---

Mr. Hoon: I heard the hon. Gentleman raise that important issue on a previous occasion, and he is right to suggest that it is a matter of great concern that those young people, who perhaps need education more than most, should have that opportunity. It is something that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department equally takes very seriously, and it is something that the Government have at the forefront of their mind.

Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire, North) (Lab): Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is wrong for politicians and political parties to play fast and loose with the constitution and integrity of the House? He may be aware that the Scottish National party voted on the Education and Inspections Bill last night, despite claiming publicly and in early-day motions that SNP Members do not vote on matters not relevant to Scotland. May I ask my right hon. Friend to use his good offices to reassure the House that that kind of hokey-cokey politics will not be tolerated?

Mr. Hoon: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. We have got used to the inconsistency of the Scottish National party over the years. He has simply highlighted another aspect of that.

Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con): The Leader of the House may not be aware of the case of Stephen Ayre, a convicted murderer who was let out of prison early and who then abducted and raped a young boy in my constituency. Given that 7,000 crimes have been committed by people out of prison on tags and that 1,600 crimes have been committed since 1997 by people out on parole, will the Leader of the House provide time for a debate on sentencing? Many people in my constituency are angry that people sent to prison are let out early to commit crimes such as the one that I have described. People want prisoners to serve their sentences in full. May we have debate on this issue?

Mr. Hoon: This issue is regularly discussed when Home Office affairs are dealt with on the Floor of the House. As someone responsible for managing the Government's legislative programme, I know that we have the opportunity in the House very frequently to discuss Home Office matters as part of the significant programme of legislation that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has brought forward in this Session and, I anticipate, will do in future Sessions.

It is easy to talk about the problems that arise when prisoners are released early. Leaving aside the individual case that clearly we all must look at very seriously, I would be more understanding of the hon. Gentleman's
 
16 Mar 2006 : Column 1612
 
concern if he were able to place his criticism in the context of what he believes should be an appropriate solution to the problem. Simply highlighting the particular case does not help to take the debate forward.

Mr. Gordon Prentice (Pendle) (Lab): The House will know that there has been just a single prosecution under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925, and that was way back in 1933. Given the swirl of allegations about cash for honours, is there not—I say this seriously—a compelling reason for an early statement by a Minister from the Cabinet Office or perhaps even the Prime Minister himself in the House next week?

Mr. Hoon: I do not believe that that is the case at all. I do not believe that there has been any impropriety; there has been no evidence of that. I accept that there is a swirl of allegations, but I do not believe that any of those allegations have foundation.

Mrs. Maria Miller (Basingstoke) (Con): My constituent, Miss Izzo, has been waiting eight months for an answer to a complaint that she made about the medical treatment that her mother received shortly before her tragic death. Currently, more than 1,500 complaints are waiting more than six months for the Healthcare Commission to resolve, and it is now more than a year since the health care ombudsman issued her own damning report into the system. Does the Leader of House not agree that there is an urgent need for a debate on the national health service complaints system and that it is in crisis? Such a debate is long overdue.

Mr. Hoon: Obviously, I do not have the details of the particular case, but if the hon. Lady would like to let me have them, I will certainly draw them to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health.

Linda Gilroy (Plymouth, Sutton) (Lab/Co-op): In a written statement, the Minister with responsibility for disabled people advised Parliament of her intention to engage consultants to conduct a strategic review of the future business options for Remploy. Does my right hon. Friend agree that that provides a very good opportunity for people who work in Remploy, the board of Remploy and those of us who represent constituencies with Remploy bases in them to make the case for the recommendation in the National Audit Office report, "Gaining and retaining a job: the Department for Work and Pensions' support for disabled people", that said that we should find ways of re-engineering the profile of Remploy? Does he know of any forthcoming debates that there may be on the support that the Department for Work and Pensions gives to help the 2.6 million disabled people who are of working age to look for work when we might talk about the strengths of Remploy—

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Alan Haselhurst): Order. I think the hon. Lady has got her point across to the Leader of the House.

Mr. Hoon: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I have had the opportunity in the past of visiting more than one Remploy factory, and I know what a tremendous
 
16 Mar 2006 : Column 1613
 
contribution it makes in improving employment opportunities for disabled people. As I am sure she is aware, our recently published Green Paper on welfare reform set out the Government's intention to continue to do more to provide employment opportunities for disabled people. We believe that Remploy has a key role to play in helping us to achieve that goal.

Mr. Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): When I asked for a debate on the cash-for-honours scandal last week, the Leader of the House told me that his political antennae had not detected any groundswell of concern on the issue. How are his political antennae this week now that the scandal is threatening to engulf the entire Labour party? If political honours are not for sale in this country—and this Prime Minister has appointed 290 peers when Lloyd George managed 26—why is it that 80p of every pound of individual donations to the Labour party has come from people who were either knighted or ennobled by this Prime Minister?

Mr. Hoon: I have made it clear that political honours are not for sale in this country. I stand by the remarks that I made last week. It may well be the case that there is a swirl—to use the word of my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice)—of speculation and debate about this matter, but the Government have set out in legislation a process that provides transparency in these arrangements. That is something that no previous Government have done and is something of which Labour Members can rightly be proud.

Mrs. Claire Curtis-Thomas (Crosby) (Lab): My right hon. Friend will be aware of the invidious position of Port of Liverpool police with regard to their employment rights. I have tried to determine which Department is responsible for the employment rights of Port of Liverpool police and I have failed dismally. Some Department must be responsible, so would my right hon. Friend be kind enough to let me know which?

Mr. Hoon: When I find out, I will.

Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con): I would like to inform the Leader of the House that more than 50 Members have now joined my all-party parliamentary group for dairy farmers. That shows the extent of passion and feeling that many MPs on both sides of the House feel about the state of the dairy industry. Will he provide time for us to discuss the plight that dairy farmers are facing, so that we can compel supermarkets to treat them in a more appropriate manner?

Mr. Hoon: I know that the issue has been raised on more than one occasion with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. He has made clear the Government's concern to ensure that there should be fair treatment not only of dairy farmers but of farmers in general. That is why the Government are taking such urgent action to improve the present arrangements for rural payments.
 
16 Mar 2006 : Column 1614
 

Mr. Jim Devine (Livingston) (Lab): I know that my right hon. Friend is aware of the sad death this week of Jimmy Johnstone, the former Celtic and Scotland winger. Height wise he was, as we say in Scotland, five foot nothing but, in terms of skill, ability, personality and humility, he was a giant of a man. He played many memorable games for both Celtic and Scotland, and was—

---