17/10/2016 Monday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to Monday in Parliament.

The Home Secretary is under pressure over the way the

independent enquiry into chhld sexual abuse has been managdd.

This is a terrible situation for the survivors of child sexual

abuse who have put so much hope and trust in the successful conclusion

The Home Secretary urges MPs to support the enquiry.

Let's all find a way of being confident about it.

expects to conclude, she hopes to concludes

Also on the programme, the story of how the

nation's football boss became the nation's

If Sam had wanted to continue being

England manager would you have allowed him to?

Did you sack him? No.

And calls for the Prime Minister Theresa

May to help the sisterhood of women affected by changes to the

Will the Minister appeal to his boss to use the power she has and

compensate some of the most needy women in

But first, the independent enquiry into child

sexual abuse set up in 2014 to investigate whether publhc bodies

and other institutions in England and Wales had failed to protect

The enquiry's remit is to identify failings and demand account`bility

but its work has been beset by problems around

Dame Lowell Goddard, a judgd from New Zealand, was the third

She resigned in August saying she was

"lonely" but there are reports that she resigned because there were

The Home Secretary was summoned to the Commons

to explain what has been going on.

On the 29th of July, the secretary to the enquirx

met my permanent secretary and reported concerns about

the professionalism and competence of the chair.

encouraged the enquiry to r`ise those matters with the chair.

He reported this meeting to me the same day.

My permanent secretary also met members

of the enquiry panel on the 4th of August.

Later that day Dame Lowell tendered her resignation to me

Last month the Home Secretary gave evidence to the home

I was asked why Dame Lowell had gone.

Dame Lowell had not spoken to me about her reasons so I

relied on the letter she had sent to the committee.

In her letter, she said she was lonely and felt she

could not deliver and that hs why she stepped down.

Dame Lowell has strongly refuted the allegations

about her and the only way we can understand properly why she resigned

would be to hear from Dame Lowell herself.

To echo any further allegathons which are now likely to

be the subject of legal dispute would have been entirely

The Home Secretary's statement was prompted

by an urgent question from a Labour MP.

She says she was relying simply on the letter.

Why didn't she ask Justice Goddard herself why she had quit thd

We've since learnt that senhor officials in that department

were aware of concerns about Justice Goddard Pars conduct on the

Given that 38 Home Office staff are seconded to

the enquiry, how could she possibly have been unaware

of these concerns as late as the 7th of September?

And can she tell us why, given that the Home Office new

of the serious questions about the behaviour and leadership

of the enquiry she then went on to

authorise a payoff to Justice Gothard worth ?80,000?

Amber Rudd responded to the question about why Dame Lowell steppdd down.

She said it was never easy operating in an environment where I h`d no

familiar networks and there were times it seemed a very lonely

mission. It was referring to that note I gave my answer to thd home

Affairs Select Committee. She made several enquiries about staffing. We

can only maintain the indepdndence of this enquiry by being absolutely

clear that matters of staffhng are for the chair. No enquiry in modern

times has been mired in such chaos. At least, it suggests incompetence

in setting the terms and selecting the personnel to lead it. It is bad

for policy, the Home Office but above all it is a terrible situation

for the survivors of child sex abuse who have put so much hope and trust

in the successful conclusion of this enquiry. The latest scandal is the

departure of Dame Lowell. The Home Secretary has said that when she

appeared before the home affairs select committee she said all the

information she had was that Dame Lowell had quit because she was a

long way from home and lonely. She said that she was reliant on Justice

Gothard pop Best Justice Gothard's 's letter.

Professor Alexis Jay is now chairing the enquiry.

Letters find a way of being confident about it. Alexis Jay says

she hopes to conclude the enquiry by the end of 2020 but it is for others

in the house to give her thd assistants, I'm not suggesthng

anything but the most thorotgh of scrutiny, but it may be that we need

to give as much assistance `s we can to make sure that the new chair can

do a thorough and successful job going forward. I welcome thd

appointment of Professor J to take forward the enquiry. Can thd Home

Secretary confirmed that thhck seams in my constituency will be `ble to

share their experiences? Shd is absolutely right. Alexis Jax has the

experience to be able to do the enquiry and under the truth project,

we are encouraging people to come forward and speak to the enpuiry

about their experience. The sole report took 12 years and look ? 90

billion to report on a single incident that took place ovdr two

hours. This enquiry has been given mission impossible to report on

hundreds of thousands of incidents that took place over many ddcades.

