:00:00. > :00:00.behavioural change, leading to more people supporting their own families
:00:00. > :00:00.and contributing to the economy. When you look at the figures for the
:00:07. > :00:09.Wrexham economy, he should be welcoming the changes, not
:00:10. > :00:18.condemning them. Questions to the Prime Minister.
:00:19. > :00:22.Warning this morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and in
:00:23. > :00:30.addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings
:00:31. > :00:36.later today. Last week I visited a manufacturing company, which
:00:37. > :00:39.supplied the Tower of London poppies. Would my right honourable
:00:40. > :00:44.friend agree with me that supporting small businesses and personal web of
:00:45. > :00:49.further increasing personal income tax allowance shows that we on this
:00:50. > :00:51.side of the House are the party of enterprise and inspiration and
:00:52. > :00:56.believe in enabling hard-working people to keep more of the money
:00:57. > :00:59.they earn? Let me join her in congratulating the firm that she
:01:00. > :01:02.mentioned. She's absolutely right that it is small and medium-size
:01:03. > :01:07.businesses that predominantly will be providing the jobs of the future
:01:08. > :01:10.and we want people to keep more of their own money to spend as they
:01:11. > :01:15.choose. That's why the historic move last week to an ?11,000 personal
:01:16. > :01:22.allowance means that people will have gained, by 2018. They'll be
:01:23. > :01:27.paying ?1000 less per taxpayer and we will have taken formally and of
:01:28. > :01:29.the lowest paid people out of tax altogether. That is the action of
:01:30. > :01:37.the Progressive Conservative government. Jeremy Corbyn. Thank
:01:38. > :01:40.you, Mr Speaker. I'm sure the whole house will join me in mourning the
:01:41. > :01:45.death today of the dramatist Arnold Wesker, one of the great playwrights
:01:46. > :01:50.of this country, one of those wonderful angry young men of the
:01:51. > :01:56.1950s and, like so many angry young people, actually changed the face of
:01:57. > :01:59.our country. Yesterday, Mr Speaker, the European Commission announced
:02:00. > :02:04.new proposals on country by country tax reporting, so that companies
:02:05. > :02:11.must declare where they make their profits in the EU and in blacklisted
:02:12. > :02:17.tax havens. Conservative MEPs voted against the proposal for country by
:02:18. > :02:20.country reporting and against the blacklisting. Can the Prime Minister
:02:21. > :02:25.now assure us that Conservative MEPs will support the new proposal? First
:02:26. > :02:28.of all, let me join the right honourable gentleman in mourning the
:02:29. > :02:35.loss of the famous playwright and all the work that he did. It's quite
:02:36. > :02:38.right to mention that. Let me... Let me also
:02:39. > :02:43.welcome... Let me welcome the country by country tax reporting
:02:44. > :02:48.proposal put forward by Commissioner Jonathan Hill, appointed by this
:02:49. > :02:52.government, the United Kingdom Commissioner. This is very much
:02:53. > :02:56.based on the work that we've been doing, leading the collaboration
:02:57. > :03:01.between countries, making sure that we share tax information. As we
:03:02. > :03:04.discussed on Monday, this has gone far faster and far further under
:03:05. > :03:11.this government than under any previous government. Mr Speaker, if
:03:12. > :03:13.the proposals were put forward by the British Government, wider
:03:14. > :03:21.Conservative MEPs then vote against them? Their scenes to be a bit of a
:03:22. > :03:26.disconnect here. -- there seems to be. The Panama papers exposed
:03:27. > :03:29.scandal situation, where wealthy individuals seems to believe that
:03:30. > :03:35.corporation tax and other taxes are something optional. Indeed, as the
:03:36. > :03:39.Member for Rutland and Melton informed us, it is only for low
:03:40. > :03:45.achievers, apparently for top so when the HMRC says that the tax gap
:03:46. > :03:53.is ?34 billion, why, then, is he cutting HMRC staff by 20% and
:03:54. > :03:59.cutting down tax offices which loses the expertise of people to close
:04:00. > :04:02.that tax gap? I'm glad he wants to get onto our responsibilities to pay
:04:03. > :04:08.our taxes. I think that's very important. I thought his tax return
:04:09. > :04:14.was a metaphor for Labour policy. It was late, it was chaotic, it was
:04:15. > :04:24.inaccurate, it was costed. -- un-costed. He's absolutely right to
:04:25. > :04:28.identify the tax gap and that is why we closed off loopholes in the last
:04:29. > :04:34.Parliament, equivalent of ?12 billion. We aim to close loopholes
:04:35. > :04:37.in this Parliament equivalent to ?16 billion, so the HMRC is taking very
:04:38. > :04:41.strong action, backed by this government, backed by the
:04:42. > :04:47.Chancellor, legislated for by this House, and I think I'm right in
:04:48. > :04:50.saying that since 2010 we put over ?1 billion into HMRC to increase its
:04:51. > :04:54.capabilities to collect the tax that people should be paying. The
:04:55. > :04:57.difference, I think, between this side of the House on the right
:04:58. > :05:00.honourable gentleman is we believe in setting low tax rates and
:05:01. > :05:07.encouraging people to pay them and it's working. Mr Speaker, I'm
:05:08. > :05:13.grateful to the Prime Minister for drawing attention to my own tax
:05:14. > :05:25.return. There warts and all, the warts being my handwriting all my
:05:26. > :05:32.generous donation to HMRC. I paid taxes for companies that he might
:05:33. > :05:36.know quite well. The Prime Minister... Mr Speaker, the Prime
:05:37. > :05:41.Minister isn't cutting tax abuse, he's cutting down on tax collectors.
