Live Business Questions House of Commons

brackets 2018. Space industry Act

2018. City of London Corporation

(Open Spaces) Act 2018. Order,

business question.

Could the Leader

of the House please update the House

on forthcoming business?

Leader of

the House, Andrea Leadsom.

The

business for the week commencing the

19th of March, Monday the 19th of

March, second reading of the secure

tenancies victims of domestic abuse

Bill laws, followed by a general

debate on Welsh affairs. Tuesday the

20th of March, consideration of the

business of a House motion followed

by proceedings on the Northern

Ireland Budget, anticipation and

adjustments Bill. Wednesday the 21st

of March, consideration of a

business of the House motion,

followed by the seedings on the

Northern Ireland Assembly members'

regional rates and energy Bill.

Thursday the 22nd of March, a

general debate on the economy.

Friday the 23rd of March, the House

will not be sitting. Business for

the week commencing the 26th of

March includes on Monday the 26th of

March, second reading of the misuse

Bill, loans. -- Lords. On Wednesday,

the Cabinet Office will be launching

a campaign pack for parliamentarians

to use as we visit schools in our

constituency to talk about the

amazing achievements of suffragettes

in the fight for equality. Also,

this week as Shakespeare week, and

he has a solid message for us in

this House as we seek to stamp out

bullying and harassment. Think now

that duty will have strength to

speak when power to flattery bowels.

Let's hope that all is well that

ends well. -- flattery bows. I am a

huge fan of England rugby, and we

face a great challenge against

Ireland on Saint Patrick's Day on

Saturday. I am proud of our strong

United Kingdom. I would like to wish

both teams a secure match, and to

wish everyone a very happy Saint

Patrick's Day.

I thank the Leader of

the House for the business next

week. I think it is an interesting

programme, and the Bill next week

consists of two clauses, the long

title and then the main clause. But

Kyrgios have the list of ministerial

responsibilities which I think not

been published yet, and could I ask

the reader when the debate on

restoration and renewal will finally

be scheduled? The withdrawal Bill is

still in the other place and is not

due to come back until possibly May.

The Shadow Secretary of State for

Education media point of order on

Tuesday after debate that the

Government will not press ahead on

childcare vouchers for the next six

months. We have now got these two

time-limit, 12 weeks and six months.

Could we have some clarity for our

constituents? And given there is

nothing scheduled after the 26th of

May, could the Leader of the House

please schedule and opposition Day

debate? Perhaps a debate on early

day motion 937, which I have asked

for before, which deals with

abolishing bursar list' choice

nursing statements? We thought the

Chancellor would make an

announcement in the Spring

Statement. The Chancellor now

describes himself as Tigger-ish, and

if he leads the tweets of some of

his members, that he will know that

they are asking him to bounce out of

the slowest of all T20 countries,

and so when he goes to plan a Saros,

he will be lost in the queue. --

Buenos Aires. And that is before we

left the EU. The President of

Luxembourg said, we had a special

relationship with the EU. Before

they were out with a loss of opt

outs, now they are out, they want a

lot of opt ins. I think that sums up

exactly where we are. I did not

quite going from the Secretary of

State for leaving the European Union

if he has actually visited Brussels,

so could I ask when was in fact the

last time he visited? He did not

actually say that he had visited the

Northern Ireland border within this

millennium, so could I ask to urge

him to do so, and could she say

whether the Prime Minister has

actually visited the Northern

Ireland border? Following the

statement yesterday on the Green

paper on the integration strategy,

Walsall was mentioned, and I have to

say I was a bit upset the Secretary

of State to not alert me to the fact

that he was going to mention Walsall

as one of the key areas. The ball in

my constituency have already

contacted me, and resent the fact

that Walsall is seen as a place that

is not integrated. I heard this

morning at 10.00 that the Secretary

of State was visiting my

constituency, it would have been

helpful if he had told me

beforehand, because I could have

shown decent areas. The fact is, in

July 2015, I in this chamber at

business questions, when I was

sitting back there, the cut in

funding from the Walsall adult

community college, and we had to

fight to get it back. My constituent

is now offering training courses for

women in childcare levels one, two,

three in the new Morrissey and

literacy. He struggles to get a

place to hold these training

courses, because when he tried to

get the library, it has been closed.

500 playgrounds have been

outsourced. Those are the places for

social cohesion. Could we have a

debate on the report found councils

are spending less on services, more

on social care, and that Government

funding has fallen by 49.1% in real

terms? 15 councils will be at risk

following Northamptonshire County

Council imposing emergency controls.

It is the funding of the

infrastructure of local Government

that helps with social cohesion. It

is austerity that fuels division, as

people think there is not enough

resources to go around, and blame

other people who seemed to be taking

the resources. Could we have a

debate on the National union of

teachers running a trust report on

visible and invisible barriers? All

an urgent statement on the young

black boy who was tied to a tree in

Bath and hit by white boys as he was

called names? There is no Government

strategy to cover that. Sadly, I do

not really wants to end on a sad

note, but I'm afraid I do have to. I

want to finally acknowledge the

passing of some very eminent people

who have made a major contribution

to our country. Brenda Dean was the

first female secretary of the trade

union. She joined a trade union when

she was a teenager. Professor

Stephen Hawking, a fellow for 22

years. I have read A Brief History

Of Time, but I will have to read it

again. In his memory, we must ensure

that the UK continues the fantastic

collaboration in science with the

rest of Europe. He said that a

publicly provided NHS, publicly

provided run system was the most

efficient, and those who say we

cannot afford the NHS are wrong. We

cannot afford not to have an NHS.

