Browse content similar to 10/03/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning and welcome to live coverage of the House of Commons. In | :00:11. | :00:21. | |
one hour, an urgent question is being asked concerning the first | :00:22. | :00:35. | |
pub's attributed the macro educateds attributed. Then, a statement from a | :00:36. | :00:42. | |
minister for skills, Nick Bowles, on apprenticeships. MPs then move on to | :00:43. | :00:48. | |
debate more of the details on the Northern Ireland hell, and later MPs | :00:49. | :00:50. | |
return to the debate on keeping copies of legislation. The motion | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
regrets the Lord's decision to discontinue the use of Val, the | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
parchment made from calfskin. Don't forget to join me for a round-up of | :01:00. | :01:06. | |
the day at 11pm. First, questions to the Secretary of State for | :01:07. | :01:08. | |
Transport, Patrick MacLachlan and his ministerial team. | :01:09. | :01:24. | |
-- vellum. Questions to be Secretary of State for Transport. Highways | :01:25. | :01:36. | |
England's delivery plans set out how it would deliver the ?15 billion | :01:37. | :01:43. | |
road investment strategy. Work is underway on 19 major schemes, | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
several of which started this financial year as planned. Chronic | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
congestion causes delays to thousands of commuters on the 27 at | :01:54. | :02:00. | |
junctions nine and iron, and with Fareham set to C 6000 new homes at | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
Welbourne and thousands more at North Whiteley, what steps are you | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
taking to ensure vital upgrades to this piece of infrastructure are | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
carried out as a matter of priority? I know this particular scheme is of | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
interest to my honourable friend. The departments is working with | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
highways England and Hampshire County Council on a way forward is | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
to improvements to junction nine on the M25 in. I will ensure you are | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
kept informed of progress. A separate scheme to improve junction | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
ten of the M27 is being funded by private developer and the local | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
enterprise partnership, but I am more than happy to continue keeping | :02:45. | :02:47. | |
my honourable friend updated on this matter. Is the Minister will know, | :02:48. | :02:59. | |
junctions 12 to 14 of the M26 have seen accidents in recent years and | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
there is a need for some form of managed motorway so do you share | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
disappointment that a publication this week makes no mention of this? | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
When will his department to take action? I will look at the | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
individual points you have raised but I think the very fact that we | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
have a road investment strategy far superior to anything that existed | :03:25. | :03:27. | |
before 2010, I would have thought you would have welcomed that was not | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
will my right honourable friend except that my constituents are | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
warmly welcoming the investment being made in upgrading the A12 to | :03:39. | :03:47. | |
three lanes? -- accept. Can you advise me when you expect phase one | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
from the M25 to the southern border of Chelmsford to commence progress? | :03:54. | :04:02. | |
I am grateful for his point. In December 2014, the government | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
announced a scheme to widen the A12 from junction 20 82 Chelmsford. -- | :04:08. | :04:20. | |
28th. The scheme will be developed until 2020 and we expect the next | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
period to be developed until March 20 25. What assessment he has the | :04:26. | :04:33. | |
departments made of the M66 and M6 is south of that, which is called | :04:34. | :04:42. | |
the busiest road? It is jam-packed from 6am until 10am every morning, | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
what is being done to resolve this situation? Investment on a far | :04:49. | :04:51. | |
greater scale than ever imagine by the party he supported in government | :04:52. | :05:01. | |
is the simple fact. The ?16 billion is greater investment than we have | :05:02. | :05:04. | |
seen in our road network for a number of years. One of the critical | :05:05. | :05:12. | |
parts of the road investment strategy is to improve safety and on | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
that note could I ask the secretary of state to look at safety | :05:17. | :05:18. | |
particularly over the last few months at the junction of the A303 | :05:19. | :05:25. | |
and A34, and there have been a number of accidents there and I | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
believe safety can be improved. I am more than happy to ask officials to | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
look at that and I will report back to you. The road investment strategy | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
is really important but we know that every journey begins on a local road | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
and the vast majority of journeys are made on local roads and some are | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
in quite a state. Last November, two great fanfare, the pothole fund was | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
announced, and we hope it is permanent action on potholes. Can | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
you tell us how much is being drawn down by councils on that pothole | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
front? How many have been filled in so far? He wants devolution and then | :06:05. | :06:12. | |
he once the government to say exactly what is local authorities | :06:13. | :06:19. | |
should do in every circumstance. The simple fact is that between 2015 and | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
2020, allegations have been made to local authorities of ?6 billion. | :06:25. | :06:31. | |
Between 2010 and 2015, that was ?4 billion. Between 2005 and 2010, the | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
amount allocated to local authorities for road maintenance was | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
?3 billion. I think he will see from that a significant increase in what | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
this government is giving for road maintenance. I thought he would have | :06:45. | :06:51. | |
welcomed it. Will my right honourable friend recognise the | :06:52. | :06:54. | |
urgent need for clarity about the capacity of junction eight on the | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
M11 motorway and the possibility of there being a junction seven hey | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
because these have a bearing on decisions being made against a | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
deadline by local authorities on local plans? -- 7A. I am grateful he | :07:12. | :07:20. | |
raised the case and I will write to my honourable friend on what | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
progress is being made on the exact location. This department is | :07:24. | :07:34. | |
providing over ?7 billion to the devolved local road fund which will | :07:35. | :07:37. | |
fund over 500 local transit or projects by the end of this | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
Parliament. It includes ?475 million for transformational schemes that | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
are too large for the devolved allegations. We will provide further | :07:47. | :07:53. | |
details very soon. May I make a plea to the Minister, when will some of | :07:54. | :08:03. | |
the ?75 million be used to reduce noise pollution, identified by | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
Highways England on the A47 through Peterborough? It is part of the | :08:09. | :08:18. | |
strategic road network so it is not part of the money I just announced | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
but in November 2014, the Chancellor announced money for the A47, | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
including the section between the A1 and Peterborough. In terms of noise | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
pollution, the government has challenged Highways England to | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
mitigate noise in 1000 locations, and reductions could mean barriers | :08:37. | :08:44. | |
and new services. Transport North published a report this week which | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
looks at both local and regional links and act is to the national | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
network and it puts forward ambitious schemes for improvements | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
to rail transport between Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, and better | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
access to the high-speed network, what kind of coordination will there | :09:02. | :09:08. | |
be to make sure it happens? Eight road and rail, particularly in terms | :09:09. | :09:11. | |
of freight and HS2 will open up new freight part which can be used to | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
take the pressure of the roads, so coordination on that is vital and | :09:18. | :09:25. | |
wee -- and we are working with Transport North, and I am unliveable | :09:26. | :09:35. | |
later on today. -- paths. It is easier to access the tens of | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
thousands of jobs travelling from the East End, what support can the | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
Minister give my residence on Canvey Island who have been campaigning for | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
a third road for many decades? New road infrastructure can warm the | :09:49. | :09:57. | |
economy and prove like macro -- and provide access to jobs and we will | :09:58. | :10:00. | |
announce further funding options is very soon. I hope the honourable | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
lady will continue to make the coast case for this project with the local | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
enterprise partnership and County Council. The port facilities are | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
superb and it is important we give them the infrastructure to back them | :10:13. | :10:19. | |
up. Large infrastructure projects have been the hallmark of the | :10:20. | :10:22. | |
Scottish Government since they came to power in 2007, too many to list | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
here. Issues such as the Borders rail link, the trunk Link road, and | :10:27. | :10:34. | |
the Pope to Inverness a nine Juli Inkster. Scotland is investing twice | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
as much on transport as England and this includes active travel projects | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
like cycling. -- A9. Last year, the government made an announcement of a | :10:46. | :10:52. | |
new access funds, up to 2021. Can the government clear up the | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
confusion by when this fund is going to go ahead? It is interesting you | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
did not mention the high-speed rail line between Edinburgh and Glasgow | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
which has been conveniently shelved. SNP control Perth and Kinross | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
Council and they have decided that potholes have to be 60 millimetres | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
deep before they fill them in. That indicates what their priorities | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
might be in some cases. The Minister and I may disagree on many things | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
but one of the things we agree on the benefits of cycling. The cycle | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
to work scheme has been a popular and progressive policy and credits | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
to the government for continuing with that. In the summer budget, the | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
treasurer said it was monitoring sacrifice arrangements because they | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
were becoming increasingly popular. Aggressive policies in Scotland are | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
something the government support there. Can the Minister confirm that | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
he is working to make sure the Chancellor protects cycling to work | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
schemes in the forthcoming budget? I think you may have to be patient and | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
wait for the budget but I feel the cycle to work scheme is a good | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
scheme and large numbers of people are using the cycle is to get to | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
work and it is a good way to reduce congestion on our roads. | :12:13. | :12:23. | |
The Government understands the importance of affordable transport, | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
and we have capped rail fares at the level of RPI for two years running, | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
and will do so for the life of this Parliament. Decisions regarding the | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
setting of fares are by merrily a decision for commercial operators. | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
Almost ?1 billion is provided each year to fund concessionary travel | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
including free bus travel for the elderly and disabled. More than 2500 | :12:48. | :12:55. | |
people commute into Bradford, and 7000 commute out of Bradford by | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
rail. Fast, cheap and efficient connections with the rest of the | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
region are vital for jobs and the local economy. What is the minute -- | :13:04. | :13:10. | |
what is the minister doing to make sure that this happens, considering | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
that rail fares across the country have gone up by 25%, while | :13:15. | :13:21. | |
punctuality has deteriorated? Well, I know the city of Bradford very | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
well, having got to school there and I lived just outside it for many | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
years. I would have thought the honourable gentleman would be | :13:31. | :13:32. | |
welcoming the investment we are seeing in rail. Apperley Bridge | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
railway station only just opened in his constituency. So we are seeing | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
investment right across the north, including in West Yorkshire, | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
including the ability to keep fares down for the Metro region. I will | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
repeat my point about how we have regulated and capped rail fares. One | :13:50. | :13:58. | |
of the problems for local bus passengers is congestion and delays. | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
People in Kettering always say that when the traffic lights stop | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
working, the traffic flows much better. Given that the minister is | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
responsible for local roads, will he consider undertaking a pilot where | :14:13. | :14:15. | |
we can switch traffic lights off and get traffic and buses flowing more | :14:16. | :14:23. | |
freely? That is a very ingenious link into the cost of public | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
transport, Mr Speaker. I hear it quite regularly in my own area as | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
well that traffic is said to flow more freely when traffic lights do | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
not work. I have major reservations on this argument, I have to say. At | :14:36. | :14:42. | |
the same time, we are seeing initiatives to keep traffic flowing. | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
I will have a look at what my honourable friend says, but traffic | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
lights are a key ingredient in road safety. People in Yorkshire would | :14:51. | :14:57. | |
not mind paying the fares on a good trans pen I link. Indeed ministers | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
have already said they will be using that kind of transport tomorrow. I | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
hope they will stop off in Huddersfield to celebrate the | :15:07. | :15:10. | |
centenary of Harold Wilsons's berth, which is tomorrow. We would not mind | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
paying the fares if the delivery of the service was fast, efficient and | :15:16. | :15:22. | |
comfortable. The honourable member has forgotten I think the investment | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
which is being made and the improvements which are coming | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
through the franchise. Both of those see significant improvements for | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
Huddersfield, including London connections. Would he agree that | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
thanks to the governments action to increases, wages are now rising | :15:44. | :15:46. | |
faster than rail fares for the first time since 2003? He makes as wise a | :15:47. | :15:54. | |
point as ever. We are trying to make sure that regulator rail fares are | :15:55. | :15:57. | |
affordable. We are seeing a wide range of tickets on offer, including | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
some very low-priced fares which can be bought in advance, allowing more | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
people to travel by rail. You only have to look at passenger number | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
grows to see how it is working. Figures for Northern Ireland show | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
that passenger numbers have fallen. Outside of London, numbers have | :16:18. | :16:27. | |
fallen. Can I ask the minister, what steps can he take to encourage more | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
people to cycle or walk to work where possible and encourage | :16:32. | :16:34. | |
healthier lifestyles? Well, we have an element in the road investment | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
strategy to promote cycling. We have our own cycling and walking | :16:41. | :16:43. | |
strategy, which the minister has already referred to. | :16:44. | :16:56. | |
Telford has more than 1 million passengers each year. I was pleased | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
to negotiate services with virgin trains in 2014 from Shrewsbury to | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
London via Telford and Birmingham. We are currently running a public | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
consultation to help specify the next West Midlands franchise. We | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
will launch a consultation on the new west coast franchise in June. I | :17:17. | :17:28. | |
thank the minister for his reply. Telford is a rapidly growing new | :17:29. | :17:34. | |
town and it is 26 miles from Birmingham, and yet it takes 51 | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
minutes to get there. Will the minister continue to work with me to | :17:39. | :17:41. | |
make sure we have a 21st century rail system for Telford? I most | :17:42. | :17:49. | |
certainly will. I recognise the growing importance of connectivity | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
between cities. The point which my honourable friend makes about | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
Telford and the relationship with Birmingham is very, very important | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
indeed. The Secretary of State knows Wolverhampton well because of his | :18:04. | :18:06. | |
youth and because he fought a Parliamentary seat there. He will | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
know that trains from Telford to Wolverhampton to Birmingham to | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
London are far slower than trains from Stafford to London because of | :18:15. | :18:17. | |
the bottleneck through the West Midlands. When will the government | :18:18. | :18:28. | |
get around to quad-tracking the commentary to Birmingham corridor? I | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
do know the area well, but we have seen major investment in the West | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
Midlands. The new service which I have just referred to, which is | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
re-establishing a service from Shrewsbury via Telford, was very | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
welcome. But he is right, there are always demands for extra investment, | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
and that has to be measured with the record investment we are putting | :18:53. | :18:58. | |
into our railways. Cannock Chase is also connected to Birmingham with a | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
local line via Telford. It is a service which my right honourable | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
friend knows incredibly well. Users of that line report multiple issues | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
including late, overcrowded and cancelled trains. Can my right | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
honourable friend confirm that the electrification project is on course | :19:20. | :19:25. | |
for completion by 2017? I am grateful. I was in her constituency | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
just a few weeks ago. I had noticed on that occasion how the line which | :19:31. | :19:39. | |
runs through Hednesford to Cannock has already had its work started on | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
electrification, not least in Stafford lane and down by Brinley | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
Heath. I do know the area very well. It is where I grew up. The | :19:51. | :20:01. | |
governments ambition is for the UK to have the facilities and | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
regulatory environment in place for commercial space in this Parliament. | :20:05. | :20:14. | |
There is the aim of announcing the process for spaceport selection | :20:15. | :20:22. | |
later this year. As the member for Argyll and be, I will continue to | :20:23. | :20:31. | |
champion the location in my constituency to be the UK spaceport. | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
It has considerable advantages, including a three kilometre runway | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
and the backing of the community. When will the next stage of this the | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
announced, and can hear sure all of those working so hard to bring this | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
project that the government is still 100% committed to the creation of a | :20:52. | :20:58. | |
UK spaceport? I can certainly confirm that. The Department of | :20:59. | :21:02. | |
Transport has made an initial allocation of ?5 million to fund it. | :21:03. | :21:11. | |
I think it is a great opportunity. We are already world leaders in | :21:12. | :21:19. | |
space technology. This is a further step in pushing forward the barriers | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
of Jewish involvement in the space race. -- of British involvement. Can | :21:23. | :21:34. | |
I thank the minister for his recent visit to Cornwall and Newquay | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
airport? Can he confirm that he went away with a clear message, that not | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
only can Cornwall accommodate the spaceport but is very ambitious to | :21:43. | :21:45. | |
be the English bid for the spaceport? Suddenly I got a clear | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
message and was taken up by the enthusiasm of the people at new K. I | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
know there are other airports interested in this. I did notice | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
when I was at Prestwick, it seemed quite quiet when I was there. We are | :22:02. | :22:12. | |
very aware of the importance of bus services to rural communities. We | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
were able to protect the bus service operators grant funding as part of | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
the spending review last year. The government paid out ?250 million | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
last year to support bus services, of which around ?40 million is paid | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
directly to local authorities. I think the minister for that | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
response. Will you agree to look into the provision of buses in rural | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
parts of my constituency for local students travelling to school, | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
compared with national averages, and advise on how we can improve this? | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
All children aged between five and 16 qualifying for free school | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
transport if they attend their nearest school and it is | :22:55. | :22:57. | |
sufficiently far from their home. The decision to provide further | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
services would be a matter for the local authority, and some do, such | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
as the Stafford Justine. But there is an issue which is concerning my | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
honourable friend and I would be happy to meet with him to explore it | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
further. One section of our population which is disadvantaged by | :23:17. | :23:26. | |
poor rural services is young people. What is the government doing on | :23:27. | :23:32. | |
this? There is a mixture of support coming through national government | :23:33. | :23:35. | |
and through local government. Individual local authorities decide | :23:36. | :23:39. | |
their funding priorities, but local authorities in England spent an | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
average of ?330 million per year over the last three years supporting | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
bus services. 42% of bus income comes from public funds. Could I | :23:50. | :23:59. | |
invite the minister to look at rural bus service provision in eddies | :24:00. | :24:04. | |
brief, where cuts have meant that apprenticeships cannot access | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
apprenticeships and college students cannot get to the local college | :24:09. | :24:19. | |
without having to change two buses? -- Eddisbury. I would be very happy | :24:20. | :24:26. | |
to meet with my honourable friend. Access to bus services is very | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
