Browse content similar to Live Commissioners Questions. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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right honourable member representing
the House of Commons commission and | 0:00:00 | 0:00:00 | |
the honourable member for Halton and
Sunderland South, representing the | 0:00:00 | 0:00:05 | |
speakers committee on the Electoral
Commission, and the right honourable | 0:00:05 | 0:00:10 | |
member representing the Church
Commissioners. Mr Alan Brown. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:16 | |
Question number one, Mr Speaker. The
Electoral Commission reported on | 0:00:16 | 0:00:22 | |
finance regulation at the general
election in November 2017, | 0:00:22 | 0:00:29 | |
highlighting areas to improve
transparency and political finance. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
The recommendations include
increasing the maximum politics it | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
can impose foreign breach of the
rules, extending requirement for | 0:00:36 | 0:00:40 | |
campaign materials to include online
campaigning, and changing the law to | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
allow transparency of political
donations in Northern Ireland. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:56 | |
After | 0:00:57 | 0:00:59 | |
Does the honourable member agree
with the Electoral Commission that | 0:01:07 | 0:01:11 | |
the fines are no longer suitable and
action needs to be taken urgently so | 0:01:11 | 0:01:15 | |
the penalty matches the crime?
The honourable gentleman is right to | 0:01:15 | 0:01:20 | |
draw attention to the recommendation
of the commission, that there should | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
be an increase in the maximum
penalty they can impose on political | 0:01:22 | 0:01:27 | |
parties and campaigners for a breach
of the rules. There is a risk a fine | 0:01:27 | 0:01:33 | |
of £20,000 maximum per offence could
be seen the risk of doing business. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:38 | |
And the money should be more
proportionate for well funded | 0:01:38 | 0:01:44 | |
campaigners. Question number two, Mr
Speaker. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
I must declare an interest here.
This is actually my bill which would | 0:01:48 | 0:01:53 | |
enable mother's details to be
regarded on the registration of | 0:01:53 | 0:01:57 | |
marriages. I am introducing it on
23rd February. The Bishop of Stal | 0:01:57 | 0:02:04 | |
bans is introducing an identical
bill in the House of Lords tomorrow. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:09 | |
I don't think the House can have a
stronger indication of how the | 0:02:09 | 0:02:13 | |
Church of England would welcome this
change. Can I congratulate the | 0:02:13 | 0:02:18 | |
honourable laid. One way women have
been written out of history is not | 0:02:18 | 0:02:23 | |
being by recorded on official
documents like marriage certificates | 0:02:23 | 0:02:32 | |
what work women have done in the
past. Is there anything else she | 0:02:32 | 0:02:37 | |
feels to promote this bill and get
Government support? We are doing our | 0:02:37 | 0:02:41 | |
very best. I was very encouraged to
read in the Sunday Times on 31st | 0:02:41 | 0:02:47 | |
December that a Home Office spokes
man had told that newspaper that | 0:02:47 | 0:02:53 | |
"The bill had been signed off." I am
hoping that means the Government | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
could actually give this bill time
when it comes to us from the Lords, | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
as I am sure it will. We all just
want to see this happen. We would | 0:03:00 | 0:03:05 | |
all cheer. And there are many
mothers, Mr Speaker, really with | 0:03:05 | 0:03:10 | |
weddings in the offing who would
like to see this change happen in | 0:03:10 | 0:03:13 | |
time for their children to be
married. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:18 | |
I thank the honourable lady for her
response to the question. Marriage | 0:03:18 | 0:03:28 | |
break downs daily to a large extent,
we do welcome the honourable lady's | 0:03:28 | 0:03:36 | |
response to include mother's
details. Can the honourable lady in | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
her response to this House outline a
timescale legally and over a period | 0:03:40 | 0:03:45 | |
of time when we hope to complete
this? Mr Speaker, as it stands at | 0:03:45 | 0:03:51 | |
the moment the identity Kay members
bill is being introduced into both | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
Houses. It is a pincher movement to
try and make this happen. This is | 0:03:54 | 0:03:59 | |
only the fifth time this House has
tried to get an important change in | 0:03:59 | 0:04:02 | |
a law that dates back to 1853. The
thing that would speed up this | 0:04:02 | 0:04:07 | |
change is if the Government would
give that bill time in this House. I | 0:04:07 | 0:04:12 | |
am hoping that statement, given by
the Home Office on New Year's Eve | 0:04:12 | 0:04:19 | |
has some substance behind it and
they will give it time very shortly. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:25 | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The
commission has given no formal | 0:04:25 | 0:04:29 | |
consideration to a move to
electronic voting in the House. Its | 0:04:29 | 0:04:33 | |
response niblt this matter is
limited to any financial or staffing | 0:04:33 | 0:04:37 | |
implications of any change to the
present system, were a change to be | 0:04:37 | 0:04:41 | |
agreed to by the House.
