§ 3.34 pm
§ Mr. D. N. Campbell-Savours (Workington)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You may recall that on 30 January the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment told the House that he estimated that there were 2,000 to 3,000 people sleeping rough in central London. On 22 February, the same Minister told the House that these figures were based on the whole of London—17 London boroughs. Do you, Sir, recall giving me an opportunity, by way of a private notice question, to raise this matter? On that occasion, the Minister said:
It was because we felt our figures were out of date that we asked … the voluntary organisations most experienced at dealing with rough sleepers in London to carry out a more recent count. The estimate that they produced came to 1,046 … We shall therefore use that figure to replace the earlier and out-of-date estimate."—[Official Report, 8 February 1991; Vol. 185 c.542–43.]Have you seeen the reply, Mr. Speaker?
§ Mr. SpeakerI have not seen the reply, but, clearly, replies given by Ministers are not matters of order. They may be matters for disagreement, but what does that have to do with me?
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursI wondered, Mr. Speaker, whether you had received a request for permission for a statement by a Minister in the Department of the Environment, in view of the fact that the revised figure related only to seven locations in central London.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. This is an abuse of the points of order procedure.