Points of Order (Hansard, 4 February 1997)

§ Mr. Kevin McNamara (Kingston upon Hull, North)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. In column 452 of yesterday's Hansard, in the reply to my written question, it appears that I suffered injuries that were shown in police photographs taken on 13 September; that the allegations of assault upon me were referred to the Cambridgeshire constabulary on 14 September; and that my solicitors were informed that the Crown Prosecution Service was to take no action about those allegations.
I was in Cambridgeshire on that day. I cannot remember what my alibi was, but I was not at Whitemoor prison. That is a bad example of a misprint. I do not know whether I am being paranoid, but, since the printing of Hansard has been privatised, my questions have been lost and there have been absurd failures in sub-editing and proofreading. Can something be done to protect us from the evils of privatisation?

§ Madam Speaker
I appreciate the point of order raised by the hon. Gentleman. He has a right to complain, and to make a second complaint in a short space of time about the printing or non-printing of Hansard.

§ Mr. Andrew Faulds (Warley, East)
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker.

§ Madam Speaker
I am making a ruling—do you mind?

§ Mr. Faulds
I am sorry, Madam Speaker.

§ Madam Speaker
I should think so.
Accuracy in the printing of Hansard is crucial to the work of this House. I have yet again instructed the printers to pay more careful attention to the detail of printing. A corrigendum will be printed tomorrow, but that does not resolve what has happened today. I reject and deprecate the inaccuracies in Hansard, which are all too frequent these days.

§ Mr. Bill Walker (North Tayside)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I wish to draw your attention to a press release entitled "News from Scottish Labour." Its headline is "Public spending watchdog to inquire into Tory ad blitz on vouchers". It goes on to say: Shadow Secretary of State, George Robertson MP today announced that the Hon Robert Sheldon, chairman of the powerful all party House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, will be raising the Scottish Office advertising campaign on nursery vouchers with the Comptroller Auditor General, Sir John Bourne, when he meets him tomorrow. The issue of a £800,000 advertising campaign just before a general election was raised with Mr. Sheldon by George Robertson yesterday, who questioned whether this was a proper use of public money. The press release continues: Mr. Robertson said … 'Ministers may be operating within technical government rules, but the fact that they will piggyback Tory posters on taxpayer funded advertisements shows what a shabby exercise all this is.' 802 The hon. Member for Hamilton (Mr. Robertson) has received a letter from Sir Robin Butler. I shall quote parts of it—

Hon. Members
Order.

§ Madam Speaker
Order. If the hon. Gentleman wants me to examine written material, I think that I ought to have an opportunity to do so. He ought to send it to my office. I cannot comment on something that the hon. Gentleman is reading on the Floor of the House. What is the point of order for me?

§ Mr. Walker
I have no hesitation in coming to the point of order, because I believe it to be fundamental and important to the Chamber. You know, Madam Speaker, how deeply I care about the way in which things are done in the Chamber.
Is it in order for a Front Bencher to put out a press release about the possible action of the Chairman of a Select Committee in regard to matters that may or may not be discussed at a meeting with the Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn? Is that not a hijack of the procedures of the House—as if the Public Accounts Committee were part of the Labour election machine, as per the headlines in the press release?

§ Madam Speaker
I should like very much, if I may, to have the material that the hon. Gentleman has. I shall want to look into it very carefully. It certainly concerns the activities of the House—I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman about that.

§ Mr. Tony Banks (Newham, North-West)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I know that it is said that Prime Minister's Question Time generates more heat than light—but am I having a heart attack, or could it be the light at the end of the tunnel? The luminosity in the Chamber seems to have been significantly increased, to the extent that I now realise how ugly Conservative Members are. Some of us like to skulk in the dark at the back of the Chamber. Were you consulted about the change, Madam Speaker, and can we have an opportunity to say something about it?

§ Madam Speaker
I thought that it was very illuminating to have improved lighting in the Chamber. I heartily endorse it. For a while, I thought that it was because I had cleaned my spectacles rather carefully this morning.

§ Mr. Faulds
rose—

§ Madam Speaker
It cannot be a point of order with which I have already dealt.

§ Mr. Faulds
I am quickly devising a response, Madam Speaker—but, while I do so, may I say that I urge my hon. Friend the Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks) to lurk in dark corners more often, and not to assert his ugly profile so publicly and frequently?
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. You may not be aware—but I know that you study Hansard assiduously—that there was a gross misrepresentation a couple of weeks ago of a question of mine in business 803 questions. I took it up with the Editor of the Official Report, who was extremely responsive, and issued a corrigendum the next day—or a couple of days later—but did regret that there were so many frequent occurrences of this misrepresentation of what the House actually said.

§ Madam Speaker
The hon. Gentleman must be careful to recognise the difference between Hansard reporting and printing. The original point of order to me, and others earlier, were about the printing. This is not about our Hansard reporters in the Press Gallery; it is about the printing that hon. Members are concerned, and I take that on board.

§ Mr. Faulds
But it was a different point of order, in that case.

§ Madam Speaker
The hon. Gentleman might have made it clearer.