Isn't it time to, first that this was an escape old to recover from a

political embarrassment. The Home Secretary rejected

the idea that it was a MPs will get the chance to `sk

further questions on Tuesday when the home affairs

committee takes evidence from Professor Alexis Jay,

the new chair of the enquirx. Now, no doubt Sam Allardyce has

had cause to reflect on the familiar football phrase

it's a funny old game. Sam Allardyce left his

job as manager of the England football team last lonth

after just 67 days in the job. Undercover reporters

from the Daily Telegraph recorded Mr Allardyce offering advicd

on how to get around Mr Allardyce who is on a ?3 million

salary as England team boss remarked after his sudden exit

that entrapment had won. The culture committee has bden

digging into his downfall. We quite often here in Fort

ballplayers giving of 110, 020% What percentage effort and

commitment did Mr Allardyce give to the job in his short period of time?

In the overlap period of tile I had with him I think he worked

phenomenally hard. I heard he was there all the time, talking to

everybody, a ball of energy. But it was clear that he was plannhng to

fly off to Singapore and thd Far East between November and M`rch when

England didn't have competitive games. You think that is giving 100%

to the job? It is questionable that he should have been counten`ncing

such activity in addition to his duties. How did that make you feel

given that you were paying him 3 million per year? I think hd let us

down badly. We want a managdr whose sole priority is running for the

England team. You admit that wasn't his sole priority. I didn't say

that. How much time do you think he should spend inspiring and lanaging

the team? The majority of hhs time. Give me a percentage. 51%? H said

let's take a deep breath and rather than race into coming up with a

contract and candidate for the new job, let's specify exactly what a

successful manager looks like. How much time he should contribtte. How

much time would you like hil to contribute to managing this

underperforming team? I would like all paid work to be solely hn

pursuit of the job of FA manager. If you want to give free speech is for

charity, I would be OK with that. If Sam had wanted to continue being

England manager, would you have allowed them to? No. Did yot sack

him? No. We conducted an internal investigation very quickly. Most of

the time used was to get information out of the Daily Telegraph. I sat

down with Sam having take all legal advice externally having looked at

the facts we had. We decided on the face of it that Sam was in breach of

his duties. We had some subset of the evidence that was published by

the Daily Telegraph. We belheved it was enough. The things he s`id, I

confronted him with them. I said, why have you done this? He said it

was very foolish. A brief investigation was about half a day.

There wasn't a lot to investigate. Sam and I agreed that his bdhaviour

was on becoming of the manager of the England team and we agrded that

it would be sensible for hil to depart. So his contract was

terminated immediately? His contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Was there a financial settldment? I can't tell you due to a

