Mr. Man Williams:On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. On 24th May the Secretary of State answered a Question on manufacturing redundancies in Wales. On 18th October, quite reasonably, he refused to accept a Question on redundancies generally in Wales. On the advice of his private office, I did not raise the matter with you, Mr. Speaker, because it assured me that the distinction was that one Question was on manufacturing redundancies and the other on general redundancies.
Consequently, having lost a Question on that day, I then tabled a Question for today on manufacturing redundancies, the subject of the original Question which the right hon. and learned Gentleman answered. On Friday I received a letter from the Welsh Office saying that now the Secretary of State did not deem that this, though previously answered by him, was a subject with which he should deal.
Since the Secretary of State has already run away from Welsh Members on the question of local government reform in Wales, can you tell us, Mr. Speaker, what protection back benchers can have from his running away on virtually every other subject although he may previously have answered them?
§ Mr. Speaker:I do not think that the matter of answering Questions is one for the Chair, but I will consider what the 644 hon. Gentleman has said and whether there is anything that I can do about it.