:00:18. > :00:19.Good evening and welcome to Monday In Parliament,
:00:20. > :00:23.Labour claims the NHS is buckling under the strain of low budgets.
:00:24. > :00:26.I say to the minister, it is time to stop the NHS
:00:27. > :00:38.A plea for women disadvantaged by changes to the state pension.
:00:39. > :00:46.A window to senior on Friday. She has worked hard all life. She says
:00:47. > :00:50.she is going to lose up to ?55,000. And the mother of Stephen Lawrence
:00:51. > :00:52.says the British black and Asian community will bear
:00:53. > :00:55.the brunt of new police powers powers to stop and search
:00:56. > :00:57.suspected illegal immigrants. Provision allowing for intrusive,
:00:58. > :00:58.discriminatory stops have continued to be one
:00:59. > :01:00.of the greatest flashpoints But first, Labour says the NHS
:01:01. > :01:08.in England is struggling to cope and cited the cases of ambulances
:01:09. > :01:10.waiting for hours to hand over patients and cancer patients
:01:11. > :01:13.being told there are no appointments Labour accused the government of
:01:14. > :01:29.financial mismanagement of the NHS. But the health minister said the
:01:30. > :01:30.performance had improved beyond question.
:01:31. > :01:33.In the last few weeks, it has become abundantly clear
:01:34. > :01:35.that hospitals across the country are buckling under the strain
:01:36. > :01:37.of providing healthcare with an inadequate budget.
:01:38. > :01:40.Four out of five hospitals are now predicting a deficit.
:01:41. > :01:41.Monitor are reportedly assembling teams of management
:01:42. > :01:48.consultants, to dispatch to up to 25 trusts in need of
:01:49. > :01:53.turnaround, and now we learn, along with the TDA, they have
:01:54. > :01:55.written to every hospital, asking them to take
:01:56. > :02:00.urgent steps to regain control of their budgets,
:02:01. > :02:03.including, and I quote, "Head count reductions
:02:04. > :02:10.We now have a situation where, on the one hand,
:02:11. > :02:12.where the Care Quality Commission is telling hospitals
:02:13. > :02:15.they are unsafe, and on the other, Monitor is telling them
:02:16. > :02:24.PRESENTER: And she said the Government had lost control
:02:25. > :02:27.The only way ministers are going to make
:02:28. > :02:30.their planned ?22 billion of efficiency savings will be to cut
:02:31. > :02:34.I say to the Minister, it is time to stop the NHS
:02:35. > :02:47.Were she to look at the actual outcomes of the NHS,
:02:48. > :02:49.this year, compared to the last year when
:02:50. > :02:51.her party were in power, she may consider that,
:02:52. > :02:53.actually, the performance of the NHS has improved
:02:54. > :03:04.It is not only the fact that we have 1.9 more A attendances,
:03:05. > :03:06.1.3 million more operations, 7.8 million more
:03:07. > :03:08.outpatient appointments and 4.7 million more diagnostic tests.
:03:09. > :03:15.This is an NHS which is performing more
:03:16. > :03:18.procedures, helping more patients, doing more for the people of this
:03:19. > :03:23.country than at any time since its foundation.
:03:24. > :03:26.The delivery of quality and efficiency are two sides
:03:27. > :03:32.Those hospitals that are providing the highest quality of care in this
:03:33. > :03:35.country tend to be those which are also in control
:03:36. > :03:39.Likewise, those that are struggling with quality also
:03:40. > :03:42.tend to be those which cannot control their own finances.
:03:43. > :03:44.If she were to somehow suggest there is a
:03:45. > :03:47.binary distinction between the two, a choice to be made between quality
:03:48. > :03:50.and efficiency, I would gently say to her that she is a decade behind
:03:51. > :03:54.more current thinking on how you run a successful health service.
:03:55. > :04:00.It is about making sure quality and efficiency go hand-in-hand.
:04:01. > :04:02.Devon NHS had no deficit in 2010 when we
:04:03. > :04:07.It now has the worst deficit in England.
