Points of Order
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow
Mr Speaker
I shall come to the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Mr Donohoe). I am saving him up, which is always enjoyable.
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman both for his point of order and for his courtesy in giving me advance notice of it.
As I understand the position, the Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims today issued a written ministerial statement informing the House that the Ministry of Justice had published a report following a review of former members of the armed forces and the criminal justice system, along with the Government’s response, on 21 December. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that it is preferable for significant reports to be published while the House is sitting whenever that is possible. I appreciate that, in the case of a long recess, it may well be in the public interest to publish sooner—in this instance, sooner than today. Whether it was possible to publish before we broke up for the Christmas recess I cannot myself say for certain, although I have noted what the hon. Gentleman said about the sequence of events and releases to the media.
These are important matters which involve courtesies to Members of the House, of which I hope those on the Treasury Bench will wish to take note. The hon. Gentleman has put his concern on the record, and I hope that that concern is judged weighty by all in the House. We will leave it there for now.
Mr Donohoe
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. At exactly 9.44 this morning, a member of my staff received an e-mail telling me that the First Minister would be in my constituency exactly 61 minutes later. I understood that there was a convention, certainly in this place, which ensured that if a Minister or another Member of Parliament was coming to my constituency, I would be given good notice of the fact. I also understood that there was a similar convention between us and the Scottish Parliament. I wonder, Mr Speaker, whether you could, at the very least, have a discussion with the Presiding Officer in the Scottish Parliament and try to reintroduce that convention. The First Minister’s predecessor used to provide perfectly adequate time for me to attend such events in my constituency.
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. I thought that he was on to an important point when he said that there was a convention “in this place”. It is my understanding that there is certainly a very strong convention in this place that if a Member is going to visit the constituency of another on official business, advance notification is offered. However, I fear that I am not aware of the veracity of the second part of the hon. Gentleman’s point of order, which concerned the existence of some sort of understanding between separate Parliaments.
Mr Speaker
The hon. Gentleman is nodding sagely. If there is such a convention which has generally been honoured, then there is no reason for it suddenly not to be honoured. I cannot deal with the First Minister at this stage. Whether there will be occasion to deal with her in the future, I have no idea—I have no idea whether there will be or not. If there has been a convention and it has been honoured, then it should continue to be honoured, and on a very serious note I do understand the sense of irritation the hon. Gentleman feels that what might be thought to be an expected courtesy has not been observed. That is regrettable. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie) witters from a sedentary position that it has been honoured. I am afraid I regard what I have been told as an example of it not being honoured, but I am going to leave it there for today, and if the matter resurfaces, it will have to be dealt with in the appropriate way.
Points of Order
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow(10 years, 2 months ago)
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Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Earlier, during Cabinet Office questions, I asked what I thought was a reasonable question and I did not even get any answer. What can you do as Speaker to make sure that Ministers come to this House and answer questions properly?
Mr Speaker
The hon. Gentleman is a very experienced Member of the House and he will know that the responsibility of the Chair is to ensure order. The Chair cannot ordinarily intervene in the content of an answer, for to do so would be to evaluate and it is not for the Chair to evaluate the quality of ministerial responses. If the hon. Gentleman is dissatisfied, others may feel that way or not, as the case may be. The Chair is there to be an umpire but not to offer evaluations of ministerial performance. But I always keep a watch on these matters, and the hon. Gentleman will know that when a Minister chose to go completely off piste, totally inappropriately, and to witter on about matters that were nothing to do with him, I made it clear that he must desist. I am sure that, in the name of leadership, his ministerial boss can be relied upon to do the same. We will leave it there for today.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow(11 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
I presume that Dr Livingstone was a great educationalist, who believed in education. What has the Minister’s right hon. Friend the Secretary of State done to set up the school-industry liaison committees that he promised me some months ago?
