Business of the House

David Amess Excerpts

Thursday 26th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I do know how much support the Bill has and I appreciate its importance. I am grateful for the work that the right hon. Gentleman and others did during pre-legislative scrutiny to enable the Bill to come forward in the positive fashion that it has. It would probably be unwise of me to engage in speculation about the timing of the passage of legislation. It may even be regarded as presumptuous, as the House needs to consider the Bill and we need to make decisions about the timing of consideration beyond the Committee stage.

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend find time for a debate on the renewal of rail franchises? The Southend to Fenchurch Street line used to be known as the misery line. It is now known as the happy line thanks to c2c, which should have its franchise renewed. That is in stark contrast with Abellio Greater Anglia, whose service is absolutely lousy and whose trains are clapped out, as its managing director will find out in two weeks when he travels on one with me.

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his comments. Many years ago, when it was probably a bit more of a misery, I used to travel daily into Fenchurch Street on that line and so was familiar with it. Happily it is better, as he described. He will know that the competition for the Essex Thameside franchise is ongoing and an announcement about the award of the franchise is expected shortly. A new directly awarded franchise has been negotiated by the Government with the incumbent, Abellio Greater Anglia, for 27 months between the end of the current franchise in July and the start of the next competed franchise in October 2016. As is the case with many other franchises, worthwhile and significant benefits to passengers arise from new franchises. The competition for the next franchise will begin in spring next year, and a consultation will be carried out to inform the specification for that.

Easter Adjournment

David Amess Excerpts

Thursday 10th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming Adjournment.

I wish to raise a number of issues before the Easter Adjournment and I will try to get through them as quickly as possible so that the 16 Members who wish to speak all have equal time.

I was on the Select Committee on Health for 10 years and am still very interested in a number of health issues. One is a genetic condition that causes high concentrations of cholesterol in the blood and therefore significantly increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease from a young age. It is known as FH, or familial hypercholesterolaemia, and affects one in 500 people but only 15% have been formally identified or treated. However, it is possible to make improvements to this rate and I am asking the Deputy Leader of the House to suggest that, as the cardiovascular disease outcomes strategy for England includes an aspiration to diagnose and treat 50% of causes of FH, the Health Department considers establishing a national programme for FH that features a dedicated network of health care professionals, nurses to roll out the cascade screening process and a UK-wide patient register and database.

Melanoma cancer is something of which all Members of Parliament are only too aware. I recently had the privilege of meeting Gill Nuttall, who founded the charity Melanoma UK. It is the most serious form of skin cancer and each year more than 2,000 people in the UK die from the disease. It disproportionately affects young people and patients are often of working age with young families. It is absolutely devastating. The present treatment is dacarbazine, but that does not have a high survival benefit so I am asking the Deputy Leader of the House to pass on to the relevant Department the fact that the drug ipilimumab can be a life-saving treatment for some patients whose survival is inhibited by late access to the treatment. I am advised that on 23 April the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s appraisal committee will hold its second meeting to give a recommendation about that drug and I hope that it is approved.

I am the chairman of the all-party group on hepatology and we recently produced what I shall brazenly call an excellent report on liver disease, called “Liver Disease: Today’s Complacency, Tomorrow’s Catastrophe”. It is about improving outcomes in liver disease and is a wake-up call to the nation. I do not know how many people realise that liver disease is the fifth greatest cause of death in the UK and that about 11,000 people die each year as a result of it. The report made many recommendations and I hope that the Government, the NHS and Public Health England will work together to create a national approach to preventing fatalities from liver disease. A meeting with the Minister responsible for public health would also be extremely useful.

The drug treatment strategy interests us all. National guidance from the Department of Health and NICE clearly recommends that all patients treated for opiate addiction should receive a comprehensive assessment and that the treatment provided should be tailored to their needs, yet according to the results of the largest survey ever carried out into drug addiction across 10 European countries, published in 2012, treatment in the UK might often not be optimised to the individual patient’s obvious needs. In this country we have one of the highest levels of heroin addiction, so I hope that the Department of Health will work to implement the NICE technology appraisal on drug treatment options, TA114, and put a monitoring system in place to ensure that every patient is assessed and offered the safest and best treatment to enable them to recover.

Thalidomide used to be mentioned regularly in the House, but recently I was shocked to learn that justice has still not been served after all these years. Most Members of Parliament might still have one or two thalidomide victims in their constituencies, but in cases in which the pharmaceutical company Grünenthal was not the licensee, thalidomide victims did not receive a penny from either the German Government or the manufacturers. In other European countries where thalidomide was marketed, the victims have received financial assistance from Grünenthal and the German Government. I am asking our Government to turn exploratory talks into formal negotiations to assist with funding the health needs of those who suffer from the effects of thalidomide. Italian, Swedish and Spanish MPs are asking their Governments to do likewise. I hope that our Government will take the matter seriously.

I am the chairman of the all-party group on maternity and I was totally unaware of tongue-tie in breastfeeding. As we all know, if mothers can do it breastfeeding is the best possible way to nurture children, but tongue-tie is very upsetting for new mothers. The diagnosis is not fully recognised, but when it is discovered early on, treatment is usually quick and straightforward. I am advised that specialists can perform a simple snip of the tie with scissors, often without even an anaesthetic. The National Childbirth Trust has received communications from many mothers describing their experience of tongue-tie, and it seems to be an issue that needs to be addressed. It is concerned that diagnosis of tongue-tie can sometimes take weeks or months, which is very upsetting for a new mother. One mother says:

“Both my children were tongue tied and in both cases the professionals failed to identify it. Due to unacceptable waiting times I felt I had no option but to pay for private tongue tie division. I went to hell and back on my feeding journeys because of tongue tie.”

This is something that we need to improve.

I remember debates in the House many years ago on gender selection abortion when I was reassured by the Minister that that would not happen. Unfortunately, 4,700 girls are missing in the UK owing to sex selection abortion, which is disgraceful. A growing body of anecdotal evidence proves that gender abortions are taking place in this country despite the assurances many years ago that that would not happen. There is a need to clarify the law on sex selection. The Department of Health interprets the law as saying that sex selection abortion is illegal. The head of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service says the opposite. The Abortion Act 1967 requires two doctors to form the opinion in good faith that continuing with the pregnancy risks damaging the mother’s mental or physical health. In a situation where a woman might suffer abuse as the result of bearing a girl, as has unfortunately been the case in some minority communities, it is quite conceivable that sex selection abortion would meet the Act’s criteria. The Department of Health proposes non-binding guidance to solve this problem, but that is not good enough. I want the Secretary of State for Health to consider bringing forward regulations under the powers conferred on him by section 2 of the Abortion Act to make gender abortion explicitly illegal, as we were told many years ago that it was.

