Madame SpeakerI have received a letter from the Librarian, indicating his wish to retire later this year. I shall arrange for the text of his letter to be embodied in the Official Report. Mr. Dermot Englefield has worked in the Library for nearly 40 years. Before his appointment as Librarian in 1991, he held the post of Deputy Librarian for 15 years.
That whole period has been a period of major expansion and great technical change in the range of services provided by the Library and the demands made on the staff who work there. I am sure that hon. Members in all parts of the House will join me in thanking Mr. Englefield for his long and distinguished service to the House, and at the same time express our appreciation of the assistance provided to us by the Library as a whole.
Mr. Englefield will retire on 30 September this year, and I have appointed Miss Jennifer Tanfield, the Deputy Librarian, to succeed him. I call the Leader of the House.
§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)Further to that statement, Madam Speaker.
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I shall come to the hon. Gentleman in a moment. I feel that the Leader of the House should speak first.
§ Mr. SkinnerI wanted to know whether you were going to make an announcement about the cleaners, too, Madam Speaker, in our classless society.
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. Leader of the House.
§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Tony Newton)I have no doubt, Madam Speaker, that you are right in your expectation that the whole House will want to join in the tribute that you have paid to Mr. Englefield and in your thanks to the staff of the Library under his leadership. As you have said, his long period as Deputy Librarian and then Librarian has spanned nearly 17 years of extensive developments in the Library, during which the range and quality of its services have come to be valued ever more highly year by year by hon. Members on both sides of the House.
Mr. Englefield's own contribution has gained him the respect not only of his own staff and of colleagues throughout the Departments of the House but undoubtedly of hon. Members and their staff, who have been helped so much by his efforts. We are all grateful to him and wish him well for a long and happy retirement.
§ Mrs. Margaret Beckett (Derby, South)I associate myself with your remarks, Madam Speaker, and with those of the Leader of the House. Mr. Englefield has an immensely impressive record of service to the House and —perhaps more important to us and to him—through us, to our constituents. After all, it is on behalf of our constituents that his services and those of the Library are supplied. He has performed a crucial role in the expansion and development of the Library service. The more the Library staff are able to support and help us, the more we are able to assist our constituents. On behalf of my party, I extend thanks to Mr. Englefield and best wishes for his retirement.
§ Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark and Bermondsey)On behalf of the members of my party and all the staff of the House who work for us, I express thanks not just to the Librarian on his forthcoming retirement but, through him, to the entire team that he so ably heads. We may complain about the food in this place, and we may complain from time to time about the accommodation, but the one place where we get phenomenally good service at all hours of the day and night, often at very short notice, is the Library of the House. In terms of value for money in the public service, we could find nothing better. We also welcome the appointment that you, Madam Speaker, have made. Perhaps it is a precursor, an indication, that, at last, women will have a chance of securing many more of the top jobs.
§ Mr. Gary Waller (Keighley)As Chairman of the Information Select Committee, I should like to associate myself and the Committee with the warm tributes that have been paid to Dermot Englefield for his long service to the House—latterly as Deputy Librarian and, subsequently, Librarian. In my experience, if there is any issue on which all hon. Members agree it is that the expertise, patience and helpfulness of the Library staff are unparalleled. Dermot Englefield merits our appreciation for the quiet but effective way in which he has ensured that the Library copes so well with the ever-increasing demands that we make in seeking access to information, often at very short notice. In offering Mr. Englefield every good wish r his retirement, we also congratulate and look forward to working with his successor, Miss Jennifer Tanfield, who in September will become only the 12th Librarian of the House of Commons since 1818.
§ Mr. Peter Shore (Bethnal Green and Stepney)I, too, pay tribute to Mr. Englefield, his successor and the entire Library staff. Members of Parliament, in their constituency and other work, are enormously assisted by the Library staff. But the Library contributes something more: to some extent it evens out the enormous imbalance between Treasury-Bench Members, with their command of information, advice and all the intellectual resources of the civil service, and other hon. Members. This is thanks in no small measure to the Library staff, to whom I am most grateful.
§ Rev. Ian Paisley (Antrim, North)Unlike the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes), I shall not pass any judgment on the food. Nor can I pass any judgment on the strong drink, as I do not partake of it. I associate myself with your remarks, Madam Speaker, and with those of my House of Commons colleagues. Ruskin said that when one moves among books one can move among kings. In our Library we certainly move among kings. A kingly service is provided by the Librarian, and I wish him the best for his retirement.
