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of Parliament at 11pm tonight. First, we have questions to the | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Andes ministers. | :00:00. | :00:11. | |
Order, order. On the front page of today's order paper, it is noted | :00:12. | :00:18. | |
that on the 23rd of April 1916, the Honourable Michael Hicks-Beach, | :00:19. | :00:25. | |
Viscount Quenington, Royal Gloucestershire Yeomanry, died of | :00:26. | :00:35. | |
wounds received in action in Sinai, Egypt. We remember him today. | :00:36. | :00:46. | |
Questions to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
Might I begin by wishing Her Majesty The Queen are very happy birthday | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
today. The whole country is celebrating. I am delighted to | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
publish the first culture white paper for more than 50 years and I | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
am pleased that the core of that white paper has that culture first. | :01:05. | :01:13. | |
I join a minister in wishing Her Majesty The Queen are very happy | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
birthday. Does the Minister agree that devolution combined with | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
possibility of an elected Mayor, as we hope still having | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
Gloucestershire, is a good thing to provide more score, leadership and | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
resources for culture, media, music and everything else I did community | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
needs to have? I do agree. It is clear that local leadership plays an | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
absolutely crucial role in ensuring the power of culture can make a real | :01:39. | :01:45. | |
impact on local communities. Is Government has implemented ?685 | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
million of cuts to Lancashire County Council, resulting in massive | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
library and Museum closures. When this is Government going to get | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
responsibility for this attack on our heritage and culture, making to | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
treachery, when we lose these forever? Disgraceful. When will this | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
Government take responsibility? Mr Speaker, the amount of cash going to | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
local authorities is going up. The honourable gentleman should look to | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
his own benches first, because Labour local authorities are | :02:22. | :02:23. | |
overwhelmingly closing local libraries and it is conservative | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
ones that are keeping them open. The honourable gentleman should not | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
be expanding while exchanges take place. -- standing. I would like to | :02:34. | :02:41. | |
join a minister in wishing her marriages are very happy birthday. | :02:42. | :02:53. | |
-- her marriages. If leisure centres and libraries are closed, they will | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
not have saved enough money to plug a financial black hole they face. | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
That was the quote from the Tory chairperson of the Local Government | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
Association. That is a black hole of the Government's making and local | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
cultural institutions lose out the cause councils cannot get Arts | :03:14. | :03:23. | |
Council grants. Our creative industries generate millions of | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
pounds per year. The drivers of growth as well as inspiration and | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
hope for future jobs. Why is this Government starving local Ritz? I | :03:35. | :03:47. | |
don't agree. We I see examples of success all over the country. | :03:48. | :03:58. | |
Looking at Hull as a City of Culture, for instance. She should | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
have a word with her colleagues in the Labour Party and asked them to | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
stop closing libraries! Can I have a sense of reality here? My local | :04:09. | :04:15. | |
authorities desperately fighting to keep libraries open and museums | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
going and it is a very tough call indeed. I know that there are | :04:21. | :04:23. | |
problems. I'm not making a cheap point. But isn't it about time that | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
we have more resources for local Government and universities to take | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
given it is more seriously in terms of innovation and the arts? His | :04:34. | :04:36. | |
point about universities is very well made and universities play an | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
increasingly important role in local cultural provision. That is | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
something they have driven and they are very important partners. | :04:45. | :04:57. | |
Around half of Sir Brian Leveson's recommendations focused on press | :04:58. | :05:00. | |
regulation. The Government has delivered orders in the process of | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
delivering the majority of the other recommendations directed at them. | :05:05. | :05:11. | |
The Secretary of State must realise that press abuse victims want him to | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
implement section 40. Indeed, even the Prime Minister personally | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
promised victims of press abuse and this House that it would be enacted. | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
Why is a Secretary of State breaking the Prime Minister's promise? I have | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
considerable sympathy with the victims of press abuse. I have had a | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
number of meetings with some of those and with others who are | :05:35. | :05:36. | |
rightly following this matter with great interest. I would say that | :05:37. | :05:45. | |
having had my faith tested to the utmost, I still believe press | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
freedom is a vitally important component of a free society and we | :05:52. | :05:54. | |
should tread very carefully. However, the recommendations of the | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
Leveson, some have been implemented and the new system is coming into | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
effect. The exemplary damages provisions of section 40, he will be | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
aware, have been enacted. The remainder are under consideration | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
still. We do not yet have a recognised press regulator in place | :06:15. | :06:16. | |
but we will continue to consider these matters very carefully. Can I | :06:17. | :06:23. | |
ask, does the Secretary of State believe we have sufficient press | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
regulation or would you like to see more regulation of the press? We do | :06:29. | :06:36. | |
now have two potential press regulators, both of which are | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
independent, self regulatory systems with sanctions and certainly | :06:43. | :06:45. | |
represent considerable improvement on the Press Complaints Commission | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
which went before. It is still early days. Beasley, we will watch very | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
carefully to see how the new system operates and whether or not it is | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
delivering the proper protection, which I think we want to see to | :06:58. | :07:01. | |
ensure the abuses taking place in the past and not happen again. We | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
support freedom of the press and broadcasters but in the case of the | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
BBC, we also expect our national broadcaster to reflect the society | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
in which we live. The Secretary of State airshow were seen highlights | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
of the recent debate the House had on BBC diversity and all sides were | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
in complete agreement that there is a striking shortage of black senior | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
managers and an inexplicable lack of openly gay and lesbian presenters. | :07:28. | :07:36. | |
There is a shocking absence of older women on screen anywhere. He's | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
agreed the time for EBC studies at past and action is overdue. As it | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
had chance to pass this debate the director general -- to the Director | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
General? I have quite a lot of sympathy to his comments. We are | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
