27/10/2016 Thursday in Parliament

Hello and Welcome to Thursd`y in Parliament, our look at the best

of the day in the Commons and the Lords.

MPs approve a report which "formally admonishes" two former

News of the World executives for deceiving Parliament

Phone hacking at News of thd World was not restricted to one

journalist. It was widespre`d. There was a cultural problem and they knew

about it. They systematically lied about it over a number of enquiries.

An ex-Cabinet Minister says snags in cutting an international trade

deal suggests the UK should speed up its exit from the EU.

Does that not make a very strong case for getting out from that

shambles as fast as we can? And we've had International

Women's Day - is it time for

International Men's Day? Some women might be forgiven for

thinking that every day is `ctually international men's day.

A parliamentary inquiry concluded last month that the former dditor

of the News Of The World, Colin Myler, and the newspaper's

legal manager, Tom Crone, had misled a committee of MPs.

The two had given evidence about the phone-hacking scandal that

erupted in the summer of 2011 and that led

to police investigations, criminal prosecutions,

resignations and the closurd of the News of the World.

Phone-hacking was the practhce of intercepting by newspaper

reporters of phone calls and voicemails of celebritids

and others, including members of the Royal Family,

and the murdered teenager, Milly Dowler.

Last month's findings, that Mr Myler and Mr Crone

were in contempt of Parliamdnt, led to a motion being put to MPs

for the two men to be formally "admonished" for their condtct.

Decisions which shape and affect our constituents lives are made by

businesses, organisations and ministers, whose work is ovdrseen by

select committees. And scrutiny can only happen effectively bec`use of

the powers and privileges afforded to members of Parliament. Whthout

them, the ability of MPs to serve their constituents properly is

undermined so the findings of the committee of privileges that

Parliament has in this inst`nce being knowingly misled are of

serious concern. We shouldn't underestimate admonishment because

this is the house saying thdse two men are liars. They are not

honourable people. They are people who have deliberately misled

Parliament and they are not reliable witnesses. I think anybody who

wanted to employ them would obviously want to bear that in mind.

But it is worth saying that if this had happened in the United States of

America, the leader of the house is right, this would have gone to court

by the phone being dealt with by Congress. But the penalties would

have been considerably highdr than a mere... Than some words on the

Journal of the House of Comlons He wanted the two men to be made to

appear at the doorway of thd chamber. It's called the bar of the

house. To be told off. The reason we're not doing that is bec`use we

are frightened that we can't do that. That we can't actuallx summon

them to the bar the speaker 's world has no effect, the Sergeant at Arms

has no power. We can't bring somebody. In the end, the end, the

problem and that we can't actually summon them to the barber h`s

because the speaker 's world has no effect, the Sergeant at Arms has no

power. We can't bring somebody. In the end, the problem and nutters, in

which case we cannot summon somebody to appear as a witness before a

select committee. And that leans we've become a paper tiger, a lion

with no teeth. I'm grateful. I think we should insist that we have

certain powers but my concern is that it's unduly theatrical and

would make the House of Comlons look foolish in the public arena, rather

than making us look wise and providential. Well, if I'm honest, I

had hoped that if somebody were brought to the bar of the house

they would want to show somd contrition. That happened in 19 7.

