Mr. Simon Huges (Southwark and Bermondsey)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. You were good enough to grant me an Adjournment debate tomorrow on the future of Guy's hospital. In order to prepare for it, I have sought to obtain a document, allegedly a public one, that has been produced by the local hospital trust, and circulated, including to the Secretary of State for Health, called, "The Appraisal of Options for the Future of Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospital."
Just as the district auditor and his document are accountable to the Secretary of State for the Environment, so the hospital trust is accountable to the Secretary of State for Health, and the right hon. Lady is accountable to us. There is no other way in which we can hold Ministers and their appointees to the health service to account.
That document will not be released by the trust, which says, "Refer to the Secretary of State." The Secretary of State's office will not release it and says, "Refer to the trust." All I want to know is whether you, Madam Speaker, have made it clear, as you have done in respect of other documents, that, if it is a document on which decisions are to be made by a public body accountable to the House, it should not be circulated partially without being put in the Library of the House or made available in the Vote Office. That would enable not just me but all hon. Members with an interest in this matter and similar ones to study it. I should be grateful for your help to obtain that document.
§ Madam SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman has not given me notice of that point of order, and I have no idea to which document he is referring. It is the responsibility of the Secretary of State. I note that the Leader of the House is on 364 the Front Bench, and I am sure that he has taken note of that point of order. Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman can pursue that matter.
§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Tony Newton)Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. I am not sure whether the hon. Gentleman gave my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health notice of his point of order, but I am sure that she will consider it. If I may venture a bit beyond my role, I understand that the rule on documents, if it can be called that, is that, once a document has been quoted from partially, the House has the right to see the whole of it. I would need further guidance on that.
§ Mr. Ian Bruce (South Dorset)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Column 156 of the Official Report for 11 January contains a typographical error about the cost of building the new Abbey Wood Procurement Executive headquarters in Bristol. I raise this as a point of order because I have been in touch with the Editors of Hansard, who tell me that that mistake can be altered in the bound version.
That serious error means that the cost of those headquarters, at £345 million, is being quoted as £315 million, which in itself is £70 million more than that previously quoted. It is a matter of public interest, and anyone who referred to Hansard and did not wait to study the bound volume, which is produced many months later, would be misled. Surely the House should have a better way of flagging up typographical errors so that people who use reference material can obtain the right figures.
§ Madam SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman seems to have achieved that effect by getting that point of order into Hansard.