Statements (Commons)

Statements are normally delivered first to the Commons at about 12.30pm. They are repeated to the Lords by a relevant Minister at a convenient time after that. The Minister reads out the text of the statement made to the Commons. Opposition spokespersons then make speeches in response to which the Minister responds. Brief questions from all sides are then taken to which individual responses are given. The whole process normally takes less than an hour.

The Leader of the House deals with applications for urgent questions, which are properly known as private notice questions or PNQs. If the Leader of the House agrees, a PNQ would be taken after starred questions.