HL Deb 16 November 1983 vol 444 c1288
Lord Denham

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like in the normal way to say a brief word about the timing of the two short debates this afternoon standing in the names of my noble kinsman Lord Spens and the noble Lord, Lord Jacques. Following the principle that the mover should be entitled to approximately 15 minutes and that the Minister should rise to reply no later than 20 minutes before the scheduled end of the debate, may I suggest that other speakers in today's debate should limit their speeches to a maximum of 11 minutes as regards the debate of the noble Lord, Lord Spens, and 14 minutes as regards the debate of the noble Lord, Lord Jacques, respectively? Perhaps I should point out that, if any noble Lord should speak at greater length, he will do so at the expense of later speakers in that particular debate.