Business of the House

On the question of the universities and bursaries, which is an important issue for hon. Members across the House, I shall ask the relevant Secretary of State to respond to the hon. Gentleman's point in writing and place a copy in the Library. I shall do the same in respect of the overpayments made to war veterans and how the MOD is proposing to handle the matter. All of us are concerned that our war veterans should be treated in the most careful sensitive way, commensurate with the duty that they have done for their country, which we all respect and admire. The hon. Gentleman proposed a debate on the electoral systems review that has been published by the Ministry of Justice. I suggest that if he thinks fit, he could propose that subject for an Opposition day debate, or he could seek a Westminster Hall debate on it. He also mentioned this House's scrutiny of European legislation. As he said, my hon. Friend the Deputy Leader of the House has consulted widely on how we can ensure that this House gives more effective scrutiny to legislation that comes from Europe. The hon. Gentleman makes a good suggestion, so I shall consider, with my hon. Friend, whether we could issue forthwith a written ministerial statement so that people could see how we intend that the House should deal with this matter before we table the resolutions that would give effect to the determination that we have made. Sufficient time will be given to discuss the local government situation in relation to the counties that the hon. Gentleman mentioned. There will also be sufficient time to debate both police matters—how we increase police numbers as well as increasing their pay—and how we handle council tax. We have put those issues on one day, and we think that there will be adequate time for debate.