Cabinet Secretary Report (Government Response)
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston Excerpts(12 years, 9 months ago)
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Sir George Young
The revolving door is an issue I addressed in my statement and we are tightening up the process for it. I am delighted to hear that the Public Administration Committee, which originally proposed the statutory register in its report, is thinking of returning to this issue and I hope that it will inform the Bill when it is introduced.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
On 10 October, I asked the then Defence Secretary when he was first made aware of concerns by his permanent secretary. He said that
“I was not aware of any direct approach from them. The first direct approach I can remember was when my current permanent secretary came to me in August”.—[Official Report, 10 October 2011; Vol. 533, c. 30.]
That leads to two questions. Either the then Defence Secretary misled the House and he was made aware of that before then or the previous permanent secretary has some serious questions to answer. These things have been going on since he took office and for more than a year concerns have arisen and nobody has done anything. The civil service must look at its own conduct in how it makes people aware when things go wrong.
Sir George Young
I think it is clear from the report that things did go wrong in the Ministry of Defence. That was accepted in the permanent secretary’s initial report. Procedures were not followed and we are learning from that and ensuring that there is no recurrence.
Business of the House
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston Excerpts(13 years ago)
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Sir George Young
My hon. Friend is right: internships should be available according to not who you know, but what you know. The House has set an example with the internships that have recently been announced. We are committed to social mobility and we encourage businesses to offer internships openly and transparently and to provide financial support to ensure fair access.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
Could the Leader of the House tell us what contingency provisions he has made for the House to return and have a debate in the event of a Greek default during the summer recess?
Sir George Young
There are always questions about recalling the House during the summer recess, but they are normally slighter closer to the recess. The hon. Lady raises an important issue. The issue of recall is a matter for the Government, after contacting Mr Speaker. If the situation arises, the Government will take the necessary steps to recall the House.
Business of the House
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston Excerpts(13 years, 1 month ago)
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Sir George Young
My hon. Friend is right: children growing up in households where a generation or more has not worked is a real issue. I think I am right in saying that the Work programme is the UK’s single biggest employment support programme. I hope it will help to end the cycle of worklessness that has blighted many families, and all out-of-work benefit customers will be able to access the programme at a time that is right for them.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
The Prime Minister is currently in Brussels attending the European Council meeting trying to prevent a crisis across Europe which would make Lehman Brothers look like a small event. The House again did not have a debate ahead of the European Council, however. I know that the Leader of the House thinks that this is Back-Bench business. If that is so, may we have a debate on what he thinks is Front-Bench business?
Sir George Young
In a nutshell, Front-Bench business is the Government’s programme of legislation. There was a statement about Greece on Monday, and I know my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will want to keep the House in the picture on what happens at the European Council. The question of the House having a debate before European Council meetings is, as the hon. Lady knows, a matter for the Backbench Business Committee.
General matters
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston Excerpts(13 years, 7 months ago)
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Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
The current chaos on our roads is expensive for individuals, businesses and the country as a whole, and, although we cannot control the weather, we can control the way in which we respond to it. I have mentioned winter tyres in previous debates and been told that they are not appropriate for this country. I shall try to convince the House that they are.
Winter tyres are designed to be more effective than regular tyres in temperatures under 7° C on any type of road, and the Met Office advises us that for most of the winter even this country is below 7° C. They are manufactured with a larger percentage of natural rubber and silica in the compound, which does not harden as much as synthetic rubber in cold conditions. They have a tread pattern designed to cope with slush and cold rain, as well as with snow and ice, and they are safer than any standard tyre in cold, dry conditions below 7° C, because the tread compound heats up at lower rolling temperatures to create grip in low temperatures.
I am not arguing for studded ice tyres or snow chains. I make that point explicitly, because even the Transport Secretary seems to have misunderstood me. Both cause damage to road surfaces, and I understand that snow chains are illegal unless they are used on a road surface with compacted snow. Winter tyres work, however. I do not claim for one moment to be an expert on tyres or even on cars, because I am proud of myself when I have worked out which side the petrol cap is on. However, when I look at the reviews of such tyres, I find real evidence that they are safer and much better.
One such tyre is the Goodyear UltraGrip 7 +, and it is interesting if we compare tyre performance on braking distances. I declare an interest, because that tyre is produced by Goodyear Dunlop Tyres, which is based in Birmingham. [Laughter.] It may not have escaped Members that I am a Birmingham MP.
Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)
Irrespective of whether Goodyear is based in the hon. Lady’s constituency, I very much support what she says, because much of northern Europe, which experiences such snow, has winter tyres. It is always said that the Government or the councils must provide for the roads, but, when we have inclement weather, and if we are going to have a lot more snow, winter tyres might be one solution.
