[Mr. Peter Atkinson in the Chair]

On a point of order, Mr. Atkinson. It is a delight to see you in the Chair on this stormy day. At the beginning of the Tuesday sitting, I handed back the disc containing evidence from the informal evidence session carried out by the Opposition, which was given to me by the hon. Member for Hornchurch. I gave a hard copy of the transcript to the hon. Gentleman, so that the names of witnesses could be added and the Opposition could submit it to you, Mr. Atkinson, as evidence to the Committee under the new rules. I find it ironic, although the hon. and learned Member for Harborough might not, that staff from the shadow Home Secretary’s office rang the Home Office to say that they had lost the discs that I had given them. I am happy to supply another one, but it may not be necessary, as I know that the hon. and learned Gentleman has been working on the hard copy.

I am not sure whether that was a point of order.

Further to that point of order, Mr. Atkinson. From time to time, we have to indulge the Minister, because he and his fellow Ministers are in a bit of a sticky patch. If he can make a feeble joke about what I would describe as no more than a slipped disc, rather than a lost disc, all power to his elbow.

I have gone through the transcripts and have filled in some of the names and some of the blanks where the wording was indistinct, and my researcher now has them. Perhaps between now and Tuesday I can work out with the Government how to present them formally, if that is what we do, and bring them within the confines of the Committee. That is a matter of procedural detail, however, and we do not need to trouble this afternoon’s sitting with it.

On that point, I understand that the document has to go to the scrutiny unit and be approved by the Chairman before it can be printed.

Thank you. I do not think that I have ever heard of the scrutiny unit, but I am sure that it is a valuable part of Parliament. I hope that lots of people are usefully employed in scrutinising whatever the scrutiny unit has to scrutinise.

The blue-skies thinking unit.

I am sure that my right hon. Friend is a great one for pushing envelopes and scrutinising.

Order. I say to the hon. and learned Gentleman that the scrutiny unit is part of the new modernisation process. No doubt he will be modernised appropriately later in the week.