:04:08. > :04:09.What assurances can he give my constituents in Exeter and elsewhere
:04:10. > :04:12.in Devon that services and waiting times will not
:04:13. > :04:16.I thank the right honourable gentleman.
:04:17. > :04:20.I thank him for his cooperation and help in trying to trying to form
:04:21. > :04:27.This will only work if it is a cross-party
:04:28. > :04:29.effort, as it is on a national level.
:04:30. > :04:31.We have particular problems in Devon.
:04:32. > :04:34.They are a very urgent and it will mean the deficit will increase
:04:35. > :04:38.unless we take significant local action.
:04:39. > :04:45.ten ambulances were parked outside A outside the Royal Infirmary.
:04:46. > :04:47.Ten out of 25, in the whole of Leicestershire,
:04:48. > :04:52.trying to hand over patients to the staff.
:04:53. > :04:55.On 856 occasions in the past year, they had to wait between two
:04:56. > :04:59.and four hours to hand over those patients.
:05:00. > :05:05.more consultants, but a better system of management.
:05:06. > :05:07.My constituent contacted me earlier today.
:05:08. > :05:10.She had a scan last Tuesday and was told,
:05:11. > :05:12.the following day, that she required an urgent referral
:05:13. > :05:22.and would be provided ith an appointment within 48 hours.
:05:23. > :05:26.This morning, Mr Speaker, I was told by the NHS
:05:27. > :05:28.that there were no appointments anywhere and no idea
:05:29. > :05:32.The minister, in an earlier response,
:05:33. > :05:35.Minister, this is the reality of the NHS in 2016
:05:36. > :05:37.for my constituent and millions like her.
:05:38. > :05:41.No funding or staffing available, not just a routine appointments,
:05:42. > :05:43.but for urgent appointments related to cancer.
:05:44. > :05:46.The minister replied that the NHS had made rapid improvements
:05:47. > :05:49.in cancer treatment, but that he would was happy to look
:05:50. > :05:57.Now, the age that women qualify for a state pension is increasing.
:05:58. > :06:01.First, to 65 and then, to 66. It means that thousands
:06:02. > :06:03.of woman born in the 1950s, who were expecting to
:06:04. > :06:07.retire at 60, will have to work for longer.
:06:08. > :06:09.Many have not got an occupational or private pension to
:06:10. > :06:16.Calling themselves Women Against State Pension Inequality,
:06:17. > :06:18.or WASPI, campaigners are urging the government to introduce
:06:19. > :06:22.transitional measures while the changes are introduced.
:06:23. > :06:25.THe WASPI women also say the government did not
:06:26. > :06:39.Will the Minister apologise formally for the art shambles as department
:06:40. > :06:47.has made of communicating these changes. They also made the same
:06:48. > :06:55.mistake with pensioners over national insurance contributions.
:06:56. > :07:00.How does he expect the house and the public to have confidence in the
:07:01. > :07:06.department 's ability when they have failed so spectacularly to deliver
:07:07. > :07:14.the message? Mr Speaker, the issue the honourable member of Registry is
:07:15. > :07:18.isolated and should be regarded as such. The matter has been convicted.
