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Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North) (Lab): May I also refer to political donations, which, I believe, I was the only Member to raise at Business questions last week? Like my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East (Dr. Strang), I recognise the changes that have come about in terms of transparency since we were elected, but I wish to restate the need for a statement in view of the controversy. Given all the circumstances, perhaps it would be wise for all the latest nominations for peerages from the three parties to be withdrawn. At long last, after all these years—this issue goes back a long time indeed—is it not essential that we separate the connection between donating large sums of money and getting a peerage? We need to clean up the whole act.

Mr. Hoon: I assure my hon. Friend that those matters are entirely separate. Indeed, as I indicated in agreeing with my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East (Dr. Strang), the Government have done more to introduce transparency in such matters than any previous Government in history. That is why we are proud of that record and why we will continue to be willing to debate it on any and every occasion.

Grant Shapps (Welwyn Hatfield) (Con): The Leader of the House will be aware that students are rightly exempt from paying council tax, but the Government grant formula is supposed to ensure that local residents in large university towns, such as Hatfield, do not lose out by having to make up the shortfall. However, it has come to light that, because of an error in the way that the Office of the Deputy Prime calculates the number of students in an area, 6.5 million people are spending £82.5 million too much on their council tax. If I send him the proof of that, may we have a debate to discuss it?

Mr. Hoon: If the hon. Gentleman sends me the details, I will certainly refer them to my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister.

Mr. Fraser Kemp (Houghton and Washington, East) (Lab): Will the Leader of the House consider early-day motion 998, which is in my name and those of 20 other hon. Members from both sides of the House and congratulates Nissan Motor Manufacturing on its decision to build a new model in Europe's most efficient
 
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car plant—a record that it has held for the past seven years—especially in the light of the fact that the Nissan's chief executive officer will be visiting my constituency to see the new model come off the production line tomorrow?

[That this House congratulates the Nissan car company on its decision to build the new Note model and the compact Qashqai car at its Washington plant; further congratulates the workforce on being the most productive car plant in Europe for seven years consecutively and for winning the right to build the new model in the face of stiff internal competition; notes that the Nissan car plant in Washington is the biggest car plant in the United Kingdom with a production capacity of more than 300,000 vehicles a year employing 4,100 people and has just announced a further 200 jobs will be created; further notes that sales of Almera and Primera cars in Russia manufactured in Washington were up 61 per cent. in September, the eighth consecutive month of growth in demand; and further congratulates Nissan for selling more than 1.8 million cars in the first six months of its financial year, up 15 per cent. on last year.]

Does the Leader of the House not feel that that is a great tribute to the work force and British manufacturing in general? Does he not agree that Government procurement agencies should consider that car as an ideal model for Ministers and others?

Mr. Hoon: My hon. Friend has made his point, and I am pleased to agree with him, not least because, given the history of difficulty with the British car industry, companies such as Nissan are responsible for exporting about 75 per cent. of their production. Not only are they providing important sources of high-value employment in areas such as the north-east, but they contribute significantly to the success of the British economy abroad.

Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West) (Con): The Leader of the House expressed incredulity that Opposition Members keep raising, week after week, the Post Office card account? Can he not just take us at our word? We want a debate. There are 9,000 account holders in the New Forest. They are anxious and angry about the proposals to abolish their accounts. They expect both my hon. Friend the Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis) and me to raise that issue, ask Ministers questions and demand to scrutinise the Government's proposals.

Mr. Hoon: I am not at all suggesting that the hon. Gentleman and other hon. Members should not raise those issues as and when appropriate, and they have done so regularly. Perhaps my only slight scepticism stems from the fact that hon. Members do not listen to the replies. Given our concern about education, I realise that there are still some Opposition Members who perhaps have not benefited from the excellent state education that the Government provide and continue to improve. However, in those circumstances, I assure the hon. Gentleman that the Government take very seriously the Post Office card account and the future of rural post office services, but we believe that, equally,
 
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pensioners who use the Post Office card account have an interest in moving to accounts that, for example, pay them rather better interest than they earn currently.

Anne Moffat (East Lothian) (Lab): Will my right hon. Friend consider holding a debate on foreign workers? We should be welcoming foreign workers into the country, but we have a problem in my constituency with Monaghan's mushroom farm, which encourages indigenous workers to be squeezed out by paying foreign workers less and giving them reduced conditions of employment. That is a serious matter: it causes racial rumblings in communities that want no part in that type of behaviour.

Mr. Hoon: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that issue, which is important in her constituency, as in other constituencies, and she is right to highlight it. Of course, there will be an opportunity for her to contribute to the debate next Tuesday, when there will be a chance to discuss the Government's new proposals on a points-based system for managed migration. I am sure that, if she catches the Deputy Speaker's eye on that occasion, she will be able to make her points again.

Dr. William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP): Will the Leader of the House find time to debate the lack of adequate education provision for young people with severe physical disabilities and profound learning difficulties who are in the 19-plus age group in Northern Ireland?

Mr. Hoon: I am sorry to learn that the hon. Gentleman believes that that is the position in Northern Ireland. I am sure that that matter can be looked into if he lets me have appropriate details or provides them to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Kali Mountford (Colne Valley) (Lab): May I tell my right hon. Friend that thousands of my constituents suffered from a loss of gas supply in sub-zero temperatures last week? Although the community and those involved with the emergency plan pulled together marvellously—many people are to be congratulated on ensuring that those who were vulnerable were warm and fed—many important matters now arise, not least with the compensation system, which is over-complex. Will he find time for the House to consider how the regulator is responding to requests from my constituents, who have to wait until the gas supplier receives the money from the gas network before it can be passed on to my constituents?

Mr. Hoon: I am pleased to hear from my hon. Friend that the response by those responsible was effective and minimised the time that people spent without an adequate gas supply. I equally recognise that it is important that we reduce unnecessary bureaucracy in dealing with any compensation payments, and I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry will be considering that issue.

John Bercow (Buckingham) (Con): May we please have a debate in Government time on prison education? Given that children in young offenders institutions on
 
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average receive only eight hours education a week and that the operation of the churn means that thousands of young people are constantly shunted from one institution to another before they have had the chance to finish their education or training and to acquire the qualifications that they seek, would not a debate allow right hon. and hon. Members to explore what is being done by both the Home Office and the Department for Education and Skills to tackle that phenomenon and to give those young people the chance to reform and constructively to contribute to our society?

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