Identity Cards Bill
9:10 am
Mr Des Browne (Minister of State (Citizenship, Immigration and Counter-Terrorism), Home Office; Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Labour)
I beg to move,
That the Order of the Committee of 18th January be further amended by the substitution, in the Table in paragraph (3), of ''6.30 pm on Thursday 27th January'' for ''5.30 pm on Thursday 27th January''.
I understand that a copy of the motion has been circulated to members of the Committee. It is an amendment to the previous order, the effect of which is that we shall sit for one further hour this evening before the last knife on our deliberations. It has been discussed informally and agreed by all parties. The reason for the amendment is that we made much progress on Tuesday afternoon, but there is still a significant amount of work to be done, and we should give ourselves the best possible opportunity to scrutinise the remaining parts of the Bill before we terminate our deliberations.
I take advantage of this opportunity to draw attention to the fact that I have written to you, Mr. Conway, and copied to members of the Committee a short letter that deals with the three outstanding points that I was unable to answer fully on Tuesday afternoon. The letter is dated 26 January and I made considerable efforts to ensure that it was available to members of the Committee yesterday evening. A copy of it is to be placed in the House of Commons Library.