Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Hague of Richmond and Mary Glindon(9 years, 3 months ago)
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Mr Hague
There are quite a lot of outstanding reports from the Procedure Committee, as the hon. Gentleman knows well. I have been taking stock of them recently, and I certainly intend that a very large proportion of them will be debated in the House shortly, before Dissolution—I will announce in due course in what order—so that consