Procedure Committee

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Wednesday 16th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[The Chairman of Committees]

My Lords, these matters were very carefully considered by the committee. At the end of the day, the House has to expect Members to act on their honour.

[Baroness O’Cathain (Con)]

My Lords, may I revert to the issue of putting down Oral Questions? How would this affect the Topical Question?

[The Chairman of Committees]

My Lords, I should emphasise that this arrangement is only for only the period of recess. Therefore, the Questions that are available during a period of recess will be handled in exactly the way that we deal with Topical Questions and Thursday ballot debates—we have experience of handling ballots of this kind. However, I emphasise that it is only a pilot during this period of recess.