HL Deb 08 June 1988 vol 497 c1409
Lord Denham

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like, as usual, to say a word about the two short debates standing in the names of the noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos, and the noble Baroness, Lady Ewart-Biggs. It is customary in short debates that the mover is allowed approximately 15 minutes and that the Minister should rise to reply not less than 20 minutes before the scheduled end of the debates. In the case of the short debate in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos, this means that all other speeches should be limited to a maximum of 10 minutes and in that of the noble Baroness, Lady Ewart-Biggs, to seven minutes. If any noble Lord should speak at greater length, it would be at the expense of subsequent speakers in the debate.

Perhaps I should elaborate and point out that that means that noble Lords should sit down when the figures nine and six respectively still show on the clock.