Before I do so, I inform members that a request was made to the Parliamentary Bureau yesterday to bring forward two additional pieces of business—one request from the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee on its “Report on supporting children’s learning code of practice”, which Parliament is about to debate, and the other from the Government on the draft climate change targets. That is the reason for the changes.
George Foulkes has indicated that he wishes to speak against the motion.
I do so for the same reason that I gave on the previous occasion, which is that the Parliament deserves a full explanation of why business is changed at such short notice. I spoke to a number of members today who expected to come into the chamber at 2.35 pm for a debate on the Forth Crossing Bill. The additional debate has been introduced without prior notification. It would be helpful if the business manager would give a fuller explanation.
I am happy to do that for Lord Foulkes. As—I thought—I explained, the Parliamentary Bureau received a request from the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee for a 20-minute debate on its report on supporting children’s learning code of practice. The committee having made that request, the bureau accepted the rationale and decided that it should appropriately place the business before the Forth Crossing Bill debate that we will now come to in probably a bit more than 20 minutes.
The question is, that motion S3M-6400, in the name of Bruce Crawford, be agreed to.