§ 27. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Lord President of the Council whether he will make proposals for improving the arrangements for the tabling and answering of Parliamentary Questions in the light of the Report of the Select Committee on Procedure.
§ Mr. WhitelawI would not wish to propose changes without more experience of the progress made with Questions in this Parliament. We have got off to a fair start, and I shall make it my business to watch how we continue.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI accept my right hon. Friend's suggestion of an increase in Ministerial output, but did his Summer Recess reading include the recommendation of the Select Committee that there should be a full 60 minutes Question Time, with a possibility of restoring second supplementary questions by back-bench Members? Would not a development of that kind strengthen his own proclaimed intention to reinforce the authority of the House?
§ Mr. WhitelawI am prepared to consider what my right hon. Friend said, but I should like to have more experience of the working of Question Time in this Parliament before coming to a conclusion.
§ Mr. LiptonWould it not help the House if Questions were not allowed to 216 be put down longer than two weeks before they were due to be answered? Under present arrangements we get a lot of stale stuff on the Order Paper that has been put down three weeks before hand.
§ Mr. WhitelawThe views of Members in all parts of the House are somewhat divided. I should like to consider the matter further, but I am prepared to hear representations by any hon. Member on this subject.