§ Mr. Harry Ewing (Falkirk, East)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I should like to draw your attention to the decision by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland responsible for health to answer questions Nos. 5, 8 and 12 together and the intimation from the Solicitor-General for Scotland that he would answer questions Nos. 37 and 41 together. Over the years it has been the practice of Ministers to give notice to hon. Members when their questions were linked with others. There is a suspicion that the Scottish Office, today of all days, sought to avoid answering questions on the Health Service. It appears that, for that reason, no notice was given to those whose questions were linked. I ask you, Mr. Speaker, to give a direction to Ministers that, when they propose to link questions, they must advise hon. Members.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. That is not a matter for me. It is up to the Departments to tell hon. Members when questions are linked. I believe that it is a courtesy that they should do so—and I believe that it is normally done.