Westminster Hall

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Westminster Hall

Wednesday 28 January 2015

[Martin Caton in the Chair]

Tamil People in Sri Lanka

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Westminster Hall

Motion made, and Question proposed, That the sitting be now adjourned.—(Gavin Barwell.)

09:30

[Mr Lee Scott (Ilford North) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Caton. May I ask everyone’s forgiveness as, perhaps to a lot of people’s delight, I am losing my voice, so I might not speak for as long as I would normally?

The timing of the debate is opportune, because the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), is in Sri Lanka as we speak. He arrived this morning and is staying until Friday. Perhaps some of what we discuss will be relayed to the new Sri Lankan Government.

On behalf of everyone, whatever our political party, we should offer an apology to the Tamil community of Sri Lanka for what has happened over the years. Many people, including Government and Opposition Members, said that atrocities were taking place. Sadly, however well meaning people were and however much they wanted to act, those words were not listened to, and many thousands of innocent lives were lost, which should never have happened. The House of Commons as a whole—although I can speak only for myself, not the whole House—should say sorry for that, although we cannot replace the lives that have been lost.

Following the recent elections in Sri Lanka, we have seen a change from President Rajapaksa to President Sirisena. I am concerned, however, that the new Government of Sri Lanka have stated that they will not change the policy towards the Tamil community in Sri Lanka or demilitarise the areas in which Tamil people live.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point because the new President was a member of the previous Government. We have not yet seen any indications of what the new President intends to do, or whether he intends to end harassment and torture. Will the hon. Gentleman comment about that?

[Mr Scott]

The hon. Gentleman is right. The new President was a member of the same party as his predecessor. He then changed parties and stood against the previous President, and some of the things that have happened early in his presidency are of concern. For example, General Sarath Fonseka, who is named as an alleged war criminal by the United Nations panel of experts—it is the UN saying that, not us—is now an important senior member of the new Government, so I have grave concerns that the names are changing, but the policies are staying the same.

[Dame Angela Watkinson (Hornchurch and Upminster) (Con)]

Given the composition of the new Government in Sri Lanka, what can our Minister say on his visit there to persuade them to sign up to the Rome statute establishing the International Criminal Court?

[Mr Scott]

The Minister needs to say, “Please honour what the UN, the Prime Minister of Britain on his visit to Sri Lanka, the President of America and various other Heads of State have asked for.”

There is only one way in which there can be justice. I emphasise, as I have in many previous debates, that my role is not to say who is guilty or innocent, but we need answers about those people who lost their lives and who disappeared, and someone needs to be held accountable. The only ones who can help that to happen are the Government of Sri Lanka, in co-operation with an international independent inquiry and the UN.

Another important factor is that a report is due out shortly. My hon. Friends the Members for Harlow (Robert Halfon) and for Croydon Central (Gavin Barwell) and the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh), as well as many others, have said to me that they do not want to see any delay in the report that is due before the UN in the coming weeks. It is quite possible that the new Government of Sri Lanka will ask for such a delay and, on the surface, it might appear unreasonable for people such as me and my colleagues to ask for that report not to be delayed, because a delay would give the new Government a chance to co-operate. Unless they are going to co-operate fully and abide by every single rule asked of them, however, I cannot see the point of any delay. The report should be published in Geneva on schedule.

[Mr Jim Cunningham]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. The new Government will be aware of that report anyway, so there is no need for a delay. They would have been aware of the report even before they took power.

[Mr Scott]

The hon. Gentleman is perfectly correct that the new Government would have been aware of the report.

Only a political solution that recognises the rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, including that to self-determination, can address the root cause of the conflict. The Sri Lankan constitution already provides for an autonomous assembly, much as Scotland or Wales has in the United Kingdom. That assembly should be given to the Tamils. People should have power over their own destinies. I am calling not for changes to the existing constitution, but for people to honour the existing constitution.

The change in Sri Lanka’s political leadership should create a chance for the accountability process to work and help those who need justice. It should not be used as an excuse to delay that justice further and kick it into the long grass. I am fairly sure that with everything else going on in the world, the Sri Lankan Government hope that the issue will quietly go away and that people will forget about it. However, I assure the Sri Lankan Government that many Members of this House—look at the numbers present for the debate—will not forget and allow the matter to disappear. We are seeking justice for those people who no longer have a voice.

Yesterday morning, I stood in silence at the holocaust memorial, where we recognised the victims of not only Nazi persecution, but other genocides that have taken place throughout the world since the end of the second world war. I am afraid to say—it gives me no pleasure to say this—that genocide has happened. We cannot pretend that it has not happened. We are not talking about a war in which a regime tried to stop terrorism—I am the first to condemn terrorism in any shape or form by anyone—but about the women and children who disappeared, and the people who were in camps for year after year. Were they terrorists? No sane-minded person would say that they were.

The justice that is deserved and needed can be achieved only through pressure from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, France and every country—I could go on and on. Sri Lanka must heed the call of our Prime Minister and co-operate fully with the UN investigation on Sri Lanka by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Sri Lanka must also sign the Rome statute on the International Criminal Court, to which 123 states are party, including the United Kingdom, to demonstrate its intent to be a good global citizen.

[Dr William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. It has been reported that the new Sri Lankan Government are spending many hundreds of thousands of dollars to boost their image throughout the world. Is not the way to boost their image for them to co-operate properly with a proper investigation into what has gone on in Sri Lanka?

[Mr Scott]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I am not going to be an advert for the Sri Lankan Government, but we know from watching our TV sets the amount that is being spent on trying to encourage people to visit Sri Lanka and showing it as a free democratic country. If the Sri Lankan Government truly want people to visit and to show that it is a free democratic country, they should prove that by abiding by the all the rules of the United Nations.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I am sure the hon. Gentleman agrees that Sri Lanka as a whole has made great progress commercially. There is a lot of export activity—the UK made £53 million of exports to Sri Lanka last year—so in other ways the Sri Lankan Government are making progress, but on this issue they have badly failed. We are dealing with many thousands of lives, and so, although I understand that the Prime Minister has called for co-operation, surely the onus is on us to put more pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to deal with this situation so that it does not last for a number of years, as did the situation with the holocaust, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned.

[Mr Scott]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely correct, and that is why I ask the Minister to consider carefully the idea of vetoing future loans from the International Monetary Fund to Sri Lanka until the Sri Lankan Government co-operate. I am not for one second saying that if co-operation is given, that will change everything. I know that it has been only a few weeks, but I have not seen one sign of a change in position from that of the previous Sri Lankan Government.

[Dame Angela Watkinson]

Does my hon. Friend agree that one important thing that the Sri Lankan Government need to do is to change the constitution to allow retrospective legislation so that past atrocities can be investigated?

[Mr Scott]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Anyone who has committed a crime has to be seen to be brought to trial for that crime. There can be no saying, “We’ll excuse them because they’re my mates,” or, “We’ll excuse them because it suits us for this not to come out.” I am not going to pretend that I can give a political analysis of the forthcoming Sri Lankan elections, but my understanding is that a lot of the people who will be sitting around the table after them will not be too different from those sitting around it before them, under the previous Government. If that happens, justice must still be done.

Many hon. Members wish to contribute to the debate, so I will not speak for much longer, but I want to implore everyone to recognise one thing. Should we have done more when the atrocities were taking place? Without question, yes. Could we have done more? Yes, we could. We cannot change the past, or the tragedy and atrocities that happened, but we can build for the future to make sure that the women and children—the nieces and nephews of my constituents and the constituents of many hon. Members present—get the justice that they deserve. If we do not do that, we should hang our heads in shame. Let us all work together, whoever the Government of Britain are after 7 May, to make sure that the Sri Lankan Government—and, specifically, those responsible for the atrocities—do not get away with these atrocities, and that we honour the memories of those who lost their lives.

09:43

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Ilford North (Mr Scott) on securing the debate at what is a really exciting time in Sri Lanka, given Maithripala Sirisena’s stunning victory in Sri Lanka’s recent presidential elections. The welcome demise of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime has removed a serious impediment from the prospect of securing truth, justice and reconciliation on the island.

President Sirisena has a laudable programme for reform, and I hope that, as he has stated is his aim, he is able to lay the foundations of a

“disciplined society rich in cultural and moral values where all could live in harmony irrespective of differences”.

However, Sri Lanka will be truly set on the path to a sustainable and lasting peace only if the new Government take meaningful steps on several key issues: first, they must address the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising from the end of the country’s armed conflict; secondly, they must end the culture of impunity that has blighted the country for so long; thirdly, they should negotiate a comprehensive political settlement to the Tamil national question; and, fourthly, they must ensure that the rights and freedoms of all Sri Lanka’s citizens are respected and protected. However, Sirisena has already rejected the mandate of the current UN investigation into war crimes allegations in Sri Lanka and has given no indication that he would be willing to grant greater autonomy to the Tamil and Tamil-speaking Muslim areas of the north and east of the island.

I agree with the assessment of the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice that a democratic mandate for President Sirisena

“cannot be any more a mandate for impunity than was the previous election victory of Rajapaksa. Only if he makes a firm commitment to dealing with war crimes allegations—with the support of the international community—can he hope to secure a just and lasting peace”.

I therefore intend to discuss why the British Government must remain eternally vigilant with regard to the situation in Sri Lanka. International efforts to ensure accountability and reconciliation on the island deserve our full and unwavering support. With the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights close to publishing its comprehensive report on war crimes allegations, the British Government, in concert with other countries and members of the United Nations Human Rights Council, must be prepared to hold the Government of Sri Lanka to account if they reject the report’s findings and fail to co-operate with its recommendations.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

I agree with the point that my hon. Friend makes. Does she agree that it is hard to understand how Sri Lanka, under its new Government, can be admitted as a full member of the family of nations, and regarded as such around the world, if it does not co-operate with the UN’s work to investigate the war crimes at the end of the civil war?

[Siobhain McDonagh]

I completely agree with my right hon. Friend.

I make no apologies for expressing my delight at seeing the end of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brutal decade-long reign. This is a man who presided over the slaughter of 40,000 Tamils at the end of the country’s civil war, whose contempt for human rights and the rule of law further intensified a culture of impunity, and who led an increasingly autocratic, nepotistic and corrupt Government. Right up until the end of the election campaign, violence and threats were being meted out against his political opponents and, since his defeat, serious allegations have emerged regarding both an attempted coup to remain in power and alleged complicity in the death squads of his brother Gotabhaya, the Defence Secretary. Those are yet more issues that require full, credible and independent investigation.

After years of misrule, Sri Lanka was crying out for new leadership. I applaud those who, in the face of much intimidation, voted Rajapaksa out, especially the Tamils and Tamil-speaking Muslims who had been so badly treated by his regime. In fact, the votes from the Tamil and Muslim communities were absolutely pivotal in securing Sirisena’s victory. Although Rajapaksa swept almost all Sinhala-dominated provinces, Sirisena received the support of about 80% of the Tamil vote and gained an even greater number of votes from Muslims.

I believe that the outcome of the presidential election raises two important points. First, it reaffirms the fact that Tamils warmly embrace democracy. The spurious assertions by Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Government of attempts to revive the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Tamil-majority areas were complete nonsense. Tamils want not a return to armed conflict, but the opportunity to live with dignity in a peaceful, democratic society. Secondly, given the support that Sirisena received from Tamils and Muslims, they have every right to expect him to engage with them constructively and to address their long-standing grievances about war crimes, human rights violations, political marginalisation and religious intolerance, among other important issues.

Sri Lanka’s new leader has shown a willingness to reach out to Tamils on several issues. For example, he has removed the military governor of Northern Province, who did so much to undermine the work of the provincial council, and replaced him with a civilian, Mr Palihakkara, even though it must be noted that Mr Palihakkara was a senior Government representative during the conflict and defended them against accusations of war crimes committed against Tamils. Sirisena has also stated an intention to review the seizing of Tamil land by the army and has ordered the release of some Tamil detainees against whom no case has been brought. I hope that means that the likes of Jeyakumari Balendaran, a Tamil mother of one of the disappeared who has been detained without charge for 300 days, will soon have a taste of freedom again.

Sirisena has ambitious and worthwhile plans for government. His proposals for his first 100 days in office include notable pledges to abolish the executive presidency and to restore independence to the judiciary, police and other bodies. However, he will ultimately be judged not by his words, but by his deeds. The key constitutional reforms may prove difficult to enact, given the need for a two-thirds majority in Parliament and the possibility of needing to seek the support of aggrieved Rajapaksa allies. Significantly, although Sirisena may have stated that his Government’s priority will be “ethnic and religious reconciliation”, it is deeply unfortunate that his 100-day plan provides no explicit measures to address the key concerns of minority communities.

It is on that issue that the British Government, through their bilateral relations with Sri Lanka, and as part of multilateral organisations such as the UN, must make their voice heard. We should do all that we can to ensure that President Sirisena’s Administration understand the importance that we attach to Sri Lanka’s addressing the outstanding issues arising from the armed conflict and its aftermath.

A matter of days after Sirisena’s presidential election victory, Pope Francis arrived on the island. Addressing the crowds at Colombo airport, His Holiness said:

“Sri Lanka for many years knew the horrors of civil strife, and is now seeking to consolidate peace and to heal the scars of those years. It is no easy task to overcome the bitter legacy of injustices, hostility and mistrust left by the conflict. It can only be done by overcoming evil with good and by cultivating those virtues which foster reconciliation, solidarity and peace. The process of healing also needs to include the pursuit of truth, not for the sake of opening old wounds, but rather as a necessary means of promoting justice, healing and unity.”

I agree wholeheartedly with His Holiness’s sentiments, and his statement is an implicit endorsement of the UN inquiry.

President Sirisena has spoken of how his Government intend to

“have a foreign policy that will mend our ties with the international community and all international organisations in order that we derive maximum benefit for our people.”

The perfect way for him to show that he is sincere in his intentions is for his Government to accept the mandate of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and co-operate with its war crimes investigation. However, people are right to be sceptical about Sirisena’s sincerity, given that he is not prepared to engage with the work of the OHCHR and has vowed to protect Mahinda Rajapaksa and other senior Government and military figures from possible future war crimes charges.

[Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)]

The hon. Lady quoted the Pope, and the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the right hon. Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), also quoted those words about truth and reconciliation in the main Chamber recently. Does she agree that the Minister should repeat those words on his visit—not in the pastoral tone used by the Pope, but in crisp, diplomatic terms?

[Siobhain McDonagh]

I agree with my hon. Friend. The Minister is in Sri Lanka at the moment and we hope he will take up the baton laid down by the Pope.

There are no legitimate reasons to delay the pursuit of truth and justice for the victims of the conflict, yet some have already called for President Sirisena to be given more time and space to deal with issues of reconciliation and accountability, given the job that lies before him. His Government have even indicated that they intend to establish yet another domestic investigation into the allegations of war crimes during the final stages of the civil war. Experience tells us where that will lead: nowhere. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission that was set up in 2010 by Mahinda Rajapaksa was “deeply flawed” and failed to

“satisfy key international standards of independence and impartiality”,

according to the UN Secretary-General’s panel of experts on Sri Lanka. Impunity has been the rule in the country for too long and, as the UN high commissioner has said, the consequence has been that national accountability

“mechanisms have consistently failed to establish the truth and achieve justice.”

It is important to remember that Sirisena is not some innocent party to the situation. He was not plucked from the purity of opposition to become President. He is a former ally and colleague of Rajapaksa’s. He served as a Defence Minister during the final stages of the conflict, when tens of thousands of civilians were killed. He has also spoken out against those who have questioned the Government’s actions in the final stages of the war. In 2010, when Karu Jayasuriya MP wrote that the country should investigate “the many allegations” against it, Sirisena said the Government would identify “patriots and traitors” in the country and act accordingly. President Sirisena may also be implicated in some of the alleged crimes that took place during the armed conflict. His statement from 2010 suggests strongly that he was willing to play his part in helping to foment the culture of impunity under the rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Many members of the Government of Sri Lanka, past and present, see the UN investigation as some pernicious attempt to damage the country and undermine its sovereignty. However, the investigation seeks only to uphold the values and precepts of international humanitarian and human rights law. Given the evidence, it is clear that it is the only credible and independent process available that can get to the truth about what happened. To paraphrase His Holiness, the pursuit of truth, and the realisation of accountability and justice, are the only means by which to lay the foundation for a better future in Sri Lanka—a future where the rule of law and respect for human rights replace the culture of impunity. Without that foundation, it will be virtually impossible to reconcile the different communities on the island, and Sri Lanka will continue to suffer as a result.

In the weeks and months ahead, I therefore call on the British Government to undertake a number of measures. They should urge the Government of Sri Lanka to co-operate with the war crimes investigation by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and engage constructively with the UN Human Rights Council’s concerns about the promotion of reconciliation and accountability. They should also state what the consequences would be if President Sirisena’s Government continued to snub the UN process and reject any criminal investigations that arise from the findings and recommendations of the war crimes report by the Office of the High Commissioner. Given the seriousness of the issue, no measures should be taken off the table, including possible sanctions and travel bans, if Sirisena’s Government fail to comply.

[Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend makes a powerful case. Earlier, she quoted the new President’s words, which indicated that he wanted to make sure that Sri Lanka made the most of its participation in a variety of international organisations to benefit the people of Sri Lanka. Is it not the case that that ambition will be possible only if Sri Lanka starts to co-operate with the UN’s work?

[Siobhain McDonagh]

I completely and wholeheartedly agree with my right hon. Friend.

The UK Government should also: make a formal request that the Government of Sri Lanka join more than 150 other countries by finally signing the declaration of commitment to end sexual violence in conflict; place conditions on aid and inward investment into the island, specifying the need for accountability, and the promotion and protection of human rights; urge President Sirisena to publish a long-term plan, along the lines of his road map for his first 100 days in office, stipulating how he intends to address the concerns of minority communities, and to ensure truth, justice and accountability; and call on the Sri Lankan authorities to address the Tamil national question, and enter into immediate and meaningful negotiations with elected Tamil representatives and others to ensure a comprehensive and permanent political solution.

In addition, the British Government should request that President Sirisena, as an act of good will to the Tamil community: revoke the proscription of Tamil diaspora groups and individuals, which was implemented under the rule of Rajapaksa; call on Sri Lanka to demilitarise the Tamil majority areas of the island, release all political prisoners who have not been charged with any offence and revoke the draconian measures in the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which allows for 18 months’ detention without charge; and closely monitor the human rights situation on the island, particularly in relation to religious and ethnic minorities. I look forward to the Government’s response, and I apologise to hon. Members for speaking for so long.

09:59

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Caton, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford North (Mr Scott), a near constituency neighbour of mine, on his constant battle to support the Tamil community. He is recognised across the House for that work.

There are not many Tamils in my constituency; I wish there were. I am taking part in the debate because I am from the Jewish faith and believe that it is my duty to help races and nations that have suffered genocide. I believe that there has been a genocide of the Tamils. I define genocide as scientific murder. The Tamils have for decades been demonised and marginalised. They have been imprisoned in camps and annihilated. I commend the UNHCR for its renewed efforts to appraise the situation of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, especially after last month’s regime change.

I agree that, although the Government might have changed, we should bear in mind some issues of concern that unfortunately remain, and a fundamental issue is the treatment of the Tamil community in the past and now. I will briefly speak about three matters: first, the need for Government recognition of war crimes and a show of willingness towards investigation; secondly, the need to introduce safer regulations for journalists and investigators; and, finally, the absolute necessity to scrap a repressive Act that contributes to the continuing oppression of the Tamil community.

I, along with many other hon. Members, applaud the regime change in Sri Lanka, but we must not sit back and let the current Government repeat the errors of the past. Given the fact that one of the key participants in the Government, General Sarath Fonseka, is an alleged war criminal, and the lack of a constitutional obligation for Sri Lanka to undertake war crimes investigations, there is still a huge way to go. First and foremost, the UNHCR commission must carry on investigating the civil war and exert pressure in whatever way it can on the new Government to pass new legislation on the treatment of war crimes. The actions committed during the civil war could then be appraised by a recognised court.

The continuing oppression of the Tamils, despite a few reforms here and there, is allowed to carry on unpunished because of the difficulty encountered by United Nations teams when they investigate the situation. That must stop, and we need to encourage the new Government to take the initiative on making it stop. I welcome the fact that our Prime Minister has already called for Sri Lanka to co-operate with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sri Lanka, and President Sirisena should heed that call, as well as signing the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court, to show his Government’s good will on repairing mistakes from the past.

