08/01/2018 Monday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to

Monday in Parliament -

our look at the best of the day

in the Commons and the Lords.

On this programme: Labour condemns

the pressures on the NHS

during the winter health crisis.

Is it any surprise we have a winter

crisis of this severity?

MPs call for reassurances

for the victims after the serial

rapist John Worboys

is released from prison.

What assurances can be homesick

sheet given that upon his release,

if he has to be released, I may say,

that upon his release women will be

safe?

And the decision to

appoint the journalist

Toby Young to the board of

a new higher education watchdog is

criticised.

But first - hospitals have struggled

to cope with demands from sick

patients over the holiday period -

with operations cancelled

and lengthy delays for treatment

reported by the NHS in England.

Patients have experienced long waits

in A&E and being left

on trolleys in corridors

because there were no

beds available.

More than one in eight patients

rushed to hospital in an ambulance

has faced a delay of more than 30

minutes on arrival.

In Parliament's first day back

after the Christmas break,

Labour were keen to raise the winter

crisis in the Health Service.

The Health Minister said he had

"heartfelt" thanks for staff who had

worked over the holiday.

They give up their family

celebrations over the holiday period

to put the needs of patients first

and it is these dedicated people

that make the NHS truly great.

The minister said the Government had

put plans in place early.

We are supporting hospital

flow and discharge.

We allocated £1 billion for social

care this year, meaning

local authorities have

funded more care packages.

Delayed transfers of care have

been reduced, freeing up

1100 hospital beds by

the onset of winter.

It is always a delight to see

the Minister that the Secretary

It is always a delight to see

the Minister but the Secretary

of State for Health should be

here defending his handling of the

crisis, not pleading for a promotion

in Downing Street as we speak.

Now, Mr Speaker,

I join the minister in

paying tribute to all those NHS

staff working flat out.

Many of them have said

that this winter crisis

was entirely predictable and

entirely preventable because when

you starve the NHS of resources,

when you cut beds by 15,000,

when you cut district nurses,

when walk-in

centres close, when we have

vacancies for 40,000 nurses,

when you fragment the NHS

at a local level and

drive privatisation,

when

social care savaged,

is there any surprise

we have a winter crisis

of this severity?

The Prime Minister defends this

crisis saying nothing

is perfect.

Patients don't want perfection.

They just want an NHS

properly funded, properly

staffed without the indignity of

560,000 people waiting on a trolley

in the last year.

Well, I am glad he raised

the Secretary of State.

I would just like to

put on record my

tribute to my right honourable

friend, the Secretary

of State, who has served

in that position for...

For almost as long as Aneurin Bevan

who was the original

founder, first Secretary of State

for the NHS.

I would like to gently

remind the honourable

gentleman that we have a crisis

in winter of some kind or another

every year.

He would've been in Downing Street

in 2009/10 at a time

when, as it happens,

the Shadow Health Secretary chose

not to try to take advantage

of the near pandemic

that existed at the time in flu

because he recognised these

were operational pressures

on the NHS

and it was not down to him to make

party political point scoring.

As the Minister just

said, every year we

have this slightly ritual exchange

about winter pressures.

But does he accept that the problems

are changing because of the

increased number of elderly people

in the population and the increased

urgency of solving

the problem of how

to admit them promptly

to the

right part of the service and then

discharge them properly and safely

as soon as they are recovered?

So would he advertise

further to many

people are not aware of it,

the emergency available GP services

and would he concentrate on reform

and

integration of the committee care

system, social care system and the

primary care services and, again,

make sure that their cooperation

is steadily improved.

The number of over 80s

who are presenting in our

hospitals through A&E are going up

exponentially each year and it is

the case that hospitals need

to adapt the way they treat these

patients in order to try to keep

them as healthy as possible.

While Scotland still leads in A&E

performance across the UK, we don't

need to see four hour data

to see the stress that NHS

England is under.

We've seen thousands of patients

held in ambulances for over an hour

outside A&E before

they can even get in.

Could I join the Minister

in thanking NHS staff and commenting

that there is nothing

new about winter pressures

in the NHS,

what's different

is that they are extending

now in the traditionally quieter

months and that the debts of those

pressures is so much more profound

over the current winter because

there has been a failure over

successive governments to plan

sufficiently for the scale of

the increase in demand across both

health and social care?

Would the Minister

again think about the

forthcoming green paper for social

care also combining that with health

so we can see this is as a truly

cross system approach?

I would like to reiterate the

importance of the work being done

through the process between NHS

organisations and social care

providers.

The minister praised

the work being done -

and later an announcement

from Downing Street confirmed

the Government's proposals on care

and support for older people will be

dealt with by the Department

of Health from now on.

