Business of the House

Natascha Engel Excerpts

Thursday 16th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

Of course I understand the seriousness to which my hon. Friend refers and the anxiety in the village concerned. He will have an opportunity on Tuesday to raise the matter in the last debate of the year, but in the meantime, I will draw the matter to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and see whether any action can be taken at ministerial level to allay the concerns that he has expressed.

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

These being the last business questions before Christmas, may I again urge the Leader of the House to allocate more time to Back-Bench business, to compensate for the fact that the Session has been extended to April 2012? While he is working out how many more days to allocate to Back Benchers, can he also look at what days he allocates? The Government are still predominantly giving Back Benchers Thursdays on which to hold their debates, when really we would like a much clearer spread across the parliamentary week.

Finally, may I join the Leader of the House in wishing everybody a very happy Christmas? I would particularly like to wish the Doorkeepers well in the darts world championship, in which our very own House of Commons darts team is taking part. Will he join me in wishing them well on Sunday?

[Sir George Young]

On the first point, the hon. Lady is quite right to say that, because the Session is longer than it would normally be, there are implications for days allocated to private Members’ Bills, Opposition days and Back-Bench business days. Early in the new year, discussions will commence through the usual channels, and also involving the hon. Lady, to allocate more days because the Session is to run until spring 2012. On her point about Thursdays, roughly a third of the days allocated to her Committee have not been Thursdays, but I take her point. So far as the Doorkeepers are concerned, I hope they are as accurate with their arrows as they are in forecasting the time at which the House will rise.