§ Sir Harmar NichollsOn a point of Order, Mr. Speaker. Quite a number of the Answers to Questions today by the Secretary of State for Education and Science, particularly his Answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Handsworth (Sir E. Boyle), depended on the Answer to further Questions which, he said, he would reach today, to do with school buildings and the staffing of them in order to fit in with the raising of the school-leaving age.
Not through the right hon. Gentleman's fault no doubt, we have not reached those Questions, which makes the other answers incomplete. Has the Secretary of State asked for permission to answer those later Questions and, if he had, would such permission have been given?
§ Mr. SpeakerIf the Minister had asked to be allowed to make answers to the later Questions on the Order Paper, he would have been making them now. He has not so asked.
§ Mr. Sydney SilvermanOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will remember that a few days ago I raised a point of order with you about a Question I 663 have sought to put on the Order Paper which had been disallowed, and you were good enough to give me reasons for its disallowance.
I said the that the only way in which the House could express an opinion about a Ruling of that kind would be on a formal Motion, and I expressed my intention to put such a formal Motion down. This I did. It is, I think, unusual for such a Motion to be left undealt with and undisposed of indefinitely.
We are now approaching the Recess, and, in the meantime, as appears from the newspapers this morning, events are happening in other parts of the world where there are British subjects who are being subjected to the death sentence by illegal Governments.
While your Ruling remains unchallenged, Mr. Speaker, Members of Parliament will be unable to ask Questions about these matters. May I, therefore, be allowed to ask the Leader of the House whether he has given any consideration to this point and whether he thinks that he will be able to find time, or will be able to ask the House to deal with—[HON. MEMBERS: "That is a business question."] I am asking about business. I know that there is no formal business statement before us today, which is why I am asking my question in this way.
What I am asking, Mr. Speaker, is whether I have your leave to ask the Leader of the House, on business, whether there is any possibility of finding time to deal with this question, in view of its importance and urgency, before we actually go into recess.
§ Mr. Speakerrose—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. It is the custom when Mr Speaker is on his feet for hon. Members to remain seated.
There is a Motion on the Order Paper criticising Mr. Speaker, but there are several Motions on the Order Paper and Mr. Speaker himself has no power to arrange for their debate or discussion. That is a matter for the Leader of the House.