still in the process of drawing up the new BBC Charter. I can give an | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
assurance this is an issue that will feature in the white paper when we | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
publish it, I hope quite soon. We take it very seriously. I don't | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
believe in telling the BBC or setting quotas for the number of | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
ethnic minority faces or older female faces are indeed Scottish | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
faces that appear on screen behind the camera, but it is something | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
we're all those groups and others who are currently underrepresented | :08:21. | :08:23. | |
need to have better representation. That is what we are working to | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
achieve. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Number three, please. | :08:29. | :08:35. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The department secured a very positive | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
Spending Review settlement last year, and over this parliament, we | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
will invest more money in grassroots sports than ever before. This | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
settlement reflects the Government's support for the positive outcomes | :08:49. | :08:51. | |
sport can bring and will be spent in line with the new Government | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
strategy, Sporting Future, which encourages people from all | :08:58. | :08:59. | |
backgrounds to engage in sport and physical activity. I thank the | :09:00. | :09:07. | |
Minister for the response. What assessment has been made of any | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
councils intervening and affecting grassroots sports participation, | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
such as a park run, we're a pencil charges for wearing dear -- where a | :09:19. | :09:28. | |
council charges for wearing dear? The decision to charge for an event | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
that is the around the UK and across the world is one that we think | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
should be reconsidered. We want to remove barriers to participation and | :09:37. | :09:38. | |
encourage more people to get involved in sport. This is the key | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
message Government was to get across. If my honourable friend were | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
to speak to our right honourable friend, the Secretary of State, he | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
would be aware that in Chelmsford there is thriving grassroots sport | :09:54. | :10:00. | |
in the form of ice hockey. As the results of the Spending Review hold | :10:01. | :10:03. | |
out any hole for ice hockey at grassroots to benefit from that. I | :10:04. | :10:11. | |
am grateful to my right honourable friend for his question. Decisions | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
on the budget for local authorities are their decisions and we welcome | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
what is happening in jobs. I know are assiduous years in speaking up | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
for his constituency. There are many examples across the country where | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
local authorities are spending on sport, like Central Bedfordshire | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
Council, which continues to invest in sport and physical activity | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
provision. And that we encourage. Question number four, Mr Speaker. As | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
I indicated a moment ago, no decision has been taken regarding | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
commencement of the Crime and Courts Act. I am eating a variety of | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
interesting parties with different views to discuss the issue. Thank | :10:57. | :11:03. | |
you for taking us no further forward. Implementation of these | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
cost incentives was promised by the then called researcher, the right | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
honourable member for Basingstoke. They were promised as a key part of | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
the Leveson forms the city were by the Prime Minister, not only by | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
Parliament but to victims of press abuse, including the family of | :11:22. | :11:22. | |
Madeleine McCann. The will of Parliament, breaching a | :11:23. | :11:38. | |
cross-party agreement, but also breaking very firm, clear promises | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
made by the Prime Minister and his colleagues? | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
Well, I would just say first of all, I have not indicated that I have no | :11:48. | :11:55. | |
intention, I simply said I was not minded which means that the matter | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
is still under consideration and my mind and that of my colleagues is | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
open on the matter which is why we are continuing to have meetings with | :12:06. | :12:12. | |
those only this week, I had out meeting with some of the local | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
publishers who have signed up with the Impress regulator who meets a | :12:18. | :12:20. | |
very interesting comments and we will continue to listen to all those | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
with an interest. We will in due course make a decision, however I | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
would point out that of course section 40 will not come into effect | :12:31. | :12:36. | |
fully until there is a recognised regulator even after the order is | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
signed. There is not yet a recognised regulator so we are not | :12:41. | :12:43. | |
yet at that position and we will continue to consider the matter. We | :12:44. | :12:51. | |
consider that the Secretary of State's minded state was however | :12:52. | :13:00. | |
meant. Question four. The first three things are remembrance, youth | :13:01. | :13:07. | |
and education. We know that to date around 1.5 million young people have | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
taken part including schemes like the battlefield twirls and legacy | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
programmes, 14-18 now and protecting warmer morals. We are ensuring that | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
young people are visibly catered for and take part in all of our national | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
remembrance events. I thank him for that answer but it is important that | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
young people understand the sacrifice made by earlier | :13:32. | :13:33. | |
generations and I wonder if he would join me in congratulating pupils in | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
my constituency who were given the opportunity to name a new fantastic | :13:40. | :13:42. | |
recreation facility in their area and shows to Collett Newbould | :13:43. | :13:50. | |
Centurion Park to commemorate the start of the First World War. I am | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
honourable to my friend. We should perhaps be relieved that it was not | :13:55. | :14:04. | |
called Parky McParkface. I join him in congratulating the pupils of that | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
academy for choosing to commemorate those who give their lives in the | :14:09. | :14:11. | |
First World War in choosing the name of the park. As I have said, there | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
are hundreds of projects going on up and down the country and it is | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
particularly important that young people have the opportunity to visit | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
the First World War battlefields and it is extraordinarily encouraging, | :14:25. | :14:26. | |
the enthusiasm and interest that they have shown in marking of this | :14:27. | :14:33. | |
very important interior. Thank you, Mr Speaker. These matters are | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
important but the department is also responsible for protecting children | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
online. This morning, the Internet watch foundation said that child | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
abuse images are appearing behind adult pornography sites. Could the | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
Secretary of State explained to the House why he personally intervened | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
to block the Tory party manifesto promise to enable Internet service | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
providers to block websites where there isn't a proper age | :15:03. | :15:10. | |
verification system? This is a very serious matter and could very | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
