Live Business Questions House of Commons

strategy, the agreed strategy in

place that takes the sector with it

in order to do that.

Order. Business

question. Valerie Vaz.

Will the

Leader of the House give us the

forthcoming business?

Leader of

House of Commons.

Thank you, the

business for the week commencing

12th March will be on Monday 12th,

remaining stages of financial

guidance and claims bill. Tuesday

13th, my honourable friend the

Chancellor will deliver his spring

statement. Followed by a debate on

motions relating to universal

credit, children and young persons

and social security. Wednesday 14th,

a general debate on European affairs

day one. Thursday 15th March,

conclusion of a general debate on

European affairs. Friday 16th March,

private members bills. The business

for if week commencing #19th will

include second reading of secure

tenancies victims of domestic abuse

bill. Today, Parliament is flying

the flag for international women's

day and this year is particularly

special as we mark the centenary of

some women getting the right to

vote. We will be celebrating women's

achievement and I hope all members

will be hosting an equality in their

constituency to celebrate democratic

equality and the opportunity to have

cake and eat it! We have achieved

much but there is a long way to go.

And today the Home Office has

launched a consultation on proposals

for a new domestic violence bill to

tackle the plight of the nearly two

million living with this problem. I

feel lucky to have not one or two,

but not even three, but four

brilliant female apprentices in my

private offices and my Parliamentary

office. Many members are marking

national apprenticeship week and I

would encourage any member and every

business to offer the valuable

experience of an apprentice ship to

young people. And lastly, this week

marks the birthday of our own

resident rock star, the member for

Perth. I hear that he is 21 again!

But actually I might be confusing

that with his majority! But I'm

sure... I'm sure he is not much

older than that. And I hope the

whole House will join me in wishing

him a very happy birthday for form

-- tomorrow.

Can I thank the Leader

of the House for the business and

also for her speech and I wonder if

that is going to happen every time.

Debite telling me that -- despite

telling me statements were not going

to be made in the House I'm glad she

has told us the date of spring

statement. Is there any reason why

the Leader of the House is

announcing the business just one

week and a day at a time. That seems

to be a change. I asked about the

legislation on restoration and

renewal when is that likely to come

back? There was a good turn out for

the debate. Every day that goes by

that we don't do something, further

costs are incurred. I asked about

the trade bill and she didn't

answer. It seems like all the

important legislation is delayed. Is

think Government a no-business

Government? I do thank the Leader of

the House for finding time for the

statutory instruments. There one

missing about the regulations

abolishing nursing bursaries. There

has been a 33% fall in applications

for nursing degrees and it helps

women returners. Perhaps the

Chancellor might make a concession

in the spring statement on the

bursaries. Because after that when

we do debate the statutory

instruments people will see cuts to

free school meals, ending free child

care to two-year-olds and universal

credit regulations that will affect

self-employed and disabled people.

That what is you get with with a

woman Prime Minister perhaps. The

reports on plastic bottles which was

push lished in December and

disposable coffee cups on 5th

January. Would the leader find time

for that debate and find time for a

debate on the announcement by the

president of the United States on

tariffs on our steel and aluminium?

We have a sitting Friday on 16th

March, I don't know if the leader is

aware a leadure motion was moved

after two hours of debate stopping

our spokesman from speaking. She is

stopped in mid speech. Is that going

to be the normal case. In which case

we need to warn the member for

Glasgow South who is second on the

list, because his bill will come up

much more quickly than before. She

promised the list of ministerial

responsibilities in March and I

think it is 8th March, could we have

that please? And will there be a

further day on, we have two debates

on the UK's exit from the EU. Will

there be further day or could the

opposition dare to dream we have an

opposition day? Despite setting ow

our speech to the mansion house,

only two thousand words to the

house. I feel robbed. We need a

third allotted day as we come up to

the year of triggering Article 50.

The Prime Minister said on Monday

that the Government is looking at

customs arrangements, including the

border between the United States and

Canada, but the Irish Prime Minister

actually visited that border and

said it is definitely not a solution

that we could possibly entertain.

