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§ Mr. Gary Waller (Keighley)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I seek further guidance relating to open questions to Ministers. On 14 February you were helpful enough to say:
In the light of experience with a growing number of open questions this Session, I am now convinced that it would not be desirable to encourage them still further. I have therefore decided that once those open questions that at present stand in the Order Book have been answered, I shall revert to the earlier practice of the Chair and will not call supplementaries to any further question to a departmental Minister about that Minister's meetings which does not state its purpose reasonably precisely."—[Official Report, 14 February 1984; Vol. 54, c. 130.]706 Question 13 to the Secretary of State for Transport today refers to a meeting with the chairman of British Rail, but it gives no indication to what the question might refer in terms of subject matter. It is difficult for hon. Members who wish to come in on a supplementary, but assume that a question will be disallowed, to know what to do. Will you, Mr. Speaker, give some guidance on that?
§ Mr. SpeakerI accept what the hon. Gentleman says. It is a marginal case. The question referred to something that had happened rather than to something that might happen. I meant by an open question, one asking what discussions would take place at a future meeting with, say, the chairman of British Rail. Question No. 13 asked what took place at the Minister's last meeting, and that raised specific matters.