§ Mr. SpeakerThere has been a resurgence in the number of open questions being tabled to departmental Ministers. The practice has been that the Chair will not call supplementaries to questions to a departmental Minister about that Minister's meetings or visits which do not state their purpose reasonably precisely. That has most frequently occurred on questions about future meetings or visits, but it equally extends to questions about past events, especially when it appears from the Minister's original answer that no recent meeting or visit of the kind mentioned in the question has taken place.
I exercised some latitude in allowing supplementary questions on some borderline questions of that kind yesterday and today, but with the great congestion that we now have at Question Time nearly every day, it would be advantageous if I ceased to call supplementary questions on such questions, in the hope that they will cease to be tabled.