§ Mr. Andrew Faulds (Warley, East)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I am sorry that I have not had the opportunity to give you notice of this point of order, but the matter has only just come to my attention. I normally enter these premises by New Palace Yard so that I can dutifully get to my office as quickly as possible and deal with my constituents' interests—[Laughter]—something that the House obviously endorses. But today, because of personal reasons that I will not go into—
§ Mr. Nicholas Soames (Crawley)What is her name?
§ Mr. Faulds—I had cause to enter by St. Stephen's entrance, and I was extremely perturbed to find on the closed door to St. Stephen's entrance a notice in the following words:
Visitors by appointment only. Closed to the general public.If a constituent of mine wishes to approach me, I would like him, or preferably her, to have direct access to whatever advice he or she seeks. The words, "Visitors by appointment only", are somewhat off-putting, and since some of my constituents — [Interruption.] This does affect all hon. Members, and perhaps others would be advised to listen. Some of my constituents are somewhat timorous creatures, and they might be put off by that rather admonitory wording.I should like to raise with you, Mr. Speaker, a serious point. I have always understood that constituents could enter the House totally unhindered if they had a point to raise with Members. If the new understanding is that appointments must be made with Members before they can discuss their problems, I do not find that acceptable. I should like you, Sir, to look into this matter, both as to the unacceptablity of this notice and to try to establish who was foolish enough to advise such wording on that notice.
§ Mr. SpeakerI will certainly look into the wording of the notice. The hon. Gentleman did not say at what time he entered the building—
§ Mr. FauldsTwo thirty-five, Sir.
§ Mr. SpeakerI will look into the wording of the notice, but I understand that it has been up for many years.