§ 42. Mr. Patrick Maitlandasked the Minister of Labour when he expects to be able to complete the study of labour training facilities which his Department can offer to assist an incoming firm seeking to establish a factory at Douglas, Lanarkshire.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and National Service (Mr. Richard Wood)I wrote on 15th June to my hon. Friend about the particular proposal set out in his recent letter.
§ Mr. MaitlandIs my hon. Friend aware that the reason why I kept the Question on the Order Paper was in order that I could thank him for that reply—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."]—and through him express thanks for the attention that his Department has given to the problems of this area? Could my hon. Friend bear in mind the point whether it might be possible for the Ministry of Labour trainee scheme to apply to the beginning of a new works in the area in question?
§ Mr. WoodI feel grateful for my hon. Friend's gratitude. As I suggested in my letter, it would be rather difficult to decide this point on a hypothetical example, but if he could give me the facts of the situation I would certainly give it every consideration.
§ Mr. MaitlandI thank my hon. Friend very much.
§ Mr. BevanIs it not rather undesirable that our money should be spent on the hon. Member's gratitude?
§ Mr. BellengerMay I ask you, Mr. Speaker, to take note of what the hon. Member for Lanark (Mr. Patrick Maitland) said about the reason why he kept his Question on the Order Paper? Could you discourage Questions being put on the Order Paper other than for the purpose for which they are intended, namely, to ascertain information from the Minister.
§ Mr. MaitlandMay I submit for your guidance Mr. Speaker—[HON. MEMBIRS: "Oh."]—that if in putting a Question on the Order Paper to elicit information one can insinuate a note of gratitude instead of acrimony, it does no harm? It is particularly desirable in this case, because my hon. Friend was most helpful and I am most grateful.
§ Mr. SpeakerI think the hon. Member brought this trouble on himself when he said that his purpose in putting down the Question was to express his gratitude.
§ Mr. Maitland rose—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. That is not the proper purpose of putting down a Question. If what the hon. Member said was a slip of the tongue and he put the Question down for the purpose of eliciting information, the House, of course, will forgive him the slip of the tongue, but he brought this trouble on himself by what he said.
§ Mr. MaitlandFurther to that point of order, I said that I "kept" the Question on the Order Paper, not "put" it on the Paper.