§ Lord DenhamMy Lords, at a convenient moment after 3.30 this afternoon my noble friend Lord Belstead will, with the leave of the House, repeat a Statement that is to be made in another place on the Scarman Report.
With the leave of the House, I should like to say a word about today's two short debates. Noble Lords will see from the list of speakers that both debates have a very large number of speakers. The debate in the name of my noble friend Lord Kimberley has 20 speakers and that in the name of my noble kinsman Lord Spens has 15. Both debates are of course strictly limited to two and a half hours. In the normal way, the opener of the debate should be entitled to approximately 15 minutes for his speech, and 20 minutes should be reserved for the Government reply at the conclusion of the debate. In addition, I suggest that one Front Bench speaker from the Benches 762 opposite should be entitled to a little more than the other general Members of the House.
I have asked the noble Lords, Lord Kimberley and Lord Spens, to indicate at the beginning of their speeches the time which can be allowed for each of the remaining speakers. I would stress to the House that if noble Lords speak for longer than the allocated time, they will deprive later speakers of some of their time or even of the opportunity to speak at all.
Perhaps I may remind the House of Rule 13 for the conduct of short debates which can be found on page 241 of the Companion to the Standing Orders. This reads:
Pursuant to S.O. 34, on the expiry of the time limit, if the debate is still continuing, the Clerk at the Table rises and the Lord Chancellor brings the debate to an end by inquiring whether the mover of the Motion wishes to withdraw his Motion; or by putting the Question".