Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

A new report by a former president of the British Veterinary Association states that more than 25% of meat sold in our shops comes from animals that have not been stunned before slaughter. That figure exceeds easily the needs of our communities with special religious requirements, and it suggests that some abattoirs are cutting corners and costs. May we please have a statement from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the measures in place to protect our animal welfare laws, and on whether any new measures are needed to ensure that we enforce them properly?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend raises an important and sensitive issue. Obviously, ideally, all animals should be stunned before slaughter, but she will recognise that there are religious issues here and that people have a preference to have their meat presented differently. We will, however, consult on measures to improve the welfare of animals slaughtered in accordance with religious rites when we consult on measures to implement regulation 1099/2009, which comes into effect on 1 January next year. The regulation deals specifically with the protection of animals at the time of killing, so there will be an opportunity for my hon. Friend to influence the decision-making process later this year.

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 22nd March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Lady raises a good question. There will be Health questions on Tuesday, when there may be opportunity for her to ask it, but I will in any event raise it with the Secretary of State for Health and ask him to write to her, to ensure that information that should be in the public domain remains so.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

Many of my younger constituents will be delighted with the news about the enterprise loans announced in yesterday’s Budget, which will help them set up their own businesses. May we have a debate on how we can build on such measures to help our young entrepreneurs?

[Sir George Young]

We can indeed have such a debate, and it will commence when business questions finish. I am delighted to hear that the enterprise loans scheme is alive and well in my hon. Friend’s constituency, with which I have some acquaintance. We all have a role to play in making information about it available in our constituencies, so that young people can get access to those loans, build their own businesses and help build a thriving community in west London.

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 1st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

There is a pile of rubble in the centre of Ealing on the site where the Ealing cinema used to stand. Empire, which owns the site, has consistently disappointed and frustrated many of my constituents by failing to deliver on its promises to build a new cinema and by evading all opportunities to explain the continued delay.

[Sir George Young]

As the former Member for Ealing Acton, I spent many evenings in that cinema, and I am sorry to hear that it has been demolished. My hon. Friend will know that under planning legislation, the planning authority can impose a condition that rebuilding shall start by a given date, and it has powers to commence that work if the applicant does not do so. I very much hope that the London borough of Ealing will look again at the planning powers available to it—under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, I think—and take whatever action it can to ensure that my hon. Friend can go to a decent cinema in her constituency.

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 10th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I applaud the work that is done at Feltham with often very vulnerable and disturbed young people. We had Justice questions on Tuesday; I am not sure whether the hon. Gentleman had an opportunity to raise the matter then. I will raise it with appropriate Ministers at the Ministry of Justice and see whether there is a way to protect that important programme.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner on the “total policing”, as he calls it, which saw a successful conclusion to yesterday’s protest in London? The Mayor of London is on target to put an extra 1,000 police officers on the streets of London by the end of this term of office. May we have a debate on the effective deployment of police officers when tackling public disorder and protest?

[Sir George Young]

I am delighted that yesterday’s protest went off peacefully. I commend the work of the Mayor of London on reducing crime in the capital and ensuring that there are more police patrols, for example by having single patrolling. I am sure that Londoners will recognise the wisdom of his administration when they go to the polls next year.

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

Ealing recently held its first public scrutiny meeting on the aftermath of the riots. One of the main concerns was the slowness with which insurance companies have been responding to claims from riot victims. If that is the case, it is totally unacceptable. Will my right hon. Friend raise the matter with the Business Secretary and perhaps ask for a statement to be made to the House?

[Sir George Young]

It would be quite wrong of insurance companies to penalise the victims of the riots by withholding the compensation to which they are entitled. I say in passing that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has extended the period during which businesses can claim for compensation. I will certainly raise the matter with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, who may want to raise it with the Association of British Insurers. I am sure that individual Members of Parliament will take up any case where an injustice has been done to their constituents, and pursue it directly and vigorously with the insurance company concerned.

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 16th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I have had a very quick conversation with my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who is sitting beside me, and I understand that he has the answer to the questions the hon. Gentleman has just posed somewhere in his red folder.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

Later this afternoon, a plaque is being unveiled at the excellent Brentham club in Ealing to commemorate Fred Perry, who started his tennis career there. Does the Leader of the House agree that we want more of our young tennis players to get into the top rankings and that it might be helpful to spend some time in a debate working out how we can help to achieve that?

[Sir George Young]

I have happy memories of the Brentham club, which used to be in my Ealing constituency, and I am delighted to hear of the event commemorating Fred Perry. I also have happy memories of the Ealing lawn tennis club, which I hope is also surviving. I would welcome a debate on sport and how we might do more to encourage young people, not only in tennis, but in other activities. I very much hope that 2012—I hope I may mention that date without getting into serious trouble—will provide an opportunity to raise the profile of sport and encourage more young people to get involved.

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 4th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his questions.

On Tuesday, the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), made it quite clear that the Government had made no decision on prisoner voting rights. I remind the right hon. Gentleman that in its 16th report of the Session, published in 2007, the Joint Committee on Human Rights criticised the then Government on the issue, stating that the time taken to produce the second consultation paper was “disproportionate”, and that the Government’s failure to enfranchise “at least part” of the prisoner community was “unlawful”. That was three years ago, and during those three years the Government did absolutely nothing. The right hon. Gentleman will have heard what the Prime Minister said about that yesterday. It is another example of the coalition Government clearing up a mess that we inherited from the outgoing Labour Government.

