19/01/2018 The Week in Parliament

Hello and Welcome to

The Week In Parliament.

Coming up on this edition

of the programme: Jeremy Corbyn

attacks the government's handing

of the collapse of the construction

firm Carillion and reckons

there's a bigger problem.

This isn't an isolated case of

government failure.

It's a broken

system.

But Theresa May says

the Labour Party has

turned its back on investment,

growth and jobs.

A Labour Party that will always put

politics before people!

Also on this programme: The bill

putting EU law into UK law ahead

of Brexit clears

the Commons...for now!

And the Justice Secretary says

he won't seek a judicial review

of the Parole Board decision

to release serial sex attacker

John Worboys from prison.

I know this will disappoint the

victims in this case and members of

this House. Given the crimes for

which he has been convicted, on a

personal level, I share those

concerns.

But first to the story that

dominated the Westminster week -

the collapse of construction giant

Carillion.

Carillion has around 450

public sector contracts,

from NHS cleaning to school dinners

and prisons to homes

for service families.

It's also involved in the HS2

high-speed rail line

and maintenance for Network Rail.

After statements

and questions earlier in the week,

Jeremy Corbyn used Prime Minister's

Questions to accuse the government

of negligence for continuing

to award contracts to the firm

after it issued profit

warnings last year.

Mr Corbyn thought ministers had

some explaining to do.

In the last six months, the

government has awarded more than £2

billion worth of contracts to

Carillion. It did so even after the

share price was in freefall and the

company had issued profit warnings.

Why did the government do that?

If

it was the case that the government

pulled out of contracts or private

sector companies pulled out of

contracts were never profit warning

was issued, that would be the best

way to ensure that companies failed

and jobs were lost.

It looks like

the government was handing Carillion

public contracts, either to keep the

company afloat, which clearly hasn't

worked, although it was just deeply

negligent of the crisis.

Mr Speaker,

I am very happy to answer questions

when the right honourable gentleman

asks one. He didn't!

This is not one

isolated case. It is a broken

system. Under this government,

virgin and Stagecoach can

spectacularly mismanaged East Coast

Main Line and be let off a £2

billion pay-out, capita can continue

to wreck the lives through damaging

disability assessment so many people

with disabilities and win more

government funded contracts, chief

OS promise to provide security at

the Olympics, failed to do so, and

the army had to step in and save the

day. These corporations need to be

shown the door. We need our public

services provided by public

employees with a public service

ethos and a strong public oversight.

As the ruins of Carillion lie around

her, will the Prime Minister act to

end this costly wrecking of the

relationship between government and

some of these companies?

I might

first of all remind the right

honourable gentleman to a third of

Carillion contracts were led by the

Labour government. What Labour

oppose is not just a role for

private companies in public services

but the private sector as a whole.

The vast majority of people in this

country in employment are employed

by the private sector. But the

Shadow Chancellor calls business is

the real enemy. Labour want the

highest taxes in our peacetime

history, Labour policies would cause

a run on the pound, this is a Labour

Party that has turned its back on

investment, growth, jobs. A Labour

Party that will always put politics

before people!

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn.

Now this was the week

when when MPs waved goodbye -

for now at least -

to the EU Withdrawal bill,

the legislation putting EU rules

and regulations into UK law

to stop a legislative black hole

opening up after Brexit.

On Tuesday, Labour and the SNP

failed in an effort to tempt

Scottish Conservatives to rebel

against the government.

Ministers had promised they'd change

the bill to make sure that powers

coming back from Brussels would be

devolved to Scotland,

Wales and Northern Ireland and not

keep them at Westminster.

But despite their promises,

those changes aren't ready yet

and will have to be made,

not in the Commons, as expected,

but in the House of Lords.

The SNP urged Scottish Tory MPs

to support the opposition's

devolution demands saying

the Government had gone back

on its promise.

This is a democratic abomination

that the Scottish Parliament will

have less of a say, this House will

have less of a save the House of

Lords.

There was no doubt that

Scottish Conservatives were unhappy

at the failure to make

the promised changes by now...

One said he was "intensely

disappointed".

We are dependent on unelected Lords

to do our job for us. The government

had control of the timetable.

