---

Business of the House

I congratulate the hon. Lady on totally dominating ““Yesterday in Parliament”” on the ““Today”” programme at quarter to 7 with her innovation of having an open session, where MPs were able to go along and ask for time for debates. I welcome that initiative—the reference to ““Dragons' Den”” was, I am sure, meant in entirely complimentary terms. If one looks at the days allocated to the Backbench Business Committee, one sees that two have been Thursdays, including today, and two have not. I hope that we will be able to maintain a balance in future allocations, without in any way devaluing Thursday, which should be an important parliamentary day. Last Thursday, for instance, 300 colleagues voted on a motion tabled by the hon. Lady's Committee. I should have said this in answer to the right hon. Member for Doncaster Central (Ms Winterton), but extending the Session will be conditional on the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill going through. However, there will also be implications for Opposition days, private Members' Bills and Back-Bench time. I recognise that, and I am happy to enter into negotiations to see how best to reflect the longer Session in increased allocations.