§ 3.5 p.m.
§ Lord DenhamMy Lords, at a convenient moment after 3.30 this afternoon my noble friend Lord Lucas of Chilworth will, with the leave of the House, repeat in the form of a Statement an Answer which is to be given in another place to a Private Notice Question on the disposal of BL subsidiaries.
With the leave of the House, I should like to say a brief word about the length of speeches in this afternoon's debate standing in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Barnett, to which your Lordships have agreed to apply a five-hour time limit. On the principle that the mover is allowed approximately 20 minutes and that the Minister should rise to reply not less than 25 minutes before the scheduled end of the debate, the number of speakers is not such as to require me to announce any formal time limit. It would, however, be in accordance with the spirit of these time-limited debates for noble Lords in the body of the debate to limit their speeches to a maximum of 15 minutes.