Assisted dying regularly rears its head, perhaps not in this Chamber but in the other place. I ask only that when the matter is raised again there will be a genuine free vote on it in the House. The Prime Minister touched on the issue of abortion yesterday, but I hope that there will be a genuine free vote on euthanasia.

More than a month ago in Westminster Hall, I raised my grave concerns about mental health services in south-east Essex. I told the Minister of State, Department of Health, the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb), that I was totally unhappy with past and present management, and he promised me a meeting. A month has gone by. I am ready, and I hope that the Deputy Leader of the House will ensure that his hon. Friend will quickly make arrangements for me to have the meeting with him, because the complaints are endless.

I am pleased that we are to reform the probation service. I have been critical of the probation service in Essex, so I am horrified to learn that its chief executive and his staff are thinking of reinventing themselves under the auspices of a mutual. There is no point changing the probation service unless it is under new management.

I was privileged to be part of a delegation to Saudi Arabia, and we are to have a meeting with the Foreign Office Minister later this afternoon. The development of our relations with Saudi Arabia is interesting. It has been a reliable ally of ours for more than 100 years, but we might be missing out on some trade opportunities. I hope that the Foreign Secretary will continue to nurture good relations with Saudi Arabia.

I am the chairman of the all-party British-Maldives parliamentary group, and after some controversy over the election, at long last there is a settled President there. I very much hope that we will facilitate a double taxation treaty and a bilateral investment treaty, reduce the air passenger duty and make student visa applications more accessible for young talented students from the Maldives to travel here to study at our excellent academic institutions. We could certainly do more to encourage business links between our two countries—after all, it was a British protectorate. The British high commissioner, John Rankin, has agreed to visit the global green city project, a fantastic project that aims to create a safe, serene and spacious environment with huge economic potential for the citizens of the Maldives. I want British businesses to enjoy some of the business opportunities there.

I recently became chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for democracy in Bahrain. I did not initially realise that it was a controversial all-party group, and I simply say that I hope that the Government are looking seriously at the further complaints about torture.

Quilliam is an organisation that deals with online extremism. Last month, I was reunited with a former constituent, Maajid Nawaz, whom I last saw when I visited him in an Egyptian prison some 10 years ago. He has been on an incredible journey. Having been a former member of an Islamist revolutionary group, and spending five years in a prison in Cairo, which was a little like “Midnight Express”, he then had a complete change of heart, transformed his life and started the anti-extremism organisation Quilliam.

Quilliam has just finished the most comprehensive report to date on online extremism, and it will be published shortly. The issue was raised in the counter-extremism taskforce set up after the Woolwich attack, so it is important to consider it carefully. Quilliam’s research has found that negative measures of dealing with online extremism, such as blocking or censoring, which have previously been suggested, would be both ineffective and counter-productive. It instead identifies seven other ways that action should be taken to counter online extremism, including the promotion of positive measures, such as developing counter-extremist content and popularising online initiatives that fight against extremism, as they are much more effective in challenging extremist ideologies; and the establishment of a central body that offers seed funding and training for grassroots online counter-extremism initiatives. When we went to Saudi Arabia, we visited a facility that tries to deradicalise people. I hope that all hon. Members will look at the views of Quilliam if they have the chance.

My constituent went to Westcliff high school for boys, and I am delighted to say that Westcliff high school for girls has been judged to be the second best school in the country, and it is a state school.

In March, I visited Seetec and met some of the staff of one of the UK’s major providers of training and employment services. It does a wonderful job. It has been in existence for 30 years, and I congratulate it on all that it has done.

Like many people, I am not very pleased with the work of spy cars, and I support the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in his endeavours to have them scrapped.

I am pleased with what the Chancellor of the Exchequer did in the Budget for the wine and spirits industry. However, wine duty has already increased by 54% since the escalator was introduced in 2008, and it has now been increased by another 2.4% in line with RPI inflation. That will harm the UK, so I hope that next year the Chancellor will have a look at that duty.

My final subject is puppy farming. I know that there is bid before the Backbench Business Committee for a debate on the issue, and in June there will be a mass gathering of people who feel very angry about puppy farming. I urge the Government to tighten up the legislation on the welfare conditions required to allow the sale of puppies and kittens, and to consider a total ban on their sale in pet shops where the mother is not present.

I wish you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and everyone who supports us in this House and outside, a very happy Easter.

Christmas Adjournment

David Amess Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming adjournment.

I wish to raise a number of issues before the House adjourns for the Christmas recess, and I promise the House that I will get through them as quickly as I possibly can. There is a danger that I will appear grumpy throughout my speech, because I have a long list of complaints about all manner of things, but I assure the House that I intend to be cheerful right at the end.

You and I, Mr Speaker, care about this place, and anything I am going to say about it is in no way a criticism of your good self. Under your stewardship, you have introduced a number of changes to our proceedings. We get through the Order Paper and we have the Speaker’s lectures; there are all manner of things that I absolutely welcome. However, there are a number of developments in the House that I am not a fan of. I think it was a big mistake to change our Tuesday sittings to the hours that we have now. I very much regret that we have Prime Minister’s questions only on a Wednesday; I would like to return to 15 minutes on a Tuesday and a Thursday. The Press Gallery is constantly empty, and we need to look at what its purpose is these days. Since we changed our sitting hours, the wonderful staff of the House of Commons, who work so hard, have been affected. The catering facilities have been devastated, and that has had all sorts of repercussions for a number of our staff—I greatly regret that.

I am also worried about little things, such as access to the Crypt. When I first came here, I could press the bell to draw the attention of someone in the Members’ Cloakroom and gain admittance immediately, but now a song and dance seems to be made if Members want to take their constituents to see the Crypt. The point of this place, as I have always understood it, is that there were 646 democratically elected Members of Parliament and everyone worked here to support us in our work, but it is increasingly as if we are the strangers in our own place.

I think we should have a dedicated police and security force. I do not understand why that is not the case. It used to be a job for police officers as they approached retirement, but we are increasingly seeing new police officers every day and two or three officers carrying guns around. I do not understand what is going on.

[Sir John Randall (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Con)]

As a previous Chair of the Joint Committee on Security, I have to say that the security threats to this place have increased over the years and that the idea of having only eminent but elderly police officers who are approaching retirement does not necessarily fit in with today’s policing needs.

