Carillion

Cheryl Gillan Excerpts

Monday 15th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

I can certainly well understand and appreciate that sense of unfairness on the part of the hon. Lady’s constituents. It would be wrong for me from the Dispatch Box to pre-empt the inquiry that the official receiver will carry out into the conduct of both present and previous members of the board of directors, but I can say that the official receiver has the power not only to investigate, but to impose severe penalties if he finds that misconduct has taken place.

[Dame Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

The whole House will be concerned for the employees who are facing an uncertain future, and I preface my remarks by showing my concern as well. On 17 July, I brought the Secretary of State for Transport to this House at 10 o’clock at night to answer the questions that I raised about HS2 contractors and the unacceptable risks to the taxpayer, and that included Carillion. Unfortunately, those words seem to have come true. While my right hon. Friend is looking at the assessment of the effect on the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash), will he also look at the other failures of HS2, management and Government? Would not he and his constituents, as well as my constituents and, perhaps, Mr Speaker, some of yours, feel that now is the time to cancel this ill-fated, poorly run project?

[Mr Lidington]

My right hon. Friend speaks, as always, both eloquently and forcefully on behalf not only of her constituents, but of very large numbers of people in the constituencies along the HS2 route. As I said in my response to my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash), the particular HS2 contract that is at issue today will be covered by the joint venture arrangement. In that sense, Carillion’s liquidation today will not make a difference to the cost of delivering those particular services to the HS2 project.

Oral Answers to Questions

Cheryl Gillan Excerpts

Wednesday 10th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith]

I struggled to hear the hon. Gentleman owing to some noises off. As he knows, and as he knows I know, the electoral system in Northern Ireland is devolved. I am sure that my new ministerial colleagues at the Northern Ireland Office will be taking his concerns very seriously and working with the devolved Administration, where appropriate, to look into them.

[Dame Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

I, too, welcome the Front Benchers to their new responsibilities. I am delighted to see the strong team in the Cabinet Office.

Is the Minister giving any consideration to restricting registration for national elections to one address, which may help with the problem of double voting raised by my hon. Friend the Member for North West Leicestershire (Andrew Bridgen)?

[Chloe Smith]

I thank my right hon. Friend for her views. I refer to the breadth of the Pickles review of electoral fraud, which gave us the basis for a number of reforms of our electoral system, all designed to reduce fraud and improve security. In that context, I will look carefully at all its recommendations. As you will know, Mr Speaker, the Government have already accepted and will be moving forward with a number of them. I would be delighted to discuss any issue further with my right hon. Friend.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I say to the hon. Gentleman that anybody who saw the success we had in negotiating phase 1 of Brexit, and getting that sufficient progress, will say that this Government know what they are doing, and that they are getting on with the job and doing well.

[Dame Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

Q12. Environmentalists across the UK were delighted with the announcement of co-operation with the Woodland Trust to develop the new northern forest, but will the Prime Minister assure us that plans to create new landscapes will not obscure the need to protect existing areas of outstanding natural beauty? Will she confirm her commitment to protecting the Chilterns AONB as we pursue the Government’s economic and housing development plans?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I congratulate my right hon. Friend on becoming a Dame in the recent new year’s honours—it is very, very well deserved. I assure her that we are committed to maintaining the strongest protections for AONBs and other designated landscapes. As regards the Chilterns AONB, I have to say to her that I enjoy walking in the Chilterns. I recognise the value of that particular environment, and we are committed to protecting AONBs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Cheryl Gillan Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes]

As the hon. Gentleman will know, the Cabinet Office works closely with HMRC on workforce planning and, indeed, on Government hubs, with which we are seeking to make sure that we make the best possible use of our resources to provide an effective civil service that provides the best service for his constituents.

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

Given the additional burdens on civil servants from Brexit, does the Minister agree that the civil service people survey is important to Ministers for judging the working conditions, training and skills of our civil servants? Does she share my surprise that yesterday, in his evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, the Public and Commercial Services Union representative said that he actively encouraged members not to reply to that survey? Will she reaffirm how increasingly important the survey is, so that we can get feedback and ensure we have the right capacity and capabilities in the civil service?

[Caroline Nokes]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct to say that the survey is crucial to Ministers, and I greet it with relish when it arrives on my desk. It provides invaluable information about our workforce, their attitudes and how they feel about working for us. I am very surprised at the PCS comments, but I reassure all unions that I continue to leave my door open to them and that I am as interested in their views as I am in everybody else’s.

European Council

Cheryl Gillan Excerpts

Monday 23rd October 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What we have done, and what we will continue to do when we move on to the negotiations on trade, is talk about the future customs relationships we want to have with the European Union. We have set out proposals for that and we look forward to discussing them with the EU.

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

I was very pleased that the Prime Minister confirmed that the UK is fully playing its part on migration, and to hear that the Royal Navy had intercepted 172 smuggling boats and saved over 12,000 lives since Operation Sophia began. Will she confirm that, at the summit, the EU reported it has a looming deficit or pay gap of £225 million in the money going to migration projects in north Africa? I understand that Germany and Sweden offered more money towards those projects. Can she confirm that and say whether any other EU countries were forthcoming in offering more money to help to save lives?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is referring to the trust fund that has been established in relation to migration matters in Africa to which the UK has, alongside others, contributed. She is right that the Commission reported that deficit. From the United Kingdom’s point of view, we are putting extra money into activities in Africa in relation to supporting people in countries of origin and transit. We are working alongside that trust fund. The work we are doing is amounting to £75 million.

