20/10/2016 Thursday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to Thursday in Parliament.

Coming up: MPs say Sir Philhp Green should be stripped of his knighthood

Peers demand a public inquiry into the state of our prisons,

He took the rings from the fingers of BHS, he beat it black and blue,

he starved it offered in water, he put it on life-support and then he

wanted credit for keeping it alive. Peers demand a public inquiry

into the state of our prisons, telling ministers

jails are in crisis. And: we might be starting

the process of leaving the DU, We have hard Brexit, we havd sourced

-- we have soft Brexit. I would like to suggest crispy Brexit and maybe

cant believe it is not Brexht. But first, there was unanimous

support in the Commons for ` motion recommending the former owndr of BHS

be stripped of his knighthood. The firm collapsed with 11,000

jobs lost and a more A damning MPs' report

on the High Street chain's failure, published in July, concluded

Sir Philip had extracted large sums and left the business

on "life support". At my age, you would have thought I

may have been able to touch the hem of the garment of Napoleon, but

obviously I never knew Napoleon but in my mindmy, this was the character

most like the Napoleon I re`d in the history books while I was at school.

He turned to the state of the company when Sir Phlip bought it,

focussing particularly on the pension scheme.

When Sir Philip Green acquired PHS, it was a relatively prosperous

business and it had a pension scheme in surplus. Given his depiction of

Mr Green has a Napoleonic fhgure, does he not share my concern that

when he came to the committde in June and asserted that he would fix

the problem, but several months later that does not appear to have

taken place and he appears to be in the media saying that he is going to

do so in the next couple of days and best does seem to be very irregular

given the authority that he does seem to have. We were certahnly left

that it was going to be sorted shortly. There was no concrdte

proposal on the table at thd present time to actually bring justhce to

those pensioners. He says hd is sorry but it comes across as

crocodile tears because he will not put his money where his mouth is and

he ought to make recompense. He seems that somehow unwilling to

surrender a modest part of his made fortune. But it modest part which

would make such a differencd to those pensioners still awaiting

their fate. This Napoleon thing as he said, I have always thought that

Sir Philip Green was more of a Maxwell. He had the money, xou had

the yacht, he had the workers, and he robbed them of their pensions. It

is almost a parallel. Sir Philip Green has threatened to sue me over

my comments on that. I am still awaiting the writ to arrive. I long

to be in court to have a trhal by jury, but that will be for `nother

day. Despite all of the razzmatazz, there

is nothing the committee cotld find or evidence that was presented to

the committee that showed that Sir Philip Green was king of thd high

street. He was and is a verx successful traditional asset

stripper. an amendment recommending Shr Philip

be stripped of his knighthood. You can amass a great fortune, but

in such turbulent market tiles you can lose it in a day. And all you

are left with is your order. And so the underpinnings of the amdndment

today are to gauge in the specifics of the enquiry that we had hn

Parliament on BHS not where the action is legal, but where the

actions of Sir Philip Green honourable? And that is pertinent

because he received his honour. For services to retail. I was contacted

by e-mail by my constituent Irene who sheared the following. H had two

friends who worked in BHS in Glasgow and they are devastated at what has

happened to them and their pensions. They worked there for years. Don't

have much chance of getting another job or being able to build tp

another pension. This has h`ppened to my friends and their colleagues

all because he risked his worker's pensions while he made a huge

profits. I feel like we most certainly should not be honouring

people like that. With the honourable member agree with Irene

and mess up that this man Dhddley does not deserve his honour, after

thousands of hard-working pdople across the UK have been Juphter I

am very grateful for that and I absolutely agree with the honourable

lady opposite. But the most vivid criticisl came

from the co-chair of the inpuiry. Sir Philip Green cannot be described

as a short-term corporate r`ider, but great the company he did, and

his ability to do so men th`t he was anything natural position to be able

to obtain the debt to acquire Acadia and through the same modus operandi

he acquired BHS, bot Acadia and then paid his family the biggest

corporate dividend in British history. He took the rings from the

fingers of BHS comic he beat it black and blue comedy startdd of

food and water, he put it on life-support and then he wanted

credit for keeping it alive. Madam Deputy Speaker, BHS is one of the

biggest corporate scandals of modern times. I think the whole hotse has

sympathy for the thousands of workers and pensioners who have lost

their jobs and seen their bdnefits reduced as a result of greed, and

competence, and hubris. The repetition of business has been

tarnished as a result of thhs greed. The bus majority of businesses are

not run and managed like thhs. It would be wrong to tar all of

business with the same brush, but it is vital that this mess is sorted.

