House of Commons Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons Sitting Hours First Report of Session 2004–05 Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 15 December 2004 HC 88 [Incorporating HC 892, Session 2003-04] Published on 11 January 2005 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £15.50 The Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons The Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons is appointed by the House of Commons to consider how the practices and procedures of the House should be modernised. Current membership Mr Peter Hain MP (Labour, Neath) (Chairman) Ann Coffey MP (Labour, Stockport) Barbara Follett MP (Labour, Stevenage) Mr Oliver Heald MP (Conservative, North East Hertfordshire) Mr David Kidney MP (Labour, Stafford) Martin Linton MP (Labour, Battersea) Mr Patrick McLoughlin MP (Conservative, West Derbyshire) Anne Picking MP (Labour, East Lothian) Mr Peter Pike MP (Labour, Burnley) Joan Ruddock MP (Labour, Lewisham Deptford) Mr Martin Salter MP (Labour, Reading West) Mr Richard Shepherd MP (Conservative, Aldridge-Brownhills) Mr Andrew Stunell MP (Liberal Democrat, Hazel Grove) Mr Paul Tyler MP (Liberal Democrat, North Cornwall) Sir Nicholas Winterton MP (Conservative, Macclesfield) The following Members were also members of the Committee during the Parliament: Mr Andrew Mitchell MP (Conservative, Sutton Coldfield) Mr David Cameron MP (Conservative, Witney) Mr Greg Knight MP (Conservative, East Yorkshire) Dr John Reid MP (Labour, Hamilton North & Bellshill) (Chairman) Caroline Flint MP (Labour, Don Valley) Mr Robin Cook MP (Labour, Livingston) (Chairman) Mrs Lorna Fitzsimons MP (Labour, Rochdale) Mr John M. Taylor (Conservative, Solihull) Powers The powers of the Committee are set out in an Appendix to the House of Commons Standing Orders. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at http://www.parliament.uk/modcom/ A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is at the back of this volume. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are George Cubie and Tom Healey (Clerks), Susan Morrison (Chief Office Clerk) and Jane Cooper (Secretary). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk, Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons, Journal Office, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 3318; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] Sitting Hours 1 Contents Report Page Summary 3 Conclusions and recommendations 5 Introduction 8 Background 8 Options for change 10 Monday 11 Tuesday 12 Private Members’ bills in the evening 12 Other business after 7 p.m. 14 Reversion to the old hours 15 Wednesday 16 Thursday 17 Friday 18 Sittings of the House and their impact on other business 18 Select committees 19 Standing committees 19 Westminster Hall 21 Recess dates 22 The September sitting, recesses and school holidays 22 Formal minutes 25 Witnesses 29 List of written evidence 30 Reports from the Committee since the beginning of the 2001 Parliament 33 Sitting Hours 3 Summary At the beginning of 2003, the House adopted the following new sitting hours: Current sitting hours to Sitting Hours before January 2003 scheduled end of main business to scheduled end of main business Monday 2.30 p.m.–10.00 p.m. 2.30 p.m.–10.00 p.m. Tuesday 11.30 a.m.–7.00 p.m. 2.30 p.m.–10.00 p.m. Wednesday 11.30 a.m.–7.00 p.m. 2.30 p.m.–10.00 p.m. Thursday 11.30 a.m.–6.00 p.m. 11.30 a.m.–7.00 p.m. Friday 9.30 a.m.–2.30 p.m. 9.30 a.m.–2.30 p.m. The new arrangements will expire at the end of the present Parliament and the Modernisation Committee has produced this Report in order to inform the debate which will take place in the House in early 2005, when the House will need to decide the sitting hours for the beginning of the next Parliament (paragraphs 1–9). The Committee has consulted widely among Members and has drawn on the Procedure Committee’s useful survey of Members’ views on the subject, conducted in early 2004. The Committee recommends retaining the current arrangements on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays (paragraphs 10–25, 31 & 32). Thursday is no longer used as much as it once was for substantial whipped business. As well as causing a ‘bunching’ of business in the Chamber on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, this has tended to exacerbate clashes between standing committees, select committees, and the Chamber. The Committee recommends lengthening the Thursday sitting by one hour, by sitting at 10.30 a.m. and keeping the current finish time for the main business of 6 p.m. This would restore the sitting day to sufficient length to take substantial business such as major second readings and Opposition days (paragraphs 26–30) There has been an overall loss of time in standing committees as early morning sittings have proved inconvenient and committees are reluctant to sit into the evening if the House is not sitting. The Committee recommends that, in order to increase the amount of time available to standing committees, the period of time during which committees are not allowed to meet in the middle of the day should be shortened from 2½ hours to 2 hours. It will still be for standing committees to determine their own pattern of sittings (paragraphs 4 Sitting Hours 35–39). The timing of standing and select committee meetings is a matter for committees themselves, but the Committee makes a number of suggestions as to how some of the current congestion of committee meetings might be relieved (paragraphs 33, 34 & 38). Although it is not governed by the Standing Orders, and therefore not something on which the House now needs to take a decision, the Committee also comments on the annual pattern of sittings and recesses (paragraphs 41–46). The Committee proposes that, in the absence of a September sitting in 2005, there should be a two-week period when questions for written answer can be tabled and answered (paragraph 46). Sitting Hours 5 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) 6 Sitting Hours 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.