EDUCATION (JAMES COMMISSION'S REPORT) (Hansard, 26 January 1972)

§ Mr. Spearing
On a point of order. Yesterday I raised a matter of importance to back benchers concerning the availability of documents. The Report of the James Committee was not available in the Vote Office yesterday, although today there have been articles on it in the leading morning newspapers. Hon. Members have been unable to get a copy of this document. Had they gone to Her Majesty's Stationery Office in Holborn, they would have discovered that copies of the report had been sold out 20 minutes after the office opened yesterday. Copies have now arrived in the Vote Office 24 hours late, but some of my hon. Friends have been embarrassed by the Press having asked them for comments upon the James Report and being unable 1397 to make comments because copies of the report have not been available.
This is the second occasion on which this Department has been involved in controversy about the publication of a major report. I ask for your guidance, Mr. Speaker, on how this can be avoided in future.

§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. William Whitelaw)
Further to that point of order. When the hon. Gentleman properly raised this matter yesterday I said that I would look into it. As a result, copies of the report are in the Vote Office today. I will look into the point about the future, which I appreciate.

§ Mr. Michael Foot
Further to that point of order. The right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the House has replied to my hon. Friend who raised a matter about which the House is bound to be concerned. This appears to be a most flagrant example of the failure of the Department to deal with the matter properly. Will the right hon. Gentleman give a guarantee that the Minister responsible for the Department will make a statement to the House on the subject, so that we may be able to cross-examine to see how this occurred, and make sure that nothing of the sort shall ever occur in that Department again and that other Departments will learn from the example?

§ Mr. Whitelaw
Further to that point of order. I regard myself, as Leader of the House, as responsible to the House for matters of this kind. If anyone wishes to complain about how things have been done, they should complain to me. I am quite prepared to receive such a complaint.

§ Mr. Foot
rose—

Hon. Members
Sit down.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. We seem to be getting a long way from a point of order. Mr. Foot.

§ Mr. Foot
On a point of order. I am asking you, Mr. Speaker, whether I may put a further question to the right hon. Gentleman. You agreed that the right hon. Gentleman should reply to a question put by my hon. Friend. Had there been anything out of order on 1398 that point I am sure you would have intervened then. You agreed that he should make a reply—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I do not understand the hon. Member's preamble. I have called him.

§ Mr. Foot
I am trying to determine whether you called me on a point of order or to put a further question to the right hon. Gentleman. If you are calling me to put a further question to the right hon. Gentleman, as I wish to do, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman to give a firm undertaking to the House, not merely that he will inquire into this matter, because that is not sufficient, but that either he or the Minister directly responsible will make a further statement to the House so that the House itself shall be able to determine that we shall not have a recurrence of this event?

§ Mr. Speaker
I allowed the hon. Member to raise a point of order on the distribution of a particular document. Perhaps I was wrong, because it has led to this discussion. The proper time for this sort of discussion is at Business Question Time. It is not a point of order for me now.

§ Mr. Foot
rose—

Hon. Members
Sit down.

§ Mr. Foot
On a point of order. If there is any bogus point of order, I am sure Mr. Speaker will raise the matter. It is apparent that Mr. Speaker does not say so. You permitted my hon. Friend to rise a matter which affected many hon. Members, that is to say, that documents which should have been available to the House were distributed to the Press in a way contrary to the arrangements that are understood to be proper in the House. It was perfectly proper that you should allow my hon. Friend to raise the matter and, if I may say so without disagreement from the Government side of the House, perfectly proper that the right hon. Gentleman should make a reply.
All I am saying is that, that procedure having been permitted according to the precedents of the House, I should now be able to ask the right hon. Gentleman to give an undertaking that the matter shall not be left merely on a statement that lie will inquire into it, but that he will give an undertaking to the House 1399 that he or another Minister will make a statement on the matter.
I submit that that is a perfectly proper suggestion to be made, and I should have thought that the right hon. Gentleman would have been eager to say right away that he would give that undertaking.

§ Mr. Whitelaw
I did not want to delay the business of the House, which is of importance. I thought I was taking the proper action, immediately the matter had been raised yesterday, in making sure that the documents were provided for the House today. That is my job. I have also said that I will look into the whole circumstances, and I will. If any right hon. or hon. Gentleman wishes to question me during questions on business tomorrow on the result of the investigation and what will happen in the future, I shall be pleased to answer. If that is not satisfactory, hon. Members may question me at other times.
I have nothing I wish to hide. I only want to do what is right for the House. I think it is perfectly proper that I should answer questions at Business Question Time tomorrow rather than setting aside a special time for a statement. I do not want to make a business of this. I will do whatever is the wish of the House.

§ Mr. Foot
Further to that point of order. The opportunity that the House has to put questions on business tomorrow relates to the Business for next week and the weeks that follow. As has happened on previous occasions, a backbench Member who raised general questions about the publication of documents could be ruled out of order during discussion on the business for next week. It is not satisfactory either for you to rule or for the right hon. Gentleman to say 1400 that we will deal with the matter on Thursday as a matter of routine. If the right hon. Gentleman wishes to satisfy the House, all he has to do is to say that the Minister will come to the House and explain why this state of affairs has arisen and how it is proposed to ensure that it shall not happen again.

§ Mr. Arthur Lewis
rose—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. This is an Opposition half Supply day but I will allow the questions to continue.

§ Mr. Lewis
Further to that point of order. As the Leader of the House has been kind enough to see that the documents are now available, will he also carry out the promise he has made on the Treaty of Accession which has been published in the Press and which lion. Members have been unable to obtain?

§ Mr. Speaker
We must now move on.