confidentiality agreement. This is a chap who is out to make a fdw extra

quid. That is it in a nutshdll. You say that you parted our muttal

company. My colleagues don't see this was not gross misconduct. You

said you couldn't prove that but you have paid him anyway. Mr Allardyce

doesn't care now. He has got his Ukip -- his few quid and is sat on

the beach now. Do you not understand how it was the people's gamd... I

have worked in football for a while and I have also run a Footshe 2

company and employed hundreds of thousands of people turning over

tens of millions of pounds. Many times the answer I wanted to a legal

problem wasn't the answer I got because we obey the laws of the

land. The government has announced

a ?40 million fund to prevent people from

becoming homeless. Half the money will

go to areas that are testing new ways to keep

people off the street. Newcastle, Manchester,

and Southwark in London. In the Lords, the government said

it was rising to the challenge of We live in one of the richest

countries in the world. Does the noble Lord agree with me th`t the

increase in homelessness in recent years is a national disgracd and

what assessment have they m`de of the homelessness reduction Bill

which seems to me to be verx welcome and deserves cross-party support? I

share the feelings that homdlessness is something we need to takd action

on, he'll know it's a high priority for the Prime Minister and the

government. The bill is worth serious consideration. It's gone for

pre-legislative scrutiny. The government is looking at it very

closely. Does the Minister Deb or the fact there are 100,000 children

living in homeless accommod`tion in this country, the highest ldvel

since the early 2000s? When does the government anticipates that number

of homeless children will bdgin to decline? The noble Lord is right, it

is a matter of concern. Young people being homeless. The governmdnt has

contributed a significant alount of money to a framework, two thirds of

local authorities are benefhting, ?15 million has gone into a fund

helping homeless young people with complex needs.

You're watching Monday in Parliament with me

The government's come under fire from MPs of all parties

over planned cuts to funding for community pharmacies by 12% from

December but, in response to an urgent question,

a health minister insisted that patients would not

suffer and dismissed suggestions that 3,000 chemists could close

Community pharmacies and thd cuts do them are a force economy to the NHS.

It can only add further pressures to our already overstretched A and GP

surgeries. What is the ministerial assessment to the consequent on the

NHS to the cuts? We agree that the pharmacy sector is vital. A vital

sector which has as many as a dozen pharmacies within half a mile of

each other. That is not an hsolated occurrence. Each one of those

receives ?25,000 per annum of money and it's our job as the govdrnment

to ensure that money couldn't be better spent in other parts of the

national health service. Thdre is great concern about these proposals

because if there's ever an `rgument to increase the role of pharmacies

it is now. They perform it hugely powerful job in making sure people

don't go and bother their GPs and A because many of the matters they

can deal with, they are best dealt with because they are a minor

nature. There's been an increase of nearly 20 -- 20% in the last decade

of numbers of locations. Thdy each get ?25,000 per annum just for being

open and being a pharmacist. One of the consequences is a great deal of

clustering. 40% of all pharlacies are within half a mile of three

other pharmacies. It's right for the government to look at it. Hhs

predecessor sought up to 3000 pharmacies closing. Is it hhs

judgment and if not can he tell us how many pharmacies he thinks will

close and how many in deprived areas? We don't believe it will be

anything like that many. Thdre may be... There are some areas hn which

there are ten or 11 pharmaches within half a mile of each other.

Leicester, Birmingham. We c`n talk more about this. It's quite possible

that at the end of this revhew, some of those will merge. If that

happens, Mr Speaker, that does not mean provision has got less. We

don't believe patient provision will suffer. Pharmacists are afr`id this

will be cut and see who survives. If it is felt there are too many

pharmacies in one place, thhs needs to be done in a planned way or it

will be the rural and deprived areas who end up without. My constituents

value pharmacies. How many will he be cutting and how far does he

expect people to travel? We`r sensible savings can be madd, it's

like they should be explored. At a time where increasingly people in

Cheltenham are turning to expert pharmacists for minor support, can

the minister is surely no changes will take place which will tndermine

that welcome trend towards going to pharmacies and not GPs? As H've

already said, that is our intention and our belief is the package in its

entirety that we will be announcing shortly will enhance the role of

pharmacies in providing services. An award-winning pharmacist in my

constituency estimates one hn four pharmacies in the borough whll be

closed and they will predomhnantly be independent, not brutes or

Superdrug. We do not believd any reductions will be skewed towards

the independent sector, nor do we believe that the position of the

sector overrides our duty to look at clustering and to make sure that the

money we spend in this sector, .8 billion, is money that is most

effectively spent and can't be spent better in other parts of thd NHS.

Now, the government wants to encourage

more people to put money ashde in savings and to that end ht's

It introduces a lifetime IS@ under which contributions made by anyone

under 40 would qualify for a 25% government bonus.

There will also be a help to save scheme which is aimed

at people with lower incomes who are just about managing.

We want people in this country to have all the tools at their disposal

to save money in a way that works for them. We want to make it easier

for everyone to build up thd savings they need to meet their ambhtions

and to feel secure in their finances.

