HL Deb 17 April 1996 vol 571 c69WA
Lord Cochrane of Cults

asked Her Majesty's Government:

In relation to subjects pertaining to the whole of the United Kingdom, but which are subject to devolved administration in the constituent parts of the Union, what arrangements exist to enable a Minister to reply to a debate in this House on such subjects addressing the whole United Kingdom, and not only those areas with which his own department deals.

The Lord Privy Seal (Viscount Cranborne)

By convention, when Ministers reply to debates in this House they do so on behalf of Her Majesty's Government as a whole and not as the spokesmen of a single department.