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2004-2005
- Sitting Hours in the House of Commons
On 11 January 2005, the Committee published its report into the Sitting Hours of the House. The report recommended that the revised sitting hours should stay, with an extra hour added on Thursdays.
The report was debated on the floor of the House on Wednesday 26th January 2005. The House voted to return to the pre-experimental hours on a Tuesday (i.e. 2.30pm - 10.00pm) and to bring forward the sitting time on a Thursday by one hour to start at 10.30am.
Background: This follows the June 2004 announcement that the commitee was embarking on an inquiry to review the operation of the sitting arrangements that were adopted for an experimental period following its report Modernisation of the House of commons - A Reform Programme.
2. Scrutiny of European Business
On 22 March 2005, the Committee proposed the modernisation of European Business in its report 'Scrutiny of European Business'
The Centrepiece of the Committee's recommendations was the creation of a new Parliamentary European Committee, bringing together MPs, Peers, and UK MEPs, to discuss major issues. It was envisaged that European Commissioners would be invited to make statements in this forum. Other recommendations included improvements in the European Standing Committee structure to allow greater specialisation.
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