§ 27. Mr. AingerTo ask the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, representing the House of Commons Commission, when he expects the Commission 15 to respond to the opinion survey carried out on behalf of the Serjeant at Arms into hon. Members' views on the services of the House. [24746]
§ Mr. A. J. BeithThe Commission has not been directly involved in the Serjeant at Arms survey. Any response to the results of the survey will be a matter for the Serjeant in the first instance and for the Domestic Committees in respect of any matters that fall within their areas of responsibility. The Commission is likely to become involved only if Committees recommend significant new expenditure or services.
§ Mr. AingerI am grateful for the response, but I am sure that the Commission would like to comment on one suggestion that came to light during the survey—that members of the public visiting the two Houses should be charged £5 a head. Hon. Members who regularly conduct people around this place or organise guides would be horrified if they thought that schoolchildren were going to be charged £5 a head.
I understand that the survey also showed that it is felt that there are great shortcomings in catering for the general public. Will there be any possibility of the Commission dealing with that shortcoming in the near future? I understand that one suggestion is to use part of Westminster Hall to provide at least a cup of tea and a sandwich for members of the public visiting this place.
§ Mr. BeithI understand that the £5 a head suggestion, which has never been considered by the Commission, was merely a report of one of the things said by respondents to the survey. I would not be willing to support such a proposal. As far as possible, the House should make itself available without cost, especially to young people. On catering for members of the public, it is the intention of the House authorities that provision should be made in the new Westminster Hall visitors centre, but the relevant committees have recommended to the Commission that that not be done until alternative provision can be made for staff who use the Westminster Hall cafeteria.
§ Sir Patrick CormackDoes the right hon. Gentleman agree that the House is extremely well served by the Serjeant and his staff? The only real criticism that one can make is of conducting a survey of that sort, which merely tends to produce crackpot suggestions, create much dissatisfaction and solve no problems whatsoever.
§ Mr. BeithAs hon. Members will find if they look at the survey, it revealed a number of services that the Serjeant at Arms would be glad to try to improve, but the staff in the Department will be glad to have the hon. Gentleman's kind words.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyWill the right hon. Gentleman also note that, although a lot of things still need to be put right in the House of Commons, the Serjeant at Arms has one great cross to bear—the fact that there are some fairly intolerable Members of Parliament and, from time to time, some pretty awful staff? The Department deals with that extremely well and quite kindly.