19/03/2018 Monday in Parliament

bill.

Second reading what date,

Friday 22nd of April, thank you.

Hello and welcome to Monday

in Parliament, our look at the best

of the day in the Commons

and the Lords.

On this programme, Britain

and the EU reach agreement

on the transitional

period after Brexit.

Arguments shift to what the future

might hold for the port of Dover.

There is no degree of customs check

whatsoever that can prevent Dover

from becoming less of a car park and

in fact most of Kent from becoming a

car park.

Labour challenges Ministers to do

more to end the laundering

of so-called "dirty" Russian money

through Britain.

What will the Government now do to

ensure that the enforcement agencies

are fully resourced to tackle this

gorge on our society? -- this

scored.

And there are calls for a cystic

fibrosis drug to be made

available on the NHS.

There are lots of hard big stories

from people who are six years old

and younger who are sharing their

frustration with the people I'm

speaking for today.

But first, it's been a significant

moment in the long saga of Brexit:

the UK and the EU have reached

a deal over the almost

two-year transition period,

due to start in March 2019

when the UK formally leaves the EU.

Agreement is still needed

over how Britain's ports

and borders will operate once

the transition period ends.

A university study has claimed that

just two extra minutes of checks

on vehicles could lead

to 29-mile long tailbacks

on roads around Dover.

But on the BBC's Question Time

on Thursday, the Transport Secretary

Chris Grayling insisted

that there would be no

checks at the border.

In the Commons, the Labour chair

of the Brexit Committee believed

this was a change of policy.

He quoted Mr Grayling.

We don't check lorries now and we're

not going to be checking lorries

in Dover in the future.

Given that the Government

is committed to leaving the customs

union but that all free-trade

agreements involve some

checks that borders,

how exactly can this be squared

with no checks at all?

Which border crossings will be

covered by the no checks policy?

Will it just be railroad

ports, for example?

On the issue, what the Secretary

of State for Transport had

to say last Thursday,

he said in addition

to the remarks of the right

honourable gentleman has raised,

we will not under any circumstances

create a hard border in Dover that

requires us to stop every lorry

in the port of Dover.

This, of course, Mr Speaker,

is absolutely right.

Can the Minister give a single

example of a nation which does not

rely on either a customs union

agreement or on customs

enforcement at its border?

What are the Government's plans

to manage our trade relationships,

protect our own producers,

or uphold environmental protections

without either a customs agreement

or border enforcement?

I am fully familiar with

the importance of a frictionless

border and of course,

the other important news that we've

had today, Mr Speaker,

is that we have concluded,

subject to the European Council

meeting shortly, an implementation

period for these particular

arrangements, which will of course,

give us additional, valuable time

to provide certainty to businesses

but also to make sure we have

all the arrangements in place

for a successful customs

arrangement going forward.

The port of Dover reckons that

99% of the traffic goes

to and from the European Union

and it takes these massive,

great lorries on average two

minutes to get through.

The other 1% goes to the rest

of the world and it takes an average

20 minutes to get through.

There is no degree of customs check

whatsoever that can prevent Dover

from becoming less than a car park

and in fact, most of Kant

from becoming a car park.

I urge the Minister to reject

the representations in the analogue

parties opposite that seem

to have a dystopian vision

for analogue borders where every

single load is stopped.

And as the constituency

representative for the port

of Dover, can I urge him to embrace

digital borders

so that we have frictionless trade,

risk-based stopping of trade

and inspections where necessary,

and postponement of checks

to workplaces and audits?

And in this way, this dystopian

desire of the party opposite

for Dover and Kent to be turned

into a car can be avoided,

but only with investment.

And can I urge him to make

the appropriate investment

in systems to make that vision

a reality as soon as possible?

Will my right honourable

friend take as inspiration

the workings of DP World,

the deepwater port of the south

of Essex where thousands of lorries'

worth of containers flow

into the country from outside

the customs union swiftly,

slickly, and smoothly,

and will he look upon that

as a potential solution

for our border in Dover?