However, the efforts of the new Sri Lankan Government should extend far beyond simple recognition of the horrors on both sides of the war. They should start by improving their record on the protection of journalists. Over the past 10 years, 370 journalists have been killed in Sri Lanka. Of those 370 cases, only 10% resulted in convictions. If Sri Lanka wants to improve its human rights record, it needs to set that straight and ensure that those very people whose mission is to denounce and investigate, to unearth and to expose, are safe enough to allow them to continue as the peaceful policemen of this world. “Je suis Charlie” applies as much in Sri Lanka as in Paris.

[Mark Durkan]

I endorse, exactly, what the hon. Gentleman has said about journalism. In addition to the journalists who have been killed, of course, many others have been attacked and threatened, and many have had to flee. Surely one of the best indicators that Sri Lanka had turned a corner would be for some of those journalists who have had to absent themselves to be able to return.

[Robert Halfon]

The hon. Gentleman, who does so much in Parliament for human rights, is absolutely right. The right of return for Tamils and those who have been oppressed, to live freely, would be the biggest evidence that the regime had really changed.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the new Sri Lankan Government need to repeal the terribly oppressive Prevention of Terrorism Act, which allows the police to hold a suspect for 18 months on motives as light as suspicion of connection to unlawful activity. Such a vague and liberticidal law largely contributes to the abuses in human rights and must be stopped. I urge the British Government to harry the Sri Lankan Government on that. I hope that the Minister will respond on that point.

We must encourage the Tamil minority in their struggle for self-determination. As the representatives of a country that has always upheld the values of human life and freedom, we cannot let the new Sri Lankan Government carry on the repression and errors of the past. The Tamils deserve international recognition of the genocide of their people, and I ask the Minister to comment on that. They deserve their right of self-determination, and to be treated equally before the law.

10:06

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to speak on this matter, Mr Caton. I congratulate the hon. Member for Ilford North (Mr Scott) on introducing it and thank him for giving us all the opportunity to debate it. As he rightly mentioned in his introductory remarks, this is the anniversary of the Holocaust, so our discussion of these important matters coincides with Holocaust memorial events. As my party’s spokesperson on human rights and equalities, I am pleased to contribute to the debate. I have a passionate interest in human rights, and I hope that the debate will enable us to be part of the change that is so desperately needed throughout the world. That is the importance of it.

Sri Lanka offered asylum to a considerable number of refugees even though it is not a signatory of the 1951 refugee convention. The UNHCR co-operates with the Government, as well as with NGOs and other stakeholders, to protect, assist and find durable solutions for refugees and other people of concern. The UNHCR’s involvement in Sri Lanka dates back to 1987 when the organisation was invited by the Sri Lankan Government to facilitate large-scale repatriation of Sri Lankan refugees from India. In 1990, just as its activities were to be wound down, the UNHCR was requested to expand its protection and assistance to include not only the refugees immediately under its mandate, but the people displaced internally by the abrupt resumption of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict.

The Tamil rebels, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, began an uprising in 1983, after complaining of discrimination against the then minority Tamil community. Horrendous atrocities were committed in the conflict by the LTTE and Government troops. Thousands upon thousands were killed and thousands are still missing. The numbers are enormous. Although the conflict ended in 2009, the improvements made in northern Sri Lanka tend to be more superficial than real. My hon. Friend the Member for South Antrim (Dr McCrea) made the point that the Government are spending money on the way things look outwardly, rather than looking at the internals and changing things on the ground. I would like to see that happen as well.

[Dr McCrea]

The House is united in wanting the truth about what happened in Sri Lanka. There should be no hiding place for any person, even those in elevated office. However, do not the United Kingdom Government need to be careful of accusations of hypocrisy, given that in Northern Ireland we have a Deputy First Minister who was part of the IRA army council, which, with his leader, Gerry Adams, ordered the slaughter of the Protestants along the border? Yet there has been no investigation of that, and when we ask about an investigation—people seem to be in elevated office—we are told the books are closed.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank my hon. Friend for that salient point, on which we can all agree.

Since the end of the 25-year campaign, $3 billion has been spent on economic and infrastructural development in northern Sri Lanka. As Alan Keenan, the Sri Lanka project director at the International Crisis Group, noted, the situation in northern Sri Lanka has improved “in some ways”, but

“the government has made too much of large infrastructure and development projects, which it is able to show off to the international community, and not enough of the situation on the ground”—

as my hon. Friend said, and as we all adhere to and understand.

I remain extremely concerned about not just the discrimination against the Tamil people, which seems to be ongoing, but the risk of sexual violence to women—as the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) mentioned, and which is so important—and the persecution of Christians. There are concerns from some members of the Tamil community that the Government are undertaking a practice of “Sinhalisation” of the area. Many Sinhalese fled the north due to the atrocities being carried out by the Tamil Tigers during the civil war. Some have returned, and there are concerns about the number of Sinhalese coming to the area. Estimates have suggested that there are 150,000 Sinhalese soldiers in the Vanni.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

My hon. Friend is outlining a litany of issues that need to be addressed, but does he agree that another matter is that almost 6,000 persons are still reported missing in the area? That needs to be addressed not just internally, but internationally.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank my hon. Friend and colleague for that intervention. In Northern Ireland, we have experienced the disappeared, although in much smaller numbers, but every one of those people is still important. When the number is multiplied to 6,000 missing persons, the magnitude is incredible. This is a technical detail, but I wonder whether the Minister will address it as it is important. In Northern Ireland, we have been able to find some of the bodies of the deceased and have an expertise in doing that. Perhaps that expertise could be loaned in some way to Sri Lanka to enable the remains of the disappeared to be returned to their families, because that heartbreak is very real for every one of those 6,000 families.

At one soldier for approximately every five civilians, the ratio of soldiers to civilians is considered one of the highest in the world. Given the figures, it is unsurprising that people are concerned by the so-called Sinhalisation.

The conflict saw a large number of men and boys either killed or disappeared—a generation lost—and there are 89,000 war widows in north and east Sri Lanka alone. Given the high military presence in the country, there are concerns that those women are more vulnerable to sexual harassment and violence. Although the Sri Lankan military are held in high admiration in the south of the country, for many in the north, especially in former LTTE-controlled areas, the army is still the enemy.

That fear and dislike of the military are vindicated by very credible allegations of human rights violations, including rape and sexual and emotional abuse of women. Tamil women are also vulnerable to sexual violence, because they are often coerced into sexual relationships with Sinhalese soldiers, sometimes for the promise of marriage and sometimes for money. That continues to be a serious problem in Sri Lanka and, for many women, sexual harassment is simply accepted as a way of life, but that should not be the case. We need to change that mindset and we must do all that we can to help the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to stop rape and sexual assaults.

Another concern I must express, because this issue is very close to me, is the persecution of Christians in Sri Lanka. We must not let the opportunity to mention that issue today pass us by. Buddhists make up 70% of the population. That is followed by Hinduism at 12%, Islam at 8% and Christianity at 8%. In northern Sri Lanka, the majority of people are Hindu, but there is a large Christian population living there, too. The persecution of Christians has escalated in recent years, with the rise of militant Buddhist nationalist groups in Sri Lanka. More than 250 churches have been destroyed or damaged in sectarian violence. That is unacceptable, and that must be stated in this Chamber today.

[Dr McCrea]

As I am sure my hon. Friend would agree, the persecution of Christians is an important issue that the Minister should be raising with the Sri Lankan Government in the meetings he will be having.

[Jim Shannon]

I hope that the Minister has taken note of that important issue. Through our own churches in Northern Ireland, and across the United Kingdom, we have missionary contacts in Sri Lanka and we are aware of what is taking place—the persecution, the destruction, the abuse and, in some cases, the injury and murder of those who have Christian beliefs.

Although the constitution guarantees religious freedom while favouring Buddhism, minority Protestants have experienced violent persecution, as well as discrimination in employment and education, which is also unacceptable. Sri Lanka is ranked No. 44 on the Open Doors world watch list.

Last year, there were 60 incidents in which Christian services and prayer meetings were disturbed and disrupted, in church buildings and in private homes. Sri Lanka has a small group of expat Christians, mainly in Colombo, and a large group of traditional and recognised churches, both Catholic and Protestant. Non-traditional Protestant churches as well as converts from a Buddhist background face the most persecution. Although there are plenty of churches in the capital Colombo, the picture completely changes in more rural areas. Most Christians meet in house churches and are forced to keep a low profile. As one pastor in the central highlands said:

“If I had put a cross on the building, they would have killed me.”

That can never be tolerated in any society and certainly not in Sri Lanka.

We need to ensure that what is happening stops. I know the Minister is interested in the matter and that we will be assured by his response, but he and the Government need to work with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to stop the persecution of minority religious groups, including Christians, as well as stopping sexual and physical violence against women.

10:16

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I apologise for being late, Mr Caton—I was in an unexpectedly lively Delegated Legislation Committee, so I was delayed. I rise to support my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford North (Mr Scott) in his debate and to raise some issues on Sri Lanka that I hope were not mentioned in his introductory speech or in the other speeches that have been made.

We should face up to the fact that we are talking about a ferocious, bloody civil war over a 30-year period. The LTTE, in particular, eliminated all opposition among the Tamil community and were responsible for a whole series of war crimes. It was a terrorist organisation with its own air force, army and navy, making it almost unique, I believe, among terrorist organisations. At the end of that war, which was unexpected and extremely bloody, the LTTE was eliminated, but the Sri Lankan Government and the defence forces, who were also responsible for war crimes during the war, are still around. They have to answer for the crimes that they created, and the crimes against the Tamil people.

At the end of the civil war, thousands of individuals—civilians or boy soldiers—surrendered with their religious leaders and went into camps. Allegedly, those camps are empty and everyone who went into them has come out, yet thousands of people are missing. I have constituents who have raised with me the names of individuals who surrendered—they have the names, the dates and the times. They surrendered with their religious leaders, yet they are missing. They are lost. They are gone.

During my visit to Sri Lanka some two and a half years ago, I presented the list to Government Ministers and said, “Where are these people? You took them in, yet they are missing. They are gone, and their relatives want closure.” No answer came, because there is no answer, but if those people were eliminated—murdered—those were war crimes, so the Sri Lankan Government and the individuals responsible have to answer the questions. They should submit themselves to proper scrutiny. We have an opportunity, through the election of the new Government, for a clean slate and to open up what happened at the end of the civil war, in particular, to public scrutiny and to the United Nations through a proper independent inquiry. If the individuals fail to answer the questions, that opportunity will be lost and the new Government will be stained in the same way as the previous Government were by that issue alone.

I take the view very strongly that the human rights issues in Sri Lanka are vitally important. The first duty of any Government is to protect the external borders, but the second duty—arguably equally important—is to protect the right of minorities to live, work and play within a suitable environment. Clearly, that has not happened in Sri Lanka, so there is an opportunity there. There is also an opportunity for Britain.

One of the things that I am particularly concerned about when I look at the security position in Sri Lanka is this. In the south of Sri Lanka—this is an island on a key sea lane and a key air route for the world—we have allowed a situation to develop in which the Chinese have invested heavily in an airport with runways that will take very heavy traffic, including military traffic, and in a deep-sea port right on what are, for the world, key strategic lanes. China now controls those air lanes and sea lanes on the edge of India. That is a threat, I believe, to western civilisation and our links to the east.

The Sri Lankan Government have questions to answer about why that situation has been allowed to happen. Will they continue their relationships with China, or extend the hand of friendship to the rest of the Commonwealth and back to Britain? We have a historical role. The Tamils want to work. They want to feed their families. They want the opportunity to develop their land. There is an issue about ensuring that arrangements are made between India and Sri Lanka over the fishing rights just north of Sri Lanka, where traditionally the Tamils have fished; they are not able to currently because of the problems there.

There is another issue on which Britain historically has a role. During the civil war, millions of land mines were laid in Trincomalee and around the areas of the east. They were put in by both the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan defence force. There are no maps, and there is a project that will last years under current arrangements. Individuals are identifying where those mines are and digging them out by hand, which is extremely dangerous.

As the land is reclaimed, Tamils go back to farm it. Immediately the land is clear, the opportunity is available for people to grow crops, harvest them and ensure that they can feed their families. However, our project seems to be dragging on year after year. There is still an opportunity, I believe, for Britain to take a lead in investing more money in clearing the mines more quickly, so that the Tamil people can farm their land as they traditionally have for hundreds of years.

[Jim Shannon]

There are 150,000 Sinhalese soldiers in the north of Sri Lanka. The ratio of soldiers to civilians is 5:1. Some of the soldiers could be used to oversee the mine clearance. Does the hon. Gentleman believe that discussions along those lines would also be helpful for the Government?

[Bob Blackman]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. The key point is co-operation and getting the job done. At the moment, the estimate is that it will last years. In the meantime, the land cannot be used and people are starving as a result. Clearly, that cannot be allowed to continue.

Let me explain one of the things that I found astounding on my visit. Yes, the Sri Lankan Government have put in infrastructure. They have put in highways, bridges and so on, which improve links. I have to say that the roads between Colombo and Kandy and beyond will stand much more improvement to facilitate sensible transport across the island so that goods and services can be exported; that is how Sri Lanka will thrive and grow. The opportunity is there, and new houses have been built, but in those new houses people end up camped on brick floors. No furniture and no decent facilities are provided; it is just the bare bones. Clearly, there needs to be investment in the provision of decent bedding, furniture and kitchen facilities for the Tamils who live in those houses.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) mentioned the issue of minorities: Christians, Muslims and the Tamil people. There is a rise in radical Buddhism. There has been a problem on the island of Buddhists killing, and sacking churches and Hindu temples. The new Sri Lankan Government must put a stop to that immediately. That should be one of the demands that we make.

All in all, there is an opportunity with the new Government. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister was absolutely right to go to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka and to demand the opportunity to visit Jaffna and the areas of the east and see things at first hand so that he could make the demands for human rights for the people of Sri Lanka. The opportunity is there, as we extend, hopefully, the hand of friendship to Sri Lanka, to say, “We want to be friends and support Sri Lanka, but it is vital that you open yourselves up to scrutiny over the war crimes that were committed, that we find out what happened to the individuals who are missing and that the individuals responsible for the decisions and actions are held to account.” Until that happens, there will be this lingering suspicion and the demands will continue. The people who have left Sri Lanka and made this country their home rightly demand answers.

The opportunity is there. I hope that the response from the Minister will deal with those demands. When the Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), returns from Sri Lanka, we will, we hope, get a report saying, “Actions have been taken, actions have been demanded of the new Government and we have good news.” I am not holding my breath, because in this case there has been no history of transparency or encouragement, but the opportunity now exists.

10:26

[John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab)]

I, too, thank the hon. Member for Ilford North (Mr Scott) and my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) for their dogged pursuit of this issue over the years. I am also grateful for their work in the all-party group on Tamils.

The reality is that we have been here too many times. There have been too many of these debates, to be frank, and limited movement. We were here when the last onslaught on the Tamil community took place and 40,000 people died. We were here when, as the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) said, the disappearances started in earnest, and also when the ethnic cleansing of the Tamil areas started.

There has been some movement. The establishment of the OHCHR investigation was a significant breakthrough. Let us congratulate people on their contribution. The UK Government made a significant contribution to enabling that to happen, as did our current Prime Minister. I am grateful for that. Rajapaksa’s losing the election was also a significant advance. It was a brutal regime and if there is an investigation, he will have a lot to answer for. He may well come before the International Criminal Court at some stage.

All the speakers so far have treated the election of President Sirisena with some caution, and I agree that we cannot get carried away. He has at least acknowledged that crimes took place under the state and that there is an issue that needs to be investigated. However, the non-co-operation with the international investigation is, for me, the key issue. There has been the offer of a domestic inquiry, but to be frank, many see that as just a diversionary process. It is impossible to see how it can be regarded as independent and effective or how it can secure the confidence of the Tamil people in particular, but also the international community. That is why the real question today is how we can secure the new President’s co-operation with the international investigation.

This was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden, but I want to come to it more straightforwardly. I believe that our best weapon for securing that co-operation is our economic influence. Nothing has worked until we have threatened the withdrawal of economic co-operation. Some 36% of Sri Lanka’s exports go to the EU. That is worth €3.5 billion. Sri Lanka has a trade surplus with the EU of €1.1 billion. It is given preferential treatment by the EU and is part of the generalised scheme of preferences, which allows it to pay no or very little duty.

For those reasons, I believe that the UK, within the EU, has immense influence. We should set a deadline for the new President to co-operate with the international investigation; if agreement is not reached by that deadline, we should place on the agenda discussion within the EU of the withdrawal of Sri Lanka’s status in the general preferential agreement. I do not say that lightly, because no one wants to inflict economic harm on another population. At the same time, I do not see any other way in which we can secure co-operation. The inquiry may lay the foundation stones for the future that we all want to see in Sri Lanka—one of peace and justice for the entire population.

The investigation is central, but I reiterate my support for the issues that others have raised: the need for an end to detention without due process, an end to the ethnic cleansing of Tamil areas, an end to the harassment of the Tamil population and an end to the use of sexual crime against women, which has been so prevalent in recent times. The international investigation should be part of the reconciliation process, which involves moving towards a general, agreed constitutional settlement that recognises the rights of the Tamil people, trying to bring back normality to Tamil areas and implementing the demilitarisation that has been called for.

Our message for President Sirisena is that we want to work with him in co-operation. However, unless a deadline is set for such co-operation, particularly with the UN investigation, I believe that we should seriously consider sanctions. In our role as UK parliamentarians, we should send a message to the President that we are not going away, and that we will continue our search for peace and justice using whatever parliamentary mechanisms and influence we have.

10:31

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Ilford North (Mr Scott) on securing the debate. It is not the first time that we have debated this matter, although it is notable that there is more consensus in the room than there has been on previous occasions. We have heard from hon. Members about various minority groups in Sri Lanka, and the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) talked about the persecution of Christians. There is also an issue with the Muslim minority community in Sri Lanka and, indeed, people from the majority community suffer such things as repression and false arrest. However, as today’s debate is about the Tamil people and the impending report, I will confine my comments to that.

As we have heard, the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the right hon. Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), is in Sri Lanka. I understand that the joint chair of the all-party group on Sri Lanka, my hon. Friend the Member for Edmonton (Mr Love), was also due to go out on 27 January, although I do not know whether that is a coincidence. I hope that the Minister for Europe, when he responds to the debate, will be able to tell us a little bit more about his fellow Minister’s visit and with whom he will be meeting. I echo the comments of those who have said that it would be helpful if the Minister of State made a statement on his return from Sri Lanka, or wrote to those hon. Members who attended this debate, to tell us what has been achieved. At this time of great uncertainty, caution has rightly been expressed about what the result of the presidential elections will mean for Sri Lanka, so it would be useful to hear the Minister’s first-hand take on what he has seen there.

It is to be hoped that the presidential election marks the beginning of a new era for Sri Lanka, but we should not accept the argument that it is time to draw a line under Sri Lanka’s past and move on, as some people have suggested. There has been too much injustice, especially towards the Tamil people, for that to be appropriate. It is imperative that the UN investigation continues and reports to the UN Human Rights Council in March, and the election of a new President should not be used as a reason to delay that. Labour called for an international inquiry in 2011, so we welcomed last year’s decision of the Human Rights Council to launch an investigation.

President Rajapaksa repeatedly failed to comply with successive Human Rights Council resolutions. He also failed to deliver the necessary independent investigation, and he even failed to implement the recommendations of his own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, weak though that was. That was why we were so concerned by the coalition’s delay in supporting UN action and the refusal to use the Prime Minister’s attendance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting as leverage. We felt that the movement towards a proper, comprehensive UN inquiry were unnecessarily delayed by the Prime Minister accepting Rajapaksa’s assurances that he would investigate. We know that Rajapaksa set up a three-man inquiry, but I do not think that that will lead to particularly positive outcomes. Indeed, the new President may disband that inquiry.

