House of Commons Hansard Debates for 2 Mar 2000 (pt 7)

Sir George Young: The House is grateful for details of next week's business and an indication of the likely business for the week after. I know that the whole House will welcome the fact that the debate on the Waterhouse report on child abuse will take place on the Floor of the House in Government time.

The right hon. Lady has announced a day and a half for the remaining stages of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill. Is she aware that that is a challenging timetable? It is a long constitutional Bill. During its passage, the Parliamentary Secretary, Privy Council Office has been characteristically generous in

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volunteering to revisit large sections of it and possibly amend it. Does she believe that the House can give adequate consideration to that Bill in the allotted time?

Given that fact and the exchanges that we have just heard, is it not clear that the Government are trying to push too much ill-considered legislation through the House? The House is littered with the debris of Bills that seem to have been abandoned, such as the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill, those that are seriously damaged, such as the Utilities Bill, and others, such as the Freedom of Information Bill, which came out of Committee on 10 February and has not been seen since. Is the programme outlined in the Queen's Speech on track?

Will the right hon. Lady confirm that we shall have a debate in Government time on the intergovernmental conference White Paper? We still await a debate on the Wakeham report on reform of the House of Lords. Might we expect a statement next week from the Deputy Prime Minister on the Crow report, which has caused serious alarm in Hampshire and the rest of the south-east? As I am sure that the right hon. Lady knows, next Wednesday is international women's day. We normally have a debate on women's issues, which is of interest to the whole House. Will that take place?

Finally, does the right hon. Lady recall that, at the last business questions, I asked for a statement on the BBC licence fee? She replied:

I cannot tell him when an announcement on the licence fee will be made, although it will not be next week.--[Official Report, 17 February 2000; Vol. 344, c. 1105.]

On the next sitting day, the Government made a statement on the licence fee. Does she feel a pang of remorse at her reply?

Mrs. Beckett: I believe that there is adequate time for the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill. It has some constitutional implications, but the right hon. Gentleman will be aware that we have been very generous with the time allocated for discussions so far. We expect that to be taken into account.

It is plainly not the case that there is too much legislation or that the programme in the Queen's Speech is not on track. We already have a substantial number of Bills in Committee, on Report, being prepared and on their way through the House. There is no question of the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill disappearing. The Government intend to pursue it, as we are pursuing the Utilities Bill. The Opposition are showing every sign of not learning from some of the mistakes that they made during the 1980s and 1990s. When I was first a Member of Parliament, it was an expected and normal part of the process of legislative scrutiny--indeed, it was the purpose of legislative scrutiny--that Governments listened to representations from other bodies outside the House and from the Opposition on the effect of legislation and might even change Bills as a result. It was only during Lady Thatcher's period that that became seen as a sign of weakness and incompetence. We see the consequences of that attitude in the diminished number of Conservative Members. Far from our legislation being ill-considered, the processes of the House are acting as they should.

The right hon. Gentleman asks for time for debate on issues such as Lords reform and international women's day and for a statement on the Crow report. It is clear from his remarks that he agrees that the Government have

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to give priority to their legislative programme. He will be well aware of the way in which Opposition Members have sought to exploit the time and the means available to them. It is perfectly legitimate that they should do so and I make no complaint about it. However, the Government's priority is our legislative timetable. If he wants time to debate other issues--I have a great deal of sympathy with that--I suggest that he does something to prevent his hon. Friends from making undue and unnecessary use of time.

The right hon. Gentleman mentioned my comments about the statement on the BBC licence fee. I made those comments in good faith. He must have forgotten that he and a large number of other hon. Members made strong representations on that occasion, as they had on previous occasions, about the importance of an early statement on the subject. I am sorry that he apparently does not appreciate the power of his advocacy.

Mr. Peter L. Pike (Burnley): My right hon. Friend will be shocked to hear that, within the past hour, TRW has announced 450 redundancies at the former Lucas factory in my constituency. Does she see any prospect of debating the motor and motor components industry at an early date?

Mrs. Beckett: I am sorry to hear of that announcement and I understand and share my hon. Friend's concern for his constituents. The Government have done a great deal to improve the way that we respond when such announcements are made. I cannot undertake to find time in the near future for a special debate on the motor industry but, as my hon. Friend was one of the strongest advocates of the extra time found for discussion and debate in Westminster Hall, he will be keenly aware of the possibilities that presents.

Mr. Andrew Stunell (Hazel Grove): When does the Leader of the House intend that the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill will return to the parliamentary programme? Following the withdrawal last night of the Nuclear (Safeguards) Bill, will the right hon. Lady confirm that that measure does not appear in the business programme for the next two weeks? Can the right hon. Lady give the House an assurance that technical but important Bill will reappear?

As to the Utilities Bill, does the Leader of the House agree--as Chairman of the Modernisation Committee--that the Government have a lesson to learn? A formal process of pre-legislative scrutiny might have been more appropriate, and it might have meant that one arm of government would have known that another arm was going to produce a White Paper. Then the telecommunications industry might have known the Government's intentions prior to publication. The tension and adrenalin that has flowed today could have been avoided by following the sensible procedures established in this parliamentary Session.

Mrs. Beckett: We have not withdrawn the Nuclear (Safeguards) Bill--it was not moved last night. It is an important technical measure.

The hon. Gentleman makes an important and worthwhile point about pre-legislative scrutiny and the Modernisation Select Committee. Perhaps understandably, the hon. Gentleman has not wholly taken on board the point made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State--who was of

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course aware of, and involved in, discussions about a White Paper. As was highlighted by my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody), there are two slightly different processes.

The Utilities Bill as originally conceived was intended to bring a degree of consistency to the approach taken to regulation across those sectors, which is why the telecoms and water sectors were in the original Bill. When an announcement was made of further work on the telecoms sector not related to those patterns of regulatory approval, there were fresh and different representations from that industry suggesting that the effect would be one round of probably perfectly worthwhile regulatory change, succeeded in different circumstances by another round relating to a business that is fast moving. In those circumstances, the representations made by the industry were considered and changes were made.

It is intended that the water sections of the Bill, where different issues arise, will go through a pre-legislative scrutiny process with the water Bill. Such a process has already been announced. So the hon. Gentleman will get exactly that for which he asks.

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