04/07/2017 Tuesday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to Tuesday in Parliament, our look at the best of

the day in the Commons and the Lords, and on this programme, the

government confirms it is abandoning its pledge to scrap free school

lunches the better off children at infant schools in England. We have

listened carefully to the proposals in the sector to remove infant

school meals and we have decided it is right to retain the existing

provision. Labour makes a plea for fair pay, for doctors and nurses. I

want to talk about the spending plans of 2017 where he can find ?1

billion for Northern Ireland but nothing the nurses in England. And

the trials and tribulations of Southern trains. Mike and six wins

have had to put up with so much, extended injury works, overcrowding

and unsatisfactory compensation process -- my constituents have had

to put up with so much. Theresa May had made a manifesto commitment to

scrap free school lunches for better of children at infant schools in

England, during the election campaign Conservatives said evidence

showed every school breakfast was as effective at helping children learn

is a hot meal at lunch, and could be delivered at a tenth of the cost.

But the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver said the plan was misguided. In the

Commons, the schools minister was called to answer questions on the

future of education funding in England. We want to make sure that

every school has the resources it needs which is why we have protected

the schools budget in real terms since 2010. We have set out our

intention to increase funding further in our manifesto as well as

continuing to protect the pupil premium to support the most

disadvantaged pupils. We know that how schools use their money is

important in delivering the best outcomes for pupils and we will

continue to provide support to help schools use their funding

effectively and secondly we know that our funding is distributed

across the country is an anachronistic and is not fair and

the current system is in desperate need of urgent reform. The shadow

Education Secretary focused on Northern Ireland first of all.

Arlene Foster got ?1 billion, she must be the most expensive right

wing it since Cristiano Ronaldo. Can he confirm that was an increase in

school funding of ?150 per pupil in Northern Ireland? And is there any

extra Treasury funding for education in the rest of the country or not?

When he says no school will lose out, can you confirm this is in fact

in cash terms and not in real terms? They promised an extra ?4 billion

for schools in their manifesto, is that now government policy and how

much of that is for each year? They were going to raise money by

scrapping infant school meals, is that still policy? Will he sent

refund any safety measures the school buildings? As well as looking

at student halls. Just two years ago they were elected on a manifesto

that promised no cuts to funding of any school of any pupil, will they

finally make that promise? She asked about universal free meals and we

have listened carefully to the views of the sector on the proposal to

remove infant free school meals and we have decided that it is right to

retain the existing provision. Universal infant free meals make

sure that children have a nutritious meal June the day and it saves

hard-working families money every year and it boosts educational

achievement, especially amongst children from the most disadvantaged

backgrounds. With key flagship policies being ditched including

grammar school policy in order to appease backbenchers, these U-turns

make an absolute mockery of the Prime Minister's strong and stable

mantra. Of course we welcome the U-turn on the decision to scrap free

school lunches but again we regret this was taken not with the pupils

at heart, but rather to look after a fragile Queen's Speech from a

weakened government. Can I have a direct answer, because it is

incredibly frustrating from the back of the benches here. Will you answer

whether schools in Hull will see a cut in per pupil funding? The

solution is fairer funding. Do you agree that those who are for greater

funding, those who argue for greater funding must be honest as to where

it is coming from. For every five minutes this statement continues,

national debt is increasing by ?400,000 so those who argue for more

funding are arguing for more debt being loaded on the children in our

schools. Could the minister stop playing games, schools can about the

total amount of money they have for their schools to invest in their

pupils and so will he level with the public and admit that he has not

protected per pupil school funding? It is insulting to protect and

otherwise, so what would he say to children in my constituency who are

facing a 10% cut in their funding by 2021? The school funding formula is

a total red herring in this debate, because before it has even come in

schools and laying off staff, increasing class sizes, cut back on

the curriculum and cut back on enrichment opportunities and

headteachers are struggling to recruit and retain good staff, and

instead of talking about a form letter that has yet to come in, when

is the minister going to talk about what he's acted going to do about

the cuts that have already taken place? -- formula. Education is the

best economic policy there is that is why we are improving standards in

our primary schools we have improved the curriculum in the way people are

taught to read and we have improved mathematics and we have improved the

GCSEs which are being taught in this country so children are leaving

school with qualifications on a par with the best in the world. STUDIO:

