3.30
Business of the House 28/4/38
Mrank Dobson (Holborn and St. Pancras): May I ask the Leader of the House to state the business for next week?
The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. John Wakeham): The business for next week will be as follows:
TUESDAY 3 MAY--Consideration in Committee of the Finance (No. 2) Bill.
Proceedings on the Coroners Bill [Lords] which is a consolidation measure.
Motion relating to the First Scottish Standing Committee.
WEDNESDAY 4 MAY-Until about seven o'clock Second Reading of the Legal Aid Bill [Lords].
Followed by a debate on the Rover Group on a motion for the Adjournment of the House.
Afterwards consideration of Lords amendments to the Immigration Bill, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Public Utility Transfers and Water Charges Bill.
THURSDAY 5 MAY There will be a debate on agriculture on a motion for the Adjournment of the House. Details of the EC documents relevant to the debate will be given in the Official Report.
Followed by remaining stages of the Farm Land and Rural Development Bill [Lords].
FRIDAY 6 MAY-Private Members' Bills.
MONDAY 9 MAY-Consideration in Committee of the Finance (No. 2) Bill.
[Debate on Thursday 5 May
Relevant European Community documents:
(a) 4852/88
(b) 4779/88
(c) 4855/88
(d) 5004/88
(e) 5448/88 Add
1 & 2 & 3
(f) 4079/88
Relevant Committee:
Reports
Agricultural Stabilisers, Land
Set-Aside and Cessation of Farming
Agricultural Price Proposals
Agricultural Markets 1987
of European
(a) HC 43-xix (1987-88), para 5
(b) HC 43-xix (1987-88), para 5 (c) HC 43-xix (1987-88), para
5 (d) HC 43-xix (1987-88), para 5
Legislation
(e) HC 43-xxi (1987-88), para 3 & HC 43-xxii
(1987-88) para 2
(f) HC 43-xvi (1987-88), para 4]
Mr. Dobson:
Will the Home Secretary be coming to the House to explain his efforts to try to persuade the Independent Broadcasting Authority to prohibit the showing of a television documentary about the shooting of three members of the IRA in Gibraltar? In the event of him failing to persuade the IBA, will he seek an injunction to prevent it from showing the film?
Mr. Wakeham:
With regard to the Independent Broadcasting Authority and Gibraltar, it is not my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary but my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary who has been in contact with Lord Thomson, the chairman of the IBA, to ask him to postpone the transmission of the programme as it is understood to include interviews with potential witnesses at the Gibraltar coroner's inquest which is to be heard later this year. My right hon. and learned Friend was naturally concerned that the coroner's interest would be prejudiced which, I should have thought, would concern every hon. Member.
Mr. James Wallace (Orkney and Shetland): The Secretary of State for Defence has been engaged in important discussions with the nuclear planning group in Brussels. Will he make a statement to the House next week on any decisions that were taken at that meeting?
Has the Chairman of the Committee of Selection yet reported to the Leader of the House on the Scottish Affairs Select Committee and the inability of any-or enough— Conservative Members to sit on it? If that process has reached a dead end, is it possible to have a Joint Committee of both Houses, which would at least allow some scrutiny of the Scottish Office?
Mr. Wakeham: The matter of the NATO meeting was raised with me through the usual channels and I have made inquiries about it. I shall check that the copy of the communiqué is available in the Library, as I believe it to be. The hon. Gentleman will know that it is not our normal practice to make statements after these meetings because of the confidential nature of the exchanges, but I shall refer the matter to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State.
As I think most people know, I have now received a letter from the Chairman of the Committee of Selection, in which he reports that the Committee was unable to nominate members to the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs when it met last week. When approached on that occasion, none of my hon. Friends who represent Scottish constituencies expressed a willingness to serve on the Committee. However, discussions are still continuing.
Sir Philip Goodhart (Beckenham): I am sure that my right hon. Friend is aware that the Chinese Communist Government in Beijing is about to publish the Basic Law, which will govern the future of Hong Kong after 1997. As there has been some suggestion that this House should not | discuss that matter, can my right hon. Friend assure us that there will be a debate on Hong Kong before the summer recess?
Mr. Wakeham: I cannot promise my hon. Friend that there will be a debate on Hong Kong before the summer recess, but I shall certainly refer the matter to the Foreign Secretary and have discussions with him about what would be most appropriate.
I cut short my answer to the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Wallace). I was going to say, in answer to a question that he did not ask me, that if he had asked for a debate I should have suggested that that matter be dealt with through the usual channels.
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