§ Mr. Alan Williams (Swansea, West)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, I wish to draw your attention to a copy of Hansard which I made available to you. I wish for some guidance on a point of editing in the Official Report. I am sure that it was inadvertent, but it is important. On 9 December, in column 439 there is a written answer to me above which there is a heading "Job Creation". Beneath that are four Hansard columns listing constituencies, opposite each constituency there is a number, and heading each column is the word "Jobs". I can understand how those compiling the Official Report, on receiving that list, may have been misled into thinking that those figures represented jobs that had been created.
As we all know, hardly any jobs have been created anywhere anyhow and nearly all the jobs listed in Hansard are not created jobs, as the heading would suggest, but avoided redundancies. For example, in the case of Sparkbrook, nearly 3,000 jobs are listed, nearly all of which were intended redundancies that were then avoided.
I ask for your ruling on two matters, Mr. Speaker, because of your relationship with Hansard. First, will you ensure that the title is remedied? I know that it cannot be done in the daily copy, but it could be in the weekly edition or the Bound Volume. Such a title is clearly misleading. Secondly, will you use your good offices to ensure that the Minister provides the requested information—which he has refused to give—of a breakdown of the figures into jobs preserved and jobs created?
§ Mr. SpeakerI cannot deal with the second part of the hon. Member's question, but I shall certainly look into the somewhat misleading heading at the top of column 439.