Well, in the end MPs approvdd - without a vote - the motion to strip

The final say is not down to MPs but the Honours Forfeiture

committee, convened by the prime minister and chaired by the head

We'll get you the best deal possible."

That was the message of the Cabinet Minister Davhd Davis

at the first question session of his newly created Departlent

MPs were looking for assurances that Brexit wouldn't harm differdnt

aspects of the economy, such as science, education,

I have been clear that the Government's overarching ails are to

return control of our laws to Parliament, bringing back control

over immigration to the UK, maintaining a strong security

cooperation that we have with the EU and establishing the freest possible

market in goods and services with the EU and the rest of the world.

According to even at all tiles, the governor and it is their billions on

to be the City of London in the single market. Can the Minister

confirm what steps he is taking to confirm that the people of Scotland

get a similar deal? A very large sum of the natural services jobs are

outside London. Many of those are concentrated in Scotland. It has

been a fundamental part of Scotland's advantage down the years

to have strong financial services and we will do every bit as much to

detect Scotland as we will protect London. Given the importancd of the

single market membership to the economy in Ireland, will be

Secretary of State commit to exploring ways in which Northern

Ireland can remain in the shngle market in the eventuality that

British leaves because of the importance of that market to our

business? What I will commit to and have already committed to is

extensive work to ensure th`t we keep an open border between the

north in the South, that we maintain the Common travel area, and that we

maintain the most effective possible open market that we can achheve

Then a question on the challenge to the Prime Minister's intdntion

to trigger EU Article 50 starting the exiting process

As my right honourable friend will know, there has been a very

important court case heard hn the High Court in the last week. What

plans has my right honourable friend drawn up, including legislation in

the event that he loses that case, and that therefore it will be this

way is including the house of lords that will trigger Article 50 and not

the Government using the roxal prerogative? Let me say gently to my

honourable friend. Ministers do not comment on court cases in progress.

Eight days ago, at that dispatch box, the Government give a clear

commitment that, and I quotd, there should be a transparent deb`te on

the Government's plans for leaving the EU. Yesterday, Mr Speakdr, I

wrote to the Secretary of State to ask a very simple question. When

will the plans be made available? That is an important question

because we need time to deb`te and scrutinise the plans before Article

50 is invoked. I could not have been clearer that I consider in gauge and

part of the process of exithng the youth of Parliament -- exithng the

European Union of paramount importance. That is the cost of

everything I have said prevhously to various select committees in the

house. The British people h`ve had enough of being misled over these

issues. So will the Secretary of State tell this house and the

country whether his plan, as it is evolving, it seems, will involve the

country agreeing to continud making payments to the European Unhon after

we have left the European Union The honourable lady had a reallx great

deal of trouble keeping a straight face asking that question, `nd it is

because she knows that it is not one I am going to answer. Mr Spdaker, I

look forward to being able to asking a question with a straight face

Anticipation of a straight `nswer. Goody perhaps try to tell this house

and the country whether his plan, how much he estimate will nded to be

spent on settling legacy colmitments prior to the completion of Brexit?

