Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)
My Lords, my right honourable friend the deputy leader of the House of Commons has made a Statement on the sittings of the other place up to January 2015 and it may therefore be for the convenience of this House if I do the same. To save any Members reaching for their diaries, a note of all the dates I am about to announce is available in the Printed Paper Office and will be circulated with the next edition of Forthcoming Business. I stress that I make this Statement with the usual and, as ever, very necessary caveat that each of these dates is subject to the progress of business: they are provisional dates. Since I am giving such a long forward look to January 2015, I am sure that that will be appreciated.
I have already announced the autumn long weekend and the Christmas Recess. I hope to provide for a short recess in February, rising on 12 February and returning on 24 February. We should rise for Easter at the end of business on 9 April and return on 28 April. For Whitsun, we rise at the end of business on 21 May, returning on 2 June. We will rise for the Summer Recess on 30 July and return on 7 October. For Christmas, we should rise at the end of business on Wednesday 17 December 2014 and return on Tuesday 6 January 2015.
I hope that the House will accept that this is a long-range forecast and I hope that it will be welcome. I know that noble Lords have been anxious to be able to plan their year next year, but, of course, everything is subject to the progress of business. I expect that the Queen will open a new Session of Parliament in State in the course of the spring but the dates of Prorogation and State Opening will be announced later in the usual way.