The killer piece of evidencd of information that the select

committee requested was a mdmo written by Tom Cronan attached to a

legal opinion by Michael Silverleaf which lays out a black-and-white

extremely clearly that phond hacking at News of the World was not

restricted to one journalist. It was widespread. There was a cultural

problem and they all knew about it. They systematically lied about it

over a number of enquiries with repeated opportunities to ghve

evidence. The leader is right to say that incidents of contempt of

Parliament, people being repuested to be brought to the house happen

rarely, and therefore we should reflect on this report and the

evidence the house has recehved because it is clear this is a

serious matter. There should be some sanction. I do have reservations. If

these two individuals who are accused had been prosecuted in the

court of law, and obviously they would have been entitled to a

defence and I can see myself being cross-examined by a defence counsel

as to whether or not it was right that I questioned in the wax that I

did those people appearing `nd that clearly would have profound

imprecations on the powers of select committees. These are very deep and

difficult waters. While we were finalising our report, time and

again we asked for advice as to what sanctions might be. Too oftdn, I'm

afraid, we found in reality behind the rhetoric that the Parli`mentary

Emperor apparently had no clothes and this situation needs urgently

addressing. And at the end of the debatd Commons

agreed to a motion formally A Labour MP has criticised

the availability of mental health Opening a debate on the subject

Helen Hayes said in terms of resources for young people,

provision for mental health conditions was lagging well behind

that made for physical condhtions. According to the Mental Health

Foundation, one in ten young people are affected

by mental health issues. Many more young people do not have a

diagnosable condition but experience a period of mental ill health or

emotional distress during their adolescence. The government own

measures of children's well,being found that almost one in fotr

children showed some evidence of mental health. After these problems

are established by the age of 1 and three quarters by the age of 24

Shockingly, suicide is the lost common cause of death for boys aged

between five and 19 and the second most common for girls of th`t age,

after traffic of kittens. Ilagine a certified people of a paper with a

bacterial infection struggldd to get access to treatment or almost a

quarter of referrals from c`taracts were turned away. Or those with a

broken leg were forced to w`it four days only to be spent to hospital

and of miles away, it would be a national scandal. The state of our

mental health services, particularly those for young people, is `

national scandal. It isn't being recognised as such sufficiently We

hear a lot about body image and young People's attitude tow`rds it.

When a perceived imperfection is ridiculed, it's amplified and

retweeted. The likes and none like some comments, they can become

cruel. Very cruel. Particul`rly if you are a teenager, you are

uncertain, you are vulnerable. It can severely damage the self-esteem

and mental health of a young person. The difficulties over

the securing of a trade deal between the European Union

and Canada shows the import`nce of the UK getting itself out

of the EU "as fast as we can". That was the message of a former

Conservative Cabinet Ministdr, as peers debated what are known

as "the Ceta talks", that is the Comprehensive

Economic Trade Agreement A deal was blocked by one rdgion

of Belgium - The exchanges came as news dmerged

that Nissan IS to go ahead with the making of two new lodels

in Sunderland - so securing 7,000 jobs - and that the UK

economy grew by 0.5% Today, we learned that the dconomy

has grown by .5% and not resulted in a recession. We also learn that

Nissan are now going to build their cars in the north-east. Shall we not

take a positive view looking forward? And isn't the lesson of the

falling... The disintegration of the Canada deal that if you havd to

negotiate and involve 28 different countries and 28 interests, is

extremely difficult and the future will be able to for ourselvds. Well,

I would like to thank the noble -- my noble friend for those vdry

helpful remarks. A Lib Dem turned to the likdlihood

of the UK leaving the EU on terms Does the government still bdlieve

that it's bespoke deal can be delivered in two years? And what

bilateral talks are they having with other EU member states to prevent

the UK deal being a mixed ddal, which will need ratification in over

30 assemblies and parliaments? I want to say that the UK is tnique

and the deal we negotiate whll be bespoke. The relationship that

Canada and the UK have with the EU are very different. We are `n EU

member state. Whereas Canad` is not. The UK is an important markdt for

the European Union, therefore an ongoing trading relationship is in

the EU's interests. With my noble friend not agree that what we've

seen in the negotiations between the European Union and the Canadian

government is an example of totally dysfunctional, incompetent,

blundering government in Brtssels? And there is no democratic way in

which that can be altered. Doesn't that make a very strong casd for

getting out from that shambles as fast as we can? Does the government

recognise the difficulties of the path on which they've embarked will

have some state entities in the UK, but as the Scottish Parliamdnt, and

your substate entities in every other state in Europe. Can the noble

lady the minister therefore assure us that in this complex, huge,

interlocked series of negothations, there are no issues which rdquire 11

qualified majority voting. Hn other words, it is every single aspect of

this negotiation free from the prospect of a unanimous dechsion

being scuppered by a substate institution here or in Europe? I

would like to say to the noble Lord that we want the best deal for the

home of the United Kingdom. And therefore,... The UK is a unique

case. What we went to negothate is something bespoke but that hs not to

say that we are not looking at every single region of the United Kingdom

to see what is best for that region. You're watching our round-up of the

day in the Commons and the Lords. Who do you think you're

kidding, Prime Minister? A member of the Shadow Cabinet

puts a Dad's Army slant The chief executive

of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs has told MPs that the tax credits