Thank you very much. The voting | 0:04:41 | 0:04:46 | |
system here is a bit crazy. Last
week, we had two hours for eight | 0:04:46 | 0:04:50 | |
votes. Most of the Parliaments in
the world would laugh at that and | 0:04:50 | 0:04:55 | |
indeed do laugh at that T given MPs
value meeting each other in the | 0:04:55 | 0:05:00 | |
lobbies can we have a hybrid system
where we have more than one vote to | 0:05:00 | 0:05:07 | |
save hours? I have some sympathy
with the point he's making. I am | 0:05:07 | 0:05:12 | |
sure he will know now as an expert
in these matters this is a matter | 0:05:12 | 0:05:17 | |
for the House and of course he could
f he choose to do so, approach the | 0:05:17 | 0:05:22 | |
procedure committee to ask them to
look at this matter. We do have a | 0:05:22 | 0:05:29 | |
form of electronic voting now
because the clerks are using iPads. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:33 | |
The iPads are slower than the
physical pieces of paper in the past | 0:05:33 | 0:05:38 | |
because it takes more time to spot
the individual name. I think it is a | 0:05:38 | 0:05:44 | |
good opportunity to meet ministers
and other colleagues in the lobbies. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
It would be good if it didn't take
16 minutes for every votend a | 0:05:47 | 0:05:52 | |
wouldn't it be good to look at
swifter voting such as using a thumb | 0:05:52 | 0:06:00 | |
print to vote. I am happy to take
that back to look at whether from a | 0:06:00 | 0:06:07 | |
techno loingal point of view it
could be speeded up. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:15 | |
Mr Speaker, I know that my Right
Honourable friend has a great | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
interest in this subject because he
asked me about the training in April | 0:06:18 | 0:06:22 | |
last year. I am very pleased to tell
the House that an additional 44 | 0:06:22 | 0:06:27 | |
candidates have presented for
training as ordained ministers. That | 0:06:27 | 0:06:31 | |
makes a total of 544 in training,
which means there we are on our way | 0:06:31 | 0:06:35 | |
of our target of 750 a year by 2020.