important to all. Government tax makes up 70% of the cost of fuel. | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
Does the minister agree there should be a continued freeze in fuel duty | :24:38. | :24:43. | |
to help improve costs for bus services in rural areas? Fuel duty | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
itself might be something which the Chancellor would wish to consider. I | :24:48. | :24:53. | |
can highlight the bus service operators grant, which used to be | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
caught the fuel duty rebate, which provides 34.5p subsidy per litre of | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
fuel used. So we are supporting local authorities and bus companies | :25:05. | :25:13. | |
through that mechanism. Subsidy for all 118 supported bus routes in | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
Oxfordshire is being withdrawn. Earlier this week I travelled on the | :25:17. | :25:24. | |
popular 215 service along with the excellent Labour and co-operative | :25:25. | :25:26. | |
councillors who are campaigning to protect their local bus networks. | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
Will the minister join me in welcoming the fact that some | :25:31. | :25:33. | |
additional funding has now been secured for local transport on a | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
cross-party basis? And does he agree that when the Buses Bill is | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
published, it must address the severe challenges facing rural bus | :25:44. | :25:46. | |
services, including in the Prime Minister's in situ and see? I would | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
just like to remind the honourable lady -- constituency -- that this | :25:53. | :26:00. | |
service has been protected. I am always lead to hear that local | :26:01. | :26:02. | |
authorities are supporting their bus services. We should be supporting | :26:03. | :26:11. | |
local authorities in deciding their funding priorities. Mr Speaker, I am | :26:12. | :26:19. | |
really proud that under Conservative-led governments since | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
2010, my department has made almost ?400 million available through | :26:24. | :26:26. | |
programmes like the national stage and improvement programme, the New | :26:27. | :26:35. | |
Stations Fund the Access For All scheme. In addition, we have | :26:36. | :26:38. | |
franchise commitments and substantial growth funding. What is | :26:39. | :26:45. | |
she doing to make sure that the rail franchise holders bear their fair | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
Chair to maintain the rail structure wallet but will show we should look | :26:52. | :26:54. | |
at how the project in Coventry is working out regarding the frequency | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
of train stops at the Ricoh Arena. Will she have a look at that? | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
Improvements to stations are part of the projects. The honourable | :27:06. | :27:12. | |
gentleman has benefited locally with Virgin West Coast installation of | :27:13. | :27:15. | |
automatic ticket machines in commentary. I was pleased to | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
participate in the opening of the Coventry Arena which the DFT | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
contributed ?5 million, the first stage of the vital knuckle scheme, | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
and that scheme was 14 years on paper under Labour, delivered under | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
this government, Angstrom the amazing efforts of the MP for | :27:34. | :27:44. | |
Nuneaton. -- thanks to. When we consider railway station | :27:45. | :27:46. | |
refurbishment is, we should prioritise disabled access. In my | :27:47. | :27:53. | |
constituency, there is not a single accessible rail station so in the | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
renewal of the South Western Route franchise, would the consider | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
prioritising disabled access at our train stations? I am glad you share | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
my excitement about improvements. We set up the the funds and I am happy | :28:08. | :28:18. | |
to meet with my honourable friend to discuss. I have nine train stations | :28:19. | :28:26. | |
in my agency and half of them are completely unacceptable or people in | :28:27. | :28:33. | |
wheelchairs -- for people in wheelchairs. The funding has been | :28:34. | :28:35. | |
cut in half, are we doing enough on this? I dispute that the funding has | :28:36. | :28:43. | |
been cut in half, the first phase, ?400 million, was delivered, and I | :28:44. | :28:46. | |
am keen to look at cost effective ways to improve access for disabled | :28:47. | :28:49. | |
people and young mothers with babies for whom a flight of stairs can be a | :28:50. | :28:57. | |
real drag. I am happy to discuss it further. Residents in Torbay have | :28:58. | :29:05. | |
welcomed investment at Torquay station but a station in Paignton | :29:06. | :29:13. | |
was an old good steads shed converted into a station. Will you | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
meet to decide how we can make it a terminus for the 21st centric? The | :29:18. | :29:24. | |
best way to deliver station improvements is to get together | :29:25. | :29:27. | |
local groups, businesses and communities. The government money is | :29:28. | :29:33. | |
best spent when it is called through to support local needs. -- century. | :29:34. | :29:40. | |
What assurance can the Minister give that on the refurbishment of railway | :29:41. | :29:44. | |
stations, the objective of gaining full accessibility for passengers | :29:45. | :29:47. | |
with disabilities is embedded within the process is a priority so where | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
there are stations without access provision or where the needs are | :29:53. | :29:59. | |
central to the refurbishment of the station? How can that be achieved | :30:00. | :30:03. | |
given the 40% cut to access for all funding? I sometimes wonder if we | :30:04. | :30:11. | |
are reading the same papers and this government is spending more on the | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
railways, ?38 billion, and has been spent at any time since the | :30:17. | :30:19. | |
Victorian era. You are right to point out that accessibility is | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
important, and all of the train fleet will be compliance within the | :30:25. | :30:29. | |
next few years. It is important to stop we have a limited amount of | :30:30. | :30:33. | |
money to spend, and upgrading the railway which was woefully neglected | :30:34. | :30:42. | |
under his last government. There is already legislation prohibiting the | :30:43. | :30:48. | |
use of lasers on aircraft. It is an offence to direct or shine any | :30:49. | :30:52. | |
lights at any aircraft in flight so as to dazzle or distract the pilot. | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
Anybody found guilty of the offence could be liable for a fine of a | :30:57. | :31:03. | |
maximum of ?2500. Anybody found guilty of endangering an aircraft | :31:04. | :31:06. | |
could also be liable for five years in prison but we will keep this | :31:07. | :31:12. | |
under review of course. I welcome the previous changes that I backed | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
but the fact is that more needs to be done. Half of pilots over the | :31:18. | :31:22. | |
last year have reported a laser pen attack. Perhaps licensing or | :31:23. | :31:31. | |
classification should be considered to put a stop to these dangerous | :31:32. | :31:36. | |
practices. A number of measures are being considered across government | :31:37. | :31:40. | |
departments, it is something I take very seriously, particularly in | :31:41. | :31:46. | |
light of recent events reported. Following my conversation with the | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
secretary of state for just this, I put forward a Bill to make sure | :31:51. | :31:53. | |
high-powered laser pens are prohibited item. Will the secretary | :31:54. | :31:58. | |
of State speak with him to see if the Bill can be taken forward? The | :31:59. | :32:03. | |
member opposite makes the point that it is about the accessibility of | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
certain types of laser pens which should be controlled. I'm aware of | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
the Bill and I can assure him that not only will I talk to the | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
Secretary of State for Justice but we are talking to other departments | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
as well. This issue is something which is taken very seriously | :32:21. | :32:25. | |
indeed, and I will also listen to representations made to the | :32:26. | :32:33. | |
Department by the CAA. This issue has had coverage in the media over | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
the last few months, the number of incidents has rocketed and no more | :32:40. | :32:42. | |
so than in my neighbouring Glasgow where there were more are aircraft | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
targeted in the first two months of this year than the whole of last | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
year. Have you made any representations to the Scottish | :32:54. | :32:56. | |
Government and can you show it to the House? I am more than happy to | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
ensure the Scottish Government is consulted if further measures are | :33:03. | :33:05. | |
taken. This is something that is taken seriously by all sides of the | :33:06. | :33:09. | |
House, and I welcome the point the honourable lady has made. I have no | :33:10. | :33:24. | |
plans. The secretary of state will be aware that Treasury backed sure | :33:25. | :33:30. | |
reports, the final version published next week about the financing of | :33:31. | :33:39. | |
railways has made it clear that full privatisation of Network Rail is on | :33:40. | :33:43. | |
the table. -- Shaw. I am sure the Minister will agree that we do not | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
want to go back the dark chaotic days of the private management of | :33:48. | :33:53. | |
our rail system under Railtrack and will he commits himself to reject | :33:54. | :33:59. | |
any new recommendations that leads to the privatisation of Network | :34:00. | :34:06. | |
Rail? I would like to congratulate the honourable member of seeing a | :34:07. | :34:08. | |
report which has not been published yet X macro how he knows what the | :34:09. | :34:17. | |
content is is beyond me! I am proud with what we have achieved with the | :34:18. | :34:21. | |
rail industry in this country, it has been a fantastic success with | :34:22. | :34:24. | |
the franchising that takes place, I am very sorry that the only people | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
putting it at danger are not the government that the opposition. Does | :34:30. | :34:34. | |
my right honourable friend agree that evidence from other sectors | :34:35. | :34:37. | |
shows that privatisation has the potential to increase efficiency and | :34:38. | :34:44. | |
improve performance? Ie Do agree but I also think there is obviously | :34:45. | :34:50. | |
responsibility the four a system of railway maintenance and improvements | :34:51. | :34:56. | |
that is very important, and we have seen through the private sector, | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
vast improvements. At the time of radicalisation of our railways, | :35:03. | :35:05. | |
there were 700 and million people using trains and last year there | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
were 1.6 billion and that figure is growing year on year so I do not | :35:10. | :35:13. | |
have to be convinced about the advantages of the system which has | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
evolved over a number of years of using the private sector, and I will | :35:20. | :35:23. | |
look at other ways we can involve the private sector in providing a | :35:24. | :35:26. | |
better railways nervous for our constituents. Network Rail has | :35:27. | :35:33. | |
confirmed it has considered selling up to 18 major stations and a number | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
of other asset as it struggles to plug the 2.5 billion budget black | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
hole, would you like to comment on that? The way you talk about the | :35:45. | :35:47. | |
black hole, we are investing over this way away period some ?38 | :35:48. | :35:56. | |
billion in Network Rail. -- railways. I don't see anything wrong | :35:57. | :36:04. | |
with that and indeed there were a number of asset sales which took | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
place under the last government as well. When the secretary of state | :36:09. | :36:17. | |
reads the Shaw report, I hope he recognises the words of the great | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
railway manager who said that when you reorganise you bleed, and for | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
many months, the few top people who keep their momentum up are | :36:26. | :36:28. | |
distracted from their proper job, punctuality goes to hell, said he | :36:29. | :36:35. | |
slips, don't reorganise, don't, don't, don't. There is broad | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
cross-party support for investment in railways, maintaining the safety | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
record and delivering projects like HS2, so will he give me reassurance | :36:46. | :36:48. | |
that the progress that has been made will not be jeopardised by pursuing | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
a needed, unneeded, and unwonted plans to privatise Network Rail? I | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
can tell you with absolute certainty there are no plans to continue a | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
disastrous policy of nationalising the railways, which is one she puts | :37:07. | :37:10. | |
forward and her party leader puts forward. She talks about all the | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
investment going on and she has seen quite a bit of it in her own | :37:16. | :37:18. | |
constituency, not least at Nottingham station and which she | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
welcomed that investment, of course she did, I welcome investment in our | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
railways, but it is also worthwhile asking how we carry on that level of | :37:29. | :37:33. | |
investment, an investment at a level which she would only have dreamt of | :37:34. | :37:44. | |
when she was in government. Mr Speaker, in the north-west, the | :37:45. | :37:47. | |
first ever electric trains are running between Liverpool and | :37:48. | :37:51. | |
Manchester and between Liverpool and Wigan, and the tunnel is now open, | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
further proof that this government's commitments to electrification, part | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
of the biggest investment since Victorian times. Network Rail last | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
month marked a milestone with the introduction of brand-new trains | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
which completed 1377 foundations needed for the overhead line | :38:10. | :38:16. | |
electrification towards Didcot. Thank you for the answer. I have to | :38:17. | :38:22. | |
note that in the Transport for the North document, the focus is on | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
large cities. If the fast-growing regions of Cheshire should not be | :38:28. | :38:32. | |
squeezed out, would you look again at the possibility of better | :38:33. | :38:35. | |
electrification programme that includes areas not mentioned? I | :38:36. | :38:42. | |
thought I mention quite a few. The truth is that the investment which | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
is taking place in the northern hub, the redevelopment of Manchester | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
Victoria station, does do a lot to increase connectivity across the | :38:53. | :38:54. | |
North West and that links up a number of the towns which the | :38:55. | :38:58. | |
honourable member refers to directly into our northern cities. Rail | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
commuters in my constituency have put up with severe overcrowding or | :39:05. | :39:13. | |
many years. Because of the delay, can the government examine whether | :39:14. | :39:16. | |
there is any rolling stock available to alleviate overcrowding? We are | :39:17. | :39:26. | |
looking at all problems relating to rolling stock as a result of any | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
delays in the finalisation of electrification. There is a large | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
amount of new rolling stock coming onto our railways over the next five | :39:35. | :39:40. | |
years, not used the new trains but also the new trains on Thames Link, | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
the Siemens contract which is being developed at the moment and coming | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
into operation later this year. There was an awful lot of | :39:50. | :39:54. | |
engineering work to be carried on in Manchester and that will almost | :39:55. | :39:56. | |
certainly require the re-routing of trains through to big Tory while | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
that work takes place. When that happens and we consider using the | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
line through reddish South and Denton stations which are currently | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
served by one train a week in one direction only? If it can be | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
re-routed can they please stop at the stations so we can assess the | :40:17. | :40:24. | |
passionate Amant there is there? -- passenger demand. If it is such a | :40:25. | :40:31. | |
bad experience, I am sorry that you have not got better services in the | :40:32. | :40:38. | |
past. I am always willing to look at any suggestions but can I make the | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
point that the first point you made was a serious point, about the | :40:43. | :40:44. | |
problems... LAUGHTER The point that he makes | :40:45. | :40:52. | |
about the problems as far as work being carried out on the railways, | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
engineering work, which does lead to inconvenience while the work is | :40:58. | :41:00. | |
carried out, and that is something we do address, and is something I | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
readily talk to the chief Executive and chairman of network rail about. | :41:06. | :41:14. | |
No progress has been made on the electrification in Northern | :41:15. | :41:16. | |
Lincolnshire which is probably one of the reasons why the recent | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
railway magazine had headlines saying railways truly bad for | :41:22. | :41:28. | |
Grimsby. The transport for the North publication this week does not even | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
include northern Lincolnshire routes on its map. Can you assure me that | :41:34. | :41:37. | |
more will be done to improve services to my constituency? Indeed. | :41:38. | :41:45. | |
After a successful campaign, we did manage when we renegotiated the | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
franchises or his area, to protect the services in his area, and I know | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
he has always pressed for greater services to his constituency. It is | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
something I will look up, particularly when the new franchise | :42:00. | :42:01. | |
starts operating later in the year. A great deal of work has already be | :42:02. | :42:14. | |
completed. Actual construction will start next year. Tempted as I am to | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
propose that the government build HS2 some time in the Parliament | :42:20. | :42:23. | |
after next, when it will be seen for the white elephant that it is, then | :42:24. | :42:27. | |
he just reassure me that there is time enough to deal with all the | :42:28. | :42:31. | |
environment of impacts of HS2, for example the construction impact, in | :42:32. | :42:34. | |
the historic village of West Wycombe in my constituency? He did promise | :42:35. | :42:41. | |
me an impatient supplementary question and I was not disappointed. | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
We will have no net environmental loss during the construction. | :42:47. | :42:49. | |
Indeed, 2 million trees will be planted as part of the phase one | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
construction. This is a project that we can be proud of and which people | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
up and down the country will value as part of our economic plans. I | :42:58. | :43:04. | |
rather like elephants, white or otherwise. Let's look at the | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
building of phase two of HS2. Secretary of State has said in the | :43:10. | :43:12. | |
past that serious consideration would be given to the possibility of | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
beginning construction on the northern part of HS2 phase two | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
between Sheffield and Leeds in parallel with work on the southern | :43:22. | :43:27. | |
part? How far has that serious consideration now got, and is there | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
a real positivity that work between Sheffield and Leeds could begin | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
before the very end of the project? It is important that we prioritise | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
the Birmingham bit because that is where the congestion is and that is | :43:40. | :43:44. | |
where the real benefits are. Those trains will run through two stations | :43:45. | :43:47. | |
in the north, and to Scotland, from day one. It is important that we | :43:48. | :43:53. | |
look at how we can deliver this. Indeed, some of the investment at | :43:54. | :43:56. | |
the station locations in the north can go ahead even before the trains | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
reach those locations. Demand for driving tests has increased, and | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
with it, waiting times. The driver and vehicle standards agency is | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
recruiting more examiners, improving its forecasting model to match | :44:12. | :44:14. | |
resources with demand, and redeploying examiners appropriately. | :44:15. | :44:24. | |
We have a particular local problem in the driving centre in my | :44:25. | :44:30. | |
constituency for motorcyclists, where the motorcycle area is | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
regularly covered in moss. Can the minister look into, make sure every | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
effort is taking to ensure that motorcyclists are not disadvantaged? | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
I will look into it and I will respond to the honourable gentleman. | :44:46. | :44:52. | |
What assessment has the minister made of cancellations? I have been | :44:53. | :44:56. | |
made aware of a number of cases where people have received them just | :44:57. | :45:00. | |
minutes before a test has been due. I would be interested to know what | :45:01. | :45:04. | |
assessment he has made of that and the impact it is having on waiting | :45:05. | :45:08. | |
times? I will not enter the points my honourable friend is making. The | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
challenge faced by the devious a is really one of increasing demand. -- | :45:14. | :45:29. | |
by the DVSA. The DVSA is responding with more people, but they also need | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
to respond in a customer friendly way. It is an important point and I | :45:34. | :45:40. | |
will look into it. Mr Speaker, we have continued to make progress on | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
transport infrastructure schemes across the country. In the north, | :45:45. | :45:48. | |
the northern transport strategy Spring report has set out more | :45:49. | :45:51. | |
details on how we are building the northern powerhouse. In the east, we | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
are evaluating bids for the East Anglia franchise, which will start | :45:57. | :45:59. | |
in October this year. In the south-west, highways England has | :46:00. | :46:06. | |
started community engagement on the work for the A303 and the A358 | :46:07. | :46:10. | |
improvement plans. The select committee has published its final | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
report after 17 months of hard work. I would like to thank all members | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
who were involved in that work for their significant time and effort | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
over the course of those hearings. The businesses and residents in my | :46:25. | :46:30. | |
area have longed for a new road linking the town to the A30. A new | :46:31. | :46:37. | |
road would provide relief for the villages on that route. Can I ask | :46:38. | :46:45. | |
the Secretary of State if he would confirm the governments continued | :46:46. | :46:49. | |
support for this new road and if his department will continue to work | :46:50. | :46:52. | |
with me to make sure it is delivered as soon as possible averaged my | :46:53. | :46:56. | |
honourable friend has made the case for this road to me on many | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
occasions, not least when I was in Cornwall, when he took me around the | :47:01. | :47:04. | |
area that we are talking about. The government is making funds available | :47:05. | :47:07. | |
through the local growth fund for such schemes. It will be up to | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
Cornwall council to prepare and submit the bid for funding in the | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
normal way. But Cornwall has had a very successful history of obtaining | :47:18. | :47:20. | |
funds through this grant and I wish you well on this scheme. Mr Speaker, | :47:21. | :47:32. | |
the board investigated 23 near misses between aircraft and drones | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
in six months last year. Of those, 12 were deemed to involve a serious | :47:38. | :47:45. | |
risk of collision. BALPA wants the government to run tests on what | :47:46. | :47:48. | |
would happen if there was a collision. The government has had a | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
working grip on this since 2013. So why is it only this summer that | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
ministers will say anything? Should we note know already what tests have | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
been done, what options are being considered, regulatory and | :48:03. | :48:04. | |
otherwise, and when would any agreed option we put into practice? We take | :48:05. | :48:11. | |
this matter very seriously indeed, the risk of a collision with a drone | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
is one which we are aware of you. Yesterday I met with representatives | :48:16. | :48:19. | |
of the British airline pilots Association and this was one topic | :48:20. | :48:26. | |
which came up. There are very severe penalties in place for people who do | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
get involved with this. And there are technologies such as geo- | :48:31. | :48:32. | |
fencing which would prevent these aircraft entering sensitive | :48:33. | :48:36. | |
airspace. We are considering what action to take. On a different but | :48:37. | :48:43. | |
also topical subject, I was in Kent yesterday speaking to businesses who | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
