§ Madam SpeakerI have a short statement to make. On Monday, the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody) raised with me the question of communication between Members and civil servants in the officials' Box. She referred to incidents that occurred on Friday, when it appeared that Back-Bench Members were being directly briefed by officials. My deputy in the Chair at the time last Friday dealt properly with the points of order raised with her.
It may be helpful if I make clear to the House the conventions that apply in this case. The officials' Box is intended for civil servants and political advisers with civil service status whose attendance is deemed essential by the Minister responsible. Their attendance is by my permission, and a list of names is required to be submitted to my office in advance. Their function is to provide information and briefing to Ministers as required.
It follows that in general the only Members who should approach the Box are the Minister concerned, the parliamentary private secretary or, in the absence of the latter, another Member operating with the Minister's authority. There may be other occasions when it makes sense for a Member on either side of the House to approach the Box—for example, to check an apparently inaccurate fact or a reference in a Government document under discussion—but I would expect such occasions to be very rare indeed.
I do not regard it as acceptable for Members to engage in social discussions with officials in the Box, since this could be open to misinterpretation and cause irritation to other Members.
There is one other point that I should like to underline. Officials in the Box are required to conduct themselves discreetly at all times. In particular, they should not show any partiality in the course of a debate. I am glad to say that this is an issue which has been raised with the Chair on very few occasions—although there should never be cause for it to be drawn to my attention again.