[Mr Amess]

I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend. I have been here so long that one of the officers who carries a gun came up to me and asked, “Do you remember taking me around the House of Commons when I was a schoolboy?”, so I understand that things have changed dramatically in the time I have been here. I am not complaining about that; what I am saying is that there seems to be constant change in personnel. I think it would be better to have an established group who understand how the place works. I certainly do not approve of the constant, huge change.

I worry about this place. The damage started in 1997, when huge powers went to quangos. If the place were shut for a few weeks, would anyone notice? That is what I worry about. Where has the power gone from this place? I fully accept that I am no longer fashionable: I do not send e-mail Christmas cards, I am not on Twitter, I do not blog and I am not on Facebook.

[Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)]

My hon. Friend’s very life is a statement of fashion. On his point about where power has gone, this year’s Session must be the first time that Parliament has stopped a war on which the Executive were hellbent.

[Mr Amess]

I am so glad my hon. Friend has reminded me of that. I tell everyone that it has been a long time since my being here has made a huge difference, but I and other colleagues certainly made a difference over Syria. If only I had had the good sense to do that earlier on Iraq, things might be different.

My second moan is about the Chilcot inquiry, on which £7.4 million has been spent. I want the results, just as I did on Leveson. I have asked lots of questions and I am told that the reason for the delay is the huge number of recorded conversations involving the two previous Prime Ministers and President George W. Bush, but I am certainly not going to shut up on this matter. I want the Chilcot report and I want to know exactly what went on behind the scenes.

The Freedom of Information Act has led to all sorts of consequences for all of us. It is crazy that people can make requests without us knowing who they are or their addresses. Why do the media host abusive remarks that are very offensive to constituents and, occasionally, politicians, although, of course, we have extremely broad backs? It is absolutely gutless that we do not know who the people are or their addresses. There is no reason for the media to host such very offensive remarks, which are often about constituents.

On air pollution, there is a hidden killer among us, in the very air we breathe: small particles—particulates—created largely by processes of combustion. Once breathed in, they attack the cardiovascular system and cause excess mortality. The proportion of mortality caused by particulates in England is 5.4%, but in my constituency the figure is 5.7%.

Some of the environmental damage arises out of burning coal or biomass, but a lot also comes from the tailpipes of cars. In fact, particulate emissions from diesel have been increasing.

Road fuel gases offer impressive reductions in particulate loads. In fact, particulate emissions from cars running on road fuel gases are negligible. Thanks to a concession from a previous Conservative Government, fuel duty is lower on road fuel gases than on petrol and diesel.

[Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman was making a very good point about emissions from cars, but then he spoiled it by making a party political point about fuel duty, which is neither here nor there. As a fellow east Londoner—the hon. Gentleman is originally from east London—I say to him that east London is in desperate need of river crossings. Opponents say that they would encourage traffic and create more emissions, but the emissions in east London are caused mostly by static traffic that cannot move because it is sitting on either side of the Blackwall tunnel. There are more bridges in west London and less pollution. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that pollution can be dealt with by moving traffic, as opposed to static traffic?

[Mr Amess]

The hon. Gentleman and I celebrated West Ham beating Tottenham 2-1 last night and I absolutely agree with him. I hope that a number of us will persuade the Government to support a new crossing.

The nice thing about cars running on gases is that they offer the motorist a cheaper and cleaner alternative. The autumn statement contained a 10-year pledge to keep stable the advantage of certain road fuel gases over conventional fuels. That is all to the good, but the road fuel gases that are being given that boost are used not in ordinary vehicles, but only in heavier or commercial vehicles. The only fuel to receive a knock in the statement was autogas—or liquefied petroleum gas—which is another road fuel gas used by 160,000 British motorists, so they have been put on the trajectory of a gradually reducing benefit from running cleaner cars. It seems an oversight to discriminate in favour of some fuel gases, so I hope the Treasury will look at that issue.

The hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) is the secretary of the all-party group on fire safety and rescue and I am its chairman. He and I know that it is becoming increasingly apparent that we are not learning many lessons from serious fire incidents. If we look at the causes of major incidents over the past few decades, we will see that there are many common features and similarities. One example is the 2009 Lakanal House tower block fire, in which six people were killed and 20 injured. Many of the causes of that fire, as well as other, more recent fires, were the same as the Summerland fire 40 years ago. The Summerland inquiry recommended that architectural training should include a much extended study of fire protection and precautions. Yet 40 years later, what on earth has happened? I believe that many lives are being lost unnecessarily because we are not implementing that advice. I hope the Government will do something about it.

I am also worried about the Disclosure and Barring Service, previously known as the Criminal Records Bureau. A number of my constituents have had issues with it and one constituent in particular—a young man with Asperger’s—is finding it very hard to find employment because of it. A DBS certificate is now needed before people can apply for many jobs, including in schools and even cleaning positions, but my constituent is not able to obtain such a certificate, because it has to go through a recognised organisation. Given that the certificate is required before people can start jobs, my constituent is in a very difficult position.

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

Does the new system forbid me from taking my children and other children to a cricket match when it is a school event, or has that silliness been sorted?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Amess]

I am not sure it has been sorted, but I will write to my hon. Friend on that particular point. It is crazy that individuals are not able to make stand-alone applications but have to go through an organisation. That needs to be changed.

Last month, head teachers in Southend West had a meeting with the Secretary of State for Education. It was a first-class meeting in which the one issue they raised was their concern about school governors. Head teachers require advice and guidance on a vast array of issues in order to ensure that their school is well governed. Although parents may have the will and dedication to be school governors, they do not always have the specialised knowledge. Head teachers in Southend feel very strongly that they need more professionals from the financial sector. They would be an important asset to many school boards and would provide important and necessary advice. Not enough financial professionals are currently volunteering for such posts, so I hope that the Secretary of State will send out a message about getting more of them to be school governors.

Lots of my constituents have issues about the changes in how blue badges for disabled people work. I simply think that the new system is crazy. One constituent who has difficulty with mobility was previously eligible for a blue badge and had one for six years. I thought that as someone aged, they encountered more difficulties, but under the new system it seems that as they age, they suddenly become more able, which is crazy. Since the policy changed in April, my constituent has been told that he is no longer eligible and his appeal has subsequently been rejected. Only this morning, I was told that a young lady with one arm, for whom we managed to get a blue badge for the past three or four years, has suddenly had it stopped. That is absolute madness: something needs to be done and someone needs to take responsibility. On this occasion, I ask the coalition Government to fix the problem.

