19/01/2016 House of Commons

Good morning and welcome to BBC Parliament live coverage of the

Commons. In an hour and urgent question is being asked by

Conservative Stephen Phillips about Ebola. Officials in zero the loan

confirmed -- in Sierra Leone confirmed that someone has died

after the world health organisation said the virus had ended. The main

business are to debates on student maintenance grants and on the cost

of public transport. Join me for a round-up at 11 o'clock tonight.

First questions to the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and his

ministerial team. The first question from the Conservative Craig Williams

concerns the Chancellor's long-term economic plan.

Order, order. Questions to Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer. Craig

Williams. Britain is in a much stronger

economic position manager was five years ago with employment up and the

deficit down. However, as I set out in my speech to business leaders in

Cardiff, we face a dangerous cocktail of economic risks from

around the world this year. That situation is reflected in the IMF

forecast which was published one hour ago which shows world growth is

down but the positive forecast for the UK on change. It sure is the

best thing we can do here is continued to fix our public

finances, back business and deliver our long-term economic plan. Thank

you. The Chancellor was very welcome when he was in Cardiff two weeks ago

and brought a sense of urgency to the Cardiff city deal process with a

deadline for the budget and a clear sense of direction. If we are to

maximise the potential of Cardiff in the Welsh economy presented and our

long-term economic plan, is it not time we had tangible plans from

Labour given the have had years to come up with them? It was good to

meet with my honourable friend and business leaders in Cardiff and to

back investment in the new semiconductor catapult and the

brilliant work being done at the university there. I hope we can

agree with the wealth of Ramadan with authorities in Cardiff a

Cardiff city deal before the budget. He poses the rate question, which is

after 16 years after being in power the Labour Party in Wales has not

delivered incredible economic plan for Wales is it not time for change?

If the Chancellor keeps sucking off the threat to the very existence of

some of Britain's's course at Egypt industries like still cause -- like

steel, is there not eight danger that it might just not be the at all

in the future? Of course the redundancies at Tata Steel and

elsewhere in the industry are a real matter of regret. We are providing

all these aboard we can to families, helping them get back into work. We

are also responding to a quest from the steel industry to cut energy

costs. That comes into effect today. -- requests from the steel industry.

We are making sure that internationally we take action

against the chief imports from China. Not one of these things were

done under a Labour Government, and during that period, the number of

steel jobs fell by 50% in this country. So we will not take

lectures from the party opposite, but we will back our steel industry.

Does the tiles were think that the stamp duty surcharge announced in

the Autumn Statement, the effect of that on the buy to let market will

be to inhibit or advance labour mobility? I think it will help

promote homeownership, because it will mean there is a more level

playing field between an order occupier buying a house at the buy

to let landlords. There is nothing wrong with people investing in

property, there should just be a level playing field so that we

reverse the decline in home ownership in this country. A

long-term economic plan means supporting small businesses across

the country. On the 26th of December 250 businesses in my constituency

employed 2500 people were inundated by floodwaters. Bobby tiles for Dick

Best opportunity to commit to a proper school -- well the Chancellor

take the opportunity to commit to proper flood defences? I know the

Environment Agency and indeed the Government is conducting a review

after what was the highest level of rainfall in our modern history in

Yorkshire. But of course by committing the additional ?2 billion

to flood investments we are able to afford these things. We would not be

able to afford any of this sort of thing if we had wrecked the economy

in the last couple of years. Does my honourable friend agree that as part

of his long-term economic plan be helped by Isil will help people in

my constituency where -- help to buy ISA will help? The help to buy ISA

has been a huge success as it has been launched. 170,000 families have

taken it up because that is helping people get on the ladder, the

property ladder, helping them save for that deposit and doing

everything we can to support the aspirations of the families of

Britain. The Government's plan requires the doubling of exports by

2022 ?1 trillion, -- by 2020. Can the Chancellor tell us, does he

still hauled to the intention and the promise to the UK exports rise

by ?100 billion per year every year for the next five years? We do hold

to the target, but quite frankly it will be very challenging to meet,

because while we have been improving exports, and frankly many of our

main export markets have been very weak, we would like to see further

economic reform on the continent of Europe. Some of those emerging

markets are struggling at the moment, although we have a very good

economic dialogue team plays today with India. British exports to India

are increasing. There are a lot of challenges, but I am not one who

thinks we should knock the challenges or ditched the target.

Increasing exports is a key target for the UK. We should set ambitious

targets but they have to be credible. Given that all beer -- or

they are say it will be feel -- will feel to be met, should we not set a

realistic and achievable targets? I think it is right to set the

scratching target and tried to meet it even if it will be challenging.

He talks about realistic and credible numbers. If Scotland had

listened to the Scottish nationalists, it would be becoming

separate from the United Kingdom in two months' time and the Scottish

Government and its claim on independence on an oil price of

$115. Scotland now would be heading for economic catastrophe if there it

had listened to the honourable gentleman and the members from the

Scottish Nationalist party. So before they talk about credible and

realistic economic policies anywhere else in the UK, they should get one

themselves. Motor manufacturing is crucial to our long-term economic

plan. Surely the Land Rover defender. Production in Solihull.

--. Production. Well the Chancellor pay tribute to the workers in

Solihull? This iconic model has been produced over decades and been seen

all over the world and producible peacetime and wartime. Good news for

Solihull and the whole country is that they continue to produce

brand-new models of great cars and are one of the real success stories

of the British economy and in general, Wilder have been

conservatives in the Treasury and in Downing Street, car production in

this country is up 50%. -- while there have been Conservatives. The

Chancellor has promised an economic recovery for all felt in all parts

of our nation. On the day the IMF has warned about the global economy

and called for governments to increase public spending, will be

Chancellor now reconsider his economic plan and his investment and

in particular? The economic plan has seen employment, unemployment fall.

It has meant that on those IMF forecasts the UK's forecast has not

changed. It remains one of the strongest of all the advanced

economies in the world. I might suggest he might want to treat his

own economic policy, since in the last week he has called for the

return of flying pickets, was to ban companies paying dividends, and

wants to spend billions of pounds on nuclear missile submarines without

any nuclear missiles. Today he said he will tour the country with the

former Greek finance minister to educate us all about economics. I

think the one thing they have in common is they have both lost their

marbles. If the Chancellor will not reconsider his investment plans, can

he at least appreciate how angry families of steelworkers South Wales

are this morning knowing that when the bankers bonuses were threatened,

he immediately shot across to Brussels with an army of lawyers to

defend them. He will jump into a helicopter for a Tory fundraiser but

it has taken him for months to lift a finger for a steelwork, to receive

Steelworkers' jobs. Does that not prove he is actually the bankers'

Chancellor? We want a successful financial services industry because

hundreds of thousands of people across the country work in it.

We have taken action to reduce energy costs, which hadn't happened

previously, and that comes into effect today. That's why we're

taking action to change procurement rules so that the British Government

and others are encouraged to by British Steel, which never happened

when the Labour Party were in office, and we are acting

internationally to deal with things like the dumping of Chinese steel.

Of course it is an incredibly difficult situation but, as he

knows, and everyone in this House knows, there are steel jobs being

lost in every single country in the world at the moment. The question

is, what can you do nationally to defend your steel industry and

protect it, and we are doing everything we can. If he has got

constructive suggestions, he should put them to me. Number two, please.

With permission, I'd like to group this question with question 13. The

Financial Conduct Authority is an independent regulator. No Treasury

minister or official had discussions with the SCA before it took the

decision to continue this review. Given that the popular image of

bankers right now is probably on a par with used-car salesmen or MPs,

even, would she not agree with her honourable friend, the Member for

wire forest, but to abort this review now, which could have looked

at regulating challenger banks as well as historic mis-selling, is a

missed opportunity all-round? Well, I find it hard to take lectures from

the party opposite in terms of regulating the financial sector. In

fact, since my right honourable friend became Chancellor, we set up

the Financial Conduct Authority. We've moved on from the failed

regulatory system that was there under the Labour government and we

made it a criminal offence to manipulate the UK's key benchmark.

We brought in the toughest rules on bankers' pay of any financial centre

and we are bringing in a new criminal offence so that any senior

managers whose reckless decisions bring down banks face jail time.