There have been positive indications that President Sirisena will lead a Government who are very different from that of his predecessor, but there is ambiguity over the UN investigation and efforts to secure accountability and justice for everyone in Sri Lanka. As has been said, the new President was a member of the Rajapaksa Government and served as Defence Minister during the final stages of the civil war, and my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) expressed doubts about his commitment to action and with regard to his complicity in past acts. Reports during the election campaign indicated that he, too, rejected the UN investigation. Since then, the BBC has said:

“The new president…disowned Mr Rajapaksa but vowed not to allow him to be hauled before an international war crimes court.”

The Tamil Guardian stated this week:

“The new government, around President Maithripala Sirisena, has expressed its firm commitment to protect any Sri Lankan citizen who fought against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from facing international justice.”

The President’s senior adviser is meeting the United Nations high commissioner for human rights this week and the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister was reported as saying that the Government would take action against perpetrators if there was evidence of war crimes. Those are positive signals, but there are mixed messages about whether the Sri Lankan Government will accept the conclusions of the UN investigation, whether they will work with international judicial mechanisms and whether members of the previous Government or the military will face justice in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister has said of the allegations:

“Whether those are war crimes or whether such crimes amount to genocide or not will have to be decided by a domestic inquiry.”

The new Government in Sri Lanka are reportedly in the process of establishing a domestic mechanism.

At such an early stage in his presidency, we cannot dismiss the possibility that President Sirisena is genuinely committed to delivering accountability. Indeed, we hope that he recognises that a successful, meaningful domestic mechanism would demonstrate his departure from his predecessor’s approach. I reiterate that no domestic approach can halt the UN investigation, which must fulfil the mandate set out in last year’s resolution on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka. Regrettably, the Rajapaksa Government denied the UN investigators visas to visit Sri Lanka. In the final few weeks of the investigation, President Sirisena has the opportunity to demonstrate to the international community that he will lead a very different Government. I trust that the UK is doing everything possible to encourage his co-operation with the UN. Needless to say, it will be crucial that the Sri Lankan Government accept the final report and work with the UN on its recommendations.

We are all aware of the reports of intimidation and reprisals suffered by human rights defenders and others in Sri Lanka. What is being done to try to secure the safety of Sri Lankans who give evidence to the UN investigation or any domestic inquiry? The report by the high commissioner in September noted several concerns about Sri Lanka’s Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Bill, which was submitted to its Parliament last August. Worryingly, the Foreign Affairs Committee has noted that the Foreign Office was not able to clarify whether the human rights defenders, journalists and others who met the Prime Minister in November 2013 had been targeted. I hope that the Minister will be able to update us on the steps that the Foreign Office took to protect those Sri Lankans and monitor their ongoing safety.

[Mr Scott]

Does the hon. Lady agree that arresting people who are giving evidence is not in any way helpful or beneficial to an investigation, and that the new Government of Sri Lanka must put an immediate stop to that? Anyone who gives evidence to such an investigation should be able to do it freely and in an unfettered manner.

[Kerry McCarthy]

I absolutely agree, and there is nothing I can add. The hon. Gentleman makes his point very powerfully. The fact that such precautions and safeguards are necessary highlights the fact that our concerns about Sri Lanka should not be confined to what happened during the civil war. This is not something under which we can draw a line. As successive Human Rights Council resolutions have documented, there were ongoing concerns about human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Sri Lanka that President Rajapaksa failed to address. Indeed, in many ways, his conduct exacerbated those issues.

The new President’s pledges during the election campaign to correct those concerns were a significant factor in his success. His commitments to end nepotism and corruption, to restore the independence of the judiciary and to repeal the 18th amendment are welcome. It is also crucial that he seeks to work with the Tamil community and to repay the faith it invested in him during the election. For Tamils it is about not just the UN investigation, but addressing the injustices that they have suffered since 2011 and the publication of the LLRC report.

As the high commissioner’s September update to the Human Rights Council noted, the Rajapaksa Government proscribed a number of Tamil diaspora groups as terrorist organisations. The new President must take positive steps to safeguard freedom of expression, to deliver justice regarding the enforced disappearances, to end the arbitrary arrests, to ensure that freedom of religion is respected and to ensure that Tamil and Muslim minorities are protected. Demilitarisation will also be key, especially in the north. As my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden said, the President’s decision to replace the governor of the northern province with a civilian has been taken as a positive signal of intent and an indication that he is listening to the Tamil National Alliance. I hope that will continue. I also hope the Minister is able to update us today on discussions relating not only to the UN investigation, but to compliance with Human Rights Council resolution 25/1 more generally, and to agreeing the outstanding requests for visits by UN special procedures mandate holders.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden mentioned, it is notable that President Rajapaksa repeatedly refused to sign up to the Foreign Office’s preventing sexual violence initiative, despite the efforts of the Prime Minister and the previous Foreign Secretary to persuade him to do so. These are very early days, of course, but do the Government think that the new President will be any more receptive? Will the Foreign Office and the Leader of the House, who is still responsible for the PSVI, pursue that initiative with the new President as soon as possible?

Will the Minister for Europe also update us on the FCO’s work with the Home Office, following the previous Foreign Secretary’s assurances last June that he would investigate claims that failed Tamil asylum seekers who were returned to Sri Lanka by the Home Office had been subjected to torture and sexual violence? I know that this is not the Foreign Office’s direct responsibility, but I hope that he is able to assure us that the election result will not lead to automatic assumptions by the Home Office that Tamils are now safe to return to Sri Lanka.

Although the conduct of the election this month was an improvement on previous years and there seems to have been a smooth and peaceful transition of power, there were nevertheless reports of intimidation and harassment during the campaign, and reports that the new Government will investigate an alleged coup plot. It will be helpful if the Minister could provide his assessment of reports on efforts to investigate voter intimidation, and on the prospects for free and fair parliamentary elections later this year. I believe that those elections will be held in late May or June, so there is not much time to ensure that that happens.

We hope that the new President will be able to put Sri Lanka firmly on the path towards peace and democracy. He will have the full support of the international community if he chooses to do so, but he must also demonstrate a willingness to engage with international partners. We all await the UN report in March and hope that it proves instructive in finally delivering accountability and justice for everyone in Sri Lanka. I hope that the Minister is able to update us on the Government’s preparations for the 28th session of the Human Rights Council and on their plans to monitor compliance and carry the report forward. Fundamentally, the aim for this year cannot simply be the publication of the UN report. The aim must be justice, accountability and meaningful progress for not just the Tamil community, but all Sri Lankan people.

10:39

[The Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford North (Mr Scott) on securing the debate. I note the contributions of Members on both sides of the House and thank them for taking part.

The debate is timely, coinciding as it does with the visit to Sri Lanka by the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), although that timeliness inevitably means that there are limits to what I am able to say. We will know a lot more and be able to make a clearer assessment of the new Sri Lankan Government after his meetings today and tomorrow. He hopes to see the President, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the new governor of the northern province, and he intends to travel to the north to meet the Chief Minister and representatives of Tamil political parties, engage with internally displaced persons and talk to journalists. He is making a point not only of talking to the Government, but of trying to see for himself the situation on the ground in the north and talking to people there from the Tamil minority, who will be able to give him a first-hand view of the current situation and their hopes and expectations for the future.

Of course, we await the publication of the report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is due to be presented to the Human Rights Council in March. The Government do not know what that report will say or what its recommendations will be. We await the report’s conclusions and recommendations on some of the issues raised in the debate, such as whether what happened in Sri Lanka should be classed as genocide, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) knows, carries legal, not just political, implications.

The new Government’s commitments are promising. They have said that they will end the executive presidency within 100 days; restore the independence of key institutions, including the judiciary and the police; reinstate media freedoms; end Sri Lanka’s international isolation; and return powers to the provincial councils. We have seen some early positive signs of progress, such as replacing the military governor of the northern province with a civilian, but I stress that these are early days, which is precisely why my right hon. Friend the Minister of State wanted to go to Colombo and the north of the island as soon as possible to meet the new Government and urge them to continue living up to the high expectations of the people of Sri Lanka and the international community and to make his own judgment on what the Government intend to do. We will not ignore the challenges that Sri Lanka faces, including the challenges faced by Tamil communities in the north and east of the island. There are many challenges, including the settlement of internally displaced people.

[Kerry McCarthy]

I am pleased with what the Minister has to say about the visit to Sri Lanka by the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the right hon. Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), particularly that he is going to the north. The Minister may be coming on to this, but when will we hear about the right hon. Gentleman’s visit? Will he be able to write to MPs or give a written ministerial statement?

[Mr Lidington]

I will ensure that my right hon. Friend is aware that Members on both sides of the House have expressed great interest in his visit and hope that there will be full communication when he gets back. I will leave it to him to decide whether he wants to meet Members who are particularly concerned or to offer either a written statement or letters to Members who have taken part in the debate. I undertake that there will be transparency, and I am sure that he will want to ensure that Members who have maintained a long interest in Sri Lanka are fully briefed on his conclusions after his visit.

The challenges faced by the Tamil community include the settlement of internally displaced people, land issues, militarisation and the need for an overall and enduring political settlement. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister saw those issues for himself during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in November 2013. He was the first foreign leader to visit the north of Sri Lanka since as far back as 1948. The Government continually raised those issues, including, most obviously, human rights abuses, with the former Sri Lankan Government, and we will continue to raise them in all our dealings with the new Sri Lankan Government.

The recent vote was clearly a vote for change; I say that in answer to the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy). Our judgment is that the result on the day reflected the will of the Sri Lankan people, but we note the view of Commonwealth observers that there was an inadequate electoral and legal framework and an unequal pre-election environment, which meant that the nature of the election contest fell short of key international benchmarks for democratic elections. We hope that Sri Lanka and its new Government, with the support of the international community, will address those shortcomings ahead of future elections.

The new Prime Minister has committed himself in Parliament to implement the 13th amendment to devolve more powers to provinces, including policing powers, and we welcome the new Government’s moves to reach out to the Tamil National Alliance to discuss Tamil issues. We encourage both sides to work together to reach a political settlement.

President Sirisena’s manifesto committed him to a number of actions that would benefit the Tamil people economically through education and better governance. For example, he made commitments to provide better access for Tamil students to science education, improve relief to displaced people, put in place a democratic civil administration in the north and south of the island, put a stop to racial and religious hatred, and take steps to promote reconciliation between communities. I acknowledge that it is still early days. The important thing is that those public commitments have been given, and we are keen to talk to the Sri Lankan Government about how they propose to translate those manifesto commitments into practice.

We want to strengthen ties between the UK and Sri Lanka. We have a strong shared history through our people, education and trade, and we stand ready to support the new Government as they implement ambitious reforms. We will encourage them to make progress on human rights, and we welcome their early commitments on media freedoms, the protection of religious minorities and the restoration of judicial independence. We also have very high on our list of priorities for our conversations with the new Sri Lankan Government the need for a lasting political settlement for the north, and a credible domestic reconciliation process, along with accountability for alleged violations and abuses of human rights during what was, as has been said in the debate, a long and bloody 30-year conflict.

I think the UK’s position is well understood, and unless we see progress in those areas of policy the reality is that Sri Lanka will not be able to thrive as the strong, peaceful and inclusive nation that everybody in the House would wish it to be.

The UK joined an EU heads of mission statement on 2 January calling for the elections to be peaceful, credible and transparent, and we encouraged the previous Government of Sri Lanka to ensure that international observers were invited. During the election campaign, officials from our high commission in Colombo travelled around the country, co-ordinating closely with counterparts from other foreign embassies and with local election monitoring groups. We also provided a grant of £128,000 to a range of independent election observation groups to ensure that the elections could be monitored as thoroughly as possible.

On the question of the UN Human Rights Council, we remain firmly committed to making progress on Sri Lanka through the UNHRC. We strongly supported the March 2014 UNHRC resolution that called for Sri Lanka to make domestic progress on human rights and reconciliation, as well as establishing an international investigation of alleged violations and abuses of international law by both sides during Sri Lanka’s conflict. My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) pointed out that the most serious allegations have been made about the approach taken by the Government of the former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, but we must not blind ourselves to the fact that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam remains a proscribed terrorist organisation in this country, and for good reason, given its history.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, in his statement of congratulations to President Sirisena, encouraged Sri Lanka to co-operate with the UN investigation, and my right hon. Friend the Minister of State will repeat that message this week when he meets Sri Lanka’s leaders face to face. He will ask the new Government to engage with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the international investigation, and to take serious steps to establish credible domestic reconciliation and accountability processes. We will wait to see how Sri Lanka moves forward, given that those matters were part of the new Sri Lankan Government’s early plans.

I do not want to pre-empt the report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and it would be wrong to make comments that prejudged its recommendations. Once that report is available, we will study it carefully, along with our analysis of whatever steps the Sri Lankan Government take between now and then. The OHCHR report should be, in its own right, an important contribution to reconciliation. It will help to establish the truth for those who seek it—the families of the thousands of missing civilians, especially the missing children. We hope that the report will help to heal the wounds of the conflict, and help people to move on.

In response to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who asked about missing persons, the experience of Northern Ireland will certainly be relevant to the work that needs to be done in Sri Lanka to try to establish what happened to those whose fate is unknown. There is also, tragically, experience elsewhere in Europe—in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Cyprus, particularly that of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus—that could be of value to the authorities in Sri Lanka and the international agencies as the work on Sri Lanka’s missing persons progresses.

I agree with what was said about the need to press the Sri Lankan Government to stop the persecution of Christians, Muslims and other religious minorities. It is important that the rights of all minorities in Sri Lanka are fully respected.

In response to the question from the hon. Member for Bristol East on asylum claims, I can tell her that the policy has not changed as a result of the election in Sri Lanka. It remains the case that each asylum claim is assessed on its merits, and in line with the test laid down in the UN convention on refugees and in our domestic law.

Britain is Sri Lanka’s largest export market in the EU; we have an important trading relationship and we are Sri Lanka’s third largest trading partner by value. In 2013, bilateral trade was nearly £1 billion. While that trade weighs heavily in Sri Lanka’s favour, last year Britain saw an increase of 14% in goods and services exported to Sri Lanka, and our relationship continues to rebalance in the UK’s favour. Many British people visit Sri Lanka each year. Between 22,000 and 42,000 British tourists may be in Sri Lanka at any one time, and about 6,000 British people are long-term residents. Also, we are a major education provider in Sri Lanka through the British Council, which has more than 200 staff delivering services across the country, including teaching English to more than 12,000 students each year at British Council teaching centres in Sri Lanka.

We have been pleased to be involved in demining projects in Sri Lanka. Between 2010 and 2015, we provided £5.1 million to support mine clearance, which allows people in the north to return home to their land. I will ensure that my colleagues at the Department for International Development hear what has been said in Westminster Hall this morning about the need for that work to continue. We have also supported community policing projects, women’s refuges, tsunami recovery work and much more. This country is committed to the people of Sri Lanka in helping them on their journey towards a prosperous and inclusive nation.

The new Sri Lankan Government represent a new opportunity for the Sri Lankan people and for UK-Sri Lankan relations, and we must give them a chance to show that they are indeed willing to deliver on their ambitious programmes for change and reconciliation. If we are asked, we will be ready to support them in that work. I hope that the early visit to Sri Lanka by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State sends a strong signal of the UK’s intentions. We want a constructive relationship that benefits both our countries and all our people, but we will not retreat from British values of promoting democracy, good governance and respect for human rights and the rule of law.

Rail Services (Chelmsford to London)

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Westminster Hall

11:00

[Mr Simon Burns (Chelmsford) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Caton. I rise to speak about an issue that is of considerable importance to many of my constituents who are reliant on the rail services from Chelmsford to Liverpool Street to get to work and to carry out their business. Chelmsford is a major commuting station. Figures show that it is the second busiest such station in the country, with some 8,500 people commuting to and from it each day, mostly to London, but also to the north of the county towards Colchester and Ipswich. They are in addition to all the other passengers who use it during the course of the day to travel to London and elsewhere for other reasons.

It is crucial that my constituents enjoy a reliable and fast service, but sadly, in recent months, that has not been the case. In the first two weeks of December, in particular, the rail network seemed to be beset with continual problems that brought much disruption to the service. A number of those problems were not actually the fault of the provider, Abellio Greater Anglia, but that of Network Rail, due to the overrunning of engineering works and the breaking down of trains, especially freight trains.

There were three main causes of that disruption. Some 22% of the delays were caused by technical fleet delays—broken-down trains, in plain English—and that accounted for 23% of the rail cancellations. Some 12% of the delays were due to possession overruns, which is an interesting phrase that hides the fact that it means that engineering work by Network Rail has overrun. That affects Monday mornings particularly, because it completely disrupts the Monday morning commuter runs down to London. That factor was responsible for 14% of cancellations. The third cause was track faults and broken tracks, which led to 11% of the delays and 9% of the total cancellations.

The crucial thing for my constituents is to have a reliable and punctual service. There was a wide fluctuation in reliability between April and November last year—from 92% reliability at the top end down to 87.5% at the bottom end. However, I am pleased that since the beginning of the new year, there has been a marked improvement in the reliability, punctuality and delivery of the service, which I hope will continue.

I was interested to see the latest Passenger Focus inquiry, especially the part that concentrated on the Chelmsford service. It shows that in spring 2010, when we were not in government, the overall satisfaction of passengers with their journeys was 66%, but by autumn 2014, that figure had risen to 76%. I also noticed that the satisfaction level for punctuality and reliability was 57% in spring 2010, but that that had risen to 65% by autumn 2014. Satisfaction with the upkeep and repair of trains has deteriorated from 64% to 53%, however, which I will address later in my comments.

The other main reason for the disruption to services, which is a tragedy, is the increased number of suicides. That is obviously devastating for the family and friends of those who commit suicide, but it also has an immeasurable impact on the rail network. I am pleased that the rail industry, Network Rail and the train operators are working closely together not only to identify why there has been a significant nationwide increase in suicides on the rail network, but to examine measures that can be taken to minimise them. Everyone is united in trying to do all that they can to reduce this tragic problem, which causes so much misery to so many people.

On a positive note, I am pleased that significant investment is going into the great eastern main line network. Over the past decade there has been an upgrade of track and the replacement of outdated overhead electric cables. That process has moved from Liverpool Street to Chelmsford, and it is now moving north of Chelmsford. That is to be warmly welcomed, because it is a process of investing in the future and putting in building blocks to minimise future problems.

I am also pleased that specific measures are being taken in the Chelmsford area to help to improve the service and the capacity of the line. By the end of this decade or the beginning of the next, there will be a new station at Beaulieu Park to the north-east of Chelmsford. That will help to reduce not only road traffic congestion in the heart of Chelmsford, but the congestion caused by the number of passengers using Chelmsford, because some who come into Chelmsford to get the train will be able to go to Beaulieu Park. Another important thing is the commitment by Network Rail to a loop line to the north of Witham. That will, in connection with the station at Beaulieu Park, help to enhance capacity by allowing faster trains from Colchester to Liverpool Street to overtake slower trains, which can use the loop. It will also give rail operators more flexibility to put on additional services, particularly during the rush hour.

It is crucial that rail operators ensure that every train has 12 carriages during the morning and afternoon rush hours, as one or two trains in those two crucial periods have only eight carriages. Given that the service is used by considerable numbers of people, and that it is estimated that passenger numbers will continue to grow year in, year out for the foreseeable future, every opportunity must be utilised to provide more carriages and seating for passengers travelling to London and then coming back in the late afternoon or early evening.

I am also pleased that work will be done at Bow junction, just outside Liverpool Street, which will have a significant impact on the management of trains entering and leaving that station to help to deal with capacity issues. I was heartened to hear from Network Rail that it is looking at—it is simply a question of “looking at” at the moment—putting in another platform at Liverpool Street station. That would enhance the number of trains that can enter the station through what is, in effect, a bottleneck. Those two things—enhancing and updating Bow junction; and, if it is possible and viable, putting in a new platform—will be of considerable benefit to those who use the station, whether they are my constituents or those of my right hon. and hon. Friends.

The immediate golden opportunity to seek improvements to the line will come with the publication later this year of the new franchise document. There will be a tender process prior to the announcement of the next franchise, which will start when the existing one expires. It is crucial that that document includes a commitment for whoever is awarded the franchise to provide new rolling stock and trains for the whole line—not just the inter-city trains, but the commuter trains, which to my mind are more important. Through the work that my hon. Friends the Members for Witham (Priti Patel), for Ipswich (Ben Gummer) and for Norwich North (Chloe Smith) and I have done, the “Norwich in 90” taskforce set up by the Chancellor has made that proposal a crucial part of the recommendations for improvements to the rail network. I am pleased that he accepted in his statement last month the recommendation that would see £476 million invested in East Anglia’s rail network in the coming years.

