HL Deb 05 July 2000 vol 614 c1572
Lord Bach

My Lords, as consideration of the Utilities Bill is now complete, this evening's Unstarred Question is no longer restricted to the one hour available for business in the dinner break. Instead, a limit of one and a half hours now applies. This change does not affect the time allocated to the noble Baroness, Lady Warwick of Undercliffe, or my noble friend Lady Blackstone, but it increases the time available to each of the other speakers from four minutes to eight minutes. Perhaps I may make it clear, however, that if noble Lords have prepared four-minutes speeches—and I am quite certain that they have—and would prefer to avoid the inconvenience of extending them at such short notice, that will attract: no criticism, I venture to say, not just from these Benches but from the House as a whole.