:05:42. > :05:48.The tax collected helps to fund our NHS and all the other services. Last
:05:49. > :05:54.month, the OBR reported that HMRC doesn't have the necessary resources
:05:55. > :05:58.to tackle offshore tax disclosures. The Government is committed to
:05:59. > :06:04.taking ?400 million out of HMRC's budget by 2020. Will he now commit
:06:05. > :06:08.to reversing that cut, so that we can collect the tax that will help
:06:09. > :06:14.to pay for the services? I'm afraid his figures, rather like his tax
:06:15. > :06:19.return, aren't entirely accurate. The summer budget 2015, we gave an
:06:20. > :06:24.extra ?800 million to HMRC to fund additional work to tackle tax
:06:25. > :06:30.evasion and noncompliance between now and 2021. This is going to
:06:31. > :06:32.enable HMRC to recover equivalent of 7.2 billion in tax over the next
:06:33. > :06:38.five years and we've all be brought in more than 2 billion from offshore
:06:39. > :06:40.tax evaders since 2010. -- we've already brought in. I think we
:06:41. > :06:46.should try and bring some consensus to this issue. For years in this
:06:47. > :06:49.country, Labour governments and Conservative governments have an
:06:50. > :06:52.attitude to the Crown dependencies and overseas territories that their
:06:53. > :06:55.tax affairs were a matter for them and their compliance affairs were
:06:56. > :06:59.out of them and their transparency was a matter for them. This
:07:00. > :07:03.government has changed that. We've got the overseas territories and the
:07:04. > :07:07.Crown dependencies the table. We said, you've got to have registers
:07:08. > :07:10.of ownership, you got to collaborate with the UK Government, you got to
:07:11. > :07:14.make sure people don't hide their taxes, and it's happening. So when
:07:15. > :07:18.he gets to his feet, he should welcome the fact that huge progress
:07:19. > :07:22.has been made, raising taxes, sorting out the overseas territories
:07:23. > :07:25.and Crown dependencies, closing the tax gap, getting businesses to pay
:07:26. > :07:32.more, giving international leadership to this issue, all things
:07:33. > :07:35.that never happened under Labour. Mr Speaker, I thank the Prime Minister
:07:36. > :07:41.for that answer. The only problem with it is that the red book states
:07:42. > :07:48.HMRC spending will fall from 3.3 billion to 2.9 billion by 20 20. And
:07:49. > :07:51.in regard to UK Crown dependencies and overseas territories, only two
:07:52. > :07:57.days ago the Prime Minister said that he had agreed that they will
:07:58. > :08:01.provide, the overseas territories, UK law enforcement and tax agencies
:08:02. > :08:04.with full access to information on the beneficial ownership of
:08:05. > :08:09.companies. There seems to be some confusion here because the chief
:08:10. > :08:12.minister of Jersey said, in response to a need for information without
:08:13. > :08:16.delay, where terrorist activities are involved. We welcome his
:08:17. > :08:21.commitment to fighting terrorism but is Jersey and all the other
:08:22. > :08:25.dependencies actually going to provide beneficial ownership
:08:26. > :08:29.information or not? The short answer to that is yes, they are. And that
:08:30. > :08:33.is what is such a big breakthrough. I totally accept they are not going
:08:34. > :08:36.as far as us because we are publishing a register of beneficial
:08:37. > :08:40.ownership. That will happen in June and we will be one of the only
:08:41. > :08:43.countries in the world to do so. I think Norway and Spain are the
