UK Parliament / Open data

Business of the House

Proceeding contribution from David Lidington (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Thursday, 19 January 2017. It occurred during Business statement on Business of the House.

I will do my best to meet the hon. Gentleman’s request on his last point.

I take seriously the problem he identifies apropos last Monday, and will see whether we can do more to accommodate it. The difficulty for Government business managers is that they are never certain until the day whether there will be urgent questions, which will take up time, or how many Members from all parts of the House will want to participate in a debate and for how long they will wish to speak. I can remember previous occasions when Backbench Business came under enormous pressure, resulting in a debate having to be abandoned or drastically curtailed, which was, understandably, immensely frustrating for Back Benchers who had altered their arrangements so that they were in their places and able to participate in the debate. The challenge is to try strike that right balance.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
619 c1075 
Session
2016-17
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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