Ms Stuart
I thank the hon. Gentleman. The factory is not in my constituency but in that of my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey), who is sitting right next to me; Birmingham and Goodyear Dunlop are well represented in the Chamber this afternoon.
It is important to realise what a significant difference a winter tyre makes. When that Goodyear tyre was tested at a speed of 25 mph, it was found that its braking distance was six car lengths, or 25 metres, better than that of a summer tyre. That is not insignificant. Similarly, when comparisons were made in wet conditions conducive to aquaplaning, that tyre’s performance was about a fifth better—grip was about 18% higher—than a normal tyre’s.
People often say, “I’ve got ABS, so I don’t need winter tyres,” but that is completely to misunderstand the function of ABS, which allows someone to continue to be in control of steering when braking. It was never meant to deal with adverse road conditions.
Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)
A business man from near Hexham has all his employees on winter tyres. He put the issue very simply to me; he said, “You wouldn’t go out wearing flip-flops in winter. You would put on suitable footwear. Why do we not do the same with a car?”
Ms Stuart
I am grateful for that intervention because it takes me back to when I first arrived in this country 35 years ago. One of the things that always struck me is that the Brits are extraordinarily happy to talk about the weather, but very reluctant to take any notice of it in their behaviour. I have seen Brits wearing flip-flops in the middle of winter, but I agree with the hon. Gentleman that that ought to stop.
Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)
Can the hon. Lady give us a rough idea of how much a set of four winter tyres would cost?
Ms Stuart
That is an important question. The issue is not only how much the tyres would cost, but how much people could save on their summer tyres. Furthermore, insurance companies say that the probability of an accident in adverse weather conditions goes up by 257%. There is the issue of avoiding accidents and the kind of snarl-ups on our motorways and roads caused by drivers—usually in continental rear-wheel-drive cars, the Mercs and BMWs, which were designed to have winter tyres—not being able to deal with not terribly steep inclines. The straightforward equation is that winter tyres probably do not cost as much as people think, and could save us a lot of money. The costs would depend on which tyre was chosen and whether one got a whole set of new tyres.
The industry says that in winter or when temperatures are below 7° C—that is, most of the winter—only 2% of people in this country drive cars with appropriate, winter tyres. In other words, 98% of people drive on unsafe tyres, so there is an argument for providing incentives for them to get the winter ones. At the moment, insurance companies are raising rather spurious points about whether winter tyres are modifications to the original tyres. I challenge the industry: just as there are rebates on house contents insurance if there are the right locks in a house, insurance companies should give rebates to those using winter tyres.
Furthermore, emergency services vehicles, whether ambulances or police cars, should as a matter of course have winter tyres because that would make them safer and save the country money; the practice should not be restricted only to some companies.
Guy Opperman
If I am not mistaken, it has become the law in Germany to use such tyres. If tyres are swapped over at the right time, there is fundamentally no extra cost.
Ms Stuart
That is very true. Having grown up in Germany, I can vouch for the fact that the weather there is more regularly as fierce as it has been here. I would not advocate compulsion; the last thing that people want these days is to be forced to do anything more. It is a question of persuasion.
The Dutch managed to increase the use of winter tyres from 0.5% to more than 10% over 10 years through simple awareness campaigns. People here just do not think about the issue. I am glad to say that the Secretary of State for Transport seems to have changed his view between 2 December, when he thought that winter tyres were inappropriate, and now, when he says that those who can afford them should use them.
Matthew Hancock
The hon. Lady says that it is a matter of persuasion. After listening to her speech, I have also changed my mind. I am extremely persuaded and know what I shall ask for for Christmas.
Ms Stuart
I am absolutely delighted to hear that—[Interruption.] As my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington said, we approve of that provided it is a Dunlop tyre made in Erdington.
The key thing is for people to behave in a manner that is appropriate to the weather conditions and to think ahead and order a set of tyres—whichever ones they choose—now, so that they have them in the winter. People should not make a fuss about it. Such an approach will save people money, save lives and save the economy. It is the right thing to do and we all ought to do it.
Stephen Gilbert (St Austell and Newquay) (LD)
I put on the record my thanks to the Backbench Business Committee for how it has handled today’s Adjournment debate in providing so many hon. Members with an opportunity to speak.
My remarks will focus on equality and diversity. We have had a diverse debate this afternoon, but I am confident that the Deputy Leader of the House will be more than equal to the challenge of pulling the issues together in his closing remarks. I fundamentally agree with much of what colleagues have said, but I must challenge my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish) and say that every good Christmas pudding around the country will, of course, have Cornish clotted cream served with it.
