§ 3 p.m.
Viscount LongMy Lords, after the short debate on the Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza and before the short debate on NATO, my noble friend Lord Caithness will, with the leave of the House, repeat a Statement on Iraq that is to be made in another place. This will be followed by my noble friend Lady Blatch, who will, again with the leave of the House, repeat a Statement on teachers' pay machinery.
I should like to say a word about this afternoon's short debates standing in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Hylton and Lord Molloy. As the mover is allowed 15 minutes and the Minister should rise to reply not less than 20 minutes before the scheduled end of the debate, in the case of the debate in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, this means that all other speeches should be limited to a maximum of nine minutes. In the case of the debate in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Molloy, the number of speakers is such that it is not necessary to propose a formal time limit, but I am sure that noble Lords will agree that it would conform with the spirit of these short debates if they would keep their speeches within the 15 minutes which applies to the mover of the Motion.