02/03/2016 Prime Minister's Questions

This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues

and others and in addition to my duties at this House,

I shall have further such meetings later today.

Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity

to confirm that the UK Government intended to take ?7 billion

from Scotland, over a decade, through the fiscal framework?

..today to explain why that was the case?

Only the SNP can try to maintain a grievance after a settlement

What we have done is build a powerhouse Parliament

for Scotland with more powers, more ability to set tax rates,

more ability to determine benefits for

its citizens, and now is the time for the SNP to stop talking

about grievances, and get on with government!

recently taken on six new apprentices.

Across South Ribble, we have had more than 1,000

agree that this is the time for government to stick

with the plan, so that even more companies

have the ability to take on apprenticeships?

We have a very stretching target for three million

apprentices to be trained during this Parliament.

We will do our bit, by funding programmes,

contributing to the apprenticeship levy, but we need small businesses

like CSA, in her constituency, and indeed the public sector,

to get fully involved in training apprentices to give young people

the chance to earn and learn at the same time.

It is three years since the government announced

Could the Prime Minister tell us what is the hold-up?

We are introducing that along with the 30

hours of childcare, for everyone with three-

with a ?6 billion commitment, with the start of the 30 hours

coming in in a pilot scheme this year.

Mr Speaker, the Treasury website describes it as a long-term plan...

announced in 2013, and is not apparently going to be introduced

Could the Prime Minister tell us why his promise

of 30 hours free childcare for three- and four-year-olds is not

there for one in three working parents who

want their children to be cared for in preschool?

First of all, on the tax relief on childcare,

we lost a court case against some of the

existing providers, so there was a delay,

and the tax-free childcare will come in in 2017.

As for the 30 hours, as I have said, there will be

a pilot schemes this year, and full implementation

next year, in line with what we have said in the manifesto.

I'm delighted he is helping me to promote government policy!

we only had 10 hours of childcare - it has gone up to 12,

and is now 15, and is going up to 30.

These are all the things you can do if you have

If you are getting your deficit down, your economy is growing,

you are able to do all of these things.

I'm glad we are able to talk about them.

Today, the National Audit Office report

confirms that one third of families promised 30 hours' free childcare

The report also warns that many childcare providers

are not offering the new entitlement due to insufficient funding.

There are 41,00 three-year-olds missing out

on free early education as a result of this.

Will the Prime Minister intervene and make sure those children get

We want all children to have the start in life

they deserve and I'm glad he mentioned the National Audit

Let me read some of the things it says.

"The department has successfully implemented entitlement to free

childcare for three and four-year-olds with almost

universal take-up of hours offered to parents."

I think we should be congratulating the Secretary of State.

"The Department has made significant progress in making free entitlement,

parents and children are benefiting, stakeholders are positive about

All of these things we are able to do because we have

if we listened to the right honourable gentleman.

And as I regularly subscribe to the Islington Tribune,

I can announce his latest economic adviser, one Yanis Varoufakis!

He was the Greek Finance Minister, who left his economy in ruins!

That is Labour's policy in two words - " Acropolis now".

That is not much help to the 41,000 children not

benefiting from what they were promised by the government.

Looking further on in the educational life of

children, according to the figures from the government,

half a million children in primary schools are

in classes over 31, 15,000 are in classes of over 40.

We all know the importance of both preschool and

early years of education to give all of our children a decent start

living in poverty and many are in oversized classes.

Isn't it time for a serious government intervention

Let me bring him up to date on all of these figures.

Introducing the extra hours for childcare is a huge operation

for the childcare providers, but since the National Audit Office

report, that said only 58% of disadvantaged

to-year-olds were accessing the free childcare offer,

the latest information shows it is over 70% of those.

Now, he mentioned the number of teachers and overcrowded classes,

There are 13,100 more teachers than there were in 2010,

because we have invested in Teach First, we have

invested in bursaries, we have made sure that teaching

When it comes to school places, I want to answer him, because there is

453 fewer schools that are full or overcapacity,

36,500 fewer pupils who are in schools that are overcrowded.

Again, why have we been able to do this?

We protected education funding, protected the money that went

following every pupil in the school, introduced the pupil premium,

the first time any government had recognised the extra needs

of children from the most poor backgrounds.