What about if former Deputy Prime

Minister who criticised the Prime

Minister when he said, why haven't

we got any closer with the issues.

The answer is because no one has any

answer about what to do. If you

followed the speech and it was a

recipe for a cake, you couldn't even

bake a cake. It couldn't bake a

cake, even if it was a double cherry

Genoa cake. If it was a road map, it

was a road map to nowhere. Mr

Speaker you have been fantastic, you

have your reference group for

international women's day and you

have had in 2010 before I came to

the House I saw the conference on

Parliamentary inclusion. But we have

international women's day and women

consultants in the NHS have earned

14,000 a year less than men. The

House of Commons library said that

women are paying a price for balance

the books. There may be a woman

Prime Minister, but the leader of

the opposition is a person of deeds,

he has 50% of women in his Shadow

Cabinet, the Government only have

26%. The opposition party is leading

the way with representation of

women, we make up 45% of the

Parliamentary partry. Could I ask --

party. Could I ask if she could make

representations to the Foreign

Secretary for Nazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Could she urge

him to make representations on her

release that could have been done

before Christmas and there are

schoolgirls that have been kidnapped

again in Nigeria. On the day we have

got the National Audit Office

talking of cuts to services

published today, almost 50% I want

to thank all the public services for

all their hard work over this

inclement weather and they have

protect us and made sure we are all

safe. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I

certainly will join with the

honourable lady in thanking all

those who worked so hard during this

period of really difficult and

challenging weather, and also all of

those who had to bear the brunt of

sitting on trains that couldn't move

due to the weather. I think there

was a real effort and community

spirit which everyone should be

congratulated on. She raised a

number of legislative issues which

I'm very glad she did because quite

often she asks about policy issues

which are not technically a matter

for business questions. Chests about

legislation on renewal. She knows

that we will be bringing forward

legislation on the establishment of

a delivery authority and a sponsor

body as soon as possible. On the

trade bill with discussed last week

the fact there are number of

amendments being foot forward. The

Government considers those

carefully, is right we will always

consider amendments put forward to

try to improve legislation as we

enter into this very important

decision to leave the European Union

and we make steps to prepare

ourselves in the best possible way.

I'm glad she's happy about the

statutory instrument debates, which

we will be having next week. Chests

about nursing training places, she

will be aware there is an increase

in nursing training places of 25%,

the biggest increase ever. She also

raises the question of plastics and

what we are doing there and I hope

she as I have signed up to plastic

free Lent trying to minimise the use

of single plastics during the period

as an opportunity for ourselves to

really highlight the importance of

reducing plastics. This Government's

record is very good on that with the

determination in our 25 year

environment plans to be the first

generation that leaves our

environment in a better state than

we found it. She asks about the talk

about tariffs coming out of the

United States on steel and

aluminium. We are concerned about

that. As she will be aware, in the

UK we have ourselves made social and

economic factors part of the

consideration for public sector

procurement of steel. We have

commissioned research to identify

high value opportunities for UK

steel worth up to nearly 4 billion a

year by 2030 and we have certainly

made great steps to support our

steel sector since 20 to the cost of

renewables and climate change

policies but she's right to raise

concerns about US policy in this

area and the Prime Minister has

spoke with President Trump recently

and raised a concern at his

forthcoming announcement on steel

and aluminium tariffs. Multilateral

action is the only way to resolve

the problem of global overcapacity

in all parties' interests. Just

again about ministerial

responsibilities, that list will be

forthcoming as soon as possible once

those positions have been confirmed

with all departments. She asks about

the debate on the European Union. I

think she's happy we are having

those debates, this is in response

to the request from many honourable

and right honourable members to be

able to talk in general terms about

their ideas and proposals for how we

leave the European Union. We have

had a very important speech from the

Prime Minister last week and of

course we have the EU Council coming

up soon where we hope to secure

implementation period so now is a

very good time for all honourable

and right honourable members to put

forward their thoughts and views.

Finally she asks for representations

about Mr Gary Ratcliffe.

-- -- this Nazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

On the 2nd of

February this year, my private

member's bill, the parking code of

practice bill received a second

reading, thanks to support from the

Government and support from the

official opposition, and support

from the Scottish National Party for

which I'm obliged. However the bill

cannot proceed any further until the

ways and means notion is tabled.

Will the Leader of the House speak

to our mutual friend the patronage

secretary, the Chief Whip, and

hopefully agree with him this is a

matter which should be tabled sooner

rather than later?

My honourable

friend raises a very important

issue. The Government has expressed

support for a number of private

member's bill is so far in this

session and we continue to work with

the relevant members in charge. That

will include bringing forward money

resolutions on a case-by-case basis

in the usual way.

Order. Offering my

best birthday wishes for the

honourable member for North Pole

show tomorrow. Perhaps I can borrow

the observation of the honourable

gentleman the Member for Gateshead

and apply it to the honourable

gentleman. Fortunately he's not yet

at the age at which the cost of the

candles exceeds the cost of the

cake.

Thank you very much for that,

Mr Speaker, and can I thank the

Leader of the House for her kind

birthday wishes. Birthdays are more

to be noted then celebrated. Can I

wholeheartedly also welcome

International Women's Day and page

rebuke to all of these incredible

women throughout history who have

contributed so much to the progress

of other communities and acknowledge

we still have so much to do to reach

the truly equal society to which we

should all aspire. Half the world

saw that incredible speech from my

honourable friend for Paisley

yesterday on misogyny. A powerful,

profound personal account of some of

the misogynistic abuse she has

suffered just for being a young

woman in politics. On International

Women's Day, can the Leader of the

House consider making misogyny the

hate crime and proactively legislate

and ensure this is something we can

start to make part of the history of

the women's movement in this

country? We are having a day of

action on Saturday, an issue which

continues to upset and concerned

communities that we represent. The

Scottish affairs committee which our

chair has finally secured RBS CEO to

come in front of the committee to

answer questions about the closure

programme, but the one group of

people we have not heard from and

who still refuse to speak to us are

the majority shareholder, this

Government. The Government is the

steward of the public interest in

this so will she join me in

insisting they come to answer

questions about what they are doing

to represent our interests. Lastly,

we made a statement on the emerging

constitutional crisis on Brexit, the

Government say it will push ahead on

amendments in clause 11 without any

agreement from the Scottish

Government. The BBC say they have a

letter in which the Government says

it cannot counter the power grab

claims. Perhaps they cannot counter

the power grab claims because that's

exactly what it is.

Mr Speaker, to

the honourable gentleman's first

point, I'm very appalled, as I think

all honourable members are, to hear

of the experiences of his honourable

friend and I sincerely apologise to

her own behalf of everybody here for

the appalling abuse she has

received. It is utterly unacceptable

and of course in my role as Leader

of the Commons if she wanted to talk

to me I would be very happy to do so

and see if there's anything specific

I can do. As you know, we have

worked tirelessly cross-party to put

in place or independent complaints

procedure. Whether that would, if it

were up and running today, have gone

some way to improving the honourable

lady's situation I'm not sure, but I

certainly hope that our commitment

across this House and the other

place to stamping out abuse and to

making our Parliament one of the

best places to work and to be

employed is going to stand us in

good stead for the future. To his

second point about RBS, I'm very

aware of the grave concerns

expressed in a number of occasions

by honourable members on his side of

the House about buying closures and

he will be aware these are

commercial decisions, there are

procedures to go through before a

bank decides to close in terms of

consultation with local communities

but I would just point out to him

that one of his honourable friend

has an adjournment debate on banking

in Scotland next week on the 14th of

March and I'm sure that he will want

to take part on that. Finally, the

honourable gentleman raises the

issue of the Scottish party's

continuity bill. The EU Withdrawal

Bill will provide consistency across

the UK to middle all parts of the UK

are ready for our departure from the

EU and we are still hopeful we can

reach agreement with the default of

the decisions on the bill in coming

weeks.

In a recent debate on the

family test in the Lords, probably

better called family impact

assessment, there was good

cross-party support for the private

member's bill promoting a more

satisfactory application of this

test than currently appears to be

the case from several questions I've

asked across government departments

recently. Would the leader

facilitate the safe passage of this

bill in the other place by liaising

with the leader of there so it can

be brought to this House for

consideration as possible?

I would

first of all like to really commend

and congratulate my honourable

friend for the amazing work she does

cross-party and Crosshouse on

supporting families. I totally share

her desire to see the strengthening

families of all types and salts, and

in particular I know she shares

might have for the importance of

early attachment and giving every

baby the best start in life I

absolutely support her desire to see

the family test carefully applied

and would be delighted to meet with

her to discuss how I can

specifically help her.

Very

grateful, Mr Speaker, and I note

from the business statement leader

that backbench business committee

has been given a holiday from

backbench business debate. We do

have a number of outstanding

applications waiting for time

allocation and I would therefore

hoped would get some time before the

Easter recess in order to get some

of those debates timetabled. I'm

afraid the chickens have come home

to roost with regard to the

membership of the backbench business

committee, despite the fact we had

three members present on Tuesday

that is not... Where we the choir

four whereas we currently only have

six members.

I would just gently like to point

out to the honourable gentleman that

there is government by next week for

a Welsh affairs debate and we were

all very disappointed on Saint

Davids Day when, due to the awful

weather and the need for members to

get home before the train station is

closed and so on, not only I was at

the Number Ten reception for St

David's Day and very sadly we missed

out on the Welsh schools choir who

couldn't get there and that was a

great shame so we are delighted to

offer government time for that

debate to continue to take place

notwithstanding its under government

time, and I will of course ensure I

make representations where necessary

for his outstanding applications. I

have raised with colleagues what we

can do to facilitate extra

Conservative members on the

backbench unity and will continue to

press for that. If he would like to

write to me on the subject, I'm

happy to look at that matter very

seriously.

You will notice how works

if conventions are followed and as

my right honourable friend said

earlier about private member's bill

's, my private member's bill passed

on the 1st of December, also another

private member's bill about

constituencies passed on Monday.

Both were unopposed. Unfortunately,

this is more than three months

later, no money resolutions have

been forthcoming. That means there

can only be one bill at any one

time, there is none in committee

because of this. This looks to be an

obstruction of the private member's

bill system by the Government. I'm

sure that's not the case, well I'm

not sure that's not the case, but

will the Leader of the House arrange

for an urgent statement next week so

this can be discussed?

Earlier

question was asked about migratory

speeches and in the course of the

question a number of members on the

opposition benches noted the

honourable gentleman has migrated

from his usual seat to his new seat.

I don't think any significance need

be read into that and I can assure

the House even if it is thought to

be unusual I don't think it means he

is suddenly broke the European

Union.

The Leader of the House.

Thank you

Mr Speaker and I I'm slightly

disappointed my honourable friend is

a bit suspicious, how could he

think, particularly of me, since we

are very much honourable friends.

What I can say to him, as I did to

our other honourable friend, the

Government has supported private

members bills and indeed the

Government does support the health

and social care bill that my

honourable friend is bringing

through as a private member's bill

and we will bring forward money

resolutions on a case by case basis

in the usual way.

I appreciated the

comments the honourable lady made

about the President Trump's

announcement on steel tariffs I

think we need the Secretary of State

to make a statement. 10% of UK steel

is exported to the US. It has huge

implications. Particularly

post-Brexit.

The honourable lady

raises an important issue, as I

mentioned to the shadow leader, the

Prime Minister has spoke within

President Trump and raised our grave

concern at his proposals. I can also

tell the honourable lady that my

honourable friend the Secretary of

State for international trade is

speaking with Wilber Ross, the US

Commerce Secretary and this and she

hay be aware there has been an

overnight briefing that tariffs may

not apply to allies. This a moving

issue. And we will continue to take

every step to protect the UK's steel

and aluminium sectors.

On Monday, my

honourable friend the Secretary of

State for housing, communities and

local government made a welcome

statement on housing and planning.

Sadly, this coincided with the

select committee meeting so, those

of us that have a degree of

expertise on this were unable to

question him on the new policies.

