§ 38. Sir C. Osborneasked the Lord President of the Council whether, in view of the fact that Parliamentary Questions have trebled in number in the last three years, he will now move to amend Standing Orders to allow two hours for Questions, and impose a 10-minute limit on all back bench speeches.
§ Mr. CrossmanNo.
§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Lord President of the Council whether, in view of the great increase in the number of Questions tabled for Written Answer, he will move to amend the Standing Order so as to limit the number which any hon. Member may ask per day to two; and if he will also seek to provide an additional hour per day between 11 a.m. and 12 noon, for oral Questions.
§ Mr. CrossmanThe Answer to the first part of this Question is "No". This would be an unnecessary restriction. The number of Members' oral Questions is limited to ensure that time for Questions is shared as fairly as possible between Members. No such reason exists for so limiting Written Questions. Any over two a day take up no Parliamentary time and, in the main, merely seek information, facts and statistics.
On oral Questions I have no statement to make.