03/05/2016 Tuesday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to Tuesday in Parliament, our look at the best

of the day in the Commons and the Lords.

Pleas for action to stop the carnage in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

We urgently now need a mechanism with clear consequences to deter

further barbaric attacks on civilians.

All that dubious international money used to buy houses in London.

MPs are told, "Why isn't anybody doing anything about it?"

If you take the thought that a lot of corrupt money goes into London

property, there is the question, why aren't they reported to anybody?

The footballers of Leicester get parliamentary recognition.

Spake Mike does that he accepts that rather coloured red Leicester, it is

now blue Leicester? -- call it red Leicester?

That was how the Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood described

The fragile truce in Syria that was negotiated in February

does not cover Aleppo, the country's largest city

and the scene of appalling violence in recent weeks.

A monitoring group said more than 270 civilians had been killed

in Aleppo by bombardments in the last ten days,

150 in rebel-held areas and 120 in government-held districts.

55 died last week in an air strike on a hospital.

In the Commons, the situation was raised by a Labour backbench MP.

On Friday, desperate doctors in Aleppo appealed for international

help to stave off further massacres and the potential besiegement

of that city, fearing a repeat of the horrors of Srebrenica.

In the light of this, does the Minister agree

that it is the Syrian authorities who are primarily responsible

for these horrific ongoing abuses, continuing their long-standing

policy of targeting civilians in rebel-held areas?

What is the UK doing to work with all those with an influence

over parties to the conflict, including Saudi Arabia,

Turkey, Iran and Russia, to put pressure on all sides to stop

all attacks on civilian targets, including hospitals?

Does the Minister have evidence that Russian forces have been directly

If they were, does he agree that is it surely time for fresh

We look to Russia, with its unique influence over the regime,

to ensure that the cessation of hostilities does not break down.

It has set itself up as the protector of the Assad

regime, and it must now put real pressure on the regime

This is crucial if peace negotiations are to be

I ask the House to consider how different Syria might look if,

in August 2013, we had voted in favour of punitive bomb strikes.

Daesh did not even exist in Syria at that time - it had no

Instead, this House stepped back from that decision,

and I think that we will live to regret that.

Surely we have to accept Syria as it is.

Whether we like it or not, Assad is not going to

He has the only army on the ground capable of defeating ISIL,

and he has just as much support as all the hundred

If we undermine him, an authoritarian, we will unleash

Is it not significant that any progress this week has been

as a result of contacts between America and Russia,

yet our Government have put the Russian Government

We are denying them visas, we are not talking to Lavrov,

we have absolutely no influence - because of our obsession

with Russia and getting rid of Assad, we are not actually

This is an urgent question, but it would be helpful if we heard

more of a tone of urgency in the Government's response.

The destruction of the infrastructure in Aleppo

is so wanton that we are beginning to wonder whether there will be

The first priority has to be a ceasefire so that humanitarian aid

can be supplied to those desperately in need.

Are the Government making or supporting preparations

to deliver aid as soon as any window of opportunity arises?

The UK is levitating on a flow of dirty money,

The financier and critic of Vladimir Putin, Bill Browder,

told the Home affairs Committee there was a lack of interest

in prosecuting those involved in large-scale money laundering.

Large amounts of that money was in the London

The committee is investigating how the UK deals with

It seems likely that in terms of money-laundering going through the

UK system every year, it is at least ?100 billion,

of which a proportion is corrupt money.

In terms of where it goes, some of it uses the UK as a

Some flows through to other destinations.

Clearly one of the things that makes the UK

attractive as a centre for money-laundering is its historic

links with the overseas territories and Crown dependencies, because you

can move money very quickly to jurisdictions that are very well

linked, for whom your sort of bank of lawyers and accountants will have

very close connections and easily set up shell companies and so on.

The system we have at the moment is just shot full of holes.

One of the other big supervisors that has quite a lot of

As far as we can see, not doing a very good

For example, they supervised the estate agents and if

you take the thought that a lot of corrupt money goes into London

property, there is the question, why aren't the estate agents reporting

We have a niche role in that we prosecute a

relatively small number of high value, high-profile cases.

Those cases are significant in that they

concern the most sophisticated criminals, or some of the most

sophisticated criminals, that UK law enforcement deals with.

What is important is that those who are

convicted in those cases are seen to have as much of their proceeds of

that activity confiscated as possible.

authorities, to the Serious Fraud Office,

through the Home Office to

Do they know about what you have just told this

We have filed, over the course of five years, we have now

We filed a complaint with the Metropolitan

Police in 2010 to investigate the organised crime group.

Their response to us was that the

responsibility to investigate the fraud does not lie within the

We failed a complaint in 2012 with the

They said they were not the appropriate body for the job.

We filed a complaint with the Serious

Fraud Office in 2012 to investigate this crime.

They say matters do not fall within the offences that the

Serious Fraud Office is permitted to investigate.

So, basically, what you are saying is you went to a

government agency about this very serious crime that you say has been

Each one of them says it was not in their remit?

I think that this country is levitating off of

If that money was stopped, certain people would find

themselves without businesses and I think those people have some

I can't explain it any other way, because I have been to France.

