Sir Alan Campbell

As ever, I thank the hon. Gentleman for his work chairing the Committee, and indeed I thank the whole Committee for its work. On the baby loss debate, not only was the allocated time protected, but there was an element of discipline, which I welcome. I do not think the approach is perfect, but we are getting there. I will bear in mind what he says about Monday 26 October. My initial reaction is that it is not always necessary or welcome to have guaranteed time for debates, and perhaps we should take this on a case-by-case basis, but I will give some thought to what he says. I take away the point about ensuring that the Committee has full membership, and I will seek to ensure that the issue is resolved as quickly as possible. I will also ask the Front-Bench spokespersons for Black History Month to bear in mind what he said, and to ensure that in the debate on the subject, Back Benchers—it would probably otherwise have been a Backbench Business debate—get the time that they need. I will get to the hon. Gentleman’s serious point about the protection of minorities, but it would be remiss of me not to send our most heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of those impacted by the tragic school collapse in Pakistan; news of it came out overnight. I hope the whole House will join me in sending our heartfelt best wishes to those communities. On the treatment of Hindus and others, the UK strongly condemns all instances of hate or violence directed towards minority religious communities in Pakistan, including Shi’a Muslims, Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs. We work with the international community to promote human rights, in partnership with Pakistan, but I will draw the hon. Gentleman’s comments to the attention of the FCDO. I hear what he says about there being lots of other things going on, not least what is happening in Ukraine and the middle east, but that is no excuse for our taking our eye off the ball in situations where we can do something to help.