I thank my honourable friend

for that point and I have no doubt

that that is just one other example

of where facilitations in technology

can insure the goods move

across a customs

frontier efficiently.

Mel Stride on matters of Brexit.

And there will be more Brexit

later in the programme.

Strong appeals have been made by MPs

for a cystic fibrosis drug,

Orkambi, to be made available

on the NHS in England.

Cystic fibrosis affects

more than ten thousand

people across the UK.

It's a genetic condition

affecting mostly the lungs,

but can also affect other organs.

The Orkambi drug can slow down

the decline of the lungs.

It costs, however, around

£100,000 a patient.

Because there is a restricted amount

of people, fortunately,

that suffer from this condition,

the research, the development

still has to go in and it's not

like you are developing the next

ibuprofen or cancer

drug which is going

to go out to millions

and millions of people.

This is going out to 70,000

people in the world

and so therefore in order

to build their research

and development budget,

they need to have reasonable costs,

but nonetheless, of course,

they do need to be reasonable costs.

On Friday, NHS England has

said, following advice,

the NHS has asked this particular

drug company to review

its proposed pricing.

Unless this happens,

further progress at this time

is frankly unlikely.

"Frankly unlikely."

What sort of hope does a blunt

statement like that give people

with cystic fibrosis?

He makes the important

point that actually,

if people have access to this drug,

they can reduce the number of times

they had to go to hospital and it

would be very helpful if we had

an understanding of the cost

of those hospital admissions

and what that would be,

offset against the drug.

Wouldn't he agree

with me on that point?

This is a very important point

and one that I hope the Minister

will take into account,

because we shouldn't just be looking

at the cost of providing Orkambi,

we should be looking

at the savings that is housed

in other areas as well.

It should be available

to everyone that needs it

and that is sad that money

is getting in the way

of people's health improving.

Can I add the voice of one

of my 6-year-old constituents

who will not benefit from Orkambi,

but recognises that if we don't get

this right, the other treatments

that might help her will be subject

to similar concerns, similar delays?

She's just six years

old but she doesn't need

this kind of delay.

This he agree with me that this

is not just about what can be,

but how we deal with these

life-changing drugs

I understand the power of them

to make such a difference?

I thank the honourable member

for that intervention there.

I absolutely agree with her

and there are lots of heartbreaking

stories from people

who are 6-year-olds and even younger

who share in the frustrations

of the people that I am

speaking for today.

But I must now declare

a personal interest,

as my now 16-month-old granddaughter

was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis

shortly after she was born.

On hearing about this debate,

my daughter-in-law enlisted

all her friends and family

to sign the petition.

Even though she knows that Orkambi

will not help her daughter,

but it is Vertex who are developing

new treatments all the time

and the use of Orkambi can

only hope that research.

Yes, the NHS is in discussions

with Vertex about Orkambi.

Vertex has approached the NHS

England with a proposed deal

to reduce its prices.

Whilst I can't share the details

of this proposal due

to the commercial confidentiality

nature of them, believe

you me, I wish I could.

I can assure members

that the level that is proposed,

are still far from cost-effective.

Therefore, there is

more talking to do.

Last week, NHS England

made a counter proposal

which would ensure that the drugs

could be used at a price

that is cost-effective.

I understand NHS England has agreed

to meet with Vertex,

I jolly well hope so.

Of course it is not over e-mail.

To discuss this counterproposal.

Following the poisoning

attack in Salisbury,

Labour is challenging the Government

to do more to end the laundering

of so-called "dirty" Russian

money through London.

Responding to an urgent question,

the Minister said there was a "long

list" of Government actions -

including measures making it easier

to confiscate assets and support

for an amendment to legislation

going through Parliament

which could allow sanctions to be

imposed on Russians alleged to be

involved in the death

of the lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky.

This government has

taken a real steps to

tackle criminal finance

in

this country.

Whoever the cooks are,

wherever they are from, and no

matter what nationality,

we built pursue them and their cash.

