§ 35. Mr. Henry Bellingham (North-West Norfolk)To ask the Leader of the House what recent representations he has received regarding the arrangements for the parliamentary term in November. [134531]
§ The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Peter Hain)I have received one letter from an hon. Member about Parliament's autumn calendar.
§ Mr. BellinghamMy question was meant to be about September, not November; the Table Office could not read my writing.
Will the Leader of the House be very kind and tell the House what was the cost of the recall of Parliament for the September term? What extra costs were involved when all the on-site contractors had to stop operations?
§ Mr. HainI will happily supply the hon. Gentleman with the costs and will put a copy of my reply in the Library.
It was important that we sat in September and it worked well. Nobody demanded the by now ritual recall of Parliament in August or late July, which occurred year after year after year, because we had an opportunity to come back in September. What happened during that time? We had two opportunities to question the Prime Minister; there were oral questions to Ministers from 10 Departments; there were five oral statements covering important subjects, including Iraq; there were three Second Readings and considerations of Lords amendments and there were three Opposition day debates. After the Hutton inquiry and the developments in Iraq—all big issues—we had the opportunity to hold the Government to account. That was done effectively in September and I think that the public were pleased that we came back.