§ Mr. Simon Thomas (Ceredigion)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Two constituents of mine, Mr. and Mrs. Hughes of Llanon, wrote to the Prime Minister in October 1999 about means testing disabled people in employment for the independent living fund, with special reference to their son, Colin Hughes, who is a producer for the BBC. The Prime Minister's office acknowledged the letter on 10 November 1999 and said that a reply would shortly be forthcoming from the Department of Health. In the intervening months, my constituents have written to the Department of Health several times and have copied the letters to the Department of Social Security. In the past fortnight, I have written again to the two relevant Ministers. To date, no reply has been received to the initial letter, which was sent in October 1999. Eight and a half months have passed without a reply to a letter on a matter of concern to my constituents. Will you deprecate that lack of activity, Madam Speaker, and urge Ministers to be timely in their replies?
§ Madam SpeakerI most certainly deprecate the lack of positive response to the hon. Gentleman. I can give no ruling on the matter; it is not a matter for me. I simply say to the Ministers on the Front Bench that I hope they will have noted the hon. Gentleman's words and will follow them up.
§ Mr. Owen Paterson (North Shropshire)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. In her reply to my request for a debate on the European paper on environmental liability, the Leader of the House gave her reason for overruling the majority of the Committee yesterday. The reason was that there was a majority of Conservative members on that day. Is it a constitutional precedent that Select Committee majorities will be—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I know that some hon. Members are extremely concerned about the matter, and I see that another hon. Member is ready to raise another point of order on a similar matter. The hon. Members correctly put their questions to the Leader of the House and she responded. They know the Government's position on the matter; it is not a matter for me.