06/09/2017 Wednesday in Parliament

Hello there and welcome to Wednesday in Parliament. The first Prime

Minister's Questions of the new term sees Theresa May being urged to lift

the public sector pay cap. NHS staff of 14% worse off than they were

seven years ago. Is she really happy that NHS staff use food banks? As a

result of the decisions the Labour Party took in government, we now

have to pay more on debt interest than an NHS pay. Peers argue it is

time for a new approach to illegal drug-taking. And their support for

the Government's plan for letting fees in England. If one letting

agent can charge ?6 for a check, how can others charge ?300? We start

with the first Prime Minister's Questions after the summer recess.

The Brexit talks have been continuing, in the mornings news

have been dominated by leaked report suggesting the UK could take a much

tougher approach to immigration once we have left the EU. Jeremy Corbyn

didn't raise the potential change for overseas workers, but did raise

pay and conditions for workers already here. With nurses protesting

outside the Houses of Parliament, Jeremy Corbyn stepped up his calls

for an end to the public sector pay cap. Mr Speaker, today, thousands of

nursing and other health care staff are outside Parliament. They are

demanding that this government scrapped the 1% pay cap. Poor pay

means experienced staff are leaving and fewer people are training to

become nurses. There is already a shortage of 40,000 nurses across the

UK. Will the Prime Minister please see sense and end the public sector

pay cap and ensure our NHS staff are properly... There are two pay body

review reports to be published, for police and prison officers, that

will happen shortly, and then later, as always happens every year, Lady

in the autumn we will publish the framework for 2018/19, and we will

continue to balance the need to protect jobs, the need to protect

public sector workers and the need to ensure that we are also

protecting and being fair to those who are paying for it, including

public sector workers. He asks consistently for more money to be

spent. He can do that in opposition because he knows he doesn't have to

pay for it. The problem with Labour is they do it in government as well,

and as a result of the decisions the Labour Party took in government, as

a result of the decisions the Labour Party took in government, we now

have to pay more on debt interest than an NHS pay. That's the result

of Labour. The Prime Minister had no problems finding ?1 billion to

please the DUP, no problems whatsoever. And NHS staff are 14%

worse off than they were seven years ago. Is she really happy that NHS

staff use food banks? Warm words don't play food bills. Pay rises

will help to do that. She must end the public sector pay cap. The

Westminster leader did turn to Brexit. Does the Prime Minister

agree with me that immigration is essential to the strength of the UK

economy as well as enhancing our diversity and cultural fabric? As I

have said on many occasions before, overall immigration has been good

for the UK, but what people want to see is control of that immigration.

