§ Mr. Colin Challenaccordingly presented a Bill to introduce a domestic trading scheme for carbon emissions; to set a national ceiling for carbon emissions; and for connected purposes: And the same was read the First time; and ordered to be read a Second time on Friday 15 October, and to be printed [Bill 136].
§ Sue Doughty (Guildford) (LD)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. This is not the first time that when a ten-minute Bill has been introduced, the Minister from the relevant Department has not been on the Treasury Bench to hear what was said—[Interruption.] The Minister was not present at the commencement of the speech by the hon. Member for Morley and Rothwell (Mr. Challen), and did not arrive for three minutes, by which time a substantial part of the speech had been missed. Can we ensure that Ministers hear the full speech on a ten-minute Bill, so that they can take account of the content?
§ Mr. SpeakerWhen I was in industry, the first three minutes were not counted: you were considered a good timekeeper, and the Minister is a good timekeeper.