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Mr. Michael Jack (Fylde) (Con): In his Mansion house speech last night, the Chancellor understandably called for an increase in the supply of housing, but unfortunately in the north-west of England, outside certain selected inner-city areas, Government housing policy is inhibiting the reuse of brownfield sites and the further supply of affordable housing. Will the Leader of the House persuade the Minister for Housing and Planning to make a statement to the House perhaps before it rises for the summer recess indicating a willingness to review policy with a view to achieving Government policy?

Mr. Hain: I am a bit puzzled by that point, because I do not recognise that situation. However, as the right hon. Gentleman represents a constituency in the north-west, he will know it better than I do. I will certainly ensure that my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning is well seized of his points and is able to discuss them with him to discover what can be done.

Mr. Alan Hurst (Braintree) (Lab): The Braintree Riverside club in my constituency has been in existence since 1974. It has 150 members and provides an opportunity for older people to learn new skills in art, carving, computers, history and a range of other subjects every Friday. Up to now, the club has been supported by Braintree college, but under the new terms of the college's financial directives, it will not be able to pay the costs of £30,000 in the coming financial year. The club provides a valuable facility to the older people of Braintree. Can my right hon. Friend arrange an early debate so that lifelong learning and skills can be put at the forefront of the agenda for people in Braintree?
 
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Mr. Hain: I acknowledge that that is an important issue for my hon. Friend's area. There will be a debate on Wednesday in which he could raise the matter further, and I hope that he will consider whether he wishes to do so.

Mr. Andrew Mackay (Bracknell) (Con): I also thank the Leader of the House for arranging a debate on Zimbabwe, which will give many of us an opportunity to encourage the Foreign Secretary to press internationally for deeper, sharp sanctions against the Mugabe regime.

The situation in Iraq is clearly deteriorating rapidly. I put it to the Leader of the House that the occasional statement, though welcome, from the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary or the Secretary of State for Defence is not enough, and we need to have another debate on Iraq soon.

Mr. Hain: I am sympathetic to the right hon. Gentleman's request and discussions are taking place. Clearly, the situation in Iraq is now entering a different position, with the handover of power to the Iraqis themselves and the prospect of elections to follow next year. It would be a good opportunity for the House to discuss where we are going and where our strategic focus lies, so I will bear the right hon. Gentleman's request closely in mind.

Julie Morgan (Cardiff, North) (Lab): May I draw my right hon. Friend's attention to early-day motion 1292?

[That this House notes that the overwhelming majority of medical studies have shown that passive smoking is severely detrimental to human health; further notes that, according to a recent Imperial College London study, one person working in the hospitality industry is killed every week by the effects of passive smoking and that according to other studies, smoking is the cause of 32,000 deaths from lung cancer and 11,000 from other cancers every year; further notes that the Department of Health has initiated a major consultation exercise on smoking in public places that will form part of a White Paper later this year and that the Welsh Assembly is beginning a similar consultation; rejects the notion that a ban on smoking in public places would be illiberal and believes that a ban would act as an encouragement for heavy smokers to kick the habit; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to introduce legislation to ban the smoking of tobacco in public places forthwith.]

It already has more than 100 signatures. Is he also aware of the private Member's Bill, which I am now promoting? It has passed through the other place, promoted by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff. What can my right hon. Friend do to ensure the safety of people working in the catering and hospitality industry, one of whom dies every week because of passive smoking? Can he arrange for us to have a debate on that important issue and does he agree that we should take the lead in that crucial area of public health?

Mr. Hain: I agree that we should take a lead in that crucial area of public health and, indeed, we are doing so. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has launched a major consultation, which includes questions about what action could be taken to tackle smoking, and second-hand smoking in particular.
 
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That has been extended to the end of the month and one of the options is the introduction of legislation to ban smoking in public places. My hon. Friend has been a champion of that policy and I pay tribute to her. The Second Reading of her Bill will take place on 15 October.

Mr. Eric Forth (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con): The hon. Member for North Cornwall (Mr. Tyler) called for the regulation of opinion polls, but will the Leader of the House consider regulating Liberal party election literature, which is even more dishonest than some of the opinion polls mentioned? Can the Leader of the House assist us by rehearsing again the timetable for the regional assemblies legislation? If we are to get the draft Bill only just before the summer recess and if it will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny, the voters will not know what the draft Bill—never mind the final Bill—will be like, before they are asked to vote in the referendums. Is not that the wrong way round and will he therefore look again at the timetable? Will he give an undertaking that people will not be asked to vote on regional assemblies until they know the final form of the legislation?

Mr. Hain: In a moment of unanimity with the right hon. Gentleman, I agree that regulating Liberal Democrat literature would be in the interests of humanity, not to mention democracy and honesty in politics. I will look carefully at any opportunities to do so.

On the issue of the regional assemblies Bill, I go back to the precedents. I was involved in the referendum held in September 1997 on whether to set up a Welsh Assembly. It was preceded by a White Paper, called "A Voice for Wales". The public knew that they were voting on whether to set up a Welsh Assembly. Not even a draft Bill was published before the referendum, let alone one subject to pre-legislative scrutiny. We have moved on since then. We have had a White Paper and the voters in the north-west, the north-east, Yorkshire and Humberside will know that they are voting on whether to have a regional assembly to give them a voice and real power over regional issues. The Labour party is in favour of empowering the regions of England and providing them with better democracy. The fact that we will publish a draft Bill before the summer recess, which will then enter the pre-legislative process, will mean that extra information will be available, and the right hon. Gentleman should welcome that. We are not failing to make details available of what will be a short Bill: voters will have more information than the Scots and the Welsh did when they voted in September 1997.

Llew Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab): The Leader of the House will be aware that the public were informed by many of the world's politicians that we needed to go to war with Iraq because it had weapons of mass destruction, it was an immediate threat to the world and Saddam Hussein was behind the tragedy of 9/11. Now we know that none of those statements was true, may we have a debate to examine the evidence behind them? At the same time, perhaps we could discuss the real reasons for going to war, which were oil and the west's need to control the Gulf region.
 
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Mr. Hain: My hon. Friend and I have an honest disagreement on that matter. I respect the honesty of his point of view and ask him to respect the honesty of mine, that of the Prime Minister and of the Cabinet, who took the decision—with the overwhelming backing of the House of Commons in a vote—to go to war. On the question of weapons of mass destruction, we await the report of the Butler inquiry and the later report from the Iraq survey group. They will pose all sorts of questions, and it will be open to my hon. Friend to look at those.

I disagree with my hon. Friend fundamentally on one point. The Government never ever said that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11. We never made that assertion and nobody should be allowed to suggest that we did.

Mr. Roy Beggs (East Antrim) (UUP): There was uproar and outrage recently at Belfast Crown court about the sentencing of Conor Doyle, who brutally murdered his girlfriend, Angela Snoddy, by stabbing her more than 70 times, almost severing her head. Could we have a debate on sentencing for serious crimes? Conor Doyle was sentenced to serve only 10 years before being considered for release. The House should have the opportunity to discuss sentencing levels, so that magistrates and the judiciary are aware of the concerns of right hon. and hon. Members and their constituents that, in far too many cases, sentences do not fit the crime. Life appears to be cheap, especially for women, and we need an opportunity to urge the Attorney-General to review all low sentences automatically.

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