§ 4.2 pm
§ Mrs. Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. You may be aware that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office published its departmental report yesterday and, yet again, hon. Members had a problem obtaining copies in the House. At 5 pm, the Vote Office was prevented from handing over a copy as the Department had insisted that the document had not yet been laid before Parliament. I understand that although the Foreign Office was preventing Members from obtaining the report through the Vote Office, it was made available on the internet, together with a press release, about two hours earlier. Would not it have been more appropriate for Members to have been the first recipients of that allegedly important document?
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Keith Vaz)Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. Probably for the first time, the hon. Lady has a point. Due to an administrative error, the report was not laid before the House in time. However, it was laid before the House at 5 pm. We regret that this has happened and are taking steps to make sure that it does not happen again.
§ Mr. Andrew Mackinlay (Thurrock)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. May I draw your attention to the Local Government Bill, which is the principal business of the House later today? When we passed the Human Rights Act 1998, we gave ourselves a discipline that each Bill would carry a certification from a Secretary of State that it was either compliant with human rights legislation or that he was unable to provide such certification. I understand that this is the first Bill of which a Secretary of State has said:
I am unable to make a statement that in my view the provisions of the Local Government Bill are compatible with the Convention rights…I understand from the Clerk that that is a debatable point, but, bearing in mind the undertakings given by the Lord Chancellor when the human rights legislation was going through the other place about the gravity and seriousness 198 of a Secretary of State being unable to give such an indication, should not the notes available in the Vote Office have offered some explanation?
§ Madam SpeakerThat is why this is certainly not a matter for the Chair; it is for Ministers to explain.
§ Mr. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield)On a point of order, Madam Speaker.
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I have not finished; I am still speaking.
As the hon. Member for Thurrock (Mr. Mackinlay) says, the explanatory notes do not make explicit why the Bill is not fully compatible with the European convention on human rights. I suspect that he is referring to clause 91 and section 28, which relates to it.
I repeat that this is not a matter for the Chair. The hon. Gentleman is right in saying that it is a matter for argument and debate. It is for the Minister to explain the Government's position, and also to explain what appears in the Bill.
Now, Mr. Fabricant.
§ Mr. FabricantThank you, Madam Speaker. I am sorry to have interrupted you.
I was wondering whether the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry had said that he would make a statement to the House, given this morning's news that Alchemy Partners is withdrawing from the Longbridge taskforce set up by him, because of a conflict of interests involving the selection of the chairman of the taskforce by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
§ Madam SpeakerI am not aware that the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry is seeking to make a statement today.
§ Mr. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. For the second time in a week, a Minister has come to the Dispatch Box to apologise for the unavailability of documents in the Vote Office. Would you wholly deprecate any instance of documents' not being available in the Vote Office, and ensure that Ministers pay more attention to their Departments so that this does not happen so regularly?
§ Madam SpeakerI have already done that quite recently. I gave the House an assurance that I would take steps to help to improve the situation; I have done so, and will continue to do so.