HC Deb 03 February 1972 vol 830 cc675-6
Mr. Pavitt

I wish to raise a point of order concerning the transfer from the Prime Minister to the Secretary of State for Employment of my Question No. 27. I understand that it is not a matter for the Chair that the Prime Minister decides to transfer 90 per cent. of his Questions, but my concern on this matter is at the form that the Question takes.

The Question that I asked concerned the possible unemployment of 500 of my constituents because of the closure of a factory and a letter sent by the shop convenor to the Prime Minister. In the form in which the Question now appears on the Paper, I am guilty of a terminological inexactitude, because it says that a letter was sent by my constituent to the Secretary of State for Employment, when in fact it was sent to the Prime Minister.

Will you give a direction, Mr. Speaker, that, when Questions are transferred, the sense of the Question is retained, so that one is not guilty therefore of making a statement which is obviously untrue?

Mr. Speaker

As the hon. Gentleman pointed out, this is not really a matter for the Chair, but I will certainly consider what he has said.