I am the chair of the all-party group on hepatology, and hepatitis is a public health issue of great concern to me. Public Health England estimates that some 215,000 people are living with hepatitis C in the UK, and it is shocking that many of them remain undiagnosed. Hep C is an infection that causes significant liver damage, potentially resulting in cancer, and it can go undiagnosed for many years owing to the lack of symptoms or their generic nature. Despite the high figures, further data from Public Health England suggest that if treatment was increased to just 10% of those with moderate hepatitis C and 20% of those with more advanced hepatitis C, the number of people experiencing liver failure or liver cancer would fall by more than 2,000 in the next 10 years. In my constituency, Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust ranks 31st among hospitals in England for the use of hepatitis B and C treatment, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s innovation scorecard, and that could certainly be improved.

I have received constant criticism from my constituents about SEPT—South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust—mental health services. All hon. Members know that mental health services are Cinderella services, but when we meet constituents who have a loved one with a mental health problem and we try to get assistance for them, we find that services are often lacking. I hope in the new year to have a dedicated Adjournment debate on that subject.

For anyone who wants to know, mental health services in my area were headed until last month by Dr Patrick Geoghegan. When I was the MP for Basildon, he was a hospital porter. I am not sure how someone goes from being a hospital porter to being the chief executive—I think that he was paid £230,000—but I could go on and on about it. He took retirement last month, but the culture continues: he has been replaced by his long-serving deputy. That situation is simply not good enough. I have complained to Monitor, the Care Quality Commission and the health service ombudsman, but I seem to be getting absolutely nowhere, so I ask the Deputy Leader of the House—I think that he smiles occasionally—to have a word with the Minister of State, Department of Health to see whether he can be more robust on the issue.

At this time of year, we think about animal welfare. I spoke in a debate on live animal exports last year, including about how the long-distance transport of live animals causes them huge distress. The exotic pet trade, in particular, is a huge cause of animal suffering. It is also a conservation issue for some species, a concern to human health and safety, and a possible source of invasion by non-native species, which costs the United Kingdom about £1.7 billion every year in management and control.

In 2002, I co-sponsored a ten-minute rule bill, the Endangered Species (Illegal Trade) Bill, which called for increased penalties under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976, including in relation to exotic pet trading. If only that Bill had become law 11 years ago, we would not be in the mess we are in now. It would be good to have a wider debate about the Belgian and Dutch models, in which a positive list limits the type of animals that people are allowed to keep. That is supported by the Federation of Veterinarians in Europe.

I will end on a cheerful note. I have a constituent called Ray Woodcock, a great granddad, who recently broke the Guinness world record for the highest bungee jump into water. He jumped 383 feet from a crane into a flooded quarry to raise money for the Southend Taxi Drivers Charity Fund for Children. I think that is absolutely marvellous.

I want to link that to my final point, which is about the city of culture. Hon. Members will be aware that I was somewhat disappointed that Southend was not chosen as the city of culture for 2017, but I am delighted to tell the House that Southend was selected last month as the alternative city of culture. The launch took place at Genting casino, with Patti Boulaye announcing who had won as the alternative city of culture. We also had James Bourne, Jo Wood and an array of celebrities—Bruce Forsyth and Lee Mead are supporting us—of which the list goes on and on. I have to tell the House that, as of a month ago, Southend-on-Sea is at cultural war with Hull city: the Thames versus the Humber; Leigh-on-Sea fish versus faggots; Southend United versus Hull City. Between now and 2017, the United Kingdom and the world will realise how rich the culture is in Southend.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish you and everyone who works here a very happy Christmas and a wonderful new year.

Summer Adjournment

David Amess Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming adjournment.

Before the House adjourns for the summer recess, I should like briefly to raise a number of points.

I feel that I was duped over the war with Iraq, and I will certainly not be duped again with regard to Syria. I am totally against any involvement in that country, although I praise and highlight the work of organisations such as the United Nations, the Red Cross and Christian Aid. We want to hear much less from Mr Blair and Mr Clinton in terms of any advice that they might be giving. Unless they are prepared to have some of their children sent home in body bags, they should remain silent.

On Iran, I have long been in favour of peaceful regime change.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

On Syria, will my hon. Friend make the very important point that the community that will suffer most in any armed intervention by the west is one that is protected by the Assad regime—namely, the Christians? It is the last major Christian community left in the middle east outside Egypt.

[Mr Amess]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. However, I hope that the House will understand if I do not give way any more because I have promised the Deputy Speaker that I will be very quick and set a good example.

The new President of Iran, Mr Rouhani, seems to have been given a wonderful welcome, including in the press. Now that he has the office of President, I caution the House to judge him by his deeds, because his track record is not particularly wonderful.

The Maldives were a British protectorate and for 30 years a dictator ran the country. On 7 September, there are new elections. Given that we have a real interest in the Maldives, it is very important that those elections are held properly and fairly so that this nascent democracy is given all possible support.

I was delighted that one of my colleagues was introducing a Bill to amend the Freedom of Information Act 2000, but rather perplexed when the Bill was not presented. It is absolutely ludicrous that people can make freedom of information requests but we are not allowed know their names and addresses. The House must change that as a matter of urgency. It is completely gutless when people are not prepared to be named and reveal their identities.

I served on the Health Committee for 10 years, and during that time we initiated a debate on obesity. Given all the current talk about obesity, it is as if it has only just been invented. I urge the House to go to the House of Commons Library and look at the report that the Health Committee produced in 2003. If those recommendations had been followed, we would not be in the situation we are in now.

The Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000, which I was privileged to pilot through the House, reduced the number of people in fuel poverty from 3.5 million in 2010 to 3.2 million in 2011, but there are still far too many. Although it is very warm at the moment, I hope that we will not take our eye off the ball in reducing the deprivation that some of our senior citizens feel when it comes to being warm in their homes.

Space exploration is something that interests us all. I am sure that all hon. Members can think of one or two people they would like to send up in a rocket, hopefully not to return. I would not think for a moment that the UK Space Agency would rival its counterpart in America, although I am very glad that a British astronaut has now joined the programme. Given that we are spending a huge amount of money on the High Speed 2 rail project, I hope, in the context of profitability, that we will look carefully at space exploration in future.

Mr Ray Woodcock is a local resident who raises a lot of money for charity by bungee jumping. On 18 August, he will be beating the Guinness world record for bungee jumping over water at a Welsh quarry, jumping a total of 400 ft. I know that all hon. Members will wish him well.