With the terrible impact of bad banking practices that was

highlighted in the Tomlinson report, particularly commercial lending to

small businesses, still unresolved one of my constituents, does the

Minister agree that both the public and small businesses still have

significant concerns about the behaviour of many individuals in the

banking sector? I completely agree with the honourable lady that we

need to see the highest levels of conduct from the banking sector. We

also need to continue to take steps in terms of our long-term economic

plan to secure access to funding for small businesses, which is why we've

taken steps to back peer-to-peer lending, with extended funding for

lending for another two years and we continue to benefit from record low

interest rates, axed our prudent to, management. There has certainly been

speculation that the Treasury has influenced the SCA and one metres

fanciful, it is important but that it was set up independently in 2012.

But does my honourable friend agree that one of the ways that we could

potentially underpin that independence of the Financial

Conduct Authority would be to adopt a similar process that we have with

the office of budget responsibility, whereby the Treasury committee can

have a power of veto over the apartment of the chief Executive?

The honourable gentleman, who is very constructive and engaged as a

member of the Treasury select committee, I know we'll have the

opportunity to ask westerns of the acting chief executive and the chair

of the Financial Conduct Authority at his committee on Wednesday. But

what I would agree is that it is very useful for the committees such

as to have a pre-appointment hearing with any executive of the Financial

Conduct Authority. The symphony interbank immigration software

allows for the permanent deletion of e-mails and advertises itself as,

this will save the banks billions of pounds in fines. Will the Minister

join my campaigning conduction with the Secretary of State business to

ensure that the FCA retains the encryption codes for the software as

they do in America, for seven years? He asks a very salient question and,

of course, it is something that the FCA is currently investigating and

he will be aware that new rules in terms of a particular requirement

will require firms to keep that information for a significant period

of time at this the subject of ongoing discussion. With the

Minister agree that one of the biggest problems in the banking

culture is that banks are too big to fail and would she looked at the

issue of diversity in the sector, including new lending platforms

market disrupters, and would she looked, in particular, at new

primary duties for the SCA to look the of diversity?

Well, he will I'm sure welcomed the announcement that we are expecting

on Wednesday from both the Bank of England and the FCA and the PRA to

work together in terms of backing innovation in the financial sector.

That is part of our long-term economic plan to back competition in

the can accept and I'm pleased to say that in the last parliament

there were eight new entrants to banking and did this parliament we

are aiming to have 15. Interventions by HM Treasury and other bodies have

raised questions regarding the ball's independence. Not my words

but the words of an FCA commissioned external report regarding the SCA

board which was published last week. How will the chancellor demonstrate

that the appointment of the new Chief Executive of the FCA won't be

an example of an overreaching chancellor trying to get his own

way? Well, it was good of the honourable gentleman to turn up for

Treasury questions this time. I guess there wasn't a stop the War

march or a picket line to join today. But I can assure the

honourable gentleman that the Treasury does have the power to

appoint both the board and the Chief Executive, it sets the remit of the

FCA but from then on it has operational independence. Number

three. Latest ONS figures show real average weekly earnings were up 2.4%

year-on-year in the three months to October. Wage growth has outstripped

inflation for 13 consecutive months, the longest period of real wage

growth since before the recession, and the OBR forecasts were to grow

faster than in elation over the next five years. -- than inflation. Does

he agree with me that the key to delivering further wage growth,

particularly in rural areas like Somerset, is improving the skills

base, which underpins the Chancellor's economic plan for the

South West? He is quite right. Last year will be hourly pay of the

average Somerset employee grew well in excess of CPI inflation. The

south-west has a particularly strong rate of employment but driving real

wage growth we have to see productivity gains, hence the focus

on making sure we have an attractive tax regime that brings jobs to that

region and this country. There are 400,000 fewer people earning over

?20,000 and there were in 2010 because the Chancellor has been

cutting up full-time jobs and replacing them with more part-time,

low-paid jobs. What is he doing to lift productivity, research and

development to raise average wages and to raise median wages as well?

The lowest earners experience the fastest growth in medium earnings

last year and recent growth has been dominated by full-time workers in

contrast to what he says. We have comprehends a plan for driving

productivity and the national living wage is a very dramatic, long-term

structural change. Number four, Mr Speaker. Our long-term plan is to

turn round a decades-old economic divide between North and south by

building a northern powerhouse. We said we would create powerful new

elected mayors. That's happening. We said we'd speed up transport

connections across the North and we committed 13 billion of investment.

And into my honourable friend's Cumbria, there is a new enterprise

zone, new parents and nuclear research. The North is growing under

this government and we will do everything we can to keep it growing

strongly. I, like many of my constituents in Carlisle and

Cumbria, hope to be very much part of the northern powerhouse. Part of

this is ensuring that the private sector investor grows skills and of

the structure and then there is the proposed Cumbrian deal. Can the

Chancellor assure me that everything is being done from the government's

perspective to achieve this deal, and will an elected mayor be part of

it? As my honourable friend knows, and he is a real champion not just

of Carlisle but of Cumbria and the Cumbrian economy, we are working

with local authority leaders and other elected representatives on

whether we can have a new governance arrangement in Cumbria which might

include an elected mayor. This is a decision for Cumbria but they have

come to us with this proposal and we are working hard with the people of

Cumbria to see whether we can get an arrangement that boosts jobs, boost

investment and makes sure that decisions that affect Cumbria are

taken in Cumbria. Does the northern powerhouse occur in Redcar, where

the steel industry has been closed because of him allowing the Chinese

to break steel? Are they talking about it at Scunthorpe, where

they've lost more than 1000 jobs? Are they talking about it at Port

Talbot, where they are going to lose a lot more jobs? The truth is, they

don't talk about the northern powerhouse in the coalfields where

the Tories have shot the last three pits. They call it the northern Peru

house. That's its real name. -- He seems to forget that the Redcar

works closed under the Labour government that he supports. It is

also the case that during that government but he supported from

that bench there, the number of steel jobs lost in this country was

30,000. We are doing everything we can to preserve the steel jobs that

remain. We are working with the steel industry. We have ceded to

almost all their requests we are looking to the last one, which is

changes to business rates, which never happened under a Labour

government, and we will report in the budget on that. We are working

to make this a competitive place to do business and if one really

adopted the policies of the party opposite, where you don't pay

dividends to investors and you reintroduce flying pickets, do you

really think a single overseas investor would be expanding their

business in the UK? Number five. The government is fighting hard to fix

the aspects of our EU membership, the cause of so much restriction in

the UK, so we get a better deal for our country and secure our future.

We are confident that the right agreement can be reached. Jaguar

Land Rover have recently announced that they're going to double the

investment in a brand-new engine plant in my constituency, creating

hundreds of additional jobs on top of the 1400 they have or the amount.

Does the Minister agree with me that unfettered access to the single

market dries this sort of investment and if we were to walk away or

sacrifice that access, those jobs and that investment could be put at

risk? First of all, I also welcome the new jobs being created near her

constituency by Jaguar Land Rover. My honourable friend the Chancellor

visited that site very recently. In terms of our relationship with the

EU, the position of the Government is very clear. We want the benefits

of access to the single market but there are also aspects of our

relationship with the EU which can be improved upon and that's what we

are seeking to do in our renegotiation. Given that last year

we had a ?62 billion trade deficit with the European Union and given

that if we left the EU, the UK would be the EU's single biggest export

market, does the Minister think we could have a free trade agreement

with the EU from outside the European Union without handing over

?19 billion a year in membership fees? Well, I'm sure that that issue

will be one of the issues discussed at length during the referendum

debate, and the point is that under this government, the British people

will have an opportunity to express its views on where our future lies.

Britain has been a substantial net contributor to the EU budget. For 40

years this has had a negative effect on UK growth in GDP, the cumulative

effect of which has been very large. Would not leaving the EU help UK

growth? I suppose 1.I would beg to the honourable member is that thanks

to Margaret Thatcher's renegotiation of the rebate and thanks to the

current Prime Minister's ago she Asian of the EU budget, resulting in

a real terms cut, we are paying less than we would have done. -- by

minister's renegotiation of the EU budget. Nonsense.

Would she not agree that it would be important to pay the real living

wage, ?8 25 per hour, in the rest of the UK and ?9 40 in London, as is

done by the Scottish Government and over 400 employees in Scotland, so

that it is fair for all employees, particularly those under 25? I'm

glad she welcomes the fact that, as of April this year, all employees

across the whole of the UK over 25 will be getting a significant pay

rise, and that's thanks to the strength of employment across the

UK, which is thanks to our long-term economic plan.