:08:44. > :08:46.others. What the overseas territories and Crown dependencies
:08:47. > :08:50.are doing is making sure that we have full access to registers of
:08:51. > :08:54.beneficial ownership, to make sure that people aren't invading or
:08:55. > :08:57.avoiding their taxes. In the interests of giving full answers to
:08:58. > :09:04.his questions, let me give him the figures for full-time equivalents in
:09:05. > :09:13.HMRC in terms of compliance. The numbers are going from 25,020 ten to
:09:14. > :09:16.26,798 in 2015. It's not how much money you spend on the organisation
:09:17. > :09:20.but how many people you have out there collecting the taxes and
:09:21. > :09:27.making sure the forms are properly filled in. The Prime Minister is
:09:28. > :09:30.quite right. The number of people out there collecting taxes is
:09:31. > :09:34.important. Therefore, why has he laid off so many staff at HMRC who
:09:35. > :09:41.their four cannot collect those taxes? In 2013, Mr Speaker, the
:09:42. > :09:45.Prime Minister demanded that the overseas territories rip aside the
:09:46. > :09:52.cloak of secrecy by creating a public register of beneficial
:09:53. > :09:58.ownership of information. Will he now make it clear that the
:09:59. > :10:01.beneficial ownership register will be an absolutely public document,
:10:02. > :10:06.transparent for all to see who really owns these companies, and
:10:07. > :10:12.whether they are paying their taxes or not? Let me be absolutely clear.
:10:13. > :10:15.For the United Kingdom, we have taken the unprecedented step, never
:10:16. > :10:21.done by Labour, never done previously by Conservatives, of open
:10:22. > :10:24.beneficial ownership registers with the Crown dependencies and overseas
:10:25. > :10:28.territories. They have to give full access to the registers of
:10:29. > :10:32.beneficial ownership. We did not choose the option of forcing them to
:10:33. > :10:36.have a public register because we believed if that was the case, we'd
:10:37. > :10:40.get into the situation that he spoke about, where some of them might have
:10:41. > :10:44.walked away from this cooperation altogether. That's the point. The
:10:45. > :10:47.question is, are we going to be able to access the information? Yes. Are
:10:48. > :10:51.we going to be able to be sued tax evaders? Yes. Did any of these
:10:52. > :10:56.things happen under a Labour government? No. The Prime Minister
:10:57. > :10:59.does talk very tough and I grabbed him that. The only problem is, it's
:11:00. > :11:05.not a public register he's offering us. He is only offering us a private
:11:06. > :11:12.register that some people can see. It's quite interesting that the
:11:13. > :11:15.premiere of the Cayman Islands is to day apparently celebrating his
:11:16. > :11:20.victory over the Prime Minister because he is saying the information
:11:21. > :11:24.certainly will not be available publicly or available directly by
:11:25. > :11:29.any UK on an Cayman Islands agency. The Prime Minister is supposed to be
:11:30. > :11:33.chasing down tax evasion and tax avoidance. He's supposed to be
:11:34. > :11:37.bringing it all into the open. If he cannot even persuade the premiere of
:11:38. > :11:41.the Cayman Islands or Jersey to open up their books, where is the tough
:11:42. > :11:45.talk bringing the information we need to collect the taxes that
:11:46. > :11:52.should pay for the services that people need? I think he's
:11:53. > :11:56.misunderstanding what I've said. In terms of the UK, it is an absolute
:11:57. > :12:00.first in terms of a register of beneficial ownership that is public.