Deadlines were created by them but

they have let us down by not

delivering on what they promised.

I

am disappointed that we have been

unable to reach agreement with the

governments in Scotland and Wales to

bring forward amendments to close 11

on an agreed basis, and that is what

the government's ambition remains.

But when it came to a vote,

Scottish Conservatives ignored

the pleas to rebel -

the government won

by a majority of 24.

Next day, a Labour MP also tried

to make changes to the bill.

In a debate heavily

dominated by remainers,

Ian Murray proposed

that the government must publish

an impact assessment

on both staying in

and leaving the single

market and customs union.

And those assessments should be done

before Mps held their final vote

on the overall deal.

The reason the government will

resist this new clause is not

through any principle. It is because

they know any negotiated deal they

come back with an obvious the deal

we have today. That will say to the

public the they will bring back a

deal that makes the country poorer.

Well, summing up,

the minister didn't address those

demands for an impact

assessment directly.

There then followed a series

of votes, all of which

the government won,

meaning the bill was able

to go on for its final

reading in the Commons.

And so the Brexit Secretary

came to the chamber

to make one last speech on the bill

before it went to the House of Lords

to be scrutinised by Peers.

We are sending an improved piece of

legislation onwards to the Other

Place. I hope that that house will

acknowledge the substance and spirit

of the debate and scrutiny this Bill

has received so far and it will

unfold in the same constructive way

as it has in this House.

But his Labour

opposite number disagreed.

This bill was never fit for purpose.

After 64 hours a committee and ten

hours a report, it is still not fit

for purpose.

It is fit for purpose

however the implementing the

greatest festival of democracy we

have ever known in this country!

Were in June 20 16th 17 million of

our citizens voted to leave the EU.

The SNP put

down one last amendment,

saying the bill shouldn't

get its final third reading

in the Commons, in effect

wrecking it.

Ian Blackford argued the bill

was incompatible with devolution.

We sent a clear signal to the

government that this House cannot

allow the commitments made to pass.

It is the last chance for Scottish

Tory MPs to join us and to stand up

for the devolved settlement.

But that SNP amendment was defeated

by 322 votes to 295,

the bill went on to get its third

reading and will now go off

to the House of Lords.

The black-cab rapist John Worboys

could be freed within weeks

after the government opted not

to challenge his release.

The Justice Secretary David Gauke

told Mps on Friday that it would not

be appropriate to seek

a judicial review of the case.

Worboys was jailed indefinitely

in 2009 with a minimum

term of eight years for drugging

and sexually assaulting

a dozen female passengers.

Police believe he may

have committed as many

as a hundred similar offences.

The news of the parole board

decision outraged many

and the justice secretary

commissioned advice

on the possibility of taking

the highly unusual step of seeking

a judicial review.

The Bathford judicial review to

succeed is very high. The test for

deciding the decision is

unreasonable is not simply that the

decision-makers, in this case the

parole board, could've made an

alternative decision, but that no

reasonable person would have come to

the same conclusion on the facts of

the case. Similarly, it would be

necessary to identify failing to

follow that process by the parole

board that would have had a material

impact on the decision. Having taken

considered an expert legal advice, I

have decided that it would not be

appropriate for me as Secretary of

State to proceed with such a case. I

know this will disappoint the

victims in this case and members of

this House. Given the crimes for

which he has been convicted, on a

personal level, I share those

concerns.

He said

Worboys would not be released

until victims had been heard

and licence conditions put in place.

And he announced he'd be expanding

a review of the parole process.

Today's news makes the need for

changes in the parole board even

more pressing. The current rules

permit either the Secretary of State

or victims to bring judicial review.

Many will have seen they are doing

and have attracted much public

support for the fundraising for

this. Judicial review is a key tool

for every citizen to be able to

challenge unjust or unlawful

decisions by the state or other

public bodies. Deep cuts to legal

aid have undermined the ability of

many to pursue judicial reviews.

Who

and how is held to account in the

parole board if those released early

reoffend?

A test of April board in

the context of one of these IPP

prisoners is an assessment of the

risk to the public, and that is what

the probe or the Haas to determine

the circumstances.

David Gauke.

Now let's take some other news

from around Westminster in brief.

What more can be done

to tackle childhood obesity?