By my calculation someone earns ?7.85 per hour today will be

benefiting and by the end of this parliament will be more than ?1500

later. Does my honourable friend agree that this shows that

Government is committed to making work pay? The honourable member

makes an excellent point, and in fact it has been highlighted that it

is not just that 2.5 million people will be directly benefiting from the

change to the National Living Wage, but also to 6 million people who

make salaries and very close to that hourly rate. When is the Chancellor

and the present Minister going to give public sector workers a decent

pay rise for the jobs that they do frost? Of course we believe that

every worker in this country will benefit from the change to the

National Living Wage, because it is an important part of the long-term

economic plan. But he will know that this year public sector workers

actually received raises that work above inflation. The Minister has

spoken importantly about the principle of making work pay. Will

she give further consideration to extending married couples' tax

allowance so that more families can keep more of what they earn? I will

take that as a budget 's omission. -- budget submission. The Government

is backing business by cutting their taxes. To support small businesses

the employment allowance will rise in April and we are doubling

business small rate relief. We will back companies not punish them with

the anti-business nonsense we hear from the party opposite. Will be

Chancellor join me in congratulating... I John with my

honourable friend in congratulating the work they are doing in investing

on South Wales transport infrastructure. We are back in

companies with this annual investment allowance of ?200,000,

the highest level it has ever been. Will the Chancellor tell us what

step he ensures to take to make sure the quarterly tax returns coming in

2020 will not harm small businesses in constituencies like mine and

actually affected their productivity and their ability to make profits?

My honourable friend is right that the objective of what we are seeking

to do is to make it easier for businesses and individuals to

complete their tax returns by making use of modern digital technology and

introducing a simple and secure at personalised digital tax account. We

estimate it will reduce the administrative cost to businesses.

The best way to support manufacturing businesses in the

Midlands would be to free the region from London's control. The region

has been stifled by Whitehall for too long. To strengthen the economy,

develop Brownfield sites and tackle congestion, we will deliver new

homes. We have a deal. That is exactly what we are doing with the

west Midlands and we worked across different political parties. I have

met with Labour and Conservative authority leaders and members of

Parliament from both parties in the West Midlands who collectively

agreed to have an elected mayor and you have significant powers from the

Government to the people of the West midlands. I think it is one of the

most exciting step forward in the devolution of power in this country.

What further discussions have taken place in devolved administrations

about the introduction of fiscal incentives for apprenticeships and

economic growth? We are in discussion with the Northern

Ireland's executive about what we can do to support the economy. One

of the things we would really like to see is the devolution of

corporation tax rates which we have legislated for and provided we can

reach agreement on the budget implications of that that would be a

massive boost for Northern Irish businesses. I welcome the chance

were's reduction in the corporation tax that has helped so many jobs to

be created. Does he agree that some businesses cannot grow despite this

measure because of a local infrastructure constraints such as

those that need addressing in my constituency? My honourable friend

is absolutely right. We are investing in transport

infrastructure in the Southampton area and along the south coast

because we understand that all parts of the country can benefit from

additional investment in transport infrastructure. That is why we are

increasingly transport budget even at a time when public budgets are

tight. None of these things would be affordable if you crash the economy.

The introduction of quarterly reporting for tax returns has been

described by the Institute for chartered accountants at an

additional burden for business. Does he understand the very real anger

among businesses and my constituency and around the country that they are

being penalised while many of the largest corporations are allowed to

avoid a tax altogether? We have increased our action against

large-scale corporate tax avoidance and evasion, and the new diverted

profits tax is designed to deal with the very real anger that people

feel, particularly in the small-business community, when the

see large businesses not being taxed. We are dealing also with the

burdens of tax administration, consulting with small businesses. It

would be crazy as a country not to make use of new digital technology

and the Internet to update and modernise our tax collection system,

and we would regret not taking those steps today as we let other

countries power ahead and reduce the burdens on business. Mr Speaker, the

Government has taken a range of steps to reduce the trade deficit.

The 2010, UK TI has more than doubled the number of businesses

supported and UK Export Finance has provided more than 15 billion pounds

of support. Allies are earlier this month when I met entrepreneurs in

Edinburgh, many start-ups and exporters in Scotland greatly

appreciate the UK TI systems. And welcome the Government's

announcement this morning. It is not credible for the Minister to

continue with a policy which has failed and resulted last year in a

deficit in the trade of goods. We all want to see reduced dependence

on consumer debt, but is it not time for him to admit the UK Government

policy has failed. I gently suggest revision. The trade deficit is

actually improving and the Cheryl GDP and is expected to continue to

do so in the OBR forecast. What I can say, what would be an absolute

disaster would BDSM people's Mac policy of call fiscal independence

-- the SNP's policy. Added to which would be the collapse in oil price.

Revenues would be down this year a staggering 94%. This would be a

disaster for Scotland. I welcome the Commons made earlier by the

Chancellor about export initiatives to India, but will my honourable

friend welcome the enjoy -- join me in welcoming efforts to boost

exports in the north-west the Northern Powerhouse? I very much and

my honourable friend in welcoming that, particularly with reference to

exporters to China and India which have been a great success. The UK TI

is doing what it can to support this, and providing tailored support

for first-time exporters, and additional 20 million, and

supporting Northern Powerhouse trade solutions. The British Chambers of

commerce are reporting that it will take not four years but another 18

years. Will be Chancellor not accept that this is clearer evidence that

his effort to reduce the trade deficit are failing and will

continue to fail? I think the UK has a good future in terms of the trade

deficit and improving statistics. In terms of UK TI, I think the UK TI

will also be playing an important role. The announcements we made

today on trade policy, one of the most important things we can be

doing at the Hall of Government approach is improving the approach

we take to trade and boosting our exports. In South Thanet we have a

niche amusement machine manufacturer, and the supply global

export markets. What help and support can my honourable friend

offer so that we can really achieve that cross Government approach to

exports that has been lodged today -- launched today? I have been quite

a few times to his constituency over the last year and a half. I don't

think I have had the particular pleasure of meeting with that

company, but I'm happy to meet with my honourable friend and with that

company to see what could be done to help exporters in South Thanet. The

concrete products industry used to have a surplus on the balance of

payments but no has a deficit of hundreds of millions of pounds. This

is due to the levy on products made in the United Kingdom but not on

imported products and has been thousands of jobs in jeopardy. With

the Minister consider imposing the same tax on goods produced abroad as

is imposed on goods produced here in the UK? I am happy to look in detail

at the points he raised. My understanding is there have been

legal challenges to aspects of the aggregates Levy which are prevented

us from addressing some of these issues, but I'm happy to engage with

him on an ongoing basis to see what could be done better. Since 2010 we

have cut corporation tax and will cut its further to eating percent by

2020. Yup then the annual investment level at its highest ever level. --

we have set. And UK TI announced today support for exporters. Is the

minister concerned about recent figures showing the manufacturing

sector is back in recession and what is he intend to do about it? We have

to get behind the manufacturing sector, that is at the heart of this

Government's approach and long-term economic plan and the heart of the

productivity plan. Do things like giving enhanced access to leading

technologies and catapult centres, things like the apprenticeship where

the making sure we build up our skills, making sure we attract more

teachers and to stem subjects, and a whole range of other initiatives.

Can I have my honourable friend what steps are being taken to assist and

encourage small businesses to become expanding, exporting businesses? --

can I ask? UK TI has an ambition to increase the number of exporting

businesses. There are a number of aspects of that, moving to more

direct support as well as advice from some of the leading export

agencies in the world. And making sure that we leverage existing

Government relationships with firms and sectors for the whole of

Government approach. The UK economy is still to dependent on consumer

spending to drive growth and the Government should start being sought

complacent and self-congratulatory. With the risk of Brexit this year

only making things worse, what will this Government do to expand

manufacturing exports? Exports are a challenge. There has been a

long-term change in the UK's share of world trade, but I would say the

majority of it came before 2010. An honest point about -- on his point

about business expense of -- consumption expenditure... Will my

honourable friend please agree with me that supporting engineering and

manufacturing is absolutely essential to our economy and

productivity and we must do all we can to address the skills gap that

is threatening local jobs and businesses in my constituency and

around the country? I absolutely agree with my honourable friend

about the importance of engineering and the evidence that was shown in

the spending review and Autumn Statement with enhanced support for

science as well as the apprenticeship levy which is an

important structural change in the way we invest in our skills base.

Five years ago the Chancellor said he would rebalance the economy

towards manufacturing, exports and the regions. The Director General of

the British Chamber of Commerce recently said, and I quote, none of

those things have actually transpired in practice yet. Why not?

