HC Deb 30 June 1975 vol 894 cc1019-20
Mr. Crouch

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In recent days the question has been raised with you of the way in which Question Time is used and abused. My point today is that I think that the House of Commons has been put into second place this afternoon by the Minister for Overseas Development not being here—

Mr. Speaker

Order. Whether Ministers attend or not is a matter for them, not for the Chair. I have no powers in that regard at all.

Mr. Crouch

Further to that point of order—

Mr. Speaker

Order. I have ruled that it is not a point of order. The attendance of Ministers is not a matter for the Chair.

Mr. Crouch

On a fresh point of order, regarding the rights of back benchers. At Question Time it is the right of a back bencher to question the principal Minister responsible for a Department. I am only saying to you, Sir, as the guardian of our rights, that I feel that we have such rights to protect. If Ministers go abroad instead of attending here on the one day when they can come here, once every six or eight weeks, that is an abuse of the House, and puts back benchers in an impossible position in seeking to ask questions of that Department. That is my only point.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Overseas Development (Mr. John Grant)

Further to that point of order. I have explained to the House and given the Minister's apology. I hope that the hon. Member for Canterbury (Mr. Crouch) will accept that it is a very important meeting that my right hon. Friend is attending in Paris—

Mr. Crouch

So is this.

Mr. Grant

—which is very much in the interests of the developing world, which I know that the hon. Gentleman has very much at heart. If he puts this into perspective, especially in the light of the Question that he himself has down about Bangladesh, and takes into account what I have said, I think that he will agree that it is very much in the interests of Bangladesh that my right hon. Friend should be where he is now rather than at this Dispatch Box. I hope that he will also accept that there have been competent answers in his absence.

Several Hon. Members rose

—

Mr. Speaker

Order. I am not prepared to allow this discussion to go any further. This is not a matter for the Chair. There is nothing in the Standing Orders about the attendance of Ministers.

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