had felt first-hand the traffic chaos surrounding 33 days of | :48:50. | :48:59. | |
operation started last year. -- Operation Stag. What is the | :49:00. | :49:04. | |
government going to do to prevent a repeat of last year's seems? | :49:05. | :49:14. | |
Operation Stack is a critical part of controlling access to the ports, | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
and trying to make the ports flowed more smoothly. We had exceptional | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
circumstances last summer, with strikes and challenges with migrants | :49:23. | :49:30. | |
closing the tunnel. The proposal, which is effectively to create an of | :49:31. | :49:38. | |
the highway holding area, is a significant investment, it is a ?250 | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
million project. The closure of the consultation is only a few days away | :49:44. | :49:47. | |
I think. I have met with highways England and with local providers of | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
highways, doing all we can do in the short-term. I will keep local | :49:53. | :50:02. | |
members informed of progress. On the 4th of February this year, hundreds | :50:03. | :50:06. | |
of my constituents were gridlocked on the M6 and M42 for an entire day | :50:07. | :50:12. | |
following and accident. Will he examine proposals to open the M6 | :50:13. | :50:20. | |
toll road when such circumstances occur? Certainly there is an | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
agreement in place where M6 tolls can be lifted in such an | :50:26. | :50:29. | |
extraordinary circumstance. The government is looking at options | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
over this agreement but there are substantial cost, policy and value | :50:34. | :50:37. | |
for money indications involved with removing the tolls. As part of the | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
process I am more than happy to meet with my honourable friend to discuss | :50:42. | :50:49. | |
it. With an estimated skills gap of some 50,000 HGV drivers predicted by | :50:50. | :50:51. | |
the end of this Parliament, would the minister agree that it makes | :50:52. | :50:54. | |
sense for the government to contribute towards the ?3500 | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
training fee required for licences? It would mean more people working, | :51:00. | :51:07. | |
and reducing welfare? Mr Speaker, I am looking at various options to | :51:08. | :51:11. | |
help as far as this issue is concerned, along with other | :51:12. | :51:15. | |
departments. But it is also for the industry to step up to the mark in | :51:16. | :51:20. | |
its training programme. Will the minister join me in welcoming the | :51:21. | :51:23. | |
report published earlier in the week by the independent transport | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
commission, which set up way the mental impact of expansion at | :51:29. | :51:31. | |
Heathrow can be mitigated? Given the weight of opinion included in the | :51:32. | :51:35. | |
Davies report, when can we look forward to a statement of progress | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
on this issue? I have noted the publication of the report by the | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
independent transport commission. That obviously feed into the | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
considerations we are making. As far as the wider issue of airport | :51:50. | :51:53. | |
capacity and making a decision on the location, as I have said before, | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
I hope to be able to do that later this year. I have been contacted by | :51:58. | :52:03. | |
one of my constituents, who has described the impact of late running | :52:04. | :52:07. | |
trains on her job and her income. She says, please understand that I | :52:08. | :52:11. | |
am so employed and I cannot call in sick if I am late for work. This | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
means that the job worth ?5,000 to me personally would be affected. | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
Turning up 30 minutes late would cost me my work. Does the rail | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
minister accept that late running trains and lamentable performance of | :52:27. | :52:30. | |
southern rail, is having an impact on the productivity of the South of | :52:31. | :52:33. | |
England? The gentleman knows I absolutely accept that. Over the | :52:34. | :52:39. | |
country, rail passenger satisfaction is actually up three percentage | :52:40. | :52:43. | |
points. But I think the challenge we have got is that there are some | :52:44. | :52:46. | |
lines, like the one he mentions, where customers are not getting the | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
punctuality and the service they deserve. That's why we are so | :52:52. | :52:53. | |
committed to getting Network Rail and the franchise holder working | :52:54. | :52:57. | |
together. There is no blame but we want them to work together. Does the | :52:58. | :53:03. | |
rail Minister agree that improvements to the north junction | :53:04. | :53:10. | |
are crucial to securing improved services on the King's Cross- | :53:11. | :53:12. | |
Kingsley line and thus unlocking more economic growth? Will she and | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
her colleagues work with me to help secure this crucial investment? The | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
honourable gentleman and others have left me in no doubt as to the value | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
of this Ely north junction work and I am disappointed that this work | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
will not be completed until after 2019. But as a result of the | :53:32. | :53:34. | |
discussions which he and others have organised, I am now confident that | :53:35. | :53:39. | |
the preparatory work can go ahead sooner, with funding coming from a | :53:40. | :53:46. | |
variety of sources. Can I ask what progress there has been with the top | :53:47. | :53:53. | |
three projects recommended by the northern electrification task force, | :53:54. | :53:56. | |
which was chaired by the honourable member for Harrogate and Nesbitt? Mr | :53:57. | :54:03. | |
Speaker that was a cross-party report, chaired by my honourable | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
friend. A lot has been learned about since then. That report will form | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
part of the foundation for how we move forward with further | :54:14. | :54:16. | |
electrification and how we prioritise those schemes. I know the | :54:17. | :54:23. | |
government keeps under review the status of trust ports. Poole has | :54:24. | :54:30. | |
that status. It has the support of the local community. I hope the | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
shipping minister understands that. Can I first of all put on record our | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
gratitude for the very hard work that my honourable friend has | :54:40. | :54:41. | |
carried out as part of the HS2 committee. We do ask trust ports | :54:42. | :54:48. | |
occasionally to review their status. But certainly all the feedback I | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
have had is that the trust board model is working well in his case | :54:53. | :54:57. | |
and we would not wish to interfere. Whilst it is clearly in the public | :54:58. | :55:01. | |
interest that a person reporting somebody as being unfit to drive has | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
anonymity, does the minister agree that where it appears that the | :55:06. | :55:09. | |
abrogation is malicious, anonymity should be rescinded, and the | :55:10. | :55:13. | |
reporting form should clearly state that if false Accies Asians are made | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
about an individual, the accuser would be liable to prosecution? -- | :55:18. | :55:26. | |
false accusations. I think that is a matter for the Secretary of State | :55:27. | :55:29. | |
for Justice but I will reflect on the question. Could my right | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
honourable friend update the House on the reinstatement of the Holton | :55:35. | :55:47. | |
Curve, which is so important for my part of the country. That's right. | :55:48. | :55:50. | |
It is a vital link. I understand that the business case will be | :55:51. | :55:53. | |
considered by the combined authorities in April. If approved, | :55:54. | :55:59. | |
and I hope it is, it should be completed by 2018. It would be a | :56:00. | :56:02. | |
pleasure to meet with the honourable gentleman. I would be very grateful | :56:03. | :56:14. | |
to feed him some buns to keep up his weight during his marathon training! | :56:15. | :56:17. | |
It is always useful to have some additional information! May I thank | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
the minister of State for transport for his visit to Northern Ireland. | :56:23. | :56:30. | |
He visited Belfast international airport as well as the air sea | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
rescue. But will he help influence various projects which we saw at the | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
time of road, rail, air passenger duty, enterprise zone, and of | :56:40. | :56:44. | |
course, one day, a new runway here to help the links to Northern | :56:45. | :56:49. | |
Ireland? It was certainly great to visit Ulster and to see some of the | :56:50. | :56:54. | |
good news in terms of the 300 new jobs at Belfast international | :56:55. | :56:57. | |
airport. And indeed the fact that Ryanair are now based at that | :56:58. | :57:00. | |
airport, with flights to Gatwick and new routes including Milan and | :57:01. | :57:05. | |
Berlin in the pipeline. I will look forward to coming to Northern | :57:06. | :57:06. | |
Ireland again. In my constituency we have a link | :57:07. | :57:16. | |
road going to he should import that is going to be open in the next six | :57:17. | :57:23. | |
months. This is a strategic route. Is there any plan to open a trunk | :57:24. | :57:30. | |
road? I visited the site with my honourable friend not long ago and | :57:31. | :57:36. | |
it is a major piece of new infrastructure that will serve his | :57:37. | :57:42. | |
area well. It has not been raised before but I will consider it. I'm | :57:43. | :57:46. | |
very pleased that my honourable friend and his constituents will see | :57:47. | :57:50. | |
the benefit of our massive road investment scheme in the near | :57:51. | :57:58. | |
future. When I raised some time ago the need for a road tunnel between | :57:59. | :58:04. | |
Sheffield and Manchester, many thought I was kite flying. Some | :58:05. | :58:11. | |
thought this was going to be a desk top study. Will the Secretary of | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
State confirm that this proposed tunnel might become a reality. I'm | :58:18. | :58:26. | |
not sure whether the honourable member is asking me to comment on | :58:27. | :58:31. | |
his demise at this particular stage but I will resist from doing so. He | :58:32. | :58:39. | |
may be right that, past governments have raised this issue and been a | :58:40. | :58:44. | |
desktop job, this is a proper serious of work that is going on. | :58:45. | :58:50. | |
This infrastructure isn't just for 30 years, it is the kind of | :58:51. | :58:54. | |
infrastructure that will be around for 100 years and very important to | :58:55. | :58:59. | |
the area and therefore will certainly see the demise of both | :59:00. | :59:07. | |
others. The government is making welcome investment in rail in the | :59:08. | :59:11. | |
North with electrification bringing huge benefits to constituencies like | :59:12. | :59:17. | |
mine. What is the government doing to improve disabled access at | :59:18. | :59:21. | |
stations like Morley and Will the Secretary of State meet with me to | :59:22. | :59:27. | |
discuss improvements at Morley station? It is right to raise this | :59:28. | :59:32. | |
but there are many other stations ahead of it in the queue in terms of | :59:33. | :59:37. | |
passenger fought for. We are catching up after decades of | :59:38. | :59:40. | |
neglect. It would be a pleasure to meet with her and discuss disabled | :59:41. | :59:52. | |
access in particular. The re-routing of services that is necessary in | :59:53. | :59:58. | |
Piccadilly and Oxford Road which will utilise the line in my | :59:59. | :00:02. | |
constituency so can I have a meeting with them so I can explain to him | :00:03. | :00:05. | |
the importance of being able to assess whether Denton and Reddish | :00:06. | :00:11. | |
South stations can make a business case for future investment? Topical | :00:12. | :00:19. | |
questions seem to have given him the chance to raise a question again for | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
which he wasn't happy with the first answer. I understand that he is | :00:24. | :00:31. | |
meeting my honourable friend the Parliamentary under Secretary of | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
State in 30 minutes and no doubt he might want to add this to the | :00:37. | :00:45. | |
discussing. I recently visited a company that are refurbishing trains | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
for mainline use. These would make an excellent replacement for the | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
decrypted rolling stock on the line to Boston. There are fantastic | :00:57. | :01:05. | |
innovations with rolling stock made from aluminium. In future successful | :01:06. | :01:15. | |
bidders will be required to be innovative regarding rolling stock. | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
We want to improve the rolling stock in his region. The proposed | :01:19. | :01:25. | |
trans-Pennine tunnel that has just been mentioned would be | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
transformative, not just for congestion in my constituency but | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
for the local economy. It is an ambitious project but the North is | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
worthy of that level of ambition. Will the Secretary of State urge the | :01:41. | :01:46. | |
Chancellor to support it as well. I don't need to encourage the | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
Chancellor at all in infrastructure spending. I have been incredibly | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
successful in securing funding for infrastructure from the Chancellor | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
who gets the importance of investment, not least in the north. | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
His policy has been pursuing the whole question of the Northern | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
powerhouse and taking forward transferred for the North which will | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
have a transformative effect on transport between northern cities | :02:13. | :02:15. | |
and it is something that other parts of the country are looking to | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
follow. The minister will recall the Shaw show crash which tragically | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
claimed the lives of 11 men in my constituency last August. I have | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
been asked by the media for my comments on the report on the air | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
crash which apparently is being published today. Why was I not aware | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
of that and what plans do the governments have two respond to it? | :02:41. | :02:48. | |
I am not sure that we do preview notification of the Branch report | :02:49. | :02:51. | |
before they are published. It is part of the reported that is being | :02:52. | :02:58. | |
published today but by no means is it the full report, a parliament | :02:59. | :03:08. | |
investigation will be updated and they are notifying people where they | :03:09. | :03:15. | |
have got to so far. Demand today has heavily outstripped supply and we | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
must now move on. Urgent question. Mr Greg Mulholland. Will the | :03:21. | :03:33. | |
Minister of State make a comment on the appointment of the pub code | :03:34. | :03:44. | |
adjudicator? Mr Paul Newby has been appointed. I hope you will be | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
congratulated on the role and thanks to all those who applied for this | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
important position. An excellent and very strong field. Mr Newby will | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
start full-time on May two and has already started work and has been | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
very helpful with my officials. In making sure we have the pub code up | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
and running and ready for the house. Paul Newby is a chartered surveyor | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
with particular expertise in valuation and arbitration. Key | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
skills of the pub code adjudicator. He has 30 years experience of the | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
pub trade working with pub company landlords and pub tenants and I | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
think going to be an excellent adjudicator. That is not a view | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
shared by tenants groups who have been astonished by this appointment. | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
Let's be clear, this appointment is of someone who is of our director -- | :04:47. | :04:54. | |
who is a director of a company who derives the vast majority of its | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
income from the sources it is being required to regulate. In particular | :05:00. | :05:11. | |
he has acted for Enterprise Inns, Marstons and punch. These companies | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
are bullying and coercing tenants into signing away their rights to | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
their pubs and the company is actively involved in selling of | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
pubs. How can he be trusted to be impartial given that his Surrey for | :05:26. | :05:34. | |
20 years has been dependent on those he is expected now to a -- | :05:35. | :05:42. | |
adjudicator pun. -- his salary for 20 years. Did he as a director | :05:43. | :05:51. | |
declare how much of the income of the company he works for has been | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
derived from the companies he will be adjudicated upon. How can tenants | :05:57. | :06:04. | |
have any confidence in this appointment? Why has a chartered | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
surveyor been appointed rather than someone from a legal background or | :06:09. | :06:17. | |
an independent adjudicator will stop we don't know how great candidates | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
there were and who made the final decision. This is a very worrying | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
appointment, once again demonstrates either composite seat with pub: | :06:27. | :06:38. | |
interest or a lack of understanding of the role. If this appointment is | :06:39. | :06:48. | |
allowed to stand, this statutory reform will go the same way as the | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
failed self-regulatory. It is a clueless appointment and it needs to | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
be properly scrutinised by this house. I have to say, that was a | :06:57. | :07:06. | |
disgraceful set of slurs and I would appreciate it if the honourable | :07:07. | :07:09. | |
gentleman would be good enough to listen. Paul Newby was appointed | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
absolutely in accordance with the usual ways of public appointments | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
and I take very grave exception to any allegation that either me or | :07:21. | :07:27. | |
anybody else has acted in anyway in properly or competently. Mr Newby | :07:28. | :07:37. | |
hasn't just represented pub trade companies but also tenants. He has | :07:38. | :07:46. | |
30 years of experience, effectively representing both sides. He is an | :07:47. | :07:54. | |
experienced arbitrator and the great skills he brings to the position are | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
not only his extensive experience of the pub trade industry but like many | :08:01. | :08:09. | |
professionals he has the absolute ability to be fair and arbitrate | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
fairly and the fact that he might be representing somebody does not mean | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
to say that he is in their pay. He can act independently. Oh no. The | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
honourable gentleman absolutely doesn't understand how professionals | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
work and many of ours would take great exception in any event. This | :08:34. | :08:43. | |
man, honourable members opposite would do better rather than to | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
hackle about somebody they don't even know. They haven't looked at | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
his anti-seed and is and I made the announcement only yesterday in this | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
place at about seven o'clock. I have no doubt that Mr Newby's | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
considerable experience and abilities to be able to do this job | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
are first rate and I take great exception at the idea there has been | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
any impropriety at all. Somebody from a sedentary position said, do | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
you know him? No, I don't know him. I didn't meet him until... I met him | :09:20. | :09:27. | |
at the end of the procedure, as this house would expect after he was one | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
of three names put forward quite properly by a full process which has | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
been open and fair and I object very strongly on behalf of Mr Newby who | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
will do this job with propriety and all things will be done properly. | :09:44. | :09:54. | |
The Minister has behaved absolutely correctly and properly and what | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
matters is Paul Newby's ability rather than anything else. Would she | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
agree that he should look at the loophole that allows retailers and | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
shop owners to buy a pub that requires planning permission but on | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
the other hand if it reverts back to being a pub in those actually | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
require planning position. His primary job is to implement and make | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
sure the pub code is being complied with. When people invoke the pub | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
code, his job will to be acting as a fey arbitrator. I have no doubt that | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
he has those skills and experience. -- fair arbitrator. He has had | :10:36. | :10:43. | |
experience of the pub companies but also tenants so he sees things from | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
both sides and has all the skills and his appointment was made with | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
great care and total propriety. The way the Minister announced the | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
appointment yesterday didn't exactly inspire confidence as part of the | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
shambolic proceedings that we experienced on the enterprise Bill | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
on Sunday trading. She announced it in an intervention in the third | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
reading after the Secretary of State could have mentioned it in his third | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
reading speech. If nobody had mentioned the pub 's code at third | :11:19. | :11:21. | |
reading, the announcement wouldn't even have been made then. Turning to | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
the appointment of Paul Newby, I look forward to meeting him to look | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
at the concerns raised by the honourable member for Leeds North | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
West and by the pub 's tenants about the relationship between his current | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
employers and large pub owning businesses. I don't think tenants | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
will be at all reassured by what she said and I think the challenge for | :11:46. | :11:53. | |
Mr Newby will be maintaining a level playing field between tenants and | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
pub companies. How does she feel he can do this given the concerns | :11:59. | :12:07. | |
raised by tenants? Somebody who has acted for companies such as Punch | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
Taverns, Enterprise Inns and Marstons will act on their behalf in | :12:11. | :12:18. | |
the future. She will be aware of concerns that the adjudicator should | :12:19. | :12:21. | |
not be a chartered surveyor. Could she tell a house that she will be | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
pursuing concerns about the attitude of the Royal Institute of chartered | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
surveyors about Parolo rent assessment? -- parallel rent | :12:31. | :12:39. | |
assessments. Concerns have been raised in the Lords and here and | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
will she really raise those concerns with the adjudicator about pub | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
companies offering shorter leases to make it impractical for the tenants | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
to take up the market went only option. Will she raise the date for | :12:53. | :13:03. | |
taking that opportunity up? We saw a shambolic approach to the initial | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
consultation on the pub 's code which undermined trust from pub | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
tenants. Back on track, concerns were raised by tenants associations. | :13:12. | :13:20. | |
I should say to the House that I did advise the principal actors on this | :13:21. | :13:27. | |
stage that on this occasion, I was really quite insistent that the time | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
limits be kept. To be fair, the minister was well within her time. | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
The honourable gentleman exceeded it by a small number of seconds. But he | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
was closer than he has been in the past! No discourtesy is intended to | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
the honourable gentleman. I think he has got the thrust of it across. But | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
we really must from now on stick to the limits because otherwise it is | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
not fair on backbench members. I think we are very clear what the | :14:00. | :14:01. | |
honourable gentleman has got to say. Minister. Mr Speaker, we are | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
confident that the pub code will be in its proper form and it will be | :14:08. | :14:10. | |
laid at the appropriate time and that it will be up and running by | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
June the 1st. Yesterday a press release had been prepared for | :14:16. | :14:18. | |