Mr Speaker, we are rebalancing the economy and it is a long-term and

sustained programme. It is the long-term economic plan. We have

talked about some of the enhanced support for science, technology,

engineering and mathematics, and the apprenticeship levy, the catapult

centres giving British business access to the best in leading-edge

technology. There are some things in international trade we cannot

control. There is bad news from China. We cannot control the world

exchange rates but there are things we can control in terms of

supporting tissue exporters and we are absolutely doing those. There we

go again. It is everybody's fault but this

government. But here is the truth. The Chancellor promised to boost

manufacturing but instead it is in recession. Manufacturing output is

6.1% below its previous crisis peak and falling. The British Chamber of

Commerce's survey found manufacturing post to stagnation

with export, sales and orders falling. And yet instead of helping

the sector, the Chancellor close to the manufacturing advice service in

November without so much as a mention. Is it not true that British

businesses and families are now paying a heavy price for this

Chancellor's feelings? -- failings. That is not true. This promotion is

at the heart of the government's approach. We should not forget that

services are a big part of the economy, a bigger part. The overall

performance of the British economy is that we have the highest growth

rate of the G-7 countries in 2014, and the joint highest in 2015. We

have rising real wages and more people in jobs than ever before.

Question ten, Mr Speaker. Following on, employment stands at 31.3

million, which as I have just said, is more people in work than ever

before. In the past year, growth has been driven by full-time employees

in high and medium skilled jobs, showing we are moving to the next

phase of the recovery with high-quality employment boosting

productivity and living standards nationwide. I thank the Minister for

his reply. In my constituency, youth unemployment has halved in the last

year and it is now lower for the whole of the West Midlands. Will the

Minister agree with me that this is excellent news for Telford and it

shows that the economic plan is working? I am delighted with that

news from my honourable friend's constituency and I agree with her.

Across the West Midlands, youth unemployment has fallen by almost a

quarter, with the rate returning to prerecession levels. Westminster saw

the fastest growth in earnings among the English regions and there are

140,000 more people in work than 2010. One of the leading employers

in Stoke on Trent is the supplement industry and part of the growth in

recent years has been due to the anti-dumping ruling by the EU on

subsidised Chinese imports. Shamefully, the British Government

opposed this. Will the Minister now commit the government to supporting

the renewal of this anti-dumping ruling when it comes up? The

government of course raises all issues about dumping and unfair

trade practices as and when they come up. I would be happy to look at

what he's saying about ceramics in Stoke-on-Trent. 12, Mr Speaker. HMRC

announced its location strategy on the 12th of November and as I have

stated, delivering that strategy will help HMRC to deliver more for

less and reduce costs by 2025. I and HMRC have received representations

from interested parties, most recently with my honourable friends,

the members for Rochdale and the south-west. Following the meeting

that my honourable friend had with myself and the honourable friend for

Rochdale, would my honourable friend reflect further on the points made

about Southend are becoming a regional centre. Will he make sure

that the hard work, dedicated staff of Alexandra house are treated well?

-- the hard-working. My honourable friend made his representations in a

robust and fourth White Way in our meeting yesterday and I'm sure that

HMRC are reflecting on that. -- robust and forthright. Redeeming the

staff relocated, the staff will have additional transport costs

compensated for for up to three years. And they will also benefit

from London weighting, given that they will be moving from Stratford.

Is anything going to be done about the depressing handling of HMRC and

can the Minister suggest an improvement? Coal handling is at a

higher level than it has been for many years. It was certainly the

case that in spring of last year, coal handling standards were not at

an acceptable level. HMRC have made improvements to that and I hope they

will continue to make that progress. Number 14, please, Mr Speaker. The

government is exploring options to ensure that the England and Wales

illegal moneylending teams have the funding they need to ensure that

consumers continue to be protected from illegal loan sharks and is

confident of transitional arrangements being agreed. Too many

of my constituents are victims of loan sharks. The illegal

moneylending team has helped nearly 24,000 across the country yet this

government has treated this service with disdain. Won't the cuts to this

vital team and to local trading standards make the poorest more

vulnerable? Far from agreeing with his point, we are finding ways to

put this team on a sustainable basis going forward to continue the

valuable work that they do protecting people from illegal

moneylending. Topical questions, Gareth Johnson. Question one. The

core purpose of the Treasury is to ensure the stability and prosperity

of the economy. I exit fees act as a disincentive for people to take

advantage of flexible pensions. Does the Chancellor agree with me that

tackling these higher fees is essential to give people freedom

over their own pensions? My honourable friend raises an

important issue. The pension freedoms we have introduced have

been widely welcomed. We have over 700,000 people eligible to pay some

form of early exit charge. The government is not prepared to stand

by and see people ripped off or blocked from accessing their own

money by excessive charges. We have listened to the concerns and the

newspaper campaigns that have been run. Today, we are known to change

the law to place a duty on the Financial Conduct Authority to cap

excessive early exit charges, and we are determined that people who have

done the right thing and saved responsibly are able to access their

pensions fairly. Mr Speaker, recent statistics show that household debt

is now at a record high. Back in 2010, the Chancellor promised to

move from an economy built on debt to an economy that saves. Can the

Chancellor confirmed today why the figures contradict his original

promise? Isil debt as a proportion of household income was 168% in 2008

and today it is 142%, so it has fallen. -- household debt. This

Chancellor has given more than any before him towards the cause of

looking after our veterans in this country and for that I thank him

wholeheartedly. Does he agree that whilst the charity sector has a key

role to play, ultimately there is a state responsibility and we must

make sure that government money is used on Intel agreed measured

treatments for our veterans and their families? -- empirically

measured. My honourable friend has personal experience in this area and

represents a constituency that has given so much to the defence of our

nation. He is right that as well as the live or fines, which were used

for one-off causes to help military charities, we have the Armed Forces

covenant and the annual commitment to support veterans. I'm always

happy to look at specific projects that we can invest in or on going

concerns we can deal with. The collapse of UK manufacturing has

been going on for 50 years, from 30% of the economy in the 1970s to less

than 10% today. More than 20% of all jobs in the 1980s, to only 8% today.

Given the length of the decline, why has the government not made

manufacturing and exports one of its top priorities? We have backed our

manufacturers and our exporters and we have cut corporation tax and cut

other taxes that affect these businesses. We have reformed UK

Trade Investment and as a result, the manufacturing sector is a larger

share of our economy than it was when I became Chancellor but there

is a lot more to do. I would say to her and the Scottish Government, we

want to work more closely with Scotland on overseas trade missions

where we can promote Scottish businesses. We do not always get

that cooperation but hopefully it will be forthcoming in the future.

Whilst I welcome the government's move towards the digitalisation of

tax, a number of small businesses and self across my region,

approximately 74% of them employ less than four people and they have

voiced concerns about the negative affect on their financial resources,

depending on their alliance with a county. Could my honourable friend

outline what support will be provided to our small businesses to

help adapt to the proposed changes? First of all, can I reassure the

House that there are no plans for quarterly tax returns as has been

reported. What HMRC are looking at is making greater use of digital

technology and that information is provided to HMRC more regularly. My

honourable friend raises an important point about ensuring that

there is support for businesses as they adapt to new ways of keeping

records and that is something that HMRC is determined to do. The

Midlands engine has been turbo-charged with recent figures

showing four Staffordshire constituencies in the top seven of

those ranked by the extent of falling claimant rates between May

of 2010 and November 2015, with Canada to chase being ranked fourth.

What matters is my honourable friend undertaking to make sure we maintain

this positive momentum? There has been good news in Cannock and across

the Midlands and employment is up in her constituency. Since coming to

this House, she has been a champion of the businesses in her area, we

are working together to give more power to people in the West

Midlands, to take control of the decisions that affect them. I

welcome her support for that. We are investing in transport

infrastructure and backing science in the West Midlands as well. If she

has specific ideas to help businesses in Cannock Chase, my door

is open. Can I ask the Chancellor how on earth a ?42 million cut over

the next two years to the UK TI budget will enable the UK to become

a world-class export and investment promotion agency? We have set out

today the strategy to give more direct help to our exporters across

the United Kingdom and Lord Maude presented at the proposals to

cabinets to do that. But getting lectures on public finances from the

SNP, we would be heading towards the break-up of our country in two

months' time if the people of Scotland have listened to the

arguments of the Scottish Nationalists. Their calculation is

were based on an oil price of $115, which the Member for Gordon

described as a conservative estimate at the time. The oil price is now

last than $30 and it would've been a catastrophe for the people of

Scotland. -- less than $30. It would been a catastrophe if they had

listened to the advice and figures of the SNP.

