§ Sir W. Teelingasked the hon. Member for Liverpool, Exchange, as Chairman of the Kitchen Committee, why the Smoking Room and other refreshment rooms of the House of Commons are closed for one hour during late night sittings; and what arrangements have been made for rest rooms for the staff during tae hour off and to wake the staff when they are due back again for duty.
§ Mrs. BraddockAs I explained in the letter sent on behalf of the Kitchen Committee to all hon. Members on 1st July last, the purpose of closing the refreshment rooms during late night sittings is to enable all members of the staff on duty to have at least one hour of rest after midnight. In order to lessen any inconvenience caused by this curtailment of serces, arrangements have been made for some of the refreshments rooms to close from midnight to 1.0 a.m. and others from 1.0 a.m. to 2.0 a.m.
The existing rest rooms for the staff are used by the staff on duty at night and have in practice been found to be adequate. Internal arrangements have been made by the management to recall the staff to duty when their period of rest has expired.