Browse content similar to 24/02/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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case he raises with me but he is once do drop in, we can look into it | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
fully. Questions to the Prime Minister. The house will be a | :00:00. | :00:13. | |
further dreadful accident that happened at Didcot power station | :00:14. | :00:16. | |
yesterday afternoon in which one died and three are missing. | :00:17. | :00:22. | |
The family and friends of the victim. | :00:23. | :00:24. | |
The house will be aware of the dreadful accident at Didcot | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
power Station, one died and three are | :00:28. | :00:29. | |
missing and the whole House will want to send | :00:30. | :00:31. | |
The family and friends of the victim. | :00:32. | :00:32. | |
And emergency services dealt with the incident with typical | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
professionalism. The Health and Safety Executive will find out what | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
led to the tragedy. This morning I had meetings with ministerial | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
colleagues and others and I shall have further such meetings later | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
today. I would like to associate myself and the people of Wiltshire | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
with the Prime Minister's sentiments about Didcot. Wiltshire has | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
successfully integrated a number of Syrian refugees including babies and | :01:03. | :01:08. | |
children that would have otherwise frozen or starved to death in the | :01:09. | :01:15. | |
camps. There has been delays in introducing more to the area. Can | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
the Prime Minister say what more he can do and can he look into it and | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
also outline what can we do to fulfil our moral duty to these | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
desperate people? Let me first pay tribute to Wiltshire Council and | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
many councils up and down the country who have done lives in job | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
in integrating taking in Syrian refugees and their families, finding | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
them homes and schools and I hope in time jobs too. If you look at what | :01:42. | :01:49. | |
has happened across Europe in terms of the resettlement programme, | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
actually Britain has done far better than any other country in terms of | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
this sort of resettlement programme, we said 1000 by Christmas and we | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
have delivered 1000 by Christmas. First of all I will make sure she | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
can meet with the Home Office to talk about how we can make sure this | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
system works well, we will continue to invest in the Syrian refugee | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
camps, not least with the $11 billion we raised that the landmark | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
London conference, and we will continue to do what we can to | :02:23. | :02:25. | |
deliver 20,000 Syrian refugees we said we would take into our country. | :02:26. | :02:36. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I want to echo the Prime Minister's tribute to | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
all of the emergency services in dealing with the major incident in | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
Didcot. Our thoughts are with the families of the person who died and | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
those of the families who are missing and injured and we should | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
always make sure the emergency services are there for all of us. | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
The NHS staff survey shows that nine out of ten junior doctors already | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
work extra hours beyond their normal contract, the survey also showed | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
falling morale and among this vital group of staff. What does the Prime | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
Minister think the Health Secretary's veto of a deal and | :03:14. | :03:20. | |
imposition of a contract will do to their morale? The Health Secretary | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
did not veto a deal. We have had for four years discussions about how | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
important it is to have an NHS which works on a more seven-day basis. Let | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
me pay tribute to the fact that so many in the NHS works so hard | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
already at the weekends, but what matters is making sure we can have a | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
genuine seven-day NHS and what I would say to junior doctors is that | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
no junior doctor working legal hours will receive a pay cut and this will | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
not impose longer hours and in fact has tougher safeguards to make sure | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
it reduces the hours that worked. We are not seeking to save money from | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
the new contract and nights and Saturday evenings and Sundays | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
attract unsocial hours payments. This is a good deal from a | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
government putting ?10 billion more into our NHS. This dispute with the | :04:12. | :04:21. | |
junior doctors has been on the basis of misrepresented research about | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
weekend mortality. I will read the Prime Minister what the research is | :04:27. | :04:30. | |