Whatever it is the government making to widen access to basic bank

accounts? -- what matters is the government making. I am delighted to

tell my constituency neighbour that at the end of last year we did

announce that all the major banks are now able to offer a basic bank

account to customers who require one. Many of my constituents who

watch Coronation Street will be following the story of Tyrone Dodds,

struggling with debt, with keen interest. Unsecured lending reached

a record high last year with over 3 million people in debt. The

government promised to review what creditors should give the people

engaged with a debt charities that their debts to not continue to

spiral out of control as they work to resolve them. That was due by the

end of 2015. When does the government plan to announce that? I

have just touched on that in answers to questions earlier, but the

importance that we place on the team that will tackle illegal

moneylending. But also, we have continued to support funding for

debt advice including excellent organisations like Christians

against poverty, step change and citizens advice, to help individuals

like the ones she mentioned. On Friday I visited Barclay's Bank

in Kingston to hear about the fantastic Barclays life skills

course which teaches young people, among other things, financial

literacy. I can see some candidates for the course here. By making

financial education more accessible, to she agreed that we can ensure the

financial sector itself supports young people and people through

every stage of their lives? I am delighted that he found his

visit to Barclays Bank in his constituency so helpful, he will

welcome the fact that since 2014, financial education has been part of

the national curriculum. Conservative leader of Essex County

Council has told the Prime Minister that the 2% social care precept will

only cover half the council's increased costs. He has suggested

bringing better care funding forward to 2017 and asks for a fairer

redistribution of funds. Even Conservative councils had to wait

until 2019 for the funding that the Chancellor is allocated. Will he act

now to avoid a further crisis in social care? What I can say is that

in advance of the spending review, the Conservative leaders of the LGA

came to me, one of their specific oppose laws was to introduce the

social care precept to help address the shortfall that might otherwise

have been. We have put a lot of money into the Better Care Than to

make sure that local authorities and the NHS working together are able to

meet the challenges of social care over the next few years. Inaudible

in boosting the economy has been the creation of enterprise zones. I

wonder if he would talk about creating an enterprise zone in the

northern part of Nottinghamshire? I know that area and have been to the

site with my honourable friend. We were not able to give the go-ahead

to the enterprise zone because the business case did not quite stack

up, but I have committed to him that I will work with him and the local

community to try to get that over the line and get an enterprise zone

in place in that area. I had just shared a packed meeting

with the honourable member for South Northamptonshire. There was a lot of

anger to axe the funding for the CC competition projects. What a funding

will the Chancellor provide to come up with a new CC is project? -- CCS

project? Help we will double in. Don't leave the chamber, man, I

calling you! You are very kind. The member for

Sherwood had already asked the same question, that I will ask it again,

that is not unusual in this place. My parents formed their small

business in the first enterprise zone created when Margaret Thatcher

in Telford in 1984. My right honourable friend the Chancellor has

carried on in that great Conservative tradition. Could he

afford the same opportunities to get on in life and to create jobs to my

constituents and those in Sherwood by backing Thoresby colliery as the

next and best enterprise zone? I think he has just demonstrated that

he is a very smart thinker on his feet and always ready to stand for

the interests of his new constituents. As I said to the

member for Sherwood, I would love to get the full spree cholerae

enterprise zone into a condition where we can give it the go-ahead,

and I give him and his neighbour my personal commitment that we will try

to do that over the next year or so. The fact that question has been

asked does not stop others asking the same question. Repetition is not

a novel phenomenon and banners of commons.

Can I ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ponder the fact that we

still have not really tackled productivity in this country. Can I

guide him and say could he and his department look at the way in which

we further invest in manufacturing skills, because surely he will agree

with me that what we want in this country is high skills, high-paid

jobs, and you find those in manufacturing? I think the

honourable gentlemen is right to draw attention to the fact that the

UK has had a productivity challenge for many decades, and the financial

crisis caused a significant impairment which had an impact as

well. Productivity is improving, but the key weakness in the British

economy, consistently identified by everyone who looks at it, is a

weakness of skills. Hopefully the apprenticeship levy and the

expansion of the apprenticeship programme will go some way to

address that historic weakness. (INAUDIBLE)

In improving financial inclusion and creating a stronger savings culture.

With the opportunity of a Will Counsel For Credit Unions coming to

the UK and Northern Ireland later in media, will he continue to build on

the work of the credit union expansion programme and back this

vital work? I other constituency neighbour is a fine advocate for the

excellent industry of credit unions. As he will know, we have back the

industry with ?38 million of investment in terms of the credit

union expansion project, we will continue to seek ways to back the

credit unions. Given that manufacturing remained

6.1% below precrisis levels with worrying trends in the manufacture,

plant, machinery and pharmaceuticals, will he accept that

he and his domestic policy agenda has just as much should an impact as

the global factors which he is so keen to blame? He must bear in

measure of responsibility and come forward with proposals to halt the

decline. Manufacturing makes of a larger

sector of the economy than when I became the Chancellor, but there is

a huge amount more to do to make the UK more competitive, businesses more

competitive, improve skills for manufacturers and the like. I have

to say, I suspect she agrees, that the idea of banning manufacturers

from paying dividends would not be a particularly sensible way forward.

That is another policy of the Labour Party, unfortunately.

Is he aware that since he took office in May 2010, the claimant

count my constituency has fallen by 62% and the youth unemployment count

by 67%? Would he agree that reducing corporation Tax, increasing the

personal allowance and reforming welfare has caused these fantastic

figures, would he confirmed that his long-term economic plan will

continue? We will absolutely deliver the plan in these more difficult

global economic conditions. The IMF have not revised down the UK credit

forecast, even though they have revised down the global economic

forecast. We will invest in Croydon and South London with important

transport infrastructure and do everything we can to back homeowners

in his constituency, a group I know he particularly champions.

Can I return the City Minister to the issue of the cancelled FCA

inquiry into culture. The member for Chichester's Parliamentary banking

inquiry pointed out that murder on the orient express excuse, everyone

was partly responsible but no one was really to blame. She said that

ministers had no role in the cancellation of batting wary, will

she say, yes or no, whether any civil servants did? -- the

cancellation of that inquiry. No. We must move on, demand always

exceed supply. We come now to the urgent question,

Vista Stephen Phillips? -- Mr Stephen Phillips. (INAUDIBLE)

to as the Secretary of State it she will make a statement as to the

death from Ebola virus disease of a 22-year-old student in Sierra Leone

on the 12th of January 2016? We will come to points of order, they come

after urgent questions. I will await the honourable lady's inquiry with

interest. To answer the question, the Secretary of State for

International Development. Thank you, Mr Speaker, and, indeed,

many happy returns. The house will be aware, as my

honourable friend has just said, that there is a new case of Ebola

that has been confirmed in Sierra Leone. A 22-year-old female student

sadly died on the 12th of January. This latest case of Ebola in Sierra

Leone demonstrates that we need to stay vigilant. The news came just as

the world health organisation formally declared the bowler

outbreak in West Africa over following Liberia reaching 22 days

without a new case. However, it is not unexpected given the context of

this unprecedented outbreak. This new case was identified from a swab

taken after death and is currently being investigated. The government

of Sierra Leone has activated its national Ebola response plan and

rapid work is under way to identify and quarantine people who have had

contact with the young woman and to establish a movement in the final

few days and weeks before her death. Teams in five district are acting on

this information. No other cases have been confirmed to date.

The speed of this process reflects the work UK has undertaken with the

government of Sierra Leone to develop a national response plan. As

the IDC report says, the UK has been at the forefront of the global

response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. From the very start,

leading in Sierra Leone, working hand-in-hand with the government of

Sierra Leone, we took on this deadly disease at source by rapidly

deploying the best British military personnel and NHS staff, Public

Health England, building treatment centres in a matter of weeks,

mobilising the international response. We have worked with the

government of Sierra Leone to build a health systems and strengthen all

aspects of society, including civil society, to allow them to be

prepared. We stand by Sierra Leone, as we have always been clear, there

is the potential for further cases, which is precisely why our response

now is focused on assisting Sierra Leone in isolating and treating any

view cases of Ebola before they spread.