properly be raised at topical questions but it is something of an | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
abuse of the main thrust of this question. I let the honourable lady | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
finished because I did not know where she was headed and I wanted to | :15:22. | :15:24. | |
give her the benefit of the doubt but having given her the chance, I'm | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
afraid if I may say so she was hanged by her own rope. We better | :15:29. | :15:35. | |
move on. On Tuesday this week, I had the pleasure of attending your state | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
rooms to celebrate the Sikh festival and I thank you for your general | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
hospitality. -- generous. You know that Sikh soldiers made huge | :15:46. | :15:52. | |
contributions to our First World War is an people now want a permanent | :15:53. | :15:55. | |
monument in central London to commemorate that sacrifice. Can the | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
Minister today promised the Government's support in principle | :16:00. | :16:08. | |
for this project? We do have memorials to a number of the | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
different communities who contributed in the First World War | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
and many of whom lost many lives. I was privileged to attend a few weeks | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
ago on Commonwealth Day, the ceremony but to close at the | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
Memorial gates that marks the contribution of the Afro-Caribbean | :16:28. | :16:29. | |
community and the Asian community in the First World War which was | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
extremely important and perhaps doesn't always achieve recognition. | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
We will of course keep an open mind. To some extent it would be a matter | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
for other authorities but certainly if there are specific proposals I | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
will of course look at them. I was very grateful to William Prichard | :16:48. | :16:54. | |
and Billy Green from a school in my constituency who made a wreath in | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
memory of my great grandfather who was killed on the first day of the | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
Battle of the Somme in 1916. In this, its centenary year, can I | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
encourage my friend to encourage school visits to the Somme | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
battlefield memorials to remember those men who made so much sacrifice | :17:13. | :17:19. | |
all those years ago? Well, my honourable friend illustrates what | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
has become very clear which is that almost every person in this country | :17:23. | :17:25. | |
will have have a relative who served in the First World War and many of | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
whom died and I'm delighted to hear about to be attributed was paid to | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
his own grandfather. It is incredibly important that young | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
people to hear about and learn about the First World War and that is why | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
we did put in place the school battlefields tour programme under | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
which to pupils and one teacher from every state funded secondary school | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
in England can visit the First World War battlefields and over 3.5 | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
thousand pupils have already been on that programme. Question number six. | :17:57. | :18:06. | |
Mr Speaker, I have no plans to reform UK and in but following the | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
Sunday Times allegation and independent review been launched | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
into UK and the's handling of the information it received. It's | :18:17. | :18:19. | |
important we allow that review to conclude before deciding what action | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
to take. I thank the secretary for that answer but last week it was | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
suggested that doping in sport could be criminalised in the UK. Has there | :18:28. | :18:34. | |
been discussion in other departments regards to decriminalisation of | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
doping. It is a matter that we are considering very actively. The | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
allegations that were printed in the Sunday Times that suggested it may | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
be that doping is taking place amongst UK sportsmen are very | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
serious and something we want to examine very carefully but also | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
urgently. If it becomes clear as a result of that that further action | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
needs to be taken, possibly including the criminalisation of | :19:01. | :19:03. | |
doping in sport, then we will not hesitate to act. Mr Speaker, does | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
the Minister agree that we should be leading the way in terms of | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
anti-doping and does he agree that sportsmen and sportswomen have at | :19:13. | :19:15. | |
responsibility to be honest and clean especially as they inspire | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
some any young people? What are they doing to work alongside the UK | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
Anti-Doping Agency to tackle this problem? I completely agree with the | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
honourable gentleman. It is essential that sport is seen to be | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
clean and that is something that in this country we have until now has a | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
very good reputation for and I hope that we still will have a good | :19:38. | :19:40. | |
reputation. We are talking to all the UK sports bodies and do intend | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
to draw up proposals which I hope all of them will adopt but beyond | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
that, we are taking a lead internationally and the Prime | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
Minister is holding anti-corruption summits next month and this is one | :19:52. | :19:53. | |
of the issues that will be raised and discussed there. Thank you, Mr | :19:54. | :20:02. | |
Speaker. The Prime Minister has said that his forthcoming anti-corruption | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
Summit that he will consider whether doping in sport should be made a | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
criminal offence but before anyone can be convicted, we have to have an | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
effective tech Singh regime in place. Despite the billions that go | :20:14. | :20:21. | |
in to sport -- testing regime, very little money is going into science | :20:22. | :20:24. | |
to keep us ahead of the cheats. Will he join me in common upon the Prime | :20:25. | :20:27. | |
Minister to discuss funding for research at his summit with an aim | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
of setting up an independent funding body that would be independent of | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
sports governing bodies so that we can have effective testing in state | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
to keep ahead of the cheats? I agree that this is a very important matter | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
which is why the Government does invest over ?5 million per annum in | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
UK and in and that some is going up so that by the end of this | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
Parliament, it will beat 5-point formally in pounds. National | :20:58. | :20:59. | |
governing bodies in sport are doing quite a lot. For one example, I was | :21:00. | :21:08. | |
with the horse racing authority, British horse racing authority to | :21:09. | :21:10. | |
hear about the work they have been doing to ensure that their sport | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
remains clean. Other sports are investing in it. Of course, there is | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
more that we can do in this area and I would join with him in urging the | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
national governing bodies of all our sports to give this the seriousness | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
that it deserves and to invest more if required. Number eight, Mr | :21:27. | :21:35. | |
Speaker. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was delighted last month to work | :21:36. | :21:38. | |
with the planning minister and the music venues trust to get changes in | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