In order to progress

beyond the tribal arguments

about funding, what's the Government

response to the 90 MPs on

both sides of the House who have

urged the Government to establish a

cross-party consensus to agree

a funding formula for integrated

health and social care?

Well, as my right honourable

friend has said and

the Prime Minister has said,

we are always interested to listen

to ideas to help improve

the health service.

We do, at the moment, have

confidence in the five-year forward

view and that is the route

that we are going.

The decision to release serial

rapist John Worboys was raised

at Home Office questions

in the Commons today.

Worboys was convicted of 19 offences

and is suspected of attacking

more than 100 women.

But the decision by the Parole Board

to free the former taxi driver,

nine years after he was jailed,

has raised concern among his victims

- worries which were aired by MPs.

I'm sure we'll also be shocked

to learn that some of the

victims still have not been

contacted by either Probation or

Victim Liaison.

I realise the issues around

the Parole Board decision on

matters for the Ministry of Justice,

but can she say whether she has had

any contact with the police about

whether they are able to further

pursue the case of 19 women who came

forward after the conviction took

place to see whether they can be

prosecuted, to see whether justice

can be done and women kept safe?

Home Secretary.

Well, I do share the Right

Honourable lady's views on

this matter and I'm

sure she will have seen

the Justice Minister's comments

today about making sure

that there is more transparency

in the Parole Board.

I am aware of certain,

certain victims who are

talking about possible judicial

reviews and talking to the police.

I don't think I can

say at this point

any more than that because it will

be, it is subject to potential legal

proceedings.

Can the Home Secretary explain

why her department is still

pursuing two of John Worboys'

victims known as DSB and NVB all the

way to the Supreme Court in

an apparent effort to avoid paying

compensation?

The Home Secretary will be aware

that these victims are

women whose cases the lower courts

have already found were not

investigated properly.

How does pursuing them

through the courts

assure the public that the

Government is serious about keeping

women and girls safe?

The Government is committed

to keeping women and

girls safe and I hope that some

of the points that I have set out

today will reassure the House

that that is the case.

I recognise the point

that the right honourable lady has

raised.

However, because it is sub

judice, I cannot comment

on anything at the moment.

Mr Speaker, in 2009,

John Worboys was

found to be a dangerous, predatory

sex offender and rightly so.

It is a feature of those

sorts of offenders,

they also clever and cunning.

What assurances can

the Home Secretary

give us that upon his release,

if he has to be released, I may

say, but upon his release

women will be safe?

Making women safe and

ensuring that we have the

legislation in place

for that is a priority for me

and for this Government overall.

She has raised a particular case

which has been under

discussion in this chamber through

these questions, she may be aware

that there is going

to be a review of some

of the procedures and

the

element of the Parole Board

and the transparency required,

the Prime Minister has already said

she wants this looked at.

Now, revellers could get a chance

to raise a glass - or more -

to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

on their big day.

At Home Office questions,

Amber Rudd said she'd launched

a consultation to relax pub opening

hours in England and Wales for

the royal wedding weekend in May.

Extending licensing hours

on the nights of Friday the 18th,

Saturday the 19th of May until 1am

the

following mornings will allow

licensed premises in England and

Wales to sell alcohol consumption

on-site to those who want to

continue their celebrations

beyond the normal licensing hours.

Whether toasting the royal couple

or celebrating a football triumph,

everyone should have the opportunity

to make the most of this historic

weekend in May.

Something to look forward to there.

You're watching our round-up of the

day in the Commons and the Lords.

Still to come, a call

to mark the anniversary

of the arrival of the Windrush.

Now, it used to be just the title

of a Channel 4 game show.

But Deal Or No Deal?

is a question increasingly

heard around Westminster,

as the Brussels talks continue over

Britain's EU exit terms.

So, as part of her reshuffle,

could Theresa May be

about to appoint

a Minister for No Deal?

And if so, who could

the No Deal Minister be?

The possibility of the new

ministerial job surfaced when peers

returned to matters of Brexit

at question-time in

the House of Lords.

It has been reported that the Prime

Minister is going to appoint someone

as a no deal Brexit Minister. Will

that person have the same

responsibility to report back to

both houses like the other

ministers?

I'm always suspicious of

a question that starts off has been

widely reported. People know that

ministerial appointments I matter

for the Prime Minister and I'm sure

he will be the first to know if she

decides to make such an appointment.

Is he aware that the British people

are now much tougher in their

attitude to the negotiations going

on in Brussels, that they are tired

of seeing arrogant and rude

officials from the EU and that they

want to have full details of what is

now proposed from Europe.

