§ 12. Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the occasions on which he gave official interviews on national broadcast programmes on radio and television between 27 July and 18 November.
§ Mr. HowardI have no such list.
§ Mr. SpearingDoes the Home Secretary not realise that hardly a week passed during the long recess without his talking about shake-ups and changes in the police, the administration of justice or the Prison Service? Did not such talk, and the fact that his colleagues in other Departments controlling local government, social services and education were doing the same, precipitate uncertainty, lack of confidence and controversy in all those public services? Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman not think that when public services, including those responsible for the special needs of primary school children, do not perform as well as they might, the Government might take some of the responsibility?
§ Mr. HowardThe hon. Gentleman's original question on the Order Paper was about my appearances on the "Today" programme. I have announced a comprehensive set of policies on law and order, in which there is considerable public interest. I understand why the hon. Gentleman does not want anyone to know about those 576 policies, but I want people to know about them, and I have every intention of setting them out as vigorously and as often as I can.