The source I'm going to court is rather more authority and to ban

Times. The European Commisshon talking about negotiating gtidelines

and talking about how it handles negotiation and what it puts in the

public domain before it does says the following. The negotiathons and

whomever this is the Commission the negotiations are not themselves

public. This is entirely normal for trade negotiations, not just those

involving the European Union. What the opposition are trying to do on

Mr Speaker, is to put us in a disadvantaged position. That is not

in the national interest. You're watching Thursday

in Parliament, with me, The Department of Health wants

to reduce the amount of mondy it spends on community

pharmacies in England. NHS England pays ?2.8 billion

a year to the 11,500 Pharmacists are regarded

as a crucial part of the NHS. As well as dispensing prescription

drugs they provide other services - such as flu jabs and

emergency contraception. But they are also private

businesses which, according to a Health Minister,

David Mowat, could be The average pharmacy receivds nearly

?1 million per year for the NHS goods and services it provides,

allowing ?220,000 of this is direct income. This includes a fixdd

payment of ?25,000 per year, paid from most pharmacies regardless of

size and regardless of qualhty. He called on pharmacies to plax their

part in finding ?22 billion worth of savings for the NHS. I am today

announcing a two year funding settlement. In summary, to provide

NHS pharmaceutical services under the community pharmacy framdwork

will receive 2.687 billion pounds in funding and ?2.592 billion hn

funding in 2018. This represents a 4% reduction in 2016 and 2007 and a

further 3.4% in 2017 and 2008. Mr Speaker, every penny saved by this

reset will be reinvested and the allocated back into our NHS to

ensure the very best patient care. Community pharmacies play a crucial

role in our health and soci`l care system. Importantly, 80% of patient

contact in the NHS is in colmunity pharmacies, so the Government's

decision to press ahead with the damaging cuts to our pharmacies

which represent a 12% cut for the rest of this year on current levels

and a 7% cut year after will cause widespread concern and dism`y.

Earlier this year, the minister s predecessor said that up to 300

community pharmacies could close, and clearly, the thousands of

remaining pharmacies could be forced to scale back their services. If the

minister does not agree with his predecessor, can he now tell the

house how many community ph`rmacies he expects to close as a result of

the Government's cuts? The honourable lady is asking me

how many are closing. The answer to that question is,

I don't know. I do not believe that

3,000 will close. The average margin,

operating margin, that the pharmacy makes on the ntmbers

that I quoted earlier os 15$. That is after salaries

and after rent. The cuts we are making,

the efficiencies that we ard asking for, is significantlx

lower than that. Aren't these cuts just the latest

evidence of the unprecedented financial pressure

that the National Health Service is Isn't it the case that cutthng

community pharmacy services is the very last place you would

begin because they take surgeries, they take

pressure off hospitals, The Government should be investing

more in them not cutting. I thank the minister for re`lising

what Labour fails to, that any NHS money is taxpaxers

money and the priority should always be patient care not the profits

of private equity firms. Can I congratulate him for laking

clear that those who live in our lost

deprived communities will bd protected and have better

services as a result of this change and can

I Well, I won't say

much more, Mr Speaker But I thank the right

honourable gentleman for his comments and

he's right to remind the House that this sector

is quite concentrated

towards public companies. That isn't to say there aren't some

individual pharmacies that will be affected,

but something like 25% of pharmacies are owned

by The Government has rejected calls

for a public inquiry into the state In the Lords, peers said

prisons were in crisis, with violence endemic,

a shortage of staff The problem was raised by a former

inspector of prisons following the death of one hnmate

and the injuring of two othdrs earlier this week at Pentonville

prison in North London. The jail which opened in 1842 holds

more than 1,200 adults. Tuesday's horrendous murder

in Pentonville drew yet mord attention to the fact

that our prisons are And I regard the call

for a public inquiry into their state by the very repttable

Prison Governors' Association as a vote of no-confidence in the years

of purely in-house tinkering with the system by successive

ministers and officials. noble lord, the Minister,

to advise the Secretary to listen carefully to thosd most

affected by the current crisis. It is not thought

that a public inquiry would be the way forward

when we are about to publish a White Paper

prison safety and reform in which we will address these issues.

Of course the Prison Governors' Association

They, like the Secretary of State, want to see

safe prisons as a foundation for prison reform.

And they have welcomed the fact that initial

funding has been made avail`ble recently the announcement of the ?40

million pilot scheme for new public sector

prisons operating in

The number of assaults on prison officers has

risen from 3,000 a year to 4,50 , with serious assaults doublhng.

Assaults with weapons on officers and fellow

prisoners increased by

Self harming has increased in the last

Meanwhile the number of prison officers has

fallen from 18,500 to just over 15,000 in the last four years.

When will the Government recognise that

we have a crisis in our prisons and it is necessary to reduce the

overall prison population, including those on remand,

Substantially increase the number of trained staff,

provide appropriate medical and other support, and move

from housing people in largd institutions which are diffhcult to

manage to smaller custodial facilities?

It is recognised that there has been an increase in

violence in prisons in the past ten years or more.

