Air Security Charges Review (Hansard, 28 July 1982)

§ Baroness Burton of Coventry
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The Secretary of State for Trade (Lord Cockfield)
My Lords, a Statement will be made tomorrow.

§ Baroness Burton of Coventry
My Lords, is the Minister aware in the first place that it is really refreshing to receive an affirmative reply? However, if I may pursue the matter a little further, presumably, in accordance with what has been said in the past, the Statement will be made in both Houses. Will it, as we expect in both Houses, be an oral Statement on which we shall have an opportunity of questioning the Government?

§ Lord Cockfield
My Lords, a Statement will be made in both Houses, but following the normal practice in matters of this kind the Statement will be made by way of reply to a Question for Written Answer.

§ Baroness Burton of Coventry
My Lords, not being able to argue with the Minister on the precedents—I expect that he has the details of what is done regarding this type of reply—may I ask whether he is aware that 228 a number of us in both Houses, and on all sides, have been following this matter for some months, that we disagree with what we think has been done, that we expected to have the opportunity of putting questions to the Minister, and that neither House welcomes a Written Answer on the day before the House rises?

§ Lord Cockfield
My Lords, I should have thought that the noble Baroness would have been pleased by the promptness with which I have dealt with the matter. Secondly, if the Statement is made by way of reply to a Question for Written Answer, the noble Baroness will have time to study it before she comes to a conclusion on what the Government say.

§ Lord Byers
My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord how it comes about that there is to be a Question for Written Answer in both Houses tomorrow? Is it not an odd procedure—two Questions, one in each House?

§ Lord Cockfield
My Lords, it is quite normal; it has been done on many occasions.

§ Baroness Burton of Coventry
My Lords, is the Minister suggesting that I put down for tomorrow a Question for Written Answer?—because as yet I have certainly not done so. Is he further aware that I had no idea that a matter which we have been pursuing for so long, and which the airlines have been pursuing, would be shuffled out of by means of a Written Answer to which people cannot reply?

§ Lord Cockfield
My Lords, there will be plenty of opportunity for the noble Baroness to make her views known when she has seen the terms of the Answer.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that a Written Answer on a matter of this importance is really not good enough? It is not satisfactory, and will he be good enough to consult his right honourable friend the Prime Minister and his other right honourable friends in order to ensure that there is made in both Houses a Statement instead of a Written Answer?

§ Lord Cockfield
My Lords, it is in fact standard practice for Statements of this kind to be made in reply to Questions for Written Answer. It would be difficult to say that this matter, which relates solely to the question of financing the costs of security, is of such overriding public interest that it demands an oral Statement in your Lordships' House, to the detriment of the other business on the Order Paper.

§ Lord Wigoder
My Lords, which Member of your Lordships' House has asked the Question to which the Written Answer is to be given tomorrow?

§ Lord Cockfield
My Lords, I imagine that such a Question will appear on the Order Paper when it is published.

§ Lord Wynne-Jones
My Lords, does not the noble Lord agree that a mere exercise in one-upmanship is not a substitute for a reasoned Answer?

§ Lord Cockfield
My Lords, this is not an exercise in one-upmanship; it is an exercise in trying to make the information available at the earliest possible date. I dealt with the matter finally only this morning. The terms of the Statement have not yet been settled. I should have thought that the noble Lord would appreciate my dealing with the matter with such speed, instead of following what no doubt he regards as the normal practice of taking more time.

§ Lord Glenamara
My Lords, will the noble Lord say how my noble friend can pursue this matter before the middle of October?

§ Lord Cockfield
My Lords, I was under the impression—and I thought that the noble Lord also knew—that your Lordships' House will be sitting next week.

§ Lord Beswick
My Lords, is it not a coincidence that we were asked to approve the order relating to air security charges last week, instead of after the outcome of the review is known?

§ Lord Cockfield
No, my Lords; the effect of the order last week was to reduce the security charge. I should be surprised if the noble Lord felt that the security charge should not have been reduced.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords,—

§ The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Young)
My Lords, we have now had five minutes on this matter—

Several noble Lords
Oh!

§ Baroness Young
I appreciate that your Lordships very much want to know what is in the Statement which will be given by way of a Written Answer tomorrow. As has already been indicated, the House does not rise until Tuesday, and there will of course be other opportunities to pursue the matter. May I suggest that we take one more supplementary question, and then move on to the next Question.

§ The Earl of Cork and Orrery
My Lords, as the Question for Written Answer has apparently not yet been set down and the oral Question by the noble Baroness, Lady Burton of Coventry, has been on the Order Paper for some time, would my noble friend explain why it was not possible to give an answer to the noble Baroness in order that she should have the opportunity to ask a supplementary?

§ Lord Cockfield
My Lords, a full and comprehensive reply was given to the noble Baroness's Question, which read as follows: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are in a position to announce the date". That I have answered.

§ The Earl of Cork and Orrery
There has been no opportunity for a supplementary.

§ Lord Cockfield
The answer to it is that a Statement will be made tomorrow. It would have been perfectly possible, I may say, if the noble Earl's object is to try 230 to meet the noble Baroness's interest in this matter, which has been evidenced over a long period of time, to have decided to make the Statement in a week's time; but I cannot see what advantage that would have compared with the decision that I in fact took, which was to make the Statement as soon as possible, which is tomorrow.

§ Baroness Burton of Coventry
My Lords, may I ask the noble Baroness the Leader of the House whether she can help—because perhaps I misheard what the noble Lord said, and we have got rather lost with all these exchanges. I thought I heard the noble Lord say that it would not be helpful to make a Statement tomorrow in this House because that would be to the detriment of the business in another place. I do not think that has anything to do with it, but that is certainly what I understood him to say. I do not know whether the Leader of the House could help us, in view of the contributions we have had from all sides of the House. It may be a most excellent Statement, but we have not seen it. Could she possibly use her influence to see whether we could have an oral Statement tomorrow?

§ Baroness Young
My Lords, as the House knows, it is quite common practice to have Statements by way of Written Answer. I have used this means myself already in the course of the last year, and I think all Ministers do at some stage or another. It is really a decision which would usually rest with the Minister responsible for the department. It is a matter, I recognise, about which the House feels very strongly indeed, and we all know of the noble Baroness's interest in this matter. I will, of course, reflect on what has been said in your Lordships' House today, but I hope that both the noble Baroness and the House will feel that my noble friend, in giving the reply that he did today, has actually followed what is quite normal practice. The House will have an opportunity, when the Statement is published tomorrow, to see what it is that the Government have in mind on this particular matter, and I hope noble Lords will feel that that is not in any sense an unusual procedure.