publication today. I took the opportunity as you know to tell this | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
House first. I thought that was a courtesy to the House and I thought | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
the honourable gentleman had a proper interest in pubs and I | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
thought he might be in some way grateful. But there you go, you live | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
and learn. I very much welcome the governments action on this issue. As | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
someone who represents a number of pubs which I have dealt with over | :14:41. | :14:47. | |
the years, and having problems with the large pubcos that own them. When | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
appointing the adjudicator, is it not important to have someone who | :14:53. | :14:55. | |
understands both sides of the argument so that they can adjudicate | :14:56. | :14:58. | |
fairly between them? Absolutely I agree. Paul Newby is not only a | :14:59. | :15:04. | |
chartered surveyor locking he has this ability, he is a very | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
experienced arbitrator, but it is his knowledge from both sides, and I | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
know that he will be fair. I have complete confidence in him. He is | :15:12. | :15:20. | |
very good news. We know the pubs adjudicator is effectively classed | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
as England only, but just like Sunday trading, it could have an | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
effect in Scotland, because pub companies made direct investment | :15:31. | :15:33. | |
towards pubs in England and Wales. The Scottish Government... Could the | :15:34. | :15:41. | |
minister make sure going forward but she takes effect of the possible | :15:42. | :15:51. | |
effect of the proposals on Scottish pubs? I don't think there was a | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
question but I am sure we can have a chat about it afterwards and discuss | :15:55. | :16:02. | |
all these things. Can my honourable friend confirm that this appointment | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
has been made absolutely on merit, fairly and without interference from | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
government whatsoever? And the most important thing about this is how | :16:11. | :16:13. | |
the person does the job and implements the pub code? I am | :16:14. | :16:20. | |
grateful for his comments. He is absolutely right. It is an insult to | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
the civil servants and all those who took part in the process, because | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
they exercised the greatest care in making sure that the very best | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
candidates were put forward to the final seven and then the next three | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
before coming to the minister with a recommendation in relation to one. I | :16:36. | :16:42. | |
take this not personally against me but against my civil servants and | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
all that team, because this has been done. And he is very good news. He | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
is fair and he knows what he is talking about. I have a recorded | :16:52. | :16:58. | |
interest in a pub. I Chair a trust which owns the pub which John Clare | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
played and sang in. It is not operating at the moment but it will | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
be. Let's depersonalise this. I work very closely with The Pub Is The | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
Hub. I do not know this man, I hope he does a good job, but unlike the | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
supermarket person, I hope this man has teeth to do something about a | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
vigorous brewing and pub industry in this country. It is all about | :17:24. | :17:26. | |
getting the balance right. I must take exception about Christine, the | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
grocery code June eight, who now has exactly the teeth he would like. She | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
has not held back in her criticism as we saw recently. -- the grocery | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
code adjudicator. She is doing a great job. In any event, the most | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
important thing is that it was actually naming and shaming, as the | :17:47. | :17:50. | |
honourable gentleman will know, that is sometimes the most powerful tool. | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
But the code adjudicator is just that, an adjudicator to ensure | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
fairness, and Paul Newby will do that. What involvement if any has | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
the industry had on both sides in this selection process? I can assure | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
my Noble Friend that no influence at all. We sought to someone with the | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
right skills set, someone with experience as an arbitrator and who | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
understood the trade and had the ability to see things from both | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
sides. Paul Newby has all those skills and more. As a member of the | :18:23. | :18:32. | |
business select committee which initiated one of the earlier | :18:33. | :18:39. | |
inquiries, and Chair of the select committee, the report of which | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
informed this particular piece of legislation, can I say to the | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
minister, and I would not wish to prejudge the performance of Paul | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
Newby, however, I would like to emphasise that there is huge | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
disquiet amongst the tenants that I think the government, and I would | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
ask the minister if she would look at that, would review the | :19:03. | :19:05. | |
performance of the adjudicator after a certain period of time and keep up | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
a dialogue with the tenants to ensure that their concerns are met. | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
Otherwise this issue will not go away. I am grateful and I am pleased | :19:15. | :19:23. | |
he has got an open mind. I think he will be impressed by Paul Newby. He | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
is absolutely right. If anybody is not performing, then obviously that | :19:30. | :19:32. | |
is concerning and measures can be taken. I think we also have to say, | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
there are many tenants throughout England and Wales of pubs and we | :19:38. | :19:41. | |
have got to be careful to make sure that groups genuinely represent the | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
voice of all tenants. We must not let a few dominate the debate. It is | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
important to be fair to both sides and make sure that all those tenant | :19:52. | :20:01. | |
groups... Which is why I am a great fan of Camra, because I think they | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
represent a large proportion of tenants. The pub is at the heart of | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
many communities. I am really hoping that the appointment of Paul Newby | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
will normalise these relationships and that we do not see, especially | :20:15. | :20:22. | |
in the case of a pub near me, which suffered under an overbearing pub | :20:23. | :20:25. | |
company, where you get a new tenants tempted in, running well, but then | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
the prices escalate until they are forced to closure. And then we see a | :20:31. | :20:33. | |
planning application for alternative use. I am really hoping this will | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
normalise those relationships. I could not agree more. It is that | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
change of culture which is so important. I agree with the | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
honourable gentleman. We have all had examples in our own | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
constituency. I have also fought to keep open pubs. I have not been | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
successful in one instance although I was in another. It is about | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
changing the atmosphere and making sure that pubcos act in a | :21:02. | :21:04. | |
responsible manner not just to their tenants but to the broader | :21:05. | :21:12. | |
community. I understand that the chartered surveyors Institute failed | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
to respond on rent assessment guidance. Can the minister confirm | :21:17. | :21:29. | |
how the adjudicator reconciles his position with that of such a | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
professional bodies which I hear what my honourable friend says. But | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
I think Paul Newby is going to be his own man. If I may say, as | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
somebody who was a member of a professional body, the Bar Council | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
often had a point of view which I personally completely disagreed | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
with. He is a good man, he will be his own man, he will be fair, and he | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
comes with a huge skill set. I am rather staggered that the honourable | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
gentleman the member for Kilmarnock seems to have disappeared from the | :22:02. | :22:08. | |
Chamber. The question is ongoing! The honourable member is the front | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
bench spokesman for his party. He should stay for the exchange, he | :22:13. | :22:15. | |
should not be tunnelling out of the Chamber in the middle of the | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
exchanges. These courtesies really must be observed. It really want to | :22:20. | :22:29. | |
do, obviously. Mr Speaker, the appointment brief for this role, | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
which was issued in July last year, stated that... | :22:33. | :22:42. | |
CHEERING It is very good that the honourable | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
gentleman has been pulled back into the Chamber. I want the honourable | :22:47. | :22:49. | |
member to have his question heard without intervention. The | :22:50. | :22:57. | |
appointment brief for this role, which was issued in July last year, | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
stated the appointment would be announced in January. Can my right | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
honourable friend say why the announcement was delayed by two | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
months? I think if I am right, and if I am wrong, I will apologise | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
profusely, but if my memory is correct, it was because Mr Newby had | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
to serve a period of his contract before he could give notice and so | :23:20. | :23:26. | |
forth. But actually I believe the decision was made just before | :23:27. | :23:29. | |
Christmas, but we could not announce it until now because of his | :23:30. | :23:30. | |
relationship with his employer. That is inexplicable to me! Really | :23:31. | :23:56. | |
inexplicable. But I am sure that nobody is laughing at the honourable | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
lady whom I take extremely seriously and I want to hear what she has got | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
to say. In my constituency, one brewery effectively has a monopoly | :24:08. | :24:14. | |
with only 30 tied houses. This blocks local producers from selling | :24:15. | :24:17. | |
to pubs on their doorsteps, and across Wales, more than 100 small | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
breweries are in a similar position. Could the canonic context of Wales | :24:23. | :24:26. | |
be considered by the newly -- by the newly appointed pubs adjudicator? I | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
don't think that is really in his win it. He is really to ensure that | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
anybody who raises a complaint under the pub code is able to be heard | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
fairly. But the honourable lady raises an important point. We all | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
know the huge importance of our pubs to communities. It is also | :24:45. | :24:46. | |
absolutely the case that they should trade fairly. Can the minister tell | :24:47. | :24:54. | |
us how many years this initial appointment is for? If it is a short | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
period of time, there will be understandable concern that the | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
adjudicator will not want to burn bridges with the pubco industry. | :25:04. | :25:15. | |
Four years is the answer. Does this appointment by by the principles of | :25:16. | :25:17. | |
the Committee on Standards in Public Life? Yes. Thank you. Order, | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
business question, Mr Chris Bryant. Will the Leader of the House give us | :25:25. | :25:27. | |
the forthcoming business? The Leader of the House. Mr Chris Grayling. Mr | :25:28. | :25:35. | |
Speaker, can I start by in forming the House that the State Opening of | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
the next session of Parliament will take place on Wednesday the eighth | :25:39. | :25:45. | |
info of May. -- the 18th of May. I am also very pleased to announce the | :25:46. | :25:48. | |
calendar for this House for the remainder of the year. The House | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
will rise for the early May bank holiday on Thursday the 20th of | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
April and return on Tuesday the 3rd of May. For the Whitsun recess, the | :25:59. | :26:05. | |
House will rise at the conclusion of business on Thursday the 26th of May | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
and will return on Monday the 6th of June. Members will wish to know that | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
additionally, the House will rise at the conclusion of business on | :26:15. | :26:17. | |
Wednesday the 15th of June and return on Monday the 27th of June. | :26:18. | :26:20. | |
The House will rise for the summer recess at the conclusion of business | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
on the 21st of July and will return on Monday the 5th of December. -- | :26:26. | :26:35. | |
Monday the 5th of September. The House will then return on Monday the | :26:36. | :26:38. | |
10th of October. The House will rise on the 8th of November and return on | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
the 14th of November. And finally, for the Christmas recess, the House | :26:45. | :26:47. | |
will rise at the conclusion of business on Tuesday the 20th of | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
December and return on Monday the 9th of January 20 17. All dates are | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
as usual, as they have been in the last few weeks, Mr Speaker, subject | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
to the progress of business. On that question, next week, on Monday the | :27:03. | :27:05. | |
14th of March, we will have the remaining stages of the energy bill | :27:06. | :27:06. | |
in the Lords. On Wednesday 16th of March the | :27:07. | :27:24. | |
Chancellor of the Exchequer will deliver his Budget Statement is. On | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
Thursday 17th of March, continuation of the budget debate. 18th of March, | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
the house will not sit. For the week commencing 21st of March, a | :27:36. | :27:42. | |
continuation and conclusion of the budget debate. On Wednesday and | :27:43. | :27:55. | |
Thursday, the high-speed rail is built. My thanks on behalf of the | :27:56. | :28:01. | |
house to all of those who have been involved in the extended considering | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
phase of the committee stage of that bill. On Friday the 25th of March, | :28:06. | :28:13. | |
the house will not be sitting. The business in Westminster Hall for the | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
17th-21st of March will be a general debate on cabin air safety and aero | :28:20. | :28:26. | |
toxic syndrome. A debate on contract did go see Asians with the British | :28:27. | :28:34. | |
Medical Association. Mr Speaker, I am delighted that the leader has | :28:35. | :28:36. | |
confirmed the recess dates which I announced three weeks ago. I'm glad | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
he is catching up. I have to say, the decision to hold the Queen 's | :28:43. | :28:50. | |
speech on the 18th of May is a profound mistake. Whatever the | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
government's intentions, they will be misconstrued. We have already | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
seen that the Brexit campaign are so desperate that they are trying to | :29:00. | :29:09. | |
claim members of the Royal family to their cause. Lay off the Queen and | :29:10. | :29:14. | |
think again. The delay on the decision on Heathrow is hurting | :29:15. | :29:22. | |
business. The longest delayed child obesity campaign is hurting | :29:23. | :29:29. | |
children. The Prime Minister even mentioned the bill on phone masts | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
yesterday but we have been calling it for years. Why don't they publish | :29:34. | :29:39. | |
the electronic Communications code tomorrow? Has the government learned | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
anything from yesterday? How to count, perhaps? The way ministers | :29:44. | :29:52. | |
handle the enterprise Bill was a classic case of how not to do it. | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
They let it go through the Lords without mentioning Sunday trading | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
which they inserting upstairs in committee and at one point ministers | :30:03. | :30:10. | |
forgot to vote. They were generously allowed a second chance. They tabled | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
a manuscript amendment to their own amendment. Some people have said | :30:15. | :30:20. | |
they are being too clever by half. To be honest, I think they are just | :30:21. | :30:26. | |
a little dim. There were many managements to rebels yesterday, | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
arms were twisted, the Chief Whip explained the facts of life to | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
recover to members. The Cabinet secretary tried to be charming. That | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
was so terrifying that one rebel turned company a grey and may never | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
gain the power of speech again and after all that they lost. Can you | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
hear that sound? It is the sound of the slow ebbing out down the beach | :30:53. | :30:58. | |
of the authority of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the | :30:59. | :31:06. | |
X. I offered this advice for free, this house doesn't like sharp | :31:07. | :31:10. | |
practice. Stop trying to pull a fast one and do things the proper way. | :31:11. | :31:16. | |
Isn't it time we abandoned evil. Last night we had the hilarious | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
sight of government ministers staring at you in blank amazement | :31:22. | :31:27. | |
when you suspended the house. When the member for North Perthshire | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
asked the chairman 's former ways and means who should know the answer | :31:32. | :31:35. | |
if he could explain, he made it clear he didn't have the foggiest | :31:36. | :31:40. | |
idea. Looking at the Minister for small business, there was a desert | :31:41. | :31:46. | |
of vast eternity between their ears. Nobody understands it. It wastes | :31:47. | :31:52. | |
time and hasn't made a difference to a single decision. It is time to | :31:53. | :32:00. | |
abandon it. I note that the leader is giving a Brexit speech today. We | :32:01. | :32:07. | |
are agog. Did he get approval from the Prime Minister or from the | :32:08. | :32:11. | |
actual leader of the out campaign, the Justice Secretary? Can he | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
guarantee that his special advisers were not involved in briefing papers | :32:18. | :32:21. | |
on his speech and won't be attending the speech because the cabinet | :32:22. | :32:26. | |
secretary has explicitly instructed that specialist advisers may not do | :32:27. | :32:34. | |
so during office hours. He and I have one thing in common, the Labour | :32:35. | :32:37. | |
Party auctioned the opportunity to swim with sharks with me on Tuesday | :32:38. | :32:45. | |
night instead of attending a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, I | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
fear he may be swimming with the fishes after the 23rd of June. The | :32:51. | :33:00. | |
Business Select Committee has two Mike Ashley demanding that he gave | :33:01. | :33:10. | |
evidence on his company's decidedly shady practices which he has refused | :33:11. | :33:16. | |
to do. This is a hideous company. 80% of staff in one warehouse is an | :33:17. | :33:23. | |
zero hours contract. Staff are subjected to a 50 minute search on | :33:24. | :33:32. | |
paid -- 15 minute search on paid at the end of every day. Can the | :33:33. | :33:40. | |
committee ordered Mr Ashley to appear and they can force him if | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
necessary to be arraigned before the bar of the house. He might be the | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
22nd richest man in Britain but he is running a modern day sweatshop | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
and this house will get to the truth. Surely, if we are to | :33:56. | :34:03. | |
criticise the working practices of sports direct, we should put our own | :34:04. | :34:11. | |
house in order. The cost of agency staff in this house has quadrupled. | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
They represent one in 12 members of staff. That means that the house is | :34:18. | :34:23. | |
paying substantially more than the employee gets and the employee will | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
get no share in the tips. Should we not bring the staff in-house and | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
make sure that everyone gets a fair share of the tips when we give them. | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
Finally, happy birthday to my father for tomorrow. Delighted to send many | :34:37. | :34:46. | |
happy returns to the honourable gentleman's father and also to | :34:47. | :34:49. | |
celebrate another important occasion. Tomorrow is the centenary | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
of the birth of Harold Wilson. I think it is worth marking that. I | :34:55. | :35:03. | |
think a lot of people made the case for having a statue of him in this | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
place and there is a lot to be said for this. I hope they work about | :35:08. | :35:10. | |
committee will give consideration to it. At the moment we celebrate his | :35:11. | :35:18. | |
life because 41 years ago he was the first person to give others a | :35:19. | :35:21. | |
referendum on the membership of the European Union. I hope to be part of | :35:22. | :35:30. | |
a winning side as well. Mr Speaker, the other thing about Harold Wilson | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
is that he is a former Labour Prime Minister that they are still happy | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
to talk about. In today's world, that is a rarity. The shadow leader | :35:41. | :35:48. | |
went on about the Queens speech. I don't understand what he is talking | :35:49. | :35:54. | |
about. He is talking on one hand about a zombie parliament with | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
nothing to do but now he is complaining about important measures | :36:00. | :36:02. | |
that will help reform the country. When they talk about a zombie | :36:03. | :36:07. | |
parliament, last Monday, we brought forward the policing and crime Bill, | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
an important set of measures that will make a difference to policing | :36:12. | :36:15. | |
in this country. We were here debating it. Where were the Labour | :36:16. | :36:20. | |
Party? They Bailey turned up and business finished early. We do not | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
have a zombie parliament but a zombie opposition. -- they barely | :36:27. | :36:33. | |
turned up. He spoke about the authority of the prime ministers | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
seeping away. Coming from the Labour Party today with the authority of | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
their leader seeping away, it is frankly unbelievable. We sit here in | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
prime ministers questions each week and look at the faces of the party | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
opposite as their leader asks questions. The shadow leader's base | :36:53. | :37:00. | |
is a picture because we know what he thinks about is leader. They are | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
profoundly depressed, miserable. To the extant that the day we have the | :37:06. | :37:12. | |
first speech in the next Labour ship leader contest. The shadow leader | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
axed about the speech I am going to be given today. I have already given | :37:18. | :37:20. | |
it. He clearly wasn't paying attention. Surprisingly enough, I'm | :37:21. | :37:37. | |
not after his support. LAUGHTER The evil procedure he talked about, | :37:38. | :37:44. | |
we stood on a manifesto of giving the British a share in the | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
devolution settlement. If it is now the Labour Party's policy to say to | :37:50. | :37:57. | |
English voters, we will take a way you're part of the devolution | :37:58. | :38:00. | |
settlement, I look forward to having that debate on the doorsteps and at | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
the ballot box. On the question of Mike Ashley and the Business Select | :38:06. | :38:08. | |
Committee, it should always be the case that this house seeks to bring | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
somebody before it, and they should be free to do so and it should | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
happen unequivocally. On the subject of employees in this house, I | :38:20. | :38:25. | |
remember that the honourable gentleman is a member of the | :38:26. | :38:28. | |
committee that discusses how we spend money in the house. I'm sure | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
he will bring the matter to the commission and we will discuss it. | :38:33. | :38:40. | |
This weekend is the denoument of the Rugby six Nations between England | :38:41. | :38:48. | |
and Wales at Twickenham. I say, may the best team win. The one thing we | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
can be sure about is that although he will not be singing Delilah this | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