But I think what people want to see as a result of coming out of the

European Union. We are already able to exercise controls in relation to

those who come to this country from outside the countries within the

European Union, and we continue to believe as a government that's it

important to have net migration and sustainable levels. We believe that

to be in the tens of thousands because of the impact particularly

at has on people at the lower end of the income scale in depressing their

wages. From the backbenches, a Conservative raise the EU withdrawal

bill which MPs are due to begin debating on Thursday. It transfers

EU laws into UK legislation, but there will need to be some changes

to make those laws work after Brexit. That has caused concern that

the Government may use potentially sweeping powers to make alterations

without Parliamentary scrutiny. Could my right honourable friend

assure me that she would use those measures to affect the withdrawal

bill so that it doesn't become an unprecedented and unnecessary

government power grab? I'm very grateful to my right honourable

friend from raising this issue, and I know that like me she wants to see

an orderly exit from the European Union, and will be supporting this

bill which enables is not just to leave the EU but to do so in an

orderly manner with a functioning statute book. As we do that, we will

require certain powers to make corrections to the statute book

after the Bill becomes law, because the negotiations are ongoing, and we

will do that via secondary legislation which will receive

Parliamentary scrutiny, an approach which has been endorsed by the House

of Lords Constitution committee. From this month, all three and

four-year-olds in England are entitled to 30 hours of free

childcare week, up from 15 hours. But Labour says parents are in limbo

because of failings in the Government's scheme. The shadow

Education Minister attacked the Tory policy for being shrouded in

secrecy, misinformation and mayhem. From the beginning, the application

process was not fit for purpose. Settings were run ragged trying to

help parents, and this afternoon, there are parents who have been

waiting weeks and are still in limbo. This childcare has been

advertised as free, but it is clear it will be subsidised by parents or

providers. This risks pricing out the poorest, and top providers

leaving the sector. Will he now listen and commit to reevaluating

the policies funding? Thank you, Mr Speaker. I'm afraid the honourable

lady's rhetoric doesn't accurately reflect the experience on the

ground. I can update her in terms of we predicted that around 75% of

eligible parents would apply and the scheme. There are some parents who

have a very good reasons in terms of family childcare would not apply,

that figure would have been 200,000, so we have exceeded that prediction,

and I can confirm that as we are only six days into September,

152,829 parents have secured a place, that is 71% of those parents

have now found a place six days in. That is a great success story. But

MPs continue to raise questions, some hostile and some not. He knows

that I wrote as the incoming chairman of the Treasury select

committee to the head HMRC over the summer, he replied the the 17th of

August saying that a total of ?45,000 or thereabouts had so far

been paid in compensation. Is that the list are able to update the

House, and Kenny confirm what he said about those parents who had

codes by the 31st of August that they will be able to access

childcare this autumn? I thank my right honourable friend for the

question. It is indeed a pledge that is being delivered. It is no secret

that there were technical problems with the IT system, and indeed my

honourable friend from the Treasury is here, listening to what we say.

Round about 1% of cases who applied online were stuck, that is a

technical reason those cases were not processed. There were another

group of cases that could not have been processed online, for example

person who applies for child care on the basis of a job offer rather than

on the basis of the job, that would give us a Catch-22 situation that a

person could deprive childcare Fichardt Kevin Olimpa a job and

didn't get the job because they didn't have childcare, so in

situations like that there is a manual system. There were 2200 stuck

cases, there are now 1500, but there are many new cases summer which have

only been on the system for a week, and certainly my honourable friend

will write to her with regards to compensation, but we have a small

number of people affected by this. The situation was operational 93% of

the time during which people could apply. I wonder if the Minister has

read the report published last week with the social market foundation

that showed that of the extra money the Government is pumping into the

early years over the course of this Parliament, 75% of that expenditure

is going on the top earners, the top 50% of earners, lesson 3% is going

on the most disadvantaged. This comes at a time when the

Government's own evaluation of the two-year-old office showing a good

quality early education is life changing for those families that

receive it. Is he happy with this distribution of expenditure, and

what more is he doing to ensure that low-income and disadvantaged

families are accessing this high-quality education? The SNP

Scottish Government confirmed that childcare entitlement will double

from August 20 20. The Tories have decided to cherry pick who receives

the childcare. The Minister told the SNP that he wouldn't take any

lessons from the Scottish Government. The Conservatives were

committed to spending billions of pounds and to transforming the lives

of working parents. You are watching Wednesday in Parliament with me,

Alysia McCarthy. Don't forget was much more from this programme on our

website. In Westminster Hall, there was broad

support for a Government plan to ban fees paid to letting agents in

England. A new tenants fees bill was announced in the Queen's Speech

which. Tenants having to pay. The money is used to taking references,

getting credit checks or investigating immigration status,

but MPs argued the amounts charged could be excessive.

A leading figure in the estate agency history was talking to

me about his daughter who went to college

student house with four fellow students and were charged ?500 as a

They use it to lower their charges to

landlords, to attract more landlords, and then

transfer that cost on

Others use it simply to maximise profits.

Take my constituent, David, for example.

He rents a small room in what was originally a three-bedroom

There are now two further bedrooms in the loft and two

reception rooms on the ground floor used as bedrooms.

There are currently ten households in that house.

And he is charged ?550 a month for his

Not the highest in the constituency, but still high enough.

And he was charged an astounding ?1250 in letting fees and a further

?50 to simply get the letter that explained how much his deposit was

On average, I'm told that it's up to five

hours repair for a tenancy, looking at all the different documentation,

going through the reference request, checking on the credit

history, liaising with external referencing companies.