:07:19. > :07:24.He should take on board all the other arguments on this issue rather
:07:25. > :07:31.than one solitary individual mistake. It has been corrected. I
:07:32. > :07:37.fully accept that these are huge sums of money we're talking about. I
:07:38. > :07:45.was feeling 1995 when we first announced the changes. Would my
:07:46. > :07:49.honourable friend tell me that he has taken significant action to
:07:50. > :07:56.communicate these changes so that pensioners can make arrangements for
:07:57. > :08:02.their retirement? Can I just see, the initial changes were made in
:08:03. > :08:08.1995 until 2010, when the Coalition Government came into place, there
:08:09. > :08:11.were at least ten ministers who came back twice and made absolutely no
:08:12. > :08:20.effort to meet improved communication. As far as the act of
:08:21. > :08:26.2011 is concerned, women who were affected where written to. The
:08:27. > :08:27.information is available on the government website for those who
:08:28. > :08:29.want to seek more information. The main issue is that,
:08:30. > :08:42.for many women, working for several Many of the people we are talking
:08:43. > :08:47.about killing four elderly parents or young grandchildren. Will the
:08:48. > :08:54.Minister of these women some hope and make transitional arrangements
:08:55. > :08:58.by Alan women affected to draw the pension credit airily through this
:08:59. > :09:05.difficult time? I would see to the honourable lady that provision was
:09:06. > :09:09.made in 2011. The Secretary of State said he would go away and think
:09:10. > :09:15.about the matter and he came back, made a concession of ?1.1 billion,
:09:16. > :09:21.ensuring that the two-year stage was reduced to 18 months. In the case
:09:22. > :09:31.of, 81% of women affected would have to work no more than 12 months.
:09:32. > :09:37.Thank you, Mr Speaker. Of the 2.6 million women at by this change,
:09:38. > :09:45.more than 5000 in the minister's own constituency. The least they deserve
:09:46. > :09:53.is the fact be a long and honesty beat. The government looked at ?3
:09:54. > :09:59.billion of allocated protection, only 1 million of which was actually
:10:00. > :10:02.allocated. Will the Minister read to the house the options of
:10:03. > :10:10.transitional prepare protection for the women. Perhaps the apology
:10:11. > :10:14.should come from the honourable lady. There was no such
:10:15. > :10:23.communication when her people were in power. The honourable lady says
:10:24. > :10:28.1995, in two years, there was a Labour government. They were in
:10:29. > :10:33.charge for 13 years. There original element throughout that transitional
:10:34. > :10:38.arrangement concerned. I responded to the Lady Elliot on when they said
:10:39. > :10:39.the concession was made for over ?1 billion. The waiting time was also
:10:40. > :10:41.reduced. A Conservative called for an end
:10:42. > :10:43.to political hostilities. I am not sure it helps these ladies,
:10:44. > :10:46.some of whom are in very difficult circumstances, for both front
:10:47. > :10:48.benches to trade insults. The fact is, although
:10:49. > :10:50.everyone accepts there should be equalisation,
:10:51. > :10:53.a widow came to see me on Friday. She is a widow, she
:10:54. > :10:57.has no occupational Because she was also paying
:10:58. > :11:03.into Serps, up to ?55,000. Is there no way we could look
:11:04. > :11:09.at further transitional changes, maybe a cap, changes
:11:10. > :11:12.so we could help some of these The Minister agreed
:11:13. > :11:16.it was important to discuss the issue in a measured way,
:11:17. > :11:19.which meant there were many other Over in Westminster
:11:20. > :11:26.Hall, there was a three-hour debate, triggered
:11:27. > :11:28.by a petition to MP, It was standing room
:11:29. > :11:35.only as a succession of speakers accused the government
:11:36. > :11:43.of failing the women in question. It broke the contract
:11:44. > :11:57.with its citizens, that citizens pay If this was a private provider, we
:11:58. > :12:00.would be accusing them of mis-selling.
:12:01. > :12:03.So it is time, after these many debates, for the Government at last
:12:04. > :12:05.to listen to these women, to bring forward proposals
:12:06. > :12:08.for transitional arrangements that can be properly debated in this
:12:09. > :12:10.House so that this injustice can be put right.
:12:11. > :12:13.It is time for them to listen to the women of this country,
:12:14. > :12:16.and I hope that the Minister, when he stands up, after so long
:12:17. > :12:22.In March 1953, Mrs Jones gives birth to twins,
:12:23. > :12:29.Jack will get, on the single tier pension, ?155 per
:12:30. > :12:38.Jill will get ?131 because she was born a woman.