Despite all the Minister has said,

the national crime agency estimates

that still £90 billion worth

of money from the rest

of the world has been laundered

through the city each year,

while the UN estimates 100 billion

has been lost in British

overseas territories.

There was, he said,

still a major problem.

There is minimal checking

of the UK's own registry

of company ownership.

Indeed, it was possible

for a journalist to set up a company

called Crooked Crook limited.

634,000 suspicious activity reports

filed since October 2000 15.

-- 2015.

What will the Government now do

to ensure that the enforcement

agencies are fully resourced

to tackle this score

scourge in our society?

What we shouldn't forget,

we sought over the weekend

Mr Speaker, what this really

is about is a distraction

by the Labour Party from its woeful

response last week, an attempt

by the Shadow Chancellor to say,

nothing to see here, look over

there, it is all about oligarchs.

The Government, he said,

was determined to deal

with the problem of "dirty money":.

One of the complaints

was that the unexplained wealth

order was not used by this

government and it is one

of their demand that they

made over the weekend.

The unexplained wealth order

was used in under two weeks of it

running into legislation

on the 31st of January.

It was served against an overseas

oligarch on it when £2

£22 million of property.

That was action within a fortnight.

I welcome the Minister said

about the amendment,

but can I ask them to confirm

to the House that it will be

genuinely tough and able to allow

the authorities to seize

money very quickly?

In congratulating the Government

on its support and moving

towards the Magnitsky amendment,

and I just point out

that there are three elements there?

Firstly, asset seizures, second,

visa bans, and thirdly

and very importantly,

a public list of named individuals

which makes it difficult for those

names to access finance

and encourages others

not to get on the list?

Has the Government compiled

a list of politically

exposed people from Russia,

like their own first

Deputy Prime Minister,

who could be the subject

of an unexplained wealth orders,

and if they have that list,

will it be published?

The right honourable gentleman

will know that individuals who may

or not be subject of investigation

or operations against them are not

people that I would come

to the House and publish.

It could threaten our ability

to have an effect on then.

Needless to say to the right

honourable member, that it is our

determination to make sure

that we use intelligence-led

policing to find money and to deal

with those individuals,

whether they are from

here or from abroad.

France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain,

many, many other countries have open

criminal investigations

into the people who were directly

responsible for the brutal murder

of Sergei Magnitsky.

Why is the United Kingdom the only

country not to have done so?

I want to raise another

issue with the Minister

and that is the tier one investor

visas, the Golden visas.

Anybody who gets one of those visas

needs to demonstrate they've

got £2 million worth,

that they had £2 million

that they wish to invest in the UK.

We know that Russia is one

of the two top countries taking

advantage of these tier

one investor visas.

What steps is the Minister

going to take so that we understand

where the £2 million plus comes

from, so that we can be assured

that it is not dirty money and these

are not unsavoury individuals?

We do have the powers

in our visa regime already

to take action and we will,

quite rightly, as she says,

be looking at that tier to make sure

that we do better to diligence

-- due diligence, if we need

to on where the money comes from.

You're watching our round-up of the

day in the Commons and the Lords.

Still to come: an MP says the number

of school-children carrying knives

is rising dramatically.

Now, it's three and a half

years behind schedule,

costing much more than anticipated

and has had lower

take-up than predicted.

The modernisation of

the Home Office's Disclosure

And Barring Service,

the DBS, is not going well

in the view of the spending

watchdog, the National Audit Office.

DBS is the successor organisation

to the Criminal Records Bureau.

The poor progress of

the modernisation programme has now

been scrutinised by the Commons

public accounts committee.

If your view is that this contract

is still recoverable or deliverable,

my words rather than yours,

but you understand where I'm going,

where does this contract have to get

in order for you to recommend

stopping or pausing?

Because I see a contract

that is 46 months behind

schedule plus and growing,

a contract that is 200 million,

or in part £200 million over cost.

