Business of the House

Natascha Engel Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to pursue the interests of his constituents as fully and rigorously as he can. As the ship in question was off the Mexican coast, Foreign and Commonwealth Office consular staff have been actively pursuing the initial police report from the Mexican authorities and, as he knows, are in contact with the family, Cheshire police and relevant local authorities. He also raises the issue of ships flying flags of convenience, and I will raise that with colleagues at the Department for Transport and ask them to get in touch with him about it.

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

The Leader of the House has witnessed for himself the large number of Back Benchers who come to the Backbench Business Committee and seen the high quality, topicality and importance of the debates brought to us. As a business manager, he will also be aware that Government business sometimes collapses before the full allotted time. Will he work with the Committee to ensure that precious parliamentary time is put to best use and to see whether Back-Bench business debates can be slotted in on those occasions when it is quite predictable that Government business might collapse?

[Mr Lansley]

As a relatively new business manager, I will of course be very glad to discuss these matters with colleagues, not least the House authorities and my hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker)—he is no longer in his place—who chairs the Procedure Committee. [Interruption.] I know, as does the hon. Lady, that there are circumstances in which it is proper to allow time for debate and not proper to assume that there will not be a substantive debate on an issue that will take all the time available, so it can sometimes be difficult to anticipate when business will finish sooner than it might otherwise do.