Conclusions and recommendations
Introduction
1. We
recommend that, well before the likely end of the current Session,
the Leader of the House make time for a debate on a Motion to
amend the Standing Orders so as to make the current sitting hours
permanent, subject to the changes proposed in this Report. (Paragraph
3)
Monday
2. We
recommend that the House retain the current sitting hours on Mondays,
and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays which immediately follow a recess.
We see some scope, however, for additional select committee activity
late on Monday afternoons—although we recognise that it
is for committees themselves to decide when to meet. We also
believe that there might be scope for more standing committee
meetings on Monday afternoons, but we would discourage any move
in that direction until the Chairmen's Panel has had an opportunity
to consider its possible consequences. (Paragraph 10)
Private Members' bills in the evening
3. It
seems certain to us that private Members' bills, if they were
taken on a weekday evening, would often become whipped business.
Not only would this lead to a day with 11 hours or more of whipped
business, it would fundamentally change the character of the proceedings,
with the intrusion of whipping into time which has so far been
at the free disposal of backbenchers; there might also be other,
less predictable changes. It could result in legislative business
being settled very late in the evening on those occasions when
Government business continued much beyond 7 p.m. (see paragraph
17 below). Our judgement is that it would not be right for such
a major overhaul of private Members' bills procedure to happen
as a by-product of changes to the sitting hours of the House.
We recommend that private Members' bills should retain their
place on 13 Fridays each year for the time being, until we have
had an opportunity to carry out a comprehensive review of the
purpose of private Members' bills and of PMB procedure, consulting
with the Procedure Committee which has investigated this matter.
(Paragraph 15)
Tuesday
4. We
expect that the House will be able to express a clear view on
Tuesday sittings when this report is debated and we recommend
that the House retain the current sitting arrangements on Tuesdays.
(Paragraph 24)
Wednesday
5. We
recommend that the House retain the current sitting arrangements
on Wednesdays. (Paragraph 25)
Thursday
6. We
believe that it should be a priority for the House to restore
Thursday to a full sitting day. (Paragraph 26)
7. We recommend that,
in order to gain an hour at Thursday sittings, the House should
meet one hour earlier on a Thursday morning, at 10.30 a.m. Notice
periods for Urgent Questions, presentation of public petitions
and other business for which notice is usually given on the day
of the sitting should also change accordingly. (Paragraph 30)
Friday
8. We
recommend that the arrangements for Friday sittings remain unchanged
although, as we have already indicated, we believe that this Committee
should conduct a thorough review of the purpose of private Members'
bills and the procedure governing them, in consultation with the
Procedure Committee. (Paragraph 32)
Select committees
9. We
believe that lengthening Thursday sittings to allow more major
business to be taken on that day will improve attendance on Thursdays
and so help to relieve the problems caused by the bunching of
select committee meetings into only two days a week. (Paragraph
34)
Standing committees
10. There
is nothing in theory to stop standing committees on bills meeting
on a Wednesday rather than (or as well as) a Tuesday or a Thursday,
or from sitting beyond the rise of the House. We would urge standing
committees to consider these options as a way of mitigating the
current clashes between business in committee and on the floor
of the House. (Paragraph 38)
11. we recommend that
the earliest time at which an afternoon standing committee meeting
may begin be brought forward to 12.30 p.m. on a Thursday and 1.30
p.m. on a Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving a minimum of 2 hours
between the morning and afternoon meetings. (Paragraph 39)
Westminster Hall
12. We
recommend that cross-cutting questions should be taken in Westminster
Hall on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning in order to avoid their
disruption by divisions in the House. (Paragraph 40)
The September sitting, recesses and school holidays
13. It
might be necessary to revisit the relationship between the Parliamentary
and academic years in a year or two, as the Standard School Year
is more widely adopted. We hope that it will be possible to ensure
that the recesses correspond as closely as possible to the Standard
Year, without disadvantaging unduly those Members who live in
LEA areas which have not adopted the new arrangements. (Paragraph
44)
14. We recognise that
the September sitting is unpopular with many Members, but so is
the prospect of a later sitting in July to compensate for its
loss. The September sitting needs to be seen as part of a package
which includes extra recess weeks at other times of the year and,
in our view, can provide for a smoother and more efficient flow
of Parliamentary business throughout the year. There is no easy
option of simply abolishing the September sitting without reducing
commensurately the length of one or more of the other recesses.
(Paragraph 45)
15. Since there will
be no September sitting in 2005, we propose that there should
instead be a two-week period during which questions for written
answer may be tabled and answered and we urge the Leader of the
House to bring forward a Motion to give effect to this proposal.
(Paragraph 46)
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