Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness Featherstone and Margot James

Monday 9th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Lynne Featherstone]

The hon. Lady will have heard already that crime is falling across the country and has reduced by one fifth since the coalition entered government. We have taken action. I have written to local authorities to remind them of their powers, and police and crime commissioners are there to use their commissioning powers in respect of crimes that need addressing in their local areas.

[Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con)]

6. What assessment she has made of the level of modern slavery in the UK.

Animal Experimentation

Debate between Baroness Featherstone and Margot James

Wednesday 7th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Lynne Featherstone]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. He is indeed a frequent writer of questions to me on this issue. One of the key factors in holding standards so high is that the inspectorate can come in, at any time and in any place.

I shall touch briefly on European directive. The directive strengthens the protection of animals used in scientific procedures and harmonises regulation across the 27 states of the EU. We have very high standards in this country, and the ask is that we maintain them. I cannot give a specific commitment on specific issues until I have received and considered advice following the large response to the consultation exercise.

[Margot James]

I wonder whether the Minister is absolutely certain on the point about the EU directive. It is widely reported that that directive will remove the responsibility of scientists to review all other possible methods of research prior to testing on animals. Publications, including The Economist, have widely reported that; it may be erroneous, but I wanted to raise it.

Women (Government Policies)

Debate between Baroness Featherstone and Margot James

Wednesday 8th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Lynne Featherstone]

No, I do not have time.

I echo the Home Secretary when I say that it is extremely patronising, and frankly absurd, to lump together 31 million women in this country as the prime victims of the deficit reduction. Women are not a homogenous group, but different individuals affected by different experiences and coming from different walks of life. So no matter how well intentioned, packaging out prescriptive solutions that fail to recognise that reality will not work. What do work are policies designed for all the roles that women play, tackling not just the symptoms of inequality but its causes. I shall try to address some of those points.

First, I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Leicester South, who made his maiden speech. I thank him for his kind words about Parmjit Singh Gill and congratulate him on being in the Chamber while he has a two-week-old baby. When shared parenting comes in, that could have been his wife, if she were able to walk. And as for Engelbert Humperdinck and “Quando, quando, quando”, I would have liked to say that I did not know what the hon. Gentleman was talking about, but sadly I did.

The hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East mentioned impact assessments. I have to say that Labour never published equality impact studies for its Budgets, and I do not think it did one on the 10p tax or the 70p pension rise. She also mentioned the gender pay gap. Yes, we are introducing voluntary pay reporting, but that was started under Labour in the Equality Act 2010. However, we will also impose mandatory pay audits on anyone found guilty of discrimination, if it is appropriate, and we have introduced the gagging clauses in the Equality Act. She also asked about trafficking and the Olympics. Work is being undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Service, which has a specialist unit that has received extra funding to prioritise activities to disrupt and monitor trafficking in the run-up to the Olympics.

Hon. Members asked about whether we were opting in to the European directive on trafficking. Well, we are opting into the directive, but we wanted to consider the matter and get it right to ensure that we could deliver on it. However, the coalition Government are going even further with our own human trafficking strategy, which will be announced shortly, and which will aim to disrupt activity in the country of origin, and then on our borders and in this country. As we have heard from many hon. Members, we are putting that support in place. We have also extended the Sojourner project

[Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I am happy to give way to the hon. Lady—[Interruption]—as a special treat.

[Margot James]

Briefly, I would like to remind the hon. Lady that the Government are actually investing more money in the safeguarding of trafficking victims. That is a very good result in the current financial climate.

[Lynne Featherstone]

I agree with the hon. Lady.