Government Information (Hansard, 5 April 1982)

§ 26. Mr. Charles R. Morris
asked the Lord President of the Council if he will list his responsibilities for the coordination of Government information.

§ 27. Mr. Murphy
asked the Lord President of the Council if he will list his responsibilities for the coordination of Government information.

§ 28. Mr. Teddy Taylor
asked the Lord President of the Council if he plans any new initiatives in co-ordinating information supplied by Her Majesty's Government.

§ Mr. Pym
My role is to give advice and assistance to individual Ministers, who are responsible for their own departmental information, and I keep these matters under continual review.

§ Mr. Morris
Is the Leader of the House aware that my constituents, who take a close interest in politics, have difficulty in analysing the coded messages that they are told are coming through in speeches by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food regarding Government policy and the Government's stance generally? Will the right hon. Gentleman help by providing a glossary of terms to enable people to understand the messages that the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food conveys?

§ Mr. Pym
The Government as a whole and individual Ministers make their position, views, policies and programmes very clear. I do not think that the policies and programmes of any previous Government have received so much public discussion and debate as those of the present Administration. Ministers are capable of making clear what they mean, and none more so than my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

§ Mr. Murphy
Does my right hon. Friend advise the British majority group in the European Parliament of relevant Government information?

§ Mr. Pym
No. I do not think that it is part of the Government's information machine. There are a number of contacts between my right hon. Friends as Ministers and the European Parliament, but there is no direct link. It is not part of the Government's information machine.

§ Mr. Taylor
Does my right hon. Friend agree that one of the most vital areas of dissemination of information is the Government's policy on the Falkland Islands issue? Will he and his colleagues consider the possibility and the advisability of Her Majesty the Queen making a broadcast to the people of the Falkland Islands?

§ Mr. Pym
I doubt whether that would be appropriate. My right hon. and noble Friend Lord Carrington has broadcast to the people of the Falkland Islands in the course of the last 24 hours. I believe that is adequate. As to the general position, it is difficult for anyone to read anything in the press except comment and discussion of the Falkland Islands issue.

§ Mr. Dalyell
Did the Lord President advise the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary that, as soon as the first shot was fired, they would be taking on right, left and centre the entire Spanish-speaking world, including many of those who have suffered at the hands of Right-wing Governments and who still believe that the Malvinas, or Falkland Islands, belong to a South American State 400 miles away, not a European State 8,000 miles away?

§ Mr. Marlow
In view of the Government's unanswerable case for committing our forces to the South Atlantic to recover our land, will my right hon. Friend suggest to the Prime Minister that a broadcast to the nation setting out the Government's position and the national imperative should be made soon?

§ Mr. Pym
I shall convey that view to my right hon. Friend.

§ Mr. John Silkin
In view of the information that we have had today, and in the light of the right hon. Gentleman's responsibility for the co-ordination of Government information, will he arrange for a statement on the resignation of the Foreign Secretary to be made—perhaps by the Lord President of the Council or even by the next Foreign Secretary?

§ Mr. Pym
That would not be in accordance with custom or precedent, but no doubt the matter will he referred to at various moments on other occasions

§ Mr. Tam Dalyell (West Lothian)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I wish to raise a point of order of which I gave you notice and which I believe affects——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. If it is about the matter of which the hon. Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell) gave me notice, it is not a point of order. He made a mistake by announcing that he had told me what it concerned. I think the hon. Gentleman wishes to pursue an argument, and that is not a point of order. It cannot be a point of order which requires my ruling.

§ Mr. Dalyell
On another point of order, Mr. Speaker. Those of us who pursue the courtesies of the House, as most of us do, when Ministers refuse to give way and do not press them——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman has been here long enough to know that that is not a point of order for me.