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Legislative Process

No. It is worth analysing what we achieved during the September sittings in 2003 and 2004. That information is provided by the hon. Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey), who answers on behalf of the House of Commons Commission. Over the past three years, approximately £17 million was spent in each summer recess on works projects across both Houses of Parliament, about £10 million of which—some 60 per cent.—was spent in the Commons. The cost of disrupting those works has been estimated at an additional £2.5 million for both Houses, or £1.5 million in the Commons. The experiment was not without cost—and did we achieve that much, apart from putting through a ban on fox hunting and allowing people to invade the House of Commons while we tried to operate in a building site? In 2003, the House sat from Monday 8 September to Thursday 18 September—a total of eight sitting days. On two of those days—25 per cent. of the time—there were no Divisions. On one of them—a Wednesday, when one would expect us all to be here—the maximum number of Members participating in the six Divisions that occurred was 346. That is not a great track record for the experiment of September sittings.