Opposition House Leader John Barritt has called for a review of Parliamentary rules to help the House of Assembly run "more efficiently and effectively".

For the second year running, Mr. Barritt has proposed amendments to the rules to try and shorten speeches, open up Parliamentary committees to the public and introduce ministerial question and answer sessions.

"It is important that Members of Parliament be seen to be doing all they can to ensure that the House of Assembly is as effective and as efficient as it can be," Mr. Barritt told

"We need to see whether we can reduce, if not eliminate, the practice of debate late into the night and into the early hours of the following day.

"Members are being invited to consider a mechanism by which we can better plan our debates and make more effective use of our time.

"Our suggestion is to introduce time limits on both the time the House meets, and on some, if not all, speeches by members."

There is currently a 20-minute limit on speeches during the motion to adjourn, a limit which the opposition UBP is keen to apply to all other speeches apart from those leading the debate for Government or the Opposition.

Mr. Barritt also wants to see a more timely style of questioning to extract information from the Premier and key ministers, similar to the infamous Prime Minister's Question Time in the UK Parliament.

"We believe the right and opportunity to ask questions of the Government is not only worth preserving, but worth enhancing," he said.

"It can be ? and should be ? a critical parliamentary mechanism for holding Government Ministers accountable and responsible.

"All questions are currently subject to nine, clear days advance notice, however, there are occasions when such notice is neither warranted nor justified.

"Matters of urgent or national importance and topics of debate coming from Ministerial Statements should be up for debate immediately.

"It can add more cut and thrust to the politics of our House.

"It is recommended that consideration be given to the establishment of a Question Time for the Premier and/or Ministers in which questions can be asked on same day notice."

The third main recommendation from the UBP surrounds the issue of holding certain committee meetings in public.

The proposed rules' amendments need to be approved by the House to be sent to the Rules and Privileges Committee before a review can be put together.

Any recommendations would then need to be subsequently passed by the House.

"These sort of changes won't happen overnight," Mr. Barritt said.

"But I feel, if the Government is serious about its Throne Speech pledges about open and transparent Government, then we would hope that these changes could be considered."