REVISION OF TIMES OF SITTINGS (Business Motion)

The Leader of the House (Mr S. Dhanabalan): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

That, notwithstanding the Standing Orders, with effect from this day's sitting -

(a) every sitting of Parliament shall begin at 11.00 a.m. and the moment of interruption at each sitting shall be 4.30 p.m.;

(b) unless Parliament otherwise decides, upon a motion which shall not require notice, every sitting shall be suspended at 1.00 p.m. and shall be resumed at 2.30 p.m.; and

(c) references to 3.30 p.m., 6.30 p.m., 7.00 p.m., 7.30 p.m. and 7.45 p.m. in the Standing Orders shall be substituted by references to 12 noon, 3.00 p.m., 3.30 p.m., 4.00 p.m. and 4.15 p.m. respectively.

Mr Speaker, Sir, at the last sitting of Parliament when I moved the motion to sit at 11.00 a.m. today, I explained the reasons for this change in time. I do not intend to repeat the reasons. All I want to say is that we will have to have some practice with these revised times. In the light of our experience we may have to change and we may also have to change these times for particular meetings of Parliament.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That, notwithstanding the Standing Orders, with effect from this day's sitting -

(a) every sitting of Parliament shall begin at 11.00 a.m. and the moment of interruption at each sitting shall be 4.30 p.m.;

(b) unless Parliament otherwise decides, upon a motion which shall not require notice, every sitting shall be suspended at 1.00 p.m. and shall be resumed at 2.30 p.m.; and

(c) references to 3.30 pm, 6.30 p.m., 7.00 p.m., 7.30 p.m. and 7.45 p.m. in the Standing Orders shall be substituted by references to 12 noon, 3.00 p.m., 3.30 p.m., 4.00 p.m. and 4.15 p.m. respectively.