So how many millions more does

a contract have to be over cost

or how much longer does the contract

have to be undelivered before

somebody goes "That's it,

we can't do it"?

In terms of the functionalities

required for the remainder,

a large part of the functionalities

have been developed.

There is very little

that is required to be

built into the system.

There is going to be a lot more

testing required to take place,

so I don't believe that this

contract requires to be stopped.

It is recoverable,

it is implementable.

Can I just move on, then,

to you, Sir Philip?

You have, as Mr Rowley

said, disavowed yourself

of the 2012 contract.

You've just acknowledged the 2014

contract was a problem.

You look a little embarrassed

about the failure of this contract.

It's another IT project failure

in a department that you became

permanent secretary of less

than a year ago.

Aren't you rather worried

about the capability

of your department to let

these large contracts,

ESN, for example, as other examples

of contracts from the Home Office.

I think there are many,

many excellent projects

which are being delivered

by the Home Office and are delivered

in a way that fits in

a framework of to time,

to cost, good engagement...

OK, you're talking

about the good ones.

Of course you want to.

I could get waylaid and

ask you to detail them,

but what I am talking about today

is this particular contract.

And I think Mr Rowley has

highlighted very effectively

that there were a number

of problems, and you've agreed

with a lot of that concern.

Don't think anyone's saying

that the NOE is wrong and didn't

things go wrong here,

but this is on top of ESN,

which we have seen you about

now a number of times,

and other contracts.

Aren't you concerned

about the capability

of the Home Office to let these

large IT contracts effectively?

The governance is stronger

in the Home Office, the government

scrutiny is stronger of major

programmes now than it was

in 2012, markedly so.

So can I ask sort of specifically

what you have personally done,

what have you personally done to try

and stop this happening again?

Have you implemented any

changes since you arrived?

Yes.

So I would, without...

I put additional emphasis

on developing the programme

project management profession,

I have strengthened and simplified

governance within the department,

I have strengthened the management

information and

management reporting.

I have done a number

of things to make very clear

within the department the importance

of getting our major

change programmes right.

It is a work in progress.

Sir Philip Rutnam.

Back to Brexit now.

Because fears that human trafficking

victims and female victims

of violence could be left

without protection once the UK

is out of the EU have been

voiced in the Lords.

Peers have had completed

their eighth day of debate

on the details of the EU

Withdrawal Bill, the legislation

designed to stop Britain being left

in a legal limbo when the country

exits this time next year.

A human rights lawyer

saw a series of dangers,

facing women particularly,

after March 2019.

After exit day, women

subject to violence could

lose significant legal

rights and protections,

such as European production orders

as well as a whole host

of other majors aimed

at tackling human trafficking,

female genital mutilation

and other crimes which

disproportionately affect women.

Given the gravity of what we're

discussing, namely how to protect

abused women fleeing the country

in which they live to escape

an abuser, I hope to hear how

the Government is expecting

to continue protection for

these women and girls post-Brexit.

But violence against women

and girls, it has not featured

in any Brexit-related papers.

So could the noble lady,

the Minister, please tell us

what provisions are being made

to continue cooperation and data

sharing on known and suspected

perpetrators of human trafficking,

FGM, sexual exploitation of children

and a whole host of benefits

which cross-EU cooperation

has brought us until now?

I support this amendment and am

concerned about a number of matters,

particularly the European protection

order and European arrest warrants,

both of which are important weapons

in the issues in relation

to domestic violence.

The situation of a person that has

been trafficked is desperate,

stripped of agency, power

and dignity, often in an unfamiliar

country with little way out.

This is an issue which significantly

affects women and girls.

Of all the victims of

human trafficking in Europe,

70% are women and 11% girls.

So a focus on tackling violence

against women rightly seeks

to address human trafficking.

Information sharing is the key

to safety and security

across the EU, and it is essential

that we maintain our current access

to exchange law enforcement

intelligence from other

European nations.

