§ Mr. J. W. Rooker (Birmingham, Perry Barr)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. On Monday 30 November I tabled a written priority question to the Secretary of State for Social Services for answer on Thursday 3 December on the subject of a reduction in the waking hours of elderly people in residential care homes as a means of cutting public expenditure. I had seen press reports that the Liberal-controlled council on the Isle of Wight was considering such an option.
My question was written in block capital letters. When if first appeared in the blue sheets in the Votes and Proceedings on Tuesday the reference was not to "waking hours", but to "waiting hours". The Table Office told me that it had spotted the mistake and would put it right and telephone the Department. On Thursday 3 December the question appeared correctly on the Order Paper with the reference to waking hours.
I was in my constituency on Thursday evening and Friday and, therefore, it was only today that I saw the answer in Hansard, and the private copy sent to me via the Board, as usual, and sent to the Press Gallery late on Thursday.
The typewritten answer refers to "working hours" in the question and departmental title, and the Minister's reply implies that he was referring to working hours. In Hansard, at column 219, the question and title refer to "waking hours", but the answer is the same as that given to me via the Board.
It seems clear to me that both the Order Paper printers and the Minister's private office could not comprehend that a local authority might seek to reduce the waking hours of the elderly as a means of cutting public expenditure.
The Hansard question is correct, and the Minister obviously cannot give the same answer to two different questions. May I therefore ask the Government to make an early statement about the reduction in the waking hours of the elderly, which is being considered by the Liberals on the Isle of Wight?
§ Mr. SpeakerI want to be as helpful as I can to the hon. Gentleman. There has clearly been a misunderstanding somewhere about the nature of the question that he put down. If he will table another question to clarify the whole issue I think that the Table Office will be co-operative.
§ Mr. David Stoddart (Swindon)Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. Bearing in mind all the difficulties and what has happened on the Isle of Wight, if we cannot have a ministerial statement, could we not have a statement from the Liberal Party about treating old-age pensioners as—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman knows that that is not a point of order.