The Prime Minister made an oral statement in the House on Monday, during which he said that the treaty to which the right hon. Gentleman referred would be signed the following day and

“laid before Parliament in the usual way.”—[Official Report, 1 November 2010; Vol. 517, c. 615.]

There is no secrecy about that. The Prime Minister’s statement was followed by a written ministerial statement on Tuesday morning. The Command Papers and explanatory memorandums will accompany each treaty when it is presented to Parliament for scrutiny in the usual manner in the next few days.

On tuition fees, the right hon. Gentleman—and his colleague, the hon. Member for Harrow West (Mr Thomas), yesterday—gave no indication at all of the Labour party’s reaction to Lord Browne’s report, which Labour itself commissioned. We are determined to have a fair system: a system that is free at the point of access, that enables more students from low-income backgrounds to participate, that offers generous student support and that is progressive by expecting only those who have completed their learning and are earning more to pay more.

On disability living allowance, the right hon. Gentleman raised the serious issue of whether one should align those in residential care funded by the NHS who lose the mobility component with those who are funded by social services who do not. There is an issue of equity between two people in identical circumstances living in the same home who at the moment receive differential treatment, and of course there should be adequate opportunity to debate it.

Finally, on the issue of photographs, it is important not to lose sight of the big picture. The right hon. Gentleman will have seen the statement by my noble Friend the Minister without Portfolio. The previous Prime Minister spent £40,000 a year on an image consultant and Labour spent over half a million pounds on photographs and videos in its last three years in office alone, so I honestly do not think it is fitting for the right hon. Gentleman to criticise this Government for misuse of the media.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will know that Horn lane in Acton is one of the most polluted roads in London, largely, it seems, because a group of industrial units still operate there. Local residents have now set up a campaign to try to deal with the problem, but they have discovered that it is virtually impossible to get anything done because they must prove that an individual unit is responsible. Does my right hon. Friend agree that a debate would help in identifying some new measures that might assist in tackling the problem?

[Sir George Young]

As my hon. Friend may know, I lived in Horn lane when I was the Member of Parliament for Ealing, Acton, and I apologise to her for not resolving this problem during my 23 years representing that constituency. She raises an important issue that might be an appropriate subject for an Adjournment debate, at which one of my colleagues from the Department for Communities and Local Government would be able to respond.

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 22nd July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman may not have seen me, because I was sitting where the Dispatch Box might have obscured his view. He will have seen in column 532 that my hon. Friend the Minister referred to “the Government’s decision”.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

Many of us would have been pleased to see the action of the bailiffs to clear the so-called village from Parliament square, but slightly dismayed to find the remnants still parked on the pavement. Does the Leader of the House agree that some time should be made available to debate robust measures to clear up the mess once and for all, so that the square is open for all to enjoy and for legitimate protest?

[Sir George Young]

I commend the action that the Mayor of London has taken, supported by the courts, to enable the green to be cleared and, I hope, restored, so that it is a visual amenity and not an eyesore. Clearly there is work still to be done because the pavement is obstructed, and that is a matter for Westminster city council. I understand that a meeting took place recently between Westminster city council and the House authorities to discuss options for dealing with the encampments, but we are also considering amending the current legal framework governing protests around Parliament square and seeing how local byelaws might be strengthened.

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 17th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

This is an important issue and our priority is to tackle drink and drug driving in the most effective way. I listened to the Transport Secretary’s response a few moments ago, and I did not detect the equivocation that the hon. Gentleman alleges. The Transport Secretary said that the report covered a wide range of issues and made 51 detailed recommendations, which the Departments concerned need to consider carefully. He also said that the Government would respond to Sir Peter in due course. However, on top of that, I agree that it is an appropriate matter for the House to debate.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

One of my constituents recently turned up for duty in court as a witness and spent most of the day there, but was then sent home because no other witnesses turned up. He wasted most of his day but, more importantly, the court case had to be delayed again. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we need to consider more measures to ensure that witnesses are made to turn up when they are required, so that cases are not postponed or even put off altogether?

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 10th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I understand the concern, but it was a unanimous decision of the last Parliament that decisions on the salaries and allowances of Members of Parliament should be taken no longer by the House, but by an independent organisation. That is where the responsibility rests. As I said a moment ago, there is a debate on Government policy on IPSA on Wednesday, and that may provide the hon. Gentleman with an opportunity to raise the issue again.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

I wonder whether the Leader of the House is aware that, in Ealing, the Post Office is engaging in yet another consultation on a major proposal to close down a post office in one place and move it to another. Even while the consultation is going on, it appears that some of the preparatory building work is taking place at the proposed site. I wonder whether we can have a further look at how the Post Office conducts some of these so-called consultations.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Ealing is an area with which I am not unfamiliar. I am looking forward to sharing with her the party in my former constituency later today to celebrate her election to the House. I will raise with Business, Innovation and Skills Ministers the issue that she raises about whether the Post Office has gone through the appropriate procedures in apparently pre-empting a decision on closing one office and moving it to another location.