HOUSE OF COMMONS SESSIONAL DIARY 2008–09 3 December 2008 to 12 November 2009 Prepared in the Journal Office of the House of Commons INTRODUCTION 1. This diary records the business on which the House spent its time in Session 2008–09, analysed into categories, and similar information for sittings in Westminster Hall. It is intended mainly to provide information in response to statistical inquiries, and in using it the following points should be borne in mind: (a) The diary does not include business which took little or no time, such as presentations of bills, unopposed private business, and motions agreed to without debate or division. (b) Divisions are normally included with the business to which they relate. (c) Timings are taken from the Official Report, using the printed times where available, and otherwise taking a column of debate to last three minutes. Daily prayers are assumed to last a standard five minutes (and are not itemised in the analysis), and the time at which the House rose is taken from the Votes and Proceedings. (d) Periods of suspension are included in the total sitting time, and are listed in section 14h of the analysis (Miscellaneous). However, the 2½-hour suspension from 11.30 to 14.00 in Westminster Hall on most Tuesdays and Wednesdays (introduced on 1 January 2003) is shown in brackets in the “Duration” column and is left out of the totals. Other suspensions in Westminster Hall are included in the totals and in the analysis under section 5. (e) The times in the column headed “After appointed time” refer to business taken after the time appointed as the “moment of interruption”. In Session 2008–09, these times were as follows: Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 2200 2200 *1900 1800 1430 * 2200 on the day of the State Opening of Parliament and immediately following a periodic adjournment. (f) All times are in hours and minutes, using the 24-hour clock. 2. A Sessional Diary has been kept in the Journal Office for most sessions since 1906, although in the early years times were kept only to the nearest quarter hour. An analysis substantially in the current form begins in the 1960s. The totals from the analysis have been reproduced in the Sessional Information Digest since 1984–85 and in the House’s Sessional Returns since 1987–88. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS AND TOTALS Part Contents Duration After Page appointed time I Diary for House 2 II Analysis for House 1053.51 84.19 1. Addresses other than Prayers 31.35 1.54 91 2. Government bills 257.50 14.46 a Second readings: committed to standing 61.47 0.48 91 committee b Second readings: committal to Committee of 28.04 3.02 92 whole House (wholly or partly) c Second readings: no committal (Consolidation — — bills) d Committee of the whole House 43.17 7.11 92 e Consideration 77.53 0.49 93 f Third reading 9.04 0.43 93 g Lords amendments 28.38 0.58 94 h Allocation of time motions 8.11 0.57 94 i Committal and carry-over motions 0.56 0.18 95 3. Private Members’ bills 61.11 0.22 a Second readings (and all stages) 48.23 0.15 95 b Later stages 12.48 0.07 96 4. Private bills at time for opposed private business 3.56 — 96 5. Government motions 162.40 3.05 a European Union documents 5.32 — 96 b Business motions 1.55 0.13 97 c General 39.00 2.52 97 d General debates 100.01 — e Topical debates 16.12 — 6. Opposition business 127.18 6.30 a Opposition days 127.18 6.30 99 b Opposition motions in Government time — — 7. Private Members’ motions 16.54 0.07 a Substantive motions 8.12 0.07 100 b Ten-minute rule motions 8.42 — 101 8. Adjournment motions 85.12 49.29 a Government — — b Recess 15.55 0.01 102 c S.O. No. 24 debates — — iii Part Contents Duration After Page appointed time d Daily 69.17 49.28 102 9. Estimates 13.41 0.07 105 10. Money Resolutions 1.32 0.26 105 11. Ways and Means 22.44 1.21 105 12. Affirmative Statutory Instruments 12.30 0.18 106 13. Negative Statutory Instruments 7.07 — 106 14. Business when no Question before House 238.47 5.54 a Questions 91.37 — 106 b Topical Questions 21.45 — 110 c Urgent Questions 4.05 — 112 d Statements 65.08 2.13 112 e Business Statements 24.59 0.07 115 f S.O. No. 24 Applications 0.07 — 116 g Points of order 10.48 1.02 117 h Public petitions 3.02 2.24 143 i Miscellaneous 17.16 0.08 145 15. Daily prayers 10.54 — 146 III Diary for Westminster Hall 147 IV Analysis for Westminster Hall 337.48 — 1. Private Members’ Adjournment Debates 259.14 — 164 2. Government Adjournment Debates 15.01 — 170 3. Liaison Committee Adjournment Debates 52.27 — 170 4. Questions — — 5. Miscellaneous 11.06 — 171 iv PART I: DIARY FOR HOUSE 1 PART I: DIARY FOR HOUSE This page intentionally left blank 2 SESSIONAL DIARY, 2008–09 Time Subject Duration After appointed time 1. Wednesday 3rd December 2008 11.25 Prayers 0.05 11.30 Suspension 3.00 14.30 Speaker’s Statement: arrest and entry into the offices of the hon. Member for 0.07 Ashford 14.37 Points of Order: Mr Michael Howard: asking for an assurance that Members 0.15 taking part in the debate on the establishment of a committee to look into the arrest and entry into the offices of the hon. Member for Ashford would be free to question the conduct of Ministers, civil servants and the House authorities. Sir Menzies Campbell: asking for as assurance that the Committee, when established, would be entitled to have access to information from the Government, Members of Parliament, the police, and Officers of the House of Commons. John Reid: asking for the debate on the establishment of the Committee to consider both the rights and privileges of Parliament, and the fact that Members are not above the law. Damian Green: asking to make clear that he did not consider Members of Parliament to be above the law, but that it was not a crime to expose facts that Ministers would prefer to keep hidden. Mr Denis MacShane: asking for the debate to consider that a systematic breach of confidence in a Minister’s office destroys confidence in democratic government. Mr Iain Duncan Smith: asking for an assurance that the Executive would be asked to draft the motion for debate in a way that would take account of representations from both sides of the House. Mr David Winnick: asking that the senior police officers responsible for the entry into the offices of the hon. Member for Ashford be called to the bar of the House to explain their conduct. Mr Douglas Hogg: asking what powers were available to the House to call to account the senior police officers responsible for the arrest of the hon. Member for Ashford. Andrew Mackinlay: asking at what time the Clerk of the House or the Clerk Assistant were informed of the arrest of the hon. Member for Ashford. Sir Alan Beith: asking for an assurance that Officers of the House would be supported in protecting the rights of Members to communicate with their constituents in confidence. Tom Levitt: asking for an assertion by the Speaker on behalf of the House that Ministers have the right to expect loyalty and discretion from their staff. Sir Patrick Cormack: asking about the length of the debate on the establishment of the Committee to look into the arrest and entry into the offices of the hon. Member for Ashford. Mr George Howarth: asking for the Speaker to issue guidance on the terms in which the motion establishing the Committee should be debated. 14.52 Address: [1st Day] 0.45 15.37 Point of Order: John Reid: asking to point out that he had not supported the 0.01 arrest of a Member of Parliament, as had been suggested by the Leader of the Opposition. 15.38 Address: [1st Day] [resumed] 0.36 16.14 Points of Order: Mr Michael Howard: asking whether the Prime Minister was 0.02 criticising the content of the Speaker’s statement. Mr William Cash: asking for confirmation that the Speaker’s statement did not constitute a decision of the House itself. PART I: DIARY FOR HOUSE 3 Time Subject Duration After appointed time 16.16 Address: [1st Day] [resumed] 4.04 20.20 Point of Order: David Taylor: asking if there was a problem with the acoustics in 1.10 the Chamber. 21.30 Adjournment: David Wright: Health Services (Telford) 0.18 21.48 Point of Order: Mr William Cash: asking to be allowed to participate in the 0.01 Adjournment debate. 21.49 Adjournment: David Wright: Health Services (Telford) [resumed] 0.06 21.55 House rose [Totals for session: 10.30; 0.00] 10.30 0.00 2. Thursday 4th December 2008 10.30 Prayers 0.05 10.35 Business Statement: 0.46 11.21 Statement: The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jacqui Smith): 1.00 Government Information (Unauthorised Release) 12.21 Points of Order: Damien Green: asking to correct the Home Secretary on the 0.10 wording of his arrest warrant. Mr Dominic Grieve: asking about the inadequacy of a document placed in the library for answering a question to the Home Secretary.