Equally, the estimate day we had on

homeless was oversubscribed, which

meant colleagues could only make

short contributions. Could we find

time for a general debate on housing

and planning so members on all sides

can express their views and tease

out some of the policies that the

Government is proposing?

Well my

honourable friend will be aware that

the Prime Minister has been very

clear that sorting out or broken

housing market is one of her top

priorities. She is determined to see

young people able to aspire to a

home of their own and that means

building more houses, changing

planning and protecting tenants and

sorting out things like leases on

new homes. They are part of my

honourable friend the Secretary of

State's new policies. I would also

like to pay tribute to my honourable

friend for his homelessness

reduction act which the Government

has implemented and is part of our

determination to deal with the

problem of homelessness and rough

sleeping in this country.

Mr

Speaker, cancer research UK say

obesity is the second most

preventible cause of cancer. The

Government is reviewing it is

childhood obesity strategy, may we

have a debate on stopping junk food

adverts before the 9 o'clock water

shed to help reduce childhood

obesity.

I share the honourable

gentleman's concern at childhood

obesity. It appears we have a

growing problem. He may well want to

seek an adjournment debate to talk

to ministers about his own ideas.

Mr

Speaker, as we are aware we need

more housing to be built and we can

say that is good. I can name and I

won't name councils who have used

private companies and estate agents

to further their aims. My council

has been dragged into one of these

situations, can we have a debate on

making sure there is a clear

understanding between developers,

estate agents, planners and

companies, because if we don't, with

can see situations that won't help

us in the future.

My honourable

friend is right to raise the

importance of keeping good

boundaries. Ultimately the aim is to

produce more aims so more people can

aspire to a home of their own. He

may want to raise his concerns at

questions to the department on

Monday 12th March.

As one of my

favourite feminists can I wsh wish

you a happy international women's

day. Would she consider a debate on

gender pricing. Consumes have to pay

31% more to pay for goods that are

aimed at women. This isn't just

limited to toiletries, it can be

toys and stationery and clothes. We

need to put pressure on retailers to

top the pink tax.

I think the

honourable lady raises an issue that

we, that many of us would be equally

concerned about and it is obvious in

the case of for example toiletries

that men get their face care

products cheaper than we do. I would

support the honourable lady in

seeking a debate to raise this with

ministers.

Following the bout of

storms, we have seen a significant

cliff fall in Newquay. This is a

short distance from a site that has

been granted planning permission for

the development of houses. This is

causing concern with locals, could

the Leader of the House arrange for

a ministerial statement to make sure

to local authorities and the

planning inspectorate the position

on coastal development, particularly

in areas that are prone prone to

coastal erosion.

I'm sorry to hear

of this incident, of course he is

right to raise it as a real local

champion for the area. Local plans

determine the allocation of land for

development and planning permission

should take account of risk of

erosion and the policying framework

sets the expectation of planning

authorities establishing coastal

change management areas that

encourage development that is suited

to the area's changing coastline.

The planning rules are probably

there but he may want to seek an

adjournment.

What the leader said

about facial products, I can only

say I'm not experienced in these

matters, I concluded long time I'm

long beyond redemption.

Worldwide

there about one and a half million

knocks on the door, where families

are told your mother is dead, your

daughter, your son, the family will

be destroyed, there is a common

wealth meeting in London, could we

have a debate focussing on this

scourge, the greatest epidemic of

our time and not enough

concentration on these avoidable

deaths being removed.

I think the

honourable gentleman is speaking

about sort of violent deaths...

Deaths on the roads. I beg his

pardon. I didn't hear deaths on the

road. I think he raises an

incredibly important point and right

across the world we see every day

tragic and avoidable deaths. In the

United Kingdom our track record is

good and improving and we seeing

reduced numbers of road deaths, but

he might like to seek perhaps a

backbench debate to talk about road

safety or an adjournment debate if

he wants to cover an issue.

My

honourable friend knows well of the

serious concerns of people of

Redditch after the centralise of

paediatric emergency services,

because I have raised it so many

time. Will she call on the CCJ and

the trust to speed up their plans to

bring forward the GP-led urgent

centre and can we have a debate

about the services in

Worcestershire.

