Downing Street Says » September sittings and House motions

Mr Straw said that the motion on September sittings would welcome the introduction of written questions and written ministerial statements in September this year and, in the light of that and other consultations, also would seek to rescind the decision, made in 2002, to have September sittings. There would be a free vote on the issue.

He said that the report of the Modernisation Committee, which he chaired, was quite important, because the proposal was to implement major changes in the way Bills were examined in detail in committee. The plan was to abolish the term, Standing Committee, and replace it with a new format, called the Bill Committee. Mr Straw said that the first sessions of a Bill committee would be similar to the proceedings of a select committee, where the purpose of the measure and Ministers were examined before it went on to the line-by-line adversarial process. He thought it would make the entire process more rational.

The motion on select committee evidence was to ensure that evidence taken could be posted on the internet very quickly, without having to await the report’s publication. The motion on shorter speeches would provide the chair with greater discretion on their length.

Asked if the Companies Bill would be completed before the end of the session, the Leader said that it had just completed all its stages in the Commons and would go to the House of Lords. While he anticipated some votes on it, at this time of the year it was the task of the Business Managers to try to ensure outstanding Bills reached the Statute Book.

Pressed if there would be a recommendation on September sittings, the Leader said he wanted to make it clear that the House would continue to sit for the same number of days whether or not it voted to have them. It was not about the total of sitting days, but the pattern of them. The UK Parliament, with the exception of Greece, was one of the legislatures in the world which sat for the largest total of days and greatest number of hours. It was a hard-working Parliament. The Leader said he had been in had been very much in favour of September sittings when they were first introduced. The truth was that experience had suggested that they were not as successful as anticipated. The difficulty of finding sufficient relevant business and the clash with constituents being at work or at school was a further difficulty. There was also a price attached to September sittings. A parliamentary answer, being given on behalf of the House of Commons Commission, would spell out the additional cost of having to stop maintenance work whilst the House resumed in September. He said sentiment had moved on the issue. The Leader agreed that his own views had changed. It would be a completely free vote. He had insisted from the beginning that it had to be a decision of the House.

Explaining the change to Standing Committees, Mr Straw said that the problem at present was that they could be rather ritualistic sessions. The proposed alternative would make the process more rational and give MPs more opportunity to examine the contents of a Bill and put Ministers on the spot and to secure changes, in a more effective and a more consensual manner. Asked if the proceedings would be televised, he said that he would follow up the question since the idea was to make the whole system more serious in the best sense of the word.

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» Thursday, October 26, 2006

September sittings and House motions

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