weekend, as a Republican, I look forward to a good old blast of God | :39:00. | :39:03. | |
Save The Queen and I am sure you will be joining the amp on Saturday. | :39:04. | :39:13. | |
Next week I will be going to read Brock Hayes community primary School | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
in Brereton which has been rated good following a couple of years of | :39:18. | :39:21. | |
hard work and commitment from the headteacher Chris Gaffney and his | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
team. Can we have a debate in government time about the progress | :39:27. | :39:29. | |
being made in terms of improving school standards? My honourable | :39:30. | :39:36. | |
friend makes an important point. And happy birthday for Saturday, as | :39:37. | :39:45. | |
well. We have made enormous progress on improving educational standards. | :39:46. | :39:50. | |
I pay tribute to the headteacher she makes reference to an all of those | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
in her constituency who are making a difference for the young people of | :39:55. | :40:04. | |
Cannock Chase. Let's see if we can get through this business quite | :40:05. | :40:07. | |
quickly so the house can resume its core business of slapping off the | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
Right honourable friend the Prime Minister. I have an elegant solution | :40:13. | :40:21. | |
how we discover whether the Queen is for Brexit or not? Yesterday the | :40:22. | :40:38. | |
government were defeated... He said what he said but for the benefit of | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
the house and new members, we don't discuss the views of the monarch in | :40:44. | :40:51. | |
this chamber. There have been debates occasionally on matters are | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
pertaining to the Royal family but we don't discuss that matter and | :40:56. | :40:58. | |
it's better that we leave it there. Please continue. Absolutely right. | :40:59. | :41:05. | |
We will leave it to government figures to do that. Yesterday, the | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
government were defeated and it was the SNP what won it. We can't take | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
exclusive credit for that incredible victory. We did have some friends | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
who also helped. THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER | :41:23. | :41:30. | |
We really enjoyed the wailing and gnashing of conservative teeth. | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
There was something almost delicious about the ways the Tories lashed out | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
at the SNP after this government having imposed English votes for | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
English laws criticised our temerity for getting up and supporting | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
Scottish workers. Does the government believe for a minute that | :41:50. | :41:53. | |
normal rules stand when it comes to issues like that? What about this | :41:54. | :42:04. | |
rule? Nobody had a clue what was going on yesterday. I asked the | :42:05. | :42:10. | |
Deputy Speaker what was going on and he didn't have a clue. You would | :42:11. | :42:18. | |
need an advanced degree in madness to understand what is going on with | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
the dog 's breakfast that is English votes for English laws. The time has | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
come to abandon the plan that doesn't work. If there was some | :42:28. | :42:31. | |
accidental consequence for the support of the European leave | :42:32. | :42:35. | |
campaign it will be his legacy. What a legacy to leave this house? | :42:36. | :42:43. | |
I want to support the calls yesterday for my right honourable | :42:44. | :42:51. | |
friend the member for Moray on the treatment of asylum seekers in this | :42:52. | :42:53. | |
country. Perhaps we could have a proper look at the use of private | :42:54. | :43:00. | |
services when it comes to the treatment of asylum seekers in this | :43:01. | :43:04. | |
country. Lastly, we are also grateful to the Leader of the House | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
for announcing the recess dates and the announcement that there will be | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
after all a Queen's Speech in advance of the referendum. But once | :43:14. | :43:17. | |
again what we find with the recess dates, they do not cover the | :43:18. | :43:20. | |
Scottish National Party conference. We are the third largest party. It | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
covers the Liberal conference, Mr Speaker. So can I get a guarantee | :43:26. | :43:29. | |
from the Leader of the House that the 14th of October will be a norm | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
sitting day so that the second party of this House can also get to its | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
conference. Once again, what we find with all this time off that we have | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
in the summer, we find that it does not include the Scottish school | :43:43. | :43:47. | |
holidays once again. My honourable friends, they want to spend time | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
with their families, as honourable members across there will be able to | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
do from other parts of the United Kingdom. We need to get this sorted | :43:56. | :44:05. | |
for next year, Mr Speaker. First of all, can I thank you for what you | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
have just said about the Queen and the Royal Family, Mr Speaker. The | :44:10. | :44:13. | |
one thing which it is always appropriate to say in this House is | :44:14. | :44:17. | |
how much we value our monarchy and we appreciate the magnificent job | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
she does for our nation. With regard to the events yesterday, phrase, it | :44:22. | :44:26. | |
was the SNP what one it. I have a high regard for my honourable | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
friend, but yesterday was one of those occasions where it is very | :44:31. | :44:33. | |
clear how far away from political principle the SNP can find itself. | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
You cannot on the one hand talk about the importance, as they have | :44:39. | :44:44. | |
always done, of standing aside from matters which are England only, and | :44:45. | :44:47. | |
then diving in when it is opportunistic for them to do so. | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
That is a party of opportunism, I'm a friend, not a party of principle. | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
And I listen and again to the honourable gentleman's words about | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
English votes for English laws. As he knows, I was in Scotland last | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
week supporting our fine team campaigning in the Scottish | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
elections there. One of the Scottish members said to me, that Mr Wishart, | :45:10. | :45:14. | |
he is very hysterical, isn't he? I had to reassure him and say, he is | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
actually a nice guy behind the scenes. But when I hear comments | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
like his ones this morning, I can understand why some of the people in | :45:23. | :45:25. | |
Scotland get the wrong idea about him. On the asylum seekers, it is a | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
matter the Home Secretary takes seriously. We will always do our | :45:31. | :45:34. | |
best to make sure that people in this country are treated humanely. | :45:35. | :45:41. | |
Clearly I owe him an apology regarding the SNP conference. I had | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
thought that making sure he had the opportunity to be here on the first | :45:46. | :45:49. | |
day of the SNP conference was a help to him rather than a hindrance, | :45:50. | :45:53. | |
because I never had the sense that he was desperate to get there. I | :45:54. | :45:56. | |
thought that as this year, we would enjoy being here on the first day of | :45:57. | :45:59. | |
conference. Clearly we will have to look at whether we do the same thing | :46:00. | :46:05. | |
next year. And finally, I have some bad news for him. He has | :46:06. | :46:13. | |
competition. As he may know, there are people on this side of the House | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
who are also now making some fine music and I have to say, I think the | :46:18. | :46:23. | |
honourable member looks like being tough competition for him when it | :46:24. | :46:26. | |
comes to Eurovision next year. May the best man or woman win. Mr | :46:27. | :46:34. | |
Speaker, it will not have escaped the Leader of the House that | :46:35. | :46:37. | |
depending on how the business pans out today, in particular the | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
Northern Ireland business, there is a likelihood that the very important | :46:42. | :46:44. | |
debate at the end of the day on the way in which our acts of Parliament | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
are recorded may be squeezed out, possibly completely. Will the Leader | :46:49. | :47:02. | |
of the House now find government time for substantive debate on the | :47:03. | :47:05. | |
matter so that we can let the House of Lords know what we think about | :47:06. | :47:09. | |
it? This is of course a subject which has been brought forward on a | :47:10. | :47:13. | |
backbench day. I think it is appropriate to be a matter for the | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
House and not something which government time is made available | :47:19. | :47:22. | |
for. And so as the Chair of the backbench committee is here today, | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
if he is not able to move his debate today, then the opportunity will be | :47:28. | :47:30. | |
found to bring that matter to the House. I am sure that that will be | :47:31. | :47:37. | |
the case. I am grateful also to the Leader of the House for the | :47:38. | :47:41. | |
announcement of the future business. And with the date of the State | :47:42. | :47:45. | |
Opening be announced for the 18th of May, can I remind the Leader of the | :47:46. | :47:50. | |
House that it is a standing order the House that the backbench | :47:51. | :47:53. | |
business committee be awarded 27 days of business time within a | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
session. We are still some way short of that. And we are expecting a glut | :47:58. | :48:00. | |
of backbench business in the five weeks which remain after Easter and | :48:01. | :48:06. | |
the State Opening. I would add one personal thing - if we do get this | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
to Mike Ashley into This Place, can we also question him about the | :48:12. | :48:14. | |
terrible running of Newcastle United Football Club at the same time? I do | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
not want to diminish the importance of the employment practices of | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
Sports Direct, but I'm afraid to say that based on the management of | :48:25. | :48:28. | |
Newcastle United, I do not expect a very big party at a brewery any time | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
soon. It is tough being a Newcastle supporter at the moment. I wish him | :48:34. | :48:38. | |
and his team well for the rest of the season. There is time to escape | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
the relegation zone and I have no doubt he will be cheering from the | :48:43. | :48:54. | |
stands. I have no doubt that he is going to be seeking more time over | :48:55. | :48:57. | |
the next few weeks. I am not sure we are quite in agreement on the | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
numbers. But we will have a proper discussion about that. I hope he | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
would note that in response to his request we did make a protected time | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
available for a debate on Tuesday. We will obviously look at doing that | :49:10. | :49:12. | |
in the future where it is important to do so. On Saturday, I joined the | :49:13. | :49:21. | |
Dartmoor search and rescue team and learnt that 70% of calls to the | :49:22. | :49:24. | |
service come from within the boundaries of Plymouth, many in Home | :49:25. | :49:29. | |
Park, due to elderly people getting lost. Can we have a debate on how we | :49:30. | :49:35. | |
might support these excellent volunteers, who get no money from | :49:36. | :49:40. | |
central government? Mr Speaker, my honourable friend makes an important | :49:41. | :49:43. | |
point. One thing I have suggested before is that the back edge | :49:44. | :49:47. | |
business committee might consider holding a four-day debate when one | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
is available on volunteering in this country. There are a large number of | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
members who would like to pay tribute to the work done in their | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
constituency. I cannot resist simply drawing attention to a news story | :50:01. | :50:03. | |
this week that a council in East Anglia has appointed the first | :50:04. | :50:17. | |
hedgehog tsar. It is clear that his campaign is already making a | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
difference. Last week I was approached by retailers facing an | :50:22. | :50:25. | |
affordable business rates due to the end of the business rates retail | :50:26. | :50:29. | |
relief. Can we have a debate to discuss whether the government plans | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
to subsidise these retailers, many of whom would have to close as a | :50:34. | :50:39. | |
result of the rises average Mr Speaker, of course we are all very | :50:40. | :50:42. | |
concerned about the future of the high street. This is a matter which | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
certainly can be brought up during the debate on the budget next week. | :50:48. | :50:51. | |
I do not yet know whether the Chancellor has any plans in this | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
area, but she will want to make the case for her constituency in the | :50:56. | :50:57. | |
four days of debate which followed a budget. It is very much one of the | :50:58. | :51:05. | |
matters on the agenda. Today we are starting a consultation on the | :51:06. | :51:08. | |
designs following the terrible flooding we had in 2011 on the River | :51:09. | :51:17. | |
Parrett. I am grateful for the support from across the House. This | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
is massively important. 12% of my district council were underwater in | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
2011. The history and the lessons we are learning in the south and the | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
north of the UK, is there a time to have a statement in this House? | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
First of all, pay tribute to buy honourable friend, who has been a | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
more than effective advocate for his constituency and for the areas of | :51:41. | :51:45. | |
Somerset affected by flooding. I know lessons have been learned and | :51:46. | :51:47. | |
some significant steps have been taken since. There will be another | :51:48. | :51:54. | |
occasion next Thursday to question the Environment Secretary, which I | :51:55. | :52:03. | |
am sure he will do. When can we discuss early day motion 1182, which | :52:04. | :52:13. | |
takes us into the forbidden area that the views of the monarchy | :52:14. | :52:16. | |
cannot be discussed in This Place, and only in This Place - it can be | :52:17. | :52:19. | |
discussed everywhere else. But it does raise the conduct of a | :52:20. | :52:23. | |
well-documented conspiracy between Sir Jeremy Heywood and Sir | :52:24. | :52:30. | |
Christopher guide at a time when the Scottish referendum appeared to be | :52:31. | :52:33. | |
in trouble from the governance Ali point of view. And it is alleged | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
that these two gentlemen conspired to put the Queen'sopinion into the | :52:38. | :52:42. | |
public domain. Is it not important that we discuss those who give | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
advice to the Royal Family, because their main function is to act in | :52:47. | :52:53. | |
situations where a Prime Minister is acting in her or his own interests | :52:54. | :53:00. | |
against the interests of the country, and then, the | :53:01. | :53:02. | |
politicisation of the monarchy would mean that they could not act in | :53:03. | :53:06. | |
those situations, and any exposure of the Royal Family 's views | :53:07. | :53:11. | |
threatens the and continuation of the institution? There are rather | :53:12. | :53:19. | |
large numbers of conspiracy theories in this world. If we spent all that | :53:20. | :53:23. | |
time in this House discussing them, we would not get around to | :53:24. | :53:26. | |
discussing the serious business of the nation. Therefore I regret I | :53:27. | :53:29. | |
think we will not be discussing that particular issue. Can I say, right | :53:30. | :53:35. | |
honourable friend how pleased I am that the House will be sitting on | :53:36. | :53:39. | |
the 26th of May, because that will be the seventh anniversary of the | :53:40. | :53:43. | |
Prime Minister's famous speech on fixing broken politics, in which he | :53:44. | :53:46. | |
called for more backbench power, more free votes and less pudding. | :53:47. | :53:53. | |
Cowie on that occasion have a debate -- less whipping -- on the progress | :53:54. | :54:05. | |
made on those principles?! Independent spirit on the | :54:06. | :54:07. | |
backbenches is certainly not something which is lacking in this | :54:08. | :54:13. | |
Parliament. This day week is St Patrick's Day. Yesterday I tabled a | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
request that the government bring forward legislative proposals | :54:20. | :54:22. | |
because it is not a devolved matter, to make St Patrick's Day a public | :54:23. | :54:26. | |
holiday in Northern Ireland. Will the Leader of the House facilitate a | :54:27. | :54:33. | |
debate about this important issue? Well, Mr Speaker, of course it is a | :54:34. | :54:37. | |
subject she feels strongly about. I think we always have to be careful | :54:38. | :54:41. | |
about granting too many extra bank honoured a is because of the | :54:42. | :54:44. | |
economic impact on the areas. I am sure she will bring forward an | :54:45. | :54:48. | |
adjournment debate and bring a minister to the House to make the | :54:49. | :54:50. | |
point which she has raised this morning. Would my right honourable | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
friend find time for a debate on the practice of big businesses trying to | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
stop members of Parliament doing their democratic duty and raising | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
constituentss' concerns in This Place? Outrageously, national | :55:05. | :55:11. | |
express group plc has written to the Noble Lord Fellman, the chairman of | :55:12. | :55:14. | |
the Conservative Party, complaining that I have been raising in This | :55:15. | :55:17. | |
Place issues regarding my constituents' anxieties over CQC | :55:18. | :55:27. | |
timetable changes. Mr Speaker, I suspect that National Express May | :55:28. | :55:29. | |
Need A New Political Advisers. One Thing You Can Be Certain Of Is That | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
Writing A Letter Of Complaint About My Honourable Friend Is Likely To | :55:35. | :55:37. | |
Make Him More Zealous, Rather Than Less Zealous. And rightly so! At | :55:38. | :55:49. | |
seven a this morning, a report was produced on the energy market | :55:50. | :55:53. | |
investigation. I welcome this report. It focuses on prepayment | :55:54. | :55:59. | |
users and the hashtag prepay rip-off. I have had an adjournment | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
Abate, I have written to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State | :56:05. | :56:07. | |
and the response has been inadequate. Will the Leader of the | :56:08. | :56:10. | |
House make government time so that we can have a proper discussion, | :56:11. | :56:13. | |
which is urgently needed in this House, to explore the CMA's | :56:14. | :56:16. | |
recommendation, which the minister said that she will in ferment? Of | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
course, the Energy Secretary will be here in ten days to do just that. If | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
she wants to raise matters before that, I suggest she writes and I | :56:27. | :56:29. | |
will make the Energy Secretary aware that she will be raising the issue | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
at that point. In the first half of last year, six cyclists were fatally | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
injured in London following collisions with HGV four. Would he | :56:40. | :56:43. | |
find time in the Parliamentary calendar to debate the costs and | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
benefits of restricting HGVs from city centres at rush-hour times? | :56:48. | :56:53. | |
This is a deeply important matter. We have seen far too many tragedies | :56:54. | :56:58. | |
in recent times, sometimes deaths are sometimes serious injuries. The | :56:59. | :57:01. | |
issue has been widely raised as a matter of concern, including by the | :57:02. | :57:05. | |
Times newspaper, which tragically saw one of its members of staff | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
seriously injured in an accident with an HGV. We want to take all | :57:10. | :57:13. | |
possible steps to improve the situation. The Mayor of London has | :57:14. | :57:16. | |
taken a lead on this. We will continue to look at different ideas | :57:17. | :57:18. | |
on improving the situation. This week we saw the Premier League | :57:19. | :57:28. | |
make the good announcement that all clubs will cap the cost of away | :57:29. | :57:38. | |
tickets at ?30. More pressing for fans, particularly Middlesbrough | :57:39. | :57:40. | |
fans who will be watching their team at Charlton is the changing of | :57:41. | :57:45. | |
fixtures. Their recent game was supposed to be on Saturday. Many | :57:46. | :57:54. | |
fans made arrangements and will not be able to attend due to changing | :57:55. | :57:58. | |
those arrangements. With television coverage having such dominance over | :57:59. | :58:03. | |
coverage, can we have a debate about that? TV coverage has brought the | :58:04. | :58:14. | |
ability to watch matches to a much broader audience but I absolutely | :58:15. | :58:21. | |
understand the point he is making. I do not support last-minute changes | :58:22. | :58:26. | |
to arrangements. Can we have a debate on oral | :58:27. | :58:45. | |
payments agency? Does the leader share my constituency concerns that | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
some small shrubs up our farmers -- some small Shropshire farmers have | :58:51. | :58:59. | |
still not been paid causing great hardship. It is not acceptable for | :59:00. | :59:07. | |
small farmers to be left in a position where their cash flows are | :59:08. | :59:13. | |
left inappropriately stretched. A series of payments have been made | :59:14. | :59:19. | |
covering the full range of small and medium-sized farm businesses across | :59:20. | :59:28. | |
the industry. 83% of medium farm businesses have received payments | :59:29. | :59:31. | |
but the Secretary of State is well aware of the need to complete this | :59:32. | :59:35. | |
job and we do not want to see farmers under undue pressure and it | :59:36. | :59:41. | |
is not fair for them to be left high and dry. As chairman of the | :59:42. | :59:47. | |
all-party kidney disease group, can I say, welcome to world kidney Day. | :59:48. | :59:56. | |
Polycystic kidney disease accounts for one in four kidney dialysis | :59:57. | :00:01. | |
patients and transplants. I know that the leader of the house is | :00:02. | :00:05. | |
allergic to anything to do with Brussels but the polycystic kidney | :00:06. | :00:12. | |
disease Association do have a Brussels declaration which calls for | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
a coordinated approach to the disease, funding of research, | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
patient centre care parts ways as well as to those knowledge -- | :00:25. | :00:32. | |
knowledgeable about this disease. Can we have a debate about this | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
matter? I understand the need to provide high-quality services to | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
patients affected. To my mind, the important thing is to take the right | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
decisions for patients in this country which is what the government | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
is doing through Investment In Health Care. Can we have a vote on | :00:53. | :01:01. | |
English votes for English laws. The farce that we had yesterday showed | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
that we don't have English votes for English laws and it was made | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
abundantly clear yesterday. Can we have a debate to get it straight and | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
out once and for all to find out what the English public think is | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
meant by English votes for English laws? Can we have a policy on the | :01:24. | :01:31. | |
fact that every time the SNP vote on an issue that only effects England, | :01:32. | :01:39. | |
we deliver it Act two Holyrood for them? My honourable friend has | :01:40. | :01:46. | |
innovative ideas to deal with the situation. He is right to talk about | :01:47. | :01:56. | |
principles and the SNP. We said that they would have the ability to say | :01:57. | :02:05. | |
no to measures enforced upon them by other parts of the UK. We now know | :02:06. | :02:13. | |
that they not only want to interfere in matters like those discussed | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
yesterday but they also want to team up with the Labour Party and impose | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
an England solution is that the English do not want. I have been | :02:21. | :02:30. | |
approached by small businesses in my area regarding the Chancellor's | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
decision to end the business rate relief scheme for small businesses | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
from April this year. Around 1000 small shops in the borough of | :02:42. | :02:48. | |
Rochdale will face extra bills of up to ?1500. For many small shops, that | :02:49. | :02:54. | |
is the difference between survival and going bust. Can we have an | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
urgent debate on government time on this important subject? The answer | :02:59. | :03:06. | |
is yes. It will start next Wednesday and the party opposite will have the | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
chance to speak and vote on these matters if they choose to do so. | :03:11. | :03:17. | |
Following yesterday's deliberations on Sunday trading, can I | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
congratulate the government on the precedent they have set with the | :03:21. | :03:32. | |
family test alongside legislation conceding the negative impact on the | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
family. Can they confirm that all primary and secondary legislation | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
will have a family test at the beginning of proceedings and what | :03:43. | :03:44. | |
will happen when legislation does not pass the family test? Of course, | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
