Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Lansley

Thursday 10th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Gentleman will know, and the House will have seen, that the Home Secretary will be making a statement. Indeed, I will be making a business statement, too. Sometimes it is necessary for the public to be told at what is, effectively, broadly the same time as Parliament itself.

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

2. What recent guidance he has given to his ministerial colleagues about providing timely answers to written questions.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Lansley

Thursday 26th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I will, as my hon. Friend would expect, wait to see what the Elliott review has to say. No doubt my hon. Friends in DEFRA will want to tell the House how the Government propose to respond to it. I cannot promise Government time. As I have often said to the House on the allocation of time in the Chamber, the great majority of Government time has to be devoted to legislation. A significant part of the Government time that was previously available for debate has been handed over to the Backbench Business Committee, so that it can determine where Back Benchers feel the priority lies.

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House arrange for an early debate on timely responses to parliamentary questions? Since 4 June, I have tabled 24 parliamentary questions, the majority of which are named day questions on the issue of passports, and not one has had a substantive reply to date. Is the relevant Minister perhaps abroad?

[Mr Lansley]

It will not be long before I report to the House on the performance as regards parliamentary questions in the previous Session. I hope to do that before the summer recess. That may give Members an opportunity to raise points on the issue, not least here at business questions. On the specific questions that the right hon. Gentleman raised with the Home Office, it sounds like the named day requirement was met with a holding answer. I will ask the Department when it can give him the substantive answer for which he is looking.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Lansley

Thursday 5th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The reason is very straightforward: we had more bids for parliamentary time than we had time. We have to be robust in prioritising the measures we bring forward. We are prioritising measures that, as my hon. Friend will have seen in the Gracious Address, further promote the economic recovery and a fairer society. What he says is important and we will, as we have said previously, find time for it when parliamentary time allows.

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

Further to the point made by the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone), I would welcome a debate on that issue. Under the previous Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) pledged to ban wild animals in circuses. The hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard), with cross-party support, has a draft Bill that the Government have now brought forward, yet, as the hon. Member for Kettering said, there is no action from the Government. Will the Leader of the House give a commitment that this will happen during the last nine months of this Parliament in one shape or another?

[Mr Lansley]

I cannot give that commitment. In the Gracious Address we explained the Bills that we were proposing to bring forward. In a Session that, by its nature, can last no more than nine months and has a number of carry-over Bills, and with no scope to carry over Bills from this Session, there is a limit on the number of Government Bills. We have announced where our priorities lie, and, for the moment, time does not permit us to go beyond that.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Lansley

Thursday 20th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

No, I do not agree with that. I cannot see any evidence that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has breached the ministerial code of conduct. There are often, rightly, debates about policy and, indeed, about the statistics that support policy, but I do not see any basis for the accusation that, in using the arguments that he has, he has in any way breached the code.

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

May we have a further debate on the effectiveness of the green deal? In Wales this week, we have had figures showing that with a population of almost 3 million people, only 4,202 green deal assessments have taken place and only 382 projects have been signed off—fewer than 10 per constituency. Providers in my constituency are now saying that the Conservative coalition has wasted two years, with fewer homes being insulated and real damage being done to the insulation industry.

[Mr Lansley]

I cannot offer the immediate prospect of a debate. In any case, one has to look very carefully at the way in which the green deal is developing. It is developing in terms of assessments, which are not always turning into contracts, but that does not mean that, as a consequence, people are not taking the energy-conserving and carbon-reducing measures that are the basis of the assessments.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Lansley

Thursday 24th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

Yesterday, my constituent Terry Renshaw came to London, alongside his more famous former workmate, Ricky Tomlinson, and other members of the Shrewsbury 24 group, to get the Government to consider releasing papers relating to their 1972 trial. May we have an early debate on the release of those papers, particularly as the Government signed an order this very month to prevent their release until 2022, which will impact considerably on the group’s ability to put to the Criminal Cases Review Commission the case for looking at the matter again?

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising the matter on behalf of his constituents and others. I will ask my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary to respond to him. I will also, if I may, take an interest in that response, because these are not issues with which I am very familiar, but I will be glad to see what she has to say on the matter.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Lansley

Thursday 10th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I know that my colleagues at the Ministry of Justice will read what my hon. Friend has just said in response to this morning’s written ministerial statement and there will be opportunities in the future to discuss these issues. I will take this opportunity, as she has asked, to pay tribute to not only Andy Rogers, but to those working in the Prison Service, who do an often thankless and difficult task very well.

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

There is an urgent need for prison places in north Wales and today’s statement indicates that it is a possible option for a super-prison, but, like my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas), I am concerned that we do not have the opportunity to question the Secretary of State for Justice today. May we have an early debate on the provision of prison places, and could the Leader of the House gently suggest to the Justice Secretary that, given that he was at the Dispatch Box yesterday talking about rehabilitation and prisons, he may have had an opportunity to make these announcements then so that we could have questioned him in this House?

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Lansley

Thursday 22nd November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

Yes, I very much appreciate that. In my experience, sports partnerships have made tremendous strides in enabling competitive sport to prosper in schools around the country and have not limited but encouraged wider participation in sport among young people. That is why, as Secretary of State for Health, I provided additional financial support to organisers of sports partnerships. I share my hon. Friend’s view. We have discussed this point previously at business questions, and I hope that initiatives will emerge that enable us to debate the sporting legacy and the future of sport in this country, given the tremendous opportunity we have following the Olympics and Paralympics.

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

The Deputy Prime Minister today rejected my request in a parliamentary question that we ensure that independents standing for election declare any political party membership at the time of their nomination. Given what my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey (Ms Eagle) said about Winston Roddick in my area of north Wales and given the sympathy I sense the Leader of the House has with this issue, may we have an early debate on transparency of independents at local, national and regional elections?

[Mr Lansley]

Those issues are governed by statute, and an opportunity to discuss them might arise in a debate on electoral registration and administration in due course.