-- any new cases. I am grateful to her for coming to the house

purposely today to answer questions on that subject. I am grateful for

her leadership during the Ebola outbreak of 2014/15, as well as to

the brave military and civilian personnel who travelled to Sierra

Leone to help West Africa in that period. On the 7th of November last

year, the world health organisation declared Sierra Leone free of Ebola

following a 42 day period during which no new cases were reported. As

my right honourable friend has said, the WHO made a further declaration

to be fed that the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa was over. My right

honourable friends would have been dismayed at the reports yesterday of

the death of this young woman from Ebola in the northern Tonkolil

district, particularly as she seems to have travelled through three

other provinces in the infectious stages. What steps her she taken to

determine the source of this outbreak? Is she confident that it

can be contained, given the burial customs observed do not seem to the

procedures to prevent further contamination? Are the quarantine

measures sufficient to ensure that widespread transmission of the virus

is unlikely? The assistance provided by the UK during the last out

because the British taxpayer ?427 million. My right honourable friend

will remember that I first asked about that outbreak on the 18th of

June 2014, at a stage when the number of cases was in the tens

rather than the thousands. None of this wishes to see a further

significant outbreak. Is she working with her officials, the government

of Sierra Leone and the WHO to ensure we get on top of the problem

at a stage when relatively few individuals are likely to have been

exposed? It is fair to say that the worst epidemiological predictions

during the last outbreak did not materialise, but more than 11,300

people in Africa died of Ebola in 2014/ 15. Many more died of

preventable diseases, which an overburdened and fragile health

system was not able to deal with at the same time as Ebola. What funding

will she make available to the government of Sierra Leone and NGOs

in the region to deal with the outbreak and to establish long-term

resilience in the health care system for dealing with a disease which may

be endemic in the region? Has she held discussions with Ministry of

Defence colleagues about the potential for assistance to ensure

the disease does not spread further? Does she have confidence at the

failings demonstrated by the WHO in the past will not be repeated. To

what extent it she confident that there are not further cases of Ebola

in Liberia and Guinea? A retesting of samples taken from individuals

who died in the ten years prior to the 2014/15 outbreak indicates that

Ebola may have been present in West Africa football than a decade, to

the extent that it is now endemic, what measures will she and the

government support leading to the development of an effective vaccine

for the virus, when did she expected to be available? The previous

outbreak of Ebola and spread across an interconnected world indicated

the threat from the -- to the United Kingdom. Direct flights every

comments from Sierra Leone to London, but she will know the

previous band was unnecessary and counter-productive. Can she assure

the house and the Sierra Leonean diaspora that the mistakes of

banning direct flights will not be repeated? The long-term prognosis of

those previously infected is not well understood by the medical

profession. In cases like that of Pauline Cafferkey, we know it can

hide in the body for periods of time. Is the Department of Health

aware of the re-emergence in patients who have previously

survived the disease? What assistance is being given in West

Africa to ensure the long-term health of those who have survived

Ebola and may still be able to pass it on to others? What if any

monitoring project is her department intend to fund so the disease is

stamped out both for individuals in the region and to ensure the

bio-security of the UK and those who live here?

Before the Secretary of State answers, let me say to the

honourable and learned gentleman that his error condition today,

which is never in doubt, has been equalled only why his length. --

erudition. The honourable gentleman is a sophisticated denizen of the

House and he is dealing with a serious matter, but on top of that

the honourable and learned gentleman is an illustrious queens Counsel.

Perhaps I can express the hope that he does not charge as clients by the

word. If he does he will be a great deal richer than they -- and they

will be a great deal poorer. From now on we must try to stick to the

time limits and I say that in a good spirit because he has raised an

important issue and done it in an extremely intelligent way. But if we

can operate within the time limits from now on, the House would

appreciate it. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I must say I think he would

have achieved amazing value for money on the numbers of questions

for time spoken. I commend him on that. In response, to the very

serious issues that he raises, I think from the very beginning this

has been an unprecedented outbreak and we are seeing that even now in

the length of time this virus appears to stay in the body of

survivors after they fully recover. It is one of the reasons why part of

the work that we are doing within Sierra Leone, as we learn about the

invocations of this virus's persistence within survivors, is

mitigating the risks that it can be passed on, offering safe sex

counselling, and we have established a scene in testing and also ensuring

free access to health care. -- semen testing. It is critical that we

mitigate the risks of people passing on a disease that they might have

survived, and there is also a semen testing programme for those aged 15

or above. We are working with the public health in the area to make

sure that this is in the mounted effectively. This is a country where

we saw subsequent cases happen after the people of free point. And that

is why we have been so vigilant. Indeed, it is the processes and the

systems and the testing that we have put in place with the government of

Sierra Leone and that has picked up this particular case and therefore

has enabled us to go through the process of contact tracing and

quarantine. Although it is known that this particular student had

travelled extensively, which makes our task harder. Therefore we work

harder, and we have set up mobile field hospitals that can rapidly get

to a district if we see an outbreak. He asked about Warren team measures

and those are being put in place and indeed, the contact tracing is

happening. -- quarantine measures. He asked about the funding which is

being put in place and how we are working more broadly to get to what

I would call a resilient zero. I think we all expected that having

got over the maximum period of the outbreak, which was incredibly

difficult, that there would be sporadic cases that would continue

to appear, and that is the phase that we are now in. Getting on top

of those, as he says, is the way in which we will get to this resilient

of -- resilient zero where we can be confident that there will not be

future cases. There is funding for that outbreak and that covers some

of the things I have mentioned, but also we are working in schools to

make sure that issues of water and sanitation, basic steps that

community can undertake to minimise the risk of passing on diseases

including the bowler, are understood and put in place. And that's

district level response mechanism is still there, that we have used so

successfully to get over the major outbreak when it was at its peak.

And it is worth saying that the hospital of tropical and medical

disease is estimated that we saved over 56,000 lives with the work that

we did with the government of Sierra Leone to get in the lean back on top

of this outbreak. He asked about the progress of vaccinations. Of course

one of the things that we had already been involved in prior to

this crisis was some of the development of early-stage vaccines.

He will know that there are promising candidates there and they

give us the prospect of being able to more readily clamped down on

future outbreaks. But part of this, as I finish my comments, perhaps is

his other point that he made an health system strengthening. One of

the key messages that came out from this evil outbreak was that

countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia, in the scheme of their

history, newly emergent from civil war, were less able to cope simply

because their health systems were at an earlier stage of development

because of those conflicts. Other countries in the region, Nigeria is

one that you might point to, were better able to clamp-down on this

outbreak, purely because they had a stronger health system in place but

even in that case, there was some way for it to go. So I would

reassure the House that it is perhaps not a surprise to see these

sporadic additional cases but however, the people, the processes

and the systems are in place on the ground in Sierra Leone to identify

them and respond rapidly to them. The final thing you mentioned was on

flights. The decision we took on direct flights was actually one that

we felt was in the interests of our national security. I think it was

the right decision to take. Critically, I think in the end the

way we got on top of this outbreak was to see the UK partnering and

bringing the best of British, our military, doctors and nurses and

Public Health England, working with our fantastic Foreign Office, as one

team, hand-in-hand with the government of Sierra Leone. To

really provide a platform that the rest of the international community

could work through themselves. To combat this disease. Again, I would

like to put on record my thanks not only to the many DFID staff that I

am privileged to lead in my department but to all those other

people across government and public sector workers who frankly put their

lives on the line in many cases in order to help Sierra Leone get to

grips with this terrible crisis. I'm sure the whole house will join me in

paying tribute not just to British health workers and military who went

to help the people of West Africa in the last Ebola outbreak, but all the

local workers, the local health workers who bore the brunt of the

campaign against Ebola and the brunt of the deaths. On the question of

international development reports, the Secretary of State will be aware

that the Commons committee said the government had been too reliant on

the World Health Organisation, which eventually declared in August 2015

that in fact the government should have listened to other groups, like

Medecins Sans Frontieres, who had been warning about Ebola months

earlier. Does the secretary of state agree with the committee chairman

that the international community relied on the WHO to sound the alarm

and the failure to respond quickly enough is now well documented? Does

the secretary of state also agree that the bowler cannot be seen in

isolation and we have to look at the general issue of access to health

care in the region, and building a resilient health system. -- Ebola

cannot be seen in isolation. I'm grateful to the honourable lady for

those questions. She clearly sets out that the key to success in

tackling Ebola was the response of the Sierra Leonean people

themselves. And in the end their willingness to run towards tackling

disease that instinctively many people would have wanted to run away

from. And there were many red cross volunteers from across Africa who

went into the region to be part of helping tackle it. And they very

much like this. The UK's role was to work hand-in-hand and make sure that

our resources and know-how could be brought to bear to finally get on

top of this. I think everybody recognises that there were some

serious lessons to be learned by the international system in responding

to this crisis, and WHO reform is now taking place and that is

something that myself and the Secretary of State for Health have

had a chance to talk directly about. It is vital that we learn lessons

about this crisis to understand how the international system can

mobilise more speedily when crisis hits. This was an outbreak that was

rapidly spreading but actually starting in the place, a part of the

world that was perhaps the least able to initially responds to it

itself. The UK, we were actively working much earlier than the

official outbreak declaration by the WHO. As early as June or July, we're

working to support MSF, who played a key role, alongside many other NGOs.

