Menu
UK Parliament
debates

Debates announced for 9 & 12 December 2013

4 December 2013

Image of UK Parliament portcullis

Following the public meeting on 3 December, the Backbench Business Committee has scheduled backbench business for 9 & 12 December 2013.

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

Monday 9 December in the Chamber

  • General debate on Rural Communities (Member in charge: Anne McIntosh, Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee) (scheduled for the end of main business)

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.

Thursday 12 December in the Chamber

  • Launch of Liaison Committee Report ‘Civil Service: lacking capacity’ (Member in charge: Sir Alan Beith, Chair of Liaison Committee) (up to 20 minutes)
  • General debate on the fishing industry (Members in charge: Mr Frank Doran, Ms Margaret Ritchie, Jim Shannon, Sheryll Murray)
  • Debate on a motion relating to Ford and Visteon UK Ltd pensioners. (Members in charge: Stephen Metcalfe, Geraint Davies)

Bids for debates

At its public meeting on Tuesday 3 December, the Committee heard representations from the following:

  • John McDonnell and Grahame Morris for a debate relating to the e-petition on the effects of welfare reform on disabled people ("WOW petition”)
  • David Anderson, Steve Rotherham, John Cryer, Jim Sheridan for a debate on the Shrewsbury 24.  

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