The Labour Shadow Health Secretary has called on the government to drop

plans to cut corporation tax and give doctors and nurses a fair pay

rise for them Jonathan Ashworth said the number of nurses had fallen for

the first time in a decade and he called for fair pay now. I read that

the Health Secretary now supports the Labour Party policy of scrapping

the cut, although he did not float with us last week. -- vote. Will he

tell them to scrap the cap and will he publish these instructions before

the summer recess? I did not vote for his amendment because Labour

said a lot about how they want to spend the money without having the

faintest idea of where it was coming from. But I think he is ignoring an

elephant in the room which is that if we have followed the spending

fancy campaign for the NHS would have ?2 billion less this year, the

equivalent of 85,000 fewer nurses -- spending plans campaign. I want to

talk about the spending plans a 27 where he can find ?1 billion for

Northern Ireland and nothing thought nurses in England -- spending plans

of 2017. Maybe you should put the money from the Corporation tax cut

into doctors and nurses and giving them a pay rise. Let me tell you

what extra money is going into the NHS, three years ago ?1.8 billion

not asked for by Labour, ?3.8 billion, two years ago, a billion

more than Labour were promising and this year ?1.3 billion which is a

lot of extra money and why is it going in? Because we have created

nearly 3 million jobs, the strong economy that is funding and

improving NHS Trust Labour MPs kept up the pressure on funding, and the

number of doctors and nurses in the NHS. The truth is, EU nurses and

doctors do not want to come here, our nurses of tomorrow are going to

have two page to train. -- to pay to train. When is the Secretary of

State going to understand that this staffing crisis hasn't materialised

out of thin air, this is attributable to his actions and the

actions of his government over the last seven years. She may have

noticed a little thing called Brexit which happened last year. Which is

actually... Which is actually because of understandable concern

but actually if she looks at the facts, how many doctors came from

the EU to the NHS in the year ending this March, post-Brexit, 2200, and

how mean nurses, I have that information here, 4000 nurses joined

the NHS from the EU in the year ending March -- how many nurses will

stop the Secretary of State said this was to fund 10,000 extra

student nurses places but the universities are saying their eggs

are places have been commissioned, so when will we see an expansion of

student nurse training? Extra places. I was welcomed the forensic

interest she has shown in matters south of the border, but given that

Scotland has just shown a fall in life expectancy for the first time

in 40 years, she might want to think about her own constituents, and with

respect to the number of nurses we have over 150 nurses in training and

we are confident we will have a big increase in the supply of nurses to

the NHS. Another Labour backbencher turned from nurses to doctors. I was

in the House of Commons library last week, and it said the number GPs in

the last 12 months is estimated to have fallen. And is expected to have

fallen by March 2017, why is that? What we have had is a big increase

in the number of medical students choosing to go into general

practice, but we have also had an increase in the number of GPs

retiring early and that is a problem we are urgently addressing. The

government has been asked to rethink its cap on benefits following a

judgment from the High Court that it was bringing real misery to no good

purpose, the challenge was fought by four lone parent families with

children under the age of two, work and pensions minister told the

debate in Westminster Hall there would be an against the ruling and

the SNP's minister who secured the debate said that was shocking and

said there was no longer a majority for austerity in the Commons. Mr

justice Collins was quite clear in his findings, whether or not the

defendant looks at the evidence, it shows the cap is capable of real

damage such as the claimants, they are not work-shy, but they find it

impossible to comply with the work requirement. Most parents with

children under the age of two are not the people that work is intended

to be covered by the cap -- that were. There are consequential costs,

the cost of bad debt to councils and housing providers when the bank

costs can't be cost by the household that has been capped -- the bench

costs. The cost of court proceedings to go through that process, to

reinstate the property after eviction, and to bring it back to

the market, the cost of temporary housing for that family once they

have been evicted and have presented themselves in need of housing. The

local government housing association says the cost of temperate housing

is sitting at ?2 million per day. The government, as she knows, is

committed to building a country that does work for everybody, and this

means taking action to help and encourage people into work in order

to move away from a life of welfare dependency and restore fairness. The

cap levels continue to provide a clear incentive to work. Households

are only required to work part-time hours to be exemption, households

who claim working tax credits by working 16 hours a week for lone

parents or earning ?520 a month on Universal Credit are exempt from the

cap. However, we acknowledge of course that there are for some

people the move into work just is not appropriate, which is why there

is a range of exemptions for vulnerable groups, including

households with most of disability benefits, Carer's Allowance, the

equivalent Universal Credit care is evidence, and the Guardian 's

allowance. This government has done very little to tackle pay

inequality, a living wage is being brought forward that does not seek

to support under 25s. I'm afraid he is wrong, 1.3 million

people on the lowest incomes will have been taken out of income tax

altogether since 2015, April 2017 we increased the national living wage

to ?7.50, that will benefit 12 million workers directly this year,

we will see full-time workers on that rate increase in pay ?500. You

are watching a round-up of the day in the Commons and the Lords, still

to come, more maiden speeches from the newest members of the Commons.

