APPENDIX 18
Letter from Chris Ruane MP to the Committee
I congratulate the Committee on this report
which is totally sensible in the arguments it makes and the bold
suggestions and some compromises that it offers. As the father
of two small children, representing a constituency in North Wales
I strongly support the need to make effective use of the time
we spend in London and I am broadly in agreement with the report.
As a teacher until I was elected in 1997, I have been part of
a profession where constant change and examination of working
practices was expected as it has been in many other fields of
life in the UK. I feel that as MPs we should be just as willing
to examine the effectiveness of the way we work and to accept
change if necessary.
Point 28: I fully support this point. I have
no objection to working hard and working long hours but found
that it was incredibly frustrating to be separated from my young
family in order to wait around for votes which may or may not
take place in the middle of the night.
Point 29: The working practices of the House
should not need to consider outside business interests of Members.
Points 33 to 35: I support these priorities
Point 40: strong support for making the parliamentary
calendar more predictable.
Point 44: I support this proposal which would
be entirely sensible
Points 47 to 48: I support the introduction
of electronic voting on multiple divisions with Members attending
in person as a sensible way of starting to modernise our voting
a step at a time.
31 January 2002
| 