We did all of that, so the school system is growing,

there are more places, fewer overcrowded schools,

all because we've got the strong economy and the right values

Mr Speaker, the problem is that class sizes are growing,

is a crisis of teacher shortages as well.

And I have been talking, as I am sure

the Prime Minister has, too many teachers, I have a question

been teaching for ten years and I am currently head of design

and technology at a successful secondary school.

With increasing numbers of teachers leaving the profession,

will the government now accept that there is a crisis

of recruitment and also of retention of

teachers in this crucial profession?"

I have given you the figures, there are 13,000 more

teachers in schools than when I became Prime Minister,

if he worries about teacher recruitment, explain

this - how is it going to help his party's proposal to put up the basic

secondary school teachers, nursery teachers all paying more tax.

what we are doing is helping teachers

by saying, you can earn ?11,000 before you pay any income

I don't think that recruiting teachers

is simply about money, it is also about having a good

school system, which we have in place in this

country, it certainly won't help if we listen to Labour and put up

The Prime Minister seems to be in a bit of denial here.

all confirmed there is a shortage and a crisis of teachers.

Ensuring there are another excellent teachers

in our schools is fundamental to the life chances of children.

When 70% of head teachers warned they are now

using agency staff, to staff their classroom,

isn't it time the government intervened and looked

at the real cost of this, damage to children's education,

but also, ?1.3 billion spent last year on agency teachers.

We have this agency working situation in the National

Health Service, and also in education, are we moving

into an era which we can turn it agency Britain?

He has got to look at the facts, rather than talk down people

working so hard to teach children in our schools.

Teachers are better qualified than ever,

that is the fact, 96.6% of teachers in state

funded schools now have a degree or higher qualification.

I would argue that going into teaching, and now,

Teach First is the most popular destination

for Oxbridge graduates, which never happened under a Labour

government, if you want to encourage people

to go into teaching, you have got to know you have a good

school system with more academies, more free schools.

Higher qualification, making sure we have

rigour and discipline in the classroom, all of which has

But all of that is only possible if you have

a strong and growing economy to fund the schools that our children need.

Fiddlers Ferry, in my constituency, we have one of several UK power

stations, which has announced closure this year.

In Germany and Holland, both of whose carbon

emissions are higher, they are building brand-new mega

power stations, much of that we are going to import.

It is very hard, for me to explain the logic of this

to my constituents, could the Prime Minister review

the pace of our closure programme, particularly

in the context of next year's energy crunch.

My honourable friend raises an important question,

he is right, there is big change in the industry,

we want to see an increase in gas capacity, an increase in renewable

capacity and the restarting of the nuclear programme,

which I hope to be discussing with the French

He is right that security of supply must be

the number one priority, that is why

we have announced we will bring forward

the capacity market to provide this extra boost to existing stations,

this could indeed help Fiddlers Ferry itself.

I say to him and everybody across the House,

all of the decisions we take about energy,

they have consequences for people's bills.

He mentions Germany, German electricity prices are 40%

higher than in the UK, the level of subsidies makes up 30%

of German bills, ours is less than half that level,

and we have got to think through these decisions

for the consequences for energy consumers.

We all have a right not to be discriminated against.

On the basis of age, gender, sex, sexual orientation,

Parents have rights to paternity and maternity entitlement.

