§ 3.6 p.m.
§ The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos)My Lords, with the leave of the House, my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor will, in a moment, make a Statement on judicial aspects of constitutional reform. The Lord Chief Justice, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, is in his place, and I am sure that the whole House will wish to hear what he has to say. As Leader of the House, I have been asked whether—exceptionally—we can allow him to speak at greater length than the brief comments and questions permitted by the Companion, without taking time from other Back-Benchers.
It is, of course, a matter for the House. I have consulted the usual channels, and I have their agreement to propose that, unless any noble Lord objects, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, be heard for up to 10 minutes, after the 20 minutes of Front-Bench exchanges. My noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor will respond to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, and there will then be a full 20 minutes for other Back-Bench exchanges. As I said, it is proposed as an exceptional procedure for an exceptional case.
§ Lord Rees-MoggMy Lords, I would be grateful if the noble Baroness the Leader of the House could tell us what subsequent arrangements are being made for a debate on a matter of the highest constitutional importance. Of course, we would all be delighted to hear the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, for 10 minutes; that is not a problem. However, we ought to be told in advance that there are satisfactory arrangements for debating such extremely important constitutional issues.
§ Baroness AmosMy Lords, I am aware of the concern about the need to debate the matter in the House. A provisional date has been agreed for a debate just prior to the Recess.