HC Deb 10 December 1975 vol 902 cc457-9
Mr. Maurice Macmillan

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Could you help the House in the matter of the Select Committee on a Wealth Tax, notably on the publication of Volume I of the Report of the proceedings of the Committee? This was due to be published at 11.30 this morning and the Chairman of the Committee, whom I have sought to inform about this point, was holding a Press conference at that time. Copies of Volume IV, which contains the most important appendices, and Volume I were due in the Vote Office at 11 o'clock. Volume IV arrived at about 11.45 a.m. and Volume I somewhat later. As a result, the Press conference started with no copies being available to the Committee members or their Chairman or to the Press, since in this case copies were not made available to the Press in advance.

Only 50 copies of Volume I arrived at the House at about 11.50 a.m. As a result, very few copies were available for hon. Members, and members of the Select Committee were reduced to borrowing conies from the Press and others in order to be able to discuss their own Report, since they could not see it until it was published at 11.30 a.m. These copies of Volume I ran out very quickly and there was none available after that until 2.35 p.m., when 75 copies arrived in the Vote Office.

I do not know whether there is any way in which you can help the House, Mr. Speaker, or whether there is anything that can be done, since this is a matter wholly within the competence, if that is the right word, of the Leader of the House.

The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Edward Short)

I apologise for not being in my place when the right hon. Gentleman raised his point of order. He let my office know a little while ago and in the last few minutes I have been making some inquiries into this matter.

I understand that when the Committee decided last Wednesday that the Report should he published at 11.30 a.m. today it was advised that this was not a realistic timetable, but it insisted on it. The Report is a complex and very lengthy printing job. It comprises 700 pages in two volumes, and the Committee was still heavily engaged in amending it.

I have inquired into the number of copies available and my information is in line with that of the right hon. Member. One hundred copies were delivered to the Committee Clerk at 11.40 a.m., 50 copies to the Vote Office at 12.20 p.m. and 75 copies to the Vote Office at 2.30 p.m I am sorry they were not available earlier. I am looking into the matter to see what I can do to help. It is a very big job and I think the printers have not done a bad job in the circumstances.

Mr. Macmillan

I understand the right hon. Gentleman to say that the Committee decided last Wednesday to have the Press conference and publication today. The Committee did not decide as recently as that on publication because it did not exist at that time. The publication date was settled in accordance with the printing requirements, and the Chairman of the defunct Select Committee decided to have a Press conference at the time of publication on the assurance that copies would be available at that time. We should have been warned if there was any difficulty in meeting that timetable so that we could postpone publication.

Mr. Speaker

The right hon. Gentleman has made his point of order. I was informed about this rather early today. Everything is being done to get as many copies as possible here as quickly as possible.

Mr. Peyton

I am sure that the Leader of the House will be as good as his word and do what he can to see that supplies of the Report are available as soon as possible, but what matters is that these things should not recur. There are constantly mishaps of this kind, and I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will put in motion some arrangements to stop them recurring.

Mr. Skinner

Whenever there is a slight delay—usually only hours—in relation to printing, Opposition Members quickly jump to their feet to complain. I would like to say on behalf of many hon. Members on this side that we appreciate the difficulties—[Interruption]—I do not adopt double standards, even if some other do—and we realise that almost every day Hansard is printed up to 10 o'clock for the following morning. As far as we are concerned, we think that in the circumstances the printers are not doing a had job at all.

Mr. Peyton

rose—

Mr. Speaker

Order. This is really irregular. The hon. Member for Farnham (Mr. Macmillan) agreed that this was not a matter for the Chair when he raised the point. It is a custom of the House to allow such a mater to be raised and for the Leader of the House to answer it. I think everybody now knows that everything possible is being done to get copies here.