§ 35. Mr. John Leeasked the Lord President of the Council if he will arrange for the format of all Parliamentary papers to be reviewed by an organisation and methods team, with a view to their being simplified and provided with an adequate index.
§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Herbert Bowden)The Select Committee on House of Commons (Services), in its Second Report which was published last Thursday, has made some recommendations to simplify and clarify the Order Paper. There is insufficient time to provide an index for the Order Paper each day, and even a weekly index would be costly in time and staff.
§ Mr. LeeI thank my right hon. Friend for some part of that Answer, but will he consider the matter with considerable urgency? Surely it is possible for the Order Paper to be rendered in a simpler form—like the agenda for the meeting of a local authority or a board of directors?
§ Mr. BowdenIf my hon. Friend will read the Report of the Select Committee which was published on Thursday of last week he will see that we are moving 1453 considerably in this direction. On the question of an index, this needs a great deal of time, and is very costly.