§ 37. Mr. Andrew Mackay (Bracknell)If he will propose to the Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons that it inquire into the arrangements for programming legislation. [128484]
§ The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Peter Hain)The Modernisation Committee stated that it will keep the operation of programming under continuing consideration and make further recommendations as it thinks appropriate.
§ Mr. MackayDoes the Leader of the House accept that the present programming is not working properly and that all too much legislation is not properly scrutinised, with large sections of Bills not even looked at by the House? That cannot be right, and there is urgent need for change by the time the next Session starts later this year.
§ Mr. HainI am aware of the right hon. Gentleman's concerns and those of many of his colleagues, but I want 170 to put the matter into perspective. Under the previous procedure, prior to programming, large numbers of clauses were not debated or properly scrutinised, which was one of the reasons that we introduced the reform. Although I am always open to suggestions for change, and the Modernisation Committee is keeping the matter under review, we should compare realistically and accurately with what happened before, instead of trying to suggest that the whole situation is worse in respect of scrutiny. No Bill was fully scrutinised under the previous system—that is the issue.