Second reading
41. The problems which have been encountered at second
reading have largely been related to timing. We believe that
there is a case for some longer second reading debates, as well
as a case for some shorter ones. The current practice is to schedule
all second readings of Government bills for a single day, providing
a maximum of 6½ hours' debate, but more usually, once any
statements, ten-minute rule bills and other business have been
disposed of, around five or six hours. In many cases, this is
more or less the right amount of time, but a few cases each Session,
where a second reading debate is the only substantive business
of the day, the debate ends significantly earlier than it could
have done. Table 4 below lists the occasions in the current Session
when the main business ended more than two hours early.[54]
| Table 4: Occasions when the adjournment debate began more than two hours early, Session 2005-06.
|
| Date
| Main business |
Time available not used
|
| Tue 14 Jun 05
| 2nd Reading, National Lottery Bill
| 2¼ hrs |
| Thu 23 Jun 05
| 2nd Reading, Regulation of Financial Services Bill
| 3½ hrs |
| on 17 Oct 05
| Remaining Stages, Transport (Wales) Bill
| 4 hrs |
| Thu 27 Oct 05
| 2nd Reading, National Insurance Contributions Bill
| 3½ hrs |
| Thu 24 Nov 05
| CwH and 3rd Reading, EU (Accessions) Bill
| 2¾ hrs |
| Tue 13 Dec 05
| 2nd Reading, Criminal Defence Services Bill
| 4 hrs |
| Wed 25 Jan 06
| 2nd Reading, Merchant Shipping (Pollution) Bill
| 3¾ hrs |
| Thu 25 Apr 06
| 2nd Reading, Housing Corporation (Delegation) etc. Bill
| 4 hrs |
| Thu 18 May 06
| Motions on Members' pay, etc.
| 4¼ hrs |
| Mon 5 Jun 06
| 2nd Reading, NHS Redress Bill
| 2¾ hrs |
It can be seen that the majority of cases have been
second reading debates, leading to a total loss of nearly 24 hours'
worth of sitting time. In some cases, the subsequent adjournment
debate is of such general interest that it expands to fill the
additional time and so some of the time is used in other ways.
But this is purely fortuitous, and in many cases the time is
not used at all.
42. Conversely, there have been 14 occasions when
the Speaker has imposed a time-limit on back-bench speeches, indicating
that there are more back-bench Members wishing to speak in a debate
than can be accommodated in the time available. They are set
out in Table 5.
43. The minimum time-limit the Speaker may impose
is eight minutes and in practice the longest limit generally imposed
is 15 minutes.[55] There
is also temporary provision, which expires at the end of the current
Session, which enables the Speaker to call Members to speak for
not more than three minutes between certain hours.[56]
This facility is rarely used, but when it is used it is usually
to permit a number of Members to speak briefly during the last
hour before the wind-up speeches.
| Table 5: Time-limits imposed on back-bench speeches during second reading debates, 2005-06
|
| Bill |
Date | Time-limit
|
| Violent Crime Reduction
| Mon 20 Jun 05 | 10 mins
|
| Racial and Religious Hatred
| Tue 21 June 05 | 10 mins
|
| Identity Cards
| Tue 28 Jun 05 | 10 mins
|
| London Olympics
| Thu 21 Jul 05 | 15 mins
|
| Electoral Administration
| Tue 25 Oct 05 | 12 mins
|
| Terrorism
| Wed 26 Oct 05 | 10 mins
|
| Equalities [Lords]
| Mon 21 Nov 05 | 15 mins
|
| Northern Ireland (Offences)
| Wed 23 Nov 05 | 15 mins
|
| Health |
Tue 29 Nov 05 | 10 mins
|
| Work and Families
| Mon 5 Dec 05 | 10 mins
|
| Animal Welfare
| Tue 10 Jan 06 | 12 mins
|
| Education and Inspections
| Wed 15 Mar 06 | 8 mins
|
| Northern Ireland
| Wed 26 Apr 06 | 15 mins
|
| Compensation [Lords]
| Thu 8 Jun 06 | 15 mins
|
44. It can be seen that second reading debates which fall short
sometimes occur very close to those in which a time-limit is imposed.
For example, the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill on 23 June
2005, in which a ten-minute limit on speeches was imposed, was
followed two days later by the Regulation of Financial Services
Bill, which finished 3½ hours early. The same is true of
the Electoral Administration bill (12-minute limit) and the National
Insurance Contributions Bill (3½ hours early). The 2¾
hours which were made available, but not used, for the NHS Redress
Bill on 5 June 2006 could have been applied to the Compensation
Bill [Lords] three days later. Where a second reading
debate is only going to take half a day, another debate could
begin immediately afterwards, be adjourned at the end of the day
and concluded later in the week.
45. There is no exact science to predicting how much
time will be required for debate on each item of business, but
the time available for each second reading debate should depend
on the bill, rather than being based on a standard of a single
day. By proper negotiation
between the usual channels, it should be possible to identify
some bills each year for which a two-day or one-and-a-half-day
second reading would be appropriate. There are also clearly some
bills for which half a day would be adequate. We hope that, by
adopting a more flexible approach to the length of second readings,
the business managers will be able to make better use of the time
available to the House, enabling more Members to speak on more
important bills, reducing the need for time-limits to be imposed
on speeches and avoiding potential debating time being lost to
an unexpected early finish.
54 There have also been a further 15 occasions on which
the main business has ended between one and two hours early. Back
55
The minimum limit is specified in Standing Order No. 47. Back
56
Resolution of 26 October 2004 (Shorter speeches). Back
|