:12:01. > :12:05.He keeps saying it's not public. The British one will be public. Further
:12:06. > :12:08.to that, and I think this is important because it goes to a
:12:09. > :12:10.question asked by the right honourable member for Tottenham, we
:12:11. > :12:14.are also saying to foreign companies that have dealings with Britain that
:12:15. > :12:17.they have to declare their properties and the properties they
:12:18. > :12:21.own, which will remove a huge failure of secrecy over the
:12:22. > :12:24.ownership, for instance, of London property. I'm not saying we've
:12:25. > :12:28.completed all this work but we've got more tax information exchange,
:12:29. > :12:32.mortgage so beneficial ownership, more chasing down tax evasion and
:12:33. > :12:35.avoidance, or money recovered from businesses and individuals and all
:12:36. > :12:39.of these things are things that have happened under this government. The
:12:40. > :12:50.truth is, he's running to catch up because Labour did nothing in 13
:12:51. > :12:52.years. Thank you, Mr Speaker. My constituents John and Penny Clough,
:12:53. > :12:58.whose daughter Jane was tragically murdered by her ex-partner whilst he
:12:59. > :13:01.was out on bail, are campaigning to save Lancashire's nine women's
:13:02. > :13:06.refuges, which are currently at threat because Labour run Lancashire
:13:07. > :13:10.County Council are proposing to cut all of their funding. Does the Prime
:13:11. > :13:13.Minister agree with the Clough family and me that Labour run
:13:14. > :13:18.Lancashire County Council should prioritise the victims of domestic
:13:19. > :13:24.violence? First of all, my honourable friend does raise a very
:13:25. > :13:26.moving case and I know the whole house will wish to join me in
:13:27. > :13:31.sending our sincere condolences to Mr and Mrs Clough. In terms of
:13:32. > :13:36.making sure we stop violence against women and girls, nobody should be
:13:37. > :13:39.living in fear of these crimes. That is why we committed ?80 million of
:13:40. > :13:43.extra funding to 2020 to tackle violence against women and girls and
:13:44. > :13:47.this does include funding for securing the future for refuges and
:13:48. > :13:50.other accommodation based services. But it obviously helps if local
:13:51. > :13:59.councils make the right decisions as well. The United Kingdom and its
:14:00. > :14:02.offshore territories and dependencies collectively sits at
:14:03. > :14:08.the top of the financial secrecy index of the tax Justice network.
:14:09. > :14:14.Since the leaking of the Panama papers, France has put Panama on a
:14:15. > :14:16.blacklist of uncooperative tax havens and the Mossad Fonseca
:14:17. > :14:22.offices have been raided by the police in Panama City. What have
:14:23. > :14:25.British authorities done specifically in relation to Mossad
:14:26. > :14:31.Fonseca and with Panama since the leak of the Panama papers? First of
:14:32. > :14:36.all, in terms of who is at the top of the permit of tax secrecy, I
:14:37. > :14:40.think it is now an fair to say that about our Crown dependencies and
:14:41. > :14:44.overseas territories as they are now going to cooperate with the three
:14:45. > :14:48.things that we asked them to do in terms of the reporting standard, the
:14:49. > :14:52.exchange of tax information and access to register the beneficial
:14:53. > :14:56.ownership. That is more than we get out of some states in America, like
:14:57. > :15:01.Delaware. So I think in this House we should be tough on all those that
:15:02. > :15:04.facilitate lack of transparency but we should be accurate in the way we
:15:05. > :15:09.do it. He asked what we are doing about the Panama papers. We have a
:15:10. > :15:13.?10 million funded cross agency review to get to the bottom of all
:15:14. > :15:17.the relevant information. It would hugely be helped if the newspapers
:15:18. > :15:20.and other investigative journalists now share this information with tax
:15:21. > :15:25.inspectors, so we can get to the bottom of it, and his final question
:15:26. > :15:29.on blacklists - we are happy to support blacklists but we don't
:15:30. > :15:33.think you should draw up a blacklist solely on the basis of a territory
:15:34. > :15:35.raising a low tax rate. We don't think that is the right approach.
:15:36. > :15:40.That approach the French have sometimes taken in the past was in
:15:41. > :15:41.terms of taking action against tax havens, this government has done
:15:42. > :15:56.more than any previous one. 3250 DWP staff has been specifically
:15:57. > :15:59.investigating benefit fraud while only 300 HMRC staff have been
:16:00. > :16:07.systematically investigating tax evasion. Surely we should care
:16:08. > :16:13.equally about people abusing the tax system and those abusing the benefit
:16:14. > :16:20.system. Why has this government had ten times more staff dealing often
:16:21. > :16:25.with the poorest in society abusing benefits than with the super-rich
:16:26. > :16:32.evading their taxes? I will look carefully at his statistics but they
:16:33. > :16:38.sound to me entirely bogus for this reason. The predominant job of the
:16:39. > :16:42.DWP is to make sure that people receive their benefits. The
:16:43. > :16:47.predominant job of HMRC is to make sure people pay their taxes. The
:16:48. > :16:51.26,000 people I spoke about earlier are all making sure that people pay
:16:52. > :17:04.their taxes, the clue is in the title. Many farmers in South
:17:05. > :17:09.Herefordshire are still awaiting their 2015 payments from the rural
:17:10. > :17:14.payments agency. Nearly four months after they were due which follows
:17:15. > :17:18.the failure of the RPA website last year which is causing great personal
:17:19. > :17:22.and financial distress and threatens the future of farm businesses so
:17:23. > :17:26.will the Prime Minister agreed to meet farmers on this issue and press
:17:27. > :17:29.the RPA to make the payments by the end of this month and does he share
:17:30. > :17:36.my view that farmers should receive interest on the amount overdue? I
:17:37. > :17:40.have recently met with both the NFU and Welsh NFU and have continued to
:17:41. > :17:42.have meetings with farming organisations including in my own
:17:43. > :17:48.constituency and I know that have been problems with the payment
:17:49. > :17:52.system. The latest figures are some -- that 87% of claims have been paid
:17:53. > :17:56.and bowed -- I believe that the figures in Herefordshire are in line
:17:57. > :18:00.with the national average but that is no consolation for those who have
:18:01. > :18:03.not received payments which is why we have a process and we are working
:18:04. > :18:08.with charities and we made payments amounting to over ?7 million but we
:18:09. > :18:15.have to make sure that the system works better in the future. If the
:18:16. > :18:18.British people vote to leave the European Union, will the Prime
:18:19. > :18:21.Minister remain in office to implement their decision? Yes.
