Speeches by Ghani.

“I am grateful for advance warning of the hon. Member’s point of order. Ministerial correspondence is not a matter for the Chair, but all hon. Members should be entitled to expect a timely reply, especially when they are contacting Government Departments on behalf of their constituents. I am sure that those on the Treas…”

“We have three colleagues who also wish to contribute. I turn to Andy Slaughter first.”

“I call the Minister.”

“With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Government new clause 18—Consequential amendments to the Social Security Fraud Act 2001. Government new clause 19—Devolved benefits. Government new clause 20—Powers of Scottish Ministers. New clause 1—Recovery of overpayments of Carer’s Allowance— “The Secretary…”

“Just for the record, in case Hansard did not pick that up, that was Jennie the dog crossing the Floor, not a Member of Parliament.”

“That is the end of the Back-Bench contributions. We come to the Front Benches and first the shadow Minister.”

“Order. The hon. Gentleman is very quick on his feet. I call the Minister.”

“I call the shadow Minister.”

“Order. With just shy of 50 Members wishing to contribute, the only way that I can guarantee the maximum number of contributions is by having a speaking limit of five minutes to begin with.”

“Order.”

“Lengthy interventions are eating into time, so the time limit is now four minutes.”

“I call Luke Murphy. Is it your birthday?”

“Order. Before the hon. Member for Cheadle responds, let me say that if interventions are long, even fewer colleagues will be able to get in. Interventions should be short. They should not be speeches.”

“Happy birthday!”

“Well, Mr Chope, that has probably given you all the exercise you need.”

“Is it a real point of order?”

“Further to the Deputy Speaker’s statement on 28 March, in column 1298 of the Official Report, Mr Speaker has directed that the proceedings entitled the Arm’s-Length Bodies (Accountability to Parliament) Bill on 14 March should be considered void and this should be reflected in the Journal. That title, and associated te…”

“Order. Members should not use “you”. The hon. Member was told off twice earlier for using it, and he came and apologised to the Chair. I would not have mentioned it, were I not being accurate in making clear for the record that he had been inappropriate with his language.”

“Order. That is twice! “You” refers to the Chair. I think that is the end of that intervention. I call the Secretary of State.”

“Order. I know the debate is very intense, but “you” means me. No doubt the hon. Member is not critiquing me.”