David Heath
Main Page: David Heath (Liberal Democrat - Somerton and Frome)Department Debates - View all David Heath's debates with the Leader of the House
(12 years, 2 months ago)
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Sir George Young
Putting out a written ministerial statement is not “sneaking it out”.
The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David Heath)
Nor is answering questions in the House.
Sir George Young
Nor, as my hon. Friend says, is answering questions about it on the same day. There could hardly be a more open process of bringing a matter before the House.
Finally, under the Labour Administration there was an e-petitions system that ended up in Downing street and got nowhere. We have introduced a much better system, whereby if a certain threshold is reached the petitions are eligible for debate. Some of the best debates that we have had have been as a result of the e-petitions system, introduced by this Government, and we are proud of it.