:18:22. > :18:32.CHEERING Again on Europe, does the Prime
:18:33. > :18:37.Minister agree that the European Union is not just the world's
:18:38. > :18:42.biggest single market but also an ample source of foreign and direct
:18:43. > :18:45.investment providing 50% of the investment we receive and also an
:18:46. > :18:50.excellent platform for supplying James to thrive and prosper meaning
:18:51. > :18:59.the ability to get the skills they need and the innovation they need
:19:00. > :19:02.and for my constituency means a whole load of high-tech companies
:19:03. > :19:09.thriving and prospering as they do in the UK? I remember my visit to
:19:10. > :19:18.his constituency when the company showed me a world first in a bicycle
:19:19. > :19:21.that was printed on a 3-D printer. I did not give it a try but it looked
:19:22. > :19:26.like it might even carry some of my weight! The single market is 500
:19:27. > :19:30.million people and that is a great market for our businesses and
:19:31. > :19:34.services and increasingly the market that the supply chain is getting
:19:35. > :19:39.more integrated and that is why we should think carefully before
:19:40. > :19:45.separating ourselves from it. Brain tumours are the biggest cancer
:19:46. > :19:49.killer of children and people under 40 but despite this, research into
:19:50. > :19:54.them received less than 1%, just over 1% of the UK's national spent
:19:55. > :19:59.on cancer research. This will be the subject of a debate next Monday in
:20:00. > :20:02.Westminster Hall. Will the Prime Minister at a word with the
:20:03. > :20:06.Secretary of State for Health so that the minister answering that
:20:07. > :20:10.debate might be able to bring with him or her some long overdue good
:20:11. > :20:17.news of change in this area? I'm very happy to do exactly as he says.
:20:18. > :20:21.It is an important issue. We invest something like 1.7 billion a year in
:20:22. > :20:25.health research but there is always a question when it comes to cancer
:20:26. > :20:29.research, the spending has gone up by a third over the last Parliament
:20:30. > :20:40.the daily 100 35mm hounds but there is the question of whether that is
:20:41. > :20:47.fairly distributed -- ?135 million. I have a still produce in my
:20:48. > :20:51.constituency and share concerns about the future of the industry.
:20:52. > :20:55.The North of England still had significant manner that drink but it
:20:56. > :21:00.has been held back by green taxes, high energy costs and emissions
:21:01. > :21:05.targets. What more can he do to help energy intensive industries? I think
:21:06. > :21:09.he raises an important point and the changes we are making will save the
:21:10. > :21:14.steel industry over ?400 million by the end of this Parliament and that
:21:15. > :21:17.is a good example of what we can do. There was an excellent debate
:21:18. > :21:21.yesterday about this issue, we have to work on everything we can in
:21:22. > :21:24.terms of procurement, making sure we are taking action in the EU against
:21:25. > :21:31.dumping and we are. We have to make sure we reduce energy costs where we
:21:32. > :21:34.can and we stand by to work with any potential purchaser of the Port
:21:35. > :21:38.Talbot works which will safeguard steel jobs in other parts of the
:21:39. > :21:44.country to see how we can help on a commercial basis. I'm satisfied with
:21:45. > :21:48.doing everything we can. We cannot totally bucked the global trend of
:21:49. > :21:53.this massive overcapacity of steel and decline in prices but those are
:21:54. > :22:00.the key areas in terms of power and plant and procurement, all areas
:22:01. > :22:02.where we can help. Research by the Sutton trust shows turning schools
:22:03. > :22:08.in the academies does not necessarily improve them. Thousands
:22:09. > :22:12.of excellent primary schools, parents want them to be continued to
:22:13. > :22:15.be maintained by their local authority so why are ministers are
:22:16. > :22:20.planning to overall parents and force those schools to become
:22:21. > :22:28.academies? I think the evidence shows that academies work as part of
:22:29. > :22:33.our education reforms. Let me give the evidence. If you look at those
:22:34. > :22:38.schools that converted into academies, 88% of them are other
:22:39. > :22:43.outstanding or good schools. If you look at the sponsored academies,
:22:44. > :22:47.often failing schools, if you listen and look at what happened with the
:22:48. > :22:51.schools that were often failing but were now sponsored by academies, you
:22:52. > :22:56.have seen on average a 10% improvement over the first two
:22:57. > :23:01.years. All the evidence is that results are better, freedoms lead to
:23:02. > :23:06.improvements and where there are problems, intervention happens far
:23:07. > :23:09.faster with academies. We have 1.4 million more children in good or
:23:10. > :23:16.outstanding schools and we should finish the job.
