[Mr. Eric Illsley in the Chair]

Motion made, and Question proposed,

That the Order of the Committee [17th December] be further amended, by leaving out paragraph (5) and inserting—

'(5) the proceedings on Clause 62, Schedule 4, Clauses 63 to 97 and Schedule 5 (so far as not previously concluded) shall be brought to a conclusion at 5.50 pm on Thursday 23rd January 2003;

(5A) the proceedings on Clauses 98 to 119, Schedule 6 and Clauses 120 to 125 (so far as not previously concluded) shall be brought to a conclusion at 6.50 pm on Tuesday 28th January 2003;'.—[Hilary Benn.]

I am most grateful for the opportunity to speak about the Programming Sub-Committee. I thank the hon. Members for Nottingham, East (Mr. Heppell) and for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) for their co-operation in achieving a very satisfactory result in that Committee and, indeed, in this Committee's proceedings so far. It is important that we have adequate time to discuss the very real issues raised by a Bill of such length and complexity, but we might not have done had we proceeded with the initial programme. Having made the necessary changes, which I commend to the Committee, we are now in a position to proceed in good order.

Question put and agreed to.