§ 3.7 p.m.
§ Lord CarterMy Lords, it may be for the convenience of the House if I make a brief business statement in regard to the Summer Recess. Your Lordships will be aware that it is not usually possible to announce the dates of the Summer Recess until a week or 10 days before the House rises. This year, because of the co-operation of the Official Opposition 767 and of the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip, I am able to make the announcement significantly earlier than usual.
The usual channels have agreed a programme which will allow all the necessary business to be completed by Friday, 28th July. Predicting business for a whole month ahead is difficult as there will be many uncertainties over the next month. However, I am aware that Members and staff alike—particularly those with young families—will find it helpful to have as much notice as possible of our Recess dates. Recess dates are always announced as being, "subject to the progress of business".
On this occasion, given the difficulty of predicting the progress of business so far in advance, there is a particular need for me to stress that if the programme agreed by the usual channels is not achieved and the necessary business is not completed by the end of July, it will be necessary to sit into August.
However, I am pleased to announce that, subject to business progressing as we hope it will, the House will rise for the Summer Recess on Friday, 28th July. We will sit at 11 a.m. that day. The House will return on Wednesday, 27th September.
I should like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues in the usual channels for their constructive approach, which has made it possible to make this announcement much earlier than usual.
§ Lord HenleyMy Lords, I thank the Government Chief Whip for giving the House the dates of the Summer Recess and for assuring us that this was as a result of co-operation with the usual channels. However, the undercurrent of what the noble Lord said was so much nonsense. Of course the Government could have made an announcement much earlier than they have done. I appreciate that on occasions in the past it has not been possible to do this, but on this occasion the Government could have done so. It is only through the co-operation of the usual channels that they are able to bring it forward now. I should like to ask for a commitment from the Government that in future years the announcement will be made somewhat earlier than in the past.
Not knowing when business is to be brought forward causes great inconvenience, not only for the Official Opposition but for all Members of the House. The Government have a large number of Bills still outstanding—far more than one normally expects at this stage. The Official Opposition have co-operated far more than is necessary. We have allowed far more Bills to go to the Moses Room than is usual. As a result of that the Government could have come forward and been slightly more helpful. It would be useful for the Government to offer some advice to all Members of the House as to when all the Bills are likely to come before us. When are we likely to see those?
We have now had the announcement that we are to rise at the end of July. As I said, that announcement could have been made much earlier. The problem is that the Government have far too much legislation. 768 The Government should think about reducing the amount of legislation they bring before this House. I hope that in the next Session we shall see a slightly less heavy burden of legislation before us.
§ Lord Harris of GreenwichMy Lords, I, too, welcome what the Government Chief Whip has just said. As he will recall, all Oppositions complain about the immense size of any government's legislative programme. That will no doubt be true in the next Parliament, as in this, as well as it was in the last Parliament.
Perhaps I may pick up the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Henley. The Liberal Democrats would prefer to have more Bills considered in the Moses Room than is now the case. We would get on with our business far more effectively were we to do that.
§ Lord CarterMy Lords, I am grateful to both noble Lords and in particular to the Opposition Chief Whip for his—if I may say so—typically gracious response. I have checked and this is the earliest ever date that the date of the Summer Recess has been announced, certainly in recent years. I have all the figures for when it was announced by the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, when he was the Government Chief Whip. This is, as I say, the earliest ever date. Business has been agreed until the summer. The noble Lord knows the dates on which we will be bringing forward all the Bills, and, depending on their progress in the Commons, all the Bills we have to reach before the Summer Recess. I was asked to set out the business for the spill-over period. Frankly, I do not think that any Chief Government Whip could do that. I agree with the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip regarding the use of the Moses Room. The usual channels have to work by agreement. But that does not mean that the Official Opposition can have a veto over the Government's business.