HC Deb 19 May 1975 vol 892 cc1004-7
37. Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Lord President of the Council what proposals he has to improve working conditions for Members.

Mr. Edward Short

As my hon. Friend will be aware, a Select Committee, under the chairmanship of the hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. van Straubenzee) is at present considering the general question of support facilities for back benchers. The first report of that Committee was published today, and I shall, with colleagues, be giving urgent consideration to its recommendations.

As regards accommodation, the conversion of the Norman Shaw (North) building has recently provided additional accommodation for some 130 Members. The Services Committee will continue to seek further means of improving our working conditions in the House.

Mrs. Renée Short

Is my right hon. Friend aware that there is great concern at the way in which this House is run, the way in which business is organised and the tremendous amount of legislation pouring out from Ministers, necessitating for a large number of full-time Members in this House I exclude those on the benches opposite who are not full-time — an 80- to 90-hour week? That does not include weekend work. This is having a tremendous toll on Members' life and health. Does not my right hon. Friend think that it is high time we had a complete reorganisation of the way in which the House is run and the way business is handled? Will he see that the overhaul takes place immediately?

Mr. Edward Short

The large volume of legislation this Session flows from the manifesto on which my hon. Friend and I fought the last election.

Mrs. Renée Short

Yes, a five-year programme—not a one-year programme.

Mr. Edward Short

I hope my hon. Friend will see to it that it is a rive-year programme. Certainly I agree that the time has come when the House must take a radical look at the way in which we do our business. I hope to make a proposal to the House later this Session.

Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg

Does not the right hon. Gentleman think that hon. Members who find their work here too much for them could easily apply for the Chiltern Hundreds?

Mr. Edward Short

No, Sir. I believe genuinely that there is a feeling that the time has come when we must look at the way we carry out our business. We now have the great complication of European legislation, and any modern Government, of either party, intervene to a great extent, and increasingly—[HON. MEMBERS: "Too much."] Perhaps too much, but those are the facts of life, and I think that Parliament itself has not kept up with this trend. I feel, therefore, that the time has come when we must look at this is a radical way.

Mr. Greville Janner

When my right hon. Friend is considering working conditions in this building, will he be good enough to consider the conditions for the staff and the hours they work? In particular, will he consider the conditions in which the police work, and to that end pay a visit to the small and inadequate mess room at St. Stephen's and inquire why the police still have no ventilation in the one room which is available to them?

Mr. Edward Short

Yes, Sir, I have been doing some of this investigation lately. For example, the doorkeepers may not know it, but I visited their dormitory recently to see the conditions in which they have to exist in this place. It is one of the consequences of the way in which we do our business that we impose great burdens on the staff, and I often think that we are not sufficiently grateful to the staff of the House for the way in which they serve us.

Mr. Cormack

Will the right hon. Gentleman take it that, apart from the noise going on at the moment, the Norman Shaw building offers excellent facilities for Members, and will he now consider the possibility of converting the other Norman Shaw building and scrapping once and for all the grandiose and ridiculous new parliamentary building project which was approved during the last Parliament?

Mr. Edward Short

I think that it will be possible to make a statement to the House on that and related matters in the very near future.

Mr. Mike Thomas

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that the workings of the Boyle Committee also have a bearing on the working conditions of many Members, and may we have some assurance about the way it is proceeding and when it is likely to report? Second, will my right hon. Friend write to the editor of The Times to tell him that the report which he published on 28th April saying that Members of Parliament were against raising their salaries is wholly erroneous?

Mr. Edward Short

I do not write to the editor of The Times. On the other matter, I hope that the Boyle Committee will be able to submit a report to the Prime Minister in the month of June.

Mr. Speaker

If I were allowed a comment on this matter, I think that I should say that far too often I find a lot of hon. Members in rude health.

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