Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)

I am pleased to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Conway. As I explained to your co-Chairman this morning, I have arrived fresh from the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill Committee, which is why I have not attended this Committee before.

Before I speak to the amendment I want to raise a matter of housekeeping, Mr. Conway. I arrived this morning to find the Committee embroiled in political controversy over the matter of pooling capital receipts. I was not able to find out what had been said on the matter in a previous Committee because the Hansard report was not ready. I do not attach any blame to the individual Hansard reporters, as it is not a matter for them. However, if the Government are scheduling so many Committees at one time that the Hansard report of the previous sitting is not available in time for the next sitting, how can the Committees do their job properly and scrutinise what the Government say? We needed to check what the Minister said to see whether we needed to query it any further. We have a real difficulty here Mr. Conway. It may not be within your control, but I would be grateful if you could pass on our feelings about this to the relevant House authorities.

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