No. 38 (Procedure on divisions), No. 39 (Voting) and No. 41 (Quorum) shall apply to deferred divisions.'
Mrs. Beckett: I rise, as Chair of the Select Committee, to place before the House the report of the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons. A previous report of the Committee is also relevant, as is some of the report of the Jopling Committee from 1992.
First, I stress the fact that the purpose of the proposals is to improve the workings of the House of Commons, to make it more efficient and effective. There are two main proposals in the report. The first is that the House should agree a proper programme for debating all legislation that is brought before it. The second is that some of the votes that may now fall after 10 pm should be able to be deferred, so that they can be taken during the ordinary parliamentary day.
The proposals on programming offer the House the opportunity now to take a decision on issues that we have been considering in one form or another for more than 10 years. In two reports in the 1980s, the Procedure
Committee recommended programming in Standing Committee. The 1992 report of the Jopling Committee noted:
- The evidence given to us on timetabling of bills was almost without exception in favour of its general use.
- The arguments in favour of the proper scrutiny of all parts of a bill are compelling; and timetables applied from an early stage after second reading are probably the best way to avoid the capricious effects of a guillotine being imposed at a later stage.
Those ideas were further advanced in the earlier recommendations of the Modernisation Committee, in paragraph 89 of its first report of the 1997-98 Session, for
- arrangements for programming legislation which are more formal than the usual channels but more flexible than the guillotine.
The House will know that such arrangements began to be used. However, it then became clear that consent to the continued use of such procedure was unlikely to be obtained. Indeed, it also became clear that consent for a proportionately less demanding scrutiny for more minor Bills might no longer be available. That is the process that I have described as "working to rule". I give the House one simple example of what I mean.
No Government would have expected, or would have needed, to guillotine a measure such as the Sea Fisheries (Shellfish) (Amendment) Bill, which simply remedied what I believe were unintended errors by the previous Administration--but, as a result of the process of working to rule, the Government did need to guillotine even that minor legislation.
It has become clear to many Members that we need the capacity to manage the House's time in regard to any such business. That realisation led a majority on the Modernisation Committee to the proposal for a mechanism for universal programming--a mechanism that is in the Sessional Orders. As Sessional Orders, they allow the House to experiment with this method of managing our business.
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