Well, they

are certainly getting full details

from us. He makes a point, I'm not

sure I necessarily agree with him,

all of the dealings we have had with

our interlocutors in the European

Commission have been courteous and

civil.

As we begin a New Year, which

we hope will be slightly more

harmonious than the last, is it not

important that whilst we all

recognise that the verdict of the

referendum was that we should leave,

it was taken by a very narrow

majority and it is therefore

important that those who were on the

winning side demonstrate a degree of

understanding and magnanimity so

that we do get a proper deal, a real

compromise and one that preserves

the stature and the economic

prosperity of this country.

Nigel

Farage is meeting Mr Barnier

purporting to represent the views of

the British people. Will the

Minister make it absolutely clear

that even though some of us don't

have much faith in the Conservative

ministers that are negotiating on

our behalf, least they were elected

to the House of commons, unlike Mr

Farage.

Yes! I see that Mr Barnier

is having a meeting with a wide

range of people this week, one of

which is Mr Farage by dating Nidal

would ever say that he represents

the people of the United Kingdom. --

but I don't think Mr Farage would

ever say he represents the people of

the knighted kingdom. I suspect he

has met with peers of this House,

with both opposition and backbench

MPs from the House of Commons but I

think he is very clear that he only

has one party to actually negotiate

with.

The universities ministers Jo

Johnson has faced criticism for the

decision to appoint the journalist

Toby Young to the board of a new

higher education watchdog. Mr Young,

champion preschools, was appointed

to the office for students bored but

he has been criticised because of

his past comments about women, gay

people and disabled people in

newspaper articles and online.

I am

flabbergasted and it is beyond me

how the Minister can stand up and

support this appointment. I find it

the appointment of Toby Young and I

think that it leaves the credibility

in tatters. Was due process followed

in all cases? Who was the

Independent assessor because I

cannot find that person's name. Why

does the DFV if agger rate Toby

Young's qualifications.

The

honourable than the has called

today's debate to discuss remarks

going back to the 1980s. These were

foolish and wrong and do not reflect

the values of the government. I'm

not aware that anything he has said

in the past has been found to have

breached our strong discrimination

laws, which are among the toughest

in the world, and in future Toby

Young will be bound to comply with

the Equality Act of 2010 in

performing all of his functions for

the office for students. Regardless

of the legal position it is of

course right that Toby Young has

apologised to the OFS board. It is

also right that he has said that he

regrets the comments and has given

and undertaken that the kind of

remarks made in the past will not be

repeated.

I accept that Mr Young has

done great work on free schools but

so have many other people and I'm

not talking about the things that he

has done on Twitter. What I'm more

concerned about is some quite dark

articles where he talks about the

disabled, talks about the working

class, much more significantly in

2015 and I have the article here, on

what he calls progressive eugenics.

I find this incredibly dark and very

dangerous staff and I suggest to my

horrible friend that he looks again

at this appointment because I do not

think it will put confidence and

students.

The minister asks us to

judge Mr Young by what he does. As

one of the many women who have had

personal, repeated and recent

experiences of his ability to lose

friends and alienate people, I say

to the Minister and undergraduate

student would know it is not

evidence enough of a change in

behaviour for someone simply when

they have been caught out to say

sorry. Every educationalist would

say to the Minister that rewarding

the bad behaviour as he is sends a

terrible message to our universities

about the standards we accept. What

more does Mr Young had to say until

the Minister realises he deserves to

say on Twitter not in teaching?

Since he made many of these comments

and articles and so forth, which in

most cases date to pre-2010, he has

been appointed to the Fulbright

commission, reappointed to the

Fulbright commission, named director

of the leading educational charity

and he has been doing important work

setting up schools in West London

that are delivering great outcomes

for young people. This is what we

should judge him by, not foolish and

obnoxious tweets from the distant

past.

Now, it's the name of a ship

which has come to mark a moment

when modern migration

to the UK began.

The Empire Dubai brings to Britain

500 Jamaicans...

In 1948, the MV Empire Windrush

landed at Tilbury docks,

bringing 492 passengers

from the Caribbean.

These travellers were one

of the first large groups

of immigrants into Britain,

encouraged to come by the UK

Government of the time.

The Liberal Democrat peer

Lady Benjamin wanted to know

what the present government

was doing to commemorate

the 70th anniversary

of the arrival of the Windrush.

The minister, Lord Bourne,

said he would be meeting key groups

in the coming weeks to decide.

