Points of Order

Madeleine Moon Excerpts

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Prior to the House going into recess in July, I pressed the Leader of the House on keeping local Members informed of the sale of their Remploy factories into the third sector. I was promised that that would be done. I have since written to the Department for Work and Pensions on 6, 7 and 13 September asking for information relating to the sale of my Bridgend Remploy factory. I have received no reply to any of those letters.

My understanding is that a final decision on the sale will take place either today or tomorrow. As a matter of courtesy, should not the Department for Work and Pensions respond to local Members’ letters and keep them informed of job losses—for me, it potentially means the loss of the jobs of 45 disabled people—so that we can work closely with bidders to ensure that our factories are kept open and that workers have the opportunity to continue the work they so enjoy?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order, to which I make two points in response. First, Ministers should always reply in a timely fashion to letters from hon. and right hon. Members, as they should to questions from them. Secondly, I would say to the hon. Lady that if she has been assured that she will be kept informed in advance of announced decisions, that commitment should obviously be upheld, whether it was made on the Floor of the House or elsewhere. The Leader of the House is not present, but I would imagine that he is within the precincts of the Palace, and would very much hope—[Hon. Members: “The Deputy Leader of the House is present.”] The Deputy Leader of the House is here and we are extremely grateful to him. He has heard the message and will have digested it already by now, I feel sure.