Lord Taylor of Holbeach (Con)
My Lords, I am advised that the Public Bill Office will now be accepting amendments for Report. Noble Lords will now have an hour in which to table any further amendments. Further timings for this period of tabling will be confirmed by the annunciator. We will now adjourn during pleasure until 6.22 pm—60 minutes from now—and then repeat the Statement on online harms before returning to the Bill for its Report stage.
Lord Pannick (CB)
Given the urgency of this matter, would it not be more appropriate to proceed with the Statement in perhaps 30 minutes so that we can proceed with the Bill in one hour’s time?
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
This is on the threshold, and the clerk was watching the screen to see whether the Statement had started. I thank the noble Lord, because he has intervened at the appropriate time and now there is only 60 minutes to go, so I suggest we adjourn for tabling amendments and resume here at 6.23 pm.
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
I have been told that the adjournment should be 90 minutes from now.
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
The Statement has now started in the Commons. That is the point I was trying to make. The Table Office is open for amendments and we will adjourn during pleasure after the Statement has concluded until 90 minutes from now, which is 6.54 pm.
Lord Pannick
Can I suggest to the noble Lord that it might be better to resume in one hour? If the Statement has not finished and we cannot start it, let us proceed with the Report stage of this Bill—given its urgency and given that the House of Commons will be waiting for it, as indeed will Her Majesty.
Lord Tunnicliffe (Lab)
My Lords, I understand that we are able to start the Statement now. I suggest we take it now and, during it, the usual channels confer on a sensible time to restart.