I had a session with a couple of agents and

they explained to me all the work that has to be done.

And what they pointed out was that this is, in

And that is why it I was saying to the Minister that are there no other

possible ways forward that could be looked at?

For example, what about a cap on fees, would that not solve this?

What about taking referencing fees at the scope of the action

And further to the point the honourable member

made, he was saying that the landlord should pay

for those, to be fair, the potential

tenant would go to the agent and the tenant farms that

The agent carries out the referencing work on that

particular tenant and then the tenant has the

opportunity through the agent of bidding for those properties.

So what I would suggest is that, if the

onus is put on the landlord, that rents will go up.

The shadow Housing Minister pointed this out:

If the tenant wishes to stay in the property

beyond the length of the initial contract, they can be charged a fee

for renewing their tenancy, which well

in practice is as simple as

changing the dates on the contract, can set

tenants back by as much as

For an average of ?400 per household, private renters

received the servers that the landlord has already paid

The fees charged by different letting agents

Which shows that they bear little or no relation to the

One letting agent contract just ?6 for a

reference check, how can other agents justify charging the hundred

We hope that a ban will help to deliver

a more competitive and more affordable and transparent lettings

And I think we have heard from Scotland, it hasn't had a

negative consequences that some suggested that it might do.

Good letting agents provide a valuable service. The problem is

that the letting agent is chosen by the landlord, so tenants can be

charged on fair or excessive fees, with a limited ability to negotiate

or opt out. Evidence shows that this is a problem right across England,

and colleagues have referred to this. By banning tenant fees we will

enable tenants to see what a given property will cost them and the

advertised rent levels without any hidden costs. We believe this will

reduce the upfront costs that tenants face when moving home and

ensure that they are only committed to a property that they know that

they can afford. A new fleet of warships will be

built over the next six years. The Defence Secretary told the Commons

that they will be constructive at a cost of no more than ?250 million

each. So Michael Fallon acknowledged that previous warships have been

over budget and delivered late, but this time, the prize will be fixed

in advance. The first chips are said to be in service by 2023.

So, this will be the first demonstration of our

The new frigate will be procured competitively,

providing an opportunity for any shipyard across the United Kingdom

The strategy confirms in the clearest statement of this

policy for a decade that all warships will have a UK owned,

designed, and will be built and integrated

Warship build will be by competition between United Kingdom shipyards.

The Government's commitment to a ship building strategy

must be complemented by a comprehensive

So can I ask the Secretary of State, how he intends

to maximise opportunities for the UK supply chain?

And when determining best value, will he commit to giving weight

to the positive impact on local economies and employment

opportunities when awarding contracts?

The news that only 50% of the steel in the type 26 is UK sourced

So how does the Government intend to improve on this

Can you confirm that the type 31 frigate is a complex naval warship

and therefore should be built at the centre of excellence

which is on the Clyde which he entered them Prime Minister

promised in November 2015, and finally, in respect

of fleet and support ships, why are these being procured

internationally when surely the UK shipyards could be

Well, the honourable gentleman is doing his

best to turn sunshine into a grievance, and...

It is, you know, it is extraordinary,

just to be clear about Govan, Govan is going to build for 20

That is a frigate factory by any definition.

Will he give an undertaking today that wherever possible,

we will use British steel in the building of these ships?

Well, we are going, as I said, to take a very, very close interest

in the percentage of steel that will be used in each of the bids

We'll be watching that extremely closely.

I do remind the House, there are some specialist steels

that are not produced in this country that are needed

But we will be looking to those who submit their bids to demonstrate

just how much British steel they are using and also show how

they are going to fully engage their local supply chains

and indeed take the opportunity to refresh local skills in their area.

I recently wrote to the Secretary of State asking if he would consider

naming one of the type 26 frigates HMS Colchester and I got a very

pleasant and polite response from the Undersecretary of State

saying no, but I'm nothing but persistent and I would ask,

we waited patiently since 1746 for another HMS Colchester

and I would ask the Secretary of State to please consider one

of the new type 31 E class as HMS Colchester.