themselves say, and I quote, it is not possible to ascertain the extent | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
to which these excess deaths may be preventable, to issue and they are | :04:36. | :04:38. | |
avoidable would be rash and misleading. Is the Prime Minister | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
and his Health Secretary being rash and misleading with these figures? | :04:45. | :04:51. | |
Let me agree with the right honourable gentleman about something | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
which is that the dispute has been plagued by scaremongering and | :04:56. | :05:02. | |
inaccurate statistics. The British Medical Association, in their first | :05:03. | :05:05. | |
intervention said that this was a 30% pay cut, that was completely | :05:06. | :05:12. | |
untrue. In fact, it was so untrue that they had to take their pay | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
calculator off the website and they never put it back again. Let me | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
answer directly the question about excess deaths, the 6000 figure of | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
excess deaths was based on a question asked by the Health | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
Secretary to Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of the NHS. Now we | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
have had time to go into these figures in more detail, I can tell | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
the house this, the Health Secretary was indeed guilty, he was guilty of | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
an understatement. The true figure is why excess deaths at the weekend | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
are 11000 and not 6000. So perhaps The Right Honourable gentleman will | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
now withdraw his totally unjustified attack on the Health Secretary, will | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
he withdraw it now Latinos the figures? -- now that he knows them. | :06:03. | :06:13. | |
It is worth reflecting for one moment that there is no dispute with | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
the junior doctors in Scotland or in Wales because their governments have | :06:20. | :06:22. | |
had the sense to reach an agreement with the junior doctors. He must | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
also be aware, that the vast majority of the public of England | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
are on the side of the junior doctors, not the Secretary of State. | :06:33. | :06:39. | |
But the Secretary of -- the situation actually gets worse. A | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
Freedom of information request by the BBC today reveals that when | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
asked for the source of the Health Secretary's statistics civil | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
servants decided to, and I quote, offer up the most bland statement | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
possible that would neither confirm nor contradict the Health | :06:58. | :07:03. | |
Secretary's statements. Isn't it time that the Prime Minister and the | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
Health Secretary actually apologised for what they have done and | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
corrected these statements and while they are at it reach an honourable | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
settlement with junior doctors? I think the best that can be said is | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
that he wrote that question before he heard my answer. I have given the | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
fullest possible description of how the 6000 figure was arrived at and | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
now the true figure being 11,000. I know that there is no withdrawal of | :07:32. | :07:37. | |
his accusation even after he gets the figures. He says there is no | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
dispute in Scotland and Wales with junior doctors, the reason for that | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
is that in Scotland and Wales they are not trying to create more of a | :07:46. | :07:52. | |
seven-day NHS. The seven-day NHS was not only in our manifesto, because I | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
want to make sure that hard-working people can access health services at | :07:58. | :08:00. | |
an equal rate right through the week, because you don't just get ill | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
in the weekdays, but also if he reads his own party's report into | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
the election defeat, they admit that the concept of a seven-day NHS was a | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
popular concept, and it is. What I would say to him is coming you can | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
see in England we are putting ?10 billion more into the NHS, we have | :08:21. | :08:27. | |
10,000 more doctors, 10,000 more nurses, we are treating more | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
patients and we now have a settlement of the GP contract, a | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
settlement of the junior doctors contract, we are building a strong | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
NHS operations, and that's what this is about. We all want a strong and | :08:39. | :08:52. | |
successful NHS. You don't achieve that by provoking industrial action, | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
misrepresenting research, or failing to get a grip on the cost of agency | :08:57. | :09:03. | |
staff in the NHS which now amounts to ?4 billion. Indeed, in the Prime | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
Minister's own local NHS Trust, it has overspent on staffing costs by | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
?11 million this year. Yet has spent ?30 million on agency staff. Will | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
the chair of the Oxford anti-austerity campaign, writing | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
another letter to himself, asking his local... On behalf of his | :09:26. | :09:28. | |
constituents for the Health Secretary to intervene and support | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
his local NHS? I am very proud of the NHS in Oxfordshire and everyone | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
who works in it and having met recently with the head of the Oxford | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
Radcliffe trust I know that he supports this move towards more | :09:43. | :09:49. | |
seven-day services. That is vital. Ask your mother! My mother would | :09:50. | :09:56. | |
look across the dispatch box and say, put on your suit, do up your | :09:57. | :09:58. | |
tie, and sing the national anthem. If we are talking of motherly | :09:59. | :10:35. | |
advice, my late mother would have said, stand up for the principle of | :10:36. | :10:41. | |
a health service free at the point of use for everybody. Because that | :10:42. | :10:49. | |
is what she dedicated her life to, as did many of her generation. We | :10:50. | :10:57. | |
are three quarters of the way passed into this financial year, the NHS | :10:58. | :11:05. | |
deficit is already ?2.26 billion. 53% of NHS Trust finance directors | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
say that the quality of care in their area has worsened in this | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
year. What will the deficit be by the end of next month? We will get | :11:16. | :11:22. | |
deficits down because we are clamping down on the staffing | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
agencies, an expensive management consultants, and introducing better | :11:29. | :11:31. | |
public procurement. The honourable gentleman has to recognise that we | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
said we would back the Stevens plan which means that at least 8 billion | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
more into the NHS, although we put 10 billion more into the NHS. At the | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
last election and subsequently Labour have refused to back that | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
extra money and when you look at the NHS today, my mother is equally | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
proud of the NHS as I am and I know she would be pleased to know 1.9 | :11:55. | :12:01. | |
million more people go to A, 1.6 million more operations, 10,000 more | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
doctors, 11,800 more nurses. And if Nye Bevan was here today he would | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
want a seven-day NHS because he knew the NHS was for patients up and down | :12:14. | :12:22. | |
our country. Nye Bevan would be turning in his grave if he could | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
hear the Prime Minister's attitude to the NHS. He was a man with | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
vision, he was a man with vision who wanted a health service for the good | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
of all. I tell you, our health service is run by brilliant people, | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
brilliant doctors, brilliant nurses and staff. But I have got a question | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
for the Prime Minister from one of those brilliant doctors, his name is | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
Ashraf and he sent me a question saying this, as a doctor I know full | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
well the stresses on the NHS and the shortcomings. We already have a | :12:59. | :13:04. | |
seven-day emergency service. How does increasing elective work | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
improve safety at the weekend? If a truly seven-day NHS is wanted we | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
need more nurses, more admin staff, more porters, radiographers, physios | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
and all of the other vital workers. Will the Prime Minister now today | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
commit to publishing the Department of Health analysis of the real cost | :13:25. | :13:32. | |
of introducing a seven-day NHS? And will he be prepared to pay for it | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
rather than picking a fight with the junior doctors who want to deliver | :13:36. | :13:37. | |
it? What is not clear is whether or not | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
labours aboard a seven-day NHS or not. We do support a seven-day NHS | :13:45. | :13:50. | |
and that is why we are putting in the ?10 billion, why we are put in | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
10,000 more doctors, putting in thousands more nurses and crucially, | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
yes, that is why we are looking up the contracts in the NHS to make | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
sure it can work on a more seven-day basis. The truth is this. You can go | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
to hospitals today in our country, like the Salford in the north-west | :14:08. | :14:10. | |
of England, where they are already operating on a seven-day basis of | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
the existing budgets. This is good because they are using all their | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
recruitment on a seven-day basis, carrying out consultations seven | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
days of the week, carrying out some operations seven days a week. That | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
is good for the hospital, good for the staff working on it and above | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
all good for patients. We don't just get ill Monday to Friday. I want a | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
world class NHS. We are funding a world-class NHS. We've got | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
world-class people working in our NHS and together we are going to | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
build that seven-day NHS. Chris Davies. Thank you, Mr Speaker. | :14:47. | :14:56. | |
With such a large number of schools facing the prospect of closure in my | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
