– in the House of Commons at 12:36 pm on 23 January 2014.
Vernon Coaker
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
12:36,
23 January 2014
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I ask the Secretary of State—[Interruption.] May I ask you, Madam Deputy Speaker—
Eleanor Laing
Deputy Speaker (First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means), First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
Order. If the hon. Gentleman is making a point of order, it has to be just that. It cannot be a question to a Minister, and I cannot answer questions on behalf of the Minister.
Vernon Coaker
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Would it not have been appropriate for the Secretary of State to make available to the House before the statement a document that broke down some of the numbers relating to the redundancies? For example, he referred to it in answer to the question from my hon. Friend Yasmin Qureshi about the Gurkha regiments.
Eleanor Laing
Deputy Speaker (First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means), First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
If the Secretary of State has an answer to that question as it concerns the workings of the House, I will ask him to comment.
Philip Hammond
The Secretary of State for Defence
Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am not sure whether it would be in order, but if you say that it is, I will happily place in the Library of the House a document that shows the fields. This document will have been circulated in the army today and it will become publicly available, but I am happy to put it in the Library of the House.
Eleanor Laing
Deputy Speaker (First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means), First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
It is certainly in order for the Secretary of State and his Ministers to give information to Members of this House. I am grateful to him for reacting so quickly to a request to do so.
Gerald Howarth
Conservative, Aldershot
Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence confirm that what he proposes to put in the Library—I hope it will be today—is the announcement of the specialist areas from which they will select personnel to be made redundant, to which he referred in his statement? Will he confirm whether that is what he is proposing to put in the Library? I wonder whether that will give us an understanding of the geographic breakdown across the country.
Eleanor Laing
Deputy Speaker (First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means), First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
The hon. Gentleman knows that it is inappropriate and out of order now to carry on the arguments rehearsed during the statement. However, if the Secretary of State would like to give further information on a point of order about information to Members of this House, I will allow him so to do.
Philip Hammond
The Secretary of State for Defence
Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. You will be interested to know that the document I intend to place in the Library will set out the fields and the numbers against each field. However, unless my hon. Friend is a very credible detective, I doubt that he will be able to determine much about the geographical distribution of those redundancies.
Eleanor Laing
Deputy Speaker (First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means), First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
I thank the Secretary of State for his helpful provision of information.
Alison Seabeck
Shadow Minister (Defence)
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Earlier today, I asked a flooding-related question of the Leader of the House. My husband has a direct interest in and is on the register of the Fire Protection Association, which is a not-for-profit organisation. As the fire service is the common thread there, it is probably appropriate that I make a reference to an indirect interest.
Eleanor Laing
Deputy Speaker (First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means), First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
It is indeed appropriate, and I thank the hon. Lady for setting the record straight so quickly.
Thomas Docherty
Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am sure that you are an avid reader of the Daily Mirror and will therefore have seen the story this morning about the rusting Russian cruise hulk that is apparently drifting towards the United Kingdom and is populated by cannibal rats. Has the Department for Transport or the Home Office said whether a Minister will be coming to the House to update us on what on earth is going on?
Eleanor Laing
Deputy Speaker (First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means), First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
I will not enlighten the House about the number of times a week I read the Daily Mirror, but although I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s ingenuity in bringing this clearly important and worrying story to the attention of Members and of Ministers—[Interruption.] Order. I have at this stage had no indication that any Minister intends to come to the House to make a statement. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman’s concerns will have been heard and taken on board by those on the Government front bench.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The Deputy speaker is in charge of proceedings of the House of Commons in the absence of the Speaker.
The deputy speaker's formal title is Chairman of Ways and Means, one of whose functions is to preside over the House of Commons when it is in a Committee of the Whole House.
The deputy speaker also presides over the Budget.
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Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
See "placed in the library".
The first bench on either side of the House of Commons, reserved for ministers and leaders of the principal political parties.