I recently had a meeting in my office with representatives of Coloplast, which was the first company in the world to develop the ostomy bag. They recently celebrated bowel independence day, which encourages GPs to offer newer technologies more regularly. I hope that the relevant Health Minister will look into this matter and support the company’s endeavours. On the same day, I met representatives of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, who informed me of the positive results that the MS risk sharing scheme has shown since its introduction in 2002. I hope that the scheme will be strengthened further in future and that my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary will look into the matter.

I was appalled by this week’s announcements about a number of hospitals. As I know Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals Trust extremely well, I feel very strongly that Monitor has played a significant role in what has happened in this tragedy. The people who run Monitor must be held to account by this House.

Monorails do not seem to be particularly popular in this country, but they do offer another way of getting round our busy cities. I am certainly going to encourage the good residents of Southend to have a monorail, and I hope that other hon. Members will be interested in this matter.

Essex bowling club is currently celebrating its 106th year. It is a wonderful club that has had a few trials and tribulations, particularly with the Inland Revenue. I am sending a message to the Deputy Leader of the House saying that I expect someone from the Treasury, as a matter of urgency, to extend the courtesy of meeting my constituents from Essex bowling club and helping them with their tax affairs.

We have all seen the commissioning of reports such as Chilcot and Leveson, and there is great news coverage at the time. Millions and millions of pounds have been spent on those reports. What has happened about the Chilcot report? Absolutely nothing. What has happened about the Leveson report? Absolutely nothing. This is a disgrace in relation to taxpayers’ money. I expect the House to take this issue seriously and to make sure that we get these reports delivered here as soon as possible. I assure the House that if there were an Amess report in years to come, I would not rest until action had been taken.

I conclude with Southend’s bid to be City of Culture. I was very disappointed that neither Southend nor anywhere in the south of the country was on the shortlist of four. All I can suggest to the House is that the Unite trade union probably had something to do with rigging the ballot. That said, I am now announcing that Southend-on-Sea will be the alternative City of Culture in 2017. We will do it through private enterprise, and I hope that everyone will visit Southend to see it.

I wish you, Mr Deputy Speaker, your fellow Deputies, the Speaker of the House, all the Attendants, and everyone who works here a wonderful summer after what has been a tremendous success in terms of sporting endeavours. If anyone is at a loose end, I would welcome them to come and see how Southend-on-Sea rocks.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Let us see whether we can rock the House with Mr Jim Cunningham on an eight-minute limit.

HEALTH

David Amess Excerpts

Thursday 20th December 2012 Commons Chamber

Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)

- Hansard - - Excerpts

As we move on, maybe this is the time for me to talk the talk and wish all hon. Members and staff working at Parliament a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2013. It would not be a Christmas general debate without a contribution from Mr David Amess, so let us start with Mr David Amess.

Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)

- Hansard -

Before the House adjourns for the Christmas recess, there are a number of points I wish to raise. Members are familiar with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. A number of constituents have raised with me the fact that they think it perverse that they cannot have the name and address of the person who raises the FOI inquiry. I agree with them; I think the law should be changed.

In October, I met Paul Atkinson, from Prysmian Group, who is very troubled by the state of electrical cables. He fears that safety regulation of imports is not currently strong enough, and that this is causing fires, as well as the loss of British jobs. Having recently met fire officers in my constituency, I think this is a real problem.

Earlier this year, I secured a debate on the lack of burial space. There were excellent contributions from the hon. Members for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and for Ealing North (Stephen Pound), and a very good reply from the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Mrs Grant). I hope that further work will be done on this issue because, as the hon. Member for Strangford said, the only things we can be certain of in life are death and taxes.

I have long campaigned in this House on the role of the Iranian resistance movement. There have been gross violations of human rights in Iran and the sharp rise in public executions continues. Her Majesty’s Government need further to support democracy and change in Iran, and the National Council of Resistance of Iran must be recognised as a legitimate opposition movement.

A few weeks ago, there was a power cut in my house and that of my next-door neighbour. I complained to E.ON, with whom I settle the bill, as did my neighbour. It was passed on to UK Power Networks, who passed me on to the energy ombudsman, which was an absolute waste of time. No one seems to be responsible for these matters, and my neighbour and I want compensation.

One of my constituents is particularly worried about postal vote fraud. To prove a point, he put five fictional names down at his address to register them as voters, and received postal votes for all of them. The census was obviously not checked to verify the residents in the property. He was arrested for electoral fraud, but the police brought no charges. We are both anxious about what appears to be a very lax system.

Last month, I visited Broadway Opticians in my constituency to see at first hand the different enhanced eye care services that optometrists and opticians can deliver. Community optometrists offer patient-centred, cost-effective quality eye care services in convenient, accessible locations. A key benefit of implementing those enhanced services is a reduction in referral rates to GPs and A and E units. These services are very patchy in our area. I ask what plans my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has to make sure that these enhanced services are available across the country.

No doubt the whole House would like to see driving become safer—according to my wife, if anyone drove with me they would see why. I was contacted by the Association of British Insurers, which is seeking to change the law on learning to drive. It wants a minimum one-year period for learning to drive and a ban on intensive driving courses. At the same time, it would like to allow teenagers to start learning to drive at 16 and a half, although as a politician I am not so sure about that.

On an issue of great concern to senior citizens, constituents of mine have been informed that their pensions will no longer be paid into the Post Office, but instead will be paid into a bank account. The letters informing them of the change came from Her Majesty’s Treasury, not the Post Office. This change is very difficult for many senior citizens to manage, and I urge Her Majesty’s Treasury as well as the Post Office to think through this change very carefully.

Another constituent of mine has raised with me his issues with Wonga, the pay-day loans company. He is particularly concerned about its television advertising, which does not mention the annual percentage rate of 4,214 applied to loans. It is worrying how easily one can obtain money from such companies. Its website guarantees quick decisions and money delivered swiftly. Any company making such quick decisions on loans can hardly be spending much time considering how the loans might affect the person’s life or how it could be paid back.

Dredging is damaging the environment in my constituency. It is affecting the cockle and the fishing industries, and is fundamentally changing the Southend coastline and affecting Southend pier, the longest in the world. I have seen the evidence with my own eyes. There has been a huge reduction in the amount of mud on the foreshore in Southend and Leigh. The pace of change is very dangerous. I have mentioned it in the House before, and I will continue my ongoing campaign to look after the Southend coastline.

