§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like to make a Statement about the supply of Government publications to Parliament and members of the public. As your Lordships may know, owing to unofficial industrial action in the London presses and binderies of Her Majesty's Stationery Office there is interference with the supply of Parliamentary and other papers. The staff of the House has made certain interim arrangements which will be in force for to-day and to-morrow, but which they hope to improve upon if the industrial action continues next Session.
The interim arrangements are as follows:
Hansard: A report of speeches will be taken as usual by the shorthand writers, but no attempt at distribution or publication of copies of Hansard will be 1612 made for the present. One copy of the Report of to-day's debate will be placed in the Library, and noble Lords will be able to get copies of individual passages photographed on request. It is unlikely that there will be any need for a Hansard of tomorrow's formal sitting; but if so, the same arrangements will apply.
Order Paper: A duplicated Order Paper has been prepared by the staff of the House, and is available in the Printed Paper Office.
Minutes of Proceedings: These will be typed and duplicated in the Parliament Office, and will be available in the Printed Paper Office. Peers and others who require them can have them sent on request.
Amendments, et cetera: Again these have been duplicated in the Parliament Office, and are available in the Printed Paper Office…
Since it is impossible to get fresh supplies into the Printed Paper Office of papers which have already been printed—for example, Command Papers, Statutory Instruments, Hansard, et cetera. I ask noble Lords (and I do so with many apologies) to be as sparing as possible in their requests for such papers, and to return them so far as may be to the Printed Paper Office after use. I should also inform the House that, as far as to-day's business is concerned, my noble friend, the Lord Chancellor, has arranged for copies of the Commons Amendments to the Administration of Justice Bill to be available and he has also arranged for copies of the relevant portions of yesterday's proceedings on the Bill in another place to be available in the Printed Paper Office. In conclusion, I deeply regret this situation. I cannot possibly claim that it is anything other than very unsatisfactory for your Lordships, but everybody is doing the best possible in these circumstances.
EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord the Leader of the House for making that Statement. As he said, it is extremely unsatisfactory. but I appreciate that he has made the best arrangements that were within his power. However, I hope that if this position continues at the beginning of the new Session he will make a further Statement and let us have some idea of how long the House is likely to be inconvenienced.
§ LORD WADEMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord whether adequate arrangements have been made for the distribution of the Queen's speech, if it is found necessary at that time to make special arrangements?
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I can only say that this thought passed through my mind while making the Statement. It is obviously a matter of great importance and we will do our best to take care of it. As regards what will happen in the next Session, we have a number of ideas in mind. For various reasons, I think it would be unwise for me to go into them this afternoon, but I very much take the noble Earl's point.