[Sir Alan Haselhurst (Saffron Walden) (Con)]

The points that my right hon. Friend is making are absolutely correct and I endorse them on behalf of my constituents who use Chelmsford station. Does he agree that, as we look ahead, one of the components of the new franchise should be the replacement of the 94 units of type 321 rolling stock, on which most of our constituents travel, but which are not fit for purpose in terms of their general reliability or capacity to accelerate? All the improvements in the network system for which we are looking, and for which we will be grateful, will be rather spoiled if the trains operating on it cannot perform to the maximum.

[Mr Burns]

I am extremely grateful for that intervention from my right hon. Friend, because he, too, has worked assiduously in recent years for improvements to the rail network. He, unlike me, has had to work on improving the rail network on two fronts: on the eastern side of the county on the Liverpool Street-Chelmsford-Colchester line; and, over many years, on the western side of the county on the line from Stansted and other areas down to Liverpool Street. I could not agree with him more about new rolling stock, which is at the nub of how to get improvements.

As the Minister knows, East Anglia has too often had to put up with other people’s leftovers, but that is no longer acceptable. We need a commitment in the franchise, as well as delivery after it has been awarded, on new rolling stock so that we have high-quality trains for all services, with air conditioning, automatic doors and wi-fi to improve the quality of our constituents’ journeys. We also want to ensure that all the trains during the crucial rush-hour periods in the mornings and late afternoon or evenings are 12-carriage ones—we want no eight-carriage trains—so that we can maximise capacity and meet the ever-increasing demand faced by our railways.

I am pleased that the investment recommended by the taskforce, when implemented, will have significant economic benefits for the rest of the three counties and their development. It is estimated that the investment of £476 million will generate about £4.1 billion in direct economic benefits, which will rise to £4.5 billion once wider productivity benefits are included. The investment will unlock an additional £1.3 billion of capital investment along the route from Liverpool Street to Norwich, through Chelmsford, Colchester and Ipswich. It will create 3,145 jobs in the construction industry and, once the work is completed, some 8,200 new jobs in Norwich, almost 10,000 in Ipswich, 16,000 in Chelmsford and 14,000 in Colchester. Those are significant figures, and such benefits will help the viability of the eastern region. Overall, it is estimated that for every £1 invested to upgrade the great eastern main line, the return will be £9.50. Such a return will be highly significant and economically beneficial to my constituents and those of my right hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Sir Alan Haselhurst).

At the same time, however, there is concern about the prices that we have to pay on our railways. I welcome the Chancellor’s actions to alleviate the problems faced by hard-working families in recent years by getting rid of the retail prices index plus 3% formula for fare increases, meaning that for the past two years, we have had increases solely in line with the RPI. People have benefited from that, but we need to put the charges that they have to pay in context. A standard year-long season ticket from Chelmsford to Liverpool Street costs £3,728, while a daily return for trains leaving after 9.30 am is £27.20. Let us assume that most people have a five-week holiday period, meaning that they use their season ticket for 47 weeks a year, and that most will use their ticket for five days a week. On those assumptions, the daily cost of a season ticket is £15.85. That is often forgotten. People have to find a considerable sum of money once a year—£3,728 is a lot to find in one go, if one must do so—and that blurs the fact that travel is cheaper on a season ticket than at a normal daily rate.

Notwithstanding that, I appreciate the problems that people face. Given the money that they have to spend, the least they can expect in return is a reliable, punctual and comfortable journey, which is why it is so important that the investment that the Government have promised continues to move ahead and that the investment promised in the taskforce recommendations is put in place. It is also important that the control period 5 commitments are honoured, as is the case at present, and that in control period 6 we have a commitment to the loop north of Witham. Crucially, the franchise document must include, among many other things, a commitment to new rolling stock, which will benefit my right hon. Friend’s constituents, my constituents and those all the way from Liverpool Street up to Norwich.

11:18

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Claire Perry)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Caton. I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns) on securing this debate. Hon. Members may be interested to learn that in my very first debate in Westminster Hall we were in opposite positions: he was responding from the Front Bench to my concerns about minor injuries units in my constituency. After he did that fine job as a Health Minister, he held the post I currently have as trains Minister—he probably knows more about trains than I ever will. That was reflected in the thoughtful tone of his comments and his analysis of what is happening on the route.

The overall concern that my right hon. Friend eloquently raised is about performance on the main line. He and I are both really aware of the problems and I deeply regret that performance is not at the level that passengers rightly expect and deserve. He has taken a welcome interest in the steps being taken to monitor and improve the performance of the great eastern main line for passengers travelling both from his constituency and from further afield.

Under the terms of the franchise agreement and the direct award, Abellio Greater Anglia has to provide regular performance updates to the Department and can be subject to punitive actions if performance standards fail to meet requirements. In addition, there has been a lot of ongoing work with Abellio Greater Anglia, including many performance meetings. Only last week, there was such a meeting between my officials, the Office of Rail Regulation and the management team from Abellio Greater Anglia, at which industry representatives were keen to demonstrate what they were doing, along with Network Rail, to improve matters.

As my right hon. Friend mentioned, some improvements have been made. Monitoring practices that are common in other countries are now in place, including remote monitoring of key components on the line, meaning that failing components can be dealt with much more quickly than before. But he identified the fundamental problem: that much of the infrastructure on the line is coming to the end of its working life. There is no quick fix for that, but the ongoing investment that he mentioned will address the problems over time.

As is the case with many other parts of the network, the line has been subject to a big increase in passenger numbers, which have gone up by about 2.5% a year since 2006. The whole railway system is struggling as a result of the increase in passenger numbers since privatisation—overall, passenger numbers have doubled—and, frankly, the decades of under-investment under successive Governments in both track and rolling stock. I am pleased that the Government are addressing the overall picture with an unprecedented £38 billion in investment in the railways during this control period, but the money clearly has to be targeted correctly.

Abellio Greater Anglia has instigated daily tracking of key performance indicators at its depot to maximise or improve fleet maintenance, which my right hon. Friend identified as a particular problem. He also raised four main issues: fatalities, fleet failings, infrastructure failings and operational performance, and I would like to address each in more detail.

As my right hon. Friend said, we have a tragic problem of people committing suicide on the railways. Suicides are a tragedy for the families involved, and they are an awful tragedy for the drivers and other staff who have to witness them and deal with their aftermath. With increased activity on the railways, these problems are having more and more of an effect. Indeed, in the last 12 months, the number of services on my right hon. Friend’s line impacted by a fatality has risen by more than 1,700 to in excess of 8,000.

The industry is taking steps to reduce these tragic incidents. The British Transport police, Land Sheriffs and Abellio Greater Anglia station staff have increased patrols at stations and increased the level of interventions, steering people away from this awful act. I would like to express my thanks to those staff who have saved lives as a result of that work. Preventive measures have also been employed, including the introduction of mid-platform fencing and the trialling of blue lighting—people do not like to cross blue lights, as we learned from a similar initiative on Japanese railways. Action is therefore being taken.

Secondly, I note my right hon. Friend’s concerns about fleet performance. As he said, that has improved slightly, and the figures on average delay minutes since early 2012 have improved by 23%, but I want to see greater improvement, not just stability. As he emphasised, reliability is so important for the people travelling from his constituency.

AGA is implementing more than 100 initiatives to improve the reliability of its rolling stock. That is a huge number, so I will highlight just a couple. There are new resources to undertake more extensive maintenance at night, as well as extensive initiatives to renew critical components. The company is also looking at more forward-looking maintenance planning regimes to maximise availability and reliability on the fleet.

My right hon. Friend made a compelling case for new rolling stock on his line and on other lines, including those serving the constituency of my right hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Sir Alan Haselhurst). It remains the Government’s ambition to invest in new rolling stock in the franchise, but my right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford will be aware that the Department is doing everything it can to make sure we deliver more reliable trains—and, indeed, refresh trains—for passengers using the network. I completely support AGA’s goal of reducing fleet delay minutes on the franchise by 20% by October 2016.

Thirdly, on infrastructure, we are all aware that track faults have increased significantly, particularly on the crucial Liverpool Street to Shenfield corridor. Network Rail replaced its renewals contractor in 2014 due to poor performance. We continue to invest to upgrade the route, but that will take time. Resources have been focused in three areas: Liverpool Street station and its approaches; rail defect removal; and the quality of track. I am pleased to say that, at Liverpool Street, Network Rail is nearing the end of its programme of replacing all problematic junctions, refurbishing point ends and carrying out rail replacements at the tight curves on the station approach. All that will improve reliability and sustainability. I am pleased to say that, to date, all the work has been completed on time.

Additionally, the company and Network Rail have worked well together to target further resources. For example, there is a new emergency incident unit based at Liverpool Street station, rather than remotely. The number of infrastructure faults was therefore reduced significantly between November and December 2014, to the lowest number for several years.

Finally, let me turn to my right hon. Friend’s operational concerns. As he and I know, the route has had some serious engineering overruns in the last year. Some have been on a Monday morning, and I can think of nothing more frustrating for a hard-pressed commuter trying to get to work and paying almost £4,000 for a season ticket than to hear these overruns being announced. It is completely unacceptable. My Department has been challenging Network Rail on its performance on the issue, as has Abellio Greater Anglia. Network Rail is constantly being made aware of its responsibility to passengers using the network to complete engineering work at the allowed time. As a result, all possession plans on this part of the network are subject to much greater scrutiny.

The programme to renew point work has been completed thus far with minimal passenger train impact. That is perhaps evidence that Network Rail is taking measures to reduce engineering overruns. I know that my right hon. Friend shares that ambition. The railway is not running steel boxes with wheels; it is moving people. If the Government can do one thing, it is to make sure that the unprecedented investment we are making is delivered for the benefit of passengers.

Everyone, from my Department to Network Rail and the operating companies, needs to sign up to that agenda. Some do it better than others, but there is no excuse for an engineering overrun that affects millions of people, and for not taking it seriously. I am pleased to say that effort is being put into recovering from incidents when they happen. The six-month average delay per incident has dropped by 20% in the past six months, which means that faults are being fixed more quickly.

As my right hon. Friend knows, it was not possible to specify in the short direct award an increase in rolling stock. He will know from his time in the Department that the direct award was introduced to smooth the process of franchise letting. He has made a powerful case for wanting new rolling stock. I am pleased to say that on his route, at least, he will see work going on to refresh the mark 3 coaches. That has been secured within the current franchise.

I visited the place where the new seats and other improvements were being put together and have sat in one of the new seats. The first vehicle is set to be unveiled on Friday, and there is an obligation on Abellio Greater Anglia to complete work on the entire fleet by the end of October 2016. Finally, there will be toilets that do not void on to the tracks, power sockets, new carpets and seat covers, new lighting and repainted interiors. That will make a real difference to the experience of passengers.

[Sir Alan Haselhurst]

The Minister will have heard my right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns)mention the construction of a new station to the north of Chelmsford, which will be beneficial for train loading. It is intended primarily to serve the people who will be living in the Beaulieu Park development, but there is strong local feeling that the station would be more appropriately named “New Hall Chelmsford”, or “Chelmsford New Hall”; I hope that she will bear that in mind.

[Claire Perry]

I will certainly take those comments into consideration. I was coming on to mention something directly relevant to my right hon. Friend’s concerns. The “Norwich in 90” group is a group of MPs working to pin down the economic benefits of further investment in infrastructure, including new stations—regardless of name. There is a desire really to improve journey times and connectivity on such vital routes in a high-growth region.

The consultation for the new franchise in which many of the improvements can be brought about began in December 2014. The new franchise is to commence in October 2016 and the invitation to tender is expected in August, with the successful bidder to be announced in the summer of 2016. Bidders will of course be invited to provide their plans for improving rolling stock operating on the route and for achieving the aims of the “Norwich in 90” taskforce.

Much more clearly needs to be done, but there are some firm foundations on which to improve the performance of the great eastern main line, as the passengers deserve. My right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford alluded to the interesting and exciting change that will happen when Crossrail finally comes on stream in 2018. It will free up passengers at Liverpool Street, enabling platform capacity at that vital station to be improved, and reducing overcrowding on those vital routes. Infrastructure improvements such as the remodelling at Bow junction, turnbacks in the Chelmsford area and at Wickford, and associated signalling works, should all help to improve performance and durability by 2019.

As for CP6, my right hon. Friend made a powerful case, and investment is planned in the Witham loop, with potential associated new stations. Work is being done and being planned for the future. We know that we can do more, but I look forward to working with my right hon. Friend to bring in the improvements I have outlined for the benefit of his constituents and all passengers using what is a vital route.

11:29

Sitting suspended.

Government Contracts (SMEs)

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Westminster Hall

[Philip Davies in the Chair]

14:30

[Dr William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies.

I congratulate those throughout the United Kingdom who have taken the bold step of starting a small or medium-sized enterprise, thereby creating employment in their local community and strengthening the local economy. I am sure that many Members agree that we should thank the House of Commons Library service for its excellent research in the debate pack, and I thank my own staff who have helped me to prepare for the debate.

By way of background, the usual definition of an SME is any business with fewer than 250 employees. There were 5.2 million SMEs in the United Kingdom in 2014, or more than 99% of all businesses. Most businesses in the UK are small, with fewer than 50 employees, rather than medium-sized, with 50 to 250 employees. In answer to a parliamentary question, the Government estimated that 21%, or £45.4 billion, of pay-as-you-earn received in respect of the 2010-11 tax year came from small businesses. There are also micro-businesses, which by definition have between one and nine employees. In 2014, there were 5 million micro-businesses, accounting for 96% of all businesses.

The economy is therefore dominated by small business. According to a 2013 report by the Federation of Small Businesses, small firms in the UK make up 99.3% of all businesses, contribute 51% of gross domestic product and employ 58% of the private sector work force. Research commissioned by the FSB with other partners in 2008 demonstrated substantial barriers to SMEs winning public sector contracts, indicating that 70% of SMEs rarely or never bid for Government procurement opportunities; 76% of SMEs felt that there were barriers to prevent SMEs from being fully aware of public procurement opportunities; and 55% of SMEs felt that the process of bidding for Government contracts required more time, effort and cost than their business could allow. Lack of awareness of opportunities was among the most important reasons for not bidding for a public contract.

Research also shows that SMEs are generally more successful in bidding to the private sector than to the public sector: 51% of SMEs reported a success rate of more than 40% when bidding for private sector opportunities, while 62% had a success rate of 20% or less when bidding for public sector opportunities.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way in the midst of the stats coming full and fast—he must be in full flow. He is getting to the nub of things, but does he agree that many of the SMEs, in particular out in the regions, in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, are very small and employ only one or two people? The time and expertise required to apply, therefore, is often not in place, and we need to support that.

[Dr McCrea]

I agree with my hon. Friend. That will certainly be part of the effort that I am endeavouring, through the debate, to achieve.

The Government plan for growth published alongside the Budget in March 2011 highlighted a number of policies stated to be of particular benefit to SMEs, including such measures as making it easier for them to access public sector procurement by eliminating the prequalification questionnaire for contracts worth less than £100,000, advertising procurement opportunities on Contracts Finder and setting an aspirational target that a quarter of Government contracts should be awarded to SMEs.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

My hon. Friend is certainly in the flow today, so it is hard to intervene. As well as action on procurement, does he agree that over the past number of years the Government also promised to speed up payment terms for small companies? A lot of what has been done, however, has been paying lip service. Northern Ireland has improved, but a lot of work remains to be done. Cash flow is vital to small companies if they go for Government contracts.

[Dr McCrea]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend and will also deal with that as we continue with the debate.

[Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) (DUP)]

I am sure my hon. Friend will touch on the matter, but does he accept that part of the problem lies with the procurement rules that we inherit from Europe as part of an attempt to create the single market? They lay down pretty draconian requirements when it comes to bidding for Government contracts. We ought to be looking at how those requirements can be amended and how we can raise thresholds to avoid some of the European regulations on procurement.

[Dr McCrea]

I agree, but even within the European regulations, there are things we can do and that the Government should do more of to alleviate some of the problems that my hon. Friend mentions.

In the 2013 autumn statement, the Chancellor included measures designed to benefit small businesses, including the introduction of a £2,000 employment allowance from April 2014, making it cheaper to employ staff aged under 21. That incentive, according to the Government, will benefit up to 1.25 million businesses and result in about 450,000 businesses, or one third of all employers, being taken out of paying national insurance contributions altogether.

After the autumn statement, the Government launched the “Small business: GREAT ambition” scheme in December 2013—a series of measures designed to make it easier for small businesses to expand, including the introduction of broadband vouchers worth up to £3,000 in 22 cities throughout the United Kingdom, which were designed to let more small firms access faster broadband connectivity. It is disappointing to note, however, that Malcolm Corbett, head of the Independent Networks Co-operative Association, has said:

“The scheme has not proved as successful as the Government had hoped”.

I therefore encourage those businesses eligible to avail themselves of the scheme before the March 2015 deadline to do so.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. He touched on the need for broadband in small businesses. Especially in rural communities, we are seeing the difficulties of getting that high broadband speed. Does he feel, as I do, that that excludes a lot of small firms from bidding for contracts, especially e-procurement ones?

[Dr McCrea]

I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Gentleman. The lack of an up-to-date and modern broadband connection makes it very difficult to get into Government contracts.

To promote the further growth of SMEs, following on from the recommendation in Lord Young’s report, a new scheme was designed to make it simpler for small firms to win public sector contracts, which are estimated to be worth £230 billion a year. In addition, there was a commitment to tackle the late payment of small firms to ensure that those small businesses supplying the public sector and its supply chain were paid at the same time as the large contractors.

In May 2013, Lord Young published “Growing Your Business”, a report on growing micro-businesses following on from his report on entrepreneurship and start-ups published in May 2012. The 2013 report makes a number of policy recommendations for businesses employing fewer than 25 people, including the establishment of a small business charter and, crucially, a

“new ‘single market’ commitment to ensure a simple and consistent approach is taken across public sector procurement.”

In 2012-13, the public sector spent £230 billion on procurement of goods and services, including capital assets, accounting for 34% of total managed expenditure. Of that £230 billion, approximately £38 billion was capital procurement, the rest being current. Of the current procurement, approximately £40 billion is by central Government, £84 billion by local government, £50 billion by the national health service and £13 billion by the devolved Administrations.

Hon. Members will note the public interest in several recent awards of major procurement contracts, which have attracted scrutiny and even criticism from some hon. Members. In the light of the recent difficulties, the Government set themselves a target of procuring 25% of goods and services by value from SMEs by 2015, with the flattering words that such businesses are

“a crucial engine for growth”

as they account for 99.9% of UK businesses.

Research by the FSB reveals that every £1 a public body spends with a small business generates 63p of additional benefit to the economy, compared with 40p of additional benefit when spent with a large business. Although there is much ongoing debate about the advantages and disadvantages of EU membership and whether the UK should remain within its bureaucratic quagmire, the position remains that the Government not only can but should do more to support SMEs in accessing public procurement in compliance with EU diktat.

[David Simpson]

Does my hon. Friend accept that, although there is a problem with procurement, in some small companies there is a lack of understanding of the procurement process? There needs to be a robust educational process, perhaps through councils, under which small, young micro-companies learn exactly what it is all about.

[Dr McCrea]

I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. However, to give an illustration from my own constituency experience, I often find that a small business not only finds it difficult with all the filling in of forms, but is blocked from getting into contracts. That is the issue that I want to get to the heart of, but I must first lay the foundations.

A core principle of the EU is to establish a single market that encourages trade and maximises value for the taxpayer in public procurement, obtaining the latter through increased competition by allowing companies from other EU nations to bid for contracts. As SMEs are crucial to the UK’s economic recovery, what have the Government done to encourage and assist them in accessing EU markets and public procurement in other EU member states?

EU procurement rules include transparency, fairness and non-discrimination. They apply to SMEs accessing public procurement in other EU member states, but do nothing to tackle those issues within the United Kingdom, as such rules do not apply. It remains an anomaly of the single market rules that, although under EU law one member state is not allowed to discriminate against an SME from another member state as part of public procurement of goods and services, subject to certain criteria, member states are entitled to act in a discriminatory fashion towards their own nationals.