One Conservative reckons the stars

of prime-time TV shows

such as Britain's Got Talent

and I'm A Celebrity

should take a stand against junk

food being advertised to children

during their shows.

It's not just a coincidence of

scheduling that these ads run

alongside some of our biggest TV

shows such as the X factor,

Britain's got talent, Hollyoaks of

the symptoms. If we are to affect

change, as Jamie Oliver has

demonstrated, we need some of that

star manage. I'm calling on

household names like Simon Cowell,

Ant & Dec, Dermot O'Leary and Amanda

Holden to take responsibility, stand

up to broadcasters and say that they

will no longer be used as a hook to

sell harmful junk food to our

children.

An SNP MP says customers

are being "ripped off"

by mobile phone companies.

Patricia Gibson said many consumers

were continuing to pay

for their handset after they'd

covered the cost of buying it.

The chances are that, if you are a

customer with one of the bigger

mobile phone providers who dominate

the market, the price consumers are

charged each month will not change.

That means that consumers continue

to be charged for their handsets,

even though they have already paid

for them over the course of their

two-year contract.

The government

suffered a series of defeats

in the week on its Sanctions

and Anti-Money Laundering Bill.

On Wednesday, a former head

of the judiciary criticised plans

to give ministers the power

to create new criminal offences.

Lord Judge, who is a former

Lord Chief Justice of England

and Wales, told peers that

proposals to allow ministers

to create new money laundering

offences without having to get

a new bill passed by parliament

were "constitutionally troublesome".

The amendment won cross party

support and the government

was defeated by 264 votes to 184,

a majority of 80 votes.

New figures show that one in ten

nurses are leaving the NHS

in England every year.

And last year, more than 33,000

nurses gave up their jobs.

That's 3,000 more than

joined the service.

When Labour raised the issue

in the Lords, a Health Minister

insisted nursing numbers had

increased since 2010.

There are now more than 100,000

vacant post in the HS. Will the

Minister access the need to lift the

page cap, fund opera rises for

nurses, restore bursaries and

restored this profession.

The noble

Lord is wrong to say they are and

under the appreciated profession. Of

course we want to reduce the number

of nurses leaving the process --

profession. It is important to point

out that the number of nurses has

risen.

The treatment of small businesses

by the Royal Bank of Scotland

has been described by an MP as

"the largest theft anywhere, ever".

That charge came as the Commons

debated the banks' Global

Restructuring Group -

GRG - which has been accused

of mistreating its customers

by the city watchdog,

the Financial Conduct Authority.

The Royal Bank of Scotland has

apologised for how it treated

customers who ended up in its GRG.

But MPs demanded an inquiry and

tougher action against the banks.

The MP who led the debate described

the experience of one constiuent.

He lost his business, his home, his

marriage, and I think it fair to say

almost his sanity. His crime,

nothing more than being an entre

murder -- entrepreneur who banked

with RBS.

Does my honourable friend

agree with me that the RBS global

restructuring group had a real

cultural problem? Their top tips

include the phrase, rope, sometimes

you just have to let customers hang

themselves. Clearly, there is

something very wrong.

I do grief. I

think since 2008, we know that

16,000 small businesses were put

into GR G and the vast majority of

them were liquidated. This was meant

to be somewhere where they were put

back to try and get interested

tuition where they could come back

as a viable as Ms. It was more of an

-- abattoir. We do know that 90% of

GR G administered businesses never

made it back to mainstream banking.

The cost of this is immeasurable but

we leave this to be in the tens of

billions. Let's be clear here. This

is the potential size of the

injustice that has taken place in

our country. If it is this big it

may be the largest vest -- theft

anywhere ever.

The Treasury Committee

is investigating

the allegations against RBS.

When I hear constituents and others

saying they will never trust a rank

again, you should be a chilling

moment for all banks lending and

working.

They are right to say we

will wait for the conclusion of the

investigation of the matter is

arising from the report before

determining what further action

needs to be taken. On the broader

issue of dispute resolution, I've

remind the House of the existing

avenues open but the FCA is

undertaking work to look at the

relationship and it is right that we

wait for the next steps.

MPs have been told that children

as young as 12 are being used

by gangs to traffic drugs

across the country.