I commend my

honourable friend for raising this.

Local commissioners are reviewing

the national guidance that has been

issued with regard to urgent care

centres. Prior to to commissioning a

revised model for the hospital. I

understand they're expecting to

implement the new service in the

next 12 months as planned and she

might like to seek an opportunity to

raise this directly with health

ministers.

The beast from the east

brought red danger to life weather

for the first time last week, I

welcome that organisations such as

Renfrewshire council and the local

McDonald's as of one ago Port

Glasgow are paying employees unable

to travel to work. Can we have a

debate on employers responsibility

to their staff and ensuring no

workers is left out-of-pocket during

severe weather.

Can I join him in

congratulating those who tried to

keep people safe and keep transport

open. What I can say is there are

all key transport operators

including airports and local

authorities and train companies and

highways England and Network Rail

have winter contingency plans as I'm

sure do their equivalents in

Scotland. While we pay tribute to

all those who have put in that extra

work at the same time it is for

their employers to ensure they take

the right decisions to have the

right balance of keeping services

open and protect ing their

employees. I oo I

Can we have a

debate about the review of the

housing complaints system?

Yes I'm

grateful to my honourable friend for

an excellent question. It is vital

that consumers have swift routes

through which to complain. People

need to know where to go and to be

clear about what they can expect.

And he is right that at the moment

existing routes can be confusing. So

he will be pleased as I am that on

18th February we published a

consultation on strengthening

consumer redress in the housing

market. And we are looking at the

options on how to ensure people

whether tenants or owners can have

access to quick and effective

redress including looking at whether

a single housing ombudsman could

simplify that access.

The issue is

drivers who receive reimbursement

for patient transport. They are hit

very hard and by definition by

constituency people have to travel

huge distances to hospital. Would

the leader agree it would be helpful

if we could have a debate on this in

this House?

Well the honourable

gentleman raises a very particular

issue which I can well understand is

a real concern to his constituents

and to others, where there are long

distances to travel. I suggest that

he raises the subject at an

adjournment debate to hear from

ministers what they can do for those

who have to travel particularly long

distances.

Very good idea.

Can we

have a debate on local businesses

who are also global brands to alight

the Walker's shortbread from my

constituency. A company what has

been subjected to unacceptable and

despicable abuse from nationalists

in Scotland, because just one of

their many products featured a Union

Jack. Does my honourable friend

agree we should condemn these

attacks and instead celebrate the

success of Walker's shortbread who

have been established for many

years, employ hundreds locals and

are a great credit to the area.

As

ever, my honourable friend raises a

significant issue for his

constituency and he is a great

champion for Mo pray. I agree that

Walker's shortbread lishs and a

vital -- delicious and a vital

product. And many products are

marked with the... They're a

delicious snack only to be eaten in

small amounts. It is a great UK and

Scottish product.

The Leader of the

House is right in answer to my

honourable friend from Redcar and

the shadow leader to say that the

threat by the United States

administration to put huge tariffs

on steel is a moving issue. The fact

it is a moving issue, underlines the

need for a statement as to what the

Government is doing. When will we

have a state on this and when will

the official opposition again get an

opposition day debate?

Well, I think

I've said as much as can I about the

Prime Minister's determination to

protect UK interest and she has made

views clear to President Trump. As I

have mentioned, my honourable friend

the Secretary of State for

international trade has raised the

mat we are the United States

Commerce Secretary and as I also

have said, over night, the White

House has indicated there may be

exemption s from tariffs for allies

of the United States. We have to

look after global trade. We wish to

be a world leader in promoting free

trade. In term of opposition days

the, as I said, those will be

brought forward in the usual way.

European Union structural and social

funds have benefited local

authorities across the UK. Can I

request we have Parliamentary time

to debate what will replace these

funds post Brexit.

My honourable

friend is quite right to raise this

matter and he will be pleased that

we have committed to replacing

European structural funds with the

UK shared prosperity fund after we

leave the European Union. The new

fund will be designed to raise

productivity and reduce inequalities

between communities across all four

nations of the union and we will be

consulting on this later in the

year.