Parents have the right to paid holidays. -- workers have the right

to paid holidays. All of the these are guaranteed

through the European Union. Does the Prime Minister agree

that there are huge social benefits to being members

of the European Union? What we have done, including

under this government, is actually add to the rights that

people have, including maternity I think that the emphasis

in Europe now needs to be making sure that we expand

the single market and make it more successful for businesses,

recognising that social benefits matter as well but principally,

I believe they are a matter Millions of UK citizens

live elsewhere in the European Union, European decisions

have helped the environment reducing sulphur dioxide emissions by nine

tenths, relations between 28 EU member states are often imperfect

but they occur through dialogue and agreement, surely

a huge improvement on confrontations

and wars of the past. Will the Prime Minister

concentrate on the positive arguments for EU membership, and

reject the approach of My arguments about being

stronger in the reformed European Union, and

safer, and better off in the reformed

European Union, are all positive arguments, and I would add

the point that he makes, things like pollution

crosses borders, and it The fundamental point

he makes is one worth thinking about,

he and I are both post-war children, but we should never

forget, when we sit around the table, that 70 years ago,

these countries were murdering each For all the frustrations

of this institution, and believe me, there are many,

we should never forget that, the fact that we talk and work

together and is the resolve disputes Those who foster children

deserve our full To mark fostering February,

I visited in my constituency a fostering unit which since

establishment in 2003 has helped over 1,250 children,

find a loving and caring home. Would my right honourable

friend join me in thanking the unit,

as well as the carers, but would he also agreed to look

into how the currently complex funding arrangements for over 18s

could be considerably simplified to ease the transition

of children into We all know as parents it is very

important to give people the support That's why we changed the law

in the last Parliament so local authorities are under a duty

to support young people who choose to remain with their foster carers

beyond the age of 18. We put in place what is

called a staying put arrangement and are providing

?44 million pounds over three years. In the first year of its roll-out,

almost half of those eligible This is a real advance

in our fostering As this is my first ever question

to the Prime Minister, Mr Speaker, in September last year,

16-year-old Mohammed was stabbed His mother discovered

last week the CPS will not be prosecuting the man

arrested for his murder. Sadly, she joins the 84%

people in Southwark who experienced by

crime last year who Home Office blame local police

for that low prosecution rate and I resent the accusation

that my local Will the Prime Minister

ensure that my local police have the resources

to investigate knife crime fully and bring more

killers to justice? The honourable gentleman

uses his first question to raise an incredibly

important issue which is knife crime The good news is that

knife crime has come down about 14% since 2010 but he makes

an important point about the level Last year there were something

like 11,000 prosecutions. The rate of prosecution is similar

as for other areas but clearly everything we can do to help

the police, the CPS to increase the rate of prosecution

is wholly worthwhile. We need to give the police

the resources they need and we are, We need to educate

young people on the dangers of knife crime and we need

to make sure those who commit these Well, let's hear from someone

who is here, Mr David Davis. I know the houses in a state of some

peturbation but we must hear from the Right honourable

gentleman when he's For five or six years,

national insurance numbers issued to EU migrants have

been hundreds of thousands higher than the official

immigration figures. This implies the figures may be

a dramatic underestimate. We can only know the truth

of the matter if HMRC release the data on active EU

national insurance numbers, Will the Prime Minister

instruct HMRC to release those statistics

so that we know the truth single transferable question,

if not the single transferable vote. The reason why these

numbers don't tally is you can get a national insurance

number for a very short-term visit and people who are already

here without insurance number can apply for them, so these

numbers are quite The HMRC has given greater

information and I will make sure The proposed changes

to Sunday trading are causing great concern to many

retailers, shop workers, to their families,

to faith groups and to all who want to keep Sunday special,

yet before the election the Prime Minister said he had no plans

to change Sunday Trading laws. When did he change his

mind or was it always his plan to scrap this great British

compromise as soon as the election Well, I thought

it was right to bring forward these proposals because they

are genuinely new proposals. New in that we are

devolving to local authorities to make those

decisions and secondly, crucially, I'm sure honourable

members opposite will be interested in this, we will be

introducing new protections not only for new workers

on Sundays but for all workers on Sundays

and so I think the House should look carefully at this idea,

not least because our constituents are able to shop online

all day, every day, All the evidence shows

this will be welcomed by customers, will

create more jobs and I think we have nothing to be scared

of moving into this new arrangement. At the weekend I visited

a Young Enterprise trade fair where teams

from across local Staffordshire schools, including

Rugeley sixth form Academy, were showcasing

their entrepreneurial skills. Will my right honourable

friend join me in wishing good luck

to all of the teams and does he agree that with me,

initiatives such as this are key to inspiring the next

generation of entrepreneurs? I think my honourable friend

makes an important point, which is for years in our schools

