Homes Bill
10:30 am
Mr Nick Raynsford (Minister of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions; Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
I beg to move,
That—
(1) during proceedings on the Homes Bill, the Standing Committee do meet on Tuesdays at half-past Ten o'clock and at half-past Four o'clock and on Thursdays at a quarter to Ten o'clock and at half-past Two o'clock.
(2) 12 sittings shall be allotted to the consideration of the Bill by the Standing Committee;
(3) the proceedings on the Bill shall be taken in the following order, namely, Clauses 1 to 9, Schedule 1, Clauses 10 to 15, new Clauses and new Schedules relating to Part I, Clauses 16 to 29, Schedules 2 and 3, Clauses 30 to 34, remaining new Clauses and new Schedules;
(4) the proceedings on the Bill shall be brought to a conclusion at the 12th sitting at Five o'clock.
I begin by welcoming you to the Chair, Mr. Gale. I am pleased that you will be chairing our proceedings. Last year, I had the privilege of taking a larger Bill through a Committee under your chairmanship, and Committee members on both sides—some relics of that experience are with us today—agreed that although some of the Bill was controversial, the Committee's proceedings were conducted in a constructive, courteous and amicable way, which owed much to your wise chairmanship. I look forward to seeing the same qualities in our forthcoming sittings.
The resolution of the Programming Sub-Committee sets out the times and dates for our discussions. It is proposed that we meet twice on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a total of 12 sittings. I believe that that time will be more than adequate to allow proper scrutiny of the Bill's 34 clauses and three schedules. Two years ago, I was responsible for the Greater London Authority Bill. Although it was almost 10 times the length of this Bill, it had just two and a half times the number of sittings. That comparison shows that the usual channels have, in their discussions, made every effort to ensure that we have more than adequate time to consider all the provisions that need scrutiny.
I believe that the time is sufficient to allow for adequate discussion of amendments and of new clauses, which the resolution proposes should be taken at the end of the discussion of each part of the Bill. With the exception of the final sitting on 1 February, we are not proposing an end time to either Tuesday or Thursday proceedings. The proposed order of consideration is a straightforward means of allowing our proceedings to be orderly and thorough. I hope that it finds favour with the Committee.