Topical Debates

To ask the Leader of the House (1) how many suggestions for topical debates her Department has received from hon. and right hon. Members by (a) post, (b) the link on her website and (c) other means; how many she has received from hon. Members of each party; and who suggested each of the subjects she has selected for debate; (181869)

(2) what proportion of subjects for topical debates suggested by hon. and right hon. Members she has selected for topical debates;

(3) what the 10 most popular suggestions made by hon. and right hon. Members for topical debates have been.

The information is as follows.

	Total received	Labour	Conservative	Liberal Democrat
Post	11	6	1	4
Via website	9	8	1	0
Other	3	1	1	1
Note: This does not include requests made to me at business questions as this is already a matter of public record.

Topical debates take place in Government time and the decision and announcement are for me.

Of the requests made, other than at business questions, two subjects have been requested more than once. The topics are: a medal for members of the armed forces who have been killed or wounded in combat and Farepak.

To ask the Leader of the House what criteria she uses to decide whether a subject proposed for a topical debate is topical. (181872)

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given by my right hon. and learned Friend the Leader of the House to the hon. Member for Billericay (Mr. Baron) on 18 December 2007, Official Report, column 1225W.

Volume 471: debated on Monday 28 January 2008