Select Committee Report (Hansard, 26 July 1988)

§ Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I wonder whether you would investigate a serious breach of the procedures of the House. I am talking about the pressure that has been put on the Chairman of a Select Committee by the Government to change a report arbitrarily without taking it to the Committee. Today there was a press conference on the Chernobyl report, which had been agreed by both sides of the Committee. The Chairman instructed the Clerk of the Committee to alter the report—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh!"]—where it said that it was "highly probable" that lamb had got into the food chain. The Chairman instructed the Clerk to delete the word "highly", so the report reads only "probable". The only reason for that was that the Chairman had been got at by the Government. It is a disgrace.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Matters of that kind must be dealt with in the Committee. They cannot be dealt with by me. I call Mr. Harry Barnes to move his motion on the ten-minute Bill.

Several Hon. Members
rose——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I call Mr. Harry Baraes.

§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)
Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. It is not a matter for me— [HON. MEMBERS: "It is."] Order. Matters relating to a Select Committee are for the Select Committee concerned. They must be taken up in the Select Committee.

§ Mr. Skinner
Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. Is it not true that at some point Select Committees must report to the House and that on occasions those reports are debated? What my hon. Friend has said is that the Chairman of that Committee has doctored that report, on the advice of the Government. The report has been nobbled. That means that a report that will be presented to the House, under your stewardship, Mr. Speaker, has been nobbled by the Government. Of course it is a matter for you to investigate.

§ Mr. Speaker
I am not responsible for reports made by Select Committees. That must be a matter for the Committee concerned. If the Committee does not like what has happened, it can report to the House.

Several Hon. Members
rose——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I call Mr. Wiggin.

§ Mr. Jerry Wiggin (Weston-super-Mare)
Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker, of which I was given no warning by a member of my Committee. I was informed by the Clerk of the Committee that there had been a misprint in the summary of recommendations—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh!"] Accordingly, I directed that that change should be reported to a press conference that I held this morning.

Several Hon. Members
rose——

§ Mr. Speaker
The Chairman of the Committee has given his explanation.

§ Mr. Dick Douglas (Dunfermline, West)
Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. With great respect to you, I, 256 and I believe the House, would be extremely grateful if you would review, with great accuracy—as I know you will —the words that you used about the responsibilities of Select Committees. I am sure that the House will recognise that the sole function of a Select Committee is to report to the House. The substance of the remarks of my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Mr. Martlew) related to a report to the House.

§ Mr. Martlew
It has been published.

§ Mr. Douglas
Yes. Therefore, if that report has been put into the public domain, any consequential alteration of that report is a matter for you and the House. I ask you to take that on board.

§ Mr. Speaker
First, as I understand it, this is not the report of the Committee, but a summary of it given at a press conference. Secondly, the substance of a Select Committee report is for the whole Committee to agree. If the Committee feels that something has gone wrong and that an alteration, which the Chairman has said is a technical one, has been made, it is a matter for the Committee to investigate.

§ Mr. Bob Cryer (Bradford, South)
Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. While a Select Committee is considering a report it remains the property of that Committee, but once the report is published by the Committee—the report in question obviously has been published, because it was dealt with at a press conference —it is then reported to the House. The general rule is that until a Committee has concluded its deliberations the report remains its property and you, Mr. Speaker, would object to hon. Members referring to its contents on the Floor of the House.
That is not the case here. The report has been published, the Government have apparently brought their influence to bear on the final report and therefore it is the job of this Chamber to ensure that some sort of investigation is established, because——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Let me deal with this, because the House knows that this is an Opposition Day, and we should get on with the debate. The position is absolutely clear. The report that is made to the House cannot be altered except by the Committee. It is not open to any individual hon. Member to do that. That is the position.

Several Hon. Members
rose——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I shall take the points of order, but there must be no complaint if hon. Members who wish to take part in the housing debate do not get called.

§ Mr. Neil Hamilton (Tatton)
On a genuine point of order, Mr. Speaker. In Hansardyesterday you rightly said that you hoped that the whole House will always uphold the authority of the Chair. If that does not happen, anarchy becomes the order of the day".—[Official Report, 25 July 1988; Vol. 138, c. 33.] It is clear that that is what is happening. In the Division yesterday, on a motion to support you in your decision to name a Member, only three Opposition Members supported you and 26 voted against you. How does that in any way square with your advice to the House that the whole House should uphold the authority of the Chair when, patently, only a minuscule number of Opposition Members are prepared to support you and nine times as many are prepared to oppose you?

§ Mr. Eric S. Heffer (Liverpool, Walton)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of what my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Mr. Martlew) said about the Select Committee report, I ask you to say that, for once, you will look into the matter, consider it and report back to the House, rather than taking a hasty decision based upon the fact that my hon. Friend may or may not have been right. This is a matter that should be decided by Back Benchers and the House. Surely, as the representative of Back Benchers, it is your duty to uphold the rights of all Members of the House.

§ Mr. Speaker
Undoubtedly it is, but I believe that the whole House feels that it would be wrong for the Speaker to assume responsibilities that he has not got. As the hon. Gentleman has pressed the matter, and so that we may get on with the debate, I shall look into it. However, I do not believe that it is my responsibility and, as I have already said, I believe that it is the responsibility of the Committee. Once a Committee has reported, it is not possible to alter its report.

§ Mr. Doug Hoyle (Warrington, North)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The time taken by points of order will have to be taken into account later in the day.

§ Mr. Hoyle
Does it not concern you, Mr. Speaker when it is being said that a Select Committee report has been tampered with by the Chairman of that Committee?

§ Mr. Speaker
I have said that I shall look into the matter.

§ Mr. Harry Ewing (Falkirk, East)
The point of order raised by the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Hamilton) has provoked me to take this up with you, Mr. Speaker. I was a bit disappointed that you did not respond to that point of order. It seemed to me that the hon. Gentleman was trying to put you in a position in which you felt that you did not have the support of the Opposition. That is simply not true. It is very unfair of the hon. Member for Tatton to raise that sort of point of order and it should not go unanswered. It should be denied here and now.

§ Mr. Speaker
I thank the hon. Gentleman for what he has said. I assure the House that if I felt that I did not have the support of the whole House there would be no point in continuing.

§ Mr. David Curry (Skipton and Ripon)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You should know that the hon. Member for Carlisle (Mr. Martlew) is suffering from amnesia. He should recall that it was said in the body of the report that it was "probable", and that the whole Committee agreed to exclude the word "highly". That reflects what is in the body of the report. The hon. Gentleman's amnesia betrays him, and he should not cast aspersions on the Chairman of the Committee.

§ Mr. Speaker
I have no knowledge of this report. I said in answer to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Mr. Heffer) that I would look into the matter, even though I do not think that it is really for me.