Equality means something different to different people. Whether we are talking about equality of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation, there is no such thing as being almost equal. There can be no grey areas. If hon. Members will forgive the pun, equality is a black and white issue; someone is either equal or they are not. There is no doubt that the Government need to do more work across all the subjects I mentioned. However, I would like to focus some thoughts on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.
As many hon. Members will know—indeed, it is something I put on the record during my maiden speech—I am proud to be an openly gay Member of Parliament. I firmly believe that hon. Members from all parties have a responsibility to champion equality both in the countries of the United Kingdom and abroad. Although the United Kingdom has been at the forefront of LGBT equality, the record of other countries around the world is not quite so rosy. In Gambia, sexual relations between men still carries a sentence of 14-years’ imprisonment. The sentence is 21 years in Kenya and 25 years in Ghana. In Tanzania, Barbados, Sierra Leone and Bangladesh, the sentence can be life in prison, and in Nigeria and Pakistan—among other countries—sexual relations between gay men can lead to state-sanctioned execution.
The United Kingdom needs to do more to stand up for equality around the world. Last week, I tabled an early-day motion expressing concern at a United Nations decision to remove a reference to sexual orientation from a resolution condemning arbitrary executions. Will the Deputy Leader of the House work with his colleagues to strengthen the Government’s commitment to using our influence to push other countries towards true equality, particularly in relation to revisiting that UN resolution?
More work also still needs to be done on the issue in Britain. Research from the Library shows that suicide rates within the LGBT community are shocking. It is estimated that around 9% of the population have at some point considered taking their own lives. In the LGBT community, that figure is more than 50%. Indeed, while only 2.5%—a figure that is, none the less, tragic—of the population attempt suicide, 29% of people in the LGBT community try to take their own lives.
It is clear from those statistics that more work needs to be done to reach out to people across this country and explain to them that it is okay to be who they are. That is why I was pleased that one of the first actions of the Minister for Equalities was to launch the new equalities strategy for Government. Part of this strategy is the first ever cross-government programme to support LGBT people, and that is very welcome. Indeed, the Government have recognised that there are specific issues that transgender people face, and I welcome the moves to develop the first Government action plan on transgender equality next year.
In many ways, these steps build on the visible and vocal support that my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have given to the LGBT community, not least in the run-up to Pride London this year, when they hosted an event in Downing street. I was very pleased yesterday to attend the launch of a new parliamentary support network for LGBT people here in the Palace of Westminster—ParliOut. That is an important first step for this House and everybody who works here in ensuring that we are able to provide support to Members, researchers and everybody else who comes and goes from this place. Of all places, people should feel able to be themselves here.
However, there is still further to go. As many Members know, I am a keen supporter and proponent of equal marriage for same-sex couples. As Mr Speaker said yesterday evening at the launch of ParliOut, it was a groundbreaking moment when Parliament itself was granted a licence to hold civil partnerships and when the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) and his partner were the first to benefit from that. However, it would have been much more groundbreaking for this House to enable full equal marriage for same-sex couples across the country—not necessarily a religious tie, unless that is what individuals and their faith groups choose, but crucially the same status and legal position as that of heterosexual married couples. I am delighted that Stonewall now supports this aim, and I hope that the Deputy Leader of the House will be able to mention the steps that the Government are taking to investigate it as an option and perhaps to introduce legislation before the end of this Parliament.
This week, Mr Deputy Speaker, saw your brave decision to reveal your own sexuality. I believe that that sends a hugely welcome and clear signal that this place has changed and that attitudes across the country are changing too. I would like to extend to you my best wishes and, I am sure, the best wishes of the whole House on that decision.
Ms Gisela Stuart
I am sure that in the season of good will the hon. Gentleman will acknowledge the extraordinary, groundbreaking contribution of the Labour Government on this issue. He mentioned the problems of those in the transgender group. Can he focus a little on the particular problems of women who do not want to get divorced even after the change of their gender, and the problems that they have over pensions? We should have addressed that and still have to do so. Does he have any thoughts on that?
Stephen Gilbert
I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. It would be remiss of me not to remark on the huge progress that was made under the previous Government. She identifies an area where there is still work to be done and where we need to go further and faster. The call that I am making to the Deputy Leader of the House and to the Government is that we finish this job and deliver true equality to all citizens in the United Kingdom as quickly as we can.
