Hon members, I've been informed that the Whippery has agreed that there will be no notices of motion or motions without notice today. We will now proceed with the questions as printed on the Question Paper, starting with the questions to the Deputy President.
However, before we proceed, I would like to bring it to the attention of the members that Rule 246(4) of the Council Rules provides that no more than six questions for oral reply may be put to the Minister in respect of any one government department on any particular day. I hope this will assist in explaining to members as to why some of their questions do not appear on the Question Paper.
I now call the Deputy President to respond to the questions. May I, at the same time, please ask him to use the podium? [Applause.] I ask you to please bear with me. There might be times when I'll give the Deputy President some extra time over the stipulated time, because he will be answering quite a number of questions.