Secretary General of the Parliament Mr. Dhammika Dasanayake said that it was decided to appoint a special committee consisting four members to further study and make recommendations regarding the establishment of three Standing Committees to be established. This was decided at the Committee on Parliamentary Business held Nove- (08).
Accordingly, the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Economic Stabilization are expected to be established as new standing committees.
Accordingly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon. Ali Sabry, Members of Parliament Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva, Hon. M. A. Sumanthiran and Hon. Sagara Kariyawasam were appointed to this special committee, the Secretary General said.
The Committee is bestowed with the task of analyzing whether the functions of the existing standing committees, namely the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) and the Committee on Public Finance overlap with these new standing committees and make necessary recommendations for reconsideration if necessary. This will be done by this committee.
Accordingly, it was agreed that the Committee on Parliamentary Business will meet next Friday and to take further steps related to these recommendations.
Furthermore, according to a request made by the Opposition regarding increasing time for the debate on the 2023 Appropriation Bill (Budget), it has been decided to extend the debate for the Committee stage by one and a half hours.
Accordingly, the Committee Stage of the Budget debate will be held from November 23rd to December 7th until 7:00 p.m. and the vote for the Third Reading is scheduled to be held on December 8th at 5:00 PM as previously decided.
Meanwhile, the Secretary General said that the Committee also decided to provide a glass of milk for free to the school children who daily come to visit the Parliament. Accordingly, the approval of the committee was given to execute this proposal from next year subjected to a maximum of 500 children per day.
