Points of Order (Hansard, 18 December 1997)

§ Mr. Michael Fallon (Sevenoaks)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I am sorry to say that I did not arrive in the Chamber yesterday in time to receive notice of the point of order made by the hon. Member for Rotherham (Mr. MacShane). Having read it and the exchanges on Tuesday night, I regret that, during the rough and tumble of those exchanges, I appeared so dismissive of the point that he made. Although that legislation was of a general character, if he and other hon. Members consider that I ought to have referred to my specific business interests, I apologise to them, to the House and to you.

§ Madam Speaker
The House and I are very grateful to the hon. Gentleman.

§ Mr. Eric Forth (Bromley and Chislehurst)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I seek your guidance on a matter arising from the business statement made by the Leader of the House last week, reported in Hansard at column 1197, in which I notice that, having given the business for this week, she went on to talk about the provisional business for the first week after the Christmas recess. At this stage, we know no more about the business for that week than was given as provisional last week by the right hon. Lady.
I was astonished, therefore, to see that the Leader of the House was not seeking to make a definitive statement today about the business for the first week back after the recess. That surely leaves you, and the House, in some doubt as to what the business will be that week. Will you guide the House, and perhaps give a gentle hint to the Leader of the House, so that she might repair that no doubt unintentional omission now, or failing that, come to the House on Monday and tell us what we will be doing in the week following the recess?

Several hon. Members
rose—

§ Madam Speaker
I will not allow a debate on a point of order, but I see that the President of the Council wishes to make a further point of order.

§ The President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mrs. Ann Taylor)
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. I think that it has been for the general convenience of the House that I have been able, on many occasions in recent weeks, to announce two weeks' business. The second week is always provisional, and that provisional announcement stands, unless a change is made. There is no need to make any change in this case, so the provisional business that I announced last week stands as the business for the first week back.

§ Mr. Tom King (Bridgwater)
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. Is it not true that the purpose of the business statement is not just to tell the House the business, but to give Back Benchers the opportunity to raise issues of concern? If I understand correctly what the right hon. Lady said, if she announces two weeks' business, and the business stands for the second week, we shall never have a business statement in the second week.
486 I want to raise an issue that is new since last week. I am concerned about the serious situation that exists in agriculture, and the worrying situation for farmers. How can we find out when the House will get a statement on that matter, before the House rises and before farmers are left with a worrying Christmas and new year?

§ Madam Speaker
I can deal with the second part of the right hon. Gentleman's question. He obviously was not in the House yesterday, but I understand that a statement will be made before the House rises.

§ Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Following the very gracious statement made by the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Mr. Fallon), I ask you how we will handle the problem caused by his replacement, the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell), who is an employer of agricultural workers and is to lead for the Opposition on the minimum wage Bill, which deals with precisely that subject—

§ Madam Speaker
Order. Those are not points of order, and they have nothing whatever to do with me.

§ Mr. Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. In the absence of a business statement in which the Leader of the House could tell us what business the House will consider before the recess, is it in order that the BBC should be informed of the details of an impending statement on Monday regarding the terms of reference of an inquiry into bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease? How can hon. Members be sure that we will be informed first of business and of details of business, rather than learning about it through the media and through departmental briefings to the media?

§ Madam Speaker
The hon. Gentleman knows that I have always deprecated statements being made to the media before they are made in the House. He knows also that the right hon. Lady gave the business of the House for the coming week. I do not pay much attention to the media or the BBC—they are not always as accurate as they might be. Many Ministers and other hon. Members comment on newspaper and media reports. I think that we should concern ourselves with business in the House rather than with what is written and broadcast outside it.

§ Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. You may recall that yesterday I raised a point of order concerning declarations of interest at Question Time and you said that—if I wanted to—I could write to the Chairman of the Procedure Committee. I have done that, and I shall send you a copy of the letter. According to Hansard, you advised my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Derbyshire (Mr. Barnes) to do so also.
The point I wish to raise today does not arise from the earlier statement by the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Mr. Fallon). The national minimum wage measure will be considered by the House of Commons, and I think that it is very important that, during debates, at Question Time and in interventions, those hon. Members who have an interest—such as a financial interest—in opposing a national minimum wage should declare it to the House.
487 With the greatest respect to you, Madam Speaker, I think that that illustrates the need for some sort of declaration of interest at Question Time.

§ Mr. Forth
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. Before you consider the matter fully, do you not think that the same principle would apply to any hon. Member who is sponsored by a trade union, for example? If we are talking about an alleged connection between a Member of Parliament and those who might stand to gain from a national minimum wage of whatever level, presumably exactly the same constraints must apply to any hon. Member who is sponsored by a trade union.

§ Madam Speaker
The issue is rather more complicated than many hon. Members realise when they raise such matters. For that reason, I thought it wise that the matter should be submitted to the Procedure Committee so that it may examine all sides of the problem.

§ Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Perhaps I can be helpful on a couple of matters in this season of good will. On the first question, there are no sponsored Members of Parliament any more. As to raising points of order about business questions, I remind you, Madam Speaker—you will probably recall it—that last week the shadow Leader of the House complained bitterly about having to return on Monday 22 December. I thought that hon. Members rose during business questions to ask that particular matters be raised in the House in the following week. As the Tory party does not wish to be here next week, what are Opposition Members complaining about?

§ Madam Speaker
On that note, we must move on to the main business of the House.