not enough was done to encourage enterprise and entrepreneurship

when we know that so many jobs of the future will

come from start-up businesses and small businesses

and rapidly growing start-ups, so it is absolutely right

that in our schools we should be promoting enterprise,

not only through teaching but also through exercises including starting

businesses for young people Yesterday, a north-east

SME ceased to trade. Their goal was the extraction of gas

from coal deep under the North Sea. The Government failed to provide

a supporting statement to support investment due

to its inability to comprehend not only would the

company secure our energies supply but also provide

feedstocks to grow our industries and all of that

totally decarbonised. at this appalling

loss of opportunity and urgently change course

and develop a meaningful industrial and energy strategy that British

industry and workers and the planet I will certainly look

at the case that he raises because we back all

energy projects that could create jobs and create growth

in our country and we have a very I know that he's disappointed

about our decision on carbon capture and storage, but I

would say to him that that is an extra capital investment

and even after that, there is no sign yet

that carbon capture or storage can be even close

to competitive to even nuclear power or offshore wind but

I will look carefully A large proportion of the fish

caught by British vessels and landed in the UK

are exported to Europe, mainly to EU countries,

and a great many of our fishermen fish in the sovereign

waters of other In a reformed regime,

reforms that were Does my right

honourable friend agree that our seas, those that exploit

them and the communities that they support,

are better off in a I agree with my honourable

friend and I pay tribute to him for the huge work

that he did to reform the common fisheries policy from what was

a very poor policy to one that is now working

much better for our When it comes to fishing

and farming, the key issue is going to be making

sure that Europe's markets remain open to the produce

that we land and we produce and that I think is

going to be vital in the debate

in the months ahead. 1600 families are on

York's waiting list, when care workers

are forced to leave the city due to the cost of renting,

when young families are placed in single rooms in

homeless hostels and when supported housing schemes

will have to close due to benefit changes, can the Prime Minister

specifically state why, up to 2,500 predominantly

high-value homes are being planned for development

in York Central without building a single home

for social rent? The decisions made in York

about planning for York City Council and their local plan,

but what I would say to her, one of the things

that we did in the last Parliament was specifically

designed to help York, was to change the change of use

provisions so that empty offices could be used to build flats

and houses for local people, which is happening in

York and will help to Will my right honourable

friend agree to meet me and my constituent William Lawrie,

a brilliant young farmer whose business has been put at risk

because the RPA haven't paid his basic

payment scheme money? Will he also confirm

that the RPA figures that they keep putting out

are fictional, or does he agree with his Defra secretary

that it is the EU's commissioners' fault for making

the cap so complicated? What I would say to my

honourable friend is that the system is

complicated and we need to make sure that the Rural Payments

Agency does the very best To date, 70,000 farmers

have received their 2015 payments,

which is now 81% of all claims paid but there is always

room for improvement. We should look at all the devolved

areas of the UK and see how they are coping

with this problem. In terms of the issue more broadly,

I think it's very important we maintain the access

that our farmers have without tariffs, without

tax, without quota, to produce the cleanest

and best food export it to 500 million people

in the EU single market. Yesterday the chair of the board

of international campaign for Tibet, Richard Gere, came to the House

of Commons to meet with members Will the Prime Minister

follow the example set by the United States,

Canada, Germany and Japan and write to the Chinese

authorities to express his concerns about their oppressive

counterterrorism laws, I wasn't aware of that

visit by Richard Gere. I will look very closely

at what he said and perhaps get back to the honourable lady

about the issues he In 2004, the 16-year-old some

of my constituent Lorraine Fraser was murdered by a gang

and the conviction of four of them The recent ruling

in the Supreme Court has caused Lorraine and many other

victims' families a great deal Would my right honourable friend

agreed to facilitate a meeting to enable

these families to discuss their concerns

with ministers and understand what the ruling might

mean in cases like Well, through my honourable friend,

can I extend my sympathy He is absolutely right,

we should remember that the families of all those

who've lost loved ones to dreadful crimes who are worried about this

judgment and what it might mean I'm very happy to facilitate

meeting between him and one of the justice ministers

We should be clear that this judgment

only referred to a narrow category of joint enterprise cases

and I think it would be wrong to suggest

that everyone convicted under the wider law on joint enterprise

It is very important that message goes out

but I will fix the meeting that he calls

People in the Midlands are absolutely furious to learn

that the Government's awarded a contract to

make British medals to some French company.

You open your distinguished service order or CBE and it says "Made

I visited Midlands metal manufacturers in Birmingham's

to Downing Street, call in the Cabinet Office minister

The only point I would make to the honourable

gentleman is, I'm sure all of those in the Royal Mint in Wales

would want to contest the fact that they

make the finest medals in the United Kingdom and I'm sure

the competition between them and Birmingham is very

I'll certainly take away what he says.

