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Mr. David Watts (St. Helens, North): The Wellcome Trust appears to have been able to blackmail the Government into deciding to remove the synchrotron from the north-west, and seven of its trustees seem to have been involved in the decision even though they did not declare their professional and financial interests in it. Given that background, will my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House ask my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to make a statement about the Wellcome Trust's involvement in the future of Britain's science?
Mrs. Beckett: My hon. Friend expresses an anxiety that is felt on both sides of the House and is shared by the Government, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has frequently made clear. I fear that I cannot undertake to ask my right hon. Friend to return to the Dispatch Box for a special statement, especially when he has only just had Question Time. The Government understand the concern expressed and will do all that we can to address it with other proposals for the science base.
Rev. Martin Smyth (Belfast, South): I would not want to delay farmers gaining knowledge of what is going on today, but would it be possible for the First Lord of the Treasury to come to this House and make a statement in relation to early-day motion 551?
[That this House notes that the deadline for the Government to submit this year's claim for agrimonetary compensation is the end of April; recognises that agriculture is going through a very difficult period, not least because of the high value of sterling against the euro; sees agrimonetary compensation as a directly relevant way of ameliorating this problem; notes that all EU states, with the exception of the UK, have over recent years claimed the EU-funded share of agrimonetary compensation; and calls on the Government to submit a full claim before the end of April.]
It deals with the drawing down of agrimonetary compensation. At a time when the farming community is under severe threat, the right hon. Gentleman might be able to tell us why, for the second year in succession, farmers in Northern Ireland--who should have had payments several months ago--have been told that they can get nothing until after 5 April, despite the Government's present surplus.
Mrs. Beckett:
As the existence of the meeting today confirms, the Government are aware of, and sympathetic to, the difficulties that farmers have been experiencing. The hon. Gentleman may know that, by the end of 2001, the Government expect to have paid £529 million in agrimonetary aid since 1997. We continue to keep the matters under review. I cannot undertake to ask my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to come to this House to make a statement, but I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the Government are more than anxious to make the news of what is proposed and discussed with farmers available to hon. Members and to the farming community.
Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes):
I have served on the Committee scrutinising the Freedom of Information Bill,
Mrs. Beckett:
Whether we have a timetable for the debate on a programme motion has to be agreed across the House. The Government are more than willing to engage in discussions in the hope that we can get a good structure for the debate, so that hon. Members can be confident that they will have the opportunity to air their concerns.
Mr. Eric Forth (Bromley and Chislehurst):
At the risk of incurring the wrath of the Leader of the House, could I have the temerity to suggest a debate in the House of Commons in Government time? I know that that thought increasingly appals the right hon. Lady, but it strikes me that it would be useful--indeed essential--following today's questions to have a full debate in Government time on Rover. The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry was only too happy to trumpet what he regarded as the success of his lashings of taxpayers' money for the Rover group at the time. He now seems remarkably silent on the subject, and unwilling to divulge the relationship between him being persuaded to give a lots of taxpayers' money to Rover and, a few months later, having to admit that the whole thing has turned into a fiasco. Can we get to the bottom of this by having a debate on the Floor of the House in Government time, with the Secretary of State here?
Mrs. Beckett:
I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman or someone else will correct me if I am wrong, but I do not recall having a debate in Government time when the funding was made available for Rover, although it was properly announced in the House, as the House would expect. I fear that I cannot undertake to find time for a debate in Government time in the near future on BMW, although it is a matter of great concern. The House is anxious about the future and welfare of people at Longbridge and in the west midlands. Everyone on this side of the House is anxious to do all that we can to assist and support them, and I hope that that is true also of the Opposition.
Mr. Barry Gardiner (Brent, North):
Can my right hon. Friend advise the House when the draft Bill on commonhold and leasehold reform will be published? Will she consider establishing a scrutiny committee for that Bill, given that it will establish a new form of property tenure in the law of England and Wales?
Mrs. Beckett:
My hon. Friend makes an interesting and important point. I cannot at the moment give him a date for the likely publication of the Bill. However, as he knows, the Government are keen to promote pre-legislative scrutiny and good discussion, especially of Bills that are not only important but contain technical matters. My hon. Friend makes a very interesting suggestion, and I undertake to consider it.
Mr. Peter Brooke (Cities of London and Westminster):
Given the mystification of my old-age pensioner constituents that the concessions for the over-75s on the television licence appear to have made no
Mrs. Beckett:
To be honest, I do not think that the right hon. Gentleman's constituents care when the Bill is debated as long as it goes through and they get their free television licences.
Helen Jones (Warrington, North):
Could my right hon. Friend find time for a debate on the Benefits Agency medical services, particularly the role of Sema Group Medical Services in arranging medical examinations and the instructions that it gives its doctors? In view of the number of cases that I and, I am sure, other hon. Members have seen in which doctors have spent as little as 15 minutes on an examination, including the paperwork, is it not time that the House had a proper debate about what is happening in these examinations? In that way, we can ensure that people claiming disability benefits get a fair deal and that there is a proper complaints process when the system goes wrong.
Mrs. Beckett:
I know that all right hon. and hon. Members have, from time to time, experienced cases of this kind in which difficulty or resentment is caused. I believe that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has given an undertaking that he will look at such issues if they are raised, and I will draw my hon. Friend's remarks to his attention.
Mr. Richard Shepherd (Aldridge-Brownhills):
As we already have a Standing Committee on Regional Affairs, and as under Standing Order No. 117 it has the widest possible remit and enables every Member representing an English constituency to attend, why is it necessary to bring forward a motion? Could the Leader of the House not save the time of the House by not doing so?
Mrs. Beckett:
I believe that the existing Standing Order on the Regional Affairs Committee, as it is on our statute book, so to speak, was devised by a previous Labour Government in the hope that devolution on that occasion would successfully reach the statute book. It has lain in desuetude in the intervening period. The Government believe that there is the potential for improvement in the proposals that were made then, particularly in building up a degree of expertise among a core membership who may specialise in regional affairs per se. The purpose of reviving an existing facility of the House which has not been used for many years is that any Member who sits for an English constituency will be able to attend and take part in those discussions. That is the worth of reviving the proposal.
Mr. Desmond Browne (Kilmarnock and Loudoun):
Has my right hon. Friend had an opportunity to read the excellent and commendably short third report of the Select Committee on Science and Technology entitled "Scientific Advisory System: Diabetes and Driving Licences"? The report is highly critical of the arbitrary nature of the application of driving licence regulations to insulin-treated diabetic drivers, and makes important
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