Sharon Hodgson
Main Page: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. In yesterday’s The Independent on Sunday, the Deputy Prime Minister was quoted as saying that he wants to recruit 65,000 new early years workers by September 2013, including 2,000 in Birmingham alone. However, the Daily Mail has reported a Department for Education source as saying that the figure will be closer to 12,000 across the country. Given that this is a significant policy matter, have you been informed that the Government intend to come to the House to set the record straight so that Members know whether the Deputy Prime Minister was right or wrong in what he told The Independent on Sunday, and have you received an apology from Ministers for once again announcing Government policy in the press before doing so in the House?
Mr Speaker
First, there are many ways in which the hon. Lady can continue to pursue this matter, but a point of order is not one of them. Secondly, she will understand that I do not want to act as umpire between competing reports in—I will not say the popular newspapers—what are apparently described as newspapers. I will leave those institutions to make their own observations. No Minister has apologised to me, but if I receive an apology in respect of this matter, I assure the hon. Lady that she will learn of it without delay.