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Mr. Newton: I hope to provide many opportunities to debate education in the new year when we publish the
Education (Student Loans) Bill relating to nursery and grant-maintained schools to which the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Mrs. Taylor) adverted in her opening question.
Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North): I am glad that there seems to be broad agreement in the House about the need to tighten legislation on knives. In view of the terrible tragedies that have occurred and which I mentioned on Monday, why is it necessary for the Home Secretary to nit-pick with my hon. Friend the shadow Home Secretary? Would not it be useful if the Home Secretary were to come to the House early next week and say that he will meet my hon. Friend to see what agreement could be reached, including the possibility-- only the possibility--of making it more difficult to purchase knives in the first instance? Since there is broad agreement, why is the Home Secretary adopting a totally unnecessary confrontational style? The public recognise the need for action, and the House should deal with that.
Mr. Newton: I do not think that my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary has adopted a confrontational style. He has sought to assist in the rapid response to the considerable public concern about an important matter. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for indicating his support for the basic propositions in the Bill brought forward by my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Lady Olga Maitland).
Mr. John Wilkinson (Ruislip-Northwood) Why has it been decided to postpone the debate on the common fisheries policy, which my right hon. Friend announced last Thursday for yesterday, until next Tuesday? Do not the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and others involved in the European Fisheries Council meeting at the end of next week, need the maximum amount of time to consider the representations made during the debate, so that the Government's policy on fishing may accord as much as possible with the will of the House?
Mr. Newton: The arrangement of business for the three days on which the House is sitting next week has proved rather complicated--as the House will have realised from the business I read out. It simply seemed more sensible to do it in the way I announced this afternoon. Nevertheless, the fisheries debate will be in good time to meet the primary need for a debate before the Fisheries Council which, as my hon. Friend said, is later in the week.
Mr. Harry Barnes (North-East Derbyshire): As we are approaching the season of good will in which families are drawn together, should not we discuss the position in Northern Ireland, where at least 258 people have been placed in exile by paramilitary groups? The families of the disappeared are still seeking the bodies of the people who have been killed. Last night, two so-called Punishment beatings took place in the course of which people were kneecapped. This would surely be an appropriate time to discuss those problems and to put the matter in the correct context.
Mr. Newton: I cannot undertake to find time for a debate, at least not next week. However, I am sure that there will be widespread approval in the House for the implication of the hon. Gentleman's remarks--that we would all like an end to that kind of activity in the
interests of the families and people involved, and of progress towards a satisfactory outcome in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Harry Greenway (Eating, North): May we have a debate next week on suitable locations for education referral units for secondary pupils, so that I can tell the House about the most senseless suggestion by Ealing's Labour council--that Oldfield primary school in Greenford is a suitable location for such a centre? The council's other suggestion is that a building in Islip Manor park, Northolt would be a suitable location for such a unit.
Mr. George Foulkes (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley): Oh, God.
Mr. Greenway: I am being interrupted and shouted at by the hon. Member for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (Mr. Foulkes). If he does not defend his constituency, I defend mine. Those units are not suitable for the places I mentioned in my constituency, and the unit should be referred to the Elthorne youth centre, which would be much more suitable.
Mr. Newton: If my hon. Friend, who is certainly a doughty defender of his constituency, were to choose to appear on Wednesday morning and raise that matter in the three-hour debate to which I have already referred, I shall try to ensure that I have an answer.
Mr. Flynn: When may we debate the surprising information in a letter from the Minister for Transport in London which says that the Department of Transport, after careful, scientific calculations, has come to the conclusion that company cars are 30 to 50 per cent. more dangerous than private cars? That means an additional, probably avoidable, 6,500 to 9,250 accidents a year.
One would expect company cars to be safer, because they are driven by mature, experienced drivers; the cars are new and well maintained; and they are driven on motorways, which are safer than normal roads. Is not it vital that we have a debate to discuss how to avoid such a large number of accidents? Probably, the explanation is that the drivers do not own their cars and do not drive as safely as drivers with a financial interest in their cars.
Mr. Newton:
If the hon. Gentleman's explanation is right, I suggest that it gives rise to a number of general points on which Opposition Members might like to reflect. I have not seen the letter, and the right course for me is to draw the hon. Gentleman's question to the attention of my hon. Friend the Minister for Transport in London.
Mr. Michael Fabricant (Mid-Staffordshire):
Will my right hon. Friend consider finding time for a debate on the operation of Standing Committees following the Nolan report? He will be aware that before I entered the House I was involved in the broadcasting industry for 20 years, supplying finance and services to broadcasting companies from Indonesia to Chile and from Botswana to Iceland-- as well as to the BBC and Capital Radio here in London. Yet I now understand that I will not be allowed to serve on the Committee considering the Broadcasting Bill. Is that a general rule: do knowledge and qualification to discuss a subject constitute disqualification from serving on the relevant Standing Committee?
Mr. Newton:
I have seen my hon. Friend's letter to Sir Gordon Downey--I hope he will not mind my
Mr. Gordon Prentice (Pendle):
May I again press the Leader of the House for an early debate on the state of the textile industry? Two weeks ago I told him about the 129 job losses at Bairdtex in Trawden, in my constituency. This time last week I told him about the 50 job losses at Smith and Nephew. This week 61 jobs are to go at the Carrington Viyella Holmefield mill in Barrowford, where colour woven fabrics will no longer be made in any quantity. Jobs are haemorrhaging from the textile industry, which used to be the economic mainstay of my area. That is a proper issue for an urgent debate.
Mr. Newton:
I cannot promise a dedicated debate, but I would once again draw attention to the opportunities next Wednesday morning, when the Leader of the House will have a chance to make some comments.
Mr. George Foulkes (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley):
I should like to back up what my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice) has just said. If there is such a debate, we can also, I hope, debate the carpet industry. In my constituency a number of jobs have been lost in the Richards carpet factory, thereby creating tremendous problems. Many hon. Members on both sides of the House would welcome an opportunity for such a debate, so I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will give it serious consideration.
Mr. Newton:
I always give serious consideration to points that deserve it--and those raised by both hon. Members undoubtedly do. For the moment, however, I must point yet again to Wednesday morning, which increasingly looks as if it is going to be quite a busy time for me.
Madam Speaker's Statement
4.2 pm
Madam Speaker: I too have a short statement to make about Wednesday mornings. As the House knows, under the new Standing Order No. 10 the period from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm on three Wednesday mornings in each Session is allocated to Select Committee reports chosen by the Liaison Committee.
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