place to weaken protect our music venues. It is important we recognise | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
the huge economic contribution that is made to the night-time economy | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
and that take action where it is required. Thank you, Mr trigger. | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
According to figures released by the industry body, the UK's restaurants, | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
bars and music venues employ 1.3 million people and serve millions of | :22:04. | :22:06. | |
Britons and tourists every year. Will the Minister join me in | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
recognising the important role of this sector which contributes to our | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
economy every year? Yes, I will. Not only an economic condition but a | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
cultural echo contribute. In the light of the visit of the president | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
of Indonesia, in Indonesia they count food and restaurant as part of | :22:25. | :22:27. | |
their creative industries and I think from my own perspective, that | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
is something we should take very seriously and perhaps consider. | :22:32. | :22:39. | |
Question ten, please. We recently launched an appeal to encourage | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
communities, businesses, organisations and individuals across | :22:45. | :22:46. | |
the United Kingdom to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
on June 30 and July the 1st. We will continue to find ways to encourage | :22:52. | :22:54. | |
commemoration of this most poignant brushwood war event through media | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
activity and direct approaches. Guidance is available on the | :23:00. | :23:02. | |
Government website and special information has been published by | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
the Royal British Legion which contains information on hosting a | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
sombre remembrance event. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The First World War was | :23:12. | :23:14. | |
of course an enormous UK wide effort where millions of men and women | :23:15. | :23:20. | |
served our nation. What additional information can the Secretary of | :23:21. | :23:23. | |
State give a large Government so that the people of Wales and in | :23:24. | :23:26. | |
particular young people can mark and honour the great sacrifices made in | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
the First World War? I think my honourable friend thought that | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
question. The wheels remembers 1914-1918 question was launched by | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
the First Minister in January. It gives details of the commemorative | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
events happening in Wales or further afield during 2016. There will be a | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
vigil at the Welsh National Memorial in Cardiff to commemorate this and | :23:54. | :23:56. | |
scenery of the Battle of the Somme and at Carmarthen car full, the | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
poppies weeping window from the 11th of October to the 20th of November. | :24:02. | :24:08. | |
On the 25th of June, Armed Forces Day, the national event is being | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
held in Cleethorpes. Would my friend agree that this is an opportunity to | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
not only mark the continuing bravery of our Armed Forces but also to make | :24:19. | :24:21. | |
that with the sacrifices of the past? I think you make a very good | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
points and we are so grateful for our Armed Forces and their continued | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
service but one must never forget those who gave sacrificed in the | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
First World War. Questionable 12, Mr Speaker. We published our action | :24:36. | :24:42. | |
plan two years ago. We have lowered the threshold for what constitutes a | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
nuisance call and also increased cooperation between the two | :24:46. | :24:48. | |
regulars,, and the regulation office. Despite Government action, | :24:49. | :24:56. | |
nuisance calls are a real concern to residents all over the country. What | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
further steps can my right honourable friend take to ensure | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
that we buy nuisance calls and prevent particularly elderly people | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
from suffering this curse. Well, it is a very important issue and it | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
annoys a greater number of people and also frightens particularly the | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
elderly and vulnerable. We are working and have announced a fund to | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
allow col barring equipment to be given to the elderly and fallible | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
and we are considering our results for calling line identification. | :25:29. | :25:35. | |
There is a real danger that increasing this small claims limited | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
civil court cases will lead to more unwanted nuisance calls from claims | :25:39. | :25:45. | |
management agencies. Well my honourable friend please liaise with | :25:46. | :25:48. | |
ministers in the Ministry of Justice to ensure steps are taken to stop | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
this from happening? Well, my friend takes a close personal interest in | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
this issue and has been very supportive and makes an extremely | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
important point. In my view, when Government is considering changing | :26:02. | :26:04. | |
legislation in any department, they should consider the potential | :26:05. | :26:07. | |
knock-on effect on nuisance calls so I will certainly take on his point | :26:08. | :26:15. | |
Mr Speaker, the review reporting on the Government and regulation on the | :26:16. | :26:24. | |
BBC in the 1st of March 20 16. Sir David's ideas for the principles of | :26:25. | :26:27. | |
simpler Government structures and streamlined regulatory arrangements | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
that have public sensitivity to market arrangements at heart would | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
be difficult to overlook. We hope to set out plans for the future of the | :26:37. | :26:43. | |
BBC governance in a white paper next month. | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
And a recent YouGov poll commissioned, it showed 62% of the | :26:49. | :26:56. | |
over 60s had no confidence in the Government to protect the BBC during | :26:57. | :26:59. | |
charter renewal and over half for the BBC was the most trusted source | :27:00. | :27:06. | |
of news. In light of that, how can this possibly increase confidence in | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
the independence of the BBC? We do take the views of those who are | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
submitted to a consultation seriously. -- who have submitted. It | :27:18. | :27:25. | |
is the BBC's reputation for integrity and impartiality which we | :27:26. | :27:32. | |
want to protect. There were very specific proposals about this that | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
Sir David made. We are discussing this with the BBC and I hope we will | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
be able to announce agreement on that in due course. | :27:41. | :27:47. | |
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. The BBC's 39 local radio stations raised | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
the prospect of further cuts as part of the corporation's attempts to | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
meet the 700 million cost of free TV licences. Regional radio is a unique | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
and vital service, tackling issues caused hearts of listeners who feel | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
a very long way from the London centric national news coverage. Will | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
he oppose any cuts to BBC local radio and in particular, in the | :28:12. | :28:16. | |
north-east? I would say to the honourable lady that it is not my | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
job or indeed the job of the Government to tell the BBC how to | :28:21. | :28:23. | |
allocate the resources available to them. But... But... But I would say | :28:24. | :28:30. | |
that I completely agree with other BBC local radio is one of the areas | :28:31. | :28:37. | |
of BBC activity which is hugely valued and which would not usually | :28:38. | :28:44. | |
delivered I any other means. -- hugely delivered. I am less familiar | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
with the BBC local radio in north-east but she is to praise it. | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
