HC Deb 23 March 1988 vol 130 cc364-5

Resolved, That the Report [22nd March] from the Business Committee be now considered.—[Mr. Maclean.] Question, That this House doth agree with the Committee in their resolution, put forthwith pursuant to Standing Order No. 80 (Business Committee) — [Mr. Maclean.]—and agreed to.

Following is the Report of the Business Committee: Education Reform Bill (Business Committee), — The First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means reported from the Business Committee, That it had come to a further Resolution in respect of the Education Reform Bill, which it had directed him to report to the House: That—

  1. (1) the order in which proceedings on consideration are taken shall be Government new Clauses; remaining new Clauses; Amendments to Clauses Nos. 1 to 7, Schedule No. 1, Clauses Nos. 8 to 33, Schedule No. 2, Clauses Nos. 34 to 57, Schedule No. 3, Clauses Nos. 58 to 99, Schedule No. 4, Clauses Nos. 100 to 102, Schedule No. 5, Clauses Nos. 103 to 112, Schedule No. 6, Clauses 113 to 134, Schedule No. 7, Clause No. 167, Schedule No. 9, Clauses Nos. 168 to 175 and 135 to 164, Schedule No. 8, Clauses Nos. 165, 166 and 176 to 186 and Schedules Nos. 10 and 11; and new Schedules;
  2. (2) the allotted days which, under the Order of 1st February, as varied by the Order of 17th February, are given to the proceedings on consideration and Third Reading shall be allotted in the manner shown in the Table set out below and, subject to the provisions of that Order as so varied, each part of the proceedings shall be brought to a conclusion at the time specified in the third column of that Table.

Table
Allotted day Proceedings Time for conclusion of proceedings
First day Government new Clauses 6 p.m.
New Clauses Nos. 1 to 9 8.45 p m.
Remaining new Clauses 10 p.m.
Second day Amendments to Clause No. 1 6 p.m.
Amendments up to the end of Clause No.37 8.15 p.m.
Amendments up to the end of Clause No.98 10 p.m.
Third day Amendments up to the end of Clause No. 109 6 p.m.
Amendments up to the end of Schedule No. 7 8 p.m.
Amendments up to the end of Clause No. 175 10 p.m.
Fourth day Amendments up to the end of Clause No.166 7 p.m.
Remaining proceedings on consideration 7.45 p.m.
Third Reading 10 p.m.
3.53 pm
Mr. Jack Straw (Blackburn)

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Will you confirm that, as a consequence of the guillotine motion that the House agreed on 10 February as a result of Conservative Members voting in favour of it, although there are 31 separate debates scheduled to take place during this second day of consideration of the Report stage of the Education Reform Bill, it is extremely unlikely, even if short speeches are made, that more than three separate debates will take place?

Will you confirm, Sir, that that flows directly from the imposition of the guillotine and that if Conservative Members are concerned, as we are, that a number of important issues cannot be discussed they should have thought of that before voting for the guillotine motion?

The Secretary of State for Education and Science (Mr. Kenneth Baker)

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I am surprised at the hon. Gentleman's complaints, as the Bill has already been debated for 200 hours in Committee. We now have four days of debate on the Floor of the House, of which three are still ahead of us. The hon. Gentleman is really complaining about the inept way in which the Opposition handled the Committee stage. They have muffed their chances, and all their thunder has been stolen by the minority parties. It is no use the hon. Gentleman blaming the guillotine for the ineffective lack-lustre methods adopted by his party in Committee.

Several Hon. Members

rose—

Mr. Speaker

Order. Before dealing with the point of order, I remind hon. Members that a motion has been passed on the order in which the amendments are to be taken. Points of order take up further time.

Mr. Nigel Spearing (Newham, South)

I appreciate that, Mr. Speaker. The Secretary of State referred to the fact that the Bill had been considered in Standing Committee for 200 hours. There are hon. Members who, for good reasons, could not participate in the Second Reading debate and were not members of the Standing Committee. Will you confirm that Report stage is aimed especially at such Members, so the comments of the Secretary of State were a little off beam?

Mr. Speaker

The Chair will certainly bear in mind what the hon. Gentleman has said. Report stages provide an opportunity for Members who were not on the Standing Committee to make their contributions.

Mr. Martin Flannery (Sheffield, Hillsborough)

Further to the point of order, Mr. Speaker. The matter has been raised because certain Conservative Members, having voted for the guillotine, complained that points that they wished to raise would not be reached. When I raised question about this, it was clear that they did not know what voting for the guillotine meant. They had brought the problem of which they complained upon themselves by voting for the guillotine. Perhaps they should have a lecture from the Secretary of State on what voting for a guillotine means. As I pointed out yesterday, it does not mean beheading anyone in New Palace Yard.