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Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow): Has my right hon. Friend had a moment to glance at the amazing, bewildering, breathtaking, fascinating and mind-boggling second report of the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs on "The Operation of Multi-Layer Democracy"? Not since Rip van Winkle, or at least since St. Paul was struck on the road to Damascus, has there been anything quite like it. Has she read paragraph 32, which states:

"Two aspects of the way in which the constitutional reform is being implemented give us particular cause for concern. One is the belated addressing of the English dimension."?

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Well, better late than never, but where on earth have our colleagues been all this time? Is it not about time that the House of Commons addressed itself seriously to what is actually happening to the constitution of this country and in Scotland?

Mrs. Beckett: I must confess that I have not committed to memory every word of the report to which my hon. Friend refers. I have a further confession to make: the connection he makes with Rip van Winkle escapes me for the moment, although I am sure that if I think about it afterwards, I shall realise what it is--I shall work on that. I can say only that I know and understand my hon. Friend's strong views about devolution, which he has held for many years. However, regardless of the evidence given to the Select Committee, the remarks made or opinions quoted, I understand that the report welcomes the Government's proposals overall.

Mr. Ian Bruce (South Dorset): I am sure that the right hon. Lady is aware that I asked her predecessor many times whether we could have a debate on the inordinate amount of time that Ministers take to reply to letters from Members of Parliament. She will probably also know that I put a series of questions to Ministers asking how long they took to reply to such letters. My questions were referred to a report that was published just before the summer recess. However, the report told us what had happened in 1997, not 1998--which is not satisfactory.

I draw the attention of the Leader of the House to a letter that I received from the Department of Social Security in response to a question about why pensioners in my constituency had been told that they would receive a guaranteed minimum income of £75 a week. After three and a half months, the reply eventually came that there is no guaranteed minimum income of £75 a week because people must have less than £3,000 in savings in order to qualify. Why must we wait three and a half months to discover that our constituents have been misled in that way?

Mrs. Beckett: I do not intend to sound as though I am treating the hon. Gentleman's concerns about answers to letters trivially. That is an important matter, and I know that all my colleagues do their utmost to answer correspondence as speedily as possible. However, as to the specific issue to which he referred, I take it that he was asking a rhetorical question as I am quite sure that the hon. Gentleman is much too intelligent not to have known the answer before he wrote the letter.

Mr. Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston): Has my right hon. Friend noticed the rather strident language that has been used today? Lord Pilkington described Lord Cranborne's deal as his "crowning glory", while theDaily Mail described the actions of the Leader of the Opposition as "treason". In light of those comments, will my right hon. Friend provide time for a debate about constitutional reform? Finally, in light of Baroness Strange's departure to the Cross Benches and the changing balance of power in the other place, can my right hon. Friend give an assurance that the Government will not lose their resolve to reform the hereditary peerage system?

Mrs. Beckett: I am aware of the remarks to which my hon. Friend referred. Every time one turns on the

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television one learns that a fresh member of the Conservative Front Bench in the House of Lords has departed--no doubt as a vote of confidence in the party's overall leadership. Although I sympathise with my hon. Friend's request to have an enjoyable and amusing debate in what is normally a festive season, I fear that I cannot undertake to find time for it.

Mr. Peter Brooke (Cities of London and Westminster): I thank the Leader of the House for her courtesy in responding to questions put to her by the Northern Ireland Select Committee about the powers of Select Committees in the devolved territories and remind her that we corresponded about that issue in July and November. Is the Leader of the House aware that the deadline for settling those matters is 1 February? Although we are making progress, I hope that that deadline is firmly in the Government's mind.

Mrs. Beckett: I am extremely grateful to the right hon. Gentleman both for his kind remarks and for the manner in which he has raised the issue. If by any chance the matter was not strongly in people's minds, I assure him that it will be from now on.

Mr. John Cryer (Hornchurch): The Leader of the House will be aware that the chief fire officer for London proposes to cut five fire pumps across Greater London. That proposal comes on top of the removal of 14 fire pumps in the three years since the docklands bombing. It is also proposed to cut one of two pumps in my constituency--a move that will be resisted every inch of the way. The legislation governing the fire service, the Fire Services Act 1947, is woefully out of date and in need of review. Could we have a debate or at least a statement about that matter?

Mrs. Beckett: As my hon. Friend has correctly identified, that legislation has been on the statute book for some time. Responsibility for provision of the fire service rests locally with the fire authority, but my hon. Friend will be aware that the approval of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is required if such an authority wishes to reduce the number of stations, appliances or fire-fighting posts. I understand that no application has been received to date from the London fire and civil defence authority in respect of Hornchurch fire station.

As a result of the announcement by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister yesterday, the fire service standard spending assessment for London should increase by almost £10 million--or 3.8 per cent. That may assist to some degree with the difficulties identified by my hon. Friend. I take his point about the concern regarding those issues, but I fear that I cannot offer to provide a debate or a statement before Christmas.

Mr. Gareth R. Thomas (Harrow, West): Bearing in mind the current confusion in the ranks of the Conservative party to which my right hon. Friend correctly referred, can she confirm whether the progress of the European Parliamentary Elections Bill--which was supported by a majority of hon. Members many times last night--will continue to be impeded by hereditary peers in the other place?

Mrs. Beckett: My hon. Friend asks a very interesting and pertinent question. I am grateful for the opportunity

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to put on record Labour Front Benchers' appreciation of the devotion to duty shown by many of our hon. Friends on the Back Benches who toiled through the Division Lobby on many occasions last night. I share my hon. Friend's hope that we are well on the way to disposing of the Bill. It is not yet entirely clear what attitude will be adopted in another place--whether as a consequence of the potential agreement or otherwise--but it is not impossible that we may finally be able to dispose of the matter in a manner that allows the efficient conduct of elections. That seems to me to be common sense.

Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West): The right hon. Lady's answer to the question from the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) was no less extraordinary for the fact that I drew her attention to the report at business questions last week. On that occasion, she replied that she did not read The Herald of Glasgow. So that we maybe ready for next week's business--particularly Wednesday's business--will the Leader of the House ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to be prepared to explain why he is now so ready to use the veto on tax harmonisation measures when he signed up to that agenda by acquiescing in "The European Way"?

Mrs. Beckett: I remind the hon. Gentleman that last week he asked me to comment on a leak reported in The Herald, not a Select Committee report that was published only today. I am sure that he has been in the House long enough to know that it would have been wrong for me to pre-empt the publication of a Select Committee report.

As for his remarks on tax harmonisation and the views of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it is a constant source of astonishment to me that Opposition Members forget that the only taxation powers given up were those surrendered by the Conservative Government under the Maastricht treaty and on other occasions. For example, we could not reduce value added tax on fuel any further than 5 per cent. because of an agreement made by the Conservatives in government. Opposition Members also complain frequently about the use of the qualified majority vote. I remind the hon. Gentleman that no Labour Government ever gave up the veto: that was the Conservatives' doing.

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