constituency, what can the Prime Minister doodling on to the Welsh | :15:03. | :15:04. | |
Assembly to convert state schools into Free Schools economies in order | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
that my constituents can benefit from the improvements to education | :15:11. | :15:13. | |
that English pupils are staying web of seeing and hopefully save his | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
excellent schools from closure? The issue of education is to in Wales. | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
But I would urge them to focus on a good education, which depends not | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
only on a finance, which is there, because of the way the Barnett | :15:31. | :15:33. | |
formula works and because of the decisions we taken about funding in | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
England, it is also about high standards of the publication of | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
league tables so people can see how their children are doing, and it | :15:41. | :15:46. | |
requires the structural reforms. Free Schools, academies, introducing | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
some diversity, some competition and getting organisations that are | :15:51. | :15:52. | |
passionate about education to provide state education. We want all | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
the best organisations in their providing the best education for our | :15:58. | :16:05. | |
children. Thank you very much. May I begin by associating the Scottish | :16:06. | :16:07. | |
National Party with the comments of the Prime Minister and the leader of | :16:08. | :16:10. | |
the Labour Party in relation to the tragedy in Didcot. Our thoughts are | :16:11. | :16:13. | |
with all of those who have been affected. Will the Prime Minister | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
congratulate the Scottish Government and his own colleagues who secured a | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
deal on financial arrangements for the next phase of Scottish | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
devolution? The Treasury position initially endangered ?7 billion of | :16:27. | :16:29. | |
public funding in Scotland. At the beginning of this week, that was | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
reduced to ?3 billion. Yesterday morning, it was ?2.5 billion. What | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
changed the mind of the Treasury and help them agree to a deal that will | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
make Scotland no worse off? Well, let me agree with the Right | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
honourable gentleman, this is an excellent deal. It is an excellent | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
deal for Scotland but it is also an excellent deal for the UK. For those | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
of us who want to keep the UK together, what we've just | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
demonstrated is that you can have full on devolution with a powerhouse | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
parliament, with a fair fiscal settlement, inside the UK and I | :17:03. | :17:05. | |
think that is something to be celebrated. Now we are going to move | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
to a situation where the Scottish Government and the Scottish | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
Parliament will have to start talking about policies and decisions | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
rather than processes. But I'm happy that the negotiations went as they | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
did. I'm happy we have a good outcome and I'm happy that Lord | :17:21. | :17:23. | |
Smith, who was responsible for so much of this work, without a | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
statement saying this delivers Smith and the principles in full. So no | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
more grievance, no more fussing about process, no more arguments | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
about the arrangements. Now it is time to get on and govern. We're | :17:37. | :17:44. | |
indebted to Scotland's finance secretary, John Swinney, and to | :17:45. | :17:47. | |
Nicola Sturgeon for securing a no detriment deal for Scotland. The | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
Prime Minister is right that all parties will have to lay out their | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
plans in advance of the May election so could he answer this question - | :17:58. | :18:00. | |
is it actually true that in this time of austerity, his party, the | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
Conservative Party, is planning tax cuts for high earners in Scotland? | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
It will be Ruth Davidson, who is the only proper opposition figure in | :18:13. | :18:15. | |
Scotland, who will be setting out the plans. If you are worried in | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
Scotland about having a bit of a 1-party state and a lack of | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
accountability, if you think that the Labour Party in Scotland has | :18:24. | :18:26. | |
lost its way, there is only one choice and that is rude. But I will | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
say this. I think there are opportunities to cut taxes, there | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
are opportunities to sharpen incentives, there are opportunities | :18:37. | :18:39. | |
to attract businesses and people into Scotland and I'm sure that | :18:40. | :18:42. | |
route will be making those arguments and as she does, whatever she | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
decides, she'll have my full and unequivocal support. A recent survey | :18:47. | :18:58. | |
undertaken by a District Council showed that 96% of the 1000 100 | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
residents survey were satisfied with my counsel's services. Would my | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
right honourable friend join me in paying tribute to the leader of the | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
council, Conservative leader Terry Richardson, his councillor | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
colleagues and all the officers in that District Council who, whilst | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
making savings that are necessary, are continuing to deliver a first | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
class service to the residents of South Leicestershire? I'm happy to | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
join my honourable friend in doing that but he does make, I think, an | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
important point which is, yes, we had to make difficult spending | :19:37. | :19:39. | |
decisions, not least over the last five years, but satisfaction with | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
local governments overseas actually went up and I think this proves a | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
larger point, which is you can reduce spending levels, find | :19:48. | :19:49. | |
efficiencies and provide better services at the same time. My | :19:50. | :19:59. | |
constituent Frank is a long-term -- is on long-term sick leave due to | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
depression but he is no longer entitled to sick pay, was turned | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
down for ESA and cannot claim ASA due to his job being kept open for | :20:07. | :20:09. | |
him. He cannot leave his highly skilled job as a chef due to the | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
threat of punitive sanctions, leaving him with no income. Will the | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
Prime Minister look at this case specifically but also the wider | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
issue of people with mental health issues who are unable to work being | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
expected to live on fresh air? I'm very happy to look at the individual | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
case because the way our benefit system should work is clear, that if | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
you are unable to work but, with help, could work you should go on to | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
employment and support allowance on the work-related activity group and | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
get that help. If you are unable to work, you go onto the support group, | :20:44. | :20:46. | |
you get a higher amount of money. It's not means tested or | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
time-limited. For people who have mental health issues and | :20:52. | :20:54. | |
difficulties you have got the new personal independence payment | :20:55. | :20:56. | |
system, which can address some of those. So quite rightly for a | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
generous and compassionate country, we have a benefit system that | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
supports those who cannot work while making sure that those who can work | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
are encouraged to do so. Thank you, Mr Speaker. It was fantastic news | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
that unemployment in my constituency has fallen by 62%. However, I'm | :21:15. | :21:21. | |
committed to helping even more residents back into work as we work | :21:22. | :21:24. | |
towards our target of full employment. That is why on March the | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
18th I will be holding a community and jobs fair, being together | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
employers and the voluntary sector, for residents to find out the many | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
ways they can get suitable employment and support from | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
charities. I would like to invite the Prime Minister to come along to | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
this event and see for himself the resourcefulness of the residents of | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
error wash. Let me thank my honourable friend and I'm sure I'll | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
be doing a lot of touring the country in the weeks to come and | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
perhaps a visit to the constituency would be worthwhile. I've visited | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
before. We have now are much lower employment -- unemployment rate, our | :22:02. | :22:04. | |
rate of just above 5% is one of the lowest in Europe but even at that | :22:05. | :22:07. | |
rate, there is still much more to be done to match the jobs that are | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
being created to the people that want to work and job says and | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
apprenticeships and training programmes are absolutely essential | :22:15. | :22:17. | |
so that we deliver on what we promised, which is full employment. | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
The Prime Minister likes to go on about the importance of returning | :22:24. | :22:26. | |
sovereignty to this house. Can I remind the Prime Minister that on | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
the 7th of January, we debated the issue of women's state pension and | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
the fact that women are being discriminated by the state pension | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
increase? The house decided by 158 votes to zero and asked the | :22:42. | :22:44. | |
government to mitigate the effects of this. Why has the government not | :22:45. | :22:47. | |
respected the sovereignty of the vote of this Parliament? I would | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
argue very strongly we are not discriminating against women. What | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
we are making sure is that there is an equal age of retirement and | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
that's right and two women who have been discriminated against in the | :23:00. | :23:02. | |
pension system in the past, the single tier pension means many more | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
will be retiring with a full pension and as they do so, they have the | :23:07. | :23:09. | |
triple lock of knowing pensions will always go up by wages, prices or | :23:10. | :23:17. | |
2.5%, is highest. That's why pensioner poverty is at a record low | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
and that's why pensioners know they can live in security and dignity in | :23:22. | :23:28. | |
our country. South Thanet lags behind much of the south-east across | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
very many indices. I've launched a new body locally, the Ramsgate | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
regeneration Alliance, that brings together businesses and community | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
groups. Can I invite my right honourable friend and the coastal | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
communities minister to this gem on our doorstep to seek themselves what | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
it could and, indeed, should be? I'm very happy to put Ramsgate on my to | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
a list for the coming months and we all run of the historic battle that | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
he fought in that constituency. We have set up the coastal communities | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
fund. We have a dedicated minister in the government to try to help | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
coastal communities and I will make sure that officials from his | :24:10. | :24:12. | |
department meet with this new alliance and look at the Ramsgate | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
coastal community team and what they can do to help. For tee years my | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
constituents and I campaigned against development of a luxury | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
skyscraper. The local council has listened and rejected the plans but | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
then the Conservative minister for local government called in the | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
decision and overturned the wishes of the community, showing utter | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
disrespect for local democracy. The Prime Minister preaches localism but | :24:42. | :24:44. | |
will he finally admit that his government only believes in the | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
devolution of blame for cuts, not the devolution of actual power for | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
local communities? We have a long-standing system for local | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
planning but also being able to call in decisions and that operated all | :24:59. | :25:01. | |
the time under the last Labour government. If anything, our local | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
planning system is actually putting more power in the hands of local | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
people because once they've completed their local plan, it is | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
then much easier to say yes to developments that are within that | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
plan and no to develop Mensah that are outside it. -- developments that | :25:17. | :25:24. | |
are outside it. Last Friday I made separate visits to three families, | :25:25. | :25:27. | |
all of whom have a child suffering from acute mental health | :25:28. | :25:30. | |
difficulties, which the families felt had not been adequately | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
assessed at the early stages. Colleagues from across the chamber | :25:35. | :25:37. | |
will be all too familiar with such visits. I welcome the Prime | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
Minister's recent commitment to reform mental health provision for | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
young people. Can I ask him to consider reviewing the provision of | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
initial stage treatment and asked that he continues to be the champion | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
for these vulnerable and brave children? Let me thank my honourable | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
friend for his question. He is right that children and young people's | :25:59. | :26:01. | |
mental health is a priority for this government. We can all agree across | :26:02. | :26:04. | |
this has this is not an area that has had adequate attention or | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
investment the many years. I would highlight particularly the problems | :26:10. | :26:12. | |
of psychosis, sometimes caused by drug use, I would also raise the | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
huge problem of eating disorders, where we see a rapid increase in the | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
number of people suffering. We have come a long way in increasing the | :26:23. | :26:25. | |
number of talking therapies, something like 740,000 more people | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
are accessing those therapies than when this government came to office | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
but we recognise there is more to be done and that's why we are investing | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
1.4 billion in systemwide transformation across children and | :26:38. | :26:44. | |
adolescent mental health. Last week, ScottishPower refused to attend and | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
evidence session with the cashback APPG where crucial evidence was | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
uncovered. As a former litigator I am mightily convinced that over 2000 | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
by constituents and over half a million people in the UK are | :26:58. | :27:00. | |
cashback from ScottishPower. Given this is a scandal of potentially | :27:01. | :27:04. | |
huge proportions, will the Prime Minister agreed to meet with me and | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
the cross-party APPG to discuss how we can ensure these ordinary, | :27:09. | :27:10. | |
hard-working people perceive the cash that they were promised by | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