We know, too, though that this

is possible outside of the EU

as a number of countries,

such as Norway, Switzerland

and the US, have operational

agreements with Europol.

We are wholly committed to working

with local commissioners to deliver

a secure future for violence

against women and girls services.

Now as part of the negotiations,

we will discuss with the EU member

states how best to continue

cooperation on a range of issues,

including the European

arrest warrant and Europol.

An appeal has been made

for the Government to take seriously

the issue of young people

taking knives to school.

The number of knives being carried

by school children has reached

epidemic proportions,

in the words of a Labour MP.

She's fearful that efforts to combat

the rise could be hampered

by cuts to school budgets.

The matter came up at Education

question-time in the Commons.

Knife carrying in schools

across the UK is up 42%,

and yet in my constituency

in Croydon, and I expect

across the country, at least three

quarters of head teachers have had

to cut staff, special needs

provision and support life

mentoring, which are all crucial

in preventing crime.

Now that this epidemic has

infiltrated our schools,

will he admit that school

cuts are threatening

our childrens' safety?

You've heard the Secretary of State

regarding school finance.

All I would say to the honourable

lady is that the department

is working with the Home Office,

and of course other

police, Ofsted and health

and safety, etc, on updating

our school security

guidance to make clear the risks

carrying knives and provide advice

on dealing with this

really important issue.

It is unacceptable to actually

carry a knife in school.

Youth violence is up,

mental health issues

among young people is up,

yet the number of qualified

school nurses is down.

The evidence shows that this can be

part of addressing the root

causes of youth violence.

Can we have qualified school nurses

in every school as one step

to tackling this issue?

We are making further

investment in mental health

We are making further investment

in mental health in schools to make

sure that every school is able

to deal

with that issue in a way

that is appropriate.

NHS officials were accused

of being woefully ignorant

of the dangers of over dependence

on prescription drugs.

Peers called for the government

to provide a network of support

for people affected.

Opioids, like morphine,

tramadol and fentanyl,

are super-strength painkillers,

which can be highly addictive

and can even kill if misused.

GPs in England prescribed nearly

24 million opioid-based

painkillers in 2017,

according to data from NHS Digital.

Many, many patients are

suffering huge damage as a result

of overdependence often

because they've been prescribed

a particular medicine for

too long a period.

My Lords, there appears to be woeful

ignorance amongst many people

in the health service about

this impact of dependence.

There are no national programmes

for supporting people.

Instead, people rely

on local charities who are

grossly underfunded.

Doesn't he think it's time

for a national action plan,

a national help line,

support for local charities

and getting the NHS to start

taking this seriously?

The Health Minister said

the government had ordered

Public Health England to conduct

a review into prescription levels.

There's been a doubling of the use

of serious painkillers and indeed,

deaths due to opiates of all kinds

rising about two thirds

in the last five years.

Of course, that's illegal.

We do agree.

That is why the review

is taking place.

I think it's premature

to say what the outcome

of that review will be,

but it is undoubtedly the case

that we do need a review...

So with the shortage of mental

health service in the NHS,

GPs often have no alternative

but to prescribe drugs.

Doesn't the Government have

to address that shortage

in both of those areas?

I think the link between mental

illness and GP prescribing will be

one of the things investigated

in the review.

We do know we need better mental

health services in this country,

but I think it is worth pointing out

that are we increasing investment

introducing new waiting time

standards and services

are getting better.

Is the noble Minister aware

of the very powerful evidence

from the United States

that one of the most

effective ways of reducing

dependency on opioids is in fact

to legalize cannabis

for the relief of pain?

Cannabis is of course far less

addictive, far less dangerous

and yet incredibly effective

for large numbers of patients.

Well, I would definitely be

straying into Home Office

territory by commenting.

I would point that cannabis

remains illegal in this

country and the PHE review's...

The review by Public Health England

into prescription levels is due

to report in spring next year.

And that's it for this programme.

Mandy Baker will be here

for the rest of the week.

But for now, from me,

Keith Macdougall, goodbye.