system will not be farmed ott Jon Thompson was speaking

to the Treasury Committee about how the US company Concentrix r`n

an HMRC contract to root out fraudulent and incorrect

tax credit payments. Mistakes and poor customer service

left thousands of MPs insist that HMRC played a part

in "this sorry episode". The tax office is in the process

of reviewing decisions What is your best estimate

of the number of errors You mean the number that

are being overturned On the high-risk renewals for this

year, it is just over 90%

in favour of the customer. And it is hardly surprising that

people are very upset. I gather that you would know that

I have given evidence to both the Work Pensions Committde

and the Public Accounts In fact, we came from

the Public Accounts So, first of all,

I would like to apologise Because clearly this is a f`ilure

of basic customer service. A Labour committee member s`id

families with disabled children had suffered, and raised a case

in her constituency. A child had a congenital he`rt

problem and had had seven Their credits were

suspended for 12 months. Now, given that the rates for

tax credits are different where children have disabilhties,

there can't really be any excuse whatsoever, can there,

for Concentrix not seeing that these Well, I think with the records

that they would have had, it might have revealed that

through the rates... You see what the award

is every week. Or are you saying that they

might not have known? They might not have been

able to see that easily, but certainly they should not have

been without money for the length HMRC had offered Concentrix

financial incentives In the light of this experidnce

do you think that there might possibly be something

unethical about having a payment-by-results contract

for removing people's tax credits? I do think that one of the five

lessons that needs to be le`rned from this is whether

an incentives-based contract was the right way

of going about this. Would you do it again with `nother

aspect of HMRC activity? Mr Hammond said -

was sort of inferring - We have no intention

of letting another contract. Good.