Mr Speaker
Order. That is very tangentially related to the 200th anniversary of the birth of David Livingstone. The hon. Gentleman should not speculate about what Dr Livingstone would have said, because the fact is that he did not—he was not in a position to do so and he cannot do so now. I think we had better move on. I call Iain Stewart.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow(12 years ago)
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Mr Speaker
No, not number 5. The hon. Gentleman must be patient. I am coming to him. I am saving him up. He is worth saving.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow(12 years, 2 months ago)
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Mr Donohoe
I thank the Prime Minister for his response. A few months ago, he came to Troon in my constituency and he was going to give me the opportunity to take him around. One of the areas I was going to take him to was the Troon shipyard, where I served my apprenticeship many years ago—in fact, when he would probably still have been in short trousers. Outside the door of the shipyard on a Thursday was a man called the tallyman, who was a loan shark. He charged half a crown, which is 12.5p, per £1 each week on a loan to a shipyard worker. Today, we are hearing all about these—
Mr Donohoe
Mr Speaker, you hold one of the great offices of state, as does the Prime Minister. What is he personally going to do to drive these sharks out of our economies?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow(12 years, 7 months ago)
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Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
The Secretary of State recently visited my constituency. I wonder whether he could give us a progress report on how he has got on with the schools-industry liaison committees.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow(13 years, 7 months ago)
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Mr Donohoe
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the reply I have just received, I will seek a debate on the Adjournment.
Mr Speaker
I am extremely grateful. Under the procedures of the House, as colleagues are aware, we must proceed to the next question.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow(13 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
5. By what date he expects the level of unemployment in Scotland to begin to reduce.
Points of Order
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow
Angus Robertson
This morning, the Government issued a written statement on the ditching of the privatisation of search and rescue contracts. That written statement provided no answers about the multi-million pound cost to the taxpayer of pursuing that madcap privatisation scheme in the first place. No details were provided about what that will mean for military aircrew who should be remaining on search and rescue flights. No confirmation was given on what should happen to military facilities that operate those search and rescue flights, such as RAF Lossiemouth in Moray or HMS Gannet in Ayrshire. How would it be possible to get a full statement in the House, so that hon. Members who have a constituency or other interest can question Ministers on what is, after all, a lifeline public service?
Mr Speaker
I will take the point of order from the hon. Gentleman and then reply to both hon. Members.
Mr Donohoe
My concern is similar to that of the hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson). That statement should have been made in this place and not on the airwaves, which is what happened. Despite having a constituency interest in the subject, I was given no notice of the statement in the House of Commons Library. Nobody informed me that it had been put there, and I had to seek it out myself, which I find outrageous. It is time that the Government got themselves into check in order that this place remains sovereign—rather than the airwaves of this country.
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Members for Moray (Angus Robertson) and for Central Ayrshire (Mr Donohoe) for their points of order. The timing, form and content of ministerial statements are, as both hon. Members will appreciate, a matter for the Government and not for the Chair. I note what both of them have said about what they regard as the inadequacy of the handling of the matter. Their opinion has been placed firmly on the record.
I say two things in conclusion to them. First, the Leader of the House is present. He will have heard what they have said—he is entitled to respond, but he is under no obligation to do so this afternoon. [Interruption.] The right hon. Gentleman is well able to fend for himself. Secondly, both hon. Members are at liberty and might be wise to approach the Table Office to decide what options are available to them to pursue this very legitimate concern on behalf of their constituents.
If there are no further points of order, we come to the ten-minute rule motion. The hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) has been waiting patiently. Just before he graces the House with his eloquence, I appeal to hon. Members who are leaving the Chamber—I am sure that there will not be very many—to do so quickly and quietly so that we may hear him.
Points of Order
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow(14 years ago)
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Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. In an answer by the Leader of the House about employment tribunals, he said that all would be revealed next week. I have asked questions of the Ministry of Justice to elicit information about the number of people who have been unfairly dismissed with between one and two years’ service and have gone to a tribunal. I was told that the answer could not be given without disproportionate cost. Surely that is wrong if we are to debate that subject?
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order, which of course requires a ministerial reply. I do not know whether he was seeking to elicit something from the Leader of the House, who is welcome to comment, but under no obligation to do so.
Higher Education Fees
Debate between Brian H. Donohoe and John Bercow(14 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Donohoe
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Did not the Secretary of State say that he was going to give way? Why is he not doing so?
Mr Speaker
I understand what the hon. Gentleman has said, but that is not a point of order; it is a point of frustration.
