– in the House of Commons at 1:13 pm on 16 December 2009.
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Further to my point of order on
I am grateful to Andrew Rosindell for his point of order and, indeed, for giving me advance notice of it, and I am very happy to provide the progress report that he seeks. He should be aware and the House is now informed that the Chair of the Administration Committee wrote to me on
"the Administration Committee considered a paper from the Parliamentary Director of Estates on flag flying on the Parliamentary Estate."
Following a discussion of this important matter, the Committee agreed to recommend to me that
"flags should be flown on all three flagpoles on the Estate every day of the year, taking account of the usual ceremonial occasions."
The Chair of the Administration Committee, Mr. Doran, helpfully pointed out to me in the letter:
"This would bring Parliament into line with other Whitehall departments. In the case of the Victoria Tower, agreement would be necessary with the House of Lords."
I wrote back to the hon. Gentleman on
I hope that the hon. Member for Romford feels a proper sense of triumph at what he has achieved in this matter, which he has, as he indicated, pursued over a lengthy period with, if I may say, a tenacity reminiscent of a Staffordshire bull terrier.