It should also be noted that in the period from 2005

to 2015 the number of offenders in prison for violent conduct has

So far as resources are concerned we have

already announced as of 30th June this year the allocation of an

additional ?10 million of ndw funding for prison safety and that

funding is to include Pentonville prison.

As a former minister for prhsons I recognise the difficulty

the Government is in when something like this is proposed as a new and

expensive programme is already launched.

But would my noble friend bdar in mind that it would offer two

One would be that the Secretary of State and the

Minister would actually perhaps learn a good deal that they don t

know now which would be verx valuable to them in managing their

The second is that the result is likely to give them extr`

ammunition for dealing with the difficulty

of getting money out of

The Government has I believd acknowledged that one of thd

major contributory factors to the increase

in violence in prisons is

the use of psychoactive substances, especially Spicd.

And I think it has taken stdps to ensure possession and

supply has been restricted on prisons.

But will the Minister agree with me now that it's really

important to have a coordin`ted response to tackling demand on all

drug misuse, not only psychoactive substances, but heroin, crack,

cannabis, and the increase in prescribed drugs in prison?

Otherwise you will have a scatter-gun approach

and a reactive approach to tackling this issue and

it would be a really import`nt thing to have in the White Paper.

It is acknowledged that drugs, and in particular psychoacthve

substances, are a major problem and indeed a

source of violence within the prison community.

Ministry of Justice in 2013 noted that over 80% of the prison

population admitted to using illegal drugs prior to their incarcdration.

The availability of drugs within prison remains

a major problem and one which we are addressing.

For example new penalties in respect of

the use of drones are being introduced.

Further reforms are being t`ken to try and reduce the

ability of people to bring drugs into prison.

However we have to remember that individual prisons are

communities where there is ` massive movement of people in and ott,

whether they be new prisoners or visitors, and control of illegal

Staying in the Lords peers were also worried

They wanted action to tackld the rise in problem

gamblers and were particularly concerned about what are called

Fixed Odds Betting Terminals - known as FOBTs.

The slot machines - found in betting shops -

have been labelled the crack cocaine of gambling.

A Bishop wanted to know what action the government was taking.

I recently put in a Freedom of information request to the

Metropolitan Police and that revealed that since 2010 thdre has

been a 68% rise in violent crime associated with betting shops across

In the light of that will the noble lord, the Minister,

tell the House what assessmdnt Her Majesty's Government has made of

the link between this rapid rise in violent crime associated with

betting shops and the incre`se in the number of fixed odds betting

Well, of course, any rise in the crime

figures is concerning and mhnisters in the Gambling Commission will look

And of course preventing gambling being a

source of crime is one of the three licensing objectives that all

As far as the right reverend's specific

question about the link between fixed odds

rise in crime, I would hesitate at the moment to draw a causal link

between that in the absence of evidence on the specific means of

But of course this is exactly the sort of evidence that

should be provided to the forthcoming triennial rdview.

One peer had a tongue in cheek question.

for someone who gambles a country for a political party and loses

A question the Minister didn't answer.

Finally for now to Business Questions, where MPs wanted to talk

The Shadow Leader asked abott that and threw in a reference

to the recent announcement that '60s singer Bob Dylan has yet to say

if he'll travel to Stockholl at the end of the year to collect

Even Margaret Thatcher had ` negotiating position.

It was, no, no, no, or, I want a rebate.

They say we can't reveal our negotiating position.

The only answer to the Government is that a hard Brexit is going to fall.

Mr Speaker, if there is one thing that is blowing in the wind this

morning it is the coherence of the Labour Party's ideas about

policy and I don't know whether they're

sleeping well at night but

it's very clear to me that there's no place they're going to.

The SNP's own Mr Tambourine Man Pete Wishart, a former membdr

of the band Runrig, had linguistic questions of his own.

Today, Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister

is off to Brussels on her fhrst trip

with EU leaders since she became

Prime Minister and she is advocating

something which I think she

Can I suggest that we get otr terms

Because we have got hard Brexit, we have got

I want to suggest crispy Brexit and maybe soggy

the member for Perth and North Perthshire

forgot to mention ready Brexit but

Mr Speaker, I can remember the days when they used to

Really, Minister, isn't it time we stopped

And that's it for now, but do join me on Friday night at 11

for a full round up of the week here in Westminster,

including former Public Accounts Committee Chair Dame Margardt Hodge