I am a big fan of BBC Essex and I would be sorry if it suffered cuts. | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
I don't think that is necessary within a generous funding the BBC | :28:59. | :29:04. | |
receives. The BBC promised us that they were going to learn from the | :29:05. | :29:10. | |
mistakes of the past. As the Secretary of State had any | :29:11. | :29:12. | |
opportunity to assess our question the logic of those BBC bosses who | :29:13. | :29:16. | |
have decided to appoint a recently released from jail sex offender to | :29:17. | :29:24. | |
front a prime-time youth talent show on the BBC? What were they thinking | :29:25. | :29:30. | |
in that appointment? Well, I hear what the right | :29:31. | :29:36. | |
honourable gentleman says. It is of course a matter of editorial | :29:37. | :29:42. | |
judgment for the BBC. Obviously, the BBC has a duty to set an example and | :29:43. | :29:46. | |
behave responsibly. I would simply say that I am sure the senior | :29:47. | :29:50. | |
editorial management of the BBC will have heard what he said and I would | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
encourage him, if he has concerns, to express them directly to the BBC. | :29:56. | :30:05. | |
Question 14, Mr Speaker. The Prime Minister's 5-point plan | :30:06. | :30:08. | |
for tourism sets out how this Government will grow the tourism | :30:09. | :30:10. | |
industry in England across Britain. In 2015, we saw 10% increase in the | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
number of domestic overnight visits in England compared to the previous | :30:17. | :30:20. | |
year. To further distinguished tourism, the Chancellor announced a | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
new ?40 million Discover England's fund. This was what visitors to find | :30:25. | :30:32. | |
even more of England's hidden gems. I thank the Minister for his answer. | :30:33. | :30:38. | |
Alongside Government action, Trinity groups, like those in my | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
constituency, play a key role in helping tourism. Will the Minister | :30:43. | :30:51. | |
congratulate them? He makes a powerful point, which I agree with. | :30:52. | :30:57. | |
The British Food Fortnight, which we had recently, has been a tremendous | :30:58. | :31:04. | |
success. I congratulate the people in his constituency wholeheartedly | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
for what they have done. This is the year of great British food, which we | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
are highlighting the great British food that we have and showing that | :31:13. | :31:19. | |
we are grateful nation. -- a great food nation. No, no, he consumed his | :31:20. | :31:29. | |
dish earlier. He can't have a go now. You can always have a go at | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
topicals. This is a useful lesson for new members to learn. Extremely | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
fateful to the honourable gentleman. Topical questions. Patricia Gibson. | :31:38. | :31:44. | |
Since the last oral questions, my Department has published the first | :31:45. | :31:49. | |
cultural white paper in 50 years. Sadly, we have seen the passing of a | :31:50. | :31:53. | |
number of distinguished figures, including Ted Grundy, the voice of | :31:54. | :31:59. | |
Cornwall, the playwright Arnold Wesker, and National treasures | :32:00. | :32:05. | |
Ronnie Corbett and Victoria Wood. On a happier note, we saw England reach | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
the final of the men's cricket T20 cup and the semifinal of the womens | :32:10. | :32:19. | |
and Danny will it -- Danny Willett was a winner at Gloucester. We look | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
forward to commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
on Saturday. And at the London Marathon on Sunday, to which I | :32:28. | :32:30. | |
understand eight honourable members will be participating. And Jamie | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
Murray, we note, is the number one doubles player. | :32:36. | :32:41. | |
The department has indicated it wants the BBC to allocate ?100 | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
billion of its annual budget for local news and children's TV to | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
outside suppliers work outside suppliers is meant and what impact | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
assessment has been done on that? The BBC at the moment is subject to | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
the 25% independent production quarter. It is not specified which | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
particular genres that should cover but there is a general requirement | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
of 25%. The extent to which the BBC offers the rest of its schedule up | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
for competition from outside independent producers is a matter we | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
are considering very carefully. There are some very good independent | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
production companies in the sectors she mentions and I would hope the | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
BBC will take maximum advantage of competition to ensure that we have | :33:29. | :33:31. | |
the best possible programmes available to the licence fee payer. | :33:32. | :33:38. | |
Mr Speaker, my constituents in Crawley appreciate lower prices and | :33:39. | :33:41. | |
improved service. So can my right honourable friend say what his | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
department is doing to competition in the telephone and broadband | :33:47. | :33:50. | |
markets? Well, while we're on anniversaries, | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
might I also congratulate Charlotte Bronte on her 200 birthday, which | :33:55. | :34:00. | |
falls today. I don't see anything wrong with congratulating her. Shall | :34:01. | :34:12. | |
I get on with it, Mr Speaker? We have done a lot. I also want to | :34:13. | :34:16. | |
welcome and congratulate Ofcom's digital communications review, which | :34:17. | :34:21. | |
is not 200 years old. In fact, it is extremely fresh, straight out of the | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
box. And it will promote competition. We have issued a very | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
clear statement that we will back Ofcom all the way on this. I'm | :34:32. | :34:37. | |
starting to realise why this department is known as the Ministry | :34:38. | :34:52. | |
For Foreign. -- Fun. We all know he has been distracted by his | :34:53. | :34:55. | |
moonlighting for the APPLAUSE League campaign. | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
He said he would clarify EU law to label the playing field between | :35:00. | :35:01. | |
online platforms and content providers. This hugely boost the | :35:02. | :35:10. | |
single market will stop why has he allowed his department to renege on | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
that promise this month? It is something which I attach great | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
importance to. It is a matter I discussed with the vice president of | :35:21. | :35:27. | |
the European Commission not liable and I was reassured his shield are | :35:28. | :35:30. | |
concerned that action should be taken to ensure that the music | :35:31. | :35:34. | |
industry does receive the returns it is vital to from intermediaries that | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
are currently underpaying. I have to say that is not something from which | :35:41. | :35:43. | |
my Department has backed away and indeed it is something I am | :35:44. | :35:45. | |
determined we will continue to press upon the European Commission. | :35:46. | :35:54. | |
I have the letter year from UK Music. It has fallen into my lap. | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
After expressing surprise and concern about this turn of events, | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
it seeks, and I quote, give explicit confirmation that the UK Government | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
remains committed to a clarification of EU law and their liability of | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
online intermediaries and the use of safe harbour... Hasn't he spent more | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
time arguing that we should walk away, that Britain should walk away | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
from the biggest single market in the world than we as looking after | :36:21. | :36:24. | |
the interests of UK creative industries in these crucial | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
negotiations? The answer to the right honourable lady is no. Whether | :36:30. | :36:36. | |
we will be subject to the regulations and directives under the | :36:37. | :36:39. | |
Digital single market and indeed any other measures of the European | :36:40. | :36:42. | |
Commission is something that the British people will decide in two | :36:43. | :36:47. | |
months. However, in the meantime, I can assure her that I discussed this | :36:48. | :36:52. | |
matter on Tuesday evening with the chairman of UK Music. I reassured | :36:53. | :36:57. | |
