Points of Order (Hansard, 13 March 1989)

§ Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. During your Speakership, you have always been concerned with the proper treatment of the House. I put it to you that it is extraordinary that a senior Secretary of State should come here to make a prepared statement, with the support of three junior Ministers and with eight civil servants in the Box, without bringing the information that we seek. He was asked a very direct question about the cost of the report on which the whole policy seems to be based—the Deloitte report—but no figure has been forthcoming. Is it not most extraordinary that the Secretary of State, who should be prepared in such matters, cannot answer an obvious, factual question?
Furthermore, a great deal of money is involved, as some extremely expensive properties are at stake. Without assuming that there is corruption, the House of Commons is at least entitled to ask questions, as large sums are at stake and as it is not at all clear whether benefit will accrue to the Treasury or to some private interest after privatisation.
Clearly, if everything is above board—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I listened with concern to what the hon. Gentleman said, but ministerial answers to questions are not among my many responsibilities. The hon. Gentleman must pursue the matter by other methods, and may even have other opportunities to do so today on the Adjournment motion.

§ The Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Norman Fowler)
Perhaps I can help the House. As in all these matters, which company was to give advice was a matter of open competition. We do not just choose one company, we have open competition between several. Deloitte was chosen. I am advised that £128,000 in fees has been paid to it.

§ Mr. D. N. Campbell-Savours (Workington)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I wish to raise a matter relating to 36 the security of the House, for which the Leader of the House has said that you have some responsibilities. It relates to the instructions that were given last weekend to some Members of the House of Commons during a particularly difficult period. I raise the matter as a member of the Select Committee on Members' Interests.
At the weekend we read in the newspaper that the hon. Member for Dover (Mr. Shaw) had given a pass to a Miss Pamella Bordes. I shall clarify the position. The hon. Member for Dover never did allocate a pass to that young lady. I have checked it in the records. The pass was allocated by the hon. Member for Norfolk, North-West (Mr. Bellingham). When he was informed that the pass was being allocated to Miss Bordes, his secretary wrote to the Clerk to the Members' Interests Select Committee pointing our that that person was not in the employ of the hon. Member for Norfolk, North-West. In other words, she was not employed by him, yet she had applied in his name for a pass.
The Clerk to the Select Committee then wrote to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North-West and told him that, if Miss Bordes did not work for him, he could write to the Serjeant at Arms and give an instruction that the pass be not allocated. That letter was not sent, and the pass is currently in the name of the hon. Member for Norfolk, North-West.
Passes cannot be handed around the Commons like confetti. We are dealing with matters of security in the House of Commons. Will you carry out a full inquiry into the affair to establish on what basis that pass has been allocated?

§ Mr. Speaker
I am not prepared to comment on individual cases. Matters relating to passes to hon. Members should be raised in the first instance with the Services Committee.