House of Commons SESSIONAL RETURNS Session 2006–07 15 November 2006–30 October 2007 RETURNS to Orders of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 13 November 2007—(The Chairman of Ways and Means) HOUSE, COMMITTEES OF THE WHOLE HOUSE, STANDING COMMITTEES AND SELECT COMMITTEES HC 1 House of Commons SESSIONAL RETURNS Session 2006–07 15 November 2006–30 October 2007 RETURNS to Orders of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 13 November 2007—(The Chairman of Ways and Means) HOUSE, COMMITTEES OF THE WHOLE HOUSE, STANDING COMMITTEES AND SELECT COMMITTEES Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 8 January 2008 HC 1 Published on 16 January 2008 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 INTRODUCTORY NOTE The Sessional Returns were first published in consolidated form for Session 1986– 87. Returns of: i. Closure of debate in the House and in Standing Committees dating back to 1887 and 1907 respectively; ii. Delegated Legislation from Session 1974–75; iii. Private Bills and Private Business from 1981; iv. Sittings of the House from Session 1960–61; and v. Special Procedure Orders from Session 1972–73 have been placed in the House of Commons Library where they may be inspected by Members. Copies have also been supplied to the Parliamentary Archives, where they are available to the public for inspection. Requests for inspection should be addressed to the Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, London, SW1A 0PW (020 7219 3074). Hours of inspection are from 9.30am to 5.00pm Mondays to Fridays. The Public Bill Office of the House of Commons maintains a Public Bill Index from 1922 to the present day. A weekly Information Bulletin showing the progress of all legislation, listing Committee meetings and providing other information relating to the business of the House is compiled by the Public Information Office of the House of Commons and published by The Stationery Office Limited. Public and Private Bills and Delegated Legislation are also listed by session in the Part II Index to the relevant House of Commons Journal. A great deal of other procedural information can also be derived from this Index, for example the date of each stage in the passage of a particular Bill through the House of Commons, and instances of closure in the House and in Committees of the whole House. The Journal is published by The Stationery Office Limited. SESSIONAL RETURNS 2006–07 1 Contents Sessional Return Page 1 Business of the House 4 A Questions 4 B Notices of Motions for an Early Day 4 C Disciplinary Powers of the Chair 4 D Public Petitions 4 2 Closure of Debate, Proposal of Question and Allocation of Time 5 A Closure of Debate 5 B Power of Chair to Propose Question 6 C (1) Allocation of Time 7 C (2) Allocation of Time (Programme Motions) 9 C (3) Allocation of Time (Business of the House Motions) 18 3 Sittings of the House 19 A Days and hours of sitting in the House 19 B Days and hours of sitting in Westminster Hall 28 C Distribution of time on the floor of the House between principal types of business 32 D Distribution of time in Westminster Hall between applicable types of business 34 4 Private Bills and Private Business 35 A Private Bills, Private Business and Special Procedure Orders: General 35 B Dates of the House’s consideration of the several stages of Private Bills 37 C Opposed Bill Committees 38 D Committee on Unopposed Bills 38 E Bills to confirm Orders under the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936 39 F Court of Referees 39 G Standing Orders Committee 40 H Standing Orders Committee – submitted by CWM office 40 I Special Procedure Orders 41 J Joint Committees 41 5 Public Bills 42 A General Summary 42 B Bills which received the Royal Assent 43 C Bills which did not receive the Royal Assent 44 D House’s consideration of the several stages of Public Bills 49 E Consideration of Bills in Committee of the whole House 60 F Consideration of Bills in General Committees 60 6 Delegated Legislation and Regulatory Reform Orders 69 A Instruments laid before the House 69 2 SESSIONAL RETURNS 2006–07 B Instruments considered by the Joint and Select Committees on Statutory Instruments 70 C Consideration in the House and in Standing Committee 71 D Chairmen and Members of Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation 80 E Regulatory Reform Proposals and draft Orders 84 F Remedial Orders under the Human Rights Act 1998 85 7 European Legislation, etc. 86 A Consideration by the European Scrutiny Committee 86 B Consideration on a Motion on the floor of the House and in European Standing Committees 86 8 Grand Committees and the Committee on Regional Affairs 90 Northern Ireland Grand Committee 90 Welsh Grand Committee 91 Scottish