§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in elaboration of their reply to her Written Question of 12th December last (col. 454), they will give details of the further information which has been received.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Glenarthur)My Lords, following the receipt of comments from Independent Television Publications Ltd. and from the BBC, I wrote to the noble Baroness on 27th January summarising the views of those two organisations, and a copy of my letter was placed in the Library.
§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, inadvertently, and through no fault of the Minister, I have been placed in a very difficult position about this, as I received the information only on Tuesday. The Question was tabled some four weeks ago. Does the Minister agree that possibly the proximity of his Answer today hastened procedures at the other end? Secondly, may I ask the Minister this. As there is considerable parliamentary and public interest in the publication of the Radio Times and the TV Times, if I table a Written Question will the Minister feel able to provide the House with a Written Answer in Hansard giving the details of what he said to me?
§ Lord Henderson of BromptonMy Lords—
§ Lord GlenarthurMy Lords, if I may answer the noble Baroness so far as the first part of her supplementary question is concerned, No. I can tell her that we received one of the comments only a matter of two or three days before I wrote to the noble Baroness. If the noble Baroness would like to ask a Written Question, then I shall certainly provide all the information in the form of a Written Answer.
§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Lord.
§ Lord Henderson of BromptonMy Lords, I am sorry to have risen a little early. I was rather agitated because it is not possible to find out, either from the text of the Question or from the Answer, what all this is about.
§ Lord GlenarthurMy Lords, if I refer the noble Lord to the exchange which took place on 28th November about anti-competitive practices and the publishing of 788 information, which concerned the question of whether or not broadcasting companies could publish information about their programmes for more than two days at a time, I hope that may help the noble Lord. I can certainly let him have details.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that if we could achieve a single weekly publication in which we could have the ITV, the BBC and radio programmes in a single magazine, it would perform a service which would be appreciated by all noble Lords in this House and, I think, by people outside it?
§ Lord GlenarthurMy Lords, that is a question which goes wide of that on the Order Paper.