:23:17. > :23:25.The Prime Minister has met many great people but I believe he has
:23:26. > :23:31.yet to meet the Vale of Evesham very open does the asparagus man. Would
:23:32. > :23:34.you like to join me for the upcoming British asparagus festival which
:23:35. > :23:42.starts on St George's Day and show his support for our fantastic
:23:43. > :23:46.farming industry? I'm happy to say that my honourable friend's
:23:47. > :23:50.constituency is only one constituency away, we share the same
:23:51. > :23:53.railway line so if there is an opportunity for some great British
:23:54. > :23:59.asparagus I would be happy to join him. Can I take the Prime Minister
:24:00. > :24:08.back to his response to the honourable member's drop handle, it
:24:09. > :24:13.was a truly dreadful case. Women's refuges are facing absolute crisis.
:24:14. > :24:16.The changes the government proposes to make to housing benefit will
:24:17. > :24:23.force the closure of women's refuges. He needs urgently to look
:24:24. > :24:27.again at these changes because unless he makes refuges exempt, they
:24:28. > :24:34.will be closing up and down the country. Can he do it? What I would
:24:35. > :24:38.say is what we did in the last Parliament with rape crisis centres
:24:39. > :24:43.we are doing the same type of thing with these refuges and that is why
:24:44. > :24:47.the ?80 million of funding is so important. It is widely Secretary of
:24:48. > :24:49.State has written to local authorities to explain that this
:24:50. > :25:00.money is available to make sure those refuges are there. As part of
:25:01. > :25:05.world autism awareness week last week, the National Autistic Society
:25:06. > :25:08.launched its biggest ever awareness campaign. Young Alex Cunliffe the
:25:09. > :25:10.star of the film, was here in the house and met many MPs this week --
:25:11. > :25:19.Ruairidh Young Alex, the star some 50% of autistic people don't
:25:20. > :25:23.even go out in public because of what people think and their
:25:24. > :25:26.reaction. Will he meet with me and the Cherokee to discuss how the
:25:27. > :25:34.government can support this campaign and how we can tackle the social
:25:35. > :25:38.isolation of so many families -- and the charity. Let me pay tribute to
:25:39. > :25:42.my right honourable friend who has been campaigning and legislating on
:25:43. > :25:45.this issue now for many years including the landmark legislation
:25:46. > :25:49.that went through in the last Parliament. We have been working
:25:50. > :25:54.closely with the autism aligned and have invested some ?325,000 since
:25:55. > :25:58.2014 but we don't do more in terms of helping -- helping families with
:25:59. > :26:05.autistic children and raising the profile of the understanding of what
:26:06. > :26:09.being autistic is all about. Let me put in a plug for the strange
:26:10. > :26:12.incident of the dog in a night which is still available at the Whitehall
:26:13. > :26:16.Theatre, it is excellent and will give you a better explanation of
:26:17. > :26:25.autism and perhaps anything we can discuss in this house. Authorities
:26:26. > :26:28.in the room, El Salvador and Panama have raided offices of Mossack
:26:29. > :26:33.Fonseca, seizing documents and computer equipment but nobody has
:26:34. > :26:37.knocked on the door of their branch in the UK. While recognising the
:26:38. > :26:41.operational independence of our enforcement agencies, does he share
:26:42. > :26:47.my deep concern that come as we speak, documents are no doubt being
:26:48. > :26:50.shredded and databases being wiped, undermining the opportunity to bring
:26:51. > :26:56.further potential wrongdoing to like? She makes an important point
:26:57. > :27:00.which is that we need to make sure that all the evidence coming out
:27:01. > :27:05.Panama is properly investigated and that is right we have set up a
:27:06. > :27:08.special cross agency team including the National Crime Agency, HMRC and
:27:09. > :27:11.other relevant bodies to make sure we get to the bottom of what
:27:12. > :27:15.happened. She is right to reference the fact that these organisations
:27:16. > :27:19.are operationally independent and it would be quite wrong for a minister
:27:20. > :27:29.or Prime Minister to order an investigator into a particular
