COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY – PROGRAMME CODE – TIME ALLOCATION

Hon. Members, before we proceed with the Committee of Supply, I wish to inform the House that consistent with established practice, the Whips have agreed on an indicative allocation of time for the examination of the various estimates of expenditure under their respective programme codes. I will exercise some flexibility when the need arises. This is what we did last year. For the orderly and smooth conduct of proceedings, we shall consider the Estimates page by page. I also wish to draw the attention of hon. Members to Standing Order 73(3), which provides that – “(...) Discussions at the Committee shall be confined to the details of the programme, sub-programme or item of expenditure and shall not refer to the general principles of Government policy and administration (...).” Which we have just done. I appeal to hon. Members and hon. Ministers to be concise in their interventions and replies. Moreover, hon. Members are further informed that the votes pertaining to the Centralised Services of Government will be taken out of turn immediately after the Committee will have considered the votes of expenditure for the Ministry of Finance. I thank you for your attention, and I rely on your cooperation for the smooth conduct of the exercise.