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Mrs. Beckett: I cannot undertake to find time in the very near future for such a debate, but I accept my hon. Friend's point that these are both important and extraordinarily difficult matters. I know that my right hon. and hon. Friends will welcome all serious contributions to the debate. As my hon. Friend knows, this is a very long-running problem, and will no doubt continue to be so.
Mr. Peter Brooke (Cities of London and Westminster): May I support the request of the hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) for a debate on the pharmaceutical industry, but for an alternative reason to that which he adduced: so that we can celebrate the companies' massive research programmes, which often stretch 25 years ahead, are a model to other industries and are one of the reasons why we maintain world-class companies in that field?
Mrs. Beckett: I am entirely at one with the right hon. Gentleman in welcoming the strength of the research effort in the pharmaceutical industry, its commercial success, and the success in delivering health care that that has brought. I suspect, though, that he shares the view of my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) that, at times, some of the steps that are taken do not help.
Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover): My right hon. Friend will have heeded the case in the constituency of my hon.
Friend the Member for North-East Derbyshire(Mr. Barnes), involving a woman who had her breast removed when she did not, in fact, have cancer. Another case has now emerged in the north Derbyshire area, in the Bolsover constituency, and we know that not all the cases in which the pathologist was involved have been investigated.
As we know, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health is launching an investigation. It would be helpful if he could make a statement, so that we could call upon him to arrange an investigation of all such cases at the Chesterfield Royal hospital over the past 10 years, so that all the patients who have had treatment there, and who in some cases have had a breast removed, can be assured that everything was carried out properly.
Mrs. Beckett:
As my hon. Friend correctly says, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has announced an investigation. Perhaps it is a little early for him to come to the House with any fruits of that investigation, but I know that he shares, as does the entire House, the sympathy that has been expressed for the patients involved, after the terrible ordeal that they and their families have undergone. I am sure that my right hon. Friend is aware of the scope suggested by my hon. Friend for the investigation, but I undertake to draw it to his attention nevertheless.
Mr. Howard Flight (Arundel and South Downs):
The Leader of the House is no doubt aware that PEPs and TESSAs come to an end in the near future, with the Government's new ISA being introduced. The Chancellor's statement on stamp duty has caused a large number of proposed ISA schemes to be cancelled, owing to its lack of clarity. Would the right hon. Lady please ask the Chancellor to get the Treasury to issue clarification of the implications of that statement, in order that ISAs can be offered?
Mrs. Beckett:
If there is any confusion, I am sure my right hon. Friend would not wish that to harm the launch of ISAs or the opportunities being made available to people. I will draw the hon. Gentleman's remarks to his attention. The hon. Gentleman will have observed that there are Treasury Questions on the first day back, and also that there will be the Second Reading of the Finance Bill quite early on.
Mr. Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield):
May I ask my right hon. Friend to ensure that, as soon as possible, notification is given to the House on the progress of negotiations between the Government and BMW to secure £1.7 billion worth of investment in the Longbridge plant? Of course I understand that those negotiations are at a delicate stage, and no one who wants a successful conclusion would wish to add in the Chamber to the rather frenzied press speculation. However, much is at stake--50,000 jobs. Can the House have notification as soon as possible?
Mrs. Beckett:
I am well aware, as is the House, of my hon. Friend's long interest in and great support for the manufacturing plant at Longbridge, and of how much he, with his colleagues, has done to help to maintain sound
Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate):
I thank the right hon. Lady for finding another day for the defence in the world debate. Can she tell the House the reasons for today's business being held on a motion for the Adjournment, rather than on a substantive motion, which, I understand, has been the previous practice when troops have been put into action?
Mrs. Beckett:
I sympathise with the hon. Gentleman, as there seems to rather a lot of misinformation on the matter. I perfectly understand that he may be under the impression that that is the natural precedent. Not so. There are only about two examples over the past 50 years when such a debate has been held on a substantive motion. One of those was in 1991 on the Gulf war, and that was by agreement between the then Government and the Opposition, because the Opposition wished to make plain their full support for the Government. The tradition and the norm have been that when our troops are in conflict, the debate is held on the Adjournment, so that no question can be raised about the overall support of the House for our troops at a time of peril.
Mr. Ben Bradshaw (Exeter):
Will my right hon. Friend find time for an urgent debate on the role of the media during the current conflict? As a former BBC correspondent, I was appalled to hear the Radio 5 Live phone-in this morning. On a panel of five people, there were two Serbs, Mr. Paul Routledge--a Serb apologist, my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn), and one retired Army officer--the only one of the panel of five who spoke in favour of the action, and he could not do so forcefully, of course, because he was not a politician. Does not my right hon. Friend agree that that is a complete abdication of responsibility by the BBC, on the day that our men and women are risking their lives for this country?
Mrs. Beckett:
I know that my hon. Friend is strongly in favour of freedom of speech and freedom of the media, but many people will share his concern that that requires full exploration of all points of view, not merely of one. I doubt whether he would want us to debate that matter at this time, but I suspect that he and others will return to it.
Mr. John Wilkinson (Ruislip-Northwood):
Could the Leader of the House ask the Home Secretary to come to the House on Monday to make a statement about the exercise of his responsibilities, to which the Law Lords referred yesterday in their opinion on the Pinochet case? Obviously it would be inappropriate for hon. Members to comment on the merits of the application for extradition preferred by the Spanish judicial authorities, but at the very least, should not we be able to question the Home Secretary on the cost of the whole matter, both to the British taxpayer and to our relations with Chile and to British interests in that country?
Mrs. Beckett:
The matter is sub judice, as the hon. Gentleman is aware. I rather doubt whether such a debate could be held without straying beyond the matter of the
Mr. David Borrow (South Ribble):
I am sure that my right hon. Friend will join me in congratulating the British film industry on its success at the recent awards ceremony in America, which reinforces the industry's importance to the British economy. Will she consider finding time for a debate in the House on the British film industry, so that the Government's policies and future policies can be explored in full?
Mrs. Beckett:
The whole House will want to congratulate this year's Oscar winners; they are a source of great pride to us all. The Government are certainly endeavouring to support the industry in practical ways--for example, by the extension of tax relief. I fear that I cannot undertake to find time for a debate on the matter in the near future, but I am confident that my hon. Friend will find other ways of raising it.
Mr. Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire):
I am sure that the House will be grateful for the notification from the Leader of the House that the Health Bill [Lords] will be debated on 13 April, but will she speak to the Secretary of State for Health to encourage him to publish before that day the real waiting list figures for health treatment in this country and, in particular, to confirm that the number of people waiting to go on to hospitals' official waiting lists has gone up by 220,000 since 1997, nearly doubling the waiting list for the waiting list?
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