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Administration Committee

I am not sure that that is a helpful intervention in terms of the confusion that I am expressing. The Leader of the House gave contradictory answers to the questions that were put to him. I hope that the shadow Leader of the House will clarify the matter in his inimitable way, because it is very important. I am likely to be affected by motion 6 in due course, which I suspect will be passed later tonight, and I have some concern about the rule and the inflexible systems that it would impose. Perhaps because of the time that I have spent in the House, I believe that experience is important, especially in matters relating to how the House operates and its procedures, including modernisation proposals. Great experience of the House is very helpful in such debates and in deciding what proposals should be put to the House. Whether it is appropriate or not, I wish to pay tribute to you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for the role that you have played in the issue of pay for Standing Committee Chairmen. The role of Standing Committee Chairmen is critical. Those Members who undertake it often work long hours, as the Leader of the House said, unappreciated and without publicity, depriving themselves of other activities in the House, including perhaps speaking in the Chamber and receiving media exposure as a result. The House cannot do without the Standing Committee Chairmen. I do not subscribe to the view that many of the Committees that I have had the privilege of chairing have been dull, because I happen to be hands-on and I enjoy the job. I have done it for nearly 20 years and I am happy to continue to do it as long as Mr. Speaker and his Deputies ask me to continue to serve on the Chairmen’s Panel. It is rewarding work. I am delighted that the Senior Salaries Review Body has been involved and that the Leader of the House and others have brought pressure to bear so that the House will decide whether Standing Committee Chairmen should be paid, at the highest rate, at a rate equal to Select Committee Chairmen. I shall not enter the debate about graduated or non-graduated pay structure. I say only that those who have put forward proposals have done so in the knowledge of what is involved. I respect the Chairman of Ways and Means for the views that he has expressed, because he has an intimate knowledge of the experience that is needed and the time that is taken up to do the job that the House expects of the Chairmen of Standing Committees. I pay tribute to the work of the Liaison Committee, because of the amendment that indirectly involves me. I would point out to the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) that it is possible for Members on either side of the House to bring a non-party political influence to bear on debate and discussion, especially when it relates to the way in which the House of Commons operates, deals with legislation and its procedures to ensure proper scrutiny. Towards the end of the last Parliament, for example, the Procedure Committee, which I chaired, produced a well-balanced report on programming, which recommended changes to programming to make it more acceptable to all parties in the House. That shows that Members who could sit on the Liaison Committee could bring a non-party political experience and knowledge to bear on some of the important matters that the right hon. Member for Swansea, West mentioned in what I consider to be a keynote address in this debate.