the purpose of impact assessments and family tests is to enable the | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
house to take an informed decision. These tests are less about an | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
individual bar over which a measure need to jump and more about a | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
package of information that can inform decisions. We intend to keep | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
the house as fully informed as possible so they can take decisions. | :04:13. | :04:21. | |
I raised the question of a constituent who was imprisoned in | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
Israel. What action is the government taking | :04:25. | :04:50. | |
regarding the worrying rise in blasphemy charges in Egypt? I | :04:51. | :05:04. | |
commend his stand in protecting the Christian faith. I am aware of the | :05:05. | :05:12. | |
concerns he has raised today. Following Tim Peake's call for | :05:13. | :05:19. | |
pupils in Brecon and Radnorshire, can I ask my right honourable friend | :05:20. | :05:26. | |
if we can have a debate on promoting the sciences as an option to pupils | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
so that Britain can capitalise on our Peking interest it in science so | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
we continue to lead the world in research and development for years | :05:38. | :05:44. | |
to come? An important point. We celebrated Tim Peake going into | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
space and we should also celebrate the contribution he has made since | :05:48. | :05:54. | |
having regular interactions with the International Space Station, talking | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
about the work he has done and inspiring young people. Long may | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
that continue and long may there be role models like him contributing to | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
our innovative future. Contact the elderly is a small national charity | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
in Scotland which helps old people who live alone by funding monthly | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
get-togethers. This kind of community support initiative is | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
excellent and inspiring. Can we have a debate to discuss these selection | :06:27. | :06:33. | |
initiatives? I very much support the idea of session debates. It is a | :06:34. | :06:40. | |
real opportunity. We have had fixed moments in the past two debate | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
things like veterans's issues and now there is a real opportunity to | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
have debate across the United Kingdom. I forgot to say earlier, I | :06:50. | :06:57. | |
hope the committee will give judo consideration -- due consideration | :06:58. | :07:03. | |
in the form of a pre-recess adjournment debate. I welcome the | :07:04. | :07:11. | |
Premier League announcement on capping away tickets at football | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
next season but is the leader of the house aware that might seem others | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
feel town will be offering a season ticket for just ?179 next season. ?7 | :07:23. | :07:29. | |
80 per game, great value in the championship. Will he allow a debate | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
on the cost of football which is so important for fans across the | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
country? I applaud what others feel town are doing. The point is that | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
clubs like that play such an important community role and I know | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
they are very involved in charitable activities across the town. I pay | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
tribute to the club for playing that role in the community and doing what | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
they can to give fans the opportunity to see them play and | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
affordable basis. May they succeed on the pitch as a result. Happy | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
birthday to my daughter next Tuesday. On the matter of Wales | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
against England, made a better team win and may it be Wales. Couldn't we | :08:15. | :08:21. | |
use the annunciator to have subtitles when we go | :08:22. | :08:36. | |
into the 10th one procedure so they can explain the impossible task of | :08:37. | :08:43. | |
describing what is going on. What I am not doing is reversing the | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
gesture we made to the English of saying you have got a part of the | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
devolution package as well. I don't think that a position that says that | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish can have devolution without the | :09:00. | :09:07. | |
English having it is something we can go back on. West Berkshire | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
Council has been forced by bizarre funding to do a very unconservative | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
thing which is to raise taxes and cut services to those in need. We | :09:19. | :09:28. | |
have the perverse actions of the office which can wipe millions of | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
pounds of business rates from a small unity authority for large | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
sites. Can we have a debate about the actions of the valuations office | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
agency about how small councils are funded? An excellent point. I will | :09:43. | :09:52. | |
draw attention to his concerns to the Secretary of State. It is likely | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
that the issue of business rates will be addressed next week as well. | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
On the 2nd of December, the Prime Minister promised this house that he | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
would make quarterly statements on the involvement of British military | :10:07. | :10:13. | |
forces in Syria. That should have happened by the 2nd of March. Can we | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
have an urgent statement of when we are going to have these vital | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
quarterly updates? What I said last week is that we would be holding | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
such statements and it would happen before the Easter recess. Can I add | :10:28. | :10:36. | |
my voice to the calls for a debate on having genuine English votes for | :10:37. | :10:44. | |
English laws, despite the recent reforms, yesterday proved that the | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
votes of Scottish MPs are still able to stop my constituents from | :10:50. | :10:52. | |
enjoying the same freedoms that their own constituents enjoyed. An | :10:53. | :11:00. | |
important point. We should remember that the SNP when we were debating | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
EVEL said that we don't need this because we don't take part. That | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
promise was shown yesterday to be paper-thin. We celebrated | :11:11. | :11:21. | |
International Women's Day with a superb debate in the chamber. I | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
pointed out that only fathers names appear on birth certificates and not | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
mothers named. I have a private members bill that will add mothers | :11:35. | :11:41. | |
marriage names -- names to marriage certificates. Can we please have a | :11:42. | :11:52. | |
debate in government time? Can I say to her, I'm afraid that she is | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
running into a long queue at the end of the session for private members | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
bills but the commitment that the government made stamps. | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
As this is English Tourism Week, could we find time for a debate on | :12:07. | :12:13. | |
the important contribution of tourism to the English economy? A | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
record 35mm as it is came last year, but we need to get them out of | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
London to visit other areas of the country, and maybe visit the fleece | :12:25. | :12:27. | |
Inn, which was named Pub of the year recently?! Indeed, I hope that the | :12:28. | :12:34. | |
announcement of the recess dates will give a moment for honourable | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
members to pay ever visit to Worcestershire and take advantage of | :12:39. | :12:40. | |
the fine hospitality you will find there. I am sure he would be | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
delighted to have the whole house visit. The Leader of the House will | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
know that I have been calling for support on all sides of this House | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
to address the root causes of serious youth violence. We had a | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
backbench debate on the issue last week. Earlier this week, the | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
Secretary of State adjusters confirm that he will report back to the | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
House on progress made on this issue. Can the leader of the explain | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
how this will happen and when we can expect that report? My right | :13:13. | :13:20. | |
honourable friend has these matters under review all the time. We have | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
made significant changes for example to the laws on live crime. We have | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
taken through the work which has been done with the Home Office on | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
gangs, to try to break them up. And of course the Justice Secretary is | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
before this House regularly and will provide regular updates. Can | :13:37. | :13:44. | |
a debate on the importance of raising the profile of dyslexia | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
teacher training, which many people are concerned is not getting the | :13:50. | :13:56. | |
sort of focus which it should be? Mr Speaker, my honourable friend makes | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
a very, very important point. It is certainly the case that many young | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
people who struggle at school do so because they are dyslexic. I have | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
already discussed this with the Secretary of State, who assured me | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
that part of the training manoeuvre teaches does contain help on the | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
understanding of dyslexia. We will do everything we can. I'm sure the | :14:20. | :14:32. | |
House will want to join me in welcoming the two defeats last night | :14:33. | :14:34. | |
in the Other Place on the Immigration Bill? Could he make a | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
statement to confirm whether the government will use last night's | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
vote as motivation to start treating asylum seekers with the respect and | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
dignity that they deserve? That is a first, I cannot remember the | :14:48. | :14:49. | |
Scottish National Party praising what happened in the House of Lords. | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
But what I would say to him is that I think we have a record of treating | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
asylum seekers which bears comparison with anywhere in the | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
world. I will not hear anybody say otherwise. Can I congratulate my | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
right honourable friend for his excellent contribution to Radio 4 | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
and for his excellent speech? And can we ask for a speech in | :15:10. | :15:12. | |
government time on the merits of leaving the EU, which I suggest | :15:13. | :15:23. | |
should have a project title Hope? He tempts me but he must bear in mind | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
that the governments position is to recommend that Britannia Stadium the | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
European Union. We will have debates in the country and ultimately in | :15:34. | :15:35. | |
June, the British people will decide. Three days, the | :15:36. | :15:48. | |
institutional investors group which represents ?13 trillion of assets | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
under management wrote to the Chancellor to ensure mandatory | :15:53. | :15:55. | |
corporate disclosure of climate risks. Could we have a debate in | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
government time on the mandatory reporting of climate risks, so that | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
there is transparency about the financial health of our corporate | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
and that the confidence of such an enormous body of investment funds | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
can be increased? He is another person we need to wish a happy | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
birthday to. We are at the leading edge in this country in combating | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
climate change. We have adopted targets which stand comparison with | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
anywhere in the world. But I do think simply putting additional | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
reporting requirements and the sleep on to business leads to us having | :16:30. | :16:32. | |
fewer jobs in this country, and not more. -- requirements endlessly on | :16:33. | :16:42. | |
to business. As tens of thousands of people arrived in Cheltenham for the | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
superb jump racing festival, we are reminded how necessary have been the | :16:48. | :16:50. | |
upgrades at the railway station. Can we have an announcement on the | :16:51. | :16:57. | |
delivery of station funding pledges? Of course we have just missed | :16:58. | :17:00. | |
transport questions, which took place this morning, but I'm sure he | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
will be able to raise an adjournment debate if he wants. Can I wish him | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
and his constituents well for what is one of the best racing events in | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
the country - perhaps not quite as good as the Epsom Derby. Tomorrow I | :17:14. | :17:20. | |
will be visiting my constituent Walter Brown from Duckinfield, who | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
is 90 years of age but who has just been awarded an award from France | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
for his role in the liberation of France in 1944 as a Marine | :17:31. | :17:37. | |
commander. Can I request a debate on what a privilege it is to request | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
somebody like Walter Brown in the House of Commons and request the | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
whole house put on record it's thanks? I absolutely agree with him. | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
I have a gentleman in my constituency in the same position. I | :17:49. | :17:51. | |
think it is a real tribute to the government of France but they have | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
seen fit to honour in this way the grip of people who risked their | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
lives to try to save France from the Nazis, and did so successfully. We | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
should always remember them and be grateful to them and I am very glad | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
the French have recognised that. You will be aware that on previous | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
occasions I have raised the issue of literally hundreds of casual | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
labourers congregating outside the queue in Queensbury, on the border | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
between my constituency and that of the honourable member for brand | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
north. I am pleased to say that Harlow Council and Brent Council | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
have introduced a public space protection order under which anyone | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
that picks up those casual labourers will be liable for a fixed rate | :18:35. | :18:38. | |
penalty of ?100. Could we find time for a debate in this House, because | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
this is a problem which emanates across the country? So that public | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
space protection orders can be put in place to stop this unauthorised | :18:48. | :18:50. | |
activity? It is a very important issue. The Business Secretary is | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
here on Tuesday and I will ask him to be prepared to address the issue. | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
All too often these people are operating within a gang master | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
culture which is below the radar and is not within the legal framework of | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
work in this country. And where those people are very likely to be | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
exploited. Last year, Sir Nicholas McPherson said he would not hesitate | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
to call in the police if the budget was leaked. Should any stories about | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
this year's budget appear in the papers this weekend, will the Leader | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
of the House join this most senior official in calling for the police | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
to come and investigate and give time for this House to debate it? | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
I'm not sure that if the civil service think anything untoward has | :19:40. | :19:41. | |
been done, we will take appropriate action. Last Saturday I joined | :19:42. | :19:50. | |
hundreds of residents at the only municipal golf course in our area to | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
protest against plans by the council to close the facility. The Lib Dem | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
run council claimed that getting the course would save ?50,000 a year and | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
blamed cuts in government funding. However the same month, the council | :20:05. | :20:11. | |
spent an estimated ?300,000 on a now unused health centre and admitted | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
they have no plans for what they intend to do with it. Can we have a | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
debate on the shocking mismanagement on my local council? As ever, my | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
honourable friend is a very articulately presented if of his | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
constituents. He is an appropriate critic of his Labour council. Around | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
the country, where difficult decisions are having to be taken by | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
councils, one finds Conservative ones taking a thoughtful approach | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
whilst Labour councils take dumb decisions like the one he has just | :20:43. | :20:52. | |
mentioned. As my honourable friends have referred to, the Chancellor | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
Sunny decision to remove retail rate relief is causing great | :20:58. | :21:00. | |
consternation for small businesses, having to find an extra ?1500 a | :21:01. | :21:07. | |
year. In the area of Chester, 472 businesses will have to find an | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
extra ?1.8 million next year. Can the leader assured us there will be | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
sufficient time over the next few weeks to debate whether this is | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
really the right time to start clobbering small businesses with | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
more taxes? Mr Speaker, I can assure him that time will be available next | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
week. We have four days available for the post-budget debate. When he | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
talks about clobbering businesses, for 13 years in this country, | :21:32. | :21:34. | |
businesses and suffered at the hands of a government which did not | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
understand them, regulated in a way which caused them deeper problems | :21:39. | :21:41. | |
and led to the halving of our manufacturing sector. Ministers have | :21:42. | :21:48. | |
been very willing to engage on the steel issue. But in advance of the | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
budget next week, will there be the opportunity to put the case for a | :21:52. | :21:54. | |
business rates holiday for the injury to the Chancellor on the | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
floor of this House? Mr Speaker, there will be that, at the Business | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
Secretary is here on Tuesday, and he has been working with the steel | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
industry. Can I suggest that he raises it with him then? Apologies | :22:09. | :22:17. | |
for leaving the Chamber earlier on. It was somewhat ironic, a number of | :22:18. | :22:25. | |
SNP members actually got a cheer from the office in the last ten | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
days. Will the Leader of the House make a statement outlining that the | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
title is not a complete misnomer? During the enterprise built, the | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
second reading, the House was asked to vote on amendments which had not | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
been seen. The government took a view on the SNP position Joseph | :22:44. | :22:51. | |
Tuite now know was wrong. A government minister was pleading the | :22:52. | :22:54. | |
House to vote with them because he was not going to implement what was | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
on the bill. It was a farce from start to finish. Can we get a | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
statement from the Leader of the House and the government? I am sorry | :23:04. | :23:10. | |
but I think the only farce around here is the approach the SNP has | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
taken to this. I did not vote in amity. They then decided to vote | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
against it later, and we know it was for reasons of opportunism, not | :23:18. | :23:28. | |
principle. -- in amity. He may know this week we had a serious outbreak | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
of Stockholm syndrome in the east of England, as eight local leaders | :23:33. | :23:39. | |
backed the remaining campaign in the press. Is it not important that | :23:40. | :23:42. | |
voters know what level of funding from all forms of the European Union | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
has induced this self-interested plea to hand more powers and money | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
to Brussels? Mr Speaker, we have well established principles in this | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
country of transparency in our political system. I think it is | :23:58. | :24:00. | |
important in the coming months, whichever side of the argument we | :24:01. | :24:03. | |
may be on, that people who have a financial link to the European Union | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
make that clear as they make their arguments. Statement, the minister | :24:08. | :24:19. | |
of State for Skills. With permission, I would like to make a | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
statement about apprenticeships. As you know, Mr Speaker, I am | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
evangelical about apprenticeships. While we do not always agree with | :24:28. | :24:30. | |
each other on every question, I know that to a woman and to a man, all My | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
Honourable and Right Honourable Friends share this passion. We | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
believe in apprenticeships because they are one of the most powerful | :24:39. | :24:41. | |
motors of social mobility and productivity growth. An | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
apprenticeship represents opportunity, aspiration, ambition, | :24:48. | :24:53. | |
things which we conservatives cherish. It makes us more | :24:54. | :24:56. | |
competitive. 70% of employers report that apprentices help improve the | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
quality of their product or service. They offer people a ladder to climb, | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
with both higher pay and a sense of fulfilment at the end of it. A level | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
to apprenticeship raises people's incomes by an average of 11% 3-5 | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
years later. -- a level two apprenticeship. Apprenticeships | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
improve the diversity of the workplace. 53% of people starting an | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
apprenticeship in 2013-14 were women. 10.6% were from a black or | :25:28. | :25:35. | |
other ethnic minority background, up from 8% three years earlier. 8.8% | :25:36. | :25:43. | |
had a disability or learning difficulty. Sir Alex Ferguson did | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
one, so did Jamie Oliver and Karen Millen and Sir Ian McKellen. So did | :25:48. | :25:56. | |
the Chair people of great businesses. The government has great | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
ambitions for our apprenticeships programme. In the last Parliament, | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
2.4 million people started an apprenticeship. By 2020, we want a 3 | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
million to have that opportunity. We do not just wanted to see more | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
apprenticeships. We want better apprenticeships in more sectors | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
covering more roles. The first thing we need to do is persuade more | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
employers to offer apprenticeships. At the moment only about 15% of | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
employers in England do. In Germany it is 24%. In Australia, 30%. So we | :26:27. | :26:33. | |
are introducing a new apprenticeship levy which will be paid by all | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
larger employers, those with an annual payroll bill of ?3 million or | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
more. This will help us increase our spending on apprenticeships in | :26:43. | :26:45. | |