Grand Committee 91 Regional Affairs Committee 91 9 Chairmen’s Panel 92 10 Select Committees 94 A MEMBERS SERVING ON SELECT COMMITTEES 94 1 Alphabetical list of Members 94 2 Number of Members Serving on Select Committees 101 B SELECT COMMITTEE ATTENDANCE, WORK, PUBLICATIONS ETC 102 1 Administration 102 1A Parliamentary Visitor Centre Sub-Committee 104 2 Communities and Local Government 106 3 Consolidation, & c., Bills (Joint Committee) 112 4 Constitutional Affairs 113 5 Crossrail Bill 118 6 Culture, Media and Sport 120 7 Defence 125 8 Draft Climate Change Bill (Joint Committee) 137 9 Draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill (Joint Committee) 139 10 Education and Skills 141 11 Environmental Audit 147 11A Sub-Committee on Environmental Information 153 11B Sub-Committee on Trade, Development and Environment 154 12 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 156 12A British Waterways Sub-Committee 162 12B Draft Climate Change Bill Sub-Committee 164 12C Rural Payments Agency Sub-Committee 166 12D Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 Sub-Committee 168 13 European Scrutiny 169 14 Finance and Services 176 15 Foreign Affairs 177 16 Health 185 17 Home Affairs 190 SESSIONAL RETURNS 2006–07 3 18 Human Rights (Joint Committee) 196 19 International Development 202 20 Liaison 210 20A Liaison Sub-Committee 212 21 Modernisation of the House of Commons 214 22 Northern Ireland Affairs 216 23 Procedure 221 24 Public Accounts 224 25 Public Administration 237 26 Regulatory Reform 244 27 Science and Technology 247 28 Scottish Affairs 254 29 Selection 258 30 Standards and Privileges 259 31 Statutory Instruments 261 32 Statutory Instruments (Joint Committee) 263 33 Tax Law Rewrite Bills (Joint Committee) 265 34 Trade and Industry 267 34A Sub-Committee on the Implementation of the Report of the Women and Work Commission 273 35 Transport 275 36 Treasury 282 36A Treasury Sub-Committee 290 37 Welsh Affairs 294 38 Work and Pensions 298 C GENERAL STATISTICS ON SELECT COMMITTEES 303 1 Printing Costs and Page Count 303 1A Page Count and Costs: Financial Year 2006–07 303 1B Page Count and Costs: Session 2006–07 304 2 Select Committee Expenses 305 2A Financial Year 2006–07 305 2B Session 2006–07 308 3 Select Committee Staff 311 4 SESSIONAL RETURNS 2006–07 1 Business of the House Information and statistics relating to Questions; Notices of Motions for an Early Day; the exercise of disciplinary powers by the Chair and by order of the House; and Public Petitions. A Questions Number of Questions which appeared on the Order Paper: For written answer on a named day 10,590 For ordinary written answer 47,235 Total for written answer 57,825 For oral answer 3,736 number reached for answer in the House 1,775 Total number of Questions 61,561 Number of Urgent Questions 9 Number of days upon which replies to Questions for oral answer were given in the House 129 Number of days upon which replies to Questions for oral answer were given in 0 Westminster Hall Number of Questions reached for oral answer in Westminster Hall 0 B Notices of Motions for an Early Day Total number of Notices of Motions given for an Early Day 2,193 including the number which were Prayers for the annulment of Statutory 18 Instruments C Disciplinary Powers of the Chair Members ordered to withdraw Number of Members ordered to withdraw from the House under Standing Order No. 43 (Disorderly conduct) in the House 1 in Committee of the whole House 0 Total 1 Members suspended from the service of the House Number of Members suspended from the service of the House by order made under Standing Order No. 1 44 (Order in debate) by orders made otherwise 0 Total 1 D Public Petitions Total number of Petitions 161 Number of Petitions presented at the times specified by Standing Order No. 154 (Time and 142 manner of presenting petitions) Number of Petitions on which observations were tabled pursuant to Standing Order No. 112 156 (Printing of petitions and of ministerial replies) SESSIONAL RETURNS 2006–07 5 2 Closure of Debate, Proposal of Question and Allocation of Time Information and statistics relating to applications of Standing Order No. 36 (Closure of debate) in the House, in Committee of the whole House and in Public Bill Committees; applications of Standing Order No. 29 (Powers of Chair to propose question) in the House, Committee of the whole House and Public Bill Committees; and Bills in respect of which allocation of time orders were made under Standing Order No. 83 (Allocation of time to bills) or to which Programme Motions, Business of the House Orders or Procedure Motions applied. A Closure of Debate In the House The Closure was claimed on 26 occasions. Assent of the Chair was withheld on 2 of these occasions.