Known as "county

lines", the gangs use

the youngsters to transport drugs,

weapons and money

between cities and smaller towns.

The National Crime Agency says

there are at least 720 of these

lines in England and Wales,

with 283 coming out of London alone.

The Labour MP, Joan Ryan, raised

the wide reaching criminal activity

in a Westminster Hall debate.

In vulnerable children as young as

12 being groomed by gangs with

promises of money, companionship and

respect. But in reality, they are

often forced to go missing from home

for long periods of time, they are

used as drug meals -- drug mules,

predominantly heroin and crack

cocaine, they are trafficked to

remote areas and forced to deal

drugs in squalid conditions. At all

times, they are at great personal

risk of at rest by the police, which

is probably the early time they are

really says, or from physical and

sexual abuse from local -- older

gang members.

A Labour MP said she first found out

about the problem when a mother

came to her about her son

who'd been arrested

for trafficking drugs

between London and Portsmouth.

Her son was involved in running

drugs from Lewisham to the south

coast. There are 317 under 25 is

from Lewisham believed to be

ultimate act pretty, of which about

200 are of school age. They are

supplying drugs in 19 different

counties. That is 200 school age

children from one London Borough out

of 32. This is not an insignificant

problem.

Drug gangs target

vulnerable young people, including

children in care, and those who have

had very difficult times at home,

they deliberately target those

children because they know that they

are susceptible to peer pressure,

they are susceptible to the

influence of these adults. They

beguile, they entice, they flatter,

and they befriend them. And when

they have ensnared them, they put

them to criminal work. It is

exploitation, pure and simple, and

this is why I am so pleased that we

are beginning to see these cases

prosecuted under the modern slavery

act so that we give them the stigma

that they deserve, as well as

tackling their criminality.

Victoria Atkins.

Now, let's go back to the Commons

on Friday where MPs

backed a bill giving tenants

in England the ability

to take landlords to court

if their home is unsafe.

Currently, if a landlord

doesn't deal with a request

for maintenance and repairs,

it is up to the council

to enforce the law.

Labour MP Karen Buck brought

in the bill which would mean

in future, tenants could bring civil

proceedings if their home

is unfit to live in.

Currently, and extraordinarily,

landlords have no obligations to

their tenants to keep the conditions

of the property fit for habitation.

There is an obligation to repair the

structure of the property and keep

in repair features such as gas,

water, and electricity, but that

only applies when there is damage.

It does not apply to many things.

There are a whole range of fitness

issues which seriously affect the

world being and safety of tenants

and about which tenants can do

nothing. I met a young mum whose

baby was born prematurely, had to

bring home to a flat so that that

when I visited her, even I was

struggling to breathe. I met a

pension two weeks ago who was taken

into hospital with hypothermia twice

because of the cold in her flat. And

she fell and hit her steps on.

The bill had widespread support

from across the House.

But a Conservative thought

there were areas where

it could go further.

We do not want a position whereby

someone who takes action under this

bill bind themselves homeless

because the landlord has said, you

can take me to court but I will

evict you as a result. That would be

read sensible and we have to combat

that in a way.

The minister too backed the bill.

The government does want to support

good land laws and to avoid further

regulation on them which pushes up

rents and reduces choice. But small

number of criminal landlords

knowingly rent out and safe and

substandard accommodation. We are

determined to crack down on these

landlords and disrupt their uses.

Finally, let's take a look at some

of the quirkier news from around

Westminster this week.

Here's Clare Gould.

Some new faces on the front bench

following Theresa May's reshuffle.

New Justice Secretary was sworn in

as Lord Chancellor on Thursday.

Charges of treason after an

unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a

settlement with a powerful

organisation.

The EU withdrawal bill completed its

final stage. Mr Swain blamed and

early mornings when for the relapse.

The president of France came to

visit, bringing an offer to the UK

to House the famous tapestry.

The latest addition of the

conversation series with Michael

Heseltine got a celebrity

endorsement from Peter Stringfellow.

Clare Gould with our countdown.

And that's it from us for now but do

join Mandy Baker on BBC Parliament

on Monday night at 11pm for a full

roundup of the day at Westminster.

But for now from me,

Alicia McCarthy, goodbye.