§ Mr. Alfred Morris (Manchester, Wythenshawe)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. You asked me to leave with you overnight a written parliamentary reply informing me yesterday that on 20 April 1994 the Minister for Social Security and Disabled People authorised his officials to instruct parliamentary counsel to draft the 80 amendments to the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill tabled by five hon. Members. I also gave you other and related papers, and I know that you have been considering them in the context of a ruling you gave in the House last week. Is there anything you can now tell me about the outcome of your consideration?
§ Madam SpeakerI am aware, of course, of the answer given to the right hon. Gentleman yesterday, and I remind him and the House that I have no direct responsibility for ministerial answers. The answer that he mentioned appears to give a date relevant to a sequence of events described in the letter from the right hon. Member for Chelsea (Mr. Scott)—the Minister for Social Security and Disabled People—to the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours) on 9 May. It does not open up any new area for examination by me regarding an incident which I told the House on 11 May was closed so far as I was concerned. Hon. Members must find other ways of pursuing the matter that do not involve the Chair.
§ Mr. Roger Berry (Kingswood)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. The statement to which the privilege complaint referred was that by the Minister for Social Security and Disabled People on 6 May that he had:
No part whatever in the drafting of any of the amendments"—to the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill— 982and, to the best of my knowledge, nobody in my Department had been involved in the drafting"—[Official Report, 6 May 1994; Vol. 242, c. 991.]
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I understand the hon. Gentleman's intensity of feeling on the issue, but I have now dealt daily—indeed, several times a day—with it. Of course I must deal with points of order made to the Chair, but what are now being raised are matters of debate, for which I have no responsibility. If the hon. Gentleman has a point of order for the Chair, perhaps he will come to it and I shall try to deal with it.
§ Mr. BerryIs it not in order for you to review your ruling, Madam Speaker, because the implication of the written answer received last night is that we are being asked to believe that the Minister forgot an instruction that he had given a mere 16 days—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder.
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I am on my feet. The hon. Gentleman appears to be challenging what I have said in the House on a number of occasions. I have just said that what has happened does not open up any new area for examination by me. I cannot make it clearer than that. Is the hon. Gentleman challenging my statement? If he is, perhaps he is not aware of our procedures. I want to deal with him as gently as I can, but if he is challenging my statement he must put a substantive motion on the Order Paper so that it can be debated. I cannot speak any more clearly. We have a very precise language. I said that what has happened does not open up any new area of examination for me. I cannot take the matter further than that.
§ Mr. BerryI am not challenging your statement, Madam Speaker, and I am most grateful for your tolerance towards me. I was asking whether, given the information that we now have, it is in order that we are being asked to believe that the Minister forgot an instruction that he gave only 16 days beforehand. Would it be in order for you to review your—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I have just told the hon. Gentleman that there is no reason for me to review my ruling. I saw last night the answer that was given, and I am giving the hon. Gentleman my ruling. I am very sympathetic to hon. Members who entered the House at the general election and are keen and anxious to get their Bills through. However, I have to carry out the procedures and Standing Orders given to me by the House. The hon. Gentleman understands that.
§ Madam SpeakerI have enormous sympathy with the work that the hon. Gentleman has put in, but I cannot bend the rules and procedures of the House to meet the demands of one Member, or even of a handful of Members.
§ Mr. John Austin-Walker (Woolwich)On a point of order, Madam Speaker.
§ Madam SpeakerIt does not relate to the same matter, of course, does it?
§ Mr. Austin-WalkerIt is a completely separate point of order. I wish to raise it in the presence of the Lord President of the Council.
§ Madam SpeakerPoints of order are not for any other Member of the House; only for me.
§ Mr. Austin-WalkerOn a point of order, Madam Speaker. Have you any responsibility for the procedure for the guidance of Ministers? In the light of the new information given in the written answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris), is not there a case for the Prime Minister to come to the House to make a statement?
§ Madam SpeakerI have nothing to do with guidance for Ministers. I have enough responsibility in the House without guiding Ministers. I have not had any information from any Minister, certainly not from No. 10, that the Prime Minister is seeking to make a statement. However, motion No. 1 very much concerns me.