And finally, Sir Ken Dodd. I did

actually see him at the Palladium

when I was younger, a long time ago.

We hope to see him, we will not only

Mrs jokes, his songs, but actually

the image of a man wielding a

feather duster.

I completely shut

out with the honourable Lady's

tributes to Brenda Dean, Professor

Stephen Hawking and of course Sir

Ken Dodd. What is untested and

humourless man he was. -- a

fantastic. I also share our

commitment to a health service that

is free at the point of delivery.

That will always be the case under

this Government. She raises a number

of issues. Ministerial

responsibilities, she and I have had

this discussion a number of times. I

have chased this, and I am told that

that will be published in the next

quarterly transparency around next

Friday, so let's hope. I am an aside

on this. When we bring forward the

restoration and renewal debate,

something I shall be updating the

House commission on Monday. I have

spoken to Parliamentary council

about the drafting of that Bill. We

need to get that ready and bring it

forward as soon as possible. Again,

think she and I agree on that. I

hope the rubble already will be

pleased, as I was, that we had the

days debate. I was tolerated, as no

doubt she wasn't, that the

Government managed to win, with

recent majorities, each of those,

which are very important for young

people. To expand the number of

young people free school lunches by

more than 50,000. We had an

opposition Day debate for Plaid

Cymru and for the DUP, others will

be brought forward through the usual

channels. She talks about our new

Tigger-ish Chancellor. I was

delighted to see this new Disney

reference, and long may that class.

I would like to point out to the

Honourable Lady, she says that it is

misplaced, but manufacturing output

has now grown for nine consecutive

months for the first time since

records began in 1968. We have had

the best two quarters of

productivity growth in the financial

crisis. The lowest year-to-year net

borrowing since 1998. The number of

first-time buyers is that an 11 year

high, and employment is near a

record high. These are reasons to be

optimistic and believe in our

fantastic economy. I am delighted

the Honourable Lady has such faith

in my ability to determine whether

the Prime Minister should go, I

think it is very flattering she

thinks I should determine their

travel arrangements. She mentions

the excellent work on the racial

disparity audit and the

determination of this Government to

ensure that where there is

inequality, we take very strong

measures to try to remove any

barriers to the success of all parts

of all races, all ethnic

backgrounds, all religions in this

country to be able to progress. She

mentions that Walsall, her own area,

will be part of that initial pilot

scheme. I welcome that, and I hope

she does. She also mentions the

horrifying story of a young black

boy being tied to a tree. I think we

all share absolute disgust and

horror at that inappropriate,

utterly awful experience, and I hope

that we in this House are always at

all times United in stamping out any

behaviour of that sought wherever we

see it.

It is the 346th anniversary of the

declaration of indulgence and I beg

your indulgence in that... Freedom

of religion in this country,

something that we all cherish. The

backbench ministers committee now

has eight and allocated debates that

need time in this chamber and now

that the government has taken today

and next Thursday, we will therefore

be losing the opportunity to debate

autism and victims of autism and

victims of surgical mesh, which are

subject members across the House are

very keen to debate. Could I ask the

Leader of the House to ensure that

we get backbench business times as

soon as possible? And on my behalf,

Mr Speaker, can I ask for a debate

on both child six abuse and grooming

of young children? Particularly

those in care. I have sat on the

communities and local government

Select Committee for a long time

now, seven years, and we went

through the Rotherham case in very

great detail, and now we are hearing

cases across the country. I think it

is time we had a debate in

government time on this very

important issue so all members can

voice their views and we can hear

what the government is going to do

about it.

I am grateful to my honourable

friend for stunning in for the

chairman of the backbench business

committee. I absolutely hear his

request for backbench business days.

I hope he will welcome the

government's determination to

provide government time for the

debate on international women's date

on such an important year, which in

previous years has fallen to the

backbench business committee to

table, and also on Welsh affairs,

which unfortunately was a backbench

day which was cancelled, in effect,

due to the appalling weather. We

also have a government debate on the

economy, which I know something the

backbench business committee was

keen to have. We are not ignoring

the House. However, I do here is

specific mention of debates on

autism and surgical mesh. I have

constituents of my home who suffered

very profoundly from obligations

relating to surgical mesh and all

members will want to do everything

we can for people who suffer from

autism. We will be bringing forward

backbench days as soon as business

allows. He also raises the question

of child six abuse, which is beyond

appalling, and we heard this week

about the appalling situation in

Telford. I will make representations

on his behalf.

Can I thank the Leader of the House

for announcing the business for next

week and also, in tribute to the

three names mentioned, I think the

best thing we can help do is address

the cause of independence for nutty

ASH. And can we also welcome

National Shakespeare Week. Surely it

could only be a comedy of errors or

is that a power grab I see before

me? I am surprised the leader has

not announced any debate on Russian

relations. We have had to debates

which have been heavily subscribed

this week. There is a great deal of

interest might across this House.

Before Easter, can we ensure we get

a debate on Russia? Tomorrow is a

first. We have got two consecutive

Scottish National Party members

private member 's' Bill.