There are lessons to be learned. The report today, in a systematic way,

goes through the initial response, and also what happened subsequent to

that. I think it is important that WHO reforms and I think it is

important that it looks at not only its processes and how it responds,

but this emergency response fund that it is setting up is adequately

resourced to have the means to response as well as the -- means to

respond as well as the strategy. The Select Committee report issued today

commends the strong leadership of DFID and the UK Government in

coordinating the response to a bowler. But it is critical of the

WHO in its delay in designating the outbreak as a public health

emergency of international concern. I wonder if the Secretary of State

would give us more insight into her discussions with Margaret Chan and

confirm that indeed the department is ensuring that WHO really does

treat this as a priority in terms of its radical reform needs? There are

various different aspects of this but one that is particularly key is

the regional response of the WHO and the importance of making sure that

at that level emerging outbreaks are clearly identified and in a

depoliticised way, identified as outbreaks simply because of the

facts on the ground, despite the reticence governments might have

about declaring a health emergency. Those are the key changes that we

will steadily see with the WHO over time. Critically, we need to be able

to mobilise people and one of the other aspects of the WHO reform is

to set up an international register of health care responders, much like

the one that the UK had that we drew up to tackle Ebola, so we can make

sure we have the right people in the right place rapidly the next time a

crisis hits. Having said that, this was an unprecedented outbreak. It is

the first time that we have seen and he Ebola outbreak spread across

borders. Nevertheless we need to see the WHO reform to respond far more

quickly and effectively going forward. We echo the dismay at this

new case and the tributes paid to those involved in the response.

Bearing in mind the IDC report, what more can she say about the steps

DFID is taking to monitor the situation in the wider region? What

contact does she currently have with service providers on the ground to

pick up early warnings and what consideration should she give to the

National Academy of medicine's recent report on creating a

risk-free world in the future, which called for WHO reform, and the

creation of a permanent rescue centre and an investment in pandemic

response? The work that is underway on the ground is very much to make

sure that all of the framework that we put in place to tackle the major

outbreaks now swing into action at the local level again. So that is in

relation to isolation of potential Ebola sufferers, and it sits

alongside the ongoing surveillance work, which was how we picked up

this case in the first place. Of course, one of the things that comes

out of this is the need to continue to emphasise the need for safe

burials, so that we do not see this case spreading more broadly. And

deliver that. But alongside that, of deliver that. But alongside that, of

course, I talked about the hospital and treatment centres that are still

there in order to provide the kind of isolation units that we need to

be able to treat the bowler sufferers effectively, and lab

testing. This is a legacy from what the UK was able to do with Sierra

Leone that means they are better placed to deal with this particular

case but I should emphasise to the House that as we go through

contracts tracing periods, the quarantine period for high risk

contact, inevitably there may be some further cases that could

emerge. And this is all part of the eradication of Ebola, and getting to

what I call resilience zero. Unfortunately we do not expect to

see a situation where it suddenly switches off overnight and that is

why we were so keen to make sure that some of these underlying

processes, having the right people in place and the right surveillance,

remains there. In order to be able to deal with these sorts of

situations. He asked about WHO reform and the emergency response.

And he is right to talk about that. Part of this needs to ensure that we

have funded international resources to enable the WHO to put into

practice the new strategy is that it is now developing. The UK was one of

the initial contributors to the fund set up in 2000 within the WHO, but

we are strongly lobbying other countries to join us.

Our thoughts are very much with the people of Sierra Leone. The

Secretary of State said last July that the UK will stay the course

until Ebola is defeated. Will she confirmed that the United Kingdom

will stay the course until...

In the context of this outbreak, there was a point in time where

people were extremely concerned about its potential to arrive here

in the UK. It is not just in there interests that we do this work, it

is in our interest that we have a W H O that is able to respond to these

sorts of national health emergencies. -- International health

emergencies. Can I congratulate the end... Honourable gentleman on

securing this question. In the select committee report published

today that has been referred to, one of the central recommendations is

that the UK should take the lead in efforts for reform about

organisation. Can the Secretary of State tell us more about the

timescale of the reforms we do not lose the opportunity? The reform is

already under way. I met this comparatively recently with Margaret

Chan, who heads up the W O'Connor about this. There are already

changes being made across-the-board. The key thing that remains to be

worked on, as I said earlier, is bottoming out the overall strategy

for improving and emergency responses in relation to the WHO,

making sure there is resourcing, and the issue of working with countries

who are perhaps most at risk if a healthy emergency occurs, for them

to particularly be able to deal with that more effectively. It is not

just about having a better system in place, it is about targeting,

frankly, where we know the greatest potential holes in an international

response might be. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Her

department, our medical professionals, our Armed Forces can

be proud of the assistance they gave to Sierra Leone during the Ebola

outbreak of 2014/ 15. As a member of this Haas with a Sierra Leonean

mother, will she assure the house my family and the wider Sierra Leonean

diaspora that support to Sierra Leone will continue until the

facilities locally are able to withstand further health

difficulties like this, and also that our future economic and

diplomatic relationship with Sierra Leone will not be defined by this

darkest period in such it went for country's history?

I think he puts his point extremely well. The role of the diaspora

working with many of those links that they naturally have back in

Sierra Leone was critical, actually. I remember the meetings I had with

diaspora here to make sure there were those lines of communication

open between the work that the Foreign Office was doing and people

on the ground themselves. He talks about the need and the hope that

Sierra Leone can bounce back from what it has been through. It was a

terrible, terrible outbreak. I remember I was there three times

over a very short period, but it was only on my third visit that I felt

like I got to see some of the country, in essence, and its spirit.

Because the first two times were so embedded in crisis, it was really a

different place. Before this crisis hit, Sierra Leone was one of the

fastest-growing economies in the world. Our hope, and the omission we

have to have for a country like Sierra Leone, is that it really can

bounce back now. I would finish by saying that the challenge is to

bring the same urgency that we saw in responding to Ebola to the rest

of our country's develop and. What we saw in that response was when we

really worked together, when there is a country owned strategy, we have

all the different stakeholders pulling in the same direction, we

can cover a lot of ground quickly when there is political will. That

has much, much broader lessons for development progress

internationally, particularly in Sierra Leone. We are trying to make

sure that the momentum keeps up even though the outbreak is steadily

being eradicated. Further to that very welcome point

from the Minister, will she undertake to ensure that the support

towards resilience won't just be to support the infrastructure of a

fragile health care system that clearly needs to be supported, but

also to support village development committees in Sierra Leone who

proved such an effective and important network of mobilisation,

whose capacity will be relevant to the other challengers, including

those diseases which lost a priority during the Ebola crisis?

He talks about a number of different but related points. The work at

community level proved to be pivotal in enabling us to tackle Ebola. Both

in terms of steadily ensuring that people who were victims of a bowler

were buried safely and did not pass the virus on, but also then in

improving surveillance, and it is the surveillance now that is one of

the key planks of making sure that we never see another case of Ebola

that romps away in the way that we saw it take hold in 2014. There is a

lot more work to be done. Improving district and community level health

care is absolutely vital and, indeed, it was the lack of a strong

district and community level health care system that enabled this virus

to really take hold. I talked about the legacy of a bowler, if there is

one thing we were able to put in place it was very good command and

control -- the legacy of Ebola. It went right from the Ministry of

health and the president to the most removed communities. That was put in

place to deal with the crisis, but now it can really help drive

improvements in community health care and to build on the back of

that skeleton, if you like, for the benefit of improving health more

generally in Sierra Leone. Could I thank my honourable friend

for asking this urgent question and congratulate the Secretary of State

for the way she responded? My constituents in Kettering are hugely

proud of the fantastic deployment of Armed Forces and civilian NHS

personnel to tackle this crisis. Can I say to the Secretary of State, I

don't think the full extent of the good news about this country's

involvement in this crisis is out there. I don't think most people

know that this country saved 56,000 lives as a result of our

intervention. She shot with the House is a more good news about the

involvement of this country as the world's leading responded to this

huge crisis -- could she shout with the House some more good news?