I am working very intimately with the French police.

I am working with the Department of Justice.

I am working with the Luxembourg police.

Why is it so hard that the British authorities...?

Do you think it is a fair judgment that quite an amount

of dirty money is going into property, and particularly London?

I would merely that wish to repeat that I don't think there is

any problem with the rules and regulations, it is just that nobody

is interested in enforcing them or appears to be enforcing them.

If you go to most estate agents in London,

certainly 12 months ago, still probably today, the majority

think that their responsibilities only

Meanwhile, issues of tax avoidance and tax evasion were also

being debated in Westminster Hall, ahead of next week's

Anti-Corruption Summit, which is taking place in London.

The former chair of Parliament's public spending watchdog,

Dame Margaret Hodge, talked about the need

for greater transparency in tax havens, including

British Overseas Territories, also known as Crown Dependencies.

She said thousands of houses and flats in London were owned

Tax havens are being used to hide money and to enable money

laundering and corruption, yet the Prime Minister has failed

to secure what I thought he was setting out to do, to ensure

that the Crown dependencies and the overseas territories have

registers of beneficial ownership that are open to the public.

She said thousands of houses and flats in London were based offshore.

That is a scandal, which hikes up property prices here in London

Because that is at the top of the market, I am not sure

whether that is taking away from many people in real housing

need, but we therefore become the centre and focus of money

laundering and bringing money into the London property market.

As we have heard, the forthcoming anti-corruption summit presents

a unique opportunity for world leaders, business and civil society

to come together and advance the international transparency

and the anti-corruption agenda in a way that we have

the lead on this issue, because we are uniquely

Our status as a pre-eminent global financial centre and the unfortunate

financial secrecy touted by our overseas territories

and Crown dependencies make the UK seem a safe haven for the proceeds

of corruption and the individuals and organisations that facilitate

and benefit from financial crime and tax evasion.

The amount of money that goes

uncollected and is therefore unavailable to Governments in Africa

is greater than the amount of international aid that

Here in our own country, the amount of tax that is evaded

or avoided by those who should be paying it is estimated to be

If the Government were so minded and were able to collect that money,

it would be enough to do away with all the proposed cuts

to welfare and social security that we have spent many hours

debating over the past couple of years.

We really need to get a grip on this.

The revelations in the wake of the Panama papers show how much

further we can go and how much further public opinion,

although it has moved, still needs to move.

I am sure that this topic will continue to develop

and that the rules and regulations and, most importantly,

the ethos and culture of international business,

investment and ownership, will continue to change and tighten.

You're watching our round-up of the day in

Peers debate the merits of academisation in education.

The collapse of British Home Stores is to be investigated

The familiar high street shop has been placed in administration

with debts of ?1.3 billion, including a pension

11,000 jobs are at risk across 164 stores in the UK.

The former owner of BHS, Sir Phillip Green, bought

the business for ?200 million, but sold it last year.

Questions were asked about the lack of retail experience

The Business Secretary told MPs about the next step.

I have written today to the Chief Executive

I've instructed her to immediately commence an investigation.

And I will make both those letters, mine and hers,

available in libraries of both houses later today.

Mr Speaker, that is good news, and I welcome the steps

During Sir Philip Green's stewardship of BHS, the pension fund

went from a surplus to a black hole of ?571 million.

What options do the Government and Pensions Regulator

now have to ensure that Sir Philip Green pays his fair share

And does the secretary of state agree with me

that the Pension Protection Fund was designed as a lifeboat

not a funding stream for the owner's luxury yachts?

Hopefully the Right Honourable Lady will understand it would be wrong

of me and anyone else to single out any particular individual.

That is for independent investigators to look at,

by looking at the evidence in front of them.

She will also know that when it comes to defined

benefit pension schemes, there are many in deficit,

just because one is in deficit, it doesn't necessarily mean

there has been any kind of wrong doing.

Again, this is an investigation that I have instructed today.

Also, she can be reassured that the Pension Regulator will be

A Health Minister says he's not ruling out a public inquiry

into deaths at units run by Southern Health

A Care Quality Commission - or CQC - report published at the end

of April found the trust was still failing to protect

That verdict followed an independent investigation in December

which concluded it had failed to investigate hundreds

The chairman of the trust resigned last week.

But Labour's shadow Health Minister didn't think enough had changed,

and said patients and parents had a right to be angry.

To read the litany of failure, missed warnings, reports,

recommendations ignored and secrecy over the last four years would make

And Friday's CQC report shows that very little has been done

since we last discussed this matter in this House in December.

We should be angry that Conor Sparrowhawk was left

We should be angry that Angela Smith took her own life.

We should be angry that David West died in the care of this NHS Trust.

His father was repeatedly ignored when he raised his concerns.

All of them denied the care they so desperately needed.

Last week, the BBC reported that over the past five years,

12 patients, who had been detained for the safety of themselves

or others, have jumped off the roof of a hospital run by this trust.

Does he agree with me that the position of the chief

executive is now untenable, and she should be sacked?

