§ Mr. Biggs-DavisonOn a point of order with regard to the conduct of Parliamentary Questions Mr. Speaker. I do not ask you, Sir, to give any reply now to the point I wish to raise, but perhaps you would wish to reflect upon it.
You will know that I am one of those hon. Members who normally follow the correct procedure of the House in rising fully to my feet when my Question is called in order to put my Question, whereas this is not always the case with all hon. Members in this House. Therefore, Sir, I ask you to consider whether it is in order for a Minister to proceed to reply to the Question of an hon. Member who does not rise in his place to call that particular Question.
I briefly referred to this point a little earlier. I had not risen to my feet, but the Minister apparently gave an answer to a Question which I did not put. As I told you then, Sir, I referred to hon. Friends sitting beside me and neither they nor I myself heard my name called. This is no reflection on you, Mr. Speaker. It may have been due to some technical defect in the amplifiers. The point I wish to clarify for other hon. Members as well as for myself is whether a Minister should proceed to answer a Question before an hon. Member has risen in his place to call the number of his Question.
§ Mr. SpeakerIt may well be that I have been at fault in this case. [HON. MEMBERS: "No."] The whole object of the Chair during Question Time is to try to get through as many Questions as possible. I do not always intervene to insist that hon. Members should stand up, although I occasionally do so, nor do I always rebuke a Minister who jumps the gun, as happened today. Therefore, I hope, while wishing to get through as many Questions as possible, that both Ministers and hon. Members will take note of what has happened today to see that it does not occur again.
§ Mr. PavittOn a point of order. May I, Mr. Speaker, refer to the rights of hon. Members in regard to housing Questions since there has been a change in the rules in regard to what is admissible. Questions on housing in relation to hon. Members' constituencies, which at one time were in order for hon. Members to ask, are now regarded as out of order. I realise that there are difficulties in regard to the boundaries which exist between Ministerial replies and local government responsibility. Nevertheless, many of us are finding it difficult to put down probing Questions on housing matters which have a great importance in constituencies. Since in the last analysis the Minister has some responsibility; would you look into this matter, Mr. Speaker, and give the House some help so that we might revert to the previous procedure which allowed hon. Members to put more Questions on housing matters than is the case at present. I appreciate that the difficulty possibly arises because the matter is under a large Department rather than under the former Ministry?
§ Mr. SpeakerI very much doubt whether that is a question for the Chair. I will certainly examine what the hon. Member has said.