Yet another constituent met me recently to discuss the creation of the supermarket watchdog, which is part of the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill, introduced in September. Supermarkets can treat suppliers badly without fear of any consequences. Although supermarkets are clearly beneficial to society, we must be careful to protect their customers and suppliers. I congratulate ActionAid on its long campaign and look forward to seeing the watchdog ensure fairness for producers, supermarkets and customers.

A constituent of mine, James Price, who belongs to the Plymouth Brethren, has been in contact with me on a number of occasions regarding the Charity Commission’s plan to remove charity status from the Brethren’s gospel halls. Not only should this group be able to keep its current status, but I am worried about the implications if it cannot do so. I was pleased with yesterday’s ten-minute rule motion on this subject. What is to say that other religious organisations, such as the Church of England or my own Catholic Church, will remain safe if the gospel halls are not?

The final subject that I wish to raise is art. Art is wonderful and should be cherished. Southend West is a centre of cultural excellence. I enjoyed hearing the inaugural concert of Southend youth orchestra and was particularly delighted to hear from David Stanley’s group, the Music Man Project, which offers a unique service for people with learning disabilities. It is absolutely wonderful. David and the orchestra deserve a national audience, and it was my joy to go to No. 10 Downing street yesterday and present the Prime Minister with the DVD. Furthermore, I will be organising an event called “Southend’s Got Talent” on 15 February further to promote the arts in my constituency, and I hope that hon. Members will join me on 4 March in the Jubilee Room, where we will be celebrating all that is wonderful in Southend.

This year, my mother turned 100, and we enjoyed the diamond jubilee and the Olympic games. I do not know what can top it next year, but some of us will be celebrating 30 years in Parliament. I wish you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and all the staff a very happy Christmas, and everyone else good health, peace, prosperity and a wonderful new year.

Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)

- Hansard - - Excerpts

The hon. Member for Southend West (Mr Amess) is always a difficult act to follow, but it is always a pleasure to do so, and I look forward to hearing the result of his talent contest.

I wish to inject a serious note, because I am asking the Government to rethink their consultation paper, “Judicial Review: proposals for reform”. I speak as someone with experience working for the previous Government on judicial reviews. Yes, they come in thick and fast, but in my view they are a necessary safety valve for society and uphold the rule of law. They are the foundations of our democracy. What is a judicial review? It is a review of a decision by a public authority—a review of legality, unfairness or reasonableness, or of whether there was a personal interest in any decision taken by a public authority.

My first concern is about the consultation period. The paper was published last week, and, in my view, the consultation period is not long enough. I have been in many judicial reviews where judges have expressed concern that there has been little or hardly any consultation. This consultation is taking place over the Christmas period. It is not even the length of a legal term. It will last for six weeks, at least two of which will be taken up by Christmas and new year. That might even be grounds for a challenge. What is the case for change? Page nine of the document states that judicial review has developed far beyond its original intentions. That is not a proper reason based on evidence; it is an opinion.

We are dealing with old powers that go back centuries. Some of the remedies have Latin words such as certiorari, mandamus and even habeas corpus. They have been exercised more extensively, because there has been much more legislation, and that is my second point. The Government are concerned about the growth of judicial review, but, because there is more legislation, there will be more challenges. When decisions are made and discretion goes beyond what Parliament has laid down in legislation, of course there should be challenges. These proceedings are not brought before the court lightly. Judges take very seriously the use and abuse of the court process and do their best to filter out vexatious claims.

My third point is that the Government want to change the process for granting permission to bring judicial review proceedings. Their own evidence shows that permission hearings—first on paper, then orally—are a good filter of cases, so what are the figures? In 2011, 7,600 applications were considered by the court, but only one in six was granted. That makes 1,200. That, to me, shows a court doing its job. It is one gigantic filter. Furthermore, only 300 permissions were granted for an oral hearing.

The oral permissions are important, because they are about getting a fair crack of the whip—to use a judicial review term—and it is right that those cases that have been filtered out get a second chance, because there might be new evidence. Even when they get to the stage of a hearing and an appeal, judges, particularly in immigration cases, are now ordering that the appeal can be pursued from abroad. I am astounded at the suggestion on page 11 that a victory in a judicial review is only a pyrrhic victory. It is a victory in terms of court. It is referred back to the original body for consideration, either because the decision was exercised unlawfully or unreasonably, or on one of the other grounds of judicial review. That is a proper victory within the grounds of judicial review.

I am also concerned about the timeliness aspect. The Government say that judicial review cases take a long time. These are not cases in the Jarndyce v. Jarndyce mould. Where is the evidence that there is delay beyond the three months? Most cases are dealt with in a timely fashion. There is a pre-action protocol that allows information to be exchanged before a case goes to court to be settled. The Government want to reduce the time limit from three months to six weeks in planning cases. That will not make them go away or get dealt with any quicker. What has to be looked at is the listing for a hearing. That is where the delay is. I have said before in the Chamber that we need more judges and more court time. The fact that some of the cases have been heard outside the Strand—in Cardiff, Manchester and other areas where the administrative court sits—is taking cases away from London, and that is a good thing.

My next point concerns fees. The Justice Secretary said that judicial review was being increasingly used by organisations for public relations purposes, but increasing the fees will not make them use it any less. Those organisations can afford it; it is the individuals or the residents groups who will not be able to afford the fees and therefore will be denied access to justice. If we remove access to justice, we remove one of the important parts of a democracy. In my view, the Justice Secretary has not made the case for reform. I ask the Deputy Leader of the House to ask the Justice Secretary what discussions he has had with those who drew up the civil procedure rules about these changes, and what representations he has had from the judiciary, lawyers and others who use the administrative court stating that there is a need for reform.

The case for reform is flawed. As Tom Bingham, the eminent judge, wrote in his excellent book, “The Rule of Law”, judges review the lawfulness of administrative action taken by others; they are the auditors of legality—no more no less. If we are to live in a democracy, we have to expect decisions to be made in cases which are not acceptable to the Executive or Parliament. We would not wish to have a judiciary that agrees with everything the Executive or Parliament does. Judicial review is one of the pillars that hold up a just society. Unforeseen consequences of legislation and the exercise of discretion can be tested in the courts through JR. We not only have great expectations but—in JR jargon—legitimate expectations that the safety valve for society that is judicial review will remain intact. In judicial review, judges exercise a constitutional power that the rule of law requires them to exercise. That is the way it should be.

May I add my voice to others in wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year and in thanking the staff for all their hard work over the year? Let me also say, on this auspicious day—20/12/2012—that I hope everyone’s dreams come true.