Grenfell Tower

Cheryl Gillan Excerpts

Thursday 22nd June 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman, given his background, has a particular interest in these issues. The coroner’s recommendation was in relation not to changing the regulations but to the guidance that followed the regulations. That work is indeed in hand. My understanding is that the fire regulations have not been changed since 2006. Obviously, that will be one of the issues that the public inquiry will want to look at.

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

The amount of remedial work that may need to be carried out on a limited timescale will possibly mean that great pressures will fall on the workforce that are capable of carrying out that remedial work. Will the Prime Minister ensure that her colleagues in government will make all the necessary funds and resources available if we need to recruit or train further personnel to carry out remedial work on those blocks that fail the test?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend raises an important point. We need to ensure that the resources are there in every sense for the remedial work that is necessary. We are looking at a variety of ways in which we can ensure that that is indeed the case.

Election of Speaker

Cheryl Gillan Excerpts

Tuesday 13th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

I beg to move, That the right hon. John Simon Bercow do take the Chair of this House as Speaker.

I start by adding my belated congratulations to the Father of the House. He took over earlier this year, when we sadly lost another member of the 1970 intake, the very well respected Sir Gerald Kaufman, of whom the Leader of the Opposition said:

“He loved life and politics.”

I can honestly say that that can be said of you, too, Mr Clarke. As Mr Bercow said, you have served in virtually all the Departments of State and the great offices throughout your long and distinguished career, and it is a tribute to your record of public service and to your resilience that you preside over the opening proceedings of our Parliament today and over the election of a new Speaker.

While I welcome all my colleagues who are returning to the House—they are naturally familiar with the Speaker’s role—we are all pleased to welcome the new Members on both sides of the House. They might not realise that the Speaker’s Office, under that name, goes back a mere 640 years. The Speaker was then the agent of the King, and was afforded little protection. If the agent of the King offered bad news, he suffered the monarch’s wrath, and no fewer than seven Speakers were beheaded between 1394 and 1535—[Hon. Members: “More!”] Let that be a warning to you! Fortunately, the job description has changed since then, and our modern Speaker protects us and our rights as Back Benchers without fear of losing his head—except, I have to say, when Members misbehave in the Chamber.

Compared with the Father of the House, with his 47 years of experience, I am just a youngster in this place. However, I have seen many changes over the 25 years I have served in Parliament. The wigs have gone, except for the one that I see being worn for a state occasion—[Interruption.] Sorry, the wigs have gone except for one or two. The hours have changed, the Committees have increased, the technology has advanced, the media never sleep, and the challenges of the job of the Speaker continue to multiply.

As the right hon. Member for Buckingham (John Bercow) has been our Speaker since 22 June 2009, I have seen him rise to those challenges and grow in this job. He

“has shown himself to be utterly impartial and fearless in defending the House of Commons from all comers whether it be over mighty Ministers or a raucous media.”

He is

“a determined champion of opening up our democracy”,

bringing in reforms that have made Parliament accessible to over 100,000 schoolchildren each year. He is an

“effective Speaker…who has used his office to reach out to people across our country”,

and

“an energetic ambassador for Parliament throughout the UK and around the world, and is also a devoted and hard-working champion for his constituents in Buckingham.”

Those are not my words, but endorsements from my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper), the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister, but my favourite endorsement is from the right hon. and learned Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman), who is standing by the Chair, who said, on the Speaker’s reappointment in 2015:

“He may be small in stature, but make no mistake: in this office, he is a giant.”—[Official Report, 18 May 2015; Vol. 596, c. 6.]

Perhaps it is true that good things come in small packages.

Let me say in proposing the right hon. Gentleman for Speaker that, for my part, I have always found him to be scrupulously fair; he never allows his views to compromise his impartiality, although I think that Members in all parts of the House can agree that he is no stranger to controversy. I think he annoys Members on all the Front Benches from time to time, which is probably testament to his even-handedness. He fosters a sense of community among those who work in the precincts, and applies himself with vigour to all the many and varied tasks that fall to the role. He also has qualities that many of us wonder at. There is his ability to recall obscure information on Members, which I warn new Members about; his loquaciousness and command of the English language; and, in particular—please note, Father of the House—his ability to remain in the Chair for inordinate lengths of time, the record being an 11 hour and 24 minute uninterrupted stint during the Syria debate, which caused much admiring comment about the strength of his bladder.

Camel-like qualities aside, the right hon. Gentleman’s performance in the Chamber is matched by his record outside it. He has hosted over 1,000 events for charities in Speaker’s House, and presides over the administration of this place with great patience and good humour, to which I can attest.

This Parliament, like all that have gone before, will have its own character and present its own challenges. Over the next few years, our country will go through the great changes that peoples’ democratic votes have presented to us in this House. At the same time, we face very real threats to freedom, democracy and our precious way of life. That has been brought starkly into focus with the cyber-attack on our NHS, the two unspeakable acts of violence during the election campaign, the death of PC Keith Palmer, and, of course, the loss of our colleague Jo Cox, who was taken from us all a year ago this week.

As Speaker, the right hon. Gentleman has always acted swiftly to join others with words and acts of reassurance, and I was proud to see him in Manchester, standing shoulder to shoulder with the community who had come under such lethal attack. In times like this, and in all our deliberations in the House, we need the experience, maturity and commitment to our Parliament that I believe is shown by the right hon. Gentleman. His devotion to this House and this country cannot be disputed. He has served this House, and us as Members, with strength and fortitude, and I have great pleasure in commending him to the House to serve as our next Speaker.

Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 1A), That John Bercow do take the Chair of this House as Speaker.

Question agreed to.

Mr Kenneth Clarke left the Chair, and John Bercow was conducted to the Chair by Sir Peter Bottomley, Mrs Helen Grant and Alison McGovern.