Particularly good and worthy Private

Members' Bills on uniting refugee

families and ending the practice of

unpaid internships. Can she do all

she can to make sure there is none

of the usual, awful, disruptive

parliamentary practices that

characterised so much of Private

member days. This is stuff our

constituents absolutely loathe and

they want to see these bills

progress. And can we have a proper

debate about English votes for

English laws. Everybody in this

House knows this is an appalling,

divisive measure that socially

organises this House based on

nationality. I think there are still

people in the House was still

confused about how it applies to

them. My Scottish Conservative

friends determined to exercise their

prime function as unquestioning

lobby fodder rushed through those

lobbies on Tuesday to vote to take

free meals out of the mouths of a

million English only to discover

that their votes didn't count

because of the English veto in the

double majority vote. The Scottish

Tory draftees turned up to have

their votes discounted in person.

The Scottish Tories do nothing but

as questions of a parliament 400

miles away that they can't answer

these questions, infuriating their

constituents. It is primarily

responsible for their plummeting

relations.

Well, thank you, Mr Speaker. I am

struggling to find something to

agree with the honourable gentleman

on her. Perhaps on the independence

of knotty ASH would be the safest

place to go. He calls for a debate

on Russia and the government was

extremely grateful yesterday for the

very calm and supportive response of

his party leader. The government

very much appreciated that sensible

and very measured response and I

will certainly make representations

and I'm sure there will be

opportunities to refer the

discussion on this very serious

subject. He talks about Private

Members' Bills. He will be aware

this is by definition Private member

's bills. The government does not

seek to interfere in the passage of

legislation in the debate on Private

Members' Bills. And he mentions two

very important bills led by Scottish

members. One on the reunion of

refugee families and the other on

banning unpaid internships. Both of

those proposals have a good deal of

merit. The government have strong

policies in each area. There was a

good discussion this morning on the

radio about the merits of on the one

hand abusive people who are trying

to apply for a job versus the merits

for small businesses being able to

check out in practical reality the

skills that individuals claim to

have. I think that debate will be

very useful tomorrow. He also talks

about English votes for English laws

and I would just like to put on

record that it is absolutely not the

case that free school dinners are

being taken away from children. I

deeply regret that honourable

members on the opposition have

deliberately sought to mislead and

to make vulnerable people feel yet

more vulnerable. It is quite clear

that there will be 50,000 more

children than today eligible for

free school meals by the time

Universal Credit is rolled out and

that is a great regret to the

government that anyone should seek

to misrepresent that.

I just very gently say on advice to

the Leader of the House that she

would not seek to accuse members of

deliberately misleading the House

because that would be an accusation

that would touch upon somebody's

integrity and that is not orderly.

I'm sure she will want to withdraw

that. It is not negotiable, it just

has to be withdrawn.

I will withdraw.

Could my right honourable friend

find time for a debate on food

labelling? I have been contacted by

Diabetes UK who feel very strongly

that food labelling should be much

clearer so that customers, when they

buy food and drink, can understand

the effects it has on the health and

how farm animals are treated.

My honourable friend raises a very

important issue, not just, as he

says, for those with health problems

but also so that people who care

about the welfare of animals can see

precisely how the food they are

eating has been treated during its

lifetime and of course in the way

that it has been slaughtered. What I

can say to him is that when we leave

the European Union, we will no

longer be subject to EU food

labelling regulations and we will be

able to look at this as a

Independent United Kingdom.

Last Friday night I stayed up all

night sleeping rough at Huddersfield

town football stadium to raise money

for local homeless charities. We

raised over 40,000 type -- £40,000

that night. Would the leader agree

with me that we should encourage

other football clubs, including,

perhaps you could influence the

mighty gunners, to do the same to

raise money locally, but can we also

have a statement on how the

government plans are going to

eradicate homelessness?

Can I congratulate the honourable

lady. That is an amazing thing to

do. In my own home town of

Northampton, there is a fantastic

homelessness centre that every year

there's a sleeper and I am fully

determined to do that myself one

year as well. Can I also

congratulate her on the amazing

fundraising effort. That is really

amazing news. And to everyone

involved with that. It is an

absolute priority of the government

to make sure that we tackle this

huge problem of homelessness and

rough sleeping. We have pleasure in

our manifesto to eliminate it by

2027, halving it by 2022. These are

very difficult issues and we have

committed £1 billion to tackling

rough sleeping and homelessness. But

it is not just about money, we are

changing how councils approach the

issue. We are implementing the

Homelessness Reduction Act. And we

are also very working very closely

with councils to look at what more

can be done in targeted ways to

tackle the problems that result in

homelessness and rough sleeping.

I joined the leader in

congratulating the honourable lady

and her message to colleagues will

have been heard and digestive.

Can my right honourable friend see

two ins a sense of urgency into

government departments, perhaps

starting with the Department for

Transport, because once again due to

heavy rainfall, the line from London

to Plymouth is cut off due to

flooding in the Exeter region. There

is a plan to fix it but it is taking

far too long and my constituents are

fed up about it and so am I. Can she

please help?

My honourable friend is a huge

champion for his constituency and he

is quite right to raise it. I

absolutely understand his

frustration and that of his

constituents. If he would like to

write to me I would be very happy to

fire a small rocket towards the

Department of Transport on his

behalf.

