2 Arrangement of debates
Introduction of one hour debates
5. Business on Tuesday and Wednesday sittings is
determined by the Chairman of Ways and Means under Standing Order
No. 10(3). Whilst the Standing Order allows the Chairman to determine
a range of business, in practice a fixed pattern of backbench
debates has been established. This pattern of 30 and 90-minute
debates is set out in Figure 1. The sitting is suspended at 11.30
am until 2.30 pm, which allows Members to be present in the main
Chamber for Questions. Sittings are also suspended for any division.
The topics for debate are principally chosen by ballot.[5]Figure
1 Current sitting pattern in Westminster Hall on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays
6. In his written evidence to our inquiry the then
Clerk of the House described the "occasional, though not
infrequent, imbalance between the number of Members wishing to
participate in these debates and the time available", and
suggested that "the slightly inflexible arrangements, and
the incentive to Members to maximise their chances of securing
a debate by applying indiscriminately for both thirty-minute and
ninety-minute slots, means that time can be used inefficiently."[6]
Figures on attendance at Westminster Hall debates show that a
significant number of 30-minute debates attract seven or more
Members, some of whom may wish to speak or at least make interventions,
potentially reducing the time available for the Member raising
the matter and for the Minister to respond.[7]
This number of additional participants squeezes the time available
if the Member in charge takes interventions but would not necessarily
justify the provision of a full 90-minute slot.
7. The available debate slots could match the demand
for time better than they do currently. Half-hour debates are
best suited to specific issues, such as matters which affect only
a certain Member's constituency, as time does not permit many
interventions and still allow the Member in charge and the Minister
sufficient time. There are occasions where other Members would
value the opportunity to contribute to a debate but would not
adequately fill a 90-minute slot. We recommend the introduction
of a one hour debate slot which would provide additional flexibility
alongside the current timing options.
8. This additional option should not be used merely
as another opportunity for Members to maximise their chance of
success in the ballot. Members should be encouraged to consider
how many Members might wish to speak in their debate and whether
there is likely to be sufficient Member interest to justify the
allocation of a longer time slot. We recommend that on application
for a debate a maximum of two out of the three time slot options
should be selectable.
OPPOSITION FRONT BENCH CONTRIBUTIONS
9. Interventions or speeches from the Opposition
front bench are not permitted in half-hour adjournment debates.[8]
In 90-minute debates, however, the Opposition front bench is expected
to contribute, and the Chair will manage the debate in such a
way as to allow an appropriate amount of time for speeches from
the main Opposition party or parties as well as the Minister.
The introduction of an hour-long debate raises the question of
whether Opposition frontbench contributions should be expected.
10. If Members other than the initiating Member and
the Minister are to be enabled to participate in these debates,
we think it reasonable that the main Opposition parties should
have the opportunity to set out their position on the matter under
consideration. They should not do so at such length as to squeeze
out the contributions of backbench Members, nor—just as
importantly—that of the Minister, but so long as they
are brief we recommend that Opposition spokespeople be able to
participate in hour-long debates in Westminster Hall. We trust
that Chairs in Westminster Hall, backed by the Chairman of Ways
and Means and the Panel of Chairs, will offer robust guidance
to Opposition spokespeople on the appropriate length of their
speeches.
ACCOMMODATING THE OPTION OF AN ADDITIONAL
TIME SLOT
11. There are a number of options for how to accommodate
the additional option of an hour-long debate. The then Clerk of
the House's memorandum proposes an arrangement whereby longer
notice of the topics for debate—perhaps two weeks, rather
than the current one—is given, and the Chairman of Ways
and Means allocates timeslots one week in advance according to
the number of Members expressing a wish to speak in each debate.[9]
We see some advantages to such an approach but in our view the
combination of the unpredictability of the timing of debates week
by week and the need to encourage Members to indicate their intention
to speak in a debate—not currently required in Westminster
Hall—makes this option undesirable. The remaining options
therefore come down to either replacing one or more of the existing
debate slots, or adding an extra slot or slots to those already
available. We do not wish to restrict the opportunities already
available to Members in Westminster Hall, so the option of replacing
existing slots is ruled out. Equally, we acknowledge that extending
the number of debates in which a Minister would need to participate
may place an unwelcome burden on Government. We therefore conclude
that the option of an hour-long debate should be accommodated
by extending the final debate on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from
half an hour to a full hour. The evidence we have received
suggests that debates are popular and oversubscribed and that
this modest extension of the sitting times would be justified.
Figure 2 shows how the pattern would be altered as a result.Fig.
