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Several hon. Members rose--

Madam Speaker: We shall now move on to the business statement.

14 Oct 1996 : Column 474

Business of the House

4.6 pm

The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Tony Newton): Madam Speaker, I should like to make a short business statement. The business for this week will be as follows:

Monday 14 October and Tuesday 15 October--Debate on a Government motion to approve the Defence Estimates 1996 (Cm 3223).

At the end on Tuesday--motion on the Asylum (Designated Countries of Destination and Designated Safe Third Countries) Order.

Motion to suspend further proceedings on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Bill until the next Session of Parliament.

Wednesday 16 October--Until 2.30 pm, there will be debates on the motion for the Adjournment of the House.

Debate on a motion to take note of the outstanding reports of the Public Accounts Committee to which the Government have replied. Details will be given in the Official Report.

The House will also wish to now that on Tuesday 15 October, there will be a debate on the Merger Regulation in European Standing Committee B.

Details of the relevant documents will be given in the Official Report.

The House will meet for prorogation at 9.30 am on Thursday 17 October and the new Session will be opened on Wednesday 23 October.

[Tuesday 15 October: European Standing Committee B--Relevant European Community Document: No. 9961/96, The Merger Regulation. Relevant European Legislation Committee Report: HC 51-xxvi (1995-96).

Wednesday 16 October: Debate on a motion to take note of the outstanding reports of the Public Accounts Committee to which the Government have replied. The relevant reports are as follows:

Number	Report Title	HC Number	Date of publication
Reports Session 1994-95
41	MOD: Management of the Capital Works Programme	454	22 November
42	NHS: Outpatient Services in England and Wales	448	23 November
43	Medical Research Council: Sale of the Mount Vernon Site, Hampstead	502	29 November
44	MOD: Major Projects Report 1994	487	30 November
45	Sale of County Hall (Riverside Building) to Shirayama Shokusan Company Ltd	408	6 December
46	MOD: The Risks of Fraud in Defence Procurement	365	7 December
47	London Docklands Development Corporation: The Limehouse Link	574	13 December
Reports Session 1995-96
1	Department of Social Security: Appropriation Accounts 1993-94: Child Support Agency	31	20 December
2	Health Care International (Scotland) Ltd	32	21 December
3	Health and Personal Social Services in Northern Ireland (Transport Services)	55	17 January
4	Community Economic Regeneration Scheme and Community Regeneration and Improvement Special Programme	56	18 January
5	Financial Controls in Training and Enterprise Councils	108	24 January
6	A Review of the Controls Over Indirectly Funded Operations of the Metropolitan Police Service	109	25 January
7	The Meteorological Office Executive Agency: Evaluation of Performance	216	28 February
8	Department of Social Security and Benefits Agency: Purchase of Postal and Courier Services	232	29 February
9	Protecting and Presenting Scotland's Heritage properties	233	6 March
10	The Annual Report of the European Court of Auditors and the Statement of Assurance	250	13 March
11	Selective Financial Assistance for Tourism in Northern Ireland	266	14 March
12	Selective Financial Assistance for Tourism in Northern Ireland	267	20 March
13	The Operations of the Student Loans Company Ltd	110	21 March
14	Excess Votes 1994-95	285	27 March
15	Financial Viability of the Teachers' Superannuation Scheme (England and Wales)	158	15 May
16	Metropolitan Police Service: Responding to Calls from the Public	33	16 May
17	The Prison Service (England and Wales): Qualification of Audit Opinion and Report on Excess Vote Expenditure	234	22 May
18	BBC World Service	206	5 June
19	Department of Social Security: Appropriation Accounts 1994-95: Class XIII Vote I	224	6 June
20	Overseas Development Administration: Health and Population	277	12 June
21	Ministry of Defence: Management of Fire Risks Intervention Board for Agricultural	257	13 June
22	Produce: Preventing, Detecting and Acting on Irregularities	238	26 June
23	National Heritage Memorial Fund Account 1994-95, Replacement of an Accounting Officer	199	27 June
24	Inland Revenue Department: Account Matters	217	3 July
25	Civil Legal Aid Means Testing	314	4 July
26	Education and Library Boards (Northern Ireland) Maintenance of Board Property	269	10 July
27	Department of the Environment: Castlecourt Shopping Centre Belfast--Arrangements for Clawback of urban Development Grant	268	10 July
28	Home Office: Sale of Dtels	151	11 July
29	H M Treasury: Sale of the Government Debt in British Telecommunications and the Privatised Electricity Companies	286	17 July
30	Ministry of Defence: Management of Works of Art	337	18 July
31	Clinical Audit in England	304	24 July
32	Sale of London Buses	251	25 July
33	HM Customs and Excise: Checking Claims for Repayment of VAT	181	8 August
34	The Management of Sickness Absence in Her Majesty's the Land Registry	307	2 August
35	HM Customs and Excise: Account Matters	29	19 August
36	Vehicle Excise Duty: Evasion and Enforcement	375	1 August
37	Home Office Support for Voluntary Organisations	376	7 August
38	Lord Chancellor's Department and the Court Service: Handling Small Claims in the County Courts	410	26 July
39	NAO Estimates 1996-97	176	14 August
40	NIAO Estimates 1996-97	177	14 August
41	Evaluating the Applications to run the National Lottery and the Director General's Travel and Hospitality Arrangements	96	31 July]

