Points of Order (Hansard, 7 February 1995)

§ Mr. Derek Enright (Hemsworth)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Could you help me on a way of proceeding? The hon. Member for High Peak (Mr. Hendry) uttered a calumny against a school in London, which he must have known to be untrue—that it did not recognise unions, when it does recognise unions. What redress do I have to put that right?

§ Madam Speaker
The hon. Gentleman must make use of the Order Paper by means of an early-day motion, or he can place a parliamentary question seeking to correct what he thinks has been a misleading statement.

§ Mr. Edward Garnier (Harborough)
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. Would you advise the hon. Member for Hemsworth (Mr. Enright) that my hon. Friend the Member for High Peak (Mr. Hendry) said no such thing?

§ Madam Speaker
I call the hon. Member for High Peak (Mr. Hendry).

§ Mr. Charles Hendry (High Peak)
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. Until this juncture, I had said nothing in the Chamber today, and it might be helpful if the hon. Member for Hemsworth (Mr. Enright) began to recognise who is who before he starts talking about hon. Members.

§ Madam Speaker
That is a very good point. We should all know the constituencies of hon. Members. I hope that hon. Members know my constituency.

§ Mr. Enright
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. I apologise to the hon. Member for High Peak. I did, of course, mean the hon. Member for Amber Valley (Mr. Oppenheim).

§ Madam Speaker
There is a world of difference between High Peak and Amber Valley.

§ Mr. Alex Salmond
(Banff and Buchan): On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I compliment you, as ever, on your sensitive chairing, but may I ask a question in terms of order? If the Prime Minister starts bawling at me in the middle of Prime Minister's Question Time, do I not deserve a right of reply as well?

§ Madam Speaker
I think that the hon. Gentleman was making gestures from a seated position and provoking the Prime Minister—

§ Mr. Salmond
Me?

§ Madam Speaker
Yes. I do not have to have eyes at the back of my head to watch what the hon. Gentleman is doing. I thought that it was rather unfair on the Prime Minister, and the hon. Gentleman got what he deserved from him.

§ Mr. Harry Greenway (Ealing, North)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Would you support me in recommending the hon. Member for Hemsworth (Mr. Enright) to stick to the classics because his geography is rather weak?

§ Madam Speaker
That is a very good point.

§ Mr. Harry Barnes (Derbyshire, North-East)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. At this time yesterday, 142 the hon. Member for Ryedale (Mr. Greenway) raised a lengthy point of order about my activities in the House. He had made no attempt to inform me of what he intended to do. Had he done so, I should certainly have been in my place to hear what he said and I should have used that opportunity, with your agreement, to follow up his comments. The main thrust of his point of order was that I had somehow interfered with the Proceeds of Crime Bill, to which many hon. Members wished to speak. He implied that I had filibustered to prevent them from doing so. In fact, the debate lasted one hour 28 minutes and I was the final hon. Member to speak before the hon. Member promoting the Bill wound up the debate. I spoke for five minutes and there was ample opportunity for any hon. Member who had given his name to the Speaker to participate in the debate.

§ Madam Speaker
I made my views clear on that matter yesterday. I want to hear no more about it. I have given many rulings, all of them the same, to the effect that hon. Members should be informed. If any hon. Member does not understand that, he should come to my office. We have now run off pages of Hansard and collected them in a loose-leaf file that can be given to hon. Members so that they will know in future how to behave in the House.

§ Mrs. Helen Jackson (Sheffield, Hillsborough)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is today giving evidence to the Nolan committee about publication of new guidelines for quangos. As quangos now account for £15 billion of public expenditure, I wonder whether the right hon. Gentleman has asked for time to make a statement to the House on that important issue.

§ Madam Speaker
No, the Minister has not done so.

§ Mr. Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I have given the Home Secretary brief notice of this point of order.

§ Madam Speaker
The hon. Gentleman did not give me notice, but I hope that this is a proper point of order.

§ Mr. Miller
It is a matter of urgency and I should be grateful if I could raise this point of order now. I received a fax this morning informing me that a Nigerian-owned vessel that had been moored in Ellesmere Port for more than a year is the subject of court action, the result of which is that 50 Nigerian seamen will be forced to leave the vessel on Thursday. They are very anxious because they have no means of getting home and do not know how they will be treated in this country. In view of the urgency of the matter, I wonder whether the Home Secretary could find time to gather some information and put it before the House.

§ Madam Speaker
That is not a point of order. Perhaps I can advise the hon. Gentleman, and any other hon. Member who might seek to raise a similar point of order, that the way to proceed is immediately to ask for an interview with the Home Secretary or one of his Ministers and in that way make representations to the Home Office. Such matters should not be raised across the Floor of the House, where they cannot be responded to by the Minister in question.