England from ?1.5 billion last year to ?2.5 billion in 2019-20. | :26:46. | :26:52. | |
Employers who pay the levy will see the money they have paid any English | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
apprenticeships appear in their digital account. They will be able | :26:57. | :26:59. | |
to spend it on apprenticeship training, but only on apprenticeship | :27:00. | :27:04. | |
training. As the Chancellor has emphasised, employers will be able | :27:05. | :27:06. | |
to get out more than they put in. We are making sure that including | :27:07. | :27:25. | |
the Armed Forces that employs up to 1000 apprenticeships at any one | :27:26. | :27:34. | |
time. At least 2.3% of staff will be apprenticeships. Procurement rules | :27:35. | :27:41. | |
now stipulate that bidders for central government contracts worth | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
more than ?10 million and lasting over 12 months must demonstrate | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
their commitment to apprenticeships. We are not only committed to greater | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
quantity, we want to see greater quality. We have stopped the | :27:56. | :27:59. | |
short-term, low quality, programme led apprenticeships developed by the | :28:00. | :28:06. | |
last Labour government which tarnished the brand. We are asking | :28:07. | :28:12. | |
new groups of employees to develop apprenticeships that will fill the | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
skills needs created. We have published ten new standards so far | :28:19. | :28:27. | |
with a further 150 in development. We are establishing an employer led | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
Institute for apprenticeships to ensure quality is maintained. 60 of | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
these new standards are higher and greet apprenticeships. We want | :28:38. | :28:41. | |
everyone making a choice about their next step after 16 or 18 to know | :28:42. | :28:46. | |
that the decision to do an apprenticeship is not to cap your | :28:47. | :28:52. | |
ambition but simply a decision to progress in a different way, to | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
learn while you earn and take more time but bring home a wage and avoid | :28:58. | :29:03. | |
large student loans. Next week is National apprenticeship week. I hope | :29:04. | :29:15. | |
that the house of Commons will let everyone know that an apprenticeship | :29:16. | :29:23. | |
can take you every where. I commend this statement to the house. I thank | :29:24. | :29:31. | |
the gentleman for a limited advance site at his statement, I suppose | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
after the turmoil of yesterday we should be thankful it didn't just | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
turn up in manuscript. It seems to be a dance of the seven veils. What | :29:43. | :29:48. | |
he said today is simply a rehash of much of what was already said in the | :29:49. | :29:54. | |
English apprenticeship occupant and that is what concerns the sector. | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
Fine words but no parsnips. This is a pale shadow of what we proposed in | :30:01. | :30:07. | |
our 2010 manifesto. Most crucially, there is no clarity to universities | :30:08. | :30:14. | |
and large employers about what their responsibilities will be. Can I ask, | :30:15. | :30:21. | |
will this levy be extra money or a substitute for government funding? | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
Extra resources or an Osborne payroll tax? Whether the amount | :30:27. | :30:35. | |
raised will be more less than the ?1 billion extra spend that he has said | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
he hopes to add to spending on apprenticeships in England? He was | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
supposed to respond to the targets for apprenticeships by March four. | :30:46. | :30:53. | |
Have they done so? When will he do so? Will he spell out far more than | :30:54. | :31:03. | |
he has so far how S MEDs are going to benefit from the process and what | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
does he say to the chartered Institute for taxation who are | :31:08. | :31:14. | |
worried that businesses will not be able to use their ?15,000 allowance? | :31:15. | :31:21. | |
What members of the business sector want to know is will he be too | :31:22. | :31:25. | |
catholic in his definition of apprenticeships? Will he stop | :31:26. | :31:35. | |
sounding like a Soviet five-year plan on track to targets? With | :31:36. | :31:42. | |
concerns about the quality of these apprenticeships, will he tell others | :31:43. | :31:45. | |
who will supervise the operation of the apprenticeships levy will it be | :31:46. | :31:54. | |
the delivery board or the board of the Institute for apprenticeships? | :31:55. | :31:58. | |
What has he to say to the business select committee chair who has said | :31:59. | :32:03. | |
this morning, I'm told, no one knows what the apprenticeship levy is | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
going to look like. I am concerned it is just a numbers game. What is | :32:09. | :32:13. | |
he to say to the Public Accounts Committee who are so concerned about | :32:14. | :32:17. | |
the direction of his department that they have recalled him and the | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
secretary for a second grilling before Easter. Perhaps he would like | :32:23. | :32:28. | |
to tell others how he anticipates delivering that 3 million target | :32:29. | :32:34. | |
over a short period of time and implementing the levy over a very | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
short period of time with staffing levels down since 2011 by 40%, more | :32:40. | :32:46. | |
cuts to come and an exhilarating decline in the numbers of people in | :32:47. | :32:49. | |
the national apprenticeships service? It is amusing to be accused | :32:50. | :32:57. | |
in a relatively short statement from the gentleman of both being | :32:58. | :33:04. | |
Catholic, a Soviet planner and a dancer with seven veils. I will put | :33:05. | :33:13. | |
it on my epitaph. In the last year of the last Labour government, | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
public spending an apprenticeship training was ?1 billion. It is now | :33:18. | :33:22. | |
?1.5 billion and by the end of this parliament it will be ?2.5 billion. | :33:23. | :33:29. | |
That is extra money by anyone's book. There isn't a single public | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
service budget that is increasing as fast. To answer the question about | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
how much the levy is going to raise and how much is going to be spent, | :33:40. | :33:48. | |
in 20 19-20, the levy will raise half ?1 billion. It will raise | :33:49. | :34:02. | |
enough to give funding to the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish | :34:03. | :34:09. | |
governments. All the remaining ?2.5 billion will be spent on English | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
apprenticeships. He asked how small and medium-sized businesses who are | :34:15. | :34:17. | |
not paying the levy will get to benefit from government funding for | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
apprenticeships. We expect them to carry on spending money on | :34:23. | :34:25. | |
apprenticeships, receiving government money for | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
apprenticeships, as they do now. We don't anticipate that all companies | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
that pay the levy will use up all of the money in their digital accounts | :34:36. | :34:40. | |
and there will be a great deal more money to go around. We are | :34:41. | :34:44. | |
determined that the level of apprenticeships provided by small | :34:45. | :34:51. | |
and medium-sized businesses will continue as now. The operation of | :34:52. | :34:59. | |
the digital system that will be used to give employers control of the | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
apprenticeship levy money that they have contributed will be the | :35:05. | :35:08. | |
responsibility of the skills funding agency and the Institute for | :35:09. | :35:15. | |
apprenticeships will have complete responsibility for overseeing | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
standards and quality control. There are many more questions that the | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
honourable gentleman would like answers to and indeed the chairman | :35:25. | :35:27. | |
of the Business Select Committee who I look forward to hearing from. They | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
will have to wait just a little. The Chancellor is going to be making his | :35:33. | :35:38. | |
budget statement next week and after the Budget Statement, more technical | :35:39. | :35:41. | |
details will be provided so everybody knows in advance how the | :35:42. | :35:48. | |
levy is going to work. I welcome the statement from the minister. Since | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
the election, more than 4000 apprenticeships have been created in | :35:54. | :35:59. | |
my constituency. Will the Minister join me, particularly this week in | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
the run-up to national apprenticeship week, in thanking | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
those businesses, organisations and colleges who have helped deliver | :36:09. | :36:11. | |
those apprenticeships and will he reassure me that we will continue to | :36:12. | :36:18. | |
make sure the public sector give all their opportunities to those who | :36:19. | :36:28. | |
need them, including women. The public sector has not up to this | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
date been pulling its weight. The proportion is not the same as in the | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
hole so we are going to impose the target on larger public sector and | :36:40. | :36:46. | |
employers. We know that apprenticeships will help them do a | :36:47. | :36:53. | |
better job. Can I thank the Minister for an advanced copy of his | :36:54. | :36:57. | |
statement. Surprised by the time of it. Apprenticeship week was in | :36:58. | :37:04. | |
Scotland last week, it would have been beneficial to have it then. The | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
Scottish Government has committed to creating 25,000 modern | :37:10. | :37:15. | |
apprenticeships per year which encompass 80 different types of M | :37:16. | :37:19. | |
as. What consultation has there been with the Scottish Government on this | :37:20. | :37:27. | |
important issue. I question the method used to raise the money and | :37:28. | :37:35. | |
its sustainability. Apprenticeships remain a matter of fundamental | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
concern. If it in Cridge is on our devolved responsibilities and has | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
come in criticism from a wide variety of organisations, including | :37:47. | :37:49. | |
CBI and the Chartered Institute of Taxation. The levy will have a | :37:50. | :37:54. | |
knock-on effect in Scotland and I call the government to consider its | :37:55. | :38:00. | |
economic impact in Scotland. Police Scotland will have to pay up to ?4.5 | :38:01. | :38:08. | |
million per year under UK Government plans for an apprenticeship levy. | :38:09. | :38:15. | |
The UK Government has still to provide clarity on how Scotland's | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
share of the levy will be calculated and transferred to the Scottish | :38:21. | :38:23. | |
Government. When will that clarity come? It is great to hear about the | :38:24. | :38:34. | |
Scottish Government's committee to -- commitment to apprenticeships and | :38:35. | :38:41. | |
because they will have a substantial contribution to the levy, I hope | :38:42. | :38:47. | |
they will be able to increase their rate to the levy. I think on the | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
whole it would be fair to say that the level of the apprenticeship levy | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
is not the greatest problem facing police Scotland. Thanks to my right | :38:57. | :39:05. | |
honourable friend for coming down to Weymouth College to launch our third | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
apprenticeship. I look forward to seeing him. As a conservative, I | :39:10. | :39:22. | |
don't like levys instinctively. Does he have any fears for the future if, | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
heaven forbid, a socialist government could take over as it | :39:29. | :39:34. | |
might be an area of taxation that they would like to increase for | :39:35. | :39:41. | |
other reasons. Any excuse to come to Weymouth, I am very happy. I thank | :39:42. | :39:49. | |
him for inviting me. I feel innate scepticism about a new levy on | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
business but if you talk to large businesses, what they say, the ones | :39:54. | :39:59. | |
investing in apprenticeships is that some of their competitors don't and | :40:00. | :40:07. | |
it is strange is the -- strains the overall pressure on business by some | :40:08. | :40:15. | |
because others are taking a free ride. If you have to have a new levy | :40:16. | :40:23. | |
and I agree that you only do so as a last resort, it is best to have one | :40:24. | :40:26. | |
that employers control and can benefit from it is always nice to | :40:27. | :40:34. | |
see the Minister and it is always nice to discuss apprenticeships in | :40:35. | :40:41. | |
the house. Given that the house discussed the enterprise Bill | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
yesterday and the day before, why wasn't the public sector | :40:46. | :40:48. | |
apprenticeship target mentioned? Will there be a need for new | :40:49. | :40:54. | |
legislation? The levy will be the means by which we need to increase | :40:55. | :41:03. | |
apprenticeships. Will he give us any information about the 98% of | :41:04. | :41:10. | |
employers who won't pay the levy. He seemed to indicate that things won't | :41:11. | :41:13. | |
change or that a large number of employees would give this levy | :41:14. | :41:20. | |
really. Can he provide clarity as to if not, what is the point of the | :41:21. | :41:26. | |
statement? I'm grateful to the honourable gentleman for returning | :41:27. | :41:33. | |
to this subject of the public sector target. It gives me a chance to | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
respond to a front bench question. We weren't due to respond to the | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
consultation by the 4th of March, it was that the consultation closed on | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
the 4th of March. It does take more than six days to go through the | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
consultation responses and decide our response. We do not need | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
legislation to create that target. That is why it wasn't necessary to | :42:02. | :42:07. | |
include it in the enterprise Bill. I understand his impatience and to | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
some extent change it -- share it as to how the levy and the accounting | :42:13. | :42:17. | |
system is going to work for employers. I can assure him that | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
more than 12 months notice will be given to everyone so we will be | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
publishing very soon and he will be aware that there is a budget next | :42:26. | :42:29. | |
week and he knows it would be a career limiting move for me to | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
anticipate the Chancellor in that Budget Statement. | :42:34. | :42:40. | |
The Prime Minister came to my constituency last August to launch | :42:41. | :42:51. | |
the consultation on the levy. And I would like to give the minister my | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
support for the way in which we are looking to increase quality by | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
asking employers to make their own choices through the digital | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
apprenticeship service. Can he give us a further update on the progress | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
of making that system ready? Yes, and it gives me an opportunity to | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
put on record my thanks to my boyfriend the member for Stratford, | :43:14. | :43:20. | |
which unfortunately not able to be with us today, who is the Prime | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
Minister's adviser on apprenticeships and who has a great | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
deal of experience in business of leading major technology projects. | :43:29. | :43:31. | |
He has been immensely helpful in working with the skills funding | :43:32. | :43:34. | |
agency and officials in my department to create a system which | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
is going to be very simple and user-friendly for businesses and | :43:40. | :43:42. | |
give them absolute transparency about how much money they have | :43:43. | :43:45. | |
contributed and what they can spend it on, and will also enable training | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
providers to continue to take responsibility for ensuring that any | :43:53. | :43:54. | |
promised training is in fact delivered. The member responsible | :43:55. | :44:01. | |
for the apprenticeships public procurement bill for 2013, can I | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
welcome the governments conversion to using the benefits of public | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
procurement to secure additional apprenticeships? I know that it was | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
his parties backbenchers who talked out my bill when it was going | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
through the Commons. Can I just refer to his statement where he says | :44:21. | :44:26. | |
that the public procurement rules now stipulate that bidders for | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
government contracts must demonstrate their commitment to | :44:31. | :44:32. | |
apprenticeships - precisely what does that mean? I would like to pay | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
tribute to his leadership on this issue. And sometimes, we on this | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
side of the House take awhile to be persuaded of the merits of an | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
intervention, but once persuaded we are determined to fulfil it. He is | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
right to ask a question about the mechanics. We have been advised by | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
not least Terry Morgan, the chairman of Crossrail, who led the way on | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
this by instituting a similar kind of expectation for all | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
subcontractors to Crossrail, that it was dangerous, with the variety of | :45:06. | :45:08. | |
public procurement, infrastructure and services, to impose a single | :45:09. | :45:16. | |
mechanism of either a number of apprentices per million pounds of | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
spend or a percentage of employers on a project. So what we have | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
decided to do is to mix and match, to make the requirement depending on | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
what the liqueur and procurement processes. Buckley will be | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
transparent about how we do that. -- on what the procurement process is. | :45:34. | :45:39. | |
I would like to say that I agree with him. I am also an Evangelical | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
supporter of apprenticeships. We have a young apprentice in the | :45:45. | :45:48. | |
office who is doing an amazing job. Would he agree that the | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
apprenticeships form a valuable role in protecting our country, not only | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
with our sovereign defence capability, also with the many | :45:58. | :45:59. | |
number of apprenticeships in the Armed Forces? Yes, Madame Deputy | :46:00. | :46:05. | |
Speaker. The Armed Forces are really leading the way on, have done for a | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
long time. I would like to put on record my thanks to my right | :46:10. | :46:12. | |
honourable friend Secretary of State for Defence, which takes a keen | :46:13. | :46:18. | |
interest. The Armed Forces are confident that between them they | :46:19. | :46:21. | |
will be able to create 100,000 apprenticeships in the life of this | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
Parliament, contributing massively to our target. As so often, where | :46:27. | :46:29. | |
the Armed Forces lead, we should follow. The minister should have the | :46:30. | :46:38. | |
grace to which that it was Labour England which saved apprenticeships | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
from the oblivion to which his parties previous governments had | :46:43. | :46:46. | |
consigned them. It is an example of the kind of intervention which his | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
party has been slow to acknowledge. He will know of the concern amongst | :46:51. | :46:54. | |
employers that his 3 million target will only be achieved if the quality | :46:55. | :47:00. | |
of what is on offer is reduced further. And can he give us some | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
further reassurance on that point? I am happy to place on record that it | :47:08. | :47:11. | |
was indeed I think perhaps mainly Lord Mandelson who reintroduced the | :47:12. | :47:16. | |
idea of apprenticeships., I am not going to shy away from pointing out | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
that some of the particular policy measures were apprenticeships where | :47:23. | :47:25. | |
you did not have to have an employer and which only lasted a few months, | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
which somewhat undermined the quality and the brand of the | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
programme. And we have got rid of those. We have now introduced some | :47:35. | :47:38. | |
very, very simple minimum standards. And apprenticeship must be a job. It | :47:39. | :47:42. | |
must last at least 12 months. And it must have at least 20% of the job | :47:43. | :47:49. | |
training content. -- off the job training content. That is why in | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
some categories we have had a short-term dip in the number of | :47:54. | :47:56. | |
apprenticeship starts passing me by getting rid of some of the slightly | :47:57. | :47:59. | |
Mickey Mouse apprenticeships which had been on offer. Come I and say | :48:00. | :48:10. | |
when the institute will be opened running, and specifically, will it | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
have any role in resolving problems which may occur in apprenticeships? | :48:15. | :48:20. | |
Thank you, the Institute for apprenticeships will come into being | :48:21. | :48:24. | |
in shadow form this spring, and therefore will have 12 months to | :48:25. | :48:30. | |
begin to take over its responsibilities before formally | :48:31. | :48:35. | |
taking over in April 20 17. Specific points around training provision, | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
which do sometimes occur, will continue to be dealt with in part by | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
Ofsted through their inspections and in part by the schools funding | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
agency, who will manage the relationship. At broader complaints | :48:49. | :48:55. | |
will indeed be the responsibility of the Institute for apprenticeships. | :48:56. | :49:03. | |
Last month it was announced that bomb RDA would lose 1080 jobs and | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
that it's apprenticeship programme would suffer as a result. -- bomb | :49:08. | :49:13. | |
RDA. It is one of the most impressive apprenticeship schemes | :49:14. | :49:19. | |
that there is in Northern Ireland. -- Bombardier. What for has he given | :49:20. | :49:26. | |
to consider some kind of co-operation between Northern | :49:27. | :49:28. | |
Ireland and the rest of the UK in apprentices? As the honourable | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
gentleman knows, this is a devolved matter. But I am happy to reassure | :49:34. | :49:40. | |
him that I have had a meeting with ministers responsible for | :49:41. | :49:41. | |
apprenticeships in all of the devolved administrations, and we | :49:42. | :49:45. | |
have made a commitment to meet every six months to talk through these | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
issues and try and learn from each other what works and what does not | :49:50. | :49:53. | |
work. And also to ensure that the introduction of the levy actually | :49:54. | :49:55. | |
boosts apprenticeship activity in all parts of the United Kingdom, not | :49:56. | :50:03. | |
just in England. Last Friday, I was very pleased to host an | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
apprenticeship and jobs fair in my constituency. I commend my | :50:09. | :50:11. | |
honourable friend for his statement. Will he join with me in thanking | :50:12. | :50:19. | |
employers waste in Crawley, such as Virgin Atlantic, C Geagea and others | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
for sponsoring the apprenticeship fair and all they do in this sector? | :50:25. | :50:33. | |
I am delighted to do that, not least because the employers that he | :50:34. | :50:36. | |
mentioned demonstrate that apprenticeships are no longer | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
narrowly confined to any traditional industries of construction or | :50:41. | :50:43. | |
engineering. You can be an apprentice lawyer, accountant, | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
digital creator. You can even probably some day be an apprentice | :50:49. | :50:59. | |
politician. The minister will know that 96% of apprenticeships are | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
delivered at levels two and three. Clearly it is very good that young | :51:06. | :51:08. | |
people and others are getting those qualifications. But is he confident | :51:09. | :51:11. | |
that enough apprenticeship opportunities exist at levels four | :51:12. | :51:17. | |
and above, so there are clear progression routes? And I would | :51:18. | :51:25. | |
briefly say to the minister, who I have some time for, that a lot of us | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
on this side of the Chamber worked very hard, not least my honourable | :51:31. | :51:34. | |
friend on the front bench, and the Chair of the select committee, to | :51:35. | :51:39. | |
rescue apprenticeships from oblivion under a Labour government. Perhaps | :51:40. | :51:45. | |
it would be better not to make this such a party political issue. | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
Funnily enough, Madame Deputy Speaker, I was an apprentice | :51:51. | :51:54. | |
politician to the honourable lady when I shadowed her as planning a | :51:55. | :51:58. | |
list and I learnt a great deal in the process. She is right that there | :51:59. | :52:03. | |
are currently too few higher and degree apprenticeships. And we would | :52:04. | :52:06. | |
like to see many more of them. We are making reasonably good progress. | :52:07. | :52:15. | |
There were 19,800 starts on higher apprenticeships, which was 115% up | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
on the previous year. Degree apprenticeships are a relatively new | :52:21. | :52:23. | |
concept, we now have more than 1000 people who have started them. We | :52:24. | :52:28. | |
have much further to go. I think there will always be more level to | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
and level three apprenticeships. , we want everybody doing these to | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