As so many clerks retire, what will | 0:06:35 | 0:06:42 | |
be the future age profile of her
holly orders? Like a lot of | 0:06:42 | 0:06:50 | |
institutions we face the prospect of
older clergy, actually large numbers | 0:06:50 | 0:06:56 | |
retiring at the same time as a
result of previous pushes to | 0:06:56 | 0:07:00 | |
increase people to be ordained and
enter the ministry. I am delighted | 0:07:00 | 0:07:04 | |
to say those in the under 32 year
age group rose by two fifths and | 0:07:04 | 0:07:13 | |
accounts for nearly one-third of the
total. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:18 | |
Mr Speaker, I was disappointed
recently to hear from the head of | 0:07:18 | 0:07:23 | |
Uber that only 5% of drivers are
women. What is the gender balance in | 0:07:23 | 0:07:29 | |
the statement she just made? The
Right Honourable gentleman busy been | 0:07:29 | 0:07:35 | |
assiduous in asking about gender
balance. The intake of female or din | 0:07:35 | 0:07:41 | |
mans has seen an increase of 19%
compared to last year and while | 0:07:41 | 0:07:45 | |
women only make up one third of the
fully ordained clergy in place at | 0:07:45 | 0:07:49 | |
the moment, we are moving, like
other professions, towards 50/50. | 0:07:49 | 0:08:00 | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. In the dicesy
of Gloucester, as soon as we fill | 0:08:00 | 0:08:07 | |
one vacancy another arises. Bishop
Rachel is working very hard. The | 0:08:07 | 0:08:11 | |
situation can only be sorted if we
bring more people forward for | 0:08:11 | 0:08:15 | |
training. What the is church of
England doing to enable for that to | 0:08:15 | 0:08:20 | |
happen? We celebrated the
introduction of Bishop Rachel as the | 0:08:20 | 0:08:26 | |
first women Bishop after the change
of the law. We have a female Bishop | 0:08:26 | 0:08:31 | |
sitting in the Lords for Newcastle
and recently the appointment of a | 0:08:31 | 0:08:35 | |
female Bishop to London. There is a
method of positive discrimination, | 0:08:35 | 0:08:42 | |
where by diocese represented in the
Lords are encouraged to appoint a | 0:08:42 | 0:08:46 | |
woman. We move in the Lords to have
a better reputation of female | 0:08:46 | 0:08:50 | |
Bishops.
Question five. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:56 | |
Mr Speaker, following all meetings
of the General Synod, it is standard | 0:08:56 | 0:09:00 | |
practise for the clerk of the
General Synod to inform the | 0:09:00 | 0:09:05 | |
appropriate Government department,
this was done on 21st July, | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
following the vote at the synod to
ban conversion therapy and a | 0:09:07 | 0:09:12 | |
response was received from the
relevant minister on 24th August. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:17 | |
Mr Speaker, it would be helpful if
we knew what that response actually | 0:09:17 | 0:09:21 | |
said, because, as she will know,
this so-called therapy does | 0:09:21 | 0:09:26 | |
dreadful, dreadful damage to young
people emotionally and | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
psychologically. And it's long
overdue to be banned. And the | 0:09:29 | 0:09:34 | |
sponsor of this excellent motion in
the General Synod has asked for a | 0:09:34 | 0:09:39 | |
meeting the relevant Government
minister and that has been refused. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:44 | |
Mr Speaker, I am not responsible for
the decision of the Government, but | 0:09:44 | 0:09:49 | |
the General Synod did very clearly
vote to ban gay conversion therapy. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:59 | |
I can share some of the content of
the letter. It is very clear the | 0:09:59 | 0:10:05 | |
Government is against preparative or
conversion therapy they have no | 0:10:05 | 0:10:08 | |
plans to ban or restrict this
through legislation or throw | 0:10:08 | 0:10:15 | |
statutory regulation because
existing voluntary registers provide | 0:10:15 | 0:10:17 | |
safeguards for the public. I will
certainty assist in the way he | 0:10:17 | 0:10:22 | |
describes in writing to the
minister. Thank you, Mr Speaker. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:27 | |
More widely, in some parishes
antigay prejudice masquerades as | 0:10:27 | 0:10:33 | |
theology. What further can be done
to tackle this? Mr Speaker, the | 0:10:33 | 0:10:40 | |
leadership of the Church of England
couldn't be clearer on this point, | 0:10:40 | 0:10:46 | |
indeed across the Anglican Communion
Archbishops have succeeded in | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
getting a commitment to stamp out
homophobia, when all the Bishops | 0:10:50 | 0:10:54 | |
were convened here in London. It is
unequivocal from the top of the | 0:10:54 | 0:10:59 | |
Church all the way down that
homophobia has no place in the | 0:10:59 | 0:11:03 | |
Anglican Communion. Question number
six. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:10 | |
Mr Speaker, with your permission, I
would like to answer question six | 0:11:10 | 0:11:14 | |
and eight together. So, the Church
of England is in regular contact | 0:11:14 | 0:11:20 | |
with the dicesy of Jerusalem, Egypt
and the Horn of Africa, I am pleased | 0:11:20 | 0:11:25 | |
to report the news from the region
was comparatively pleasing over | 0:11:25 | 0:11:30 | |
Christmas when compared to a few
months ago. I had not Id, only an | 0:11:30 | 0:11:37 | |
interest -- yesterday, I had visited
the Holocaust survivor centre. Many | 0:11:37 | 0:11:46 | |
were survivors from the Holocaust.
