BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE (Hansard, 10 May 1973)

§ Mr. Harold Wilson
May I ask the Leader of the House whether he will state the business for next week?

§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. James Prior)
Yes, Sir. The business for next week will be as follows: MONDAY 14TH MAY—Consideration in committee of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Bill.
749 Motions on the Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Regulations and on the Electoral Law (Northern Ireland) Order.
TUESDAY 15TH MAY—Supply (20th allotted day). Debate until seven o'clock on Rolls-Royce, and afterwards on School Building Costs. Both topics will arise on Opposition motions.
Second Reading of the Bahamas Independence Bill.
Consideration of Lords amendments to the Land Compensation Bill.
WEDNESDAY 16TH MAY AND THURSDAY 17TH MAY—Remaining stages of the Fair Trading Bill.
FRIDAY 18TH MAY—Private Members' Bills.
MONDAY 21ST MAY—Private Members' motions until seven o'clock.
Afterwards, progress on the remaining stages of the Employment and Training Bill.
The House will wish to know, Mr. Speaker, that, subject to progress of business, it is intended to propose that the House should rise for the Whitsun Adjournment on Friday 25th May until Monday 11th June.

§ Mr. Wilson
Would the right hon. Gentleman consider how soon he can provide in Government time a debate on foreign affairs? It is now many months since the House debated that subject. There have been urgent developments during this period, including that on which the Prime Minister has been questioned today, and many others, too. Secondly, may we expect next week a statement on an entirely non-controversial matter, the Government's appreciation of the problem of famine in India and what the Government are doing? Could the House be put as fully in the picture as possible?
Thirdly, would the right hon. Gentleman ask his right hon. Friend—whichever one is appropriate—to make a statement next week about the announcement by the Price Commission that it will not publicise or give any information to the public about its decisions in respect of prices except in major cases? Does he realise that that will cause the most tremendous chaos in the retail trade, and 750 that, while it is bad enough that the House should have to put up with an administrative tribunal not answerable to the House, it is completely intolerable that neither the public nor the House should be given details of its decisions?

§ Mr. Prior
I recognise that it is some while since we had a debate on foreign affairs and I know that the House would wish to debate them. I cannot promise an early debate because of the pressure of business ahead of us, but as soon as we can find a convenient time, we will, of course, consider it.
We recognise that the famine in India is a serious matter. There is also a very serious famine in West Africa, which is possibly of greater consequence even than the famine in India. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has answered a Written Question today about additional resources being made available to the Indian Government, I think for the boring of deep wells. I will see whether my right hon. Friend has any more information that he can give to the House.
The right hon. Gentleman asked about the Price Commission and its attitude to announcements. These matters were in order to be raised in the debate earlier in the week, but I will consult my right hon. Friend to see whether he has anything further to add.

§ Mr. Wilson
It might have been in order in that debate, but this announcement has been made since the debate. In those circumstances, will the right hon. Gentleman go into this further? I think that he has undertaken to do so. The House is entitled to full particulars of the activities of the Price Commission, even if the House has no control over those activities.
I am grateful to him for what he said about the famine in India. He probably feels, after consideration, that a Written Answer is not enough in this situation. It is not only a question of the wells. He will recognise that there are problems not only of Government-to-Government supplies but also of the help which should be given at this time to voluntary organisations in Britain—as the previous Government did, when we called in all the voluntary organisations to discuss help to Biafra.

§ Mr. Prior
I will certainly ask my right hon. Friend to consider whether he should make a statement. We are already giving enormous aid to India. I know that it is greatly in the interests of the House that the fullest information should be given about that aid and about whether we can co-ordinate more closely the efforts of the voluntary organisations. Of course I will have that looked at and will talk to my right hon. Friend. I noted what the right hon. Gentleman said about the Price Commission and I will report it to my right hon. and learned Friend.

§ Mr. Powell
Will my right hon. Friend recognise the urgency of a debate on the motion in the name of my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Mr. Deedes) and others on the subject of the proceedings of the Select Committee on Public Expenditure?

§ Mr. Prior
I have seen the motion, but I could not promise time in the immediate future for a debate.

§ Mr. Raphael Tuck
In view of the fact that the Minister for Trade and Consumer Affairs has made no statement about whether he intends to bring in his own Bill on pyramid selling or to adopt my Bill, and since people are being fleeced daily by this abominable procedure, will the right hon. Gentleman arrange for his right hon. and learned Friend to make a statement to the House early next week as to exactly what the Government propose?

§ Mr. Prior
I will certainly convey that to my right hon. and learned Friend. There will be two days' debate on the Fair Trading Bill next week, which will provide ample opportunity for my right hon. and learned Friend to give the House an indication of what can be done to deal with what the whole House accepts is a practice on which action needs to be taken.

