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3 Apr 2003 : Column 1095—continued
Mr. Bradshaw: I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman is so disappointed that some of his local Conservative candidates will not face excellent opposition in the local elections. I am sure that that will come as a disappointment to all the Labour voters in that area. All parties do what they can to attract as many candidates as possible, and I know from my experience that there are plenty of places in the country where the Conservatives have difficulty finding enough candidates.
Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley): My hon. Friend will have noticed that al-Jazeera, the Arabic channel, has been having some problems in Baghdad recently. I have several times over the past week made representations to the House authorities asking that at least one Arabic channel should be placed alongside the 24 channels at our disposal in the House. It is important to see the images that the Arabs are seeing, so that we can better judge the progress of the war and assess why certain people react in certain ways. Does he have any news on that?
Mr. Bradshaw: I have no news for my hon. Friend, because this matter is not within my responsibility; it is a matter for the Serjeant at Arms. I know that he is aware of my hon. Friend's request and, if other hon.
Members feel the same as she does, I urge them to make a similar request. These decisions tend to be made on the basis of the strength of feeling among Members of the House.
Mr. Henry Bellingham (North-West Norfolk): Will the acting Leader of the House consider the case of PowderJect and the possibility of a debate on that subject? Will he also consider the case of another Labour donor, Paul Drayson, who has just been put on the final shortlist for a contract for the latest batch of smallpox vaccines worth more than £50 million? Is he aware that PowderJect is currently being investigated by the National Audit Office for possible irregularities in a £32 million contract for the first batch of vaccines after the Minister of State, Department of Health, the right hon. Member for Barrow and Furness (Mr. Hutton), revealed to me in a written answer on 15 October 2002 that the Government could have gone straight to the ultimate manufacturers, the east German company, IDT, and probably saved the taxpayer £20 million? When will the NAO report be published? Can the Parliamentary Secretary confirm that it will not be published and therefore buried on Budget day?
Mr. Bradshaw: No, it will be published. If the implication of the hon. Gentleman's question is that a decision on something as important as the smallpox vaccine would be based on a party-political donation, that is a preposterous thing to suggest. His point would carry more credibility if his party had declared a single one of the donations that it received in the 18 years that it was in power.
Mr. Ernie Ross (Dundee, West): Has my hon. Friend had a chance to study the press release that was put out by my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury this morning, indicating the determination of the European Union to take action over the proof of origin of produce coming from the illegal settlements in the west bank? Will he arrange for a debate, in the Chamber or elsewhere, to allow us to consider that EU agreement, which was entered into in June 2000? We suspect that the Israelis have been breaking one part of it ever since.
Mr. Bradshaw: I am not aware of my hon. Friend's last point. However, as the Minister who used to be responsible for that part of the world, I am aware of the general issue and of the great work that he has done to raise these matters. I am pleased—I hope that he is as well—that we do at last seem to be making progress, thanks in part to the work that he has done and the lead taken by the British Government.
David Taylor (North-West Leicestershire): Did not last summer's crisis demonstrate that exam marking is a somewhat inexact science? Does not today's publication of A-level league tables perpetuate the myth that schools can readily be ranked by results? Will my hon. Friend try to find time for a debate in Westminster Hall to investigate these matters and perhaps to expose the rather sad but obvious truth that using league tables as performance indicators can be educationally erroneous, statistically specious and politically pointless?
Mr. Bradshaw: It is not in my power to allocate time in Westminster Hall. It is within my hon. Friend's rights
to apply for a debate there, and I urge him to do so if he feels so strongly about this subject. It would have been nice if in his question he had reminded the House that last year's A-level results were the best ever.
Jon Trickett (Hemsworth): I return to the question of former mining communities. My hon. Friend might be interested to learn that in Featherstone there is not one Tory candidate in the elections this year.
