Business of the House
Philip Dunne asks Geoff Hoon, the Leader of the House, about timings and dates of sittings for the new year - which is now less than three months away.
He says the Government should sort out when the House will be sitting.Mr. Philip Dunne (Ludlow) (Con): The Chancellor likes to lecture Opposition Members about the economy's productivity and efficiency under his stewardship. Will the Leader of the House please take a lesson from the Chancellor in organising his Department so that he can inform the House of what hours we are likely to sit and over what period two or three months hence?
Mr. Hoon: The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the sitting hours of the House has been a vexed question for a number years and that we are currently operating a compromise arrangement for hours of work. I hope that he would agree that, whatever our personal views of the present arrangements, we ought to allow that compromise to continue for some time. If he was referring to the wider question of the calendar and sitting dates for Parliament, I assure him that I will put him out of his misery quite soon.