Seven people made speeches immediately before me, they were

funny, they were erudite, they were clever, they were interesting, and

then, they think, what the hell did we wait for! LAUGHTER

41 years for this nonsense! LAUGHTER Are we all clear about Brexit? The

minister in the House of Lords has faced claims that the government's

Brexit strategy is confused, the accusation coming from a Lib Dem

peer, a former member of the European Parliament. The government

has reportedly dropped its cake and eat it approach to X in negotiations

but freelancing by individual ministers is creating an even more

dizzying pick and mix confusion. Fisheries, financial services and

big Pharma are sections getting this treatment as well as cars. --

pharma. What, if any, coherent partnership framework, mentioned in

the Queen speech and the manifesto, is all of this fitting into? Is the

Prime Minister actually in charge? Yes, she is, that is why she has

formed a series of cabinet subcommittee is, to make sure that

they consider the full range of issues. As the noble lady has

pointed out, some of the crucial issues this country needs to

address. In order to put one misused phrase to flight, would she agree

that it is perfectly possible to have your cake and eat it? But you

cannot eat your cake and have it. Partnership has been talked about,

does the noble lady agree with her colleague, Steve Baker, that the US

is an obstacle to world peace, incompatible with a free society, is

that what her department thinks? I'm thoroughly enjoying working with my

colleague, Steve Baker, he brings a different perspective on many

matters(!) LAUGHTER I have to say that all of them have

been constructive as a minister. It is a real pleasure to work in a

department where everyone is focused on one thing and one thing only, and

that is getting the best agreement for the UK and the European Union,

that is the one that will work. The latest exchanges over Brexit. It has

not been the finest 12 months for Southern trains, the troubled rail

company that provides services for commuters into London in the

counties of Surrey, Sussex and Kent. Services have Southern Trains been

hit by ever write your problems and passengers have been angered by the

many disruptions. The Transport Secretary has criticised rail unions

in Parliament for continuing with industrial action. Chris Grayling

was responding to the report into the company problems. His findings

make their that industrial action is the main cause of disruption for

Southern passengers, or was last year when things were at their

worst. As Southern passengers know full well, things have got better

since industrial action ceased. Forms has been better since the New

Year, that is why, it is tragic that the unions leaderships now want to

carry on a battle which is meaningless and unnecessary. The

performance of this railway is only going to carry on improving if

industrial action by those unions stops, they seem unwilling to come

to the party, Aslef, the drivers union, started the overtime ban

again last week, resulting in Southern Trains passengers having

25% of trains cancelled each day. Is he aware of the unions working

together, being encouraged by the Labour Party, or does he see this as

a straight interunion rivalry? Well, let me first of all stress again, I

know just how difficult this has been for his constituents and

others, their lives have been disrupted, their lives have been

turned upside down, in a whole variety of different ways, and it is

certainly the case in the early days that it looked like they were

working together, I do not think relations are quite as warm as they

once were but I am very clear now, I think there is a direct link between

the actions of the Labour Party leadership in trying to cause

disruption for the government this summer and the decisions to repress

industrial action. It is absolutely unacceptable that senior figures in

the Labour Party are reportedly in encouraging trade unions to take

action, the public will suffer. Page 93 of the report shows a graph that

demonstrates that long before the industrial action, Southern Trains

was the worst performing company, a very long time before there was any

trade union action, would you acknowledge that? Would you explain

why he himself has not got round the table with the unions, with GTR,

this is a nightmare for our constituents but the government

cannot pretend it has nothing to do with them given that once again,

Gibb says this Secretary of State is already determining the strategic

direction of the dispute. At a time when there is increased risks of

terrorist attacks and a spike in hate crimes, it seems foolish in the

extreme to prioritise removing trained staff from services! The

Secretary of State will be well aware of the numerous stories of

disabled passengers being left stranded due to the staffing changes