She said around three million households had no savings

This is not a nice position for anyone to be in, to have no

financial safety net in place. To know that if you lose your job, you

barely got enough money to pay next month rent.

But Labour said the governmdnt had to understand why

I therefore ask the Minister to examine very carefully the reasons

why many people are not savhng at all. Is it because they are

splashing out cash on fancy cars and extravagant purchases? Or is it in

fact because wages are too low and the cost of living is too hhgh to

get through the month in sole cases? Never mind have a bit of sp`re cash

at the end to book into a s`vings plan.

Staying with money matters, the Prime Minister

has been urged to recognise her sisterhood with a group of women

born in the 1950s who are sdeking financial relief over changds to

A petition containing thousands of signatures

was presented to Parliament last week.

They are having to wait longer than they expected

because of increases in the pension age for their money.

Will the minister now acknowledge that these women have been subject

to a grave injustice and th`t now is the time for this government to

introduce appropriate transhtional payments for the women most affected

by the pension changes? I c`n only reiterate to the honourable lady

what's been said many times before. The government has made transitional

arrangements that came to more than ?1 billion. The lady is chuntering

at me from a sedentary position I couldn't hear. I'll will trx to

imagine what she was saying. The government has made a transhtion

arrangement and no further loves will be made to assist thesd women,

all of whom will be benefithng in time from the significant increase

in the state pension age. There are shocking reports of women affected

by these changes brought in last April being left destitute. Many of

them who have been on low p`y all their lives where occupational

pension schemes were not opdn to them or have taken on caring

responsibilities, saving thhs country lots of money. What

immediate measures will the government take to address this

appalling situation and put these wrongs right? For those womdn, or

indeed for those men, under the state pension age who are in a

position of destitution that the honourable lady has mentiondd, there

are very comprehensive benefit systems which I'm sure she's aware

they are fully entitled to. I'd like to pay tribute to the -- to Rosemary

Jordan. The Minister is better than the answers he's just given. These

women are being badly affected. The Prime Minister has given a

commitment to this nation to look after those people who are just an

ageing. The women I've seen eye surgery are just managing bdcause of

these pension changes. The transition arrangements madd in 2011

are not good enough, go back to the department and improve the offer. As

the honourable gentleman is aware, I've said many times on this bench

that transitional arrangements that have taken place at more th`n ?

billion, there are arrangemdnts in place for those people wherd there

is destitution. It becomes ` question of public money spdnt. The

pensions at the moment are costing ?89 billion per year on new state

pensions, plus pension credht and everything else and there is no

further money available. I'l very surprised their Arnaud Mela is

opposite who want to ask qudstions on this topic. The Prime Minister

celebrated her own 60th birthday this month, making her part of the

sisterhood of 1950s born wolen who have been shabbily treated by her

predecessor's government. There have been mass petitions and we've heard

of the amazing change of mind by two previous pension ministers

acknowledging the whole thing was wrong and a mess. I know thd Prime

Minister, unlike other membdrs of this special sisterhood, probably

won't need to rely on a state pension. Will the Minister `ppealed

to his boss to use the power she has and compensate some of the lost

needy women and our society? I find it very strange that the honourable

gentleman and his party werd here when the act of Parliament was

passed in 2011, the pensions act was in place, but there was no lention

whatsoever in their 2015 manifesto to try to negate this.

The Work and Pensions Secretary was drawn into

The Minister will be aware that the SNP commissioned independent

research that found the govdrnment's figures are wrong and inste`d of the

30 billion, mitigation would be 8 billion. We know there's a surplus

in the national Insurance ftnd. Why doesn't he now do the right thing

and make sure these women gdt mitigation? Since the Scotthsh

Government has the powers to pay benefits. It can create new

benefits, it can top up resdrve benefits. I think the days where

this chamber is just a relaxing place for the SNP to come and whinge

on no longer true. They control a government which has the power to do

something about this and put its money where their mouths ard.

Some verbal sparring from the SNP dare to bring

as to the end of Monday in Parliament.

Alysia McCarthy will be here for the rest of the wedk but,