him that in Norway had we reduced or diminished our support for the UK | :36:58. | :37:12. | |
music industry. -- that in no way. And if clarification on these rules | :37:13. | :37:15. | |
is needed, we would be happy to provide it. In times of committee | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
crisis, challenge of success, listening to your local BBC Radio 1 | :37:22. | :37:24. | |
station or indeed watching local TV is vital for many constituents. And | :37:25. | :37:32. | |
it sometimes feels like service. Does the Minister agree that the BBC | :37:33. | :37:35. | |
and indeed local commercial radio proves to be a crucial lifeline to | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
rural communities and should be funded appropriately? As I indicated | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
a little earlier, I do think that local radio plays an absolutely | :37:48. | :37:51. | |
vital role in communities. I know that my Oracle friend has particular | :37:52. | :37:54. | |
experience in this area and speaks with that knowledge. -- my | :37:55. | :37:59. | |
honourable friend. To give our recent example, in the flooding | :38:00. | :38:05. | |
crisis in the North of England, BBC local radio and commercial radio | :38:06. | :38:08. | |
played a vital part in ensuring communities were kept away of what | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
was happening and given advice as to what they should do about it. That | :38:13. | :38:15. | |
is where local radio becomes incredibly important and of course I | :38:16. | :38:18. | |
want to see sustained and maintained. | :38:19. | :38:25. | |
Like the Secretary of State, I have had my experience of the press | :38:26. | :38:29. | |
tested. Let me remind him, it is not about politicians celebrities. The | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
years are rolling on. When should victims of press abuse expect the | :38:35. | :38:37. | |
Secretary of State to make his mind up on deciding to protect them? We | :38:38. | :38:44. | |
covered this a little bit earlier. As I said, I entirely agree with the | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
honourable gentleman that it is the people who have not chosen to enter | :38:50. | :38:58. | |
public life but find themselves the object of press abuse only | :38:59. | :39:02. | |
protecting most. That is why we are extremely keen to new, independent | :39:03. | :39:06. | |
and tough regulator should be put in place. We have to regulators that | :39:07. | :39:11. | |
are being established and we will see how effective those are. We have | :39:12. | :39:15. | |
already implemented part of the section 40 provisions of the Courts | :39:16. | :39:24. | |
Act. We are keeping an open mind of when to implement the remaining | :39:25. | :39:27. | |
section. That is something which I accept we will need to reach a | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
decision about relatively soon and I will insure the houses kept | :39:32. | :39:34. | |
informed. Mr Speaker, it is good to see the members for Newcastle, | :39:35. | :39:43. | |
Paisley and Renfrewshire in their places this season, because they | :39:44. | :39:46. | |
have turned out for the Commons and Lords rugby club, which has | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
distinguished itself this season by winning a game! The club has raised | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
substantial sums of money for charity and I wonder if the Minister | :39:56. | :40:03. | |
would join me in congratulating the members for the money raised, | :40:04. | :40:06. | |
particularly adept you's Injured Players Foundation In Trouble. I | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
Congratulate Not Only The Honourable Member For The Work Is Done On The | :40:13. | :40:19. | |
Rugby... Football My Game. I shall be supporting Crystal Palace on | :40:20. | :40:30. | |
Sunday. They are my local team, unfortunate for the gentleman | :40:31. | :40:32. | |
opposite. I congratulate him for the wiki is done under Parliamentary | :40:33. | :40:36. | |
Rugby team for all their charitable work for winning a game. -- and the | :40:37. | :40:45. | |
work he has done. To conclude very briefly, I would like to offer my | :40:46. | :40:52. | |
good wishes to all those who have -- who are participating in the London | :40:53. | :40:54. | |
Marathon on Sunday, particularly the members of this House. The | :40:55. | :41:03. | |
responsible gambling trust indicate that receiving ?7 million from the | :41:04. | :41:06. | |
betting industry is a voluntary donation. How much funding is | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
provided for research, education and treatment into gambling related | :41:12. | :41:12. | |
harm? I agree with the honourable | :41:13. | :41:20. | |
gentleman that this is a very important matter. It is already a | :41:21. | :41:24. | |
requirement upon all gambling licence holders to make an annual | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
financial contribution to one or more organisations which perform | :41:30. | :41:32. | |
research into prevention and treatment of gambling related harm. | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
The vast majority choose to make this to the responsible gambling | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
trust who raised money from the industry in 14-15 but I entirely | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
agree that we need research in this matter and we need to take decisions | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
based on the evidence. Thank you, Mr Speaker. As always, I appreciate | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
your patience and guidance. On the occasion of Her Majesty's 90th | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
birthday, will the Minister join me in recognising her contribution to | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
the tourism industry? Absolute delight is not only to add my | :42:10. | :42:15. | |
congratulations to Her Majesty on her birthday and took to commence | :42:16. | :42:18. | |
the tremendous service she has done in so many fields including of | :42:19. | :42:29. | |
course terrorism. Turner's -- tourism. Next to the huge European | :42:30. | :42:36. | |
market, in the European market we influence the market and the rules | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
over application stalls. What rules would we have we walked away from | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
the table? I think it would be a disaster if we left the European | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
Union and the video games industry thanks to the fantastic bringing in | :42:50. | :42:57. | |
of our tax credits and are backing for East sports means that Britain | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
is forging ahead in the video games industry but we must work with our | :43:02. | :43:08. | |
European partners. Mr Speaker, you and I attended last night the 10th | :43:09. | :43:15. | |
anniversary of Asian Like a new newspaper both online and inference. | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
Would my honourable friend with me in congratulating Asian Liked on ten | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
years of publication and look forward to at least another ten | :43:26. | :43:32. | |
years of their celebrated works. -- Asian Light. I am very pleased to | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
congratulate Asian Light. I have had meetings recently with reputations | :43:39. | :43:41. | |
of Asian media organisations to talk about how we can support them and | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
also work with them in tackling problems like extremism but is | :43:46. | :43:48. | |
essential that those communities do have thriving medium and therefore I | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
am pleased to hear about this latest edition and to wish them | :43:54. | :43:59. | |
congratulations. The Conservative manifesto pledged to stop children's | :44:00. | :44:06. | |
exposure to harmful sexualised content online by requiring age | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
verification for access to all sites containing pornographic material and | :44:12. | :44:18. | |
each rated for all music videos. Why did the Secretary of State excludes | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
this from the consultation document on child safety online which he | :44:24. | :44:29. | |
published in February? Well, I'm grateful to the honourable lady | :44:30. | :44:32. | |
particularly for the warning given for her question but she's right, | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
this is a serious matter. We made it clear that we do think that there | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
should be age verification in place for adult pornographic websites. | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
There is a big distinction between child abuse images which are | :44:48. | :44:50. | |
absolutely illegal and which we need to take every measure to canter and | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
I share her alarm about the figures today, but that is not the same | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
thing as sites which are a beetle for adults but where we need to | :45:00. | :45:02. | |
increase the protection for children. -- illegal. We will be | :45:03. | :45:10. | |
introducing measures to ensure age verification and I hope of bringing | :45:11. | :45:14. | |