Does my honourable friend agree | 0:11:46 | 0:11:51 | |
those people are particularly
concerned, not only about attacks in | 0:11:51 | 0:11:54 | |
other countries on the basis of
religion, but the fact we need to do | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
more to support the Egyptian
Government to actually prevent these | 0:11:57 | 0:12:01 | |
attacks happening, which is
effectively a form of genocide. The | 0:12:01 | 0:12:08 | |
proximity of Holocaust Memorial Day
reminds us all that these atrocities | 0:12:08 | 0:12:12 | |
are on going in our world and that
people are persecuted for their | 0:12:12 | 0:12:16 | |
faith. Actually Egypt was relatively
quiet compared to recent months but | 0:12:16 | 0:12:21 | |
it is the ashentd Coptic church in
Egypt which we as fellow Christians | 0:12:21 | 0:12:25 | |
fear. It is a fact that e#2k3wi79
has moved from a position of 21st to | 0:12:25 | 0:12:31 | |
17th on the world watch list of
countries that we should be | 0:12:31 | 0:12:37 | |
concerned about, not least because
of the rise of Daesh in its country. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:43 | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. There was
growing concern about the level... | 0:12:43 | 0:12:55 | |
To Government and to the UNHCR about
the disproportionately low number of | 0:12:55 | 0:13:01 | |
Christians who are identified for
recent to western countries. Mr | 0:13:01 | 0:13:05 | |
Speaker, we are in regular contact
with the Government over the plight | 0:13:05 | 0:13:10 | |
of persecuted Christians and with
UNHCR. We are interested to get to | 0:13:10 | 0:13:15 | |
the bottom why the percentage of
Christians in refugee camps in a | 0:13:15 | 0:13:20 | |
number of these countries is so low.
It is a question that it is | 0:13:20 | 0:13:25 | |
extensive and therefore Christians
living in other countries where they | 0:13:25 | 0:13:28 | |
can help provide safe haven for
their relatives do often enable them | 0:13:28 | 0:13:32 | |
to travel over. I think it is
significant that 30% of the Syrian | 0:13:32 | 0:13:36 | |
refugees to America are in fact
Christian. For example. So they | 0:13:36 | 0:13:41 | |
often choose to show themselves in
those ways. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
I have no doubt about the spiritual
and pastural support offered by the | 0:13:44 | 0:13:49 | |
Church of England for fellow
Christians throughout the world. Can | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
she outline some of the financial
contributions made for programmes | 0:13:52 | 0:13:58 | |
for those most directly affected?
One of the things about the Anglican | 0:13:58 | 0:14:03 | |
Communion is it offers a network of
churches throughout the world and | 0:14:03 | 0:14:08 | |
can often get food, resources,
clothing and shelter through to | 0:14:08 | 0:14:14 | |
persecuted community, who are very
hard to reach. Only yesterday, I met | 0:14:14 | 0:14:18 | |
with the Bishop of Goma, from the
Democratic Republic of Congo who | 0:14:18 | 0:14:23 | |
bravery puts his own life on the
line to bring essential humanitarian | 0:14:23 | 0:14:29 | |
assistance at his own expense to the
Christians who suffer in his | 0:14:29 | 0:14:32 | |
country. That is one of the
strengths the Anglican Church has to | 0:14:32 | 0:14:37 | |
offer. Number seven, please. Mr
Speaker, six Cathedrals have | 0:14:37 | 0:14:41 | |
received money from the programme
launched in July 2016 as places of | 0:14:41 | 0:14:48 | |
worship funding scream which in 2017
became the vulnerable faith scheme. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:59 | |
Cathedrals have been given up to
£45,000 to take forward functions | 0:14:59 | 0:15:04 | |
they need to take. The funding for
their specific work, but also the | 0:15:04 | 0:15:14 | |
planning regulations are inadequate.
