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Mrs. Beckett: I shall certainly draw the hon. Gentleman's remarks to the attention of my relevant right hon. Friends. As he knows, at least one of them has had some heavy operational responsibilities of late. We accept that there are difficulties, which we inherited, in both the health service and the defence medical services. However, the debate on armed forces personnel might give the hon. Gentleman an opportunity to raise that issue from the defence angle, which I know he has pursued in the past.
Joan Ruddock (Lewisham, Deptford): My right hon. Friend may have read in The Independent today that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is to publish this afternoon a report from the respected John Innes Centre on cross-pollination and other contamination of organic crops by genetically modified test crops. MAFF has confirmed to me that the report will be published at 3.30 pm. Has my right hon. Friend received any indication that there will be a statement made in the House? If not, will she make inquiries about, and give consideration to, the possibility of having a debate in the very near future on the possible need to modify the Government guidelines on distances between such crops, and on organic farming and organic food products, for which there is now clear and strong public support?
Mrs. Beckett: I have not seen the story to which my hon. Friend refers--Thursday tends to be a slightly hectic day for me--but I was aware that the John Innes Centre report was to be published shortly, so my hon. Friend might be right. I fear I cannot undertake to find time for an immediate debate on the matter, but I realise that it is one in which hon. Members on both sides are interested, and I have no doubt that they will continue to pursue it.
Mr. Robert Syms (Poole): Will the Leader of the House put urgent pressure on the Secretary of State for Health to make a statement to the House on the NHS clinical advisory committee proposals to reduce the number of cleft lip and palate units from 57 to 15 nationally, which is causing great concern in Poole? In the south-west region, units at Plymouth, Exeter and Poole would be closed, yet the Poole unit is one of the best in the country and it publishes its results. A major petition has been signed by several thousand people and a campaign is being run by that fine Bournemouth newspaper The Daily Echo to keep the unit open. My constituents believe that the matter should be discussed on the Floor of the House.
Mrs. Beckett: I will obviously have a busy correspondence with my right hon. Friend the Secretary
of State for Health this week. I will certainly draw the hon. Gentleman's remarks to his attention. The purpose of the clinical advisory unit is to allow decisions to be made after weighing up what is in the best clinical interests of patients. However, I understand the hon. Gentleman's concern and that of his constituents--and note his advertisement for his local newspaper.
Mr. Gordon Prentice (Pendle): Has my right hon. Friend seen the mischievous valedictory article by the right hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Ashdown) that appeared in The Guardian, in which he claims as a fact that members of the Labour Cabinet refer to the Prime Minister as "the Liberal"? Why would the right hon. Gentleman say something that we know to be untrue? Now that the leadership baton is about to be passed to the hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Inverness, West (Mr. Kennedy)--who is never here--who was reported in yesterday's press as saying that pensions reform is a suitable subject for discussion within the Cabinet joint consultative committee, is it not time to have an early debate on the role, functions and purpose of the joint consultative committee and where all of this is taking us?
Mrs. Beckett: All I can say to my hon. Friend is that I have never heard anyone so describe the Prime Minister--in the Cabinet or outside it. As for the reason behind the remark, perhaps it is because, given the Liberal Democrats' showing in the Euro-elections, the right hon. Member for Yeovil is trying desperately to claim expanded membership for his party from anywhere he can.
Rev. Martin Smyth (Belfast, South): Will it be possible to have a debate or a statement in the near future about the relationship between the territories around these islands? I have just returned from a British islands and Mediterranean Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference where we discovered that, in this era of joined-up government, there are some gaps in relations between the islands and central Government. It would be useful to explore that matter. In that context, I support the plea by the right hon. Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir G. Young) for a statement about Northern Ireland in the near future because, as I understand it, there are slippages in legislation that should be dealt with by the House.
Mrs. Beckett: I know the Government will be most interested to hear a report of the visit to which the hon. Gentleman refers--particularly if it exposes gaps in our relationships of the kind that he identifies. As for a statement on Northern Ireland, I will certainly add the hon. Gentleman's name to the list of representations to be made to my right hon. Friend.
Mr. John Cryer (Hornchurch): Did my right hon. Friend see last month's reports of the British Medical Association's comments about genetically modified food, which appeared shortly after the Science and Technology Committee reported on GM food? Although the American giant Monsanto spends millions of pounds every year in an attempt to convince us that GM foods are nice and cuddly and that we can live with them quite happily, public opinion is moving in the opposite direction. People
are becoming more and more concerned about this issue and debate is increasing in the country. Is not now a good time to hold an urgent full-day debate on GM food?
Mrs. Beckett: My hon. Friend makes an interesting suggestion. He is right to say that there is on-going discussion and debate about this matter. I wish that that discussion and debate were better informed, but it is the task of hon. Members--from whatever side of the argument they come--to inform the debate. I hope that all hon. Members will continue to do that. Particularly at this time of year when time pressures are great, I fear that I cannot undertake to find time for a debate in the near future, but I will certainly bear in mind my hon. Friend's remarks.
Mr. Peter Atkinson (Hexham): Could the Leader of the House arrange for the Secretary of State for Health--yet another obligation upon him--to come to the House and make a statement about the Government's plan to bring forward the ban on the advertising of tobacco products to December this year? Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of the argument, the issue is significant in that it involves censoring the advertising of a legally marketable product. It would also prohibit tobacco companies from communicating with their clients via direct mail. The first that we heard about that was, as usual, in a press release and on the radio this morning. The regulations that are to be laid today are not yet in the Vote Office, so we have no idea whether they will be subject to the negative or affirmative resolution procedure. We have no idea whether regulations will be laid in August, after the consultation period, or whether the House will have any opportunity to debate the matter.
Mrs. Beckett: Discussion of the tobacco advertising ban has been under way for some considerable time. I understand that there are those who have a principled objection to such ban, but the hon. Gentleman will know that a decision has been made that a ban should be imposed across the European Union. My understanding is that there is not necessarily a prohibition on direct mail, but there is a strong attempt to try to hinder tobacco companies in using direct mail specifically to target vulnerable younger customers. I am sorry to hear that the regulations are not available, and I shall take that up with the Department of Health.
Mr. Phil Hope (Corby): Is my right hon. Friend aware that the social exclusion unit has just published a report on teenage pregnancy? Will she arrange for an early debate on that report in the House because it is an unpalatable fact that this country has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in western Europe? I am sure that she shares my concern that too many young people leave school unaware of the responsibilities and obligations of parenthood. I should seek assurance in such a debate that the report was being acted on swiftly, that young people are being made aware of how hard it is to be a parent, and that we shall achieve a substantial reduction in the number of teenagers who become pregnant.
Mrs. Beckett: My hon. Friend is entirely right in identifying that serious problem, about which hon. Members on both sides of the House are concerned. Although I am very cautious about drawing the attention
of Adjournment debates to all hon. Members--such debates are for the hon. Members who applied for them--I point out that a one-and-a-half-hour debate on that subject, in the name of the hon. Member for Billericay (Mrs. Gorman), is scheduled for Wednesday 23 June. That demonstrates that the matter is an all-party concern, and if my hon. Friend is particularly nice to the hon. Lady, she may not mind if he speaks in her debate.
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