The Premier and his Cabinet will be given a weekly hour-long grilling by MPs under new rules for the House of Assembly due to come in this autumn.

The Friday morning parliamentary question time, to take place whenever the Legislature is in session, will give politicians the chance to raise issues of urgent public importance with Government and quiz Ministers on statements they have just delivered.

MPs currently have to submit questions in writing and Ministers have ten days to reply — but they don't have to read out the answers in the House if the congratulations and obituaries given by MPs runs past 11 a.m.

The new 60-minute oral questions session will take place before the congrats and obits section.

Opposition MP John Barritt, who drafted the new rules with Deputy Speaker Dame Jennifer Smith, said: "Some of the questions may well have been put in advance. Some will be asked without notice, based on issues of the day or statements read out.

"We will actually get the type of exchange we want to see in a mature parliament, where Ministers aren't able to escape and evade questions of the day."

Opposition leader Kim Swan said: "The hour-long question time for Ministers is a very positive step, providing proper, contemporaneous scrutiny on issues of the day."

The new rules — known as Standing Orders — stipulate that notice must still be given for questions of a non-urgent nature or unrelated to Ministerial statements.

A Minister can refuse to answer if they believe a response is not in the public interest — and the Speaker agrees with them.

The introduction of question time is one of a raft of changes recommended in the draft rules, which will be debated by MPs when Parliament resumes in November.

Others include the publication of an official record — known as a Hansard — of all speeches made in the House, a 30-minute time limit for each MP speaking in an initial debate on new legislation and a requirement for members to notify the Speaker if they intend to be absent from a sitting.

MPs who fail to attend an entire parliamentary session without the permission of the Speaker could be made to vacate their seat.

The Standing Orders include an extra 14 hours for debate on the annual budget, bringing it up to 56 hours. Mr. Barritt, the UBP's spokesperson on legislative and public administration reform, explained: "That's done because the Government budget has grown dramatically over the years."

Dame Jennifer said drafting the new rules was an "onerous exercise" since they had not been amended for some time.

"We were guided by the template developed by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and by the standing orders of various other jurisdictions," she said. "We also took the opportunity to ensure that all language was gender sensitive."

Mr. Swan said he applauded the work done by Dame Jennifer and Mr. Barritt to modernise the rules governing Bermuda's legislature.

"My colleagues and I look forward to considering the proposals when the House of Assembly returns to work in November," said the UBP leader.

"It is my view that the proposed changes represent a long overdue push toward a more democratic, more open, more accountable legislative body — something I am sure the vast majority of Bermudians would want."

He said time limits for speakers would encourage "more focused, on-point debates" and a Hansard would help Bermuda take "its rightful place in the modern era".

Speaker Stanley Lowe, chairman of the Rules and Privileges committee, tabled the new rules at the end of the last parliamentary session so MPs could review them over the summer.

He said: "I'm sure that early in the fall they are going to be tabled so that we can approve them and so they can be put into effect."

The Premier's press secretary said last night that Dr. Brown did not wish to comment before the debate in the House.