House of Commons (Procedure)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 2 February 1976.

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Photo of Sir David Price Sir David Price , Eastleigh 12:00, 2 February 1976

I shall not follow the hon. Member for Chesterle-Street (Mr. Radice), not because his speech was not interesting, but in the interests of brevity.

There appears to be general agreement, with the possible exception of the right hon. Member for Down, South (Mr. Powell), that a general review of our procedures is necessary. Certainly I have supported it. I spoke in the debate on the Address in support of the Government's proposal to have a review this Session. But I hope that the Select Committee—it has become clear that it must be a Select Committee rather than any other review body—will reject the over-simple view that the more days in the year that the House sits, the better the result.

On 29th November 1944, Winston Churchill said: Do not suppose that you can strengthen Parliament by wearying it and by keeping it in almost continuous session. If you want to reduce the power of Parliament, let it sit every day in the year one-fifth part filled, and then you will find that it will be the laughing stock of the nation ".—[Official Report, 29th November 1944; Vol. 406, c. 26.] This is not a plea for Members of Parliament to do less work. I acknowledge that our first duty lies in attendance here.

But our attendance here is more worthwhile when we renew our contacts not only in our constituencies but in the world outside, in personal contacts. That adds greatly to the general contribution that we all make, across party and within party, to discussing the nation's affairs. My colleagues across the party spectrum are always most pleasant, affable and wise and their comments most trenchant in the first few weeks after the long recess. There is a certain refreshment which comes with wider experience. But when we have sat here too long in the dog days at the end of July or early August, we find ourselves at our least good.

I want to come straight to some positive proposals and, like my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West (Mr. Channon), I shall use verbal shorthand. The first proposal that I make appertains to the parliamentary year. There are three traditional functions which fall to us every year to fulfil: voting Supply, voting taxation and voting appropriation. There is a fourth function which is the continuing consideration and monitoring of the economic effects of our exercise of those functions. In verbal shorthand, I describe that as dealing with supply and demand management.

As I said in the debate on the Loyal Address, we arrange our affairs on a time scale which makes it about as difficult as possible to discuss those four functions together. The annual calendar works in such a way that we have the Queen's Speech late in October, when the Government put forward their policy proposals, especially their legislative proposals, for the forthcoming year. Then we get the Estimates trickling out through February. Then in early March we get that now key document the Public Expenditure White Paper, which takes a five-year look at the use of public resources, Then in April we get the Budget.

Even the smallest social club conducts its affairs on a better timetable. If there is a policy decision about the sports field, the budget is produced and there is some discussion about how the money might be raised for it.

Therefore I suggest that an obvious reform is to try to bring these four functions into a better juxta-position on the time scale. I do not mind which is altered in favour of which, but it seems reasonable to start the annual Session with the Queen's Speech, with the Estimates, with the Public Expenditure White Paper and to follow that shortly with the Budget. I cannot see any difficulty about doing that. It is simply a matter of bringing them together. Whether that means starting Sessions in the spring rather than in the autumn is a matter for discussion.

But that we should bring them together on the same time scale seems reasonable.

The second matter is the greater use of Select Committees. I do not think that we have exhausted the use of Select Committees. Nor do I believe that if we make greater use of them we shall entirely upset the balance, about which two hon. Members have spoken, between the use of Select Committees and debate on the Floor of the House.

The recent growth of Select Committees has been good and constructive. But their effect on the body politic has been limited by a number of constraints. The first, which has been emphasised by a number of hon. Members, is the lack of time afforded for debate in the Chamber on the many excellent Reports emanating from our Select Committees. The second is the inability of the media to cover their proceedings adequately, although the media are now admitted to nearly all their sittings.

I want to develop some of the proposals foreshadowed by my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West, although there has been no collusion between us. I believe that we should have one Select Committee for each Department of State or group of Departments and that that Select Committee should handle everything connected with that Department. For instance, it should examine annually that Department's Estimates. It might dismiss them fairly quickly, but it should look at them every year and report to the House.

I believe that all Bills appertaining to that Department should start in the Select Committee. That is a new form of procedure, and the old language, First and Second Reading, I suggest, are not applicable. But a Bill should start in that Select Committee. I suggest that there should be a general debate in that Committee which could then be followed by the examination of witnesses in support of or against it, rather in the manner in which the Abortion (Amendment) Bill promoted by the hon. Member for Glasgow, Pollok (Mr. White) was dealt with by a Select Committee. Following that, the Bill should go through a Committee stage in that Select Committee. Then it could come down to the Floor of the House for a general debate in the nature of a Second Reading, with the Bill already having been examined in the Select Committee and amendments made to it. Then it would be followed by a Report stage. That, again, would be necessary to give everyone in the House an opportunity to discuss the detail.

That procedure is not very different from what happens in a number of European Parliaments, with Bills starting in a committee—in our case, a Select Committee—a general debate, examination of witnesses if necessary, and a Committee stage. Then, the Bill having been processed, it comes down to the Floor where there is a general debate, followed by a Report stage.