Welfare Reform and Work Bill

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Monday 21st December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freud]

That the House do now resolve itself into a Committee upon the Bill.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, on a business point, perhaps I can help the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, as I noticed that other Members of the House wished to come in on the Question, but we had only 10 minutes in which to do so rather than the 20 minutes that we would have had on a Statement.

It was not a prime ministerial Statement, but I well remember making a proper ministerial Statement to this House when the other place was not sitting when the first case of foot and mouth disease was discovered in February 2001. As I say, the House of Commons was not sitting. Although the noble Baroness is not the Prime Minister, she has the respect of this House and I simply recommend to the Government Front Bench that it would be possible to have a ministerial Statement in those circumstances; there is precedent for that.

[Lord Cormack (Con)]

My Lords, in considering that, I urge my noble friend to consider also how inconvenient it is when the two Houses sit at different times. It would have been so much more sensible if both Houses had risen on the same day and were to come back on the same day.