Christmas Adjournment

David Amess Excerpts

Thursday 20th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming Adjournment.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Beautifully moved. Merry Christmas, Mr Amess. There will be a time limit of eight minutes on Back-Bench speeches in the debate. My guidance to the Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter) is that, although the clock will not be put on him, his time limit is 10 minutes.

General Matters

David Amess Excerpts

Tuesday 17th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

There are a number of points I want to raise before the House adjourns for the summer recess.

London’s air ambulance service—for which my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Mary Macleod) recently organised a reception—continues to do an amazing job. It helped a huge number of people in the London bombing, along with more than 2,000 patients last year, using a helicopter and rapid-response cars to deliver emergency medical care. However, the service is in need of a second helicopter, so I support its calls to raise £10 million over the next three years.

Police and crime commissioner elections will be held in November. I would have thought that the last people we need standing are retired police officers, who will presumably have some sort of axe to grind. I would therefore like to know who exactly the PCCs will be accountable to, other than through the ballot box. What will their relationship with Members of Parliament be? These are important issues, particularly as police authorities have proved to be so ineffective.

A constituent, Miss Tina Cannadine, suffers from a range of medical conditions, including myalgic encephalomyelitis, yet she has been refused disability living allowance after an appeal. I have concerns about the assessment system, which has denied Miss Cannadine her entitlements. It is clear that the required forms are too rigid, with no great leeway. They should be designed to help someone such as my constituent, not hinder them.

BBC executives are still paid too much money. Despite a series of fiascos, culminating in the shoddy coverage of the diamond jubilee, the executive team and its stars earn hundreds of thousands of pounds each year. As licence tax payers, we pay their wages and we should be entitled to better services, and if they are not delivered, they should face a pay cut. However, I think that Lord Patten does a fantastic job, and I am still available as a TV presenter.

The Government need to publish a robust liver strategy soon. Liver disease is a huge problem, but it is largely preventable. Urgent action is also needed on hepatitis C. Deaths from liver disease caused by hepatitis C are increasing rapidly, even though it is a preventable and usually curable virus. We can reduce deaths from liver disease by diagnosing and treating people living with this silent killer.

Obstructive sleep apnoea is a little known but serious condition, where throat muscles relax and block the airways—sometimes one has only to look round the Chamber to see what a serious condition it is. I support the calls by the British Lung Foundation to have everyone with symptoms of OSA diagnosed quickly and accurately, and to ensure that they receive the highest standard of care for the treatment of their OSA. That would help to reduce NHS costs and improve patients’ quality of life.

Maldivian students wanting to study in the UK face a challenge owing to the fiasco caused by having to get their visas via Sri Lanka. Their flights are also very expensive. As the Maldives were a British protectorate until 1965, I ask Her Majesty’s Government to do something to help those students.

The lives of 3,400 members of the Iranian opposition are at stake in Iraq. The promises made to the residents of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty must be honoured, and we have to take a stand against the human rights violations occurring there.

Unfortunately, I am concerned about a number of election practices in Southend. On polling day, people seem to be displaying their names and pictures right outside the polling stations. The policemen go round to the polling stations, but I wonder what they are looking for. The Electoral Commission needs to look into those issues.

The highlight of the Olympic torch relay has already happened. It took place on 6 July when the torch came to Southend. It was greeted by a choir of 6,000 on the Esplanade singing the anthem “Let your light shine”, composed by Tolga Khashif. I congratulate Southend Metal and the council on doing a superb job of organising the event. An official who had been with the torch throughout its journey said that the Southend event was the best by a mile.

Southend-on-Sea borough council was named local authority of the year 2012 at the Local Government Chronicle awards in March. I congratulate the mayor of Southend, Sally Carr, the chief executive, Rob Tinlin, and his hard-working officers, the leader of the council, Nigel Holdcroft and Councillor John Lamb, along with everyone at the civic centre on their fantastic achievements. I also hope to host a centenarians’ tea party this September, at which we hope to break the record in “Guinness World Records” again. My mother is now eligible to attend. It is for all those reasons that it is an absolute disgrace that Southend has not been designated a city.

I wish everyone in the House a very happy summer recess.

Whitsun Recess

David Amess Excerpts

Thursday 24th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I congratulate the Backbench Business Committee, of which I confess I am a member, on providing this opportunity for debate. I have observed that some colleagues have used it extremely well, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Claire Perry), who spoke so movingly. I congratulate her, too, on bringing the military wives choir to Portcullis House yesterday.

I wish to raise a number of points on the Whitsun Adjournment. First, I have three early-day motions, which I urge colleagues to sign before we rise for the recess. The first congratulates West Ham United on being promoted to the premiership, despite some poor management and over-inflated ticket prices. The second congratulates Chelsea on beating Bayern Munich. The third, with which I suspect Conservative Members might be pleased, condemns the behaviour of some of the people attending the Police Federation conference. I thought that their behaviour was disgraceful, particularly the way they tried to bully and intimidate the Home Secretary. I thought that, for them, it was a public relations disaster.

I shall turn now to online newspaper comments. I am increasingly concerned with the whole system whereby people can publish material in electronic newspaper articles without supplying their names and addresses. This is totally unacceptable. There are swear words and expletives, but there seems to be no legislation to deal with the problem. None of us really has the money to fight cases through the courts, even if that were possible. I know that whenever an article is written about me in one local newspaper—which I do not send to it—the abuse is endless. It is water off a duck’s back for me, but for some people who are rather close to me it can be a little bit offensive. I welcome the Defamation Bill, but I think that there should be much stricter controls. It is absolutely gutless not to force those who wish to say abusive things online to leave their names and addresses.

Public anger has recently been directed at the high pay received by private sector bosses, most notably those in the big banks, but what regulation is there to deal with some public sector executives? In 2009, 31 council bosses earned more than the Prime Minister, which is crazy, and chief executives of public bodies can take home more than £250,000 a year. I am not satisfied that there is proper scrutiny of public organisations, including some in Essex such as the probation service and NHS trusts.

I find it less than acceptable that a Member of Parliament should have to resort to the Freedom of Information Act to confirm, after a number of months, that those who were consulted on the closure of Leigh police station lived miles away, so effectively there was no consultation. It has taken me two years just to confirm that the present chief constable of Essex was chosen from a shortlist of one. That is outrageous. Apparently the other candidates had withdrawn on the day. When I asked who had made the decision not to re-advertise the position, I was told that the decision had been made in the first instance by Essex police authority. That says it all. In 30 years, Essex police authority has never engaged with me, as a Member of Parliament. As I have said, there needs to be much greater scrutiny. Anyone can get rid of Members of Parliament after—now—five years, but some public bodies seem to be a law unto themselves.

