§ Mr. Keith Vaz (Leicester, East)As you are aware, Madam Speaker, this morning the Bank of England published its response to the report of the Select Committee on Treasury and Civil Service on banking supervision and the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, dated 4 March. When I sought to obtain a copy of the report from the Library, I was told that none was available. I realise that the Governor of the Bank of England is running around the City like a headless chicken, seeking to defuse the expected criticism in the Bingham report. However, when public bodies respond to a Select Committee report, is it right that they should tell the Press Association before telling hon. Members?
Have you, Madam Speaker, had any intimation from the Chancellor of the Exchequer as to whether he is in a position to make a statement on when the Bingham inquiry report is to be published? There are only five days left before the recess, and hundreds of thousands of people all over the world are waiting for the results of the inquiry.
§ Mr. Brian Sedgemore (Hackney, South and Shoreditch)Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker.
§ Madam SpeakerPlease—Mr. Terence Higgins.
§ Mr. Terence L. Higgins (Worthing)It is always inconvenient for the House when an hon. Member receives a written answer that does not appear in Hansard until the following day. For the convenience of the House, perhaps I should therefore mention that an hour or so ago I received a written reply to a question asking when there would be a response from the Bank of England to the report of the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee. The answer said that the Treasury Minister understood that a response had now been made and a copy placed in the Library. I received a copy earlier today, and I believe that copies are now available in the Library. No doubt, when the Select Committee is reconstituted—I very much hope that it will be next week—it will wish to consider the Bank of England's response.
Although the response accepts some of the recommen-dations, it does not accept them all; nor, in my view, is it adequate. But—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. The right hon. Gentleman is getting rather carried away—points of order are for the Chair. His earlier remarks were extremely helpful.
§ Mr. HigginsThen I shall say no more, Madam Speaker —other than that the response does not seem to cover the criticisms that have been made and that I therefore hope that there will he a further response at a later stage.
§ Mr. SedgemoreFurther to that point of order, Madam Speaker. I confirm what the right hon. Member for Worthing (Mr. Higgins) has said. The Library has provided me with a copy of the report.
My point of order concerns the actions of the Bank of England in relation to the procedures of the House. Today, the Bank of England has published its response to the fourth report of the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee on banking supervision and BCCI. On page 12 of The Guardian today there is an article by Alex Brummer and John Willcock headed 353
BCCI prompts Bank to seek law change".I have checked the article against the report. It could have been written only by journalists who had the report. At the very least, it is discourteous and deceitful of the Bank of England to give copies of the report to journalists before it is available to hon. Members. I am sure that you, Madam Speaker, know what has happened: before hon. Members get the Bingham report, the Governor has attempted a pre-emptive strike because he knows that his job is on the line. I believe that that is an abuse of the procedures of the House. I hope that you will deprecate the actions of the Governor of the Bank of England.
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. May I deal, first, with the points of order that have been made? In answer to the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz), I have had no indication that the Chancellor or another Treasury Minister wants to make a statement today. I strongly deprecate the action of the Bank of England, because it shows great discourtesy to the House. As the House knows, I have no influence on the Bank of England. but, as a matter of courtesy, I would expect the House to be informed of a response to a Select Committee report before any other outside body.
§ Mr. Andrew Welsh (Angus, East)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. It is reported that the Government have appointed consultants to review the future of water services in a Scotland with a view to privatisation. That would affect everybody in Scotland, yet local authorities and workers in the industry have not been consulted and a statement has not been made on the Floor of the House. There is no Scottish Select Committee and there will be no Scottish Question Time between now and the recess. How can we make the Government answerable without them yet again resorting to the medium of a planted written question to deal with important Scottish matters?
§ Madam SpeakerI understand the hon. Gentleman's frustration. It occurred to me that we have the debate on the summer Adjournment tomorrow and he might like to try his luck in that.
§ Mr. Terry Rooney (Bradford, North)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. The European Court ruled this morning that the Shops Act 1950 does not breach European law. In the light of that, and to assist local authorities, is not it time that the Government introduced legislation—preferably along the lines of the private Member's Bill of my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Mr. Powell)—so that this nonsense of law-breaking up and down the country can be brought to an end?
§ Madam SpeakerThat was a good try, but it is not a matter for the Chair. It is a matter to put to the Government in business questions.
§ Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. May I raise a matter with you in your capacity as the defender of rights and privileges of Back Benchers? We have no greater privilege than the right to put questions to the Government.
For the past six months, I have been raising with the Government a matter of the greatest importance to my constituency. I received five answers last Thursday and a letter last night giving me ambiguous replies. Today, I was told that the Government had been in touch with Directorate-General XIII. I have since telephoned Brussels, which has no trace of any contact with the Government on this important matter. Unless that contact was made today, the answer that I was given was not entirely true. I realise that you, Madam Speaker, are not responsible for these matters, but I ask you to use your great influence to ensure that answers to hon. Members are intelligent and truthful.
§ Madam SpeakerI am sure that answers to Members are truthful. I do not have the influence that the hon. Member gives me credit for. I understand his frustration, because he has raised the subject on a number of occasions on the Floor of the House. I shall look into it.