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Mr. Hain: I very much agree with all the points that my hon. Friend makes. It was scandalous that the Conservatives talked out that Bill—the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) was specifically responsible for doing so—and I will certainly consider any opportunity to resurrect it, because all Labour Members recognise that that is an important issue to address.
Sir George Young (North-West Hampshire): The recess, which the Leader of the House has confirmed for next week, will come as an enormous relief to Labour Members—while Conservative Members will, of
course, be happy to sit into August if necessary. Will he spend the recess taking a knife to next year's legislative programme? Does he agree that what has happened in the past fortnight has been wholly unacceptable, with large chunks of Government Bills simply not debated? Will he give an undertaking that there will be no repetition of that fiasco next year?
Mr. Hain: I saw the glum faces around the right hon. Gentleman when he was proposing to chop his colleagues' holidays. There would be cancelled holidays galore on the Conservative Benches. I must disappoint him, however, as there is no prospect of that happening. He will understand that the original legislative programme, which I agree has become overcrowded, became so because of Iraq in particular—and, rightly, the enormous pressure on parliamentary business from debating those matters fully—and Northern Ireland legislation. I am confident that we will get a legislative programme that is better able to be taken through the House in the normal timetable. We cannot plan for the unexpected, however, which is what happened in the past year. We are attempting to provide for the unexpected in the next year's legislative programme.
Mr. Ivan Henderson (Harwich): Would my right hon. Friend consider having a debate on schools funding? Today, there are calls from schools across Essex for the resignation of the Tory cabinet member responsible on Essex county council, because the council is still sitting on £21 million that could be allocated to schools in my area. If we had a debate, we could find out how much more money is being held by authorities around the country that should now be directed to local schools.
Mr. Hain: My hon. Friend raises an important charge against Essex county council, and I am sure that the public of Essex will want to know what the situation is and what the Conservative council is doing about it. He will also understand, however, that spending per pupil is up by £800 a year in real terms since 1997, with huge numbers of extra teachers and classroom assistants being recruited. That is against a background, of course, in which one in five teachers would be sacked as a result of the Tory policy of 20 per cent. cuts across the board.
Mrs. Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest): My hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) has already drawn the attention of the Leader of the House to early-day motion 1548, on the Green Paper on children at risk. It seems that the Government have changed not only the timetable for the publication of this important Green Paper, but the excuse for the delay in publication. Last week, the excuse given was that the Prime Minister understandably, wants to be present at the launch of the Green Paper, and that he does not have time to do so until September. This week, in answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for South-West Norfolk (Mrs. Shephard), the Leader of the House said that the reason for the delay is that there will be further policies in the Green Paper. This matter is too important to be played about with in this manner. We are not making mischief. I am genuinely concerned about the children who are at risk and who are not getting the attention that they deserve from local authorities, as local authorities are
having to wait so long for this Green Paper. They cannot take action until they have it. Can we have a debate next week on children at risk? It is an urgent matter.
Mr. Hain: The report has been out for some time now. Every responsible director of social services and responsible local authority has already had a copy, is acting on it and is taking forward its recommendations.
Mr. Hain: Perhaps there is a Conservative county council somewhere in the country that is not doing that, in which case we should be told—[Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker: Order. The hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs. Laing) has asked a question, and the Leader of the House should be able to answer.
Mr. Hain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The point of the hon. Lady's and her right hon. and hon. Friends' fabricated frenzy is to attack the new Minister for Children instead of recognising that there are sensible reasons, including the Prime Minister putting his personal stamp on a radical new policy to advance children's rights and to protect children in a way that has not been done before. As someone who seeks to aspire to that job, she ought to welcome that.
Kevin Brennan (Cardiff, West): Can we have a debate on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a deadly disease that affects families from every constituency in this country? Is my right hon. Friend aware that last week a group of parents came to Westminster and lobbied outside the Department of Health but sadly no one was available to see them? Will he undertake to raise this matter with his ministerial colleagues and if possible arrange for a debate to build on the welcome proposals contained in the Government's White Paper on genetics?
Mr. Hain: I am well aware that my hon. Friend has shown great energy and diligence in pursuing the problem of muscular dystrophy, and it was unfortunate that that particular protest was not recognised. I hope that the relevant Department will ensure that representations on behalf of those people are fully taken into account, and I am sure that he will follow that up. In terms of House business, he has the opportunity to apply for a debate, and, with any luck, it will be heard.
Richard Younger-Ross (Teignbridge): In answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Lynne Jones), I hope that time will be found for the High Hedges (No. 2) Bill and that it will not be kicked into the long grass.
Has the Leader of the House had an opportunity to see early-day motion 1566, on the centenary of the young Liberal movement, of which he was at one time a leader?
[That this House notes that Liberal Democrat Youth and Students are celebrating '100 years of Young Liberals' this week; congratulates the Young Liberals on their centenary and their contribution to politics both in the UK and abroad; and wishes LDYS every success in continuing to make politics relevant to young people.]
Can he speak to the Minister for Children, who I understand is also the Minister for youth, to see whether we can have a statement or a debate on making politics relevant to youth today? As he will recall, the level of youth involvement in politics when I first joined some 30 years ago was greater than it is today.
Mr. Hain: I recognise the hon. Gentleman's points. I notice that my brief on early-day motion 1566, headed "Young Liberals", says, "Be neutral", so that is what I will be.
Keith Vaz (Leicester, East): Can we have a debate in Government time on the procedure for the closure of post offices? I have written to the Secretary of State about the closure of Humberstone post office in my constituency, which was done without proper consultation with local residents. The head of the regional office, Mr. Paul Maisey, refused to meet me or my constituents before the post office was closed. I support the Government's policy on modernisation, but modernisation should not be used as a euphemism for closure.
Mr. Hain: I certainly endorse my hon. Friend's point on behalf of his local post office. Modernisation is not a euphemism for closure. We all share the concern that a changing pattern of consumption and lifestyle means that many local post offices are increasingly coming under threat. As I have said before in business questions, my local post office has been under threat over the past year. When a local branch of Barclays bank closed, however, and I encouraged customers to switch their accounts to the post office, which they could have done to underpin its viability, there was very little take-up. We are therefore dealing with a problem of human behaviour that is wider than the issues that he raised.
Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East): Yesterday, the Prime Minister sought to implicate my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition in the dodgy dossier by insisting that he had been briefed on the intelligence contents of that dossier, when we now know that that was not the case. The day before, however, in his evidence to the Liaison Committee, the Prime Minister, in answer to question 186 from my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Mr. Leigh), denied categorically the claim that 90 per cent. of that dossier had come from plagiarised material. On 19 June, however, the author of the main article that was plagiarised gave evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee that 90 per cent. of the second dossier came from his article and two other articles; and a paper by a Cambridge academic submitted to the Foreign Affairs Committee provided a page-by-page analysis backing that up. May we therefore have a statement from the Prime Minister analysing the contents of the dossier, because he has not only plagiarised the material of that young student but called him a liar by denying his analysis that 90 per cent. of the dossier was plagiarised and that therefore only a tiny fraction of it could have been intelligence material?
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