those forwards very soon for legislation in the next session. -- | :45:15. | :45:26. | |
legal. Questions for the Leader of the House and the representatives | :45:27. | :45:29. | |
for the Commons Commission. Number one, Mr Speaker. With permission, Mr | :45:30. | :45:40. | |
Speaker, I will answer one and six together. The Government has brought | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
in-state quake changes to standing orders. In 2015, the House will do | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
to improve new standing orders for English was for English law is | :45:50. | :45:51. | |
delivering on a key Government commitment by giving England and | :45:52. | :45:54. | |
Wales more control and decisions that they alone are affected by. | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
Standing orders undergo frequent revision and are monitored to ensure | :46:01. | :46:04. | |
that they reflect our business in the House and how it is conducted in | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
practice. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The procedure committee on which I sit | :46:10. | :46:13. | |
published a report this week on Private members bills calling for | :46:14. | :46:16. | |
amendments to standing orders as the procedure is has been brought into | :46:17. | :46:22. | |
total disrepute due to the frequency of bills being talked about. Does | :46:23. | :46:26. | |
the Leader of the House agreed that the procedure is in total dispute or | :46:27. | :46:32. | |
does he think that filibustering is Democratic? In this case, he is a | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
she, Mr Speaker but we debated this last week as she will be a winner | :46:38. | :46:42. | |
and participated in Westminster Hall. I think it would be remiss of | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
me to say before the publication of the response to this report and we | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
will publish that in due course. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The deputy | :46:52. | :47:00. | |
leader referred to English laws they wish books it's obvious that we will | :47:01. | :47:03. | |
not be able to make them see sense on how unfair that is but since the | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
Government will not budge on that, does the Minister not appreciate | :47:08. | :47:11. | |
that this is unworkable and has managed to make the procedure of | :47:12. | :47:15. | |
this has even more intractable than it was before simply because they | :47:16. | :47:19. | |
took a significant change to the Constitution of this House and | :47:20. | :47:23. | |
changed it as if it was on a Wednesday afternoon as if it was a | :47:24. | :47:26. | |
minor change to spelling in the standing orders. Will the deputy | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
Leader of the House tell us when the standing orders will be brought back | :47:32. | :47:33. | |
so that at least if they are going to do the wrong thing, they will do | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
it right? The Government informant at its manifesto commitment in which | :47:38. | :47:40. | |
it referred to standing orders of the House in this process. I think | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
the procedures are perfectly workable and I pay tribute to the | :47:47. | :47:48. | |
clerks and the speakers were applying them appropriately. Thank | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
U, Mr Speaker. My honourable friend has referred to the excellent report | :47:54. | :47:58. | |
from the procedure committee I sit. On the issue of private members | :47:59. | :48:03. | |
bill, when will the Government bring forward a response and when can we | :48:04. | :48:07. | |
in this House have a debate and a decision on reforming private | :48:08. | :48:14. | |
members bills? Well, you should be aware that it's the usual process | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
for the Government to respond within two months and we intend to stick to | :48:19. | :48:27. | |
that timetable. I wonder whether, in retrospect, the Government will look | :48:28. | :48:32. | |
at Private members' bills in a dispassionate way because in 1987, | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
the late Enoch Powell wanted to introduce a bill and nearly got it | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
through to ban all stem cell research. I discovered that morning | :48:43. | :48:48. | |
that I could move the writ for Brecon and Radnor and. I spoke | :48:49. | :48:56. | |
nearly the whole of the day and every time on BBC, I hear about stem | :48:57. | :49:03. | |
cell research saving somebody's life, I know that that filibuster | :49:04. | :49:12. | |
wasn't a bad thing at all. Well, Mr Speaker, the honourable member talks | :49:13. | :49:15. | |
about filibusters and I'm sure if he was filibustering at the time, this | :49:16. | :49:18. | |
bigger of the day would have brought him to order but is nonetheless seen | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
found away at the time to find a device that meant the business he | :49:23. | :49:24. | |
thought was not appropriate did not make its way through the House. I | :49:25. | :49:31. | |
thought the honourable gentleman wish to intercede on this matter? No | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
doubt we will hear them at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr | :49:36. | :49:44. | |
Speaker. As my friend made clear, we welcome the procedure committee's | :49:45. | :49:48. | |
recognitions for changes to private members' bills. As the member for | :49:49. | :49:54. | |
North action and Aaron has said, the majority of members of this House | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
will be disappointed to hear that the Government have not yet | :50:01. | :50:02. | |
committed to giving these proposals time to be debated because there are | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
too many issues that people care about like hospital parking charges | :50:08. | :50:11. | |
for carers or cheaper cancer drugs that have been talked out by the | :50:12. | :50:15. | |
filibusters so will the Government follow the procedure committee | :50:16. | :50:18. | |
recommendations and allow this to be debated on the four of the House? As | :50:19. | :50:22. | |
I have just said, the Government will respond with in the time that | :50:23. | :50:26. | |
is expected that as I made the point in the debate last week, these are | :50:27. | :50:31. | |
important. Private members bills can be in important way to raise issues | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
and they used to be the only way to get a debate on that matter. We now | :50:36. | :50:39. | |
have many more ways to raise these issues that important pieces of | :50:40. | :50:41. | |
legislation have gone through this House and also been stopped in | :50:42. | :50:47. | |
highly appropriate ways that are allowed by the procedures of the | :50:48. | :50:56. | |
House. Questionable too, please. With permission, I will answer to, | :50:57. | :51:01. | |
three and eight together. The commission is committed to making | :51:02. | :51:05. | |
the House family friendly so far as it rests within its remakes rather | :51:06. | :51:11. | |
than being them matters for the House to debate such a setting hours | :51:12. | :51:14. | |
and the debate calendar which I understand are to be addressed | :51:15. | :51:20. | |
shortly. The diversion and inclusion strategy builds on opening of the | :51:21. | :51:24. | |
nursery in 2012 and the recently introduced formalisation of flex | :51:25. | :51:28. | |
temper staff offers one example of family friendly policies in | :51:29. | :51:32. | |
accident. I thank the gentleman for his answer. The staff of this place, | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
Mr Speaker, are often asked to work long hours at extreme is short | :51:38. | :51:42. | |
notice. In addition, the Government has started on occasion releasing we | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
says dates at brochure on notice. Have you received reputation is on | :51:47. | :51:49. | |
how this might affect the family lives of the staff of this House? | :51:50. | :51:56. | |
She raises important issues and as I feel vindicated in my room original | :51:57. | :52:01. | |
response, this is an issue for the commission and for the House and of | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
his Labour Leader of the House is here and has heard the concerns | :52:06. | :52:08. | |
about the short notice that has been given in terms of recess dates. Then | :52:09. | :52:16. | |
he, Mr Speaker. I wonder if honourable members of this House are | :52:17. | :52:20. | |
parents of young children and are all from as to work along and | :52:21. | :52:29. | |
offered it. Will the they consider following the example of the | :52:30. | :52:32. | |
Scottish parliament in providing more services and ensuring that | :52:33. | :52:37. | |
holiday is no longer fall within primary school -- fall in conference | :52:38. | :52:48. | |
concision with members as decision was taken to set up a nursery rather | :52:49. | :52:51. | |
than a creche because of the difficulties that arise as a result | :52:52. | :52:57. | |
of the short notice that is given when children who need to use the | :52:58. | :53:04. | |
crash crash want to make use of that facility. I will make sure that his | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