§ Mr. Fell
When my right hon. Friend arranged the Second Reading of the Bahamas Independence Bill, was he aware that it had become a highly controversial measure, in view of the fact that part of the population of the Bahamas wish to remain subjects of Her Majesty the Queen? In view of this, does my right hon. Friend not think that he should give a more prominent place to this business so that hon. Members may avail themselves of an opportunity of giving their views on it?

§ Mr. Prior
I recognise that there is a problem with regard to one island of the Bahamas group and that there are views on this subject, certainly among some of my hon. Friends. I believe that it is the island of Abaco. I think that there will be time to discuss this—admittedly at a rather difficult time of night, but I can at the moment find no other time. We are up against a deadline to get the Bill through.

§ Mr. Michael Stewart
Will it be possible to find time for a short debate on the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration?

§ Mr. Prior
Much as I should like to find time for that subject, it cannot be in the near future. However, if the House wishes to consider taking that as one of the debates on the Select Committee days which are available, we can consider it.

§ Mr. Tebbit
May I draw my right hon. Friend's attention to Motion No. 331 in the names of several hon. Members opposite, referring to the abolition of the death penalty in Her Majesty's Forces? Could we have time for a debate on that matter, so that we can see how far the Government intend to go on the road along which they have set out?

§ Mr. Prior
Subject to your views, Mr. Speaker, issues of this kind will, I think, be in order in today's debate. There are, from time to time, regular opportunities for referring to matters affecting the Forces—the Forces Acts, continuation orders and defence debates.

§ Mr. John Mendelson
With reference to the urgency of a foreign affairs debate, is the right hon. Gentleman aware that on Tuesday the Prime Minister said in reply to a question that, although he was not prepared to publish the agenda for the talks with President Pompidou, because that was not customary, he would discuss, among other things, recent developments in the EEC. Therefore, will the right hon. Gentleman give a firm assurance that in the week after we return there will be a foreign affairs debate in which the Prime Minister will take part, so that his discussions with President Pompidou may be reviewed by the House at the earliest opportunity?

§ Mr. Prior
I regret to tell the hon. Gentleman that I cannot give that assurance. In the first week or two after Whitsun we shall have a great deal of work to get through. We know that we must have a further debate on foreign affairs, but I should not like to give any indication now of when it will be.

§ Rear-Admiral Morgan-Giles
Is my right hon. Friend aware that HANSARD for Tuesday 1st May has still not been published? We in the House are so used to HANSARD coming out regularly, reliably and accurately that this omission is like a missing tooth in a film star's smile. Even more to the point, is my right hon. Friend aware that it is a great inconvenience to my constituents, because it contains a statement by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment about the route of the M3 near Winchester, which is a very important issue for them?

§ Mr. Prior
I note what my hon. and gallant Friend said. I shall look into the matter and see why there has been further delay in publishing that edition of HANSARD. But I am certain that my hon. and gallant Friend has found other ways of telling his constituents his views on the Winchester by-pass.

§ Mrs. Shirley Williams
We were very grateful for the Prime Minister's promise that time would be found to debate the Franks Report, but will the right hon. Gentleman consider whether time can be found to debate the report of the Younger Committee, which reported last July and made an important recommendation that bugging should be banned in this coun- 754 try? In the light of Watergate, such things are not as remote as some might wish to believe. Will the right hon. Gentleman consider a debate on the report, or at least consider taking it with the Franks Report, before the Session ends?

§ Mr. Prior
I am grateful for what the hon. Lady said. I should like to consider the suggestion of a joint debate on Younger and Franks. I can certainly give the hon. Lady the undertaking that we intend to have a debate before the Session ends. It is just a question of when we can fit it in. I give the hon. Lady an absolute undertaking that we shall have that debate before the Summer Recess.

§ Mr. Crouch
Does my right hon. Friend intend that we should debate the Channel Tunnel before we rise for the Whitsun Recess? In view of the great interest generated in the problem, will he consider appointing a Select Committee after the debate to go into the subject in full?

§ Mr. Prior
There can be no debate about it before the Whitsun Recess. But in the next few days and weeks a good many reports are coming out which I hope will be of great value to hon. Members in helping them to make up their minds, and then we shall have to consider holding a debate in the period between Whitsun and the Summer Recess. Over 300 hon. Members are engaged in Select Committees of one sort or another. The chances of having additional Select Committees are very remote.

