Dawn Butler
Main Page: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order. In short, I have received no indication from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of an intention to come to the House to make an oral statement. I think that something has been announced, either in the form of a written statement or some media communication, outwith what I would call oral discourse. That said, the hon. Lady, in her relatively short time in the House, has become an adroit deployer of the various mechanisms available to her to pursue the interests of her constituents. There are some days to go before the House rises for the summer recess, and if she judges that there is an urgency attached to this matter, I am sure that she will have recourse to the appropriate mechanism, and I will look out for it. What is more, I rather imagine that she will be in her seat, and leaping up and down from it, at business questions tomorrow.
Dawn Butler (Brent Central) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Many people, myself included, will have been disappointed to read in today’s papers that the Prime Minister has postponed the publication of a report, which she ordered as part of her mission to tackle “burning injustices”, that audits and examines how people of different backgrounds are treated by public services. The reason for the delay is reportedly because it is “explosive” and “pretty bad”. Given the genuine and growing concern, is it in order for the Prime Minister to postpone a publication because she does not like the findings and because it will look bad for her Government? Is there a way that Parliament can have sight of the report that the Prime Minister is trying to hide?
Mr Speaker
I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order. The short answer is that nothing disorderly has taken place. The timing of Government statements and the release of Government reports are matters for Ministers, not the Chair. However, if there is a completed report and if the hon. Lady and others are keen to know its contents and are not aware of any particularly compelling reason why it cannot be published sooner rather than later, it is open to the hon. Lady to seek to cajole or entice an appropriate Minister to come to the House in the remaining days before we rise for the summer recess. I cannot commit that that will happen, but I have this keen sense that the hon. Lady will return to the issue and probably seek some sort of adjudication from me in the days ahead.