§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Fred Peart)With your permission, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, I would like to make a statement.
Yesterday, the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition quite rightly pressed me about the supply of Parliamentary Papers and I promised to look into the matter and make a short statement.
As right hon. and hon. Members will know, the supply of Parliamentary Papers is at present almost back to normal. There has been a significant improvement since my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury made a statement yesterday afternoon.
Most, if not all, right hon. and hon. Members will have received their HANSARD in the normal way this morning and the Order Paper has been printed in the usual form. Nevertheless, in view of the uncertainty, I am taking such steps as I can to minimise such inconvenience to the House should there be a recurrence of these difficulties.
It is not for me to comment on the dispute in Her Majesty's Stationery Office which has led to these problems. However, I can say that my colleagues fully appreciate the anxiety of the House and will continue to do all they can to ensure the smooth working of arrangements.
§ Mr. MaudlingWe are grateful to the Leader of the House for having taken an interest in this matter because there was some concern after the Chief Secretary's answers yesterday. We are grateful for the improvement and also to the Vote Office for the tremendous amount of work it has done in the circumstances.
As the situation is still uncertain, however, may we have the right hon. Gentleman's assurance, as Leader of the House, 837 that we shall not be invited to undertake any business for which full documentation is not available?
§ Mr. PeartI have said in my statement that all possible steps are being taken and for my part I will do all I can.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterWhen will the missing HANSARDS be issued? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that we still have not got the HANSARD for 21st October, nor last Friday's, relating to the debate on the Address? Can he tell us what steps are being taken and when these copies of HANSARD will be available?
§ Mr. PeartI am aware that the HANSARDS for 21st and 31st October are missing and I am hopeful that the additional backlog will be met. There are, of course, copies of these HANSARDS in the Library. I cannot tell the right hon. Gentleman precisely when they will be available, but I am pressing the matter.
§ Mr. Selwyn Lloydrose—
§ Mr. J. H. Osbornrose—
§ Mr. SpeakerMr. Selwyn Lloyd. Mr. Osborn. The right hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Wirral (Mr. Selwyn Lloyd) does not have to ask a question.
§ Mr. Selwyn LloydMy right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston-upon-Thames (Mr. Boyd-Carpenter) has asked the same question that I wished to put. Mr. Speaker.But may I ask the Leader of the House whether there is any special prejudice against him and myself, because one of the HANSARDS concerned is for a day on which we both made speeches?
§ Mr. PeartI should not have thought that there would be, knowing the right hon. and learned Gentleman and myself.
§ Mr. J. H. OsbornI welcome the steps taken so far, but is the Leader of the House aware that last night it was difficult to obtain an Order Book? In future, could steps be taken the night before to have Order Books available in the Vote Office, giving the next day's Questions? There was a Question down which I had intended for Oral Answer today, which was taken for Written Answer, and another vice versa, owing to that difficulty.
§ Mr. PeartI appreciate the difficulties and I understand the problems. I hope that they do not occur again.
§ Mr. Michael FootIs my right hon. Friend aware that the Official Opposition are extremely eager that yesterday's HANSARD, containing the demolition of the entire Opposition Front Bench, should be suppressed for ever?