Submission from Linda Gilroy MP
Thank you for extending a further opportunity
for commenting. Any review tends to produce a greater response
from those who wish to change things. I am writing to say how
positive I feel about the current arrangements. I find I am able
to use the time I work (not much less than previously!) more effectively.
The way in which the hours were organised previously
made it much more difficult to balance constituency based and
focused activity with Westminster based and focused activity.
Of course, each is important to the other—but the new arrangements
certainly help me to achieve what I think is the right balance
in 21st Century Plymouth. So please do not retreat from the present
advance that has been made. If there are logistical problems to
solve arising from the sort of issues which people have raised
about competing demands on ministerial and House staff time, please
look at further reforms, rather than going backwards. There are
many ways in which the traditional ways in doing things at Westminster
are difficult to justify in terms of good use of time. The opportunity
cost of the time spent debating things in the way that we do—for
instance the time taken to sit through a Second Reading Debate—which
is often full of repetition especially if you end up not being
called—serves no useful purpose for the people I represent
in Plymouth—6Ö hours—which I can fill doing something
which does help advance their interest!
July 2004
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