I must admit that one of my children had an unfortunate experience recently with a private clamping company. We are dealing with it through the small claims court, and I am determined that we will win. To charge someone £480 and then intimidate and bully them is totally unacceptable. I understand that the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 will outlaw wheel-clamping on private land, and I welcome that, but I think that private clamping companies should be much more tightly regulated.

[Kelvin Hopkins]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Mr Amess]

I think that I must accept your guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker. Some of us have been here since 1 pm, and I know that you are very keen to give everyone a chance to speak. I apologise for not giving way on this occasion.

I am dismayed that victims of the Vioxx disaster are still struggling to obtain compensation. Vioxx was the biggest drugs disaster in human history, killing more than 100,000 people worldwide and leaving many more suffering horrific side effects. With that in mind, I find it unbelievable that victims are still fighting legal battles. So far, the United States of America is the only country in which a Vioxx settlement has been won. Attempts at settlements have been made in Canada and Australia, but we do not seem to be progressing too well in this country.

I am also concerned about the impact of drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. All of us with children know that the biggest challenge we face is bringing them up, but I am very worried about something that has been brought to my attention by a constituent, Mrs Stephanie Lister: the fact that children with behavioural disorders are being described as having ADHD. Very young children are often issued with powerful treatments such as Ritalin, and Mrs Lister wondered whether the damage that they might cause had ever been considered. Children often complain of chest pains, vomiting and even total memory loss as a result of taking medications for behavioural conditions. Such prescriptions provide big business. In 2010 the NHS spent £48 million on ADHD drugs. The number of prescriptions has increased steadily over the past decade, and is currently at about the 750,000 mark. That is quite extraordinary.

I am very concerned about the political situation in the Maldives. The resignation of President Nasheed in February caused great turmoil. Last week the Speaker of the Maldives Parliament came to see me. Its Parliament is in deadlock, while the Speaker was barred from entering the state opening ceremony. He wisely chose not to intervene with force. I urge Her Majesty’s Government to do as much possible to help with the situation in the Maldives.

We in Essex are very upmarket, so we talk about children, not kids, but two weeks ago the “kids count” awards took place on the House of Commons Terrace, and it was a privilege to be there. I presented one of my constituents, Stephanie Migliorini, with the “kids count” award for the most inspirational young person. It was a wonderful evening. Various celebs were present, including Tony Hadley, the still-great singer, and Darren Campbell, the still-great runner. Seventeen-year-old Stephanie has two older brothers with tremendous challenges, and she has looked after them magnificently.

I am proud to have been given a new book written by one of my constituents. Simon Sear has written the inspirational “Kencho: the Art of Happiness”—which, of course, we all chase. He is the husband of Juliet Sear from the popular local bakery, Fancy Nancy. The book outlines a personal transformation programme, drawing on psychological tools and Simon’s personal experience, and its focus on happiness reinforces the social messages of the current Government. I recommend it to all colleagues as a good bedtime read.

I was delighted that one of my hon. Friends mentioned the comments made by the managing director of the International Monetary Fund only this week. Some Opposition Members must be suffering from amnesia: for 13 years we had a Labour Government. For 13 years that Government had an opportunity to transform our nation’s prospects, but, started off by Tony Blair and then finished by the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown), our country was left in a dreadful state. No wonder the managing director of the IMF said she shivers to think what would have happened without the fiscal consolidation implemented by our new Government. I hope they stand firm on our current policy.

Last Thursday, Southend was blessed with the arrival of a new cultural centre on the end of what is the longest pier in the world. It is the first new building to be constructed on the pier since 2000—that is because, unfortunately, we have had three fires over the last 50 years. The building weighs 170 tonnes and it was carried by boat down the river Thames. I think it will be an icon for the eastern region, and I urge all Members to visit it.

Everyone is looking forward to the Olympics celebrations that will take place throughout the country. The arrival of the Olympics torch in the south-west has been absolutely marvellous, and I congratulate those who have made it possible for 95% of the population to be involved. Of course the highlight will be when the torch comes to Southend on 6 July. Mark Foster has been announced as one of the torch bearers, and the torch will be met by a choir of 2,000 people. It will be a wonderful occasion, and I am advised that there will also be some flash-mob dancing.

Next week, we will have the jubilee celebrations. In fact, we have the jubilee party in Westminster Hall this evening, and I know that many hon. Members will be on the Terrace on Sunday 3 June. Southend has had 67 applications for street parties, so we are certainly going to celebrate 60 glorious years of the sovereign reigning over us. I also just wish the House and all our officials a happy Whitsun recess.

Business of the House

David Amess Excerpts

Thursday 15th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

The right hon. Gentleman says that it is the Government’s academy policy, but it is actually his own party’s academy policy which we are building on and strengthening. The regime for academies was developed by his party and, if I may say so, we are building on one of the successes of the previous Administration.

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

May we have a debate on why Southend-on-Sea, the finest seaside resort in the country, was not granted city status yesterday? The word on the street is that we were robbed, and I agree.

[Sir George Young]

I would hope that my hon. Friend will be broad-minded about this, in that there was success for Essex—

Business of the House

David Amess Excerpts

Thursday 8th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I believe that this matter falls to my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, who is in charge of IT procurement contracts, for which we are seeking to get better value for money. Cabinet Office Ministers will be at the Dispatch Box on Wednesday 21 March, when there will be an opportunity for the hon. Gentleman to pursue this matter in greater detail.

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

May we have a debate on why there is no Easter Adjournment debate? I had thought that these debates were set in stone, and I really think that the Easter break of three weeks, during which time we will be unable to raise important constituency matters on the Floor of the House, is unacceptable.

[Sir George Young]

The concept of having a debate on why there is no debate is a novel one. I know that my hon. Friend is a regular participant in the pre-recess Adjournment debates, but the Government have made the last day before the Easter recess available to the Backbench Business Committee, which weighed the option of using it in the traditional way that my hon. Friend prefers against the alternative of providing time for a debate on assisted dying. The Backbench Business Committee has done what it is perfectly entitled to do, and decided to have a debate not on pre-recess issues, but on assisted dying. That is a matter for the Backbench Business Committee—a consequence of the Government’s giving away powers to it, enfranchising the Back Benchers.