I have got constituents who bought a

new biomass boiler hoping to offset

some of the costs. After legal

action, they have got it removed and

now they have got a replacement

boiler but have been told they are

no longer allowed to access HIV. To

rub salt in the wounds, they have

now been demanded to pay money back.

Can we have a debate about the rules

and customers trying to do the right

thing in embracing green energy.

The honourable gentleman has raised

a very important point and we do

want to encourage everybody to take

every opportunity to reduce carbon

emissions and to turn our economy

green. I am delighted that in 2017

the UK enjoys the greenest year for

an atrocity ever. He raises a very

specific constituency point and I

urge him to raise it at questions

with the Department.

Since last Tuesday's debate in this

place on free school meals, I have

received numerous e-mails attacking

me for taking food out of the mouths

of the poorest children in my

constituency. Since I came into

politics to improve the lives of my

constituents, I find this abhorrent.

It is also a waste of taxpayers

money having to create these

rebuttals. Honourable members know

that no child will lose every school

meal as a result of these policies.

Can we please have a debate about

the way in which statements which

are made in this chamber that when

lifted out of context can be

unfortunately used on social media

to manipulate public opinion by the

party, which ends up harming our

most vulnerable constituents and

achieving the opposite effect?

I completely agree with my

honourable friend. She is absolutely

right to raise this matter in the

chamber. They will be no children

who lose their free school dinners

and in fact there will be a 50,000

increase by the time Universal

Credit is rolled out. As you have

said, Mr Speaker, while the use of

social media is broadly to be

welcomed, members should take care

to ensure that usage of selected

clips of debates does not create a

misleading impression of what has

taken place. Unfortunately, your

words were not heeded and a

misleading impression has been

created us and it is greatly to be

regretted and I do believe that it

does not help the integrity of this

place when honourable members

deliberately seek to put out

information which is incorrect. Is

that OK?

I would not get drawn into arguments

about policy. I absolutely stand by

that statement in its entirety, but

it is entirely compatible and

consistent with saying that people

cannot accuse other members of Miss

leading the House. -- misleading the

House. That first statement is

absolutely correct, people should

not use selective clips to give an

incorrect, inaccurate, erroneous

account of proceedings.

In all this well that ends well may

not be the case in relation to

Northern Ireland, more a case of

beware the Ides of March. Will the

reader the time available for the

debate on the subject of Northern

Ireland and the Foreign Secretary's

proposals for a minimal border

controls and the impact that will

have on border controls and security

in Northern Ireland?

The honourable

gentleman will be aware that the

Government policy is to ensure that

there is no hard border between the

Northern Ireland and the Republic of

Ireland, that when we leave the

European Union, we have a deal that

works all parts of the United

Kingdom, and that does not seek to

divide or undermine any part of the

United Kingdom from any other part.

He also might have hard when I read

out the business for next week there

will be two days of debates

pertaining to Northern Ireland next

week, he may well want to take the

opportunity to speak on those.

Can I

just please refer back to this whole

business of about statistics and the

use of statistics? There is nothing

wrong with a good, robust argument

in this place. What I would ask the

Leader of the House as this. If she

or any other Government minister

makes an assertion about facts, they

can quite properly be challenged and

brought back to this place, and made

to give an account of any inaccuracy

in the use of statistics as fact.

But it is not the same for

honourable and right honourable

members in the opposition in

particular, and I don't think it is

enhancing political debate for

people, and it is a growing problem,

week after week, almost a day after

day to assert facts but without any

accountability in this House. Is

there anything that the reader can

do? Because we had to lie on Channel

4's fax checker on Tuesday. The

library is an excellent source of

information, but it is imperative

that we all Act with the raster tea

and integrity, and are held

accountable when we make assertions.

That is exactly right. Mr Speaker,

you will recall I raised in this

chamber the issue of a private

response I gave to an honourable

member opposite, in relation to a

question they asked me privately,

that they then treated, implying

that I had answered something else,

which I personally was extremely

offended by. -- tweeted. My

honourable friend is exactly right,

social media clips that are

deliberately misleading and ignore

facts to make political points

undermine our democracy and our

Parliament, and it simply must not

happen.

Mr Speaker, you might like

to know that I fully intend on

spending the night with the

honourable member at least alien of

Huddersfield Premier League club. We

are working on a cancer fundraiser

last week, and I had to withdraw. I

have a serious request, can we get a

group of all parties for members of

this House to be made available on a

more transparent way? I have become

very tired of hearing when someone

stands up on this side of that and

the mumble, can I refer to my

interest in the register of

interest? And that is all. And if

you look at the richest of interest,

some of these people have amazing

business connections, large amounts

of investments, and indeed some of

them own half a county in

agriculture? And all we get is a

little aside, I think this House

isn't transparent enough in terms of

when you make a speech, you should

fully say what your interests are.

I

am looking at you wondering whether

this is more a matter for the chairs

and it is for the Leader of the

House. But I understand what the

honourable members saying clearly.

If you would like to write to me, I

would certainly be happy to take it

up with the procedure committee and

see whether this is an error we need

to review.

