Baroness Anelay of St Johns
My Lords, before my noble friends Lord Taylor of Holbeach and Lord Howe repeat the Answers to the Urgent Questions asked earlier in the House of Commons, perhaps I may remind the House that we recently agreed a new trial procedure and this is the first occasion on which we are able to take advantage of it and see how it begins to run.
My noble friend Lord Taylor will first repeat the Answer to the Urgent Question in full. At that point the Clerks will start the clock running for 10 minutes. During those 10 minutes, questions and answers will follow. We have anticipated that the first question is likely to come from the opposition Front Bench. It was decided that the usual channels, if they wished, could dispense with that but that has not happened today so I would expect the opposition Front Bench to come first. The rules that follow for questions and answers are the same as those for a Private Notice Question of this House.