Its 20,000 elephants are

slaughtered every year simply for

their ivory. What the Leader of the

House in form us when we could have

a debate about the results of the

consultation that finished a couple

of months ago about the Government

plans to ban the sale of ivory as

soon as possible.

I'm so glad the

honourable gentleman has raised this

issue because it is vital the UK

continues to be at the forefront of

clamping down on the illegal

wildlife trade and in particular on

the poaching of ivory. When I was

Defra secretary I was proud to be

part of that consultation. It

received over 70,000 responses which

was one of the largest in the

history of Defra and it's clear and

overwhelming majority support a ban.

We have a conference later this year

and I can absolutely assure him we

will be doing everything we can to

bring forward legislation as soon as

possible.

Yesterday Babcock

announced 500 defence jobs would be

lost at Devonport dockyard

announced 500 defence jobs would be

lost at Devonport dockyard,

announced 500 defence jobs would be

lost at Devonport dockyard,. With

uncertainty, can we have a statement

from ministers about what support

the Government can offer to those

workers who are losing their jobs in

Plymouth?

My first say I'm sorry to

hear about those prospective job

losses -- come I first say. As he

points out Babcock International

have announced 500 job losses. 100

of those posts are filled making the

reduction of the headcount

potentially 400. Whilst the

restructuring is a commercial matter

for that company, nevertheless there

is a consultation period with staff

and trade unions under way which is

expected to conclude in mid April.

In the meantime government is

monitoring the situation and DWP are

on stand-by to provide support for

those affected via Jobcentre plus's

rapid response service.

May I also

wish a happy birthday to the

honourable member for Perth and

North Perthshire and say he shares

that would someone who has every

intention of continuing to be 21

again. Mr Speaker, on Friday the 2nd

of March several busy south Eastern

trains were stranded for hours

outside Lewisham station due to

severe weather conditions. Many

passengers self evacuated from these

trains and we were extremely lucky

no one died. Can we have a debate on

updating guidance for stranded

commuter trains to keep our

passengers safe?

As she so often

does, she raises a really important

and topical matter and I encourage

her to seek an adjournment debate so

she can discuss this matter with

ministers. I think we were all

concerned to hear about the risks

and people deciding to evacuate

themselves from trains, and we do

need to put a stop to that. It is

vital people abide by safety plans

for their own safety.

I was the

honourable lady's page once but I

must admit I don't remember it, it

was too long ago. Such kindness from

the honourable lady who makes an

analogy with fine wine, you say all

of the right things.

Following on

from that question and the serious

travel disruption last week, can we

please have a debate about putting

passengers first. So for example

when train services are cancelled,

there's an automatic entitlement

that passengers can use other train

services. In Hull we've had severe

disruption to services and it's come

to my attention the east Coast Main

Line has not been willing to

automatically allow Hull trains

passengers who cannot go all the way

to London to use their service and I

think that needs to be looked at in

terms of putting the passenger

first.

Again, the honourable lady

raises an important point. She will

be aware train operating companies

now are moving towards an automatic

reimbursement for people whose

experience train delays and so on.

We all know that they tend to

announce it at some point but often

when you've already turned up for a

train that is not there and then you

have to move stations so I

sympathise with her point entirely

and recommend she seeks an

adjournment debate.

I wish my

honourable friend happy birthday

too, I'm sure he will be celebrating

with a slice of shortbread. Can we

have a debate on the... Chlorinated

shortbread for the United States.

Can we have a debate on the

relationship between pip reviews and

the motability scheme. When will the

Minister come to this House and

explain why people's cars are taken

away even before the appeal has been

heard?

The honourable gentleman

raises a very important and

concerning constituency issue, and

as I have always said, if he wants

to raise this with me in writing I

can take it up with the Department

on his behalf. In a more general

policy sense, we spend over £50

billion per year on benefits to

support disabled people and people

with health conditions. We are

seeking to enable more disabled

people into work and we are seeing

significant increase in the number

of people able to get away from

their disability and get into work,

which is a great way to get into a

more productive and enjoyable