I think the numbers of lives directly saved because of the work

that the UK was able to do is staggering. You can actually see the

epidemic curve bending upwards and then steadily working with the

government to wrestle it down over a period of months. It was extremely

difficult work that required a huge amount of effort. In terms of what

we did, we had 1100 -- 1500 military personnel, six UK treatment centres

were provided in a matter of weeks, we trained over 4000 Sierra Leonean

health-care workers, we deployed 150 NHS volunteers. They worked on

supporting over 1500 treatment and isolation beds, more than half of

the beds treating... That were available to treat Sierra Leoneans

in that country. We now have a 36 bed mobile field hospital, there

were 100 Public Health England staff that help set up three laboratories.

We deliver 28,000 tonnes of aid, we delivered more than a million

protective equipment suit is for people who were having to work, as

it were, in the red zone, directly dealing with people with Ebola. We

supported over 140 burial teams, we had a Royal Navy support ship, we

had Merlin helicopters. It was a phenomenal response across

Government, I am very proud to have been part of it. I thank him for his

question. It is easy after these crises have been responded to do

very much move on and lose just how important it was for the UK and how

valuable the role was that we played.

I very much support her efforts so far, I agree with her comments about

the need for economic reconstruction in Sierra Leone in the future, too.

She will also have heard the Chief Medical Officer of Sierra Leone, who

is reported as saying that in one case the patient showed no signs or

symptoms that fitted the case definition of Ebola. Given this very

disturbing fact, what are the wider public health implications for us in

the United Kingdom and what discussions has she had about this

specific issue, with Public Health England, the Department of Health

and the Foreign Commonwealth Office?

We obviously continue to have a substantial team in Sierra Leone

that is working directly on the ground, and part of the response to

this latest case, although that response has been, of course, led by

the government of Sierra Leone, and the real test of whether we are

working effectively as whether we can in time step back and see the

help system strengthening via that can take care of these sorts of

outbreaks. We are investigating this particular case right now. He talks

about some of the challenges of identification, it is why the

surveillance is so important. It is following some of the procedures on

taking swabs of all deaths that picked up that this was Ebola. At

this stage of this response we have had to steadily work out what the

most effective route forward is. We are continuing to do that as we come

from new challenges, frankly, I can do what we have seen over recent

days. I think the House can be reassured that we are working

hand-in-hand, we have the resources in place and we also have fantastic

medical experts who can really help us ground any strategy in terms of

the science and how to take those are facts on the ground and respond

to them effectively. We should be very proud of the role

that the British military, the British health workers and the

volunteers as well, under the leadership of DfID in Sierra Leone

in tackling Ebola, but I think this latest incident which sadly led to

the death of someone in Freetown just highlights how we must remain

vigilant to this terrible disease. Will my right honourable friend sure

this House that DfID will continue to press to be weighed show and the

international community to continue to play a part not just in

monitoring but strengthening and further developing public health

systems in Sierra Leone? I strongly agree. We will be playing

that role, we already are and will continue to do so. Much of it is

pushed forward by the Department of Health, and it's very close working

relationship with the WHO. It is vital that we fix some of the

underlying problems that led to Ebola taking hold in the first

place, which essentially means health system strengthening on the

ground but also a better responder system internationally in order to

deal with crises when they are inevitably emerge around the world.

The comment that the Secretary of State made about supporting Sierra

Leone, we have been very proud in Hull to be twinned with Freetown for

many years, we have had many reciprocal visits, especially with

teachers. I wonder whether the department was considering what more

we could do to strengthen the reciprocal visits, to ensure

support, especially in education, to that country?

I will perhaps take away her ideas and thoughts and respond to her

following this urgent question today. She is right to highlight

education, one of the key issues we are now working on is getting

children back into school. Particularly for girls, who may have

been out of school, then we have to, frankly, make sure they get into

school in a way that is not always easy, and also for orphans. There is

a number of orphans as a result of the Ebola crisis, so education

matters, not just in terms of broader public health but, of

course, the schooling for children, many of whom were out of school for

a year. I will reflect on the points she has made about the important

links between her own local community and Freetown.

The Secretary of State's actions have undoubtedly saved thousands of

lives and I pay tribute to the efforts of the UK Government.

However there is a charity doing great work in Sierra Leone who

described the response to the orphans as to patchy across the

country. What more can the secretary of state do to make it easier for

small of aid to be provided on the ground to make a difference? We did

have a particular fund that was able to enable us to provide funding to

some of these smaller charities. As he will probably be aware, the main

challenge at the beginning was putting in place all the key planks

of a successful strategy which we were able to do, but smaller NGOs

did play a key role and I would like did play a key role and I would like

to pay tribute to the one that he highlights. DFID also did work to

support orphans, many of whom would have otherwise been in incredibly

vulnerable positions throughout this crisis, and we are still continuing

to do that because as he will be aware, many survivors of the bowler

do suffer a stigma as a result of having had the virus. -- Ebola.

There is work underway to make sure that we integrate people into their

families and where we find orphans, wherever possible, we help them get

back in touch with their extended family. I warmed to the words that

the Secretary of State said about the holistic approach to

reconstruction in Sierra Leone, but it is the whole of West Africa. He

bowler knows no boundaries. I know that she has paid tribute to our

troops and all the effort that went on but there are some individuals.

We all remember the diary from the young doctor from Huddersfield, the

heart-warming reports. But also the aid agencies, the aid agencies,

including where my own daughter works, but we have to learn the

lessons. I used to work for the World Bank and I had reservations

about the effectiveness of the WHO, on many occasions. And this was a

time to reflect on whether the World Health Organisation is fit for

purpose. And if it is not, we should try to do something about it. There

were a number of British-based NGOs that played a vital role in helping

to respond successfully to Ebola in Sierra Leone and in other countries

and communities that were affected. In particular Save the Children, who

were pivotal in enabling us to open the first treatment hospital that we

were able to put in place, and that saved lives. For many of those NGOs,

it was a real step into the dark, in a way, to have many of their

volunteers working in such dangerous environments, and the training that

needed to go alongside that. I want to take the opportunity to pay

tribute to all of those volunteers who went out there, not just as I

have set out from our own public sector, but many of them from all

walks of life, frankly. They did an amazing job and they save lives. And

he sets out that the international response, and the international

system needs to improve, as we have heard from other questions in the

chamber today. He is absolutely right. This was a crisis that we

must learn lessons from. There were positive lessons about what it takes

to confront Ebola but there are also negative lessons about how, frankly,

a better job could have been done. My final point would be, looking

forward to reconstruction and recovery, I represented the UK at a

conference last year at the UN, hosted by the Secretary General,

which was all about mobilising resources and effort around the

country owned plans in in Liberia and Guinea, so there is one strategy

that we are linked Heinz to help those countries get behind their

feet. Dashed back on their feet. Dashed back on their feet. I welcome

the responses so far. The work is not just about saving lives, but

saving lives in this country as well. Demonstrating that maintaining

military capabilities, delivering our international objectives are,

voluntary and not exclusive. What discussions have the Secretary of

State had with the Ministry of Defence about the potential for

support if it proves to be needed? We hope that the procedures and the

framework that we have left on the ground will be the best and most

effective way to be able to respond to this latest incident. And we can

also learn from Liberia's experience, where they went through

a period of being free of Ebola and then they saw some fresh cases. I

hope that we will be able to use those existing structures to be able

to respond but I think that if there is one thing that we have seen over

the past 12 years, our fantastic MOD often stands ready to be part of the

UK humanitarian response, not just in relation to leave bowler but in

typhoon I am in Nepal, and it plays a unique role in enabling this

country to mobilise. I think as effectively as any in this world.

Playing our part in helping to save lives when disaster hits. Firstly, I

would like to commend the work of everybody who has been involved in

tackling Ebola. Given the issues highlighted, can the Secretary of

State outline what lessons have been learned by engaging cultural leaders

and working with cultural norms in order to provide a cohesive response

that is fully implement it. -- fully implemented. Of course, she

represent a constituency that has our Scottish DFID headquarters.

Again, those staff played a key raw in helping us shape the response,

and I would like to say a huge thank you to them. The issue of working

with communities is absolutely vital. -- a key role. We have to