:12:39. > :12:41.Where is the justice in Jack getting 20,000 more in 20 years
:12:42. > :12:50.Somebody born in February 1954 is not going to now retire
:12:51. > :12:55.That is two-and-a-half years after somebody born a year earlier.
:12:56. > :13:04.The position of the SNP on this has always been interesting
:13:05. > :13:07.because they are in the happy situation of being able to really
:13:08. > :13:10.say, and, if need be, to promise, whatever they like without any
:13:11. > :13:12.danger of having to fulfil any commitment whatsoever
:13:13. > :13:22.The great news is we are all living longer but we cannot possibly expect
:13:23. > :13:25.that not to affect the age at which we are able to retire,
:13:26. > :13:28.because surely it cannot be sustainable for us to be able
:13:29. > :13:36.to live longer on retirement than we are in employment.
:13:37. > :13:48.A member of my constituency, Lillian, this year had the honour
:13:49. > :13:51.of receiving an MBE but also was told the same week she isn't
:13:52. > :13:56.You could not meet a more loyal and a more honoured person but also
:13:57. > :14:01.The honourable gentleman makes his own point in his own way
:14:02. > :14:05.but I think we are trying to take some of the emotion out of this
:14:06. > :14:09.debate to get to some of the facts, and I think we owe it to those
:14:10. > :14:11.people who are heavily engaged in this debate through
:14:12. > :14:32.This parliament will see a lot of centenary landmarks about faults for
:14:33. > :14:38.women. I be having to take the flak for deficit reduction by having the
:14:39. > :14:44.pensions spirit back? They will not just be passing accidental casual
:14:45. > :14:48.casualties, this will be Gilbert. This parliament will have conspired
:14:49. > :14:49.against them. We have to change this.
:14:50. > :14:51.The Work and Pensions Minister, Shailesh Vara, insisted that women
:14:52. > :14:54.today were receiving a higher pension than anyone before them.
:14:55. > :15:01.You're watching Monday In Parliament with me, Kristiina Cooper.
:15:02. > :15:03.The Prime Minister's National Security Adviser has described Libya
:15:04. > :15:05.as a major concern for terrorism, migration and regional stability.
:15:06. > :15:09.Sir Mark Lyall Grant, who has been in the post for five
:15:10. > :15:12.months, was appearing before the Joint Committee
:15:13. > :15:16.on National Security Strategy, made up of MPs and peers.
:15:17. > :15:18.Reports suggest that Britain is considering sending up to 1,000
:15:19. > :15:23.troops to Libya as part of an international intervention force.
:15:24. > :15:27.Downing Street says no decision has been taken.
:15:28. > :15:30.Today's newspapers are suggesting we are about to go back
:15:31. > :15:33.I wonder whether, by illustration, you can tell us how
:15:34. > :15:36.you and the council are then involved in managing this
:15:37. > :15:43.as an issue, so far as you reasonably can.
:15:44. > :15:46.As I say, I don't want to stray into policy issues in this evidence
:15:47. > :15:50.session, but we have discussed Libya in the national security council -
:15:51. > :15:54.I'm trying to look at the list here - certainly two or three times
:15:55. > :16:02.It is an issue of major concern in a number of different contexts,
:16:03. > :16:04.in a counterterrorism context, in a stability context,
:16:05. > :16:14.When we discussed migration, Libya was a feature.
:16:15. > :16:17.But we have also discussed Libya itself in terms of the instability
:16:18. > :16:23.We take into account all those issues as the national security
:16:24. > :16:29.Would it not be helpful to define the prime risk to the lives
:16:30. > :16:33.of people in this country and work backwards from there?
:16:34. > :16:39.If we broaden this too much, I think we will end up completely
:16:40. > :16:46.And it seems to me that a mass terrorist attack,
:16:47. > :16:49.probably on London, is the thing we should be really
:16:50. > :16:56.I think we have seen a sort of warm-up in what has happened
:16:57. > :17:00.in Paris and it seems to me to be very likely that,
:17:01. > :17:05.one day, the terrorists will get through and will succeed,
:17:06. > :17:08.where to date they have been thwarted.