2 Current arrangement compared with proposed arrangement of debates
on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Timing of Thursday sittings
12. The sittings of the House were changed in 2012
and business in the main Chamber now begins at 9.30 am on a Thursday
rather than 10.30 am. The Thursday sitting in Westminster Hall
was also brought forward by one hour, from 2.30 pm to 1.30 pm.
Evidence we have received suggests that the Thursday afternoon
session could "start a little earlier".[10]
As our report on sittings of the House noted,
it is in the interests of the efficient use of
Members' time to enable them to get back to their constituencies
on a Thursday evening […] an earlier finish on Thursdays
would assist some Members to do so, particularly those who have
a significant distance to travel.[11]
There have been a number of occasions on which Westminster
Hall has risen later than the main Chamber, which as well as being
undesirable in itself also works against efforts to allow Members
to return to their constituencies.[12]
We see no reason why the Westminster Hall Thursday sitting should
not begin earlier, as it would not involve any clash with questions
or (other than in very exceptional circumstances) statements in
the main Chamber. We recommend that the Thursday sitting should
be brought forward by one hour, with a starting time of 12.30
pm and finishing time (subject to divisions in the House) of 3.30
pm.
Exchanging Monday and Thursday
business
13. The then Clerk of the House recommended that
the Committee should consider the merits of swapping the Thursday
debates to a Monday and debates on e-petitions to Thursdays. The
Chairman of Ways and Means suggested that this proposition merited
consideration because of 'the current risk of clash between Thursday
afternoon Backbench Business debates in Westminster Hall and the
main Chamber'.[13] In
his evidence Paul Evans, Principal Clerk of the Table Office,
suggested that "the main problem is that because [Thursday]
is now the main day for backbench business, quite often there
will be a select committee-inspired debate in the main Chamber
at the same time as something on quite a similar topic is going
on in Westminster Hall, or vice versa."[14]
14. Moving the Thursday backbench and select committee
debates from a Thursday to a Monday—when the business in
the Chamber is usually Government business—would not of
course remove the possibility of clashes between similar business;
but we consider that it would be desirable if backbench and select
committee business were not regularly scheduled at the same time
as backbench business in the Chamber. The occasional e-petition
debates—which we are considering further as part of the
inquiry into e-petitions referred to us by the House on 8 May
2014—could just as well take place on Thursdays as on Mondays.
We therefore recommend that Liaison and Backbench Business
Committee debates should take place on Monday and e-petitions
should be debated on a Thursday. Our successors in the new Parliament
may wish to review the change and make a recommendation about
whether the change should continue or be reversed.
Trial of 90-minute debate allocation
15. In a 2012 report we recommended that one of the
90-minute Westminster Hall debates each week should be chosen
by the Backbench Business Committee for a trial period, after
which time we would assess whether it should continue.[15]
The trial began at the start of this year and is now due for review.
16. The Backbench Business Committee has nominated
debates on a little under half of the eligible weeks. When it
has not made a nomination one has been supplied by the ballot.
There is therefore a useful flexibility in the arrangement, enabling
Members to make their case to the Backbench Business Committee
if they wish rather than relying on the vagaries of the ballot,
and giving that Committee an additional option for the allocation
of time, whilst keeping the ballot system as a back-up.[16]
The Backbench Business Committee itself is content to retain the
responsibility. The Members who wrote to us have said they are
happy with this arrangement and would like it to continue. We
recommend that the Backbench Business Committee should continue
to allocate one 90-minute slot per week.
5 The Backbench Business Committee nominate their weekly
debate and in instances where there is sufficient public demand
the Chairman of Ways and Means can nominate a debate. Back
6
Clerk of the House BWH 07 para 19 Back
7
Paul Evans Principal Clerk of the Table Office BWH 010 para 2 Back
8
Erskine May, 24th edition (London, 2011), p.389 Back
9
Clerk of the House BWH 07 para 28 Back
10
Mr Mark Harper MP BWH 03 para 4 Back
11
Procedure Committee, 1st Report of Session 2012-13,
Sitting hours and the Parliamentary calendar, HC 330, para 37 Back
12
Thursday 11 September 2014, Thursday 16 May 2013, Thursday 23
February 2012, Thursday 19 January 2012 Back
13
Chairman of Ways and Means BWH 06 para 9 Back
14
Q2 Back
15
Procedure Committee, Second Report of Session 2012-13, Review of the Backbench Business Committee,
HC 168, para 54 Back
16
Chairman of Ways and Means BWH 06 para 8 Back
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