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Business of the House

The House is grateful for next week's business. On oral questions, how satisfied is the right hon. and learned Lady that the shuffle is entirely random? What are the odds, as happened in today's Question Time, of no Labour Back Benchers being selected for one of the first 16 questions, nor a single topical question to the Energy Secretary? Have Government Back Benchers simply given up? On the business for next Thursday, can the Leader of the House clarify today what the Deputy Leader of the House refused to clarify on Monday—namely, that all of the recommendations in the Wright report that need a decision by the House will be tabled, and that she will do that by Monday at the latest, so that we can table the necessary amendments? Does she agree that it would be desirable for the Back-Bench business committee to be up and running at the beginning of the next Parliament? Would not a clear answer to those questions disperse the "climate of suspicion" to which she referred on Monday? Related to that, will she tell us how she intends to timetable Thursday between debates and votes? The House will want to know that there will be enough time to vote on the remaining resolutions and the selected amendments. May we have a debate on the Procedure Committee's final report on the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speakers? As the right hon. and learned Lady will appreciate, decisions on that need to be made before the beginning of the next Parliament. On elections, may we have a debate on the by-elections process? This week, the Electoral Commission delivered a stinging report on the Government for their unnecessary delay in scheduling the election in Glasgow, North-East. Given that there is currently a similar delay for voters in North-West Leicestershire, is it not time for the House to consider a mandatory time limit within which by-elections are held, so that we can avoid the Government placing electoral advantage over the constitutional rights of citizens to be represented here? Turning to next Thursday, may we have an extra day on the remaining stages of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill? That is a huge piece of legislation, to which a great deal has been added—more Government amendments are expected—and 28 clauses, which is approximately one third of the Bill, have not been debated at all. Given the right hon. and learned Lady's commitment to ensure that the House has better powers of scrutiny, would not that be a good place to start? Where is the annual debate on international development? I raised that with the right hon. and learned Lady at the last business questions and she said there would be one "as soon as possible." That debate is still not on the radar, and we need it not least so that we can debate the lessons to be learned from the tragedy in Haiti. Related to that, may we have a debate in Government time on Afghanistan and our overseas commitments? The right hon. and learned Lady has consistently said that the House should have opportunities to debate defence, but we have not had one of the four defence debates to which we are entitled in each Session. Next Monday, the Opposition are having to give up one of their Opposition days to debate defence, at a time when the country is at war. When are the Government going to make time to debate such issues? What has happened to the debate on international women's day? Although that falls on 8 March and a debate is scheduled in another place, there is no sign of it in our provisional business. I cannot believe that the Leader of the House plans to overlook that important event. Finally, it will come as no surprise if I ask again for the dates of the Easter recess. We keep being told that this will be announced in the usual way, but it is rather unusual—with just 26 working days until Good Friday—for us to be kept in the dark. May I repeat my assumption that the House rises on 1 April and does not return, having listened to the Chancellor's final Budget on 24 March? Or can the right hon. and learned Lady tell us otherwise?