§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Civil Service Department (Mr. Kenneth Baker)With your permission, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, I wish to repeat a statement made in another place by my right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Privy Seal about the supply of Government papers to Parliament and to members of the public.
Owing to unofficial industrial action yesterday at the Parliamentary Printing Works by day and night staff who are responsible for the composing and printing operations, parliamentary and other papers are not available in their usual form. HANSARD was not printed, but limited copies of the transcript are available. Copies of the Order Paper and other documents necessary for today's business have also been made available in one form or another.
I am advised that normal working was resumed this morning.
§ Mr. SheldonThe hon. Gentleman will be aware of the inconvenience that this causes the House, particularly the disruption of the printing of HANSARD. Most of the other documents are available in one form or another, but HANSARD is particularly difficult to reproduce. We note that work has now been resumed, and we welcome this.
§ Mr. BakerI am grateful for those comments. I should add that the St. Stephen's Parliamentary Press has a high 357 tradition of serving this House and is very proud of the fact that it has on so few occasions let the House down.
§ Mr. Frank AllaunMay I ask the hon. Gentleman the cause of this strike? Am I right in thinking—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I must ask the assistance of the House. I gather that I am unpopular for cutting short questions on the previous statement. I have done so only because of the important debate on the industrial situation which is to follow.
§ Mr. AllaunCertainly, Mr. Speaker, but I do not think the fault was mine.
§ Mr. SpeakerI agree.
§ Mr. AllaunI want to ask the hon. Gentleman the cause of the strike. Am I right in thinking that it is not because of wages and conditions but because of solidarity with other trade unions against the Industrial Relations Act?
§ Mr. BakerNo. The hon. Gentleman is only partially informed of the cause. The position is that the local chapel of the National Graphical Association decided last week to come out in sympathy, and did not, apparently, receive notification that the printing strike had been called off. I remind the hon. Gentleman that the Government have no control over the local chapel in St. Stephen's Parliamentary Press.
§ Mr. Michael HamiltonThis is a a regular occurrence. I wonder why we do not do our own printing on the premises.
§ Mr. BakerI will consider my hon. Friend's suggestion, but I refute that it is regular occurrence. The staff at St. Stephen's Parliamentary Press gives a service which is unmatched in any legislative assembly in the world.