§ Mr. David Shaw (Dover)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. As we are now members of the European Community, would it be in order for the House to summon the French Prime Minister and Transport Minister to the Bar of the House to answer for the devastation that has been caused to my constituents and those of other Members by the French lorry drivers' strike?
§ Madam SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman knows that that is not a point of order for me. That is a question that he must put to his Government and not to the Chair.
§ Mr. Jack Straw (Blackburn)On a point of order about which I have given you, Madam Speaker, and the Secretary of State for Education notice. I want to refer to the date of publication of the proposed White Paper on education.
In the debate on the Queen's Speech, the Secretary of State said that the White Paper would
be brought before the House in due course."—[Official Report 12 May 1992; Vol. 207, c. 587.]However, in the closing minutes of the debate on special needs education on Friday, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools refused, in reply to an intervention from my hon. Friend the Member for Durham, North-West (Ms. Armstrong), to promise that the White Paper would be brought before the House before the House went into recess. We have since learnt from the newspapers that the Government plan to publish it in late July, after we have gone into recess.I have had the Journal Office check the precedents. No Government in the past 18 years have issued a policy White Paper in late July after the House has risen for the recess. On only one occasion—in 1983—has a White Paper been published in August. It has not happened since.
In your ruling on the complaint of my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough (Mrs. Jackson) on 9 June, Madam Speaker, you made it clear that you were alive to the need to protect the rules of the House and its conventions and courtesies. In view of that, may I invite you to rule that, if the White Paper is published after the House has risen for the recess in late July or August, it would show gross contempt for hon. Members and that it would be a breach of long-established practice and of the clear undertaking given to the House by the Secretary of State only eight weeks ago to publish the White Paper "in due course"?
§ Madam SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman did me the courtesy of giving me some idea of the point of order that he wished to raise. I know, as he has said, that he has carried out a great deal of research into the matter. As he is aware from his researches, it is not a matter for me. As he is also aware, under Standing Order No. 137, Ministers can present Command Papers to the House during recesses. As the hon. Gentleman said—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentlean should not get ready for another point of order.
27 The hon. Gentleman is aware that Ministers present Command Papers from time to time. As he knows full well, as Speaker, I have no authority or powers to prevent them from doing that during recesses.
§ Mr. StrawI am aware of what you say, Madam Speaker. However, in your ruling on 9 June in respect of the complaint of my hon. Friend the Member for Hillsborough about whether hon. Members can intervene in constituency cases arising in other constituencies, you made it clear that, although it was not a matter for the rules of the House—something you regretted—you deprecated the practice and, with respect, you were right to do so. As no Government over the past 18 years have published a White Paper just after the House has gone into recess, thus showing such gross contempt for the House, I invite you to deprecate the practice and to ensure, so far as you have influence, that Ministers do not act with such contempt for the House.
§ Madam SpeakerI saw the material relating to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough (Mrs. Jackson) to which the hon. Gentleman has referred. As he is aware, I have not yet seen the White Paper which the Government propose to publish. As he knows, I have no discretionary powers in the matter. It is not a question of common courtesy to me. Standing Order No. 137 allows Ministers to publish White Papers during parliamentary recesses. I have no authority to stop them doing that.
§ Mr. Clive Soley (Hammersmith)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I had a conversation a couple of hours ago with the Lord Chancellor's Office about a matter which affects the established rights and practices of hon. Members. It has been the practice of the Lord Chancellor's Office to release the figures about mortgage repossessions from all courts in the country, initially by telephone contact by a Member of the House. That practice was changed a couple of years ago so that a letter is now required, and I accepted that. However, I understand from a report in The Sunday Telegraph yesterday that it is the intention not to release the information in that way, but to release it, at best, quarterly in accordance with the Lord Chancellor's decision.
The practice is particularly important because hon. Members have raised the issue through the Lord Chancellor's Office and, if necessary, directly with the courts in their areas. One could phone the court in the area in which one was interested to get the figures. If that practice is to be stopped as well, hon. Members will either have to phone all the courts in the country or give up the practice altogether. If we phoned all the courts in the country, it would be good news for British Telecom but bad news for British democracy.
When a major attempt is made to change the 28 established practices of the House in a way which restricts hon. Members' ability to obtain information, it is vital that Ministers make a statement to the House and not just slip the matter through in that way. I know that the way in which others and I have used the procedure is a matter of political embarrassment to the Government—I make no apology for that—but the matter concerns all hon. Members' right to obtain information in the way that we always have done, and I ask for that to be continued or, if it is not to be continued, for a Minister from the relevant law office to make a statement to the House before the Government make the proposed change.
§ Madam SpeakerI have had no request from any Minister to make a statement, but the hon. Gentleman will know that that is not a matter for me and that, over the next few days, he may exercise his imagination and ingenuity and find several occasions on which he may raise the matter with the Government, who have responsibility for it.
§ Ms. Angela Eagle (Wallasey)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. As I made my way to Wallasey at the weekend, I perused The Spectator, and discovered that the hon. and learned Member for Perth and Kinross (Sir N. Fairbairn) had commented on almost 10 per cent. of hon. Members—that is, the female Members. He said that we are
not desert island materialand that we look as though we arefrom the fifth Kiev Stalinist machine gun parade.He also referred to you, Madam Speaker, and perhaps you would like to look up the reference for your own interest. Is it in order for someone who seems to reside in a permanent state of sartorial inelegance and who is not my idea of a desert island dream boy to make such comments about 10 per cent. of the membership of the House?
§ Madam SpeakerI take it that the hon. Lady has informed the hon. and learned Member for Perth and Kinross (Sir N. Fairbairn) that she would raise the matter. [Interruption.] Order. There are some periodicals that I do not read, and that is one of them, although the article has been related to me. If the hon. Lady wishes to take the matter further, perhaps she will write to me about it. There are procedures that I must look at, but the hon. Lady must put her request in writing, as she probably knows.