Committee members appointed for 2014-15 session
1 July 2014
David Amess, David Anderson, Bob Blackman, Oliver Colvile, John Hemming and Ian Mearns have been appointed members of the Backbench Business Committee for the 2014-15 session of Parliament.
The members were appointed on Monday 30 June 2014.
Natascha Engel, Chair of the Backbench Business Committee in the 2010-12, 2012-13, 2012-14 sessions, was re-elected unopposed as Chair of the Backbench Business Committee for the 2014-15 session on 11 June 2014.
The Committee has invited Pete Wishart of the Scottish National Party to attend its meetings and take part in its proceedings, in order to represent the views of the minority Opposition parties (pursuant to Standing Order No. 152J (7)).
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.