§ Rev. Martin Smyth (Belfast, South)On behalf of my party, I pay tribute to Mr. Englefield and express good wishes for his retirement. He has not only provided Members with a service but worked in the wider field of the emerging democracies whose representatives have come here to discover something of the way in which the House of Commons operates. Knowing your own perception, Madam Speaker, I welcome your appointment of Mr. Englefield's successor. I know that the appointment was made on merit, and not simply on the basis of sex.
§ Mrs. Margaret Ewing (Moray)On behalf of the three constitutional nationalist parties, I extend thanks to the retiring Librarian for all his work over the years and extend very good wishes to his successor, knowing full well that the objectivity, speed, efficiency and courtesy with which all our inquiries are dealt will continue. We are all very grateful.
§ Mr. Colin Shepherd (Hereford)May I add to the tributes already paid to Mr. Englefield on his retirement? Having served with Mr. Englefield for nine of the 15 years during which he was Deputy Librarian and I was Chairman of the Library Sub-Committee, I came to admire enormously the loyalty and service that he dedicated to his predecessor, Dr. Menhennet, during the 15 years in which he was Librarian. It was a remarkable team.
In due course, the part that Dermot Englefield played in the development of the Derby Gate Research Library will come to be known. That Library is now the jewel in the crown of the Libraries in the Commonwealth Parliaments —if not in the world Parliaments. I express my thanks for what Mr. Englefield has achieved and I welcome his successor, Miss Tanfield, for whom I have formed the highest regard while Chairman of the Sub-Committee.
§ Mr. SkinnerWould you agree, Madam Speaker, that there is a certain irony about the situation? There are 2,000 workers in this building, the real workers being outside the Chamber. Many are paid small amounts. Some have worked for 20, 30 or 40 years in the Cafeteria, mopping up the floors when we come in at 6 or 7 am. Yet on the day that the Prime Minister has been talking about levelling out honours, a special tribute is paid to somebody in the Library, no doubt deservedly, whereas there are no commendations for all the people who have to keep the wheels going in here.
I should have thought that, on this day, the tribute should be coupled with tributes to the many others who have retired from this place after many years of service. In view of all the tributes paid to the Library, I make two points with which, I am sure, the retiring Librarian would agree. First, the Government must not privatise the Library and, secondly, they must not put VAT on reading matter.
§ Mr. Geoffrey Dickens (Littleborough and Saddleworth)It was not long ago that a waitress in the Strangers Cafeteria was given not only a farewell party in the Speaker's apartments, but an honour. The staff of this place have not been forgotten.
I add my regards to Mr. Englefield for the wonderful Library service which he has built up over many years and which all Back-Bench Members use. The specialist staff in the Library spare no time or effort in ensuring they keep up to date with their various specialisms. We see them sitting during Question Times that involve them, listening, keeping ahead of us and keeping up to date. They are always there to give us information. I place on record on behalf of all Back-Bench Members my thanks to a man who can retire safe in the knowledge that he has built up a Library service second to none, with a Library staff second to none and with a successor who, I am sure, will be second to none.
§ Mr. Andrew Faulds (Warley, East)Is it not the case that if Members of the House of Commons were half as 467 efficient, half as competent and half as knowledgeable as the members of the Library staff, we should have better Governments and better Oppositions?
§
Following is the text of the letter:
Dear Madam Speaker
As agreed with your predecessor on my appointment as Librarian, I am, on retirement, placing my office at your disposal with effect from 1 July 1993. This will be nearly forty years after I joined the Library when some two dozen staff served 630 Members with neither a telephone in the Members' Library nor a photocopier in sight!
The changes, including technological changes, of the last four decades have greatly altered the job of being a Member of Parliament and hence the service they expect from their Library staff. It has been a stimulating lifework to be associated with these substantial developments—for the last 17 years as Deputy Librarian and Librarian.
The House of Commons remains essentially a small organisation for which to work and it is the friendships over the years, both with Members and with colleagues in the Library Department but also in other Departments of both Houses, which I have especially appreciated and which have given me such pleasure.
Yours sincerely
DERMOT ENGLEFIELD Librarian