It is admirable that the coalition Government have engaged with SMEs as one of their two main priorities concerning public procurement and that they intend to achieve that aim by making the procurement process

“much simpler, more open and less bureaucratic—so all businesses, no matter what their size, have a chance of success”.

However, the realisation of that priority, by opening doors for SMEs and providing them with the tools to apply, will make the real difference to our businesses and propel this country’s economic recovery forward.

[Mr McKenzie]

The hon. Gentleman mentioned Europe and the European strategy to exclude others and source products and services more locally. How does he feel about the playing of the green procurement card, which seems to be natural across Europe? Should we adopt that strategy and say that, in the spirit of green procurement, we will source as locally as possible?

[Dr McCrea]

I would not like to make policy on the hoof. An array of party colleagues are listening carefully and we are coming up to an election, so I would rather that my party make any policy decision.

[Sammy Wilson]

Before my hon. Friend moves on, does he accept that there is considerable merit in the point raised about the green procurement card, especially when it comes to the purchase of fresh food for schools and hospitals, which can be locally sourced? There is an environmental as well as an economic argument for sourcing such goods and services locally.

[Dr McCrea]

I am happy to agree with my hon. Friend on that point and am delighted that he has a genuine interest in that environmental issue. I am sure that will be noted carefully.

The old proverb says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for life.” Although Stephen Allott, the Government’s appointed SME champion, argues that the

“big change is that procurement reform under Labour was a nice thing to have, whereas today saving money is central”,

the Government need to realise that people’s livelihoods are at stake. Owners of SMEs have often bravely given up a comfortable lifestyle and made significant investment to start up businesses from scratch. They are not mere pawns on a Government chessboard to be played when election time comes around. Much more needs to be done to upskill SMEs in the public procurement process. If a supplier has not bid before and is not very skilled at completing the tender, although it might be the best supplier, it will not win the contract. That was the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson) a few moments ago.

Interestingly, Mr Allott has stated that the difficulty in fast-tracking the SME agenda arises because of staff cutbacks in the public sector, and notably cuts to the number of individuals in procurement. Such streamlining has led to greater aggravation. It may on occasion save the taxpayer money, but it does nothing to support SMEs. Mr Allott has gone further, stating that the pressures now borne by remaining procurement staff have led many to

“stick with the suppliers they know rather than spend time researching potential partners or having speculative meetings with untried suppliers”—

so it is not what you know but who you know. That leaves SMEs isolated while large companies continue to court those with influence.

On indirect contracts, how will the Government ensure there is a “David and Goliath” approach to prevent prime contractors from driving down prices and creaming off the best work for themselves, leaving slender pickings for their smaller partners? What will the Government’s SMEs champion be doing to help SMEs to get the best possible deal when working with large companies?

[David Simpson]

On the “David and Goliath” issue, when many large companies receive Government contracts, SMEs turn out to be subcontractors and are pressurised harder on pricing, so their job becomes even more difficult.

[Dr McCrea]

I accept what my hon. Friend says.

I turn now to what the UK Government could learn from the devolved Administrations. According to FSB research, in 2013, authorities in Northern Ireland spent on average 80% of their total procurement spending with SMEs. Details of all current Northern Ireland public sector tender opportunities are available on one centralised web portal. In addition, a number of events have been organised to encourage economic co-operation and trade, enabling local businesses to meet a wide range of public sector buyers, including buyers from central Government Departments, councils, universities and other public bodies.

In 2009, the Assembly’s Committee for Finance and Personnel conducted an inquiry into public procurement and practices in Northern Ireland. As a result of that inquiry, the Committee made 52 recommendations to the Department of Finance and Personnel in a report published in February 2010, including all the recommendations put forward by the FSB. That shows that key stakeholders such as the FSB are listened to in Northern Ireland.

According to the Cabinet Office papers “Direct and Indirect Spend with SMEs” and “Making Government business more accessible to SMEs”, the total proportion of procurement spend with SMEs by central Government Departments has increased year on year. However, that analysis fails to include public bodies outside central Government. Hon. Members need to note that there are 22 non-ministerial departments, 346 agencies and other public bodies, 70 high-profile groups and 12 public corporations that, in total, have considerable spending power.

In October 2012, when Lord Heseltine published his independent review on increasing UK growth, “No Stone Unturned”, he recommended that the Government

“should place a general duty on all public bodies”—

not just those in central Government—

“setting out the procurement standards to which they should adhere, by providing a pan-government procurement strategy, legislating if necessary.”

When the Government published a consultation on a range of measures to simplify and standardise public sector procurement in “Making public sector procurement more accessible to SMEs” and “Small Business: GREAT Ambition”, in September and December 2013 respectively, they said that they would legislate and make changes across the wider public sector. However, it is regrettable that none of those changes included placing a duty on all public bodies, not just those in central Government, to set out

“the procurement standards to which they should adhere, by providing a pan-government procurement strategy”,

as Lord Heseltine recommended, because that has not happened.

I have tried to explain my general feeling about SMEs and Government contracts to set the scene for the debate, which I was urged to secure because of an experience in my constituency. That experience has not just troubled me; it has really got to me. A local person has put all their money into trying to be innovative and to create something good as a British enterprise, but that seems to have been stamped on and put into the ground.

That small, innovative British SME in my constituency has been failed by the Government and a public body for which it is accountable—the Highways Agency. That failure has affected not just the company, but the work force on the strategic road network, the taxpayer and the British motorist. This case study illustrates: the extent of the barriers erected to prevent market entry; the power of the small number of big companies that dominate the road maintenance market on the strategic road network; the disregard for safety and efficiency exhibited by the Highways Agency; and the seeming impotence of Departments to ensure that British SMEs are treated fairly and given appropriate opportunities, in this instance to introduce new products designed specifically to improve safety for the work force and the motorist, and to secure much better value for money for the public purse.

It is clear from the evidence that the safety of the work force is not given the priority that is required. On 8 January 2015, the Highways Agency was censured for the death of a traffic officer in September 2012 and, recently, another road traffic worker was killed on the strategic road network. It is also clear that the automation of traffic management processes could be made much more efficient through the use of an automated system of cone laying and retrieval.

Between 2002 and 2006, the SME that I am speaking about focused on ensuring its compliance with all UK industry standards, which involved complex interactions with several public bodies including the Highways Agency, the Health and Safety Executive, the Department for Transport and the Transport Research Laboratory. By 2006, its manufactured system had been thoroughly tested and trialled across the UK, and it was fully compliant and market-ready. The Highways Agency funded all of the trialling, which signalled its interest in this innovative automated product.

In August 2006, the product was launched with a DFT press release and a statement from Dr Ladyman, the then Minister. He commented:

“In 2005, five road workers were killed in the course of their work on England’s motorways and major roads, making the motorway one of the most dangerous working environments in Britain…This new machine will help to give extra protection to workers and the public on our busiest roads, and help the Highways Agency to use lanes more efficiently during roadwork programmes…Road workers risk death and injury from traffic accidents every day, while making sure our roads are safe and well maintained”.

At that point, given such a press release, one would have expected that the product was well placed for adoption throughout the strategic road network.

The Highways Agency introduced the company to one of its major contractors in 2006. In the company’s view, their negotiations were not conducted in good faith. It transpired that the major contractor wished to purchase only one or two systems, because what it really wanted was the transfer of all intellectual property and manufacturing rights to itself, although what was proposed would have involved a loss for this small business.

As the months followed, it appeared that the role of the Highways Agency was to exert pressure on the company to accept the contractor’s offer at the contractor’s price, even if that involved a loss. The Highways Agency used its influence to support the major contractor, but not to support the SME, the theme behind Dr Ladyman’s statement about how road workers

“risk death and injury from traffic accidents every day, while making sure our roads are safe and well maintained”,

nor achieving a good price.

During 2008, to facilitate Highways Agency contractors to trial the new technology locally, a vehicle, system and skilled traffic management crew were made available for the entire Highways Agency network, ready to mobilise at short notice. Direct involvement with the Highways Agency failed to attract any business from the contractors.

Following my intervention in 2009, the Transport Research Laboratory, acting on behalf of the Highways Agency, presented the company with a proposed new contract. A signature on the contract would have transferred all intellectual property and manufacturing rights from my constituents to the Highways Agency, acting on behalf of the Crown. As part of the proposed contract, the agency would have been free to appoint a third-party supplier to benefit from the rights, to the loss of the original SME. The SME was expected to support the potential new supplier.

The company refused to sign the contract, but was prepared to negotiate. That led to an extended trial in 2009-10, which was carried out by the TRL and the agency. The trial was deeply flawed because untrained workers were used on the live road network, which meant that only seriously understated benefits could be derived from the use of the new product. Once again, for the benefit of the industry and to test this new technology locally, a vehicle and system was made available for the entire Highways Agency network between March and September 2010. There was professional support from about 20 depots across England, but Highways Agency contractors were not interested.

In 2011, on the company’s behalf, I, again, engaged with the Department and its then Minister, the right hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning). As a result, the Highways Agency conducted a cost-benefit analysis, which suggested that there would be huge additional costs and limited benefits, due to poor value for money and little safety benefit. Following a challenge of the work, the then Minister—I give him full credit—ordered an independent review, which was carried out by Jacobs, an international consultancy. It proved extremely difficult to secure proper data from the Highways Agency—I needed to table a series of questions, as a Member of Parliament—but eventually, in February 2012, the Jacobs report concluded definitively that the product could provide significant value for money, improved traffic flow and considerable safety benefits, which was the opposite of what civil servants said to the Minister. For example, when the then Minister asked how many stoppages there would be, the civil servants said that there would be 120,000 lane closures a year, but when I asked the question, as I did again and again, the answer that I received was 26,000. They were only out by about 4:1, so of course that really means little. The cost-benefit analysis was proved completely wrong.

The company wrote to the contractors and approached the SME champion at the Department for Transport. That engagement led to a report from the contractors that displayed a total lack of interest in a product that an independent and credible evaluation had declared could bring significant efficiency savings, value for money and safety benefits. The Highways Agency arranged a meeting between the company and the contractors, but appeared to be content that its contractors, using public resources, could turn their back on efficiencies, modernisation and safety. Then, of course, the Minister was moved from the Department, and the new Minister who took over did not seem to have the same interest.

The early contractual negotiations were not conducted in good faith. They were designed to ensure that a major contractor could benefit from the intellectual property rights and manufacturing potential of an SME-driven innovation. So much for getting SMEs into Government contracts.

It appears that after the refusal to sign the contract that was offered, the product was closed out of the market, even when it was ready to be used locally across the network. The independent report by Jacobs, which identified good value for money and safety benefits, was ignored by the contractors and also, largely, by the Highways Agency. The Department proved unwilling to challenge either the agency or the contractors with any degree of rigour, despite being the funder of the agency’s contracts. All the bodies involved did not address with sufficient vigour the safety benefits that the product would have brought. In addition, the Department and the agency refused access to the minutes of the Road Workers Safety Forum trials team because that might inhibit a free and frank exchange of views by contractors. The public interest did not appear to be paramount.

The experience of this company from 2006 to the present day has created the impression that a cartel of big contractors can ignore potential value for money, efficiency and safety considerations with impunity, and that that does not matter, as they will get their pay at the end of the day. They will be paid for what they put in, but the small company or micro-business can be trampled into the ground.

The system of accountability for the expenditure of public money appears to lack any effective scrutiny or teeth. There is a real issue about the safety dimension of this experience that does not appear to have been given serious attention by any of the major public or private players. The question at the heart of the matter is about the relationship between a public body and its private contractors. How far are decisions on road safety being determined by commercial concerns, and to what extent are the Government content to allow the self-regulation of safety standards for road workers and users?

This is an important issue and I will not let it go. I will continue to try to find out exactly how this happened. I do smell something wrong in this, as it seems that some persons within Departments are happy to play along with the big contractors.

15:04

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies, for what I believe is the first time. I again congratulate the hon. Member for South Antrim (Dr McCrea) on securing this very interesting debate on public procurement—having heard myself say that, I may need to get out more if I find public procurement an interesting subject to debate.

I have witnessed procurement in the public and the private sectors. Indeed, in my time in local government, I was glad that our procurement was brought into line with some of the private sector practices and brought up to date. In my local environment, we had to bring in many of the SME businesses to spread the money around and create as much opportunity as we could.

We are all aware that small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of the British economy and we need to ensure that central Government and local government do everything they can to help them through procurement procedures. The hon. Member for South Antrim gave a lot more statistics than I ever have to hand, but I can say that SMEs account for a large part of the private sector business in the UK and, I believe, 58% of private sector employment. That equates to 14 million people up and down the country being employed in SMEs.

This is about keeping things as local as possible. We know that 83p in every pound spent by local government procurers with local businesses will go back into the local economy. That in turn will stimulate the local economy and provide real employment opportunities there. It is a question of people stretching procurement as far as they can to get the biggest payback on what they are putting out there for goods and services.

SMEs are a major driving force of our economy and deserve their fair share of public sector procurement. Public sector bodies, including central Government, spend about £220 billion a year on goods and services. That indicates the complexity of the procurement. They procure everything from paperclips to chemicals—you name it. Government procurement is extremely complex.

Progress has been made in public sector procurement, and I will go on to highlight some of the advances made by the Government. I accept that steps have been taken and advances made. We have gone from almost a “catalogue” procurement process to what we see today—an approach that is more embracing of best practice and best value. I referred to a “catalogue” approach to procurement, which was simply taking something off the shelf and saying, “We have purchased from them for the last 10 years, so we’ll continue to purchase from them for the next 10.” That was not the best way to enable SMEs to get in on procurement by public bodies.

However, more could be done to improve the best-value approach. Not least is the fact that best value does not always mean the cheapest price, and what about people doing contract monitoring over the length of a contract to prove that they have a valued and performing supplier? We need to evidence contract monitoring if we are to make progress on procuring more locally and putting more into SMEs.

Public procurement is an underused tool when it comes to keeping trade as local as possible to local government and central Government spreading contracts around the country. It is essential that the Government take that on and spread the contracts as far and as wide as possible around the country. They should not simply look at a certain area where most of the spend takes place. If we are to regenerate areas, we can do so through Government procurement.

We also need to enhance contracts that we put out there by writing into the terms and conditions employment opportunities such as apprenticeships and therefore get more for the money we spend. More than half of SMEs believe that the process of tendering for Government contracts requires, as we have heard, more time and resources than their business can allow, making the tendering process too costly and time consuming.

We can take as an example what I have already highlighted—e-procurement. This is about going out and educating SMEs on what they need for e-procurement, and a common mistake is for them to fall into the same practice they used for tendering processes. As we have highlighted, broadband issues lead to difficulties when people are trying to download a tendering document, which takes a bit of time. It will bomb out at the last minute and, hey presto, they have missed out on the contract.

[Sammy Wilson]

The hon. Gentleman is making some thoughtful and worthwhile points, but does he not accept that the more we build into the contract and the procurement process not only price, but the qualitative issues he has talked about, as well as ongoing issues such as apprenticeships and employing the long-term unemployed, the more that adds to the complexity and the paperwork involved in the procurement process and to the monitoring of the contract? There is a balance to be struck between, on the one hand, taking the simple approach of looking at price only and, on the other, looking at quality, employment opportunities and all the other qualitative elements of a procurement exercise.

[Mr McKenzie]

I accept the hon. Gentleman’s point, but if procurement does one thing, it should be to get the most for what is spent. Monitoring whether we get jobs, especially apprenticeships, out of procurement would not be too difficult. The local council in my area has done that for many contracts. Those contracts have been gratefully received, and we have been really successful in keeping our youth unemployment down to a low level using those contracts.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

Further to the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson), there is a question of balance in those contracts. However, if contracts awarded by Belfast city council and others over the years have a clause about local employment, local people see that the council and other agencies are delivering something in their locality that is about not just a building or a project, but jobs. My hon. Friend is right to talk about balance, but it is important for local people to see a definite benefit from the public money being spent in their area.

[Mr McKenzie]

The right hon. Gentleman makes a good point: this is about local people seeing real value for money and getting opportunities.

Many small businesses do not bid, because they feel unable to compete with the larger suppliers and to offer lower costs. There is also the issue of understanding contracts and not making them too complex. We should go out to small businesses to help them understand contracts and what is being looked for in the terms and conditions. The issue may not be solely the cost; it may be things such as the quality of the product, the lead team or the hubbing aspects of getting the product to someone at specific times. This is not entirely about the cost factor, and a range of terms and conditions might put smaller businesses off attempting to compete with larger organisations.

I want to mention three areas where I have seen improvement in the procurement process. In 2010, the Cabinet Office set up the efficiency and reform group to make sure that Departments work together. That consortium approach to procurement is wholly sensible. It is hard to believe that each service would have been going out to procure the same commodities on differing contracts, but that could have been taking place. The Government also set a goal of ensuring that 25% of spend went to SMEs, either directly or through the supply chain, although that was downgraded to an aspiration.

Secondly, in 2011, the Government appointed a Crown representative for SMEs, with the intention of helping to redesign and improve public procurement policy and processes to bridge the gap between the Government and small suppliers. The main aims were to understand the concerns of SME suppliers, which is essential, and to open up the Government procurement process more to them. Another aim was to put together a list of tips for SMEs bidding for Government contracts, although I am never too sure that the word “tips” sits well with a procurement process.

Finally, in 2012, the Government ran a pilot of the Solutions Exchange—an online tool to enable a two-way conversation between Government and SMEs, in the hope of creating better dialogue between them.

The hon. Member for South Antrim touched on the directives coming from the EU. A set of new procurement directives, including reforms that should help SMEs, was agreed in Europe last year. There is now a need to transpose them into UK law.

Let me refer to what the FSB says about the problems facing SMEs on procurement. It says that there are four main difficulties. Access to finance—getting those loans—is still a problem. Another problem is tax simplification; tax can be difficult and confusing for SMEs. A further difficulty, which we have heard about many times, is fuel duty; the cost of fuel is crippling many small businesses. The final problem is late payments. If a payment is not made on time, that can end a small business, especially a micro-business. We have recently heard in the news about the horrendous time scales for meeting payment terms, and those are having a detrimental effect on small businesses up and down the country.

I have a couple of questions for the Minister. What is the Government’s position on the recent EU procurement directives? Will the terms and conditions in contracts be looked at with a view to including employment opportunities for young people—for example, by writing in apprenticeships? Will any person or business that has been engaged in blacklisting or in compiling blacklists of workers be excluded from bidding for Government contracts? Finally, when will the Government truly embrace e-procurement, get out there and assist SMEs as much as possible to understand and navigate the process?

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Philip Davies (in the Chair)]

Order. Before we move to the next speaker, I should say that I intend to call the shadow Minister no later than 3.40 pm. I am sure that DUP colleagues can allocate the remaining 24 minutes between them fairly.

15:09

[Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP)]

It is an honour to speak under you, Mr Davies; I intend to speak for only about 23 minutes.

I welcome the debate initiated by my hon. Friend the Member for South Antrim (Dr McCrea). The circumstances that he has placed on the record are astonishing. They show that a small, creative company has been really screwed, quite frankly. That company deserves explanations and honesty. I hope the Minister, who I know will genuinely look into this, will be able to give the company some reassurance and support—if not today, then at some point after he has had the chance to examine these claims.

We are trying to rebalance our economy in Northern Ireland. We are trying to attract inward investment and more private sector work. That includes growing our indigenous companies and, in particular, encouraging small companies, which are the backbone of Northern Ireland—whether they are in the agri-food sector, the creative media sector, financial services or any other sector. We are trying to help those companies to grow by one or two people each year so that the economy can really rebalance itself.

Those things can be made difficult, however, if one source of job opportunities—Government contracts—is not made more readily available to local companies. There is a saying in Northern Ireland that if someone is not working for the Government, they are not actually working. That is because so many people are employed directly or indirectly in Government or departmental activities. That includes not only the obvious things, such as health and policing, but the less obvious things, such as the technical and financial sectors, where a lot of the work relates to Government activity and Government-associated activity. It is critical that local companies are not only given the opportunity to bid competitively for these opportunities, but are, as many Members have said, encouraged and actively supported in their bids.

Our job is made much harder whenever major companies in the private sector are threatened and have to take employment away. That means that more people are put on the unemployment heap, and they will then, more than likely, have to seek public sector-related employment. I have seen that in my constituency, with the announcement that almost 1,000 jobs will be lost between now and 2017. The tobacco manufacturing company JTI, formerly Gallaher, is being closed down because of Government over-regulation—the European directives on tobacco products and the Government’s gold-plating of those directives through the plain packaging legislation. That destroys employment and opportunities, and has a knock-on impact on the economy. It affects 900 people directly, and a further 200 indirectly. There is pressure on the economy from those policies.

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom made the ambitious statement that he wanted to make the UK the factory of the European Community. I welcome that statement and ambition, and the aspiration to attract employment here—not only private sector employment, but more Government work flowing to private sector companies. I have a challenge for the Government: to make sure that in attracting companies and making these islands into the factory of Europe, they do not forget about the little island off the coast, and do not forget about Ulster. I challenge them to include Northern Ireland in their ambition, and to make sure that jobs go there. It is easy to kick back and say, “Look, this is really a matter for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland or some other local devolved body to deal with.” That attitude is no longer good enough.

We are all in this together and must ensure that the national Government do as much to encourage employment and inward investment as the local, devolved Administration, who are tasked with doing the same. Northern Ireland is, of course, part of the United Kingdom and wants to play its full role in contributing to it, and delivering jobs. I would like the Minister, if he cannot tell us today, to report back to us with a specific, active strategy to attract employment for small and medium-sized enterprises and factories in Northern Ireland. That will help to rebalance the economy and ensure greater opportunities to bid for contracts—particularly Government contracts, when they come up—because more companies will be operating in Northern Ireland. Government contracts are a benefit to employment, and we want companies based in Northern Ireland to be entitled to bid, and to have the benefit of such contracts.

Both Members who have already spoken in the debate have mentioned broadband, which is critical in enabling viable bids to be made for some contracts. There are many companies at Woodside industrial park in Broughshane in my constituency; it has a local radio station, agri-food manufacturers, a fantastic company called Sunstart Bakery, which makes buns for Buckingham palace, and aeroplanes and international export businesses. Those companies deserve support, but they do not have adequate broadband, and have been campaigning for it for months. That would make the difference and allow the industrial park to continue to grow, and improve its effectiveness in fulfilling contracts. That is a key area for development.

My hon. Friend the Member for South Antrim represents the area of Aldergrove, the international gateway into Northern Ireland. It services employment not only in his constituency but in mine, and in East Antrim. There are moves afoot to try to attract a business park to that location. What an opportunity that would be for all our constituencies—a thriving business park there, supported by Government contracts and readily marketed as an area where companies could be based, with international connectivity, just 45 or 50 minutes from mainland Britain. That would be a huge opportunity for employment.

[Dr McCrea]

Is it not interesting that a short distance from the international airport many companies find it difficult to get a proper broadband connection?

[Ian Paisley]

Broadband connectivity is a serious issue. The problem means that companies are deficient; some company directors send their staff home to work, because they have better broadband connectivity there than in an industrial park. That makes a mockery of the system, and the issue must be dealt with as part of a package of measures to enable the industrial parks to flow.

We are challenged by our neighbour on the island of Ireland; the Republic of Ireland has just this week announced that it intends to build a super-fast train link from Belfast to Dublin airport, so it can take business from our airports and connectivity. We must get ahead of the game. Our neighbour is entitled to compete with us, but we must beat it in the competition. We can show that we are better; we can show it a clean pair of heels. We need a kick-start, and making Government contracts readily available to Northern Ireland companies would provide one for that part of the economy. I welcome this debate for those reasons.

15:25

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to speak in the debate, Mr Davies. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South Antrim (Dr McCrea) on setting the scene, which he did clearly and specifically with reference to his own area. I thank other hon. Members for their speeches. It is a pleasure to see the Minister in his place—I look forward to his response—as well as the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy). Yesterday some of us, in discussion with her, mentioned that there were 100 days to the general election, but she said she was more interested in the next 91 days, because in 91 days’ time something more important for her will happen. We wish her well for when that occasion arrives—congratulations.

This debate is about a topic central to economic progress, on which opportunities to speak are much sought after. SMEs are an area of great importance for Northern Ireland for many reasons. We each have numerous SMEs in our constituencies, and in Strangford they are vital to job creation. There are four or five that began from a small kernel or seed and now employ about 200 people. They are of the utmost importance, because they have been proved to be vital to rebuilding and strengthening the economy in times of much economic uncertainty, such as the past five years. Not only that, but they form the centre of any financial strategy for progress with sustainable regional and national growth. For those reasons we should in all ways promote and encourage entrepreneurship in SMEs. My concerns have to do with funding—its availability, information about it, and the ability of anyone to apply for it.

Another concern stems from the multi-level governance dimension. In the coming months much responsibility will fall to local government, with the reform of the Northern Ireland council structure. Additionally, there are concerns about forthcoming EU directives and their implications for SMEs and Government contracts. A particular European issue recently has been changes to how EU directives will affect SMEs. Figures I have been given suggest that perhaps 150 to 200 SMEs have been forced to close as a result. Perhaps the Minister will comment on that.

I cannot emphasise enough how important SMEs are to Northern Ireland’s economy; I hope that that is shown by Northern Ireland’s European entrepreneurial region status for 2015, which has a focus on SMEs. I congratulate agencies such as Invest NI, local councils and all the SMEs that contributed to achieving that status. A lot of effort went into striving for it, and that effort delivered. I thank everyone who made it a reality. It shows that we are already charging forward in investing in our people, their creativity and their innovation, all three of which are important. What has been achieved is a recognition that we need to put support for such endeavours at the top of our agenda for stimulating sustainable growth and development.

For one thing, local businesses in Northern Ireland were responsible for 90% of the employment increase since 2011. That figure should not be ignored; it represents an astounding one in seven of the working population being employed because of an SME. Invest NI support for local businesses has created or promoted 1,783 jobs from April to the end of November, through targets to assist in SME expansion. Arlene Foster, the Minister at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, and our friend and colleague in the Northern Ireland Assembly, has been active in that area, and has made it a priority. She is very photogenic and is regularly in the paper announcing the expansion of jobs. It is great when that happens on a regular basis in Northern Ireland.

All that should be celebrated, but there is still a long way to go before SMEs gain the clout that they need to compete against larger competitors, as my hon. Friend the Member for South Antrim suggested in his detailed and informative introduction. It is troubling that small businesses in Northern Ireland exported only 4.8% across the EU, while larger businesses exported 80%. There is clearly a gap in our efforts to assist smaller enterprises, which must be addressed with much haste, as my hon. Friend said.

[Sammy Wilson]

Although we are hearing about the downside to procurement and all the rest of it, there are encouraging signs in Northern Ireland. A small company that starts up in Northern Ireland will last 75% longer than a similar company anywhere else in the United Kingdom. We need to put out the message that start-ups are very successful and there is resilience.

[Jim Shannon]

We all value my hon. Friend’s knowledge of business life in Northern Ireland, and he makes a valuable contribution to the debate. Some 30,000 micro-businesses accounted for 89% of local companies. We must emphasise the need to look at the barriers that prevent the rise of SMEs, especially with regard to Government contracts, and address them coherently and fully. Steps have already been taken to look at the accessibility of funding, to simplify the application process and to remove the red tape of bureaucracy that bumps up the costs of application and development in public procurement.

I sometimes wonder how anyone ever gets through the early stages of a business. Years ago, there was less bureaucracy, but today we seem to be entangled with it at almost every level. On the ground, SMEs still find it difficult, costly and sometimes unfeasible to compete with larger competitors.

I congratulate the councils, Invest NI, South East Economic Development and other agencies. Financing their endeavours is only the first of many hurdles faced by SMEs, and it is vital to their success. To have that stage of the process so well accounted for by those valuable agencies is paramount. Through the assistance of such agencies, bank loans to SMEs totalled £408 million in the second quarter of 2014, which represents a rise of 29% on the previous quarter.

Although that work has been important and successful, there is still a lack of clarity about how to identify and access the many sources of available support. I would reject any process that further impeded the accessibility of money through more and more layers of bureaucracy. As of 1 April, Northern Ireland will downsize to a new system of 11 regional super-councils, through which we will do our best to simplify the process and walk SMEs through the steps of accessing Government contracts and funding.

The Northern Ireland Members present are all former Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. My hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson) reminded me when we were preparing for the debate that the Northern Ireland Assembly insisted that Government contracts in Northern Ireland must include a 30-day payment scheme for those who had contracts, many of whom previously had to wait 90 days or longer for payment. It is absolutely ridiculous that small companies should have to wait so long. We can take some credit for moving forward that process in Northern Ireland.

I welcome the fact that the UK Government have pushed forward in their goal of awarding 25% of Government contracts to SMEs. Entrepreneurship will drive our economy forward through innovation and creativity. Therefore, we really need to make the leap of innovation—of becoming a successful endeavour—an attractive idea, given the risks of setting up and upholding an SME.

My hon. Friend the Member for North Antrim (Ian Paisley) referred to broadband, which is a problem not only in his constituency but in all our constituencies. I gather from my constituents that he has had some success in banging together the heads of those responsible, and making sure that the DETI and the NIE get together and achieve success. In my constituency, we have a similar problem, and those involved in online businesses have been prevented from expanding their businesses by the lack of broadband. That seems ludicrous. I cannot understand how the problem can be so prevalent in this age of modernisation. It seems simple to me to make the connection within 100 yards of a business to help it to progress, but we find layers of bureaucracy, obstacles, obstructions and reasons for not doing so. We need to act on that system in good faith and make it better if at all possible.

I have concerns about the EU directives and their implications for our ability to invest in our vital SMEs. I acknowledge that a range of positive measures has come from the EU, and not everything is negative. I know we have lots of problems with the EU, but there are positive aspects on a regional basis, such as the merging of funding into an accessible single portal, which includes the structural funds, with an emphasis on encouraging SMEs as a pivot of national economies. However, I am concerned about the upcoming enforcement of the EU public procurement directive. The directive states that

“for public contracts above a certain value, provisions should be drawn up coordinating national procurement procedures so as to ensure that those principles are given practical effect and public procurement is opened up to competition.”

I am concerned about the implications for local, regional and national SMEs, and about our obligations to protect SMEs on a national level, given that they have put so much back into our economy—not only in growth, but in lowering unemployment levels. What exactly will that mean for the distribution of Government contracts? Will the implementation of the directive create any obligations that will impinge on our goal of awarding 25% of Government contracts to SMEs?

I welcome any measures in the public procurement directive that aim to cut red tape and assist UK companies to make the most of the single market. I hope that the promised new regulations will benefit SMEs by encouraging buyers to break contracts into smaller lots and by reducing the cost of the bidding process. The European Commission claims that they may reduce that cost by as much as 60%. SMEs in my constituency and nationwide need reassurance that the process of obtaining Government contracts will not become more elaborate, confusing or inaccessible, and that their interests will not be compromised by the implementation of the directive. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Antrim for giving us all a chance to contribute, and I look forward to the shadow Minister’s contribution and the Minister’s reply.

15:36

[Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for South Antrim (Dr McCrea) for initiating the debate. He was absolutely right to point out just what a force small and medium-sized business are across the country. There are 5 million of them, and they are what keeps our economy moving. He cited examples from his constituency, and I am sure that all hon. Members will have their own examples in mind. Taken together, SMEs are the single biggest employer in my constituency, and that situation is replicated in many towns, cities and rural areas throughout the country.

There is much more that we could do to support SMEs, which are one of the country’s greatest assets, and to unlock their talent, energy and commitment to their communities. I was interested to hear what the hon. Gentleman said about job creation in Northern Ireland over the past few years. It is fascinating to hear what small businesses manage to do despite all the problems and challenges that they face. Think what more they could do if we put in place more support and took away some of the barriers that they encounter.

We must acknowledge the extent to which SMEs have felt the squeeze in recent years, and the problems surrounding Government contracts, which are the focus of today’s debate, must be seen in that context. An economic policy that imposed huge front-loaded cuts on public services has undoubtedly had an impact on SMEs, because in many areas of the country—this picture is familiar to people in Wigan—that policy has created a toxic mix of unemployment, low wages and insecure jobs, which has stopped people spending money in small shops and businesses, thus costing those businesses trade and, in many cases, jobs. In a few instances, the situation has cost people their entire business, which was why I listened with interest to what the hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) said about the balance that must be struck between conditions on contracts and the need for simplicity. He is absolutely right to raise that point because there is a common picture throughout the country of contracts that contain unnecessary complexity that could be removed, with some concerted effort.

When we talk to SMEs, we often find that they are keen to use Government contracts as a force for social good, as my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde (Mr McKenzie) described when he spoke about apprenticeships and jobs, but they can need Government support to achieve that. The future jobs fund was a good example of a partnership involving public sector bodies at first, and later smaller employers that could not necessarily afford wage subsidies, but wanted to create opportunities. The programme had a significant effect on young people.

In my area, as is the case in many parts of the country, making the living wage a condition of contracts has been hugely helpful for many SMEs, partly because that means that they do not have to engage in a race to the bottom to undercut prices, because if the requirement to pay the living wage is clearly set out in a contract, such companies can compete without driving down the conditions of their work force. SMEs also benefit from that approach because if more people in towns such as mine are paid the living wage, it is more likely that they will have surplus income to spend in local shops and businesses, meaning that the cycle continues.

It is right to recognise that the picture has been very difficult for many SMEs across the country. The huge front-loaded cuts to many local authorities, health services and other public sector bodies have meant that SMEs have lost contracts. Many small businesses that could borrow money easily from banks on a short-term, sustainable basis a few years ago are now struggling due to the loss of trade and contracts. Taken together, all those things have been problematic for this group of businesses.

Despite the cuts, and although central Government are not handing out large contracts or spending huge amounts on public services, and are unlikely to ramp up that spending any time soon, there is far more that they could do by using the range of tools at their disposal. That was why the hon. Member for South Antrim was right to focus on Government contracts and procurement, which are among central Government’s biggest tools for good. Central Government spend £40 billion a year on goods and services, about 10% of which goes directly to SMEs. Over time—I am not making a party political point because this has happened over a considerable period—a trend has developed for putting in place centralised contractual arrangements that, for various reasons, have tended to shut smaller organisations out of the process altogether. As a result, businesses that are closest to their communities, and that deliver services and do the good that hon. Members have talked about, have become subcontractors in a supply chain, if they are able to compete at all. My hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde said that he might need to get out more, and while I could not possibly comment on that, perhaps the same is true for the Government, because there is a regional and local picture to consider, too.

[Sammy Wilson]

Does the hon. Lady accept that, at a time of fiscal constraint, there is a need to get value for money from contracts? That sometimes means that contracts need to be centralised, but one way around that might be to encourage consortiums of small businesses to apply for larger contracts, because such contracts do not necessarily have to exclude small businesses. I sometimes wonder whether we have explored all options of how we ensure that we can have large contracts while still involving smaller firms in delivery.

[Lisa Nandy]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I was just about to address the difficulty that small and medium-sized companies face when bidding for public sector contracts. The hon. Member for South Antrim talked about the lengthy, expensive and unnecessarily complicated process, and the lack of support, so I will not rehearse those points to the Minister, although I am interested in his response to them.

One way in which we can ensure that small and medium-sized businesses are not shut out of the procurement process is by moving that process much closer to communities through the devolution agenda, with more commissioning at a regional level. In the past few years, local enterprise partnerships have been established in the place of the regional development agencies, which were very successful. In some areas, local enterprise partnerships still have to bed in, and we can do much more at the local, regional and national levels to make them work for local communities. I see this being played out at the local level, too, but when resources are scarce in local, national or regional government, there is a perceived tension between getting value for money and giving contracts to local providers or those that can offer over and above in relation to the social good. In reality, small and medium-sized companies are much more effective at delivering such contracts because they are rooted in their community, because they see the social impact of what they do and because they can have regard to a range of factors beyond just day-to-day profit making.

There is a good example of that, from which I hope the Government have learned. During the commissioning process for the Work programme, some smaller providers, including a number from the voluntary sector, pulled out because they felt that they could not make an impact through their contracts. We can see a good example of the problem of contracts being dominated by bigger companies, with smaller organisations acting as sub-primes, because St Mungo’s, the homelessness charity, pulled out because not one person was referred to it through the Work programme during the period of its contract. It is inconceivable to think that, had St Mungo’s been given the contract directly, it would have been unable to find people who were desperate to get into work and could have benefited from the intervention it could offer.

The hon. Gentleman was right to say that such dominance by a small number of larger companies is not effective at any level—it is not good for the public or for SMEs. This is not just about SMEs getting what they deserve; it is about ensuring that we are delivering the best value for money in our communities and across the country.

In the time I have remaining, I will address the length of time it takes for payment to reach SMEs for the services that they provide. We hear the complaint that bigger companies are contracted and small companies have to act as sub-primes. The Government could do much more to act in instances when they have made a payment to a prime provider but that has not yet reached the smaller company at the bottom of the chain.

[Sammy Wilson]

A possible solution when there is a substantial number of subcontractors is the greater use of project bank accounts. Rather than money being paid to the main contractor, it goes into a project bank account to be drawn out as invoices come in. In Northern Ireland, a main contractor can be excluded from applying for public sector contracts for a specified period of time if there are complaints that it is clearly not abiding by the terms of a contract.

[Lisa Nandy]

I would welcome the Minister’s response to the hon. Gentleman’s intervention.

Although the Government’s record on prompt payment is better than that of the private sector, the National Audit Office found a few weeks ago that the figures are skewed by the Government making prompter payments to a few large suppliers. Astonishingly, it is virtually impossible to assess the record of the Cabinet Office and many other Departments because paper invoices are not dated when they arrive, which is a method commonly used by smaller organisations. Despite the Government’s rhetoric, the situation betrays a casual attitude to something that can be make or break for many small businesses. It would be helpful to know what the Minister has done in the past few weeks to address the situation. Were the Government to pay invoices within five calendar days rather than 30, the reduced interest cost to businesses could be worth up to £88 million, according to the NAO, and the reduced cost to the taxpayer could be up to £55 million. The NAO report called for strategic leadership from the Government and I hope the Minister agrees that it is important that the Cabinet Office leads on this by ensuring that its own suppliers are paid on time.

In conclusion, the Government could draw on the success of other countries. Labour would set up a small business administration that could work to mainstream and hardwire such activity in government. That would require a huge cultural change, but there are small things that the Government could do more quickly, such as taking action on late payments, to signal their intent to unlock one of this country’s biggest assets.

15:49

[The Minister for Civil Society (Mr Rob Wilson)]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for South Antrim (Dr McCrea) for securing this debate on such an important subject. I know that much of his concern is born from the experience of a constituency case, and it is absolutely right that he should speak up for small businesses in his constituency. I join him in congratulating all those wealth creators who take the risk of running their own businesses and, ultimately, pay for the public services that we all enjoy.

From the outset, this Government have fully recognised the vital role that small and medium-sized businesses have to play in helping us to achieve the best possible value for money when we buy goods and services. That was why we included in our initial programme for government an aspiration that by the end of this Parliament 25% of direct and indirect Government procurement of goods and services by value should go to SMEs.

That was a bold step considering that, under the previous Government, Departments had no idea how much they were spending on SMEs. After a lot of hard work, we found that it amounted to 6.5% of Government procurement of goods and services in 2009-10, or £3.1 billion. That was a shamefully low figure, given that 95.5% of private sector businesses in the UK are micro-firms—companies with fewer than 10 employees. However, those micro-businesses together accounted for 32% of private sector employment and 20% of private sector turnover.

We recognised that something had to be done to remove the barriers facing SMEs bidding for Government contracts, and we have gone a long way to removing those barriers. During the past four years, we have increased accessibility and transparency, identified and tackled poor procurement practice and provided practical assistance to help SMEs. We are now taking steps to extend those reforms further across the public sector.

In 2011, to increase accessibility, the Government established the Contracts Finder for central Government. That is a one-stop shop to enable suppliers to find procurement and subcontracting opportunities, tender documents and contracts online and free of charge. The Government have also committed, for the first time, to the publication of future contract opportunities to provide greater transparency about future public sector business, and to help suppliers to plan for and win more business.