If my honourable friend has waited since 1746,

perhaps he can wait a little longer.

The Government says it has no plans to review a new law banning

psychoactive substances, formerly known as legal highs, following a

prosecution last month. The propagation service is reviewing two

cases after a judge said that nitrous oxide, no one is exempt from

the ban. The gas gas can be held as a recreational drug but the court

ruled it wasn't covered by the law as it is also used by doctors for

painterly. -- pain relief. It is believed that highlighted a flaw in

the legislation. It hasn't taken long for the courts

to expose the on work ability Faced with a very serious

and pressing problem of new psychoactive substances,

will the Government now see reason and accept that prohibition,

the orthodoxy of the last half-century, and reiterated

on a peculiarly crude model in the 2016 Act,

has failed with disastrous consequences in terms

of the growth of crime, the blighting of innumerable

lives, not to mention Will the Government now

both its policy not on the wishful thinking and populism,

but on the evidence of science, the analysis of specific harms

and the experience here and in other countries of what does work

and what does not work? My lords, I disagree with the noble

lord about the psychoactive substances act not working,

because we have managed to close down over 300 retailers

across the UK who sell psychoactive substances, and in 2016

there were 28 convictions in England and Wales and seven people jailed

under the new powers. Additionally coming from Manchester,

I would have to disagree with the noble lord if he saw some

of the sites that I have seen on the streets

of Manchester recently. The UN changed the basis of global

drug policy in April last year We now know that banning drugs

will never create a drug-free world. The UN therefore wants nations

to pursue evidence -based policies as the noble lord has mentioned,

public health policies to reduce addiction and reduce

the harm star young people. My lords, the Psychoactive

Substances Bill runs It increases the risks

to young people. They were the last vestige of any

kind of protection for young people, So I will therefore reiterate

the point already made, really. Will the Minister give an assurance

to this House that she will give the most serious consideration

to instigating an independent review We are simply making matters worse,

and to come forward I must say to the noble lady

that I don't disagree. In fact, on previous occasions

I haven't disagreed that evidence -based policies are absolutely

the right way forward, in fact the WHO is currently

undertaking some work of its own and will report next year

on the various elements of cannabis, and we wait with interest

on the results of that work. Finally, back to the Commons, where

MPs were debating finance. Nothing unusual about that, but this is

what's known as a ways and means debate, about the Budget. The Khan

budget was back in the spring but ways to enact it were delayed and

MPs are only just getting round to it now.

I appreciate having a chance to take part in this ways and means debate,

which I understand is one of very few that doesn't follow a Budget,

somebody told me that this is the first one since 1987 that

A Treasury minister argued it was much needed.

It changes this bill will make are important,

making a major contribution to the public finances,

tackling tax avoidance and evasion and addressing areas of unfairness

But the Labour front bench thought it was in a muddle.

A chaotic Government chaotically stumbling from crisis to crisis,

not knowing one part of its anatomy from another.

And after the election, we return to a zombie Parliament

where little in the way of business was put forward to be debated

in this House and I think the Speaker referred to this whole

question today about scrutiny, which we are supposed to be doing

and the Government is not putting anything forward

So not only is the Prime Minister one of the walking dead,

but she wants Parliament to be, to join her.

But the minister argued the alternative plan brought by Labour

at the election would not be good for the country.

To be going out there with a plan which will basically see corporation

tax rising up to 26%, for small companies as well,

and changing the higher rate tax threshold to bring many,

many more people into the higher rate of tax is not a way

of incentivising jobs, wealth and economic growth.

The SNP had reservations about the proposal in the bill but did well,

one item. -- welcome one item. The fact that the Government

is going to be taking action on those people that have been

enabling tax avoidance schemes and not just those people have been

participating in tax avoidance schemes, I think that is a really

positive move and I hope it will do what the Government is intending

in that it will discourage people from being clever and covering up

tax avoidance schemes. So my fingers are crossed

on that, we will wait That's it from me for now but to

join me at the same time tomorrow as MPs hold their first big debate on

the EU withdrawal bill. But now, from the, goodbye.