look up and see the higher and degree apprenticeship which they | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
could move on to. I am happy to pay tribute to her role and that of the | :52:44. | :52:46. | |
chairman of the select committee, and the honourable gentleman, in | :52:47. | :52:50. | |
reviving the idea and the practice of apprentice ships. Can I thank the | :52:51. | :52:56. | |
minister, who recently met with me and colleagues from the Humber to | :52:57. | :53:03. | |
discuss the establishment of a National Wind College in the Hull | :53:04. | :53:06. | |
region. Could he reaffirmed the governments commitment to our young | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
people in the region, that they will have the maximum opportunity to take | :53:11. | :53:16. | |
advantage of the new jobs which are being created in the offshore wind | :53:17. | :53:20. | |
sector? Absolutely. One reason why we have established the national | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
college programme is in order to have colleges which can take | :53:27. | :53:30. | |
especially the higher and degree apprenticeships which we are so | :53:31. | :53:34. | |
ambitious four. The only reason why there is not already a national | :53:35. | :53:38. | |
college for wind in his region is because the partners were not quite | :53:39. | :53:41. | |
yet ready. We are very happy to work with them to help bring a proposal | :53:42. | :53:46. | |
to the Chancellor once they do get ready. Could I start by paying | :53:47. | :53:53. | |
tribute to my apprentice, Callum, and if the minister is doling out | :53:54. | :53:59. | |
praise for those who contributed to apprenticeships, I hope he would add | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
Vince Cable to the list, who I think played a fantastic role in | :54:04. | :54:07. | |
government. Currently, the Government has decided to include | :54:08. | :54:09. | |
within the definition of payroll bonuses paid to employee owners, | :54:10. | :54:17. | |
although dividend payments are not covered. Will this mean that people | :54:18. | :54:21. | |
at John Lewis will end up paying more in the levy? If so, does this | :54:22. | :54:26. | |
not add a disincentive to that model of enterprise? I am very happy to | :54:27. | :54:33. | |
pay tribute to the work done by the former Secretary of State, with whom | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
I worked, and he managed to increase the budget for apprenticeship | :54:39. | :54:40. | |
training at a time when most other budgets were not increasing. And | :54:41. | :54:45. | |
that was an admirable achievement. The question he asked, I can give | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
him a general answer. I do not want to tread on the territory of the | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
HMRC. The general answer is that the levy will be applied to all PAYE | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
pay, and that is the question., I will get an answer to him either | :55:02. | :55:10. | |
from myself or from HMRC. I welcome the minister's statement this | :55:11. | :55:14. | |
morning. I am a big fan of apprentices myself and I am | :55:15. | :55:18. | |
extremely proud of the fact that in Rochester and Strood, we have | :55:19. | :55:23. | |
produced 7410 since 2010, the fourth-largest in the South-East. I | :55:24. | :55:28. | |
was at a college this week and they told me that they have had more than | :55:29. | :55:33. | |
100 new engagements with employers since September last year. Could the | :55:34. | :55:37. | |
minister assure me that we will continue to work with our colleges, | :55:38. | :55:41. | |
especially in-place is like Rochester and Strood, to make sure | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
that we have the correct provision to keep up with the demand which we | :55:47. | :55:54. | |
are seeing? My honourable friend makes a very good point. I was | :55:55. | :55:56. | |
meeting with college leaders just the other day. At the moment, | :55:57. | :56:04. | |
colleges between them only secure one third of the money spent on | :56:05. | :56:07. | |
apprenticeship training. And that money as we have heard is going to | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
be increasing substantially. I have challenged college leaders and will | :56:13. | :56:15. | |
do everything in my power to help them to secure two thirds of that | :56:16. | :56:20. | |
funding, because it is a great further education college which is | :56:21. | :56:22. | |
the heart of a community which is investing in young people and in | :56:23. | :56:29. | |
local employers. I welcome the statement from the minister. Of | :56:30. | :56:32. | |
course I think we do need to encourage companies to take on more | :56:33. | :56:36. | |
apprentices to get the statistics up. I'm he will welcome in my own | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
constituency the further education colleges moving to level three | :56:43. | :56:48. | |
apprenticeship, right up to diploma level, which is very welcome. Could | :56:49. | :56:53. | |
he tell me how often he would meet with the business industry and with | :56:54. | :56:56. | |
the colleges in order to encourage more apprenticeships? Madame Deputy | :56:57. | :57:02. | |
Speaker, obviously, I meet with the English businesses and employers and | :57:03. | :57:08. | |
colleges a great deal. But many of those are also employers elsewhere | :57:09. | :57:12. | |
in the United Kingdom and want to be able to have integrated | :57:13. | :57:15. | |
apprenticeship row comes. I will commit to him that I will work with | :57:16. | :57:18. | |
the devolved administrations to make sure that apprenticeship standards | :57:19. | :57:21. | |
are nice in all parts of the UK. I welcome the minister's clear | :57:22. | :57:33. | |
passion for using apprenticeships to spread opportunity and raise | :57:34. | :57:37. | |
aspirations in our nation. Tomorrow I am attending an event held by the | :57:38. | :57:46. | |
fell mongers so witty join me in congratulating them on helping | :57:47. | :57:53. | |
Richmond becoming 1 of the best performing constituencies in the | :57:54. | :57:57. | |
United Kingdom? 1 of the curious things about this job is that you | :57:58. | :58:01. | |
discover occupations that you had literally never heard of, and I have | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
to admit that I still don't know what fell manga is. I am sure I am | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
going to find out and maybe 1 day I can join an apprentice Belle Monger | :58:11. | :58:13. | |
and understand the trade that he has learned. Can I point the minister | :58:14. | :58:25. | |
towards the survey not that long ago that showed that only 9% of young | :58:26. | :58:29. | |
people doing a level two qualification were doing it for the | :58:30. | :58:33. | |
first time. Bearing in mind in his statement, he said most of his | :58:34. | :58:37. | |
agenda was about social mobility, how is that the compatible if so few | :58:38. | :58:41. | |
people are doing that level qualification for the first time and | :58:42. | :58:45. | |
so few are coming out with a higher level qualification that they went | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
in with in the first place? I think the honourable gentleman is right to | :58:51. | :58:53. | |
point out that there is a problem with people starting courses and not | :58:54. | :58:58. | |
completing them fundamentally because the courses were | :58:59. | :59:02. | |
inappropriate for them. It is something we need to tackle and it | :59:03. | :59:05. | |
is more a subject that we are tackling through the panel that Lord | :59:06. | :59:09. | |
Sainsbury is chairing, which is looking at establishing much clearer | :59:10. | :59:13. | |
and more directive routes through technical education, so that at 16, | :59:14. | :59:17. | |
you start because that is right for you, you're going to complete it and | :59:18. | :59:22. | |
it will lead you to a great apprenticeship, I hope. 370 new | :59:23. | :59:27. | |
apprenticeships were started between August and October last year in | :59:28. | :59:33. | |
Cannock Chase, topping the tables in Staffordshire, showing that local | :59:34. | :59:37. | |
businesses are really embracing apprenticeships. Does my honourable | :59:38. | :59:41. | |
friend agree that involving employers in designing the standards | :59:42. | :59:43. | |
of apprenticeships will mean that apprentices get the skills | :59:44. | :59:47. | |
businesses are looking for? Can he confirm that the employers involved | :59:48. | :59:51. | |
from a broad range of different sectors so that all the different | :59:52. | :59:56. | |
requirements are met? My honourable friend is absolutely right. It is | :59:57. | :00:00. | |
extremely important that while we do want employees to be in charge of | :00:01. | :00:03. | |
developing the standards so that they are directly relevant to | :00:04. | :00:07. | |
current occupations, it is also important that it isn't just the | :00:08. | :00:10. | |
larger employers who have HR departments and senior managers who | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
can go to meetings to help develop those standards. We do insist that | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
every standard before it is approved has demonstrated that it has the | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
support of small and medium-sized employers in the industry. I welcome | :00:26. | :00:33. | |
the fact that the minister has indicated that he meets his | :00:34. | :00:36. | |
colleagues in the devolved administrations on a six monthly | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
basis. Could he provide us with an estimate of what the likely amount | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
of money is that would be allocated to the Northern Ireland Executive on | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
a proportionate basis as a result of the increase in the apprenticeship | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
levy? The honourable lady is tempting me towards the edge of the | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
abyss! I can point out to her because it is a matter of public | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
record that the apprenticeship levy is due to raise 3,000,000,020 19-20, | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
and 2.5 billion will be spent on English apprenticeships, and the | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
rest will go to the devolved administrations. How it divides up, | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
I cannot tell her, but the Chancellor will have more to say on | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
this soon. I wholeheartedly support the Government's promotion of | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
apprenticeships and I have been in discussion with many local | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
businesses and colleges about the opportunities for young people and | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
while many businesses do get it, like the accountancy firms in the | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
region, many don't. There is a lack of understanding and I am going to | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
hold an event to that purpose to which I would really like to invite | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
the evangelical minister to come to spread his passion to help the | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
economy. Madam Deputy Speaker, I would be delighted to come. I am | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
going this afternoon to Keighley to attend tomorrow morning and | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
equivalent event organised by our honourable friend for that | :02:06. | :02:07. | |
constituency and I would be delighted to return to the West | :02:08. | :02:15. | |
Country where I am from. As part of my apprenticeship as an MP I have | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
discovered that fell mongers deals in Scoones. Is that right? OK, onto | :02:20. | :02:29. | |
the serious stuff. The minister said that the decision to take on an | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
apprenticeship was a way of avoiding large student loans. Given that it | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
was his Government that imposed these loans, wouldn't another way of | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
helping young people avoid them beat to rethink replacing student | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
maintenance grants with loans or will he accused me of shroud waving? | :02:46. | :02:53. | |
Now that I know what TfL manga is, I hope and trust that my honourable | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
friend the member for Richmond will be able to procure a sheepskin coat | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
for me when I come and visit his local fell mongers. To answer the | :03:02. | :03:08. | |
question, we want young people to have a choice between taking a | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
full-time university course, understanding that they will have to | :03:13. | :03:15. | |
fund that through student loans which they only have to pay back if | :03:16. | :03:23. | |
they earn over ?21,000, but getting all the University experience and | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
infringement that comes from that. We want to place no cap on a number | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
of people that decide to go down that route. We also want there to be | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
another route for those people who find that they learn better by | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
combining study and work, who want to earn a wage and don't want | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
particularly to have that full-time university experience. It is not | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
about telling people what to do, it is about offering them a choice. I | :03:48. | :03:55. | |
also welcome the progress made in apprenticeships today and the | :03:56. | :03:57. | |
overall positive tone across the parties in support of them. The | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
minister mentioned broadening out apprenticeships and I wonder what | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
progress is being made in encouraging apprenticeships and | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
highly seasonal industries like farming and tourism. I am grateful | :04:11. | :04:13. | |
to my honourable friend for that question not least because I have | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
been working with him and others on the possible establishment of a | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
pilot. With our minimum requirement that an apprenticeship at last 12 | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
months, it does some problems for seasonal businesses who could employ | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
people for six or nine months but not for a continuous period of 12 | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
months. With the tourism industry, which my honourable friend is | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
particularly interested in, we are looking to establish a pilot whereby | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
an apprenticeship can be set up by the apprentices employed 412 out of | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
a period of 15 months and hopefully that would encourage more. -- the | :04:49. | :04:57. | |
apprentice is employed for 12 out of 15 months. The Titanic project in | :04:58. | :05:07. | |
Belfast took place nine years ago and apprenticeships were novel, but | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
it became quickly clear that while the developer was happy to satisfy | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
the required number of apprentices, they did nothing to sustain them, so | :05:15. | :05:17. | |
when they became less inclined to remain as apprentice or they fell | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
away, the numbers were not refilled, so the end outcome was the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
apprenticeships were not completed as promised. How do we make sure | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
that while the apprenticeship must last 12 months, that those that | :05:31. | :05:33. | |
enter the system must go through and complete the system? The honourable | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
gentleman raises an important concern. The truth is that in most | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
industries, not all but in most, they are all telling us that they | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
have a huge skills need, though it is relatively unlikely that unless | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
an employer lost a big contract or did not find a new contract to | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
replace one that came to an end, it is relatively unlikely that they | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
would want to lose an apprentice in whom they had invested quite a lot | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
of the training. Most apprentices don't reach their maximum | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
productivity until after they have completed the apprenticeship. I am | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
hopeful that those employers, particularly those paying the levy | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
every year, will want to create apprenticeships and invest in them | :06:19. | :06:20. | |
because they will want to use those skills for the long-term. Bristol | :06:21. | :06:28. | |
South sends the least number of young people to university in the | :06:29. | :06:31. | |
country, so I see apprenticeships very much as the key to aspiration | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
and I share the evangelicalism. On his way back to the West Country, if | :06:37. | :06:39. | |
he wants to stop off in Bristol South via Taunton he would be | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
welcome to see the work we are doing. Yesterday I asked the Prime | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
Minister about whether his delivery plan, in fact if he had a delivery | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
plan or whether he was making up the policy as he went along, as some | :06:52. | :07:02. | |
have described the delivery policy as iterative and agile. We still | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
await the details of the levy, how target will work in practice and how | :07:06. | :07:07. | |
colleges and other providers will be supported to do the important work | :07:08. | :07:10. | |
they need to do. Genuinely wishing to speak with one voice on this | :07:11. | :07:13. | |
subject across the House, can he tell us more about when the delivery | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
plan will be forthcoming? Madam Deputy Speaker, she is right. We do | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
have a lot of questions that we need to answer because we are making some | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
very substantial interventions in policy to try and make sure that we | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
meet our target both of numbers and quality. If I can put it like this, | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
those questions, if they have not been answered fulsomely in the month | :07:40. | :07:42. | |
of April then I will be severely disappointed. The Government is | :07:43. | :07:49. | |
doing fantastic work in promoting apprenticeships and the minister in | :07:50. | :07:52. | |
particular has been very supportive in my constituency having visited | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
apprenticeship providers in my area. He is welcome to come back again. I | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
am facilitating a meeting with local businesses to set up an ambitious | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
target of 50 new apprenticeships in 50 days. Apprenticeships are | :08:05. | :08:07. | |
fantastic opportunity for young people to earn while they learn and | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
making it far more likely for them to secure future climate. Will the | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
ministers put me in this ambitious plan to get young people | :08:16. | :08:27. | |
locally into good apprenticeships? I want to congratulate my honourable | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
friend for everything this clause and setting herself and her local | :08:31. | :08:33. | |
businesses the target of creating 15 new apprenticeships in 50 days. I | :08:34. | :08:35. | |
know it will be of vast benefit to the people of her constituency. I am | :08:36. | :08:42. | |
probably fairly unusual in being a former apprentice myself. I am now a | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
current apprentice along with my new colleagues. I welcome the | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
Government's commitment to another 3 million apprenticeships in this | :08:51. | :08:53. | |
Parliament in addition to the 2 million in the last Parliament. | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
Businesses in my constituency are doing their bit. Would the minister | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
join me in congratulating and banking some of those businesses | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
that are today creating opportunities for my constituents | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
such as red roofs and this rate, rose Garth nursery and Crest | :09:10. | :09:18. | |
Nicholson? How could be delighted to do that, Madam Deputy Speaker, and | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
it gives me the opportunity to point out that we have a house-builder in | :09:25. | :09:36. | |
that list. So we have architecture, bricklaying, childcare, and a whole | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
range of industries, so apprenticeships really are the | :09:40. | :09:46. | |
solution to every skills need. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. And then | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
there was one. I greatly welcomed the statement from the minister this | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
morning ahead of National Apprentice Week. Would you agree it is vital to | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
encourage the participation of young women in traditionally male focused | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
apprenticeships and join me in commending the 800 employers already | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
working with easterly college, which he has visited, in my constituency, | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
where I will be this evening? They are employing talented young women | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
like Maisie who visited Parliament this week and currently undertaking | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
an advanced apprenticeship in construction and the built | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
environment. That is a great note to end on, a young woman who has | :10:29. | :10:31. | |
decided that the opportunities for her future career lie in the | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
construction industry and in an advanced set of skills. Last week I | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
visited juice and Babcock and they introduced me to two young | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
apprentices who were apprentice riggers, moving unbelievably heavy | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
pieces of equipment for power plants, and both young women were | :10:51. | :10:53. | |
absolutely delighted by what they were doing. I thank the minister for | :10:54. | :11:00. | |
his evangelical statement. The clerk will now proceed to read the orders | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
of the day. Northern Ireland, Stormont agreement and | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
implementation plan bill, committee. Order. Northern Ireland, Stormont | :11:13. | :11:39. | |
agreement and implementation plan bill. We begin with amendment one, | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
with which it will be convenient to consider amendments seven and other | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
clauses and amendments listed on the selection paper. Tom Elliot to move | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
amendment one. Thank you, Mr Chairman. I move amendment one in | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
the first group. Obviously this is around the independent reporting | :12:05. | :12:06. | |
commission on paramilitary functionality. -- paramilitary | :12:07. | :12:15. | |
activity within Northern Ireland and reporting back on it. Hopefully that | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
report will see a move away from terrorist activity within Northern | :12:20. | :12:20. | |
Ireland. We have made a huge progress in the | :12:21. | :12:30. | |
last few years, but we want to see a total end to that campaign of | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
paramilitary activity. You only have to look at the more recent and | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
distant past to realise some of the murders that have taken place. I | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
know we have heard of loyalist paramilitary activity, loyalist | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
killings. The honourable member for North Down has made many | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
representations about the disappearance of Lisa, and what | :12:59. | :13:04. | |
impact it had on the family and the community. In recent times, we have | :13:05. | :13:13. | |
seen IRA murders, we have looked to the murders of Robert McCartney, | :13:14. | :13:20. | |
Denis Donaldson, Paul Quinn and Kevin McGuigan in Belfast. What | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
strikes me is the brutality and the clinical way these murders were | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
carried out. The hallmark of the IRA of the past. We have seen is the | :13:31. | :13:38. | |
these murders are not carried out by amateurs, they are carried out by | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
professional terrorists. In the way they have gone about that. It | :13:43. | :13:55. | |
reminds us of the IRA and terrorist organisations of the past. The | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
Police Service of Northern Ireland has said in recent times that the | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
IRA and the Army council still exist. We need to deal with that, | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
and asked the question if that army council is still inextricably linked | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
to Sinn Fein, who are in government in Northern Ireland. What we have | :14:15. | :14:22. | |
sought in this amendment one is the appointment of the two members | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
proposed to be appointed by the First Minister and typically First | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
Minister for the Independent reporting commission. I do accept | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
that within the document it says the executive will appoint those two | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
members. What we are seeking is a mechanism to move away from | :14:43. | :14:45. | |
political appointments. We feel it would be helpful to be carried out | :14:46. | :14:56. | |
by a more independent body. In the progress of the | :14:57. | :14:58. |