14 Oct 1996 : Column 477

Mr. Tom Cox (Tooting): In view of that statement, will the Leader of the House say whether there is to be a statement from someone at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about the brutal murder in Cyprus at the weekend of an unarmed Greek Cypriot, which followed two equally brutal murders--

Madam Speaker: Order. The hon. Gentleman has been a Member of the House long enough to know that the business statement is narrow and deals with only two matters. The Leader of the House is responsible only for the short statement that he has made and the debate cannot be widened. We shall now move on to the defence estimates.

Mr. Peter Hain (Neath): On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Have you had notice from the Government of a statement on the death last Thursday of two Neath council workers who were poisoned in a local sewer? More than 100 people were so badly affected that they had to be admitted to hospital. Surely, there should be a public inquiry into the incident--it is a serious matter when lethal substances are illegally dumped in a sewer. If it can happen in Neath, it could happen throughout Wales or, indeed, Britain. Something must be done about it.

Madam Speaker: I have not been informed that any Minister is seeking to make a statement on that matter.

14 Oct 1996 : Column 478

DEFENCE ESTIMATES

[First Day]

[Relevant document: The Seventh Report from the Defence Committee of Session 1995-96, entitled 'Statement on the Defence Estimates 1996', House of Commons Paper No. 215.]

Madam Speaker: I have selected the amendment standing in the name of the Leader of the Opposition.

4.9 pm

The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Michael Portillo): I beg to move,

That this House approves the Statement on the Defence Estimates 1996 contained in Cm. 3223.

I welcome the opportunity for the House to debate the "Statement on the Defence Estimates", and the Select Committee's report. I also want to report to the House on developments since the House last met.

It is common ground that Britain's armed forces are highly disciplined, professional and effective--a credit to themselves and to the nation. That high regard has been sustained by their work in Northern Ireland. Few other armed services could have dealt with such a delicate situation so well. They provide security and reassurance to the Province, without being heavy-handed. The private soldier and the non-commissioned officer handle provocation with exemplary self-control.

Throughout the ceasefire our forces remained alert, aware that it could end at any time. Now that it has ended they face again the bomb, the mortar and the sniper's fire.

The House will condemn the bomb attack on HQ Northern Ireland. It was savage and it was intended to plunge the Province into a mayhem of terrorist action and counter-action. It cost Warrant Officer Bradwell his life, and the House will be thinking of his family, and all those who were injured, to whom we extend our sympathy and our respects.

I do not wish to rush to comment on how security was breached. The Royal Ulster Constabulary is conducting a criminal investigation and the Army is mounting a security investigation in parallel. The Army has applied new measures that it thinks necessary, and I want it exhaustively to analyse the evidence from Monday's bomb, to draw final conclusions about what happened and what can be learnt.

Through so many years of violence, the terrorist has not shaken our resolve--not the resolve of the people of Northern Ireland, nor of those on the mainland, nor of those in the armed forces. The political process demonstrates that reconciliation can be achieved between those committed to democratic means. Change can be effected, but only if it is the will of the people of Northern Ireland. The armed forces remain there, supporting the police, so that, in Northern Ireland as in every other part of the United Kingdom, the people can determine how they are governed.

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