The position is actually

pretty clear. In a speech, a member

should declare an interest that

members of the House are aware of

it. There is no requirement to do so

in a question. But each member must

take responsibility for his or her

decision to decline. So I wouldn't

want it to be thought that there is

huge ambiguity about this. It may be

that it takes time for some people

to be fully conversant with the

required procedure, although that

isn't a problem that will afflict

the honourable gentleman, as he is

approaching his 39th year of

consecutive service in the House of

Commons. But I hope people will

appreciate how to go about this

matter, and it is certainly very

important. John Lamont.

This evening

I have a great pleasure of attending

the 90th birthday celebrations of

the Coldstream branch of the woman's

Institute. I'm sure my right

honourable friend would be welcome

to join me. And I wonder if we could

have a debate to pay tribute to the

great work that the woman's

Institute does, not just in Scotland

but across the whole of the United

Kingdom are supporting not just

women but also local charities?

I am

sure my honourable friend will be

very warmly received by DWI, he is a

great champion of his constituency.

And I do thank him for highlighting

the incredible work of the WRI which

has played a unique role as the

largest woman's voluntary

organisation in the country. The WI

has dedicated its time to a wealth

of worthy causes. I help all of

those celebrating the 90th

anniversary of the Coldstream branch

have a very enjoyable evening with

him. -- I hope.

Anti-social

behaviour is a growing concern

across my constituency, people tell

me that they feel intimidated and

unsafe in their homes. Please can we

have a debate on on the need for

increased funding for our police and

statutory youth provision to Act as

both a deterrent and a solution to

this problem of anti-social

behaviour?

I think the honourable

lady is quite right to raise the

real problem of anti-social

behaviour, which whilst low-level,

Kimberly wrecked people's lives and

their enjoyment of their homes and

so on. -- can really wreck. I will

look into the possibility of a

debate across the whole of the

House.

Each week across England and

Wales, some 80 dogs are stolen from

their owners, causing huge distress

to both the owners themselves and of

course the animals concerned. During

this pet theft awareness week, could

we have a debate on what is a

growing and really nasty problem

across this country?

I know my

honourable friend has done a great

deal to raise awareness of the issue

of dog theft. It is a terrible

crime, and whilst any theft of

property can be distressing for the

victims, the suffering will be much

greater when it is a family pet, and

I commend him for raising this

issue. The Government is very clear

that when such a crime happens, it

must be reported to the police

whenever it happens, so that that

crime can be investigated and the

perpetrators brought to justice. He

will know that the theft of a dog is

a criminal offence under section one

of the theft Act of 1968, and we are

determined to see it enforced.

Mr

Speaker, my constituents in Bristol

West are baffled at the way this

Government keeps pulling business

and not replacing it with time to

solve the pressing issues of the

day, almost as, lack of funding for

schools, challenges to the NHS, so

will the Leader of the House please

ask the Government to provide

further governments time or further

opposition day time for us to debate

and try to solve some of these

pressing issues?

As far as I'm

aware, Mr Speaker, the only business

that the Government has pulled as a

response to a request from the

opposition on Monday evening that,

due to the unprecedented number of

urgent questions and important

statements around things like

bullying and harassment and a

response to the Salisbury attack,

the opposition requested that the

Government pulled the business that

night. So I'm not entirely sure what

the honourable lady is talking

about.

Last Saturday I joined the

save our hospital campaign on a

march to highlight the anxiety and

stress in the local community

presently feels as we await the

outcome of the Department of Health

independent review panel's review.

The challenge of rural funding for

health care means we are not

investing fairly into England's most

sparsely populated community. We

need better palliative and

convalescent care, and we need to

give consideration to the challenges

faced by rural hospitals. The

Government allow a debate in

governments time to debate how we

all we can address these problems?

I

think you have highlighted

beautifully what a fabulous champion

for constituents my honourable

friend is, and she has rights to

raise the particular challenge of

sparsely populated areas and her

need for health care to be as good

as anywhere else in the country. I

myself have some challenges with a

local health care provision in a

less populated area, and I do

appreciate fully what she is saying.

I suggest to her that you might like

to seek an adjournment debate

specifically to deal with the issues

in Northumberland.

Last Friday, I

was tossed out by the entire primary

three class at Hanover Street

primary School -- door stepped, who

wanted to tell me that in three

years the Parliament use of straws

has doubled. They are concerned

about this would like to know what

the Government is doing to tackle

this issue.

Isn't that fantastic to

hear of young students doorstepping

the honourable lady? The Government

is committed to tackling and

reducing the use of plastics, and

are all manner of efforts, such as

the 5p levy on plastic bags, which

is reduced usage by around 9 billion

bags, an extraordinary number. There

is also an effort on the blue belt

to protect maritime environment. But

closer to home, we know that a

little and often ends up in our

sees, and so we have a new strategy

for England. But very specifically

to the point of plastic straws and

the use in this place, the

administration committee have taken

this up. They are committed to

reducing the use of single use

plastics, which includes plastic

knives and forks as well as straws,

and I can tell her that a number of

honourable members across this place

have committed to a plastic free

Lent, she would be very welcome to

join us should you wish to do so.

I

commend my honourable friend for the

hard work and determination she has

shown to deal with the issue of

bullying and harassment of all kinds

in Westminster. Could we please have

a statement on the ballooning

quietly she has proposed this week,

and is she able to confirm that this

enquiry will not look at individual

cases but instead look at whether

the respect policy as a whole is

working for staff in this place?