:17:09. > :17:11.Very large numbers of people may be killed in one of the cities
:17:12. > :17:15.When you think of that as the primary threat,
:17:16. > :17:20.it strikes me that virtually all else pales into insignificance.
:17:21. > :17:25.I have some sympathy with that view and I think the strategy does
:17:26. > :17:31.We have identified terrorism as one of the four major risks.
:17:32. > :17:35.It is up there in lights throughout the document,
:17:36. > :17:38.precisely because of the high likelihood and high impact that
:17:39. > :17:44.Likewise, we've reflected that in the overall objectives.
:17:45. > :17:47.Protect our people is the number one objective.
:17:48. > :17:53.I wouldn't want to just restrict it to that and say everything else
:17:54. > :17:56.is subsidiary because I think there are other threats that
:17:57. > :17:59.are important and need to be taken into account.
:18:00. > :18:04.But we do have precisely protecting the British people and the terrorist
:18:05. > :18:08.threat right up there as the number one issue.
:18:09. > :18:11.We were caught asleep at the wheel over Russia's invasion
:18:12. > :18:17.Other things come up where we don't seem to anticipate them.
:18:18. > :18:20.Even if we were able to, we don't seem to have the capabilities
:18:21. > :18:26.For example, the Foreign Office had almost no Russian-speaking expertise
:18:27. > :18:32.The failure to predict the Russian invasion of Crimea is linked
:18:33. > :18:42.Unfortunately, that strategy was driven off track rather
:18:43. > :18:52.That is why you will see that the strategy on Russia in this
:18:53. > :18:54.new national security strategy is rather different
:18:55. > :19:01.Staying with security matters, peers have criticised new powers
:19:02. > :19:03.in the Immigration Bill for the authorities to stop
:19:04. > :19:09.The bill gives the police the right to search someone's car or home
:19:10. > :19:12.if they have reasonable grounds for believing the driver
:19:13. > :19:17.Peers warned that black and Asian drivers will bear the brunt
:19:18. > :19:22.When I was a police constable in the years leading to the Brixton
:19:23. > :19:26.riots in 1981, police officers would routinely stop motor vehicles
:19:27. > :19:31.being driven by black men in particular and frequently arrest
:19:32. > :19:36.them on suspicion that they may be illegally in the country.
:19:37. > :19:41.The usual reason given was that they were a suspected overstayer.
:19:42. > :19:46.These arrests routinely happened simply because the person
:19:47. > :19:52.who was being stopped was evasive or did not appear to be cooperative.
:19:53. > :19:56.Together with the use of the offence of being a suspected person
:19:57. > :20:00.loitering with intent to commit an indictable offence under
:20:01. > :20:02.the Vagrancy Act 1824, commonly known as Sus,
:20:03. > :20:06.and the disproportionate use of stop and search,
:20:07. > :20:11.a problem which continues to this day, relations between the police
:20:12. > :20:15.and the black community deteriorated to such an extent that the Brixton
:20:16. > :20:22.These powers are disproportionate and could have a significant impact
:20:23. > :20:26.on what are in some parts of the country already strained
:20:27. > :20:28.relations between the police and the black community
:20:29. > :20:33.and they should not be part of this bill.
:20:34. > :20:35.PRESENTER: Lady Lawrence is the mother of Stephen Lawrence,
:20:36. > :20:39.who was killed in a race attack in 1993.
:20:40. > :20:43.The National Black Police Association has warned that the bill
:20:44. > :20:49.could return the UK back to the bad old days of the Sus laws and create
:20:50. > :20:56.the condition of making every person of colour in the UK a prime suspect
:20:57. > :21:03.Many members of this house have lived through times when relations
:21:04. > :21:07.between the police and the BME community were in a critical
:21:08. > :21:16.It is often in the area of powers of stop and search.
:21:17. > :21:19.Inevitably, black and Asian groups will bear the brunt.