The largest compensation packages in history are being given to those miners suffering from industrial diseases caused by the negligence of the previous owners of the mines. Will my hon. Friend try to find time for a debate on the matter? In my constituency, more than 3,000 former miners have submitted claims, and well over £70 million in compensation has already been paid. However, a debate would allow us to congratulate the Government on this settlement. We could debate the way in which the scheme has been rolled out, and perhaps air the case of those few constituents who sadly, but increasingly frequently, find that they were offered an interim statement that turned out to be larger than the final settlement. That causes frustration and disappointment. A debate would provide a great opportunity for us to discuss those problems, which are important to the families. However, given the scale of things, it is still a fantastic and welcome scheme.
Mr. Bradshaw: I will take up the specific point of interim payments with the Ministers responsible and ask them to write to my hon. Friend. I am pleased that, overall, he is happy with the way that the scheme has worked. Perhaps one of the reasons why his part of the world is now a Tory-free zone is the disgraceful way in which the previous Tory Government treated the miners to whom he has referred.
David Cairns (Greenock and Inverclyde): Can my hon. Friend arrange for a statement from a Foreign Office Minister on protection and treatment of UK nationals living and working in the middle east? Two of my constituents—one is a relative working and living in the middle east—have been either the victims of harassment by members of the population of the countries that they are living in, or have witnessed it.
We understand that there is a great deal of anger in the Arab world about the action that is being taken. However, the citizens of Arab countries do not have the right to vent that anger on British citizens living and working in those countries, who have made a valuable contribution, both economically and socially, over many years. It would be good to hear what correspondence or dialogue the Foreign Office is having with other countries in the Arab world to ensure protection for British citizens during this difficult time.
Mr. Bradshaw: If my hon. Friend has not already given the Foreign Office details of those incidents, I am sure that it would be interested in receiving them. It is generally my experience, as a former Foreign Office Minister for that part of the world, that the Governments of those countries themselves are extremely sensitive to such stories coming out because it affects their reputations and impacts on tourism and so forth.
I suspect that those incidents are still very isolated. I think that the experience of most Members and of ordinary members of the public when travelling in the Arab world is that the levels of hospitality and friendship, in spite of what is going on, are still extremely high. One is treated extremely well. If my hon. Friend can let me have the details, I will certainly look into the incidents to which he referred.
Jim Sheridan (West Renfrewshire): My hon. Friend will be aware that the eyes of both the Arab and the Muslim worlds are on the House during these difficult times. Will he use his good offices to ensure that, in the event that our troops, as is hoped, are successful, magnanimity will be the order of the day and any unnecessary jingoism will be discouraged by the House?
Mr. Bradshaw: Yes, I think that, given the way in which our armed forces are already conducting themselves in Iraq, especially in those parts of southern Iraq which they are making safe, there is already proof in their behaviour that they are doing exactly that. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence mentioned earlier, despite our armed forces being fired at from holy shrines in some of the holy cities, they are not firing back. That is another example of the intense sensitivity—it is due partly to the experience that our forces have had in places such as Northern Ireland—with which our armed forces approach the difficult situation that they face in Iraq.
Glenda Jackson (Hampstead and Highgate): May we please have a debate, not in Westminster Hall but on the Floor of the House, and in Government time, on the situation for a post-conflict Iraq and the transition to it? Grave concern is being expressed, not only within the House but in the country and the wider world, that the driving force should be the United States exclusively. Despite the statements of our Government, there is still deep disbelief that the United States will pay any attention to the United Nations.
If my hon. Friend is attempting to create a statement from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development on the potential humanitarian crisis now in Iraq, perhaps he could point out to her that the UN has called for corridors of peace, which UNICEF successfully established during the first Gulf war, both in Lebanon and Sudan, to ensure that as the aid comes in, it does not just sit on the dockside but is distributed to the people who need it most. This clearly requires agreement on behalf of the combatants, but it is not enough to wait until the conflict is over because a real humanitarian crisis is brewing.
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