The statement has shown how inappropriate the House is for dealing with such matters. We have attempted to deal with the three important topics—abolition of the poll tax, the structure of local government, and further education in Scotland—in a short period.

I have some specific questions for the Secretary of State, first about further education. The proposed measures have nothing to do with further education. They have arisen out of the poll tax panic and the need to move more services to centralised control. I cannot understand why the Secretary of State cannot see that he is centralising rather than localising control. Will he confirm that all the important decisions on further education will be made by him in the Scottish Office? That is particularly distressing because the Government's recent record on training is entirely one of cuts. Only local government has managed to safeguard training by not making the cuts that the Scottish Office has made with the establishment of the new local enterprise companies.

Exactly what will happen when decisions are made? Will there be no consultative body or funding council for further education in Scotland, as there is in England? Will decisions simply be the diktat of the Secretary of State?

In the English statement it was announced that a joint White Paper would emerge from the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Employment on the 16 to 19 age group. May I have a specific answer on that? What will be the relationship of Scotland to that White Paper? Will we have a link with it? It is disturbing that the statement and the few words that we have had on further education refer only to further education for the 16 to 19 group. But FE colleges are of enormous importance to their local communities, not only for vocational education. Will the Secretary of State give an assurance that the wider role of colleges in adult and continuing education will be respected?

Throughout his statement, why did the Secretary of State extol the virtues of consultation but fail to mention consultation with FE colleges? Why has he gone headlong into introducing regulations at midnight tonight, with no consultation with FE colleges?

Lastly, may I ask the Secretary of State—[Interruption.] These are my final questions. I now come to the poll tax. Will the Secretary of State devote some time—as long as he wishes—to explaining the difference between the rates and his proposed property tax? Will he also confirm that he said that there would be some sort of separate register for levying the poll tax and a valuation roll to assess the property tax?