§ Mr. SpeakerI have a statement to make. I have been asked to urge hon. Members to put down Questions for written instead of oral reply, when they refer to individual cases. This would enable more Questions to be answered personally by Ministers, which are of a more general nature or deal with matters of wider interest. It would appear that many Questions at present on the Order Paper could be dealt with equally well by correspondence with the Ministry concerned. I know that written replies are often not asked for, because Departments do not reply to these at once, because no time limit can be insisted on. I believe that fewer oral answers would be called for, if written answers could be dealt with more expeditiously.
I also propose that, when we meet again in the New Year, in order to enable as many Members as possible to have a chance in the Ballot for the Adjournment, any Member who has been successful shall not be allowed to ballot again for four weeks from that day.