Contract pipelines also enable the Government to secure deals that offer better value for the taxpayer by allowing for early negotiation with suppliers. The contract pipelines have developed from £40 billion of future spend in 2011 to more than £191 billion on 19 pipelines by December 2014. This information provides a view of major contracting opportunities through to 2020 and beyond, and it includes projected spend on High Speed 2 and the Thames tunnel, to give just two examples.

We have also appointed Stephen Allott as Crown representative for SMEs to be a

“strong voice at the top table”

for SMEs. He works across Government, and with SMEs and their trade associations, to get full value from SMEs and to increase the number of SMEs bidding for and winning Government contracts. We also set up the Cabinet Office SME panel to provide a regular forum for SMEs to raise the issues that concern them most and to hold our feet, as a Government, to the fire.

[Sammy Wilson]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Rob Wilson]

I will continue for a little bit longer, if I may, because I have to get through a lot of questions to which I know the hon. Gentleman and others want answers.

To identify poor procurement practice, we have introduced a mystery shopper service. If a supplier encounters poor practice, such as an over-bureaucratic pre-qualification requirement or unreasonable selection criteria, they can blow the whistle and refer that to our mystery shopper service, which will raise it on their behalf with the contracting authority. We regularly publish the outcomes of mystery shopper investigations on the gov.uk website. We have now received nearly 800 mystery shopper cases, with four out of five investigations resulting in a positive outcome.

In addition, the mystery shopper service has started proactively spot checking procurements by examining procurement documents online. We have instigated nearly 500 spot checks to look at a range of aspects of procurement, and have found issues in around 20% of the checks that we have conducted, including burdensome pre-qualification questionnaires.

Some 45 of those spot checks tested compliance with the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 and involved asking contracting authorities to set out how they considered the requirements of the Act in the pre-procurement stage of service contracts. The sort of evidence that we look for includes whether any consultation took place with the market, and with current and potential service users, and how the conclusions drawn from such consultation were used to shape the requirement. In total, 20% of the authorities examined were unable to provide sufficient evidence of compliance, so we have advised them to ensure they consider the Act in future.

We are particularly conscious of the burden of pre-qualification questionnaires, which are used to select suppliers to be invited to tender, and the pressure that they can place on SMEs. To address that situation, we have eliminated the use of PQQs in 15 out of 17 Departments for all central Government procurement under the EU threshold of approximately £100,000. The two Departments still using PQQs—the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence—are doing so only for security reasons. For those procurements that still require a PQQ, we have introduced a much simpler standard set of questions, which reduces the burden on suppliers and levels the playing field in terms of financial risk and evidence of experience.

We recognise that being paid promptly is vital to enable SMEs to manage their cash flows and to reduce the amount of time wasted on chasing invoices. We are determined to help businesses to manage their cash flows and to transform the culture of late payment. In 2010, to respond to the point made by the hon. Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy), the Government reiterated our policy of paying 80% of undisputed invoices within five days and ensuring that the prime contractors pay tier 2 suppliers within 30 days as a condition of contracting with Departments. We expect our suppliers to follow our example on prompt payment and to pay their subcontractors within the 30-day limit. When this does not happen, we encourage suppliers to report late payment to the mystery shopper service.

We know that we need to do more to improve performance across the public sector, however. We have made much progress in the past four years, but following recommendations by Lord Young of Graffham, we now intend to extend these reforms across the public sector to non-devolved bodies such as the NHS and local councils in England.

We intend to introduce measures in the next few weeks to ensure that 30-day payment terms flow down the public sector supply chains into all new contracts, which will ensure that smaller suppliers benefit from prompt payment. Contracts Finder will be extended to become a one-stop shop for public sector contract opportunities. We have fully redeveloped the original site to make it more user-friendly, including by creating a powerful search facility to make it easier to find and bid for work, and providing the ability to look up contracts by location and postcode. The site will function on multiple devices.

I am conscious of the time, but I want to cover as many of the questions that were asked as possible. We heard about EU procurement rules being unwieldy, and we have negotiated a new procurement directive that will improve the chances of SMEs winning public contracts. Regulations to transpose that directive will be introduced very soon.

As for the EU procurement requirement, as part of this year’s new public contract legislation, there will be more open approaches for supplier procurement and a reaching out to more suppliers, including SMEs. The documentation required from SMEs is being reduced to make it easier for them to access opportunities. The UK engaged proactively in negotiations on a new directive on SMEs and EU markets.

I was asked about aggregating demand with regard to helping SMEs. Breaking large contracts into more manageable lots is key to ensuring that SMEs can compete for aggregated deals, and the new procurement regulations will require contracting authorities actively to consider that. The new public contracts regulations will apply across the whole public sector, apart from devolved bodies, and will include Lord Young’s recommendation to abolish PQQs. Under Lord Young’s reforms, we are requiring the public sector generally to advertise contracts on Contracts Finder. This includes an option to highlight any opportunity as applying to an SME.

The hon. Member for South Antrim talked about an individual company. The Highways Agency fully supports the use of Conemaster on its road networks. It has funded its use in road trials, as well as an analysis of its economic performance, which showed that Conemaster demonstrated a positive benefit-cost ratio of 2:1.

I think that is about as far as I will get on answering hon. Members’ questions, but I would like to say finally that we—

[Philip Davies (in the Chair)]

Order.

Human Rights in Mexico

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Westminster Hall

15:59

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am pleased to have secured the debate, which allows me to raise the issue of human rights in Mexico. I begin by saying that I do not claim any particular expertise in the matter—certainly not as much as my hon. Friend the Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn), who chairs the all-party group on Mexico and will speak briefly later. I am also grateful to my constituent, James Graham, and to members of the local Amnesty group, who brought these concerns to my attention. That led to me requesting the debate.

In many parts of Mexico, insecurity and violence on both sides of the conflict have left communities unprotected and at risk. There are frequent reports of human rights abuses being committed by police and security forces, including enforced disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention. Impunity for those crimes remains the norm. On the other hand, those who try to expose human rights abuses and support victims, such as human rights defenders and journalists, risk violent retribution. Women, indigenous peoples and migrants face discrimination and violence, but their chances of redress are slim. The justice system continues to fail victims, the accused and society. Those are just some of the human rights problems that people have to face in their daily lives.

In the short time available, I want to focus on three key areas: torture, the criminal justice system and the disappearances. Sadly, torture seems to be endemic on both sides of the law in Mexico. Indeed, it appears to be the preferred method of investigation for many police and military officers. It is reported that beatings, sexual abuse and fake asphyxiation are routinely used by the security forces to punish detainees or to extract confessions. One of the many victims of torture is Miriam Lopez. On 2 February 2011, she had just finished her school run when she was abducted by two men wearing balaclavas. She was taken to a military base near Tijuana in Mexico and held for seven days. She was beaten, raped three times, given electric shocks and nearly asphyxiated by her captors to get her to implicate herself and others in drug trafficking offences. She was eventually released without charge.

16:02

Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.

16:13

On resuming—

[Cathy Jamieson]

Before the Division, I was speaking about the situation of Miriam Lopez and the treatment she received. When she was eventually released without charge, she was brave enough to file a formal complaint, but four years have passed and none of her torturers has been brought to justice. Sadly, her ordeal is not unique.

Between 2003 and 2013, there was a 600% rise in the number of torture cases reported to the National Human Rights Commission. Another torture victim, Claudia Medina, told Amnesty that on 7 August 2012 navy marines broke into her home, tied her hands, blindfolded her and took her to the local naval base where she was tortured using electric shocks, sexually assaulted, beaten, kicked and left tied to a chair in scorching afternoon heat. The following day she was again blindfolded and transferred to the federal Attorney-General’s office where she was interrogated and pressured into signing a statement that she was not allowed to read. Later that day, the authorities presented Claudia and the other detainees to the media, claiming that they were dangerous criminals. She was later released on bail. She reported her treatment, prompting a federal judge to request an investigation. Over two years later, no investigation has taken place.

Federal courts dealt with 123 prosecutions for torture between 2005 and 2013, but only seven resulted in convictions under federal law. On paper, Mexico has adhered to the highest international standards in its examination of alleged torture claims, but in reality forensic examinations tend to be poor, late, re-traumatising and biased. For example, detainees should be medically examined following arrest, but many say that that does not happen and that no questions are asked about injuries. The initial examinations that take place are often held in the presence of people who may themselves have been implicated in torture. The medical professionals involved are military officials or employees of the offices of the Attorney-General or of the prison system. Photographs to document injuries are almost never taken, so the potential for torture or other ill treatment to go unrecorded within the system is clear.

I hope the Minister will respond on those two particular cases and tell us whether an investigation to secure justice for Miriam and Claudia is any nearer.

Many arrests are made without evidence or warrants, with suspects allegedly caught red-handed. In many cases, people are arrested without there being any direct connection to a crime or crime scene, due to anonymous tip-offs or because their name has been given by a torture victim. All too often, those arrested are from poor and marginalised communities. They have little access to effective legal support; of course, the less support they have, the more likely it is that they could be tortured.

The victims, their relatives and activists defending their human rights often face threats and intimidation, deterring many from lodging formal complaints. Key safeguards in Mexican law such as the right to a defence from the moment of detention are not upheld. Amnesty has interviewed victims of torture who allege that they were refused access to a lawyer until they had signed a statement. Between 2008 and 2013, 8,500 people in Mexico were held in 80-day pre-charge detention under the arraigo system. Of those, only 3.2% were convicted.

Mexico is also plagued by frequent abductions. Last November, the disappearance of 43 students once again bought the country unwelcome notoriety. In Mexico itself, thousands of people took to the streets to demand an urgent search and justice for the missing students, who were training to become primary school teachers in rural communities. They came from a largely indigenous area with high levels of depravation, discrimination, marginalisation and lack of access to basic services. They were politically active, and many were involved in demonstrations over rural teachers, education policy and other issues.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

The disappearance of the 43 students caused worldwide outrage. They were killed, their bodies burned and their remains wrapped in bags and thrown in a river. At the time, it was indicated that a level of corruption and links to a drugs cartel ran through from the police to the judges and even the mayor of Iguala. Does the hon. Lady feel that if we are to tackle the human rights abuses in Mexico the dirty officials have to be removed?

[Cathy Jamieson]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. In very recent developments within the past day or so, the parents of the students have refused to accept a claim from Mexico’s Attorney-General that the students are dead and have demanded that the search continue. Amnesty believes that the Attorney-General of Mexico has failed properly to investigate allegations of complicity by the armed forces and others in authority. Local police operating in collusion with criminal gangs are thought to be responsible for many of the disappearances, as well as the separate killing of three students and three bystanders.

The hon. Gentleman referred to the local mayor, who is suspected of involvement and was also the subject of separate allegations, from a first-hand victim, of direct participation in violence and murder, which were not investigated. The Mexican Government have to tackle the collusion between the authorities and organised crime. Otherwise, there can be no justice.

The 43 students form part of more than 23,000 cases of people who are missing or have disappeared and whose whereabouts remain unknown. In 2012, the National Human Rights Commission said it was investigating more than 2,000 cases of reported disappearances. Thousands of unidentified bodies lie in mortuaries across the country or have been exhumed from mass graves. The Mexican Government must demonstrate that they are prepared to take serious and urgent action on torture, murder and abduction. That means making it clear that officials can no longer ignore human rights abuses and that anyone implicated in them, directly or indirectly, must be prosecuted. Victims must have access to truth and justice.

I have a few points to put to the Minister. I hope he will agree that the UK Government have a moral obligation to act in the face of torture, abduction and systemic persecution. I hope, too, that he will agree to call for urgent action to stop the use of torture and terror, end the culture of impunity and improve the justice system in Mexico.

Among the issues that I hope the UK will raise with the Mexican authorities are immediate investigation of all allegations of torture and other ill treatment; immediate and proper medical examination of detainees; immediate access to legal counsel for all detainees and enabling them to meet with their families; holding detainees only in recognised detention facilities; abolition of pre-charge arraigo detention; suspected torturers all being held to account, regardless of rank; and reparations to people who have been subjected to torture. With 2015 being the year of the UK in Mexico and of Mexico in the UK, an upcoming visit of the Mexican President also provides an opportunity to raise such issues. We are a key ally of Mexico, so I hope that UK Ministers will harness their diplomatic leverage and urge the Mexican authorities to make human rights a political priority.

Specifically, how will the UK Government use the Mexican President’s state visit to the United Kingdom in March to press for accountability on human rights violations in Mexico? How will the UK Government use the opportunity of the year of the UK in Mexico and of Mexico in the UK to secure tangible progress on human rights? Given the worsening human rights situation in Mexico, will the UK Government include Mexico among the “countries of concern” in the annual Foreign and Commonwealth Office human rights report?

16:19

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Cathy Jamieson) on securing this important debate. I am grateful to her and to the Minister for giving me a few minutes to say something.

I am chair of the all-party group on Mexico and vice-chair of the all-party human rights group. I have led a delegation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to Mexico and visited the country on many occasions—most recently, last November. Furthermore, the all-party human rights group has convened a series of round-table meetings in which we involve Foreign Office officials, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Mexican embassy and the Mexican community in London, and we interact on human rights issues. We are trying to be positive and to make progress, and I hope that the Minister will tell us that this year of relations with Mexico will provide not simply a jamboree for trade and investment, but a serious look at the endemic, systemic human rights problems that exist in Mexico.

Since 2006, 100,000 people have been killed in Mexico in the supposed war on drugs. The number of people missing is difficult to quantify exactly, but is somewhere around 23,000, according to Amnesty, although many independent human rights groups in Mexico put the figure much higher than that. The disappearance of the 43 students at Ayotzinapa in Guerrero state was shocking because it was so brazen; it was shocking because they were taken off a bus and disappeared. The more the investigation goes on, the worse it gets. Every time the investigators look, they find another unmarked grave. Who is in those unmarked graves? Unaccompanied migrants from Guatemala trying to flee to the USA to gain a sustainable living, who have been killed by gangs, often in collusion with the local police. The police are, in turn, in collusion with local officials.

The sense of anger in Mexico is palpable. I was there in November, only a short time after the disappearances, and although I have been to Mexico many times, I have never seen so many people on the streets, so angry and so determined that there should be real political and judicial change. The President is under real pressure.

Among the problems in Mexico are the facts that there are 2,000 different police forces that do not talk to each other and 31 governors who do not talk to each other; disappearances are endemic in many states; and there is a close relationship between some of the politicians in some of those states with the gangs and the disappearances. There is also a problem with the virtual impunity of the armed forces. I hope that the Minister will address those issues in his response today and raise them in discussion with President Pena Nieto during the state visit at the beginning of March.

If there is to be a change in Mexico, it will, in part, be as a result of pressure from outside. I have some sympathy with Mexico, in that guns come south from the unregulated gun trade in Texas and other US states, while drugs produced in Colombia and other places come north. Mexico is therefore a bit of a transit place for all of that, so the issues must be dealt with in part from a wider perspective. I hope we will be able to put on some real pressure for improvements.

Changes have been proposed in the legal system, where British involvement and representation have introduced the idea of adversarial justice, rather than the Napoleonic form of magisterial justice. That is a step forward. However, there is also a need to listen more carefully to independent human rights groups in Mexico, rather than just to the Mexican Government and the Mexican human rights commission. In my experience, the independent human rights groups have much more of a finger on the button. They are prepared to prosecute cases, to take them to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and to bring about real change.

Mexico is a country of the most amazing history, contrasts and diversity, but it is also a place of great sadness. I conclude with this thought. One weekend, my wife and I were in Cuernavaca—a beautiful city not so far from Mexico City. As we arrived, we heard that 12 bodies had been suspended from a bridge and that the heads had been left by the side of the road. That was some kind of signal to somebody; that is the degree of human rights abuses, fear and threats in Mexico.

As a friend of Mexico, we should use our relationship with it to put on all the pressure we can for genuine human rights dialogue. We should also call Mexico to account when it comes to the UN Human Rights Council in March, so that the universal periodic review recommendations it said it was accepting are actually implemented and so that people in Mexico can develop their justice and human rights in their country.

16:27

[The Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Cathy Jamieson) on securing a debate on this important issue. It is timely, given the approaching state visit by the President of Mexico.

This would hardly be a debate on Latin American matters without the contribution of the hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn), whom I have heard speak on these themes on other occasions in the House. No one in the House, whatever political party they represent, has any doubt about his long-standing, principled commitment to human rights in that part of the world.

It is important to commend the excellent work done by the all-party groups on Mexico and on human rights, as well as the initiative they showed in organising two recent round-table discussions on human rights in Mexico. They secured the participation of not only Members of both Houses, but the Mexican embassy to the United Kingdom and Amnesty International. The fact that not only non-governmental organisations that had been critical of the state of human rights in Mexico, but representatives of the Mexican Government were able to take part is a good indication of the way in which we should continue discussions on these subjects.

The hon. Lady mentioned the cases of Miriam Lopez and Claudia Medina. We are aware of those cases, which have been widely reported. I will ask the Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), who has ministerial responsibility for Latin America, to write to her and other Members present with more detail about those particular cases.

The disappearances and killings in Iguala and Tlatlaya have, understandably, prompted significant international concern. In many ways, they have come to symbolise the concerns felt about human rights and impunity in Mexico. As the hon. Member for Islington North acknowledged, we all need to recognise the genuine and serious security challenges that Mexico faces. We have been among the countries closely monitoring the recent tragic events and the Mexican Government’s response, and I will say a little more later about some of the initiatives that we have taken here and through our embassy in Mexico City.

The Mexican Government continue to express their commitment to human rights and have a good track record of engaging with the United Nations and other international human rights bodies. I know that Members who went to the all-party group round-table on 3 December last year welcomed the presence of Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Juan Manuel Gomez-Robledo, and his confirmation that the Mexican Government had agreed that the Inter-American Commission On Human Rights should create an interdisciplinary group of independent experts to examine his Government’s response to and investigation into the particular case of Iguala.

[Jim Shannon]

In my earlier intervention, I specifically mentioned the 43 students who went missing. Have our Government had any discussions with the Mexican Government on the disappearance of the 43 students and the corruption that let that happen? In response to my intervention, the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Cathy Jamieson) mentioned that the families have, as yet, no knowledge of where their loved ones are. Have we had any correspondence or discussion with the Mexican Government? If we have, what has come back?

[Mr Lidington]

In particular through our embassy in Mexico City, but also in our contacts through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Mexican embassy in the United Kingdom and with Mexican visitors to the country, we certainly express our deepest concerns about those cases, the disappearances and the subsequent discovery of hidden graves in Iguala.

The Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon, raised the Tlatlaya and Iguala cases in high-level political talks in Mexico in November last year. We very much support the declared intention of the Mexican authorities to carry out an exhaustive investigation to try to find the missing students and to bring justice for the victims and their families. As the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun said, in the past few days there have been reports that the students are dead, but the families are challenging that. It is important that a thorough investigation is carried out so that the families, whatever the outcome, feel that everything possible has been done to find out what happened to their children.

The Mexican Government’s plan to address insecurity, announced in November 2014, included a series of reforms to the police service. As the hon. Lady said in her opening speech, the police have been the focus of quite a lot of the critical commentary on Mexico’s human rights record. The proposal is that Mexico’s 1,800 municipal police forces be replaced with 32 state- level forces and that a specific law on torture and enforced disappearances should be enacted. The Mexican Government have also committed themselves to new legislation allowing for the dissolution of local governments infiltrated by organised crime. Clearly it is not only that declaration and plan, welcome though they are, that are important, but action to see that plan implemented.

[Cathy Jamieson]

That information is helpful and welcome, but does the Minister agree that simply making those structural changes will not necessarily have the required effect, unless those new police forces have a different culture and different training? Does he have any information on who will assist in trying to make that happen?

[Mr Lidington]

I completely agree. Wherever one looks in the world, changes to the structure and the organisation of institutions are important. We should not deride that sort of reform, but those sorts of administrative changes need to embody cultural change, too. That is a lesson I am well aware of from my ministerial work with Governments in parts of central and eastern Europe—I am thinking of some of the Balkan countries, in particular. Changes to an organisation’s structure are necessary to trigger cultural reform of the type the hon. Lady described.

We stand ready to support the Mexican Government in their efforts to strengthen processes and mechanisms so that those responsible for human rights abuses are brought to justice. In recent years, the FCO’s human rights work in Mexico has focused on tackling impunity in particular as a way of improving human rights across the country.