he is forcing through. Including that of a 56-year-old, Sandra Nighy,

left stranded in the freezing cold for two hours waiting for a Southern

service near Eastbourne, visit there was no one to help her onto the

train, the whole situation was horrible, and embarrassing. It is

unforgivable when I had booked assistance 48 hours in advance. We

know of a situation where according to figures given to us by the union

this morning, 97, over 97% of the trains that Southern Trains operate

still have a safety trained second member of staff on board. There have

been no pay cuts, there have been no job losses, 97% of the trains are

still running a second person on board, fewer than 3% of those trains

are not, and yet the honourable member for the opposition implied

there had been the staffing, far from the staffing, there has been a

24% pay offer of an increase to Aslef drivers. -- destaffing. My

constituents have put up with delays, short form trains, extended

engineering works, overcrowding, unsatisfactory compensation

processes, nonsensical bus replacement, poor communication and

potential ticket office closures. The handling of the dispute does not

cover them in glory and unfortunately, it is called the

misery line in my constituency. Debate over Southern Trains. It

continues to be getting to know you time at Westminster, new MPs have

been making their maiden speeches in the House of Commons, varied in

style and varied in content. Here are a few of the very latest

maidens. It is also an honour to be here at all, just a few short weeks

before I stood for election, if you consider, at the by-election in

Clacton in 2014, I was on tour with Jason Donovan in a production of

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert! And I played on many stages, across the

world, in 45 Years, but this has to be the finest. Thank you, residents

of Clacton, I will do my very best for you. There are many proud

British institutions that I shall choose to, this Parliament and the

National Health Service, and dare I say it, if there was a referendum as

to which one should be closed... What would the outcome be? I suspect

this chamber would be empty. May I thank the National Health Service

and his -- the doctor's team at the hospital in Glasgow for the

successful double bypass surgery that I successfully underwent in

2014. Many of my constituents, in places such as Windmill hill and

Palace Fields in Runcorn face real poverty in their daily lives, from

childhood onwards. Despite what the benches opposite claim, there is a

real lack of work, too much insecure unemployment, a growth in zero hours

contracts, and a welfare system that lacks compassion and common sense. I

believe we need a better deal, Mr Speaker, for our island, it is not

just a question of money, although every little helps, I will fight for

extra spending on health and education. What it is about island

is working with government to generate ideas for the public good

and government working with us and being keen to listen, I know there

is good examples of when it is doing it and I wish to encourage more.

Thank you for calling me today, the good people of Walsall North, they

have had to wait 41 years to hear a maiden speech from their member of

Parliament. So you could only imagine how disappointed they will

be... LAUGHTER When they will see that the seven

people who made speeches immediately before me were funny, erudite,

clever, interesting, and then... They think, what the hell did we

wait 41 years for this nonsense for? LAUGHTER

There you go! LAUGHTER Now, in preparing for my maiden

speech, I sought advice from experienced orators on both sides of

this chamber. But the best advice I think I received came from Brendan

Fisher, one of our ever present, ever helpful Dorman. Brendan

suggested, and because I have made a free-form parachute myself with my

wife and my two children, Brendan suggested making a maiden speech was

like doing a free-form parachute jump, the nervous anticipation, as

you board the plane, an ascent to the required altitude, before

leaping, screaming, through the doors, only to find that the

sensation of racing towards the ground at 100 mph is actually a

pleasurable one! LAUGHTER Something that you will want to

repeat, as soon as sure feet hit the ground! LAUGHTER

A sprinkling of maidens. With male MPs apparently no longer required to

wear ties in the chamber of Commons, ties are coming understood and

scrutiny like never before. -- coming under scrutiny. But one man

was definitely doing his bit, DUP MP sporting a distinctive stars and

stripes tie, to mark American Independence Day, the 4th of July.

Maybe there will be a competition on most memorable time in the Commons!

But will it end in a... -- maybe there will be a competition on most

memorable tie in the Commons, but would it end in a... Tie...? That is

all from me this evening. Thank you for joining us.