Debates announced for 9 January 2014

The Committee has determined that the following business will take place in backbench time:

Thursday 9 January in the Chamber

• General debate on Rural Communities (Member in charge: Anne McIntosh, Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee) This debate has been scheduled following a bid from Anne McIntosh, Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, for a debate on the Committee’s report on Rural Communities and the Government’s response to it.
• General debate on Inter-city rail investment (Member in charge: Ian Swales)

Bids for debates received

At its public meeting on Tuesday 17 December the Committee heard representations from the following:

• Stephen Lloyd, Louise Ellman, Graham Evans, James Clappison, Stephen O’Brien (on behalf of Alastair Burt) for a debate on the subject of Holocaust Memorial Day 2014. 

Backbench Business Committee

The Backbench Business Committee meets weekly on Tuesdays at 3pm to consider requests for debates from any backbench Members of Parliament on any subject, including those raised in e-petitions or national campaigns.

An MP must make a representation before the Committee for an e-petition or petition to be debated; e-petitions exceeding the Government's 100,000 signature threshold are not automatically allocated backbench time.

The Committee then has to decide how to allocate the limited Parliamentary time it has at its disposal. The Committee's meetings are always conducted in public and can be watched on Parliament TV.

Further Information

• About Parliament: Select Committees
• How the Backbench Business Committee works