At the conclusion of the debate the Speaker adjourns the House until the time of its next meeting. At least once in each 12 sittings days General Business that is business sponsored by Members who are not Ministers takes precedence of Government business, Notices and Orders of the Day. This enables private or backbench Members to take the opportunity to present bills or initiate debate on a range of issues. Items of business are listed in the order they are to be considered. All Members are not present in the Chamber throughout the sittings.
Members are busy people with many demands on their time.
As well as their duties in the Chamber, they have meetings of parliamentary and party committees to attend, research to undertake, speeches to prepare and innumerable matters to deal with on behalf of their constituents. The demands on the time of Ministers and office holders, with more public duties to carry out and administrative responsibilities, are even greater. A quorum must exist when the House meets and when a division occurs. Otherwise the House can, and often does, conduct its business with fewer Members present. However, any Member may at any time insist on the presence of a quorum by drawing the Chair's attention 'to the state of the House'.