ScottishPower? I'm glad the honourable gentleman has raised this | :27:15. | :27:16. | |
because it has been raised on previous occasions by the honourable | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
member for Aberconwy and I know the cross-party group has done some very | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
useful work. Any alleged wrongdoing should be fully investigated. Ofgem | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
can impose fines if they find companies have breached their | :27:31. | :27:33. | |
licence and I'm very happy to arrange for a meeting between him | :27:34. | :27:35. | |
and other members of the all-party group with relevant ministers so we | :27:36. | :27:44. | |
can try and get this fixed. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Does my | :27:45. | :27:47. | |
right honourable friend agree with me that with the Nato summit in | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
Warsaw pending, with the threat of expansionism from put-in's Russia | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
and the threat from Daesh, we are right in this government to support | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
to % of our GDP towards defence? Isn't too shocked at the failure of | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
the party opposite to do likewise? Ayr isn't he shocked. He makes an | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
important point which is that we do face an insecure and unstable world, | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
particularly with what Putin has done in the Ukraine, particularly | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
with what we see in Syria and that's why I think to % spending on defence | :28:22. | :28:24. | |
and making sure we renew our nuclear deterrent is the right answer. To be | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
fair to the Labour Party, they have got an answer. They are not going to | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
spend to %, they are not going to renew our Trident submarines but | :28:33. | :28:34. | |
they've come up with a brilliant answer. They are bringing back as | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
their spokesman and spin doctor Damian McBride. Six months after | :28:39. | :28:46. | |
saying - and this is the Leader of the Opposition - we could win in | :28:47. | :28:49. | |
2020 but only we spent the next five years building this movement and | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
putting forward a vision for the kind of politics, honest, kind and | :28:55. | :28:58. | |
more caring. Six months on, Damian McBride is back. That says it all. | :28:59. | :29:24. | |
Colleagues are calling for more. There will be more. Imran Hussain. | :29:25. | :29:35. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Last week I visited Palestine along with several | :29:36. | :29:38. | |
of my honourable friends, where we visited the home of Nora and her | :29:39. | :29:43. | |
family, who have lived in the old city of East Jerusalem since 1953. | :29:44. | :29:51. | |
However, Israeli settlers are now trying to force Nora from her home | :29:52. | :29:54. | |
of over 60 years and there are many other cases. Does the Prime Minister | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
agree with me that illegal settlements and constructions are a | :30:01. | :30:07. | |
major roadblock that hinder peaceful negotiations and what is this | :30:08. | :30:14. | |
government doing to help prevent the infringement into Palestinian lives | :30:15. | :30:20. | |
and land? Let me say, I think the question the honourable gentleman | :30:21. | :30:23. | |
raises is incredibly important. I am well known as being a strong friend | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
of Israel but I have to say, the first time I visited Jerusalem and | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
had a proper tour around that wonderful city and saw what has | :30:33. | :30:34. | |
happened with the affected encirclement of East Jerusalem, it | :30:35. | :30:41. | |
is genuinely shocking. What this government has consistently done is | :30:42. | :30:44. | |
saying we are supporters of Israel but we do not support illegal | :30:45. | :30:48. | |
settlements, do not support what is happening in East Jerusalem and it | :30:49. | :30:52. | |
is very important that this capital city is maintained in the way it was | :30:53. | :31:03. | |
in the past. One of my constituents, Alex Bagnall, is fighting to have | :31:04. | :31:06. | |
his son brought back to the UK after he was taken to Poland by the mother | :31:07. | :31:16. | |
illegally, as per the Hague treaty. What representations, government | :31:17. | :31:19. | |
make to EU and Polish authorities with regard to the Hague convention | :31:20. | :31:23. | |
in order to help British families with the safe return of the abducted | :31:24. | :31:27. | |
children, to offer hope to devastated families like my | :31:28. | :31:32. | |
constituents, the Bagnall is? My honourable friend is actually right | :31:33. | :31:35. | |
to raise a case like this and sadly there are far too many of them in | :31:36. | :31:39. | |
our country. The straight answer is that the return decision is for the | :31:40. | :31:44. | |
Polish court and governments can't interfere in the decisions processes | :31:45. | :31:47. | |
of another country's justice system but we do have the international | :31:48. | :31:50. | |
child abduction and contact unit at the Ministry of Justice. They've | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
been in constant touch with Mr Bagnall, they are processing his | :31:55. | :31:58. | |
paperwork, tracing their counterparts in Poland for | :31:59. | :32:00. | |
information and I will make sure the Foreign Secretary is aware of this | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
case and does everything he can to help her and hope the constituent. | :32:05. | :32:10. | |
Oil and gas has contributed over ?300 billion to Treasury coffers. | :32:11. | :32:14. | |
The Scottish Government, trade unions and oil and gas UK are | :32:15. | :32:17. | |
calling for reductions to the headline rate of tax to support the | :32:18. | :32:21. | |
industry in its hour of need yet instead of the so-called broad | :32:22. | :32:24. | |
shoulders of the UK, what we see sloping shoulders of the Prime | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
