1.	In the current session, three bills have been programmed and six bills have been guillotined. This note describes how those programmes and guillotines have worked in practice.
Programmes
2.	The programme for the Northern Ireland Bill provided for proceedings on second reading to be concluded four hours, the committee stage six hours, and remaining proceedings seven hours, after the start of the debate on the programme motion itself. The House spent ¼ hour on the programme motion and 3¾ hours on the second reading debate, which was followed by a division. In committee there were three debates (on amendments to Clause 1, on Clause 1 stand part, and on amendments to Clause 2), the last of which resulted in a division. By then the available time had run out, and Clause 2 was disposed of without further debate, and clauses 3 to9 and the schedule to the Bill without any debate. The third reading of the Bill was then debated for almost an hour.
3.	Two days had already been given to consideration of the Financial Services and Markets Bill, most of that time having been spent on new clauses, before a programme was agreed for the remaining provisions of the Bill. The motion provided for five blocks of one hour each for various groups of amendments and for proceedings on third reading to be completed by 10 pm. 20 out of the 21 groups of amendments selected by the Chair were debated in the five hours available, although several of the debates lasted no more than a few minutes. One Opposition amendment in the group which was not debated was moved formally by a Minister and agreed to. Only two amendments were pressed to a division. The third reading of the Bill was debated for an hour.
4.	The programme for the Transport Bill provided two days for consideration and third reading, divided as follows: on the first day, 6½ hours for Part I (air traffic) and 2½ hours for Part II (local transport); on the second day, 3 hours for Part III (road user charging and workplace parking levy), 2 hours for Part IV (railways), and 1 hour for the rest of the report stage and for third reading. On the first day proceedings on the Bill lasted until almost 12.30 am.
5.	Four hours were allotted to the first debate, a group of new clauses and amendments relating to a major issue on which the Government was opposed by a number of its own supporters as well as by the Opposition parties. After a short debate on the programme motion itself, the House debated the substantive issue for three hours, leaving enough time for divisions on three new clauses. 42 groups of amendments were selected by the Chair; 11 of them were debated, but 31 (of which 4 consisted of minor and drafting amendments) were not reached.
Guillotines
6.	The guillotine motion for the Representation of the People Bill allowed four hours from the start of proceedings on the motion for the completion of the Bill's remaining stages. All the selected amendments on consideration were debated, and the guillotine fell half an hour after the start of the debate on third reading. The supplementary guillotine for the Lords amendments allowed two hours for debate on the motion and on the Lords amendments. Four groups of amendments were debated but eight were not.
7.	The guillotine motion for the Nuclear Safeguards Bill and the Sea Fishing Grants (Charges) Bill provided for proceedings on the remaining stages of the first Bill to be concluded four hours, and of the second Bill five hours, after the start of the debate on the guillotine motion. That motion was debated for three hours and divided on. Five groups of amendments to the first Bill were selected; the Member introducing the first group had not completed his speech after ¾ hour when the guillotine fell and the third reading of the Bill was voted on without debate. No amendments to the second Bill were selected, and the third reading was debated for nearly 50 minutes before the guillotine fell.
8.	The guillotine motion for the Royal Parks (Trading) Bill and the Television Licences (Disclosure of Information) Bill took the same form and was also debated for three hours and divided on. The ¾ hour available for the first Bill was spent on the amendment which had been before the House when consideration was adjourned at a previous sitting. Another selected amendment was not reached, and third reading was not debated. Three groups of amendments to the second Bill were selected, of which only the first was debated.
9.	The guillotine motion for the Lords amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Bill provided for proceedings to be circulated by 11 pm. All 35 groups of amendments were debated in the 6½ hours available.