§ The Earl of LAUDERDALEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will arrange for the authentic text of Resolutions of the European Community to be published in the United Kingdom immediately they are passed by the Council of Ministers.
§ The PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE, FOREIGN and COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (Lord Goronwy-Roberts)My Lords, the publication of the texts of Council Resolutions, as of other proceedings in the Council, is a matter for the Council itself. However, I have taken steps to ensure that the authentic texts of published Resolutions will in future be made available in the Library of the House as soon as they are received in Whitehall.
§ The Earl of LAUDERDALEMy Lords, in thanking the noble Lord for his reply, may I ask him whether he could extend that arrangement to the point that the Printed Paper Office might hold stocks of these Resolutions? For example, it is not easy to discover what happend in the Council of Energy Ministers as far back as 17th September last, because the documents are not available. Could the noble Lord find out whether these documents might be made available through the Printed Paper Office?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I will consider the point.
§ Lord SHINWELLMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether the term "Resolutions"embraces the term "decisions"; namely, whether it embraces decisions taken by Ministers? Is it not constitutionally the position that when decisions are taken by the Council of Ministers they must be referred to 285 the Commission before they can be published in the United Kingdom or in any other part of the European Economic Community?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, that is so. Resolutions are not decisions; they are not legally binding. They are expressions of opinion as to the consensus, sometimes the interim consensus, which is achieved by Ministers at a certain stage when considering a question.
§ Lord HALEMy Lords, will the noble Lord bear in mind, with a Referendum approaching, that it is apparent that the information which is being made available in the House and to the public is constantly tendentious and misleading; that the use of perfectly accurate figures so selected as to be misleading is apparent to me in certain Ministerial Statements; and that what is necessary, even if Ministers have the right to disagree, is that the fullest information should be made available to the House and that that information, must not merely be accurate but basically honest?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I entirely agree with the summation which my noble friend gave towards the end of his question, that information should be as full and as prompt and untendentious as possible.
§ The Earl of LAUDERDALEMy Lords, would not the noble Lord agree that the problem which arises is, first of all, that these documents cannot even be found in the Printed Paper Office, despite the fact that they carry an official Brussels index number? Secondly, even though Resolutions arc not binding on the citizen —because they are pretty woolly, anyway—there is no way of knowing what our Ministers are up to in policies of a general kind to which they are committing the country? Therefore it is important to pursue this matter. As I am sure he will realise, I very much appreciate the step which the noble Lord has already taken. Therefore, may I wish him well in doing still better.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I have taken full note of what the noble Earl has said in his supplementaries as well as meeting him on the question he put in substantive form.