The hon. Lady asked how we propose to deal with the question of human rights in the context of the forthcoming state visit. We are keen to help Mexico to strengthen its capacity to uphold its human rights obligations—it is party to all those international conventions that proscribe torture and other abuses of human rights—as well as to tackle its security challenges. We see the state visit as an opportunity to strengthen our bilateral relationship. That, in turn, will allow for continued full and frank conversations, including about human rights.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I thank the Minister for giving way; I know he has only a couple of minutes left. During the discussions, will he raise the impunity of the armed forces in relation to the decision taken by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on one of the cases there and whether the belief is that the new law in Mexico meets the requirements of that court?

[Mr Lidington]

I will make sure that that idea is drawn to the attention of both the Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon, and the Foreign Secretary.

The war on drugs featured as a case study in last year’s FCO human rights report, and the issue of Mexico and impunity will feature in this year’s report.

During 2013-14, our embassy in Mexico City helped to fund an initiative called Citizens in Support of Human Rights—or CADHAC, to use the Spanish acronym—to support efforts to strengthen criminal prosecution and judicial processes in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, where the majority of enforced disappearances are alleged to have happened. We believe that as a result of that project, the legal framework to address enforced disappearances has been strengthened and access to justice improved, but we are continuing efforts to build and strengthen links with human rights organisations in Mexico and to secure funding for similar grass-roots projects now and for the future.

In the coming months, we will be supporting a project to strengthen the judicial system in the state of Chiapas, and in the future we particularly hope to support charities and NGOs working to tackle enforced disappearances. We believe that regular constructive dialogue with Mexico will bring the best results for human rights defenders and victims of human rights abuses and violations.

The UK enjoys a strong bilateral relationship with Mexico that allows for full and frank conversation. We have well established co-operation on such matters as climate change, transparency, non-proliferation and international development. The 2015 year of the UK and Mexico and the state visit of President Pena Nieto in early March will provide further scope for such constructive engagement. One of the messages that we raise in our discussions with Mexican Ministers and officials is that greater respect for human rights and the rule of law and improved security will lead to a better environment for business and investment. The two should not be seen as in any way in opposition. Respect for the rule of law gives confidence to business in terms of trade and investment commitments in the future.

It is right that the international community, including the United Kingdom, should respond vigorously to allegations of human rights violations in Iguala and elsewhere. We recognise the human rights challenges that Mexico faces, and through constructive dialogue as part of a positive, bilateral relationship, we stand ready to support the Mexican Government in their efforts to deliver on their international human rights commitments and ensure that those responsible for human rights abuses are brought to justice and held accountable.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I want to make one last point to the Minister. Will he assure the House that the embassy will be fully staffed in Mexico City—I pay tribute to the staff there; I have met them many times and they are always extremely helpful—to ensure that there is a good, strong and effective human rights and legal affairs team there that can take part both in European monitoring as well as UN monitoring of what is going on in Mexico? We all need to take part to improve the human rights and life chances of many people in Mexico.

[Mr Lidington]

Our ambassador and his team see human rights as a very important part of their responsibilities, but again I shall make sure that that strong message from the House this afternoon is conveyed both to him and to the officials to whom he reports.

Rail Services (Blackpool North)

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Westminster Hall

16:40

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. It is fortuitous to be called to speak in this debate now, given the timely change that is happening for rail in Lancashire, and the number of rumours flowing in local papers and on the internet. I am grateful for the opportunity. I agonised a little over what subject to propose for the debate: should it be about rail services from or to Blackpool North? Blackpool is a holiday resort so we want people to come to it, but I would not want to deny my constituents the chance to travel from the station at some point. So, I covered both. I have a lot to get through, so I will be as brief as I can.

Blackpool North is no tiny rural stopping point. It is the eighth largest station on the northern rail network. Its size needs to be set against the 66% increase in passenger numbers in the whole northern franchise in the past decade. However, there has recently been an immense amount of negative coverage in the local press about Blackpool North rail services. Real concerns have been raised, and it is worth quoting the council’s recent submission to the franchise consultation:

“Government and Network Rail’s continued commitment to national rail investment in an austere period is welcome”.

I endorse those sentiments—all our comments should be placed in that context—but a handful of people passionately believe that the Government are seeking in some way to downgrade services to Blackpool North. If that is so, they have found an expensive way to go about it. However, I would welcome a stern rebuttal from the Minister, explaining why that is not what is happening.

We have a lot of good news to trumpet. We have just restored the direct rail service to London Euston with Virgin. It is not ideal timing. At 5.25 in the morning even I am not at my best—believe it or not—and the 4.30 pm return journey from Euston means that many things that people might want to do during the day cannot be done, but it is better than nothing. However, my real concern is that it should not be just a short-term wonder that will disappear when the franchise process is over and Virgin feels secure and can stop it again. I would welcome some reassurance on that point.

We need to make sure that when electrification is complete we upgrade the rolling stock in line with that new capability. Electrification is the second piece of good news. The line between Preston and Blackpool will be significantly enhanced, but the consultation in early 2014 suggested it would all be done by March 2017. I would welcome clarification, because there has been a lot of argument locally about what the precise timings are. Are they still as they were in the original consultation or has there been slippage? If so, is that related to finance—the money made available by the Government in the next control period—or has it more to do with the change in the sequencing of the different electrification projects, because of changes at Euxton junction station box, which I think lies at the heart of it?

There are queries about rolling stock. As the Minister knows, we have an excellent service from Blackpool North to Manchester airport, using class 170 units. However, they have a crucial flaw for a route connecting a holiday resort and an airport—there ain’t much luggage space on them. People struggle to cram their suitcases on and children hang off the sides—not quite; that would be a rail safety issue. However, it is incredibly overcrowded, and that needs to change.

I suppose I should welcome the fact that we are to have larger trains with more seats—800,000 per annum, in fact. That must be a good thing, but the cost of solving that capacity problem will be that we shall be using older carriages. The hon. Member for Blackpool South (Mr Marsden) regards the trains in question as less comfortable, and they may well be for someone whose bottom is sitting on them, but I commuted for many years from Layton to Salford Crescent on those services, and nothing is less comfortable than a standing journey all the way to Manchester. This is an improvement, but I hope the Minister can see that it is a case of one step forward and perhaps one step back. We have not made enough progress on improving that rolling stock.

Another annoyance is that the carriages that we thought we were getting appear to be heading down to leafy Oxfordshire, to the Chiltern line. That has caused a little bit of local resentment, and I could not possibly comment on why that might be.

The next concern, which the Minister is no doubt sick to death of hearing about, is the Pacers—the buses on wheels. They are absolutely appalling; no one disagrees about that. I welcome the fact that they will be refurbished, but that is not quite enough to put a smile on my face, because I am concerned that within the new franchising process there will be some sort of pay-off—better rolling stock, but fewer stopping services. That would affect another station in my constituency, Layton, where I used to embark for my commuting, because it has seen an increase in passenger numbers in the past year alone of 11.5%. If the cost of getting better carriages on the Blackpool North line is fewer stopping services, Layton will suffer, and Layton is a major commuting point, so I would like the Minister to take account of that concern.

I am glad that the Government recognise that Pacers have had their day. I just wish that we had slightly better alignment over when we actually get round to replacing them, so that it could be done a little more quickly. This goes to the nub of rolling stock policy. I regard it as the equivalent of quadratic equations in terms of rail policy. Despite years of trying, I have never got my head around either of them. I spent a good few years on the Select Committee on Transport and I struggled to work out how rolling stock procurement in this country functioned. I failed: whenever I thought I had got it, another little quirk crept in. It is a very frustrating process, and everyone looks at everyone else in it. We seem to be spending an awful lot of money enhancing the network—that is very welcome—but I am talking about improvements in routings, in the track and in the capability of the track. At the same time, we are not investing at the same pace in the rolling stock that can operate on it. That was a clear finding in the most recent Transport Committee report. In my view, the two have to go together.

Rolling stock leasing companies appear bereft of the ability or unwilling to state how they will improve rolling stock provision. No one seems willing to grasp the levers, pull them and make the upgrades happen. What we seem to get is the leftovers from down south, which are cascaded northwards. I would far rather have a clearer view of when improved rolling stock will come, even if it is a few more years into the future.

My next concern relates to how Northern and TransPennine Express will interact as two separate franchises. There is a suggestion that some of the Blackpool North services will be folded into the Northern franchise. That causes a degree of local concern. People are also looking rather enviously, for a change, over at Cleethorpes. We normally look down on Cleethorpes as a lesser seaside resort, but people in Cleethorpes have achieved a great deal, because they have managed to save their TransPennine Express franchise, and good for them—well done to the Member of Parliament there—but if Cleethorpes can have that, why cannot Blackpool North?

We are quite keen on our TransPennine Express franchise and want to keep its services, too. What impact would that have on our routes to York and the relatively new route to Huddersfield, all of which are important for getting tourists into town at the height of the summer season? I would far rather be making the case for new routes and services from Blackpool North than fighting to retain and justify what we already have.

The new announcement that TransPennine Express will use some Northern rolling stock on Blackpool North services in the coming weeks as part of the cascade process makes me concerned that the decision has already been made and set in stone and therefore will not be changed. I would welcome the Minister’s comments on that in particular.

However, I really want to focus on today’s little bombshell in my inbox, which is the suggestion that in some way we will now see fewer services to Liverpool Lime Street. They will reduce from four an hour to three an hour and terminate at Preston. Anyone who has had the misfortune to terminate at Preston and have to transfer to a Blackpool service knows that that is not a pleasant experience. There are better things to do close to midnight than trudge over that dreadful station bridge while carrying luggage. It is simply not good enough.

In addition, two of the most popular originating stations for travellers to Blackpool North are Liverpool Lime Street and Wigan North Western, both of which will be affected by the proposed change. I want to know what new services can be included for Blackpool North; it should not just be a case of trying to retain the old ones. I would be grateful for clarity from the Minister on the latest rumour.

There are things to welcome. The northern hub has excited me ever since I first heard about it because it is an opportunity to transform rail services across the north. The language of the northern powerhouse and the possibility of HS3 signify great things for the future, but we also have the here and now to worry about. I welcome devolution in the form of Rail North, which is a good step. Part of me regrets the lost four years after we abolished “The Northern Way”, which was rapidly heading in that direction. After abolishing it, we stepped back for four years before reinventing the wheel and calling it Rail North. There has been a lost opportunity, but Rail North is a real chance. I share the Select Committee’s concern that smaller authorities such as Blackpool might feel a bit left out in the formation of Rail North. Are they hearing all the information that they need to hear? The report contains some concerning suggestions.

I stress the importance to the resort of services to Scotland and the Pennine towns, especially in south Yorkshire, to which we have poor links. That relates to open access, which is one of my hobby horses. The Government have not done enough on open access. I am glad that the Competition and Markets Authority will try to put a bomb under the Office of Rail Regulation to allow for more open access, which can only be a good thing.

Open access will benefit places such as Blackpool North. When we have our Glasgow week, I want loads of services bringing people down from Glasgow, but I do not want those services every week of the year. There is capacity on that stretch of the west coast main line, and such services could be incorporated and would be attractive. It needs to be much easier for people to take that step, invest in the services, and be innovative and creative in growing the passenger base. Good connectivity within the northern hub cannot rely only on people changing trains at Manchester Piccadilly, however smooth and swift that may be. We need more services that go across the northern part of the Pennine routes so that people do not have to go through Manchester Piccadilly. It is important for the Government to dwell on that.

The Minister might have noted last week’s Centre for Cities report comparing different city regions. Blackpool did not come out well. I think a few statistical quirks lay behind that, but the sum total was that some 14,000 jobs have been lost since 2004. However, I am pleased to say that private sector job growth in my constituency has been stark since 2010, so it is going in the right direction in my local area. It is easy to link that to other areas of the north such as Halifax, Hartlepool and Sunderland, which have all seen private sector growth and general job growth over that decade.

What connects those three towns? They all have good, competitive open-access arrangements alongside the franchise alternatives, which is driving the market to the benefit of passengers. It is also good for the local economy and for jobs growth. I would like the Government to be more ambitious for open access in the north because it can deliver on economic growth.

My final point is slightly obtuse, but it is important none the less for many of my constituents. When I was standing waiting for the train down to Euston one Monday morning, staff from two rail companies approached me with very serious concerns about staff safety on trains going in and out of Blackpool North. The period of risk for staff, and indeed for passengers, on those trains is elongated compared with many other towns because of the nature of our entertainment industry. Throwing out times can be at any hour of the day or night, and many who leave the nightclubs at 3 am will get on the first train in the morning from Blackpool North. There is concern about the inadequate number of British Transport police on the right trains at the right time when staff are at greatest risk.

I wrote to British Transport police on 9 October, and I have not heard a dicky-bird since, which is deeply disappointing. I still have constituents who are being put at risk and who would love to see more British Transport police on the platforms, particularly on bank holiday weekends, but also on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the year. The key early morning trains, including the first train of the day, may well be the most risky for staff. The Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers agrees with me—I do not usually pray the RMT in aid, but on this occasion we are in agreement—and I would welcome the Minister putting some pressure on British Transport police to look into that situation.

In my 15 minutes—I have just made it by 10 seconds—I have given the Minister an awful lot to reply to. I look forward to hearing what she has to say.

16:55

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Claire Perry)]

As always, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard) on securing this vital debate on train services to and from Blackpool North station. He has spoken eloquently about the opportunities and investment that Government plans for rail in the north of England have brought to the vital seaside resort of Blackpool and the rest of the region. I thank him for his words of support for the overall direction of the investment plan and hope that I will be able to address all of his points in the minutes left to me.

It is an exciting time for rail passengers in the north of England. My hon. Friend represents a beautiful constituency with an amazing huge, vaulted station, built in Victorian times to deal with the millions of people who travelled by rail to take their holidays in Blackpool. Frankly, like the rest of the country, his part of the world has suffered from years of under-investment in the rail network and in rolling stock, as he rightly pointed out. That is why I am so pleased that it is this Government who have set out plans to spend an unprecedented £38 billion on the rail network over the next five years—the biggest investment since Victorian times.

There will soon be two new rail franchise lets in my hon. Friend’s region, Northern and TransPennine Express. Shamefully, under the previous Government those franchises were let on a zero-growth, zero-investment basis. On my watch, they will be let absolutely on the basis that there will be more growth and investment to benefit passengers who travel to and from Blackpool North and right across the region. That is because the economy of the north is vital to the prosperity of this country, from the huge cities of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield to industrial and freight hubs such as Hull and cultural and tourist centres such as Blackpool. It is vital that we keep investing.

We will also continue to invest in the most significant rail modernisation programme for generations. As my hon. Friend mentioned, that includes the northern hub programme and the electrification of routes in the north-west, including the recently announced confirmation of electrification of the Windermere branch and the north TransPennine line between Manchester and York.

My hon. Friend asked about the timing of that electrification. I can confirm that the electrification from Preston to Blackpool is planned for early 2017, within this capital period. As he knows, the programme is complicated and the work has not been undertaken before, so it is absolutely right that sequencing is carried out. However, I can confirm that those are the current dates for the work.

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has also set out his vision of a northern powerhouse, bringing together the cities of the north of England so that they can take on the world. That is why we are looking at electrification right across the region, as well as options for how we can create high-speed rail services in the north of England, plans dubbed “HS3”. That is how we are building a long-term economic plan for this vital region and the country as a whole.

As my hon. Friend rightly pointed out, we do not want to talk only about jam tomorrow; we want to talk about steps to improve and enhance services for his constituents now. Like him, I was delighted to welcome the launch of the Virgin Trains west coast direct service. It had not happened for the previous 11 years. I am told the service is well used—I know both he and my hon. Friend the Member for Fylde (Mark Menzies) have taken it. It came about as a result of the Government’s negotiations with the operator of the new direct award franchise on the west coast.

My hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys asked whether the service would continue. That is an operational matter, but based on current traffic numbers and what the service’s bosses say, I cannot imagine that it would not be common sense to keep it running. It means that people from his constituency can get down to London on weekday mornings in time for a 9 o’clock meeting, albeit with a very early start. I know that Virgin worked hard with the Department to find a way to provide those services. Also, let us not forget the direct services to Shrewsbury that were secured at the same time.

My hon. Friend raised concerns about crowding on services from Blackpool and the implications of the transfer of the class 170 trains from TPE down to the leafy Chilterns. As he knows, that decision is a commercial one made by the private sector rolling stock operator, but it was vital that the Department worked with operators and the leasing company to make sure that current services could be maintained on the franchise.

My hon. Friend will know that some of the trains now running on his lines, the class 156 trains, are older. However, they look reasonable—I have looked at them—and will provide a significant increase in capacity on those vital lines, with about 2,500 more seats a day being provided from Blackpool to Manchester Airport station via Bolton. That is, of course, a relatively short-term solution until electrification continues across the whole network. I take his point about luggage capacity, which is very important for people travelling to and from airports and to Blackpool North. I hope that he will report back to me that people can get on with their cases, given that a little more space is being provided.

I believe that the solution is a decent one. It works, and it has an impact on crowding on the line. The new franchise, which will be let on the basis of new investment in the north, is the perfect time to take a look at the rolling stock solution for the region in the long term. The Pacers, as everyone from the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer has said, have served their time. There are other opportunities, particularly for electrified trains.

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard) on securing the debate. He is a true advocate for rail transport on behalf of his constituents. When it comes to investment, I urge the Minister to look at Kirkham and Wesham station, where there is no disabled access lift. If we are improving services, we must improve them for disabled people, too, to ensure that they can access the trains from that busy station.

[Claire Perry]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that vital point, and we will certainly look at that as part of the overall franchise specification. You and I have had many conversations about the Pacers, Mr Davies. I have seen them for myself and travelled on them, and I believe that passengers’ concerns are entirely justified.

Bidders on the Northern franchise will be expected to include plans to phase out the outdated Pacer trains. The exact details are being considered and will be contained in the invitation to tender, which is expected to be published shortly. The new franchise is the right time to set out the growth aspiration for routes right across the north, including those in my hon. Friends’ constituencies, and I am looking forward to making those announcements.

My hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys referred to the potential for services from Blackpool North to Manchester airport to be remapped, so that they would all fall under one franchise. The thinking behind the proposal was that it would allow the entire electric fleet to be managed by Northern, which might provide a more efficient solution for rail services. The consultation, published last year, included a specific question on that, and we have listened carefully to the responses.

No final decision has been taken, contrary to what my hon. Friend may have heard. We have had a number of representations. To be absolutely clear, I expect there to be no decline in service quality, regardless of any route mapping. It would not be acceptable to remap for operational efficiencies and expect passengers to suffer a downgraded service quality. That will not happen on my watch.

I wanted to reply to a couple of the other points that my hon. Friend raised. One point was about Blackpool’s voice within Rail North, and how loudly Blackpool could shout in that forum. I know that Blackpool stands up and punches above its weight in many other areas, so it would be entirely appropriate for the voice of Blackpool and the entire county to be heard. The intention of Rail North is to get closer to rail users so that decisions are made not by my very effective officials, but at a local level for the benefit of local people. I hope that Blackpool will have a strong voice in that process.

My hon. Friend raised a worrying concern about staff safety. I commend, as I am sure he does, the staff on the trains on dealing with circumstances that sound difficult. I will certainly raise that point directly with the head of the British Transport police, Paul Crowther. I will ask for a response to my hon. Friend’s letter and what can be done to improve staff safety.

My hon. Friend also asked about open access. I share his view on that, and we have many conversations about it in the Department, because I, too, see the benefits that it can bring. Of course, there are always challenges when we are looking at the overall package and letting franchises based on the revenue that might be available. I will not go any further than that, for fear of upsetting my officials.

In conclusion, I hope that my hon. Friend and other hon. Members have been reassured that the Government are passionate about the improvement required to rail services in the north of England, particularly in his constituency. The Government are listening to the needs of passengers. I have said before, and I will say again, that the railway is not simply a series of metal boxes on wheels being shunted around; it is about moving people around, to and from their holidays, jobs and families. It is vital that their needs are put at the heart of our decisions.

We are making investments in the region in tracks and rolling stock. I look forward to hearing from my hon. Friend in the next Parliament, should we both be lucky enough to be returned, about the impact that that is making on the vital economic performance of the area that I know he is proud to represent, and which he represents so assiduously.

Question put and agreed to.

17:05

Sitting adjourned.