I wasn't aware of this issue but I'm always in favour,

where we can make something in Britain, we should make something

A recent investigation carried out by my local newspaper,

the Derby Telegraph, uncovered reports of alleged

experiments carried out on children by medics

at a medical facility in Derbyshire during the 1960s and 1970s.

Can I ask the Prime Minister to ensure

that a thorough investigation into this situation

I'm very happy to give my honourable friend that assurance.

She is absolutely right to raise this.

They are very serious allegations and

it's vital that the full facts are considered.

My understanding is that the police, the local authority

and the NHS are working together and there's

an inquiry process under the Derby Safeguarding Children

board in line with its procedures.

I would encourage anyone who knows anything

about this to come forward and give evidence to that board.

The Syrian ceasefire is extremely fragile.

There are reports that Russia is continuing to attack anti-Assad

rebels, not Daesh, and that Islamic terrorists and weapons continue

to pass into Syria across the Turkish

What is the British Government doing to ensure

the ceasefire is properly monitored and,

in particular, to reduce serious tensions between Russia and our Nato

The honourable lady is absolutely right to raise this.

The cessation of hostilities is an important step forward,

imperfect though it is, and it does enable

the possibility of political negotiations starting next week.

doing to ensure it is properly enforced.

with the Americans and Russians to make

I've got a European conference call with Vladimir Putin

later this week to reinforce these points.

Even though the ceasefire is imperfect, it is progress

Not every group is included in the ceasefire but basically

there aren't the attacks that were taking

place on the moderate opposition, which is welcome, and it is also

enabled us with others to get aid into communities that desperately

need it, including through air drops and convoys.

So I wouldn't put too much optimism into the mix right

now but this is progress and we should

Two weeks ago I visited a refugee camp and the surrounding

area on the Jordanian/Syrian border, primarily to assist health care

I was struck by the remarkable resilience the local

people but this local system is under quite significant pressure.

Would the Prime Minister meet with me to

discuss further what Britain can do to enhance health care services

on the ground, both for the Syrian refugees and the wider Jordanian

I'm very happy to meet with my honourable friend to discuss

It is an extra ordinary sight, that refugee camp,

because of the scale of the endeavour under way.

Britain can be proud of what we've done in terms of the direct aid

we've given and also the London conference that raised $11 billion

I know he's got a long-standing interest

on what we can do to make sure facilities

are delivered quickly, including on occasions

using military facilities, and I think there may be

opportunities for that but we also need to make sure the emergency

response from NGOs and the United Nations is as fast as it can be

when crises like this happen in the future.

As the Prime Minister struggles with certain elements

in his party over Europe, does he ever

think that on an inspirational Prime Minister, Harold

Wilson, who faced difficulties but stood up to the rebels

in his own party and secured a yes vote for

staying in Europe, and will he join with me because Harold Wilson's

centenary of his birth is next week and could be celebrated

across all parties, a great innovative Prime

I do feel a natural sympathy for anyone who has had

Irrespective of what side of the House we're on.

I think he did do some important things and

the honourable gentleman has a special connection to him.

I wish his family well on this important day

and I think we approach things in different ways but one thing

we would have agreed about is Britain's

future is better off in a reformed EU.

I'm sure the whole house will join me in expressing our

condolences to Neil and Jennifer Burdett,

the parents of two-year-old Fay, who died on Valentine's Day

Since Fay's death, 815,000 people have signed

a petition calling for the Government

to vaccinate more children against meningitis B.

I'm proud that the UK is the first country

to have a vaccination programme for meningitis

B but could my right honourable friend make sure the government

looks at what more can be done to prevent more children like Fay

On behalf of the whole house, let me extend my

sympathies and condolences to Fay's parents and all those who have had

children suffering from this terrible disease.

My honourable friend is absolutely right,

we were the first country in the world to have

this vaccination programme, which is based on the advice

of the joint committee on vaccination and

immunisation who recommended targeting the vaccine to protect

the infant at highest risk.

incident does occur in babies of five months. Over 100 children were

under one you defeat last year. She makes an important point. We need to

look at all information carefully and recognise Britain has a rigid

taken important steps forward to vaccinate in this way. Order.