Would she work with me to ensure we | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
can make sure that worshippers are
save at York Minster? | 0:15:18 | 0:15:23 | |
I don't think it is possible
retrospectively to reimburse, but | 0:15:28 | 0:15:38 | |
the House of Commons, Westminster
City Council work together to make | 0:15:38 | 0:15:43 | |
these public safe -- spaces safety
after the terrible events of last | 0:15:43 | 0:15:52 | |
year and I'd like to assist the
honourable lady with getting that | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
good partnership working around
York. Given the Church of England is | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
responsible for some iconic sites,
it has welcomed the attention on | 0:15:59 | 0:16:03 | |
this work but come the right
honourable lady reassure me that | 0:16:03 | 0:16:07 | |
those wishing to meet the living God
will not find a palisade fence | 0:16:07 | 0:16:13 | |
separating them from his house. We
do not wish to turn this into a | 0:16:13 | 0:16:23 | |
fortress, no more does the church
want to provide security measures | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
that it becomes a less accessible
place where you can go and meet with | 0:16:26 | 0:16:31 | |
God. That balance has to be struck.
The House services contract | 0:16:31 | 0:16:42 | |
requirement terms and conditions
make provisions for contractors to | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
provide adequate working conditions
for employees, the provisions | 0:16:45 | 0:16:51 | |
include health and safety, training,
enumeration and payment of at least | 0:16:51 | 0:16:53 | |
the London living wage to employees
if working on the Parliamentary | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
estate. The working conditions must
be compliant with relevant | 0:16:57 | 0:17:02 | |
legislation and ensure appropriate
welfare and maintenance of stable | 0:17:02 | 0:17:06 | |
and skilled workforces to ensure
successful delivery of our | 0:17:06 | 0:17:08 | |
contracts. Can I thank the right
honourable gentleman for that | 0:17:08 | 0:17:14 | |
answer. Companies such as McAlpine,
who are up to their necks in | 0:17:14 | 0:17:20 | |
blacklisting, have contracts on the
Parliamentary site and since the | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
best form of protection for workers
is membership of the strong trade | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
union, would the commission consider
giving named officials in the | 0:17:28 | 0:17:32 | |
relevant trade unions security
access so they can check to make | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
sure blacklisting is not taking
place in this premises? I thank him | 0:17:35 | 0:17:40 | |
for advance notice of the
supplementary and I'm afraid the | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
current permit -- position doesn't
allow that, however he has made a | 0:17:43 | 0:17:55 | |
specific request so I will undertake
to secure a written response on that | 0:17:55 | 0:18:01 | |
subject. I have been asked to reply
on behalf of the chairman of the | 0:18:01 | 0:18:08 | |
public accounts commission. The
National Audit Office... Brexit is a | 0:18:08 | 0:18:17 | |
major task for departments on some
departments are more effective than | 0:18:17 | 0:18:19 | |
others. After we leave the EU, we
are likely to be still engaged in a | 0:18:19 | 0:18:33 | |
number of EU-wide programmes. Will
the public accounts commission | 0:18:33 | 0:18:38 | |
satisfy itself that the National
audit off is has the requisite | 0:18:38 | 0:18:41 | |
powers to continue to investigate
government involvement in those | 0:18:41 | 0:18:46 | |
schemes? The National Audit Office
has a remix to look at all | 0:18:46 | 0:18:51 | |
taxpayers' money and it will
scrutinise any financial settlement | 0:18:51 | 0:18:55 | |
with the EU. The first report is due
in the spring. | 0:18:55 | 0:19:00 |