I

am grateful for his question, and I

can get some very specific

reassurance. The enquiry into the

bullying of House staff at I will be

posing on the 19th of March will not

be carrying out investigations into

individual cases. That is exactly

why I expected to attract the full

support of the House commission.

There are existing avenues open to

anyone wishing to raise specific

grievances, and those individuals

coming forward will be in Courage to

use those where they apply. But the

enquiry will be looking at whether

they are functioning properly. --

will be encouraged. My aim is to

stamp out bullying and harassment of

any kind in this place, and I

imagine every single person who will

wish to support this.

Can we have a

statement or a debate on the dispute

of universities at the moment? I

have two universities in my

constituency, and this debate has

been dragging on for weeks,

including lecturers' pensions. Can

we have an update or on that? And

before the Leader of the House gets

up to answer me, I'm aware that

there are educations on Monday, but

I would like a proper statements to

show me the matter is being taken

seriously by the House. -- education

questions.

I'm certainly very

personally aware of this, with my

eldest son facing finals and having

been denied the opportunity to even

go to university because of the

picket line to use the resources

there, let alone have any of the

face tuition that he was due to have

and has paid for. -- face-to-face

tuition. So I am personally

extremely cross about the way that

innocent students are being punished

during this dispute. I urge all

parties to get together and find a

resolution so that a generation of

graduates do not have to pay the

price.

Two weeks ago I raise the question

of non-levy apprenticeship funding

for Newcastle, Stafford, Shrewsbury

Town and other colleges. This is

becoming a serious situation and I

believe that our young people will

be let down if we don't resolve it.

Can I urge that we have a statement

or a debate on this matter as soon

as possible?

I know my honourable friend is very

supportive of the importance of

apprenticeships so I thank him for

his question. I can tell him that

the contracts for the delivery of

non-levy brandish ship training were

awarded on the basis of an education

and skills funding agency assessment

of information that was supplied

against clearly separate criteria.

Ofsted's weighting of this was not

considered as new entrants don't

have an Ofsted rating so would have

been disadvantaged. The government

was awarded over 700 providers with

contracts totalling £490 million to

deliver apprenticeship training for

non-levy payers. However, those who

were not successful in the

procurement can still provide

apprenticeship training to levy

payers directly.

In the last week I have had three

constituents contact me to express

their frustration that they are

unable to receive social security

payments into Post Office accounts.

With bank closures, including in my

constituency, can we have a debate

in government to the functions and

work of the Post Office to make sure

that we can resolve these issues to

make sure that constituents can

receive Social Security payments

into those accounts?

I think the honourable gentleman

raises a really important point. I

was delighted when city minister to

sign the arrangement with. This is

to provide basic banking services

for all UK banks. So this, the issue

that he raises, is news to me

personally. If he would like to

write to me about it, I will take it

up with the Department.

I thought yesterday the Prime

Minister didn't only speak for the

government but also the country over

Russia. I thought the Leader of the

Opposition was an apologist for

Russia. The duty of every member in

this House is to put country first

and party second. I congratulate the

18 Labour members who have signed an

early day motion 1071 supporting the

government. On this occasion would

it be possible for the Leader of the

House to have this debated next

week?

I entirely agree and associate

myself with the comments from my

honourable friend and I think that I

will certainly reflect his comments

to the government but that it will

not be possible as the business has

already been arranged for next week.

But I do encourage him to seek other

means for this matter to be debated.

Services eight and 19 will cease in

11 days' time resulting in villages

no longer having a direct bus route.

We are looking forward to be

Scottish Government's transport Bill

which will deal with many of these

issues. Can we have a debate on the

impact across the UK?

I think the honourable gentleman

raises what is clearly a very

important point. Bus services are

vital for many rural communities for

people to get to work, education and

to do the weekly shop. I am a huge

fan of the bus sector and the

importance of maintaining services.

However, it is an entirely devolved

matter and it would not be

appropriate for me to comment

further on specifics in his area.

There has been minimal attention

given to the events in Telford where

hundreds of children have been

abused and rates. Can we have --

abused and raped.

We have all been shocked by the

reports from Telford and we should

all be praising our honourable

friend, the member for Telford, who

has been totally right to speak out

as she has. I am very pleased that

the authorities are now going to

conduct an enquiry and it is

important this work gets under way

as quickly as possible so we can get

to the truth. My honourable friend

raises an important point about the

relative lack of reporting on this

subject versus other perhaps more

gossipy types of scandal. He is

right to raise the concern about

evenhanded reporting.

The Leader of the House may have

noticed that on several occasions I

have asked for debates on youth

violence and the root causes of

youth violence. I have noted that we

have not got these in terms of

government time and quite often the

Leader of the House gives creative

suggestions for how we might go

about having a debate on this. But

one of those, I was thinking we

could have opposition Day debates

and maybe I could lobby our front

bench to discuss the issue of youth

violence within an opposition day

debate. Can we have time for

opposition day debates, please?

Can I pay tribute to the honourable

lady for her work in this area. I

know she is supporting the

government in looking into the issue

of serious violence and she will be

aware that government's new serious

violence strategy is due to be

published in the spring and it will

look at ways to steer young people

away from a life of crime while

putting in place measures to prevent

and reduce the effect on victims of

serious crime. She asked for an

opposition day and I can assure her,

as I did to the honourable lady

opposite, that opposition days will

be forthcoming in the usual way and

in accordance with the standing

orders of this House.