Third, will he listen to the heartfelt pleas

of the victims' families, campaigners and all of us

who are demanding a full, public enquiry into Southern Health

and the broader issues, such as the abject failure to adequately

The minister agreed the report made "disturbing reading".

There are things that seem to be discovered,

I'm not content with that in any way at all.

But the process is in place to do something about that.

The engagement of CQC and the fact they ruled out no further options

in terms of taking any further action, its options are quite

extensive, including prosecution for things it has found.

He wouldn't be drawn on the future of the Trust's Chief Executive.

I want to wait and see what comes out of the further work that's

I'm not ruling out some form of further enquiry,

but remember, the enquiry is physically being

done now by the action taking place on the ground.

What needs to follow is urgent action to respond to

Not a long, drawn-out public enquiry, which is not

The failure of care for people with mental health, learning

disabilities and autism has been shocking, and the board should go.

Equally shocking is that 11 months before Conor Sparrowhawk's tragic

and unecessary death, there was failures identified and

What can the Minister do to ensure that as part

of a robust inspection regime, when failures are identified,

there are acted upon and done so very, very quickly to prevent

The determination of myself and colleagues is to do whatever

we can to breakdown those situations where people feel they have

to fight for everything and they find closed doors against

All too often in mental health, I think the lack appears to be that

when people are challenged there is a defensiveness

He explained the Government was taking steps to try to change that.

These concerns have been expressed in the past,

But I'm quite convinced the system is better placed to deal with them

now and more seriously than was the case,

What reassurance can he provide to my constituents,

such as the family of David West, that the regulatory bodies

have the powers necessary if intervention is required?

The balances between ensuring there's continuity and stability,

to make sure what the trust has promised is delivered,

rather than a wholesale change which will simply provide

opportunity for any further delay and prevent the work going on.

The Speaker drew the urgent question to an end with these

Perhaps on the half of the House, I can express the hope

that the Hansard text of these exchanges will be supplied

to Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

They need to know that we have treated of them, and what has

been said, politely, and would not want restraint,

been said, politely, and with notable restraint,

but with very real anxiety in all parts of the House

We're not too far away from the Queen's Speech.

The Government's legislative programme will be announced

There'll be intense interest to see what it has to say about how

the Government will force every state school to become an academy

school, free from local authority control.

It's known that some Conservative MPs have concerns about the idea.

In the Lords, a Labour peer said academisation was appropriate

But, he said, there was no evidence that conversion to an academy

What counts a lot is hard work and clear plan for improvement,

both of which can be achieved without convertion.

The Government needs to accept it has failed to win the argument

What they have achieved is a remarkable feat,

because since the publication of the White Paper, we have seen

the emergence of a broad alliance involving parents,

head teachers, trade unions, local government leaders -

both Labour and Conservative - and MPs - more than a few

of whom are Conservatives - all impacably opposed

Can the Minister tell the House who, apart from existing academy chains,

has come out in favour of the White Paper proposals?

The Sutton Trust have told us that sponsored academies are doing

Ofsted said that attainment in sponsored academies has

increased over the time, with the longest-standing academies

My Lords, there has been considerable concern

over poorly performing primary schools.

How many have been taken over by academy sponsors,

There are 960 primary sponsored academies open

many of which suffered from chronic underperformance previously.

I thought the question was how many organisations had come

out in favour of every school being forced to become an academy?

I thought in his answer, he gave us some comments that had

But I'm not sure he answered that question?

I don't think I did, and I don't think PR is my job.

We make absolutely no apology for our belief in academies

and multi-academy trusts, because of the substantial benefits

in Academy freedoms and working closely together in close

If noble Lords were to spend any time meeting with people who run

academies or multi-academy trusts, seeing substantial benefits

for the staff and pupils, that they would understand.

Would the noble lord care to explain to the House when answering a direct

And would the noble lord the Minister answer the concern

of both local authority and church voluntary-aided schools

Would he say that no small primary schools will be closed on financial

grounds in his programme of academisation?

No strong schools will close as a result of the White Paper.

Indeed, we think many rural schools will be much stronger working

And there are very strict rules about the closure of

I would expect all of those considerations would continue

in the future in relation to all rural schools.

Leicester City has won football's Premiership title.

The triumph of the East Midlands club is being seen as one

of the more unlikely successes in the modern-day sporting world,

The Mayor of Leicester said the achievement was even better

for his city than the re-burying of King Richard III one year ago -

the event that appeared to spark the dramatic turnaround

The celebrations for the team that's known as the Foxes

Mr Speaker, could I ask the secretary of state if he'd

like to join me and other Leicester MPs, and many throughout the world,

in congratulating Leicester City Football Club on winning

Can I say to him, does he agree that this will boost jobs in, not

just Leicester, but all of the Midlands region.

Not just those interested in football, but also

And does he accept that rather than call it Red Leicester any more,

Mr Speaker, first, I like the sound of Blue Leicester,

Let me congratulate him and most of all his constituents

on their stunning victory last night.

I think the whole nation celebrates that, and I suggest he makes

That's full-time now for this programme.

Do join me for the replay, when we have the next daily round-up.

Until then, from me Keith Macdougall, goodbye.