§ Mr. Arthur Davidson
Will the Leader of the House bear in mind that we have waited a long time, and pressed for a long time, for a debate on the Franks Committee Report, and that the Prime Minister indicated that there would be an early debate, before the Summer Recess? With great respect to the Leader of the House, that does not seem to me to suggest a sense of urgency on his part. Can he give an assurance that he will not necessarily wait for a debate on Younger, but that he agrees that Franks itself merits a full day's debate? Will he have a debate much earlier than the Summer Recess?

§ Mr. Prior
It cannot be all that much earlier than the Summer Recess. There 755 will be only seven, eight or nine weeks at the most—[Interruption.] I said that on purpose—between the Whitsun Recess and the Summer Recess, and there is a great deal of routine work that the House has to go through. I am rather attracted to the idea of a joint debate, but I shall take account of what the hon. Gentleman said. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said that he knew that I hoped to arrange for a debate in the next few weeks, and of course I stick to that.

§ Mr. Kilfedder
Can the right hon. Gentleman say when the main constitutional Bill on Northern Ireland will be published, and whether we shall have an opportunity to debate the Second Reading before the Whitsun Recess? Will he persuade the Minister of Agriculture to suspend the denaturing of wheat and other cereals until we have an opportunity to discuss the tragic famine in various parts of the world?

§ Mr. Prior
I must be careful not to to enter into the merits of what the hon. Gentleman said. The denaturing of wheat has nothing to do with the availability of supplies for famine relief.
I cannot give an exact day for the debate on the constitutional Bill, which has not yet been published, but I realise that the House would like to have a Second Reading before Whitsun if possible.

§ Mr. Dalyell
Has the right hon. Gentleman had any chance to reflect on the problem that was put to him this morning following the change of power in Shetland? Does he realise that the Government on 30th April adopted the strategy of relying on Private Bills to carry out a policy for oil land development on which both sides of the House were agreed? If the Private Bill should be withdrawn—it may be a hypothetical situation, but it is quite likely—what do the Government propose to do about it? Would they then find time to introduce legislation of their own, for what seemed right to us on 30th April cannot exactly be wrong by 10th May?

§ Mr. Prior
The Bill now goes to the Committee on Opposed Private Bills. I am not prepared to speculate on what the promoters of the Bill may do. On Second Reading the Government gave a 756 general welcome to the Bill, but said that certain matters would require adjustment in Committee. In particular, the Government's position on the compulsory purchase power was reserved. I have not had time fully to study the courteous letter the hon. Gentleman sent me. I shall do so, and in view of what he said this afternoon I will certainly contact him later in the week.

§ Mr. Cormack
Is my right hon. Friend yet in a position to say when we shall have the definitive debate on the new parliamentary building?

§ Mr. Prior
I think that the latest report from the Select Committee on Services will be available to the House in the next few days, and that then the House will have all the information available to it to make up its mind on this important matter. It will not be possible, as things stand, to have a debate before Whitsun.

§ Mr. Shore
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that it is not only a debate on the Channel Tunnel for which time will have to be found, but that only last week a very important report was presented, the document on the future European regional policy, and that we understand that the timetable for consideration is for that report to be adopted, in so far as it is adopted, by the Council of Ministers in June? Will the Leader of the House give a categorical assurance that there will be no question of the adoption of such a report without prior and full discussion in the House?

§ Mr. Prior
It is certainly a matter that the House will wish to debate. I am not certain about the time scale that the right hon. Gentleman stated, but I shall look into the matter and, if necessary, say something more definite about it next week. We have heard before that things must be decided by June, only to find that they slip back several months in a very short time. But we shall examine the matter.

§ Mr. Driberg
With respect, would the right hon. Gentleman say why he says that the denaturing of wheat has nothing to do with the relief of human hunger anywhere?

§ Mr. Prior
I must apologise to the House for allowing myself to be drawn 757 on that point in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Down, North (Mr. Kilfedder) but the hon. Gentleman can find these problems well discussed in the Adjournment debate which took place before the Easter Recess. If the hon. Gentleman looks at that report, he will see the full reason why the two things are in no way comparable.

§ Mr. McBride
May I add my representations to those made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Stepney (Mr. Shore) in relation to the EEC booklet? Is the Leader of the House aware that only today I have been informed that arrangements can be made for me to have a roneoed copy? Surely it is maladministration by the Government in not making arrangements for a sufficiency of printed copies in order that we can discuss this important business.

§ Mr. Prior
I could not accept that. Copies of this Commission document are available in the Library. The document does not contain firm proposals from the Commission but is in the nature of a preliminary document for discussion. With the annexes, which have not yet been received, it will run to about 300 pages. This is no small or easy document for distribution. However, I will consider further whether other means need to be used to make it available to the House. But it is not, I must stress, a firm proposal from the Commission at this stage.