§ Mr. Farrasked the Lord Privy Seal if, in view of the fact that the present division between European Community and non-European Community matters of the time allocated to oral questions to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs consistently fails to reflect the relative proportion of questions tabled in each category, he will amend the order of questions so that the division of time reflects more accurately the balance in the relative number of questions, either by cutting the time for questions on European Community matters to 10 minutes or by providing 20 minutes for questions on European Community matters on alternate Foreign and Commonwealth Question Times.
§ Mr. BiffenBy tradition the order of answering on the question roster is a matter for agreement through the usual channels. I am not sure that the proposals put forward by my hon. Friend would necessarily meet the general wish of the House, but I will certainly ensure that the relative number of questions in these two categories is closely monitored with a view to the possibility of raising this matter in any future discussions about the question roster.