There were signs that the Windrush

pioneers faced in 1948 because the

government did not make it

absolutely clear that the Caribbean

people were invited to come to the

UK, to rescue the NHS, the transport

system and the factories after the

war. Today, many descendants of

those pioneers don't know this part

of their history because it is not

generally taught in schools so can I

ask the Minister, as the Prime

Minister wants everyone to feel

included in this, our society, will

the government create a Windrush day

recognising the outstanding

contribution, the Windrush

generation has made to Britain?

The

noble lady makes powerful points,

there is a Windrush day on the 22nd

of June and this year we unveiled a

monument in Brixton which was a

tribute to the role played by troops

from the Caribbean and from Africa

in Windrush Square in Brixton. We

also educationally particularly in

black history month pay more than

reference to what was done by that

community but it is important, as I

have said, that we do recognise the

70th anniversary and we are

intending to do that.

A tribute to

the early views of Enoch Powell in

encouraging immigration to this

country, even if he were at parent

in his views later on when he no

longer had ministerial

responsibilities.

He will understand

that I and the government is keen to

look forward. We recognise there is

a world of difference from 1948 and

the 1960s and even the 1970s as to

the way we now a much more cohesive

and diverse society. We must look

forward and in that spirit, it's

important we recognise the changes

that have been made and the progress

that has been made and celebrate

Windrush day as the noble lady

Baroness Benjamin has been urging us

to do.

Celebrations cost money and

so could he guarantee that in

addition to the Heritage lottery

fund some that there will be funds

coming from central government to

ensure that the celebrations are

they fitting nature?

I thank my

noble friend, she is right, these

come with a bill and I don't have

the cheque-book with me and I don't

at the moment in ten to say how much

will be spent but it's important

that we do this in a meaningful way.

Lady Benjamin talks about the

initial attitudes towards those

people who first came on the

Windrush and indeed their

descendants and I wonder whether the

Minister thinks that despite changes

to the law, attitudes like that have

fundamentally changed in this

country and what is the government

doing to create an inclusive country

where the contributions of all are

recognised and celebrated?

In answer

to her question, I think there have

been fundamental changes in this

country and the views of most

people, I'll yet there with

everybody, no, there are still

challenges out there.

MPs took part in a debate on a bill

which would establish

a customs and VAT regime

for the UK after Brexit.

The Taxation Bill would set

up a new framework -

and the Treasury Minister Mel Stride

told MPs it would leave the way open

for the UK to enter into future

"customs union arrangements".

The government has already set out

in its future partnership paper last

summer and in the White Paper for

this bill two options for our future

customs arrangements. Two options

that closely meet these objectives.

One is a highly streamlined customs

arrangements, an approach comprising

a number of measures to help

minimise barriers to trade from the

glaciated the continuation of

existing trade relationships to

technology-based solutions. The

other is a new customs partnership,

an unprecedented and innovative

approach under which the UK would

mirror the GU's requirements for

imports across the world that are

destined for the European Union.

Leaving a need for a formal customs

border between the UK and the EU.

The government that thought to

discussing both of these options

with our European partners and

businesses in both the UK and the EU

as negotiations progress.

There are

many small businesses in this

country who have not had to deal

with import VAT because they can

deal with imports from the EU for

whom finding upfront cash in order

to pay for that would be a real

problem and perhaps he could assure

this House for now that he is aware

of that issue and the concerns of

small businesses on cash flow and

this is something he hopes to return

to and as he knows it's something we

have discussed and I will be writing

as chairman of the Treasury Select

Committee the HMRC to understand

their thinking on this at this time.

She is absolutely right to raise

this issue. I know that she has been

at a campaigner for the interests of

business and she is right to raise

this issue. It is an issue with

which the government has and the

Treasury has sympathy. We do not

want to see over 100,000 businesses

disadvantaged in terms of cash terms

in the way that she has described

and it is certainly something that

we will be looking at closely going

forward.

The bill ostensibly has set

out to create a functioning customs

framework for the United Kingdom

once we leave the European Union and

hope springs eternal in that regard.

We accept that such an arrangement

is necessary, regardless of the UK's

future relationship would be you or

the nature of its wider trading

relationships but yet once again we

have been denied any detail on the

face of the legislation itself, as

identified by honourable members.

Nothing to guarantee frictionless

trade so the UK's ports from the

moment of Exeter, no measures to

properly resolve Her Majesty's

Revenue and Customs for the task and

nowhere near sufficient detail on

the powers provisions of the trade

remedies authority, which will be

charged with insuring that our vital

British industries are protected.

The bill was passed in a vote later

and will now be examined

in further detail later on.

And that's it for this programme.

Mandy Baker will be here

for the rest of the week.

But for now, from me,

Georgina Pattinson, goodbye.