There is no doubt that attitudes have changed in the country, and in many ways this place is now playing catch-up to those attitudes. For everybody who is out there still struggling to come to terms with their identity, we need to be absolutely clear that there are no second-class citizens in the United Kingdom and that as a country we are stronger because we are not all the same. I hope that over the coming years this Parliament will work to send out a clear signal that all of us are equal and all of us are entitled to live our lives free from fear and with the same opportunities and protections as each other.
As the last Back Bencher to speak today, Mr Deputy Speaker, I think that that leaves me only to wish everybody a very merry Christmas and probably to turn off the light switch as I leave.
Business of the House
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston Excerpts(13 years, 7 months ago)
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Sir George Young
My hon. Friend must move in very important circles given that he says that many people will receive this gift. As a cyclist, I do not, of course, need such a number plate myself. He refers to number plate recognition, and I will draw that aspect of his remarks to the attention of Home Office Ministers.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
I am grateful for the Leader of the House’s remark that the Prime Minister is likely on Monday afternoon to make a statement on the outcome of the European Council meeting. We did not have a debate ahead of that meeting even though that would have given the House an opportunity to express its views on some treaty changes that may well have been debated at the weekend. In an earlier answer, it seemed to be suggested that the Backbench Business Committee and the Leader of the House will negotiate about extra days for debates, so will the two sides come to an agreement in order to restore, in whatever shape or form, a pre-Council debate in this House, because it is vital that we have that?
Sir George Young
I think the hon. Lady knows what I am about to say to her: in setting up its Backbench Business Committee, the House gave that Committee responsibility for deciding whether there is to be a fisheries debate, for instance, a European Council debate or four days of debate on defence, or whether debates should be held on other subjects. The responsibility for deciding whether there is to be a pre-Christmas European Council debate now rests with the Backbench Business Committee, so the hon. Lady should address her question to the hon. Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel), not the Leader of the House.
Business of the House
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston Excerpts(13 years, 8 months ago)
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Sir George Young
I congratulate my hon. Friend on a good recovery. If I may say so, Mrs Malaprop would have been proud of him. There is a serious issue about Fridays and about the procedure for private Members’ Bills, which he has touched on. The Procedure Committee is conducting an inquiry into the parliamentary calendar, which will include the use of Fridays. That will absorb the whole question of how we deal with private Members’ Bills, and will provide my hon. Friend with an opportunity to make representations to the Committee to determine whether there is another way of dealing with them, in order to overcome the problem that he, eventually, correctly described.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
There is clearly surprise and unease on both sides of the House about the fisheries debate and the EU Council debate. The matter was raised last week, not only on this side but by Lib Dem Members, and it has been raised again this week. Given that clearly a number of people feel that this decision is wrong, may I ask the Leader of the House what we can do to bring about a change to the recommendations of the Wright report, and to take those matters out of the hands of the Backbench Business Committee?
Sir George Young
I would regard it as a retrograde step if time were taken away from the Backbench Business Committee and given back to the Government. The whole direction of travel is the other way. I have announced the Second Reading of the European Union Bill, which will provide an opportunity to raise European issues. Also, there is going to be a fisheries debate. The hon. Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel), who chairs the Backbench Business Committee, and I have made it absolutely clear that if Members want a debate on the European Council, they have to make representations to the Committee in order to secure such a debate. As I understand it, no such representations have been made.
Business of the House
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston Excerpts(13 years, 8 months ago)
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Sir George Young
My right hon. Friend said that the Executive has handed this responsibility to the Backbench Business Committee, but it was the House of Commons that handed it to the Committee. We have implemented the Wright Committee’s recommendations in full. Paragraph 145 of the Wright Committee report makes it clear that the debate to which he referred is one of those that has now been transferred to the Backbench Business Committee. It is up to that Committee to schedule all debates in the 35 days we have transferred to it. The hon. Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel), the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee, will have heard my right hon. Friend’s plea, and it is now up to her and her Committee to see whether, out of the days we are allocating to it, the fisheries debate qualifies for consideration.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
Following on from that point, I note that the usual debate ahead of the European Council is now said also to fall within the remit of the Backbench Business Committee. May I gently suggest that that means a complete and utter abdication of the responsibility to discuss matters European on the Floor of the House at the initiation of the Government, and not Back-Bench Members?
Sir George Young
I hate to disagree with the hon. Lady, whom I congratulate on winning The Spectator award last night at a very moving ceremony. It was richly deserved. I say to her gently that paragraph 145 on “Set piece debates” in “Rebuilding the House”—the report by the Wright Committee—mentions
“two days for pre-European Council debates”.
It makes it clear that those debates transfer to the Backbench Business Committee. This is not the Government imposing something on the House; it is the House taking away from the Government responsibility for fixing its own agenda. I support that, and I hope that she does too.