:27:30. > :27:32.building in a particular way, that is not a river, we want to cross in
:27:33. > :27:34.this house. Empower the National crime agency and HMRC, give them
:27:35. > :27:43.resources and let them get on with the job. Can I draw his attention to
:27:44. > :27:46.the tragic death of a 20 month -- 21-month-old baby when she was
:27:47. > :27:53.stamped on by her mother so violently that it prompted her
:27:54. > :27:57.heart. Yet she had been known to social services since the day she
:27:58. > :28:01.was born, they knew about the violent boyfriends, the domestic
:28:02. > :28:07.violence, they saw the doors kicked in and smelt the cannabis, they saw
:28:08. > :28:11.the bruisers, the cuts, the fingerprints on her little thighs
:28:12. > :28:15.and they did nothing -- bruises. He will understand that people want to
:28:16. > :28:19.know how this could have happened yet they are concerned to know that
:28:20. > :28:25.the serious case review has on its panel people who are directly
:28:26. > :28:27.involved in the organisationorganisations are being
:28:28. > :28:31.investigated. Will he look at what we can do to make this and other
:28:32. > :28:35.serious case reviews more independent so we can make sure that
:28:36. > :28:40.no other child suffers the life and death that this little girl did? I
:28:41. > :28:45.think my honourable friend is absolutely right to raise this.
:28:46. > :28:49.Obviously in the work we all do we hear about some hideous and horrific
:28:50. > :28:53.incidents but anybody watching television that night and seeing the
:28:54. > :28:56.description of what happened to that girl could it simply took your
:28:57. > :29:00.breath away that people could behave in such a despicable way towards
:29:01. > :29:06.their own children. There is no punishment in the world in my view
:29:07. > :29:10.that fits that sort of crime carried out by their own parent. There will
:29:11. > :29:15.be a serious case review and I will look carefully at the suggestions he
:29:16. > :29:19.makes and I know the Secretary of State for Education will do so as
:29:20. > :29:23.well. There are criticisms of the way these cases are done but in this
:29:24. > :29:28.case we must get on with the review because we have to get to the bottom
:29:29. > :29:33.of what went wrong. There are currently over 7000 people in the UK
:29:34. > :29:37.needing an organ transplant including 139 children and many will
:29:38. > :29:41.die because of a shortage of available organs. The Welsh Labour
:29:42. > :29:44.government has already introduced ground-breaking legislation for opt
:29:45. > :29:49.out organisation in Wales so will you join me in supporting the
:29:50. > :29:55.campaign for opt out organ donation throughout the UK? I'm always happy
:29:56. > :29:59.to look at this again having looked at it before and have not come out
:30:00. > :30:05.in favour of opting out. We debated in the last Parliament and made a
:30:06. > :30:07.lot of moves to making opt in much easier and we found that if you look
:30:08. > :30:11.at different hospitals and areas of the country there are different
:30:12. > :30:15.record in terms of how well they do. My position is that it is something
:30:16. > :30:20.we should support and continue to drive but this house can vote on the
:30:21. > :30:27.issue about whether it wants to go down the Welsh track rather than the
:30:28. > :30:32.track we are on but personally I say we should make opt in better. He
:30:33. > :30:36.will be well aware that our colleague Lord Bates has just
:30:37. > :30:42.started a 2000 mile walk from one is Iris to Rio de Janeiro, arriving in
:30:43. > :30:50.time for the Olympics -- Buenos Aires. Will he join me in wishing
:30:51. > :30:55.him well on this epic journey and committing his government to uphold
:30:56. > :30:59.the values and principles of the Olympic truce? I have already
:31:00. > :31:03.written to Michael Bates to wish him well and give support for the work
:31:04. > :31:07.he has done over many years. He leaves me a bit of a hole in the
:31:08. > :31:10.House of Lords where he has been doing fantastic work for the Home
:31:11. > :31:21.Office on security issues so we wish him a good walk and a speedy return.