I'm sure the whole house will be

delighted to hear that Wales' first

zero waste shop opened its doors on

the high street of Crickhowell in my

constituency of Brecon and

Radnorshire earlier this month. Can

we therefore have a debate on what

more the government can do to make

sure that more shots follow their

example and therefore help the

unnecessary -- reduce the

unnecessary plastic packaging that

is doing harm to our environment?

Firstly, can I congratulate his

constituents for this great

endeavour and wish them every

success. The passion with which

honourable members across the House

put forward ideas for reducing

plastic waste shows that is as

consumers as well as our

constituents will be very keen to

support such measures I retailers.

Obviously, he will be aware that the

small retailers Association have

committed themselves to joining in

the 5p charge for plastic bags,

which will all help, and I expect

all members to support their

retailers, who are doing so much.

Can we have a debate in government

time on the practice of housing

developers.

Can we have a debate to hold these

developers to account?

I think the honourable gentleman is

right to raise those issues. We all

have developments going on in our

constituencies where we have lots of

promises and then constituents are

disappointed by the lack of action

on those and I'm sure we all, as I

do, right furious letters to

developers asking them, we read

this, where is that? . I do

encourage the honourable gentleman

to seek a debate to deal with the

specific issues in his constituency,

but I commend him for raising this.

On Tuesday, amusement arcade

operators in Cleethorpes were

operating -- expressing their anger

at the possible withdrawal of the 1p

and 2p coins. They are now confused

as to what the government's policy

is. Could we have a statement to

clarify whether the consultation is

ongoing and whether or not it will

include possible withdrawal of the

1p and 2p coins?

The Prime Minister's spokesman has

said there are no proposals to scrap

1p or 2p coins. The call was simply

intended to help the government

better understand the role of cash

and digital payment. One of the

elements is whether the

denominational mix of coins meets

the public need and from the early

reaction it looks as if it does. I

think it is safe to say that the

penny has dropped, we have

considered change, we know we like

change, so we think we will probably

keep change and have no change.

Since raising the York housing

crisis in the chamber, my inbox has

been flooded with horrific stories

of damp and mouldy housing in York,

where landlords, whether council or

private landlords, have completely

fingered my constituents. --

completely failed my constituents.

And we have a debate so that once

and for all we stamp out doubt --

stamp out damp.

There is no doubt that the

government is determined to take

steps to help to ensure that all

homes are meeting the right

standards and that we do stamp out

issues like damp and other problems

that so many tenants have. She will

know that the government is

supporting the Private members Bill

of her honourable friend on bringing

homes to a decent standard. We are

also committed to protecting the

rights of tenants and giving them

more security through our tenant

fees Bill that is going to ban

unfair letting feels and other ways

-- letting fees and other ways in

which tenants are mistreated. I'm

sure there will be many

opportunities to raise this in the

coming months.

When the results of the English

votes for English laws were

announced on Tuesday, the number of

members from English constituencies

had not been counted by tell us,

they have been countered by an

electronic devices in the lobbies.

Is it not time to drag this place

into the late 20th century and

introduce electronic voting for all

divisions?

This is what I would say to the

honourable gentleman is, for many of

us, we find the lobby is a very

useful place to discuss matters

pertaining to our constituents and

to policy and it is a great

opportunity to meet with ministers.

I do encourage the honourable

gentleman to hang around a bit and

raise some of the issues he often

raises with me on a Thursday with

the relevant minister rather than

rushing through and electronically

voting. I commend it to him.

He will only be raising this matter

with ministers in the lobby if he

voted with them. I can't imagine

that happening very often. The

Leader of the House has made her

position and other members of the

House very clear.

I'm sure I'm not alone in being less

than impressed with the answers the

Foreign Secretary gave this morning

when he was quizzed on the Today

programme when he was asked what

action the government is taking to

freeze the assets -- assets to those

related to the Russian regime. I

know the government can't give as a

running commentary on what it is

doing at this moment in time but in

the near future this House will want

an account of what action they took

urgently to freeze those assets to

stop them being moved. Will the

Leader of the House convey that to

the government and make arrangements

for such a statement in the near

future?

This is a very serious matter and if

I can just say, what the Foreign

Secretary was making clear this

morning, unlike others, this country

abides by the rule of law, it is not

for ministers to simply decide to

freeze assets. We go by the law of

the land and we are putting in

place, as far as possible and within

the law, a review of all of those

who we suspect may have assets that

we may wish to consider freezing. Of

course ministers will come forward

and report to the House exactly what

is happening as soon as they are

able to do so.

Can the Leader of the House make

sure that as Universal Credit is

rolled out we have more regular

opportunities to question ministers

and tell them what is happening on

the ground? In Newport, with the

roll-out started in November, we

have seen a threefold increase in

food parcels and government

ministers need to listen to that.

Well, I do want to be clear that

Universal Credit is designed to make

work pay. There is evidence that

that is working. It is encouraging

more people to seek work and more

people to get work. The idea is to

reduce the capacity of the previous

benefits system. The honourable

ladies pigs as if somehow it is

making people worse off. It is

making people better off. The

government has listened very

carefully to the many

representations right across the

House -- the honourable lady

opposite.

