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Business of the House
21 OCTOBER 1982
Mr. John Home Robertson (Berwick and East Lothian): Would it not be for the convenience of the House if the specifically and exclusively Scottish business set down for debate next Wednesday was referred to the Scottish Grand Committee sitting in Edinburgh? Would it not also be for the convenience of the people of Scotland, who are suffering education cuts, to know that the Government intend to spend even more in support of private education?
Mr. Biffen: The decision to have Scottish Grand Committee sittings in Edinburgh is one of such delicacy that it is better undertaken as a result of widespread consultation and agreement in this House rather than as a result of unilateral action on my part.
Mr. Peter Bottomley (Woolwich, West): Would it be possible to have a debate next week or subsequently on the intimidation of trade union members? People who stop three-year-old babies having operations may find that their branch gets a letter from the union, but those who choose to work when they have been told to go on strike find that the intimidation is much greater, more personal and comes much quicker.
Mr. Biffen: I note my hon. Friend's point. This is not the first time that he has made it. I have to tell him that there is no likelihood of Government time being made available next week for a debate of that character.
Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover): May I add my voice to the
request
already made by two of my hon. Friends for a statement from the Prime Minister on her glorified Far East tour? Is it not a fact that when she went to Japan she found them in a financial crisis and left with a flea in her ear and that she left Hong Kong in a constitutional mess? After she turned her back on the Chinese, they started talking to the Russians for the first time in 30 years.
Mr. Biffen: I cannot helpfully add to what I said to the hon. Member for Warley, East (Mr. Faulds).
Mr. Laurie Pavitt (Brent, South): Will the Leader of the House ask the Secretary of State for Social Services to make a statement next week about the chaos and demoralisation in the NHS following the most recent reorganisation? This has nothing to do with the pay dispute. Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that thousands of senior nursing officers are still not aware, six months after the appointed day, whether they have a job. The demoralising effect runs through every hospital in the country. May we have a statement?
Mr. Biffen: I will draw the hon. Gentleman's comments to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, but I am sure that the hon. Gentleman accepts that yesterday's debate went wider than merely the industrial dispute. Nevertheless, I will ensure that his remarks are passed on.
Mr. James Lamond (Oldham, East): Will the Leader of the House keep in mind, at least for the new Session, that we have not had a debate on the United Nations special session on disarmament and that the Madrid conference on European security is about to reopen? It would be good for his party to begin to show a little interest in disarmament, because it is a very big vote catcher.
Mr. Biffen: I had not forgotten the topic and I knew that the hon. Gentleman would not let me forget it. May I suggest, in a friendly spirit, that he makes his speech in
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the debate on the Queen's Speech. There is more likelihood of his being able to put his views on the record then than there is that we shall have a specific debate on the matter.
Mr. Timothy Smith (Beaconsfield): Will my right hon. Friend give us an assurance that there will be an opportunity to debate the recommendations of the Hunt committee on cable broadcasting before the Government reach a decision on the proposals?
Mr. Biffen: I am certain that it would be most appropriate for the House to consider that matter in the early stages of the general deliberations on the topic.
Mr. Stanley Newens (Harlow): Will the right hon. Gentleman accept that, whatever may be his view of the effects in the Far East of the Prime Minister's pronouncements on the future of Hong Kong, a written reply on the matter is inadequate? Will he tell us the terms on which we are to expect the Prime Minister to make statements after such visits? In vew of her refusal to make a statement, what other opportunities will we have to discuss the important matters relating to the future of Hong Kong?
Mr. Biffen: I believe that the hon. Gentleman will find that there are precedents for a Prime Minister to report in a written answer on a visit undertaken during a recess. However, there will certainly be every opportunity in the debate on foreign policy, within the ambit of the Queen's Speech debate, for all these matters to be considered further.
Mr. Dennis Canavan (West Stirlingshire): Has the Leader of the House forgotten that the first Order of the Day for next Wednesday is the Second Reading of my Scottish Parliament Bill, which is in the hands of the printers and ought to be available in the next few days? As it is a fairly simple, straightforward Bill, will the Government grant time for the Second Reading, Committee stage, Report stage and Third Reading on the Floor of the House next week so that we can have a Scottish Parliament passing Scottish legislation in the next Session, instead of the rubbish that has been passed by this Tory Government over the past three and a half years?
Mr. Biffen: When the hon. Gentleman commends something as simple and straightforward it is consensus politics at its most dangerous.
Mr. Bob Cryer (Keighley): Will the Leader of the House arrange for a statement on the De Lorean car company, in view of the recent serious developments? He knows that some of us have been following that matter for
many years.
Secondly, the right hon. Gentleman, as a former Secretary of State for Trade, will know of the anxiety felt throughout the textile industry about the multi-fibre arrangement. As he knows, 18 agreements have been made, 19 are outstanding and there are serious questions whether the mandate will be retained for the remainder and whether contingency plans are being made to withdraw from the MFA if necessary. The textile industry is beleaguered and is anxious for a statement and a debate in the House.
Mr. Biffen: On the hon. Gentleman's first point, I will pass his remarks to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The MFA negotiations are a
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