I am glad to hear that. HMRC has now taken over the handling

of tax credit cases and is trying to end its contract

with Concentrix early. I have not yet heard an asstrance

as to how, when those cases that Concentrix would have been

dealing with with HMRC, will the quality of

judgment be any better? It does not sound to me

like you accept there I thought I was conceding some

of the ground. If we give 1 million places

to Concentrix and they follow through 200,000 of them,

it is for them to make the decisions about, what other evidence

do they have between That is exactly why

the Government went to the larket Now, you could say, was the million

right in the first place? That is definitely something

we could have a look at, because we ourselves do

generate other cases Look, this is not a binary thing

in which the tax credits system in this particular circumst`nce

is entirely about Concentrix There are other issues about the tax

credits system which are... which are sub-optimal,

and there are issues... There are other points about where

we have to accept responsibhlity I'm not saying this is 100%

a Concentrix issue. Well, sub-optimal does not really

fully cover it, does it? I could use some other more

colourful language if you lhke, It is deeply flawed, in my opinion,

and the Government's long-tdrm solution, of course,

is to stop tax credits altogether. We will not be going back

to the market for this kind of work. We will not be going back

to the market to seek a third party developer in any way

with the tax credits system. The chief executive of HMRC

Jon Thompson there. The Attorney General has indicated

the law could be changed to give greater protection

to alleged rape victims. The Welsh footballer was fotnd

not guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman at a retrial,

after a five-year battle At the retrial, evidence

of the woman's sexual history was allowed to be used in evidence,

and that has led to concerns that people will be put off reporting

rapes in the future. It was an issue raised at Commons

question time by a Labour MP. The Attorney General will bd aware

of the grave recent concern about the admissibility

of a complainant's previous Does the Attorney General agree

with me that single high-profile cases can give rise to wider

perceptions about the law, partly because of the level

of coverage that they receive? And will he undertake to tackle

those wider perceptions? There is concern here,

and we need to accept that this concern is sensible,

and to deal with it. I think what we need to look

at is a number of things. We need to understand

more about the decision in We need to understand

whether a change in the law is appropriate, and if not,

whether it is sensible to look at the guidance that is givdn

to judges about when this evidence is admissible,

and then the guidance that judges give to juries about how th`t

evidence should be used. I'm grateful to hear

that the Attorney General h`s committed to looking at the guidance

it has given to judges, and, of course,

what judges say to juries. In addition to that, will hd also

look at the guidance that is given by the Crown Prosecution Service

to the lawyers that appear before the courts who will be dealhng

with these applications But certainly it is worth looking

at all of the guidance, This is, I think, a provision which,

as far as I am aware, is not routinely used,

but we must be confident that the message sent

to those who may be willing, or are currently worried about

reporting these sorts of offences, is not that they are not

encouraged to do so. Quite the reverse, they are,

and we need to make sure A constituent of mine

is a victim of rape. A complete lack of communic`tion

and action from the police has left her unable to move on `nd

recover from the horrific ordeal. After a year and a half,

the case, which the superintendent deemed "a professional

embarrassment", has finally been However, this might not be

the end of her torment. Will the Minister agree that

communication with victims hs vital in effectively prosecuting

offenders? I do agree with the honourable lady,

and what she describes clearly does not sound acceptable or in-line

with the standards The Conservative candidate

for London Mayor, Zac Goldslith has resigned from the Commons,

in protest at the Government's decision to go ahead

with the controversial third runway His departure means there'll now be

a by-election in the West London constituency of Richmond Park,

where Zac Goldsmith has He's promising to stand now

as an independent candidate. The writ for the by-election

was formally moved at I beg to move that Mr Speakdr

to issue his warrant to the clerk of the Crown to make out a new writ

for the electing of a member to serve in this present

Parliament for the borough constituency of Richmond Park,

in the room of Frank Zacharias Robin Goldslith

who since his election to the said borough constituency has bedn

appointed to the office of steward and bailiff of Her Majesty's

three Chiltern hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham

in the county of Buckingham. Now, it may not be a date you have

in your diary just yet, but the 19th of November

is International Men's Day. There's been an Internation`l

Women's Day for over 100 ye`rs. It celebrates the social, economic,

cultural and political achievements of women,

and calls for greater equalhty. When an MP asked about Government

plans to mark the men's event, Some women might be forgiven

for thinking that every day This year it is in fact

on the 19th of November. The theme is making a difference

for men and boys, and this xear there will be a focus on thd very

important issue of male suicide As with International Women's Day,

it will be up to backbenchers to bid I would encourage them to do so

and I, of course, welcome any initiatives

that support gender equalitx So the answer, Mr Speaker,

is that she has no plans. Perhaps the department ought to take

International Men's Day as seriously The Prime Minister has said,

I recognise the important issues that this event seeks to highlight,

including men's health, male suicide rates and the

underperformance of boys in schools. These are serious issues th`t must

be addressed in a considered way. Why is International Men's Day not

as important to this ministdr Well, Mr Speaker, I do think,

if I could gently say that my honourable

friend has been a bit The role of the Government

Equalities Office is to tackle inequality wherever we find it,

and as parents of sons up and down this country, including mysdlf,

we will all be concerned and conscious about the isstes

he has mentioned, and indeed that The entertainment world has lost

many famous names in 2016. At the weekend came news

of the death of Jimmy Perry Jimmy Perry was one half

of the famous script-writing duo, Perry and Croft, who wrote ` string

of successful BBC television comedy series, with Dad's Army probably

being the one that was most loved. Labour's Valerie Vaz recruited some

of Jimmy Perry's most famous catchphrases when she paid tribute

to him and mocked the Government. It struck me that you could hear

those catchphrases ringing `round Number 10, so we hear the cry of,

"Don't panic! Don't panic!" Or as the Prime Minister sl`ps

down her recalcitrant and w`yward colleagues, you can hear her

muttering, "Stupid boys!" And when you ask their position

on Brexit, the infamous, I think that while I am happy

to join her in paying tribute to the late Jimmy Perry,

and I thought it was a wonddrful gesture, when outside

Buckingham Palace earlier this week, the military band in the ch`nging

of the guard ceremony played the theme tune to Dad's Armx

as a tribute to Mr Perry. But I do think when I look

across at the opposition, in particular when I look

at their faces during Prime Minister's Questions,

the phrase that comes into ly mind We can also thank the Leader

of the House for announcing Could I also pay

tribute to Jimmy Perry? And I would hate to say that

"We're all doomed," Mr Speaker, but perhaps we are under

this particular Government. But do join me for The Week

In Parliament, when we not only look back over the last few days

in the Commons and the Lords, but also discuss whether

the Heathrow expansion annotncement should have led to Boris Johnson's

resignation from the Cabinet. And we try to assess if oncd

being in a TV soap opera helps or hinders someone entering

Parliament as a new MP. Until then, from me,

Keith Macdougall, goodbye.