§ 40. Mr. FlynnTo ask the Lord President of the Council, pursuant to his answer of 12 May, Official Report, column 79, what representations he has received calling for early action to make replies from next steps agencies more accessible to hon. Members and the general public.
§ Mr. NewtonI have not received any further representations. The House authorities have received our proposals for publishing agency chief executives' replies. We remain hopeful that the House will take an early decision, now that the Administration Committee has been reconstituted.
§ Mr. FlynnRepresentations from 208 hon. Members are contained in early-day motion 1. Is it not a continuing disgrace that the increasing number of answers from next steps agencies are not readily accessible, except in this marvellous publication produced by my office and the Rowntree trust? Cannot the right hon. Gentleman ensure that we return to the previous system, whereby traditionally Ministers answered questions for their areas of responsibility, and those then appeared automatically in Hansard. Is not the Government's commitment to sweeping away the cobwebs of secrecy gossamer-thin?
§ Mr. NewtonThe hon. Gentleman will not expect me to agree with the latter part of his remarks. As for his gesture in waving at me his excellent document, "Open Lines", I thought that he was going to complain about our nationalisation proposals in that respect. As he knows, we have proposed to the appropriate Committee that the reply should be published in a way that would be more convenient to the House and the public. I hope that an early decision will be made on that proposal and that it will be the clearest demonstration that there is no thought of trying to conceal useful information from those who should have it.