Business of the House

Kevin Barron Excerpts

Thursday 5th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

The whole country takes this matter very seriously. This country rightly has a high reputation for animal welfare, and that must be preserved. Investigations into the matter are taking place, as my hon. Friend says, and those are important. The Crown Prosecution Service is considering the evidence for a possible prosecution. On labelling, we support the EU study that is looking at consumer opinions on methods of slaughter labelling. That study has been delayed, apparently, but it is now expected in the next couple of months. We will be able to review the options at that point and I am sure that the House will want to debate them.

[Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) (Lab)]

I am delighted to see that action 20 of the Government’s anti-corruption plan states:

“House of Commons to approve the proposed amendments to the Guide to the Rules relating to the conduct of Members”,

with a deadline of March 2015. The Committee on Standards is very happy to support the Leader of the House in implementing that Government policy. When will the debate take place?

[Mr Hague]

I am very grateful for the right hon. Gentleman’s support. I absolutely hope that the debate will take place. He and I have discussed it a number of times. There are a number of outstanding Committee reports to address in the remaining weeks of this Parliament. My hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) talked about a European Scrutiny Committee report, there are important reports from the Procedure Committee and there is this important report from the Standards Committee. I will do my best to accommodate these things in the coming weeks, with the right hon. Gentleman’s support.