Procedure of the House (Proposal 5)

Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville Excerpts

Tuesday 8th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville]

My Lords, I take slight issue with the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch. We had this problem fairly early after the coalition was formed. I raised the question on one occasion when the Leader was making a Statement that was not available to us because it had not finished in the Commons. The Leader was gracious enough to say that the rules of engagement in the Printed Paper Office should be altered and that the Statement should always be available as soon as the Minister got up in this House. I agree that the Printed Paper Office is not always consistent in its reactions. I had no difficulty in persuading it that these instructions had been given and the paper should in fact be released.

[Lord Campbell-Savours]

My Lords, the Motion actually reads,

“‘may’ (with the agreement of the usual channels)”.

One must assume that the usual channels would have this matter in mind when deciding. Therefore I do not see any problem at all.