Memorandum from Mr Angus Sinclair, Speaker's
Secretary (M33)
STATISTICS HELD
BY THE
SPEAKER'S
OFFICE—QUESTIONS,
DEBATES ETC
Following a request from Mr Gordon Clarke, Clerk
to the Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons,
please find below the methodology used by the Speaker's Office
to record backbench Members' contributions to debates etc.
So far as debates are concerned, we record all
contributions with the following exceptions:
— speeches in debates held in Westminster
Hall;
— speeches in end of day adjournment
debates;
— speeches on Private Members' Bills
or Private Business;
— speeches in Committee of the House;
— speeches on the Report Stage of a
Bill or on consideration of Lords Amendments or Reason; and
— speeches of less than three minutes.
We also record occasions when a Member has applied
to speak and has been unsuccessful; and we make a note of speeches
that last more than 25 minutes.
If a Member was a Shadow Front-bench spokesperson
but later moved to the back-benches, our records distinguish between
the number of times they have spoken from the Front-bench and
from the back-benches.
All information is made available to Mr Speaker
prior to the start of the debates in the Chamber.
So far as Ministerial Statements, Urgent Questions
and Business Questions are concerned, names of those called and
not called are noted on each occasion; as is the length of the
individual Front-bench contributions and the number of backbench
Members called, along with the total length of backbench contributions.
At Business Questions, the Chair will also be aware of which Members
were not called on a previous occasion.
For Departmental Oral Questions, records are
kept detailing the number of Questions on the Order Paper which
were reached and also the number of supplementary questions which
were asked.
Records are kept of the number of times Members
have been called at Prime Minister's Questions and these figures
are available to the Speaker at assist him in deciding whom to
call.
I have also been asked whether I could make
available any statistics on the number of times backbencher Members
are called during debates. Our records for the 2005-06 Session
indicate that on average Government backbenchers were called 3.15
times and spoke for an average of 38.5 minutes in total, while
Opposition (all parties) backbenchers were called 5.26 times and
spoke for an average of just over 66.5 minutes in total. [1]
The number of contributions by Government backbenchers
ranged from nil (40 Members who did not seek to be called) to
13 (one Member) and by Opposition backbenchers from nil (11 Members
who did not seek to be called) to 27 (one Member [Liberal Democrat
Spokesperson]).
March 2007
Annex
Session 2005-06
MEMBERS CALLED
TO SPEAK
IN DEBATE
The following are not recorded:
— contributions from a Government Minister/Secretary
of State;
— debates when the House is in Committee
or Report Stage of a Bill;
— debates on Select Committee reports;
— consideration of a Lords Reason or
Reasons.
OVERALL
| Total number of hours in Debate[2]
| 477 hours, 14 minutes |
| Number of backbench Members[3]
| 528 |
| Total number of times Members were called[4]
| 2,275 |
| Total number of times Members were not called[5]
| 186 |
| Total number of Members not requesting to speak
| 51 |
| Average number of times Members were called
| 4.31 |
| Average total time taken, per Member | 54 minutes, 14 seconds
|
GOVERNMENT
| Total number of hours in debate | 171 hours, 42 minutes
|
| Number of backbench Members | 267
|
| Total number of times Members were called |
843 |
| Total number of times Members were not called
| 65 |
| Total number of Members not requesting to speak
| 40 |
| Average number of times Members were called
| 3.15 |
| Average total time taken, per Member | 38 minutes, 35 seconds
|
OPPOSITION
| Total number of hours in debate | 290 hours, 4 minutes
|
| Number of backbench Members | 261
|
| Total number of times Members were called |
1,372 |
| Total number of times Members were not called
| 121 |
| Total number of Members not requesting to speak
| 11 |
| Average number of times Members were called
| 5.26 |
| Average total time taken, per Member | 66 minutes, 41 seconds
|
POINTS TO
NOTE
1. The difference between the Overall Total Numbers of
hours in Debate and the sum of the Government Total Number of
hours in Debate plus the Opposition Total Number of hours in Debate
(15 hours, 28 minutes) are the contributions of less than three
minutes made by Members.
2. As mentioned in footnote 34 above, with the exception
of the Leader and the Chief Whip of the LD, all LD "Frontbench"
speeches have been included.
1
Backbench Members exclude all Government Ministers and Whips,
the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, the Leader and Chief Whip
of the Liberal Democrat Party. Back
2
Total number of hours in debate taken by backbench Members of
Parliament. Back
3
For these purposes, backbench means no Government Minister (including
Whips) and no Shadow Spokesmen from Her Majesty's Official Opposition.
The Leader of the Liberal Democrats (LD) and the Chief Whip of
the LD are also excluded. Back
4
Taking footnote 3 above into consideration, this figure also excludes
contributions of less than three minutes. Back
5
Owing to the time for debate running out. Back
| 
