Grahame Morris
Main Page: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Mr Deputy Speaker
It is unusual for one Member to raise a point of order on behalf of another and I do not wish to encourage the practice. There is nothing to inhibit Front-Bench Members from the official Opposition in making their own points of order. That said, questions for written answer on a named day should receive some kind of answer, preferably a substantive one, on the day that is named, and a full answer should be provided in a reasonable time. If the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) cannot get satisfaction by raising the matter with the Minister concerned, she should inform the Procedure Committee of her problems.
Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. This is the first opportunity that I have had to apologise to you and the House for any suggestion or perception that I breached parliamentary procedures by failing to make reference to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, which states that I participated in a study tour of Venezuela, before I asked a topical question of the Foreign Secretary during Foreign Office questions on 4 September. I have made no secret of my visit. In fact, I have written to newspapers and blogged about it extensively. If I breached procedures, it was unintentional and I place on the record my apology.
Mr Deputy Speaker
The House will have noted what the hon. Gentleman has said. It is worth putting it on the record, however, that the resolution of the House of 12 June 1975, which was last amended on 9 February 2009, excluded supplementary oral questions from the requirement for declaration. It appears to me that a topical question is a supplementary question. It is up to Members to judge whether an interest is of a nature to justify a declaration at such times, but the House’s rules do not require it. The hon. Gentleman has now made such a declaration.