:21:20. > :21:24.Provisions allowing for intrusive, discriminatory stops have continued
:21:25. > :21:28.to be one of the greatest flash points for police
:21:29. > :21:35.The effect of alienating youth born and bred in this country results
:21:36. > :21:41.in them choosing to leave this country and to fight with groups
:21:42. > :21:47.who accept them, be it in terms of their creed or their colour.
:21:48. > :21:52.It actually creates active enemies of this country.
:21:53. > :21:56.It really is unwise to do that to young people who are raised
:21:57. > :22:01.with hope in this country and then find themselves treated
:22:02. > :22:08.This House is entitled to ask the noble Lord,
:22:09. > :22:10.the minister, to consider that there will be circumstances
:22:11. > :22:15.where to exercise such judgment will involve the very real danger
:22:16. > :22:21.of identifying individuals who have leave to remain or who are not even
:22:22. > :22:28.Surely, my Lords, that would be an intolerable imposition.
:22:29. > :22:33.We know all too well that our fellow citizens do not take
:22:34. > :22:37.to being stopped for unfounded reasons.
:22:38. > :22:40.The Government is clear that this provision will not undermine
:22:41. > :22:43.the police stop and search powers and as such will not
:22:44. > :22:50.The police will first have to have cause to stop a vehicle and,
:22:51. > :22:55.at this point, I could perhaps turn to the Bishop of Southwark's point,
:22:56. > :22:59.where he asked for examples of those circumstances.
:23:00. > :23:03.A reasonable suspicion may occur where a vehicle has been stopped
:23:04. > :23:07.for a suspected driving offence and the police have checked
:23:08. > :23:12.the circumstances of the driver as appropriate and those checks have
:23:13. > :23:17.revealed a match against a Home Office record.
:23:18. > :23:20.The search is therefore intelligence led, not a random search of a member
:23:21. > :23:27.The House of Lords, scrutinising the Immigration Bill.
:23:28. > :23:30.Now, ever since the financial crash, regulating the banks has been
:23:31. > :23:32.a controversial subject, and there were some strong views
:23:33. > :23:34.on the Bank of England and Financial Service Bill,
:23:35. > :23:39.which had its first airing in the House of Commons.
:23:40. > :23:42.One of the things we see here is the Tory government
:23:43. > :23:45.circling their wagons to protect their friends and funders
:23:46. > :23:52.It gives us no hope of introducing the separation between retail
:23:53. > :23:56.and investment banking which we so obviously need
:23:57. > :24:00.The bill will result in less documentation,
:24:01. > :24:04.less awareness by the bankers of their responsibility,
:24:05. > :24:07.less examination of the relationship between the risks they take
:24:08. > :24:13.This government continues to believe it is acceptable for banks
:24:14. > :24:19.to privatise their profits and socialise their losses.
:24:20. > :24:23.Let us never forget the cost to all of us, to the British
:24:24. > :24:28.taxpayer, the ?133 billion which we had to stump
:24:29. > :24:36.I think it's a bit rich of the parties opposite to be
:24:37. > :24:40.going on about this as though it is some kind
:24:41. > :24:46.Everybody, and I'll explain to you why, everybody shares
:24:47. > :24:54.the frustration at what happened in the lead-up to the banking crisis.
:24:55. > :24:59.And you can't get away from the fact that the Labour Party had a large
:25:00. > :25:04.part to play in that because, even though the regulation
:25:05. > :25:10.was there, and the actual powers were there, these regulations
:25:11. > :25:16.These practices weren't pursued assiduously enough and financial
:25:17. > :25:23.PRESENTER: He recalled some advice he heard when he started work
:25:24. > :25:30.Any time you see the separation of retail banking and investment
:25:31. > :25:35.banking weakened, that is going to cause a problem.
:25:36. > :25:42.So he admitted he did have some sympathy with what Helen Goodman had
:25:43. > :25:50.Alicia McCarthy will be here for the rest of the week but,