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Speaker's Committee on the Search of Offices on the Parliamentary Estate

I am conscious that a large number of Members want to speak in the debate, so I wish to make progress. Either the Leader of the House is unable to understand the distinction that I have outlined, or she understands it but chooses to ignore it because it is inconvenient for the Government. I refer to the point made by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) in his intervention on the Leader of the House. Should it not be for the Committee to decide what it does and when? Its hands should not be tied by the House. If the police were concerned that the Committee's work prejudiced their inquiry, it would be for them to go to the Committee to explain, and for the Committee to decide whether to continue, just as has been mentioned in relation to decisions taken by the Public Administration Committee. I therefore believe that there is no reason why the House cannot undertake the necessary inquiry without prejudicing the police investigation.