§ 3.4 p.m.
§ Lord DenhamMy Lords, at a convenient moment after 3.30 p.m. this afternoon my noble friend Lady Young will, with the leave of the House, repeat a Statement which is to being made in another place on the Government Communictions Headquarters and the Employment Protection Acts.
It has become customary for me to say a brief word about the timing of speeches in the short debates. The principle adopted is that the mover shall be entitled to approximately 15 minutes and the Minister should rise to reply no later than 20 minutes before the scheduled end of the debate. The number of speakers in the two short debates standing in the names of the noble Lord, Lord Rea, and my noble friend Lord Kimberley are such that on that basis succeeding speakers would be entitled to slightly longer than the two movers. I therefore suggest that while no formal time limit needs to be proposed, noble Lords should try not to exceed the 15 minutes customarily permitted to the mover of the debate.