Minister repeatedly dodging his responsibilities. Will he commit to | :32:29. | :32:33. | |
reduce the tax level of oil and gas and support this vital industry? | :32:34. | :32:38. | |
What I would say to the honourable gentleman is, first of all, in the | :32:39. | :32:41. | |
budget last year we reduced the burden of tax on oil and gas, | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
something we were able to do because of the broad shoulders of the UK. | :32:46. | :32:51. | |
And now let us to stick some in what has happened since that time. Oil | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
and gas revenues are down 94%. If there weren't the broad shoulders of | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
the UK Government, if instead this was a genuinely fiscally independent | :33:03. | :33:06. | |
Scotland, there would be a massive black hole in your budget. You would | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
be cutting welfare, you would be cutting spending, you would be | :33:12. | :33:14. | |
putting up taxes, you would be facing a financial catastrophe. | :33:15. | :33:25. | |
Every week, two women are killed in England and Wales by current or | :33:26. | :33:32. | |
former partners. The perpetrator is the problem. The question is not why | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
doesn't she leave but why doesn't he stop. The Sussex Police and crime | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
commission is piloting a programme called kart Drive, which aims to | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
change the behaviour of offenders. It is part of his new strategy to | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
tackle violence against women and girls. Will the Prime Minister join | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
me in congratulating Katie born the tackling domestic violence? My | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
honourable friend is right to raise this. We have got better at tackling | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
it but there is still so much more to do. I think Katie born, who I | :34:06. | :34:11. | |
know, does an excellent job as the Police and Crime Commissioner. I | :34:12. | :34:14. | |
think this is a good example of the sort of thing that Police and Crime | :34:15. | :34:17. | |
Commissioners, with their higher profile than police authorities ever | :34:18. | :34:20. | |
had, can give a real lead on and I would urge others around the country | :34:21. | :34:24. | |
to do exactly that. We need to make sure we are policing these incidents | :34:25. | :34:27. | |
properly. We need today is the culture. But I think PCC is can help | :34:28. | :34:35. | |
lead the way. As the Prime Minister knows, resources were ring fenced | :34:36. | :34:38. | |
in November to help Northern Ireland in November to help Northern Ireland | :34:39. | :34:42. | |
deal with legacy cases. Will he consider releasing some of the | :34:43. | :34:48. | |
money, as has been hinted at by the secretary of state, to help the | :34:49. | :34:50. | |
Police Service of Northern Ireland as they face increasing pressures in | :34:51. | :34:53. | |
front-line policing and will he take the opportunity to reaffirm that | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
there will be no rewriting of the past in Northern Ireland to let it | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
rise -- legitimised terrorism or to promote a pernicious narrative? What | :35:04. | :35:11. | |
I say is that the fresh start agreement was a good agreement and | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
an important part of it was dealing with these legacy cases and making | :35:16. | :35:18. | |
sure they were dealt with more quickly. To me, it's always been | :35:19. | :35:21. | |
about trying to heal the hurt of the legacy cases, rather than trying to | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
write new narratives. I'll look carefully at what he says about | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
resources because we need to make sure that the policing of Northern | :35:31. | :35:33. | |
Ireland continues to be properly resourced, not least because we | :35:34. | :35:40. | |
still face a terrorist threat today. The United Kingdom endorses the code | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
of good practice on referendums, published by the European Commission | :35:45. | :35:50. | |
for democracy through law. It says equality of opportunity must be | :35:51. | :35:53. | |
guaranteed for the supporters and opponents of the proposal being | :35:54. | :35:57. | |
voted on and equality must be ensured in terms of public subsidies | :35:58. | :36:04. | |
and other forms of backing. Yesterday, Sir Jeremy Hayward sent a | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
letter around the department preventing ministers from having | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
access to civil service briefings. Can the Prime Minister check that | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
that letter was compatible with the guidelines on neutrality? I'm very | :36:17. | :36:21. | |
happy with the letter that was sent out for this reason, which is that | :36:22. | :36:24. | |
the government has a position on this issue. The government's | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
position is that we would be better off in a reformed European Union. | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
Ministers are able to depart from that position and campaign in a | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
personal capacity. That is very important statement. It is right in | :36:39. | :36:41. | |
terms of how we go about it but it does not mean the government is | :36:42. | :36:44. | |
neutral. It doesn't mean the civil service is neutral. The government | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
has a policy, from which people can depart. As for the funding of the | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
referendum campaign, we now have very clear laws in place and rules | :36:53. | :36:55. | |
in place and the Electoral Commission to make sure that both | :36:56. | :36:59. | |
campaigns are funded properly and I think that is good for our | :37:00. | :37:00. | |
democracy. | :37:01. | :37:03. |