HC Deb 29 October 2001 vol 373 c488W
Mr. Burns

To ask the President of the Council what proposals he has for making the dates of parliamentary Sessions more family friendly. [10484]

Mr. Robin Cook

Like Leaders of the House before me, I recognise the practical arguments for more closely aligning adjournments with school holidays. There are obvious difficulties in that half-term holidays vary accordingly to region and the Scottish school summer holidays differ markedly from those in England and Wales. However, I hope we can make progress on this issue through the Modernisation Committee.

I also hope that we will announce the dates of parliamentary recesses further in advance than has been usual in the past. The dates of the Christmas recess were announced during the first business statement in October. I hope to continue and extend this practice so as to allow MPs to plan their constituency work and family engagements more effectively.