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Mr. Paul Tyler (North Cornwall) (LD): We, too, congratulate all the winners last night, including the Father of the House. I was also delighted to see that my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for North-East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell) received an award from the Leader of the House. They were able to exchange greetings as former Young Liberals.

The Leader of the House may wish to give us some information about the hunting Bill and his further plans. Has he noticed that the hon. Member for West Ham (Mr. Banks), who chairs the Committee responsible, has recently hung a huge picture of a hunt in full cry in the Members' Tea Room? Is he trying to tell us something?

Both the Secretary of State for Defence and the Secretary of State for Health have been invited to give evidence to the independent inquiry, chaired by Lord Lloyd, into the illnesses suffered by troops in the first Gulf war. Will a statement be made on how the two Secretaries of State intend to respond to that invitation? It is an important independent inquiry into a very serious issue, and it concerns many veterans in all our constituencies.

The Leader of the House has already referred to the excellent report from the House of Commons Commission and I pay tribute to all those who contributed to it. I should point out that I am not a member of the Commission. The Leader of the House is right that the report should be given more coverage. I know from his work on the Modernisation Committee that he is anxious that people outside the House should be fully aware of all the work that takes place here, and given that it is our principal role to hold those who spend the taxpayer's money to account—some £140 million of that money is spent at this end of the building—how and when can we debate that report? For example, will we have the opportunity to do so in Westminster Hall?

Mr. Hain: On the latter point, I will look sympathetically at the hon. Gentleman's request. As he said, the report contains much fascinating and important information, although I am not sure that it will make the front page of the tabloids. I think that the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr Heald) will agree with him that it is an excellent report and deserves wider coverage. I also agree that the work of the House is not just about the cockpit of the Chamber: it is also about Select Committees, Standing Committees, other domestic Committees and a range of activities that keep almost all Members busy from dawn to dusk in their work as parliamentarians. That message needs to be spread more widely. We have agreed a series of recommendations in the Modernisation Committee report entitled "Connecting Parliament with the Public", and I hope that the House will take them forward. It is up to many other bodies in the House to take the practical suggestions forward and I hope that they will do so.

I very much endorse the hon. Gentleman's praise for the right hon. and learned Member for North-East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell). As I said last night, he is one of
 
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our greatest parliamentarians and a wonderful person. That was not because of my history in the Young Liberals 30 years ago; it was because I think that he is a genuinely nice person, which cannot be said for all 650-odd Members of Parliament. [Hon. Members: "Name them."] No, I will not be led further down that road.

On the picture in the Tea Room, I have had it reliably whispered in my ear that it is of a steeplechase, not a hunt, and that it has been there for three years. It is nothing to do with the issues that the hon. Member for North Cornwall (Mr. Tyler) raises, but hunting is a matter that has been raised with me repeatedly at business questions. I cannot add anything to what I have already said and I do not intend to do so. The position is clear.

On the issue of Gulf war syndrome and illnesses, I am sure that my right hon. Friends concerned will want to take close notice of the hon. Gentleman's important points. He properly raises the genuine concern about the issue.

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Alan Haselhurst): Order. I have in mind the time that I want to move on to the next business. Whether hon. Members can read my mind or not is up to them, but I appeal once again for brevity and for proximity to next week's business. I shall not call any hon. Member who was not here for the start of the statement.

Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab): Has my right hon. Friend noted that early-day motion 978, in my name and those of several of my right hon. and hon. Friends, has now attracted 269 signatures?

[That this House looks forward to the early re-introduction of the Government's Hunting Bill; recalls its own votes to ban the cruel sport of hunting with dogs on at least nine occasions since 1995; welcomes the Government's commitment to resolve the issue in this Parliament; notes, in the event of a further rejection of this legislation by the House of Lords, that the provisions of the Parliament Acts will apply; and looks forward to seeing a ban on hunting on the statute book by the end of this parliamentary session.]

Last week, my right hon. Friend told my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac) that there were two more business statements before the recess. There is now only one more business statement before the recess. I have assured the enormous number of people who have written to me about this issue that my right hon. Friend can be trusted to do what our early-day motion says, which is to ensure that the ban on hunting is on the statute book by the end of this parliamentary Session. I would like my right hon. Friend to confirm that our trust is justified.

Mr. Hain: I fully understand why my right hon. Friend asks that question and has signed that early-day motion. Indeed, had I been on the Back Benches, I would probably have signed it myself. I can assure him that all those concerned in government are well aware of the obligations that we have to resolve the matter. He can be assured on that issue, as I have assured him in private before and as I have assured many hon. Members in the Chamber before.
 
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Mr. Bernard Jenkin (North Essex) (Con): Will the Leader of the House find time for an early debate about telecommunications masts, a matter that is exercising my constituents in Great Bentley because Orange proposes to install a controversial mast there? Could we also use that debate as an opportunity to discuss why the Deputy Prime Minister is mounting a challenge in the Court of Appeal to his own guidance? That guidance resulted in a mast in Harrogate being sited very near a school, but many people regard it as a health risk and believe that the precautionary principle should apply. Why is the Deputy Prime Minister attacking his own guidance in the Court of Appeal, unless the Government's policy is a mess?

Mr. Hain: The Government's policy is not a mess. We are seeking to provide certainty on the matter, under the law. We are clear that it is not the Government's objective to have telephone masts dumped in school playgrounds, although I recognise the proper constituency issues that the hon. Gentleman raises. The same issue has been raised in Birmingham where the Liberal Democrat candidate, who has been dubbed Nokia Davies, is a lobbyist for a telecommunications company that seeks to spread telephone masts all over the Hodge Hill constituency, which would be dreadful for the local constituents.

David Winnick (Walsall, North) (Lab): Is my right hon. Friend aware of the growing concern and anxiety among Labour MPs that the hunting Bill will not become law and will miss its chance, as it did in the last Session? As time is very short indeed, and bearing in mind the possible date of the next election, can my right hon. Friend give a firm promise that the Parliament Act will be used and that the Bill will become law and that a vile and barbaric so-called sport will come to an end?

Mr. Hain: I have repeatedly made my position very clear, including to my hon. Friend. I appreciate why he asks his question, but time may not be quite as short as the tone of his question suggests.

Mrs. Angela Browning (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con): I was very concerned that the Leader of the House did not announce a date during the next two weeks for the Second Reading of the Mental Capacity Bill, as the Government have published the Bill and we have had First Reading. I serve on the Bill's Scrutiny Committee, and have held discussions with Lord Filkin on the Bill's possible passage, so I hope that the Leader of the House can reassure me that we shall see the Bill before the Queen's Speech.

Mr. Hain: Obviously, as business unfolds I shall be able to answer the hon. Lady's question more specifically. From what I said earlier, however, she will know that a lot of business is coming back from the Lords, so it would be sensible to dispose of that before the recess, not least so that Royal Assent can be given to many urgently needed pieces of legislation.

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