§ Mr. Alfred Morris (Manchester, Wythenshawe)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I would be grateful to know if you have had any indication from the Home Secretary or the Secretary of State for Health that there will be a statement later today, or tomorrow, about the many recently reported cases of people posing as health visitors or social workers on visits to the homes of families with young children in Manchester and many other parts of the country. There is now deep and widespread public concern about these visits and a statement is urgently necessary. It would be especially helpful to the House to have a statement from the Home Secretary about the outcome of today's meeting in Sheffield on the co-ordination of police activity in this important matter.
§ Mr. SpeakerI have had no request for a statement, but if a meeting is taking place today, there may be a statement tomorrow. I am sure that what the right hon. Gentleman has said will have been heard by the Leader of the House and by the Patronage Secretary.
§ Mr. Ray Powell (Ogmore)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I trust that your attention has been drawn to an article in today's "Londoner's Diary" of the Evening Standard, which suggests that you, Mr. Speaker, would open the pigeon loft to hon. Members. I discussed the matter with a reporter from "Londoner's Diary", as the elected Chairman of the New Building Sub-Committee. When we discussed the allocation of rooms that could become available above Speaker's House, I gave him no indication that I or any members of the Sub-Committee had barged into Speaker's House. It was on your invitation, Mr. Speaker.
Knowing full well that there were available rooms there, you asked the Sub-Committee to investigate to see if those rooms would be acceptable to hon. Members. The reporter might have suggested that he had written a light-hearted article, but earlier this afternoon I reminded him on the telephone that it is not a light-hearted matter for Members of Parliament who have been waiting five or six years for suitable accommodation in which to undertake their work.
To ensure that the record is set straight, I should like to make it clear that the members of the Committee came to Speaker's House at your invitation, Mr. Speaker, and examined the rooms. I hope that. in the not-too-distant future, these rooms will be made available for allocation to Members. I thought that I should make the position clear to ensure that you, Sir, are not implicated.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member for Ogmore (Mr. Powell) mentioned an article in today's Evening Standard. I have not seen today's article, but I saw last Friday's. I am grateful to the hon. Member for having put the record straight.
§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)Mind the stool pigeons!
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. This is an important matter for Members. It was mentioned to me by several Members and by several people this weekend.
It might be for the benefit of all concerned if I were to add that it has always been the intention to implement plans to make these rooms available for the benefit of 600 Members, subject to the necessary financial provisions being made available and to provision of a means of access, without which the rooms could not be used at all.
As the completion of phase 1 is now in prospect, I thought that it would facilitate planning for members of the New Building Sub-Committee to see for themselves what these rooms were like. Accordingly, as the hon. Member said, it was at my invitation that the members of the Sub-Committee came to Speaker's House last week. I thank the hon. Member for putting that matter right.
§ Mr. D. N. Campbell-Savours (Workington)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I do not know whether you have seen the excellent 250-page report on low flying which was produced this morning by the Select Committee on Defence. There is a hole in the report, which raises an important procedural question and which shows the perverse effects of our rules. The report criticises the Royal Air Force's resistance to the use of simulators, yet the public expected the report to deal at some length with simulators for the training of pilots.
The Committee asked a firm called Link-Miles to write a letter setting out its position but, contrary to what the public would want, the Committee failed to take evidence from that firm. I put it to you, Sir, that it did not take evidence from Link-Miles because the Chairman of the Select Committee on Defence is a consultant to that company——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursThe Committee was plainly compromised—[Interruption.] It is quite unacceptable.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Member is making very serious allegations about an hon. Member of this House. If he wishes to make those allegations, he knows that he must not do so under the guise of a point of order, but should do so by a motion on the Order Paper. This is not a matter for me.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursIt is not a matter of allegation, Sir. The hon. Member for Hampshire, East (Mr. Mates) has declared his interests in the Register of Members' Interests and——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savours—and—[Interruption.]—com-promises the work of the Committee.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I am not prepared to have allegations of this kind made about an hon. Member under the guise of a point of order.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursWell, why——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Member must take up the matter in the proper way and make his allegations to the Select Committee concerned. I will not have such allegations made in the Chamber. That is reprehensible.
§ Mr. Tony Banks (Newham, North-West)Returning to the previous point of order about those spare rooms you seem to have, Mr. Speaker. I find myself in rather straitened circumstances, as I have to share a room. As you obviously carry some clout in this place, Sir, I wonder whether, if I volunteered to powder your wig and polish your buckles, I might stand a chance of having one of those rooms.
§ Mr. SpeakerIt may take a little while for the rooms to become available, but if the hon. Gentleman sets about procuring some powder and some polish, they may stand him in good stead with my successor.
§ Mr. Richard Holt (Langbaurgh)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I am sure that you are aware that, with the new polished-up image of the Labour party, no Labour Member is allowed to appear on television unless he is wearing a collar and tie, and also that no Member of the Italian Parliament is allowed to enter the parliamentary building unless he is wearing a collar and tie. Given that we are trying to set examples to deter would-be football hooligans, is it not time that you exercised your authority to ensure that no Member of Parliament disports himself here in a manner that would prevent him from being admitted to the Italian parliamentary building?
§ Mr. SpeakerI am responsible for a great many things, but the way in which hon. Members dress is not one of them.
§ Mr. SpeakerIt may be in "Erskine May". The hon. Gentleman must not press me to give reasons why I call or do not call hon. Members, although I must say that those who appear in what I would call casual dress do not stand quite as good a chance as some other hon. Members.
§ Mr. Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North)Further to the point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I seek your guidance on this matter? I am sure that you will agree that being a Member of Parliament is an important job but that what is most important is that a Member of Parliament should represent the interests of the constituents who elect him or her, rather than those of commercial pressure groups or similar organisations. Will you confirm that it is most important that Members of Parliament should do that? Will you also confirm that at least three hon. Members in the Chamber are not wearing ties—including yourself'? I should not dream of saying that you or any of my female comrades were improperly dressed.
§ Mr. SpeakerPerhaps I should declare an interest. I suppose that I could be said to have a commercial interest in the way in which hon. Members dress, so I am not prepared to give a judgment on the matter.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
§ Mr. SpeakerNo, I am not taking a point of order——
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
§ Mr. SpeakerI say to the hon. Gentleman that I do not propose to take a point of order——
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursOn a point of order——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Member must sit down when I am on my feet. I am not prepared to take a point of order on the matter that he has just raised. He must deal with it through the proper channels.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursMr. Speaker——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman must deal with the matter in the proper way, through the Select Committee on Members' Interests. It is not a matter that he can raise in the Chamber. I am saying that to him straight, and I do not expect him to raise the matter again if I call him.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursThis is the question that I want to raise with you, Mr. Speaker. What is the Speaker of the House of Commons responsible for? If he is responsible for preserving the integrity of Parliament, he should surely wish to concern himself with the matter that I have raised, which goes to the heart of what Parliament is all about. If a Select Committee report has a hole in it because of the commercial interests of the Chairman of that Committee, Mr. Speaker surely has a responsibility in relation to the matter. It cannot be left to other Committees, which are often a little reticent about making decisions.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman sought to speculate on the motives of a Committee in failing to take evidence from a certain company. That is certainly not a point of order, and it is not a matter for me. The companies from which the Select Committee takes evidence are a matter for that Committee and not for me.