concerns are passed on and I will make sure that they will consider | :53:09. | :53:11. | |
the representations he has just made. -- creche. Thank you, Mrs | :53:12. | :53:19. | |
vigour. Many workplaces are insuring employees on maternity and paternity | :53:20. | :53:22. | |
leave are able to keep up-to-date with their work. What steps is the | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
commission taking to ensure members of this House on maternity or | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
paternity leave can continue to serve their constituents? Including | :53:32. | :53:39. | |
issues like remote electronic voting for members on maternity leave? I | :53:40. | :53:46. | |
thank the honourable lady for her question and again, I think it's a | :53:47. | :53:49. | |
matter as much for the House as it is for the commission. Clearly, the | :53:50. | :53:53. | |
commission through the IT provision can insure that this place is as | :53:54. | :53:58. | |
accessible both to people who are here and also members who are way | :53:59. | :54:05. | |
and I think the issue of voting for instance is something that needs to | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
be considered by a much wider range of organisations than just the | :54:10. | :54:17. | |
commission. Number four, please. The commission takes the learning and | :54:18. | :54:20. | |
development needs of staff seriously. The House of Commons | :54:21. | :54:25. | |
service is an investor in people and invest significantly in training to | :54:26. | :54:28. | |
ensure that all staff have the skills needed for their jobs and to | :54:29. | :54:31. | |
develop their careers. Our staff should agree a plan with their | :54:32. | :54:35. | |
manager each and are able to select our wide range of learning | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
opportunities including online, face-to-face training, coaching, | :54:41. | :54:43. | |
mentoring and other events. My honourable friend knows that we | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
benefit from fantastic and bent dedicated staff and over years I | :54:50. | :54:52. | |
have those is that we have had people coming out quite a lowly | :54:53. | :54:55. | |
grade actually going right through to senior management. I am afraid | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
that I am seeing very talented people not getting that track into | :55:01. | :55:05. | |
senior management. Can we make sure if there is talent, we give it the | :55:06. | :55:10. | |
chance to grow? I would certainly echo that. Our staff are very | :55:11. | :55:17. | |
dedicated and he will be aware of the training opportunities available | :55:18. | :55:19. | |
that are originally publicised through learning News and the | :55:20. | :55:24. | |
activities brochure and I think there are very significant | :55:25. | :55:26. | |
opportunities is available for staff both to support them in terms of | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
getting promoted but also retraining if that is something that they want | :55:31. | :55:37. | |
to undertake. I want to put on the record my support and gratitude for | :55:38. | :55:42. | |
the House employees as others have referred to. We are grateful to them | :55:43. | :55:45. | |
and though we should do all we can to support them on any future path | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
they want to take. Would the Minister boat believed that training | :55:50. | :55:55. | |
opportunities should be a priority for those who want to progress | :55:56. | :55:57. | |
within the House but outside of the House as well? | :55:58. | :56:00. | |
Thank you for that. If he is aware of staff who put in particular | :56:01. | :56:09. | |
requests for particular training not available currently, I would | :56:10. | :56:11. | |
certainly like to know of that and be happy to pursue it. | :56:12. | :56:19. | |
Mr Speaker, I have obviously now received a copy of the report, which | :56:20. | :56:26. | |
I will study carefully. I can say, because we want to respond | :56:27. | :56:32. | |
constructively, we'll take time to consider what it says. I am grateful | :56:33. | :56:40. | |
for that reply. As he will be aware, some recommendations on the reporter | :56:41. | :56:43. | |
more controversial than others. But as my observant right honourable | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
friend will have noticed, there are 67 private members bills listed in | :56:48. | :56:52. | |
the future business of today's order paper, which don't stand any chance | :56:53. | :56:56. | |
at all of ever being given further time for consideration. So, as that | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
is one of the proposals contained in the report, can I urge the Leader of | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
the House to bring forward proposals to deal with at least the | :57:08. | :57:10. | |
uncontroversial parts of the report as soon as possible? | :57:11. | :57:16. | |
Members of the public are now looking at the list of private | :57:17. | :57:19. | |
members bills and we believe there are still measures that can make | :57:20. | :57:22. | |
progress. We know all, given where we are in the session, that is not | :57:23. | :57:25. | |
now possible. I am very sympathetic to what my honourable friend says. | :57:26. | :57:29. | |
There is a lot that is good report and I can give an assurance that we | :57:30. | :57:33. | |
will respond carefully and thoughtfully to what it says. I pay | :57:34. | :57:36. | |
tribute to him and my honourable friend who chairs the committee, for | :57:37. | :57:45. | |
the excellent work he and his team have done this. I will assure the | :57:46. | :57:54. | |
case a proper response. Departmental Question Time is on a | :57:55. | :57:59. | |
valuable opportunity for members to scrutinise the Government. Topical | :58:00. | :58:01. | |
questions add an element that means pressing and events -- press again | :58:02. | :58:07. | |
then so the day can be answered. And the premised is here to answer | :58:08. | :58:12. | |
questions from the I will try to stem the blight of planted | :58:13. | :58:16. | |
questions, which has reached the present levels from both front | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
benches. Being treated like a bazaar in Marrakesh, having questions | :58:24. | :58:29. | |
thrust that you and then getting e-mails to remind us etc. Questions | :58:30. | :58:38. | |
are meant to have a purpose where backbenchers, of all parties, hold | :58:39. | :58:40. | |
Government to account. Not playing games between the two front benches. | :58:41. | :58:49. | |
This is now going to planted backbench debates and planted | :58:50. | :58:51. | |
Westminster Hall debates. And very soon, my honourable friend will find | :58:52. | :58:56. | |
planted backbench debates if we're not careful. Could I ask the Leader | :58:57. | :58:59. | |
of the House to meet with the Speaker and the chair of the | :59:00. | :59:03. | |
procedure committee and have another look at this so that what should be | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
backbench time actually becomes, once again, as it was when I started | :59:09. | :59:13. | |
in this House, as much about backbenchers as frontbenchers. I | :59:14. | :59:19. | |
don't think the Government should be interfering in... In the idea of | :59:20. | :59:27. | |
what members can and cannot submit those questions. That is for members | :59:28. | :59:35. | |
to decide. I can miss Lucy that I have never been handed a question by | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
a whip, Mr Speaker. -- I can honestly say. Mr Speaker, dare I | :59:41. | :59:48. | |
say, we have seen on today's order paper from the SNP the same | :59:49. | :59:52. | |
question, two separate questions being submitted. And clearly, at | :59:53. | :59:56. | |
times, members will work together because they want to pursue a | :59:57. | :59:59. | |
particular theme. As such, I don't think it is right for the Government | :00:00. | :00:03. | |
to try and tell backbenchers what questions they can cannot submit. | :00:04. | :00:13. | |
Perhaps the most dysfunctional session we have had on departmental | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
questions is on Scottish questions. English ports for English laws. I | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
have written to the Leader of the House with a few modest reforms that | :00:22. | :00:28. | |
can be worked on. Perhaps a little part of that session exquisitely | :00:29. | :00:31. | |
devoted for Scottish members to ask departmental questions. I don't know | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
they have had the opportunity to consider these modest reforms or | :00:36. | :00:44. | |
that he is in a position to respond. The honourable gentleman oppose the | :00:45. | :00:46. | |
proposals on English votes for English laws. This side of the | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
House, the Government, Belize and the United Kingdom, and therefore | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
matters which are not devolved to the Scottish Parliament Scottish | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
Government, it is appropriate for any member to ask a question about | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
Scottish matters, Welsh matters, Northern Ireland matters are indeed | :01:04. | :01:05. | |
any | :01:06. | :01:06. |