Can we have a debate in government

time on the responsibilities of the

foreign and, wealth office. Three

weeks ago today I raised the urgent

case of Leo Colgan, the Inverness

man who had gone missing in Hamburg,

and despite taking the Leader of the

House's advice in writing to

ministers, three weeks later I have

not had a response despite having

chased and chased do to clearance

and awaiting signature. The family

is in trauma. Shouldn't ministers

come to the House and explain this

lack of urgency?

I am sorry to hear that, and I do

recall the honourable gentleman

reason that case with me. I am happy

to chase the Foreign & Commonwealth

Office on his behalf.

Two years ago,

one of my constituents was attacked

by her ex-partner and an accomplice.

She was eight months pregnant and

then flippantly targeted her

stomach, stamping on her, which

caused the loss of the child. She

has launched a campaign this

Mother's Day to get the 1929 infant

preservation Act updated. All the

Government provides time to debate

this issue to ensure that people who

deliberately caused the loss of a

child are adequately prosecuted and

given lengthy sentences?

I think all

honourable members will be appalled

to hear of that situation, that is

terrible and I am very sorry to hear

it. The honourable gentleman will be

aware that the Government has

brought forward a draft domestic

abuse Bill, this seems that it would

be very appropriate for him to

submit this particular case into

that draft consultation so that it

can be considered along with all of

the other measures that show the

Government's determination to stamp

out domestic violence, which is so

often directed towards women, and

I'm afraid very often, towards

pregnant women.

The human rights

commission released a damning report

on the impact of tax and welfare

reforms yesterday, which highlighted

that three quarters of household

with three children are losing out,

and three quarters of Pakistani

households are losing out as a

result of welfare reforms, a huge

concern for my constituents in

Glasgow Central. Can we have a

debate on Government time about the

important need for equality impact

assessment is to make sure the

Government is not racist?

I think

the honourable lady should welcome

the work of my right honourable

friend on the racial disparity audit

that is the first attempt by the

Government, any Government, to try

to measure whether there is

disparity in the treatment of people

according to race or ethnicity, or

indeed religion, as absolutely

vital. But what I would say to her

is that we do have many more

children, almost 600,000 fewer

children, living in workless

households. And 200,000 fewer

children in absolute poverty. Income

equality is now lower than it was in

any year under the last Labour

Government, so we are making

progress. We are committed to doing

more, this Government is showing

determination to stamp out the kind

of inequality she is talking about.

I'm sure the Leader of the House

will be interested to know that at

Hull University today, they are

releasing the preliminary evaluation

of Hull City of Culture. £300

million to risk money into the city,

more than nine out of ten households

engaged in at least one cultural

activity, and thousands of young

people engaging with the arts, not

to mention the acres of positive

publicity for the city. Can we have

a debate about the value in the

public investment in culture, the

success of Hull City of Culture, and

the lessons that can be learned for

Coventry when it takes up the battle

of City of Culture in 2021? -- bat

on.

I am grateful to her, she is a

huge champion of Hull City of

Culture, and the statistics are

hugely welcome because it

demonstrates what a success it has

been, and I think she is right to

call for the debate on what the

lessons can be for Coventry, so they

can take advantage of the excellent

experience she has had. I suggest

she raises at next Thursday.

Last

Friday, we held our Nottingham North

constituency jobs fair, and I'm

pleased to say we have 956 local

people come to that jobs. Of course

we had hoped we would not needed

jobs fair at all, but it is a real

sign of the impact of that event and

many people will get into work and

training as a result. Will the

Leader of the House gave me an

opportunity to shout praise on

Nottingham City Council, the local

DWP, on the rebalancing foundation I

am proud to check, and the many

people who made such a success?

I'm

sure the honourable gentleman was

also seeking a debate.

Yes, I was.

I

congratulate the honourable

gentleman for the enormous turnout

he has had at his jobs fair, I think

all honourable members have held

jobs fairs have found likewise the

enthusiasm from employers and from

people looking for a job has been

heart-warming. And of course, we

have seen an extraordinary increase

in employment so that now we are at

near record highs for employment

across the United Kingdom, including

well over 30% increases in

employment right across the UK,

rising in the East Midlands to 42%,

and the West Midlands 38%, and the

south-east unemployment is down by

47%. So I think we have some amazing

job statistics to look at as a

result of the measures we have put

in place to see a thriving economy

with lower taxes for people, and

more people with the security of a

wage packet to take home.

Last but

not least, and never forgotten, Mr

Peter Grant.

I am eternally

grateful. Can we have a statement

from the Work and Pensions Secretary

on the cold weather payments system?

Most of my constituency were

discovered to discover that it

wasn't cold enough to trigger the

payments during a week in which they

were under two to three feet of

snow, travel of any kind was

impossible, and we were subject to

Scotland's first-ever red alert due

to the danger from snow and ice. The

problem is that the DWP do not

measure the temperature England

office, they measure it at a coastal

location 20 miles away. -- do not

measure the temperature in

Glenrothes. So can we have some

assurance that next time this

happens, the people of Glenrothes

will have the payments they are

untitled to? -- entitled to.

The

honourable gentleman will be made

aware of the payments for people who

struggles to meet their own energy

bills. Monday the 26th