:31:22. > :31:25.At Ealing hospital the experienced doctors I met with last week are
:31:26. > :31:29.dismayed that the government's own equality assessment of their new
:31:30. > :31:34.contract find it discriminates against women which is over half of
:31:35. > :31:42.them. As he is a self-confessed feminist, leading a progressive
:31:43. > :31:44.government, will he... So he says. Will the reverse this blatant
:31:45. > :31:52.injustice which has no place in 2016? I am grateful for her question
:31:53. > :31:58.and backhanded compliment! I would say that this contract is actually
:31:59. > :32:04.very pro-women because it involves a 13% basic pay rise, because it
:32:05. > :32:08.restricts the currently horrendous hours that some junior doctors are
:32:09. > :32:12.working that are unsafe, and because it gives greater guarantees about
:32:13. > :32:16.levels of pay and the amount of money that doctors will get. As
:32:17. > :32:26.people start to work on it and with it, they will see it is very
:32:27. > :32:32.pro-women. Over 200,000 economic migrants came from the European
:32:33. > :32:35.Union in the period for which we have figures and yet the propaganda
:32:36. > :32:39.sheet said at the British people says we maintain control of our
:32:40. > :32:46.borders. As we withdrawn from the free movement of people all sit --
:32:47. > :32:50.is it simply untrue? The truth is that economic migrants coming and to
:32:51. > :32:57.the EU don't have the right to come to the UK, they are not European
:32:58. > :33:02.nationals. They are nationals of Pakistan or Morocco or Turkey. None
:33:03. > :33:06.of them have the right so it is very important and it is important we
:33:07. > :33:11.send information stew households because then they can see the truth
:33:12. > :33:16.about what is proposed. What he has put forward is classic of the sort
:33:17. > :33:18.of scare stories we get, Britain has borders, Britain will keep its
:33:19. > :33:29.borders, we have the best of both worlds. Still at university at the
:33:30. > :33:33.University of sporting excellence elite sports have been rocked in
:33:34. > :33:37.recent months about an international doping scandal that threatens the
:33:38. > :33:42.entire country is thrown out or major and petitions. Does he agree
:33:43. > :33:45.that the world anti-doping agency needs further support and can he
:33:46. > :33:51.tell me what further action can be taken? I think he is right to raise
:33:52. > :33:56.it, Wada has made a lot of advances in recent years. There is a
:33:57. > :34:00.relevance to our anti-corruption Summit in May when we will be
:34:01. > :34:03.looking at corruption in sport and bringing forward new codes of
:34:04. > :34:07.practice to adopt in this country and we hope others also do. There is
:34:08. > :34:11.also the question about whether doping should be a specific criminal
:34:12. > :34:16.offence which is something we should be debating. What progress has been
:34:17. > :34:23.made in impairment in Sir Bruce Keogh's ten clinical standards
:34:24. > :34:29.published in December 2013 which are essential for rolling out the
:34:30. > :34:31.seven-day NHS? Perhaps I can write specifically on the clinical
:34:32. > :34:38.standards but the truth is that what is good is that he and others in the
:34:39. > :34:41.NHS support this vision of a seven-day NHS and recognise that we
:34:42. > :34:45.should pay tribute to all those doctors and nurses who work at
:34:46. > :34:50.weekends already because it is very important but what we are trying to
:34:51. > :34:53.move toward is an NHS where the individual has access to their
:34:54. > :34:58.family doctor seven days a week and also where hospitals work on or
:34:59. > :35:00.seven databases because it will save lives and improve care and I will
:35:01. > :35:07.write to him about the specific detail. Parent governors play a key
:35:08. > :35:11.role in local schools supporting their children's education and
:35:12. > :35:16.performing an important civic duty. If the Prime Minister aware of the
:35:17. > :35:19.sadness and anger which has resulted from the forced Academy 's
:35:20. > :35:23.announcement that the duty for each school to have parent governors will
:35:24. > :35:28.be removed? Will he urgently review this attack on parents? I'm
:35:29. > :35:32.delighted the Honourable lady asked this question because we will be
:35:33. > :35:37.debating it later but let me be clear, we support parent governors,
:35:38. > :35:42.we think they have a great role to play but no school should think that
:35:43. > :35:46.is simply -- that by simply having parent governors you have solved the
:35:47. > :35:50.problem about engaging with parents. Let me say that there is something
:35:51. > :35:57.in the Labour motion today that it actually inaccurate and should be
:35:58. > :36:00.withdrawn. It says, the white Paper proposes the removal of parent
:36:01. > :36:05.governors from school governing bodies. It does no such thing. As
:36:06. > :36:08.well as not getting his tax return in on time coming is bringing
:36:09. > :36:11.forward motions that are simply wrong.