§ Mr. Tim Devlin (Stockton, South)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. May I draw your attention to this House of Commons envelope, which has just been sent out in County Durham, enclosing a Westminster report from the hon. Member for City of Durham (Mr. Steinberg) with club news for the City of Durham Labour club? It seems to be a flagrant misuse of the paid post, which has been drawn to my attention by the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate in Durham. I wonder whether you would look into the matter.
§ Madam SpeakerWe have procedures in the House that I am sure the hon. Gentleman knows. I should be very much obliged if he would supply that material to the Serjeant at Arms, who will carry out an investigation. If it is necessary, a charge for the cost of the—[Interruption.] Order. I am talking. If it is necessary, a charge for the cost of the stationery and the postage will be levied against the hon. Member concerned.
I caution hon. Members from both sides of the House that House of Commons stationery and postage must not be used in this way. In any instance in which it is, the Serjeant at Arms must be informed right away, and he will keep me informed of his investigations. Would the hon. Member please let the Serjeant have all the information without delay?
§ Mr. Gerry Steinberg (City of Durham)Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. I was certainly unaware of the situation. As every hon. Member knows, these things get sent out from one's office without our giving instructions to do so. I apologise to the House that this has happened. I will certainly make investigations and make sure that any money that is owed to the House is paid directly back. It was a mistake by my office. I am sure that many hon. Members leave it to their staff to do these things, and I shall certainly reimburse the House if there are any problems.
§ Madam SpeakerI appreciate what the hon. Gentleman has just said, but I should be grateful if all hon. Members would make it clear to their staff, particularly in their constituencies, which is where the problem occurs, that House of Commons stationery must not be used in this way.
§ Mr. Gerry Sutcliffe (Bradford, South)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I am grateful to catch your eye on such a noisy afternoon.
My point of order relates to Her Majesty's Stationery Office. I wonder whether you have had the opportunity this morning to read The Guardian article about HMSO. You will remember that, some weeks ago, we discussed the privatisation of HMSO, when hon. Members of all parties expressed a great deal of concern about its future. This morning's news shows that there has been a £3 million wipe-off of the debt owed to HMSO by the Republic of Uzbekistan. Has any Minister made an approach to you about making a statement? That news was available at the time of the debate, but we were not given the information.
§ Madam speakerNo Minister has made an approach to be about making a statement in the House, but I 907 understand that a written question is on the Order Paper. I believe that the answer is available. Perhaps I could refer the hon. Gentleman to it.
§ Mr. Derek Foster (Bishop Auckland)Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. I am a little surprised to hear you say that no Minister wants to come and make a statement on that matter. I understand that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster invited selected journalists into his office yesterday, and gave them full information. I understand that, subsequently, a written answer gave much less information than was given to the press.
There has been a £40 million loss in respect of HMSO for the first time in its history, £26 million of which was due to redundancies in preparation for privatisation. The House deserves a full statement on that matter, and on the matter raised by my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. Peter Bottomley (Eltham);further to that point of order, Madam Speaker.
§ Madam SpeakerI do not usually take further points of order, because they can become a debate, but, exceptionally, I will hear the hon. Gentleman.
§ Mr. BottomleyAs the House has received a written answer and the HMSO accounts are in front of the House, what we have seen is a Member on the Opposition Front Bench asking a question as a point of order. If that habit is allowed to start, there are many written answers, and many of us could do the same thing.
§ Madam SpeakerIf the hon. Gentleman will leave the matter to me, I was ready to reply.
The answer will be seen in Hansard of Monday 29 April at column 331. As for the last point of order, perhaps the hon. Gentleman may wish to raise that matter with the Leader of the House and seek a debate or a statement. As he knows, it is not within my authority.