HC Deb 14 June 1978 vol 951 cc998-1000
Mr. Hal Miller

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I should like to seek your guidance regarding the tabling of Questions. I had occasion to write to you yesterday about a number of Questions—which I do not wish to pursue publicly. However, I should be grateful for your guidance because, as I understand it, the present practice is that the Table Office accepts Questions over one Member's name signed by another Member, or in some cases not even signed. I should be grateful for your guidance, Mr. Speaker, as the Third Report of the Select Committee on Procedure, dated 11th November 1976, recommended that Questions should be accepted only when signed by the Member concerned.

Mr. Speaker

The House has not reached a decision to which the hon. Gentleman has just referred. But it is obligatory on every hon. Member who tables a Question in the name of another hon. Member to make sure not that he believes that that hon. Member would support the Question but that he actually approves of it and wants the hon. Member to act on his behalf.

The Table Office cannot be expected to do more than to take the word of the hon. Member who tables the Question in a colleague's name. The practice has worked well. I hope that it will continue.

Mr. Arthur Lewis

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. Will you take the opportunity of expressing to the staff of the Table Office what is the view of, I am sure, the whole House about the excellent manner in which the Table Office goes out of its way to try to assist Members in any way that it possibly can, both by advice and by trying to stretch the rules in favour of any hon. Member? I hope that that will continue. Those of us who have been Members of the House for some time know that the Table Office goes out of its way to be helpful to hon. Members.

Mr. Speaker

The hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Lewis) is one of the longest serving Members of the House, and I am deeply grateful for what he has said about those who serve us in the Table Office.

Mr. Rooker

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Today we seem to have reached an all-time low in taking only 13 Questions to the Executive—one Member was absent—and I cannot for the life of me see who is responsible for that. Will you let me know to whom I can complain about this state of affairs?

Mr. Speaker

First of all, I suggest that the hon. Member lobbies all those who were in the Chamber at Question Time. If he had listened to the length of questions and answers, he would know the answer to his own question.

Secondly, 17 Questions were answered today, not 13, as there were Questions bracketed together. Even as it was, at the end of each Question there were still Members on their feet and disappointed that they were not called to ask supplementary questions.