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Mr. Harry Barnes (North-East Derbyshire): Twice at Prime Minister's Question Time the Prime Minister has
promised me and the House that electoral registration figures for England and Wales will be made available to the House by the end of March. The problem is that the end of March falls during Easter and there is a distinct possibility that the House will not return after Easter. Will the Leader of the House make a commitment that those figures will be available to the House before Dissolution and in sufficient time for hon. Members to raise through the procedures of the House any matters that arise from those figures?
Mr. Newton: A number of answers have been given to the hon. Gentleman in recent weeks by both the Prime Minister and me. It is not for me to make commitments on behalf of the Office for National Statistics, but my information is that the last of the forms that it needs have just been received and when the data are checked, the office plans to publish the figures on 26 March as agreed.
Mr. Jacques Arnold (Gravesham): May we have a debate next week on grant-maintained schools, such as St. John's Roman Catholic comprehensive school in my constituency, during which we could highlight the considerable dangers to such schools of up to 15 per cent. of their education funds being clawed back by the local education authority and the possibility of the appointment of political governors on the governing bodies of such schools were Labour's policies to be implemented?
Mr. Newton: That sounds like an extension of, or an addition to, the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Kent (Mr. Rowe). I am tempted to suggest that my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Mr. Arnold) might seek another Wednesday morning debate on these matters, as the last one was very effective--even if it has not produced the necessary changes that he would like to see. However, that is not a matter for me to determine.
Mr. John Gunnell (Morley and Leeds, South): When the Select Committee report on ministerial accountability was debated in the House, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said that he would attempt to bring to the House a resolution on ministerial accountability that was agreed by all parties before Parliament dissolved. Can the
Leader of the House report what progress has been made in that regard, and what prospect there is of the resolution being put to the House?
Mr. Newton: I understand that that remains my right hon. Friend's hope, and that he has made further progress in consultation with the authorities in this place and with those concerned with such matters in another place. I shall bring the hon. Gentleman's question to his attention.
Mr. John Marshall (Hendon, South): Will my right hon. Friend arrange for a debate on crime and sentencing, during which I could welcome the fact that crime on the London Underground has decreased by 20 per cent. in the past year? If those trends are mirrored nationally, 1996 will see the fourth year of recorded reductions in crime in Britain--the first four-year reduction since records began. I would also condemn the weasel way in which those who were afraid to oppose the Crime (Sentences) Bill in the House have sought to sabotage it in another place.
Mr. Newton: I share my hon. Friend's views on the latter point. As to London Underground, I was not aware of those encouraging statistics, but I am sure that the whole House will find them heartening.
Mr. Stuart Bell (Middlesbrough): As my hon. Friend the Member for Dewsbury (Mrs. Taylor) said, the Leader of the House is an honourable man and he has not misled the House by not announcing the dates of the Easter recess. However, would he agree that the way is now open for the announcement of a general election on the 20th of the month? The business of the House could be tidied up on 24 and 25 March, there could be a Royal Proclamation on 1 April, and a general election on 24 April. I do not ask the right hon. Gentleman to speculate: I simply ask him to agree that this is a valid scenario.
Mr. Newton: From where I sit, it sounded perilously close to asking me to speculate. I have no more intention of doing so with the hon. Gentleman--despite the fact that he is a quite reasonable man--than with anyone else. As he well knows, there is a little green book in the Library that sets out all the dates of every possible occurrence from last October until the end of May.
Points of Order
4.2 pm
Mr. Harry Greenway (Ealing, North): On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Bearing in mind the serious discourtesy to the House displayed by a Member of Parliament in leaking the report of the Select Committee on Education and Employment about nursery education--even before it was completed last evening, judging by the inaccurate representations that have appeared in the press--I ask you to protect the standards of the House by having each member of the Select Committee interviewed with a view to establishing who leaked that very important document so that that hon. Member may make her apologies to the House.
Madam Speaker: As I am sure the hon. Gentleman is aware--he may recall the wise words of the Leader of the House at the Dispatch Box a few moments ago--the issue is a matter for the Committee to investigate. The Committee has full authority to investigate the matter itself, and it can proceed to do so at any time. The Committee may then wish to report the matter for action to the House.
I fully support the comments made by the Prime Minister today at the Dispatch Box. Speaking for myself, I have nothing but disdain for individuals who give our working documents and unpublished reports to the press before they are available to the House.
Mr. Michael Brown (Brigg and Cleethorpes):
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker:
I have just given a ruling.
Mr. Brown:
It is a different point.
Madam Speaker:
No. The matter is concluded. I have said absolutely everything that I needed to say. I gave the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Greenway) an opportunity, and I have now made my ruling.
Mr. Clive Soley (Hammersmith):
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. My point arises from the procedure of Select Committees. I understand that it is always open to an hon. Member who is serving on a Select Committee, even if he or she is out of the Room when a decision is reached in that Committee, to express dissent in the ensuing report, as long as he or she does so--
Mr. Soley:
That is as long as he or she does so before the report is finally published and before it is recorded in the report.
Mr. Brown:
I did, and I want that recorded now.
Mr. Soley:
I do not raise the matter in relation to the hon. Member for Brigg and Cleethorpes (Mr. Brown), who is calling out from a sedentary position. I am not referring to the hon. Gentleman. The House will know that some comments have been made on the radio to the effect that Members who have been outside the Room and
Madam Speaker:
The hon. Gentleman, who is very experienced, is absolutely correct. Reports that we read in the newspapers and hear on the radio are not always as accurate as we are in the House.
Mr. Brown:
Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. The point of order that I wish to raise follows directly from the point of order made by the hon. Member for Hammersmith (Mr. Soley). I wish to place it on record that I voted against the report. That is why I wonder whether it is possible for the Select Committee to print the report now so that I can assure the nation that I voted against the report.
Madam Speaker:
I think that the hon. Gentleman has done very well in informing the nation of his views on the subject.
Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow):
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. This point of order is not about informing the nation but concerns your unfulfilled expectations. When responding to points of order on 11 March you said:
"The Minister said that he would respond as soon as possible".
You added,
"and I expect him to do so."--[Official Report, 11 March 1997; Vol. 292, c. 145.]
I was a parliamentary colleague of Bernadette McAliskey. I was not one of her greatest admirers by any means, but I think that in addressing our first woman Speaker of the House I should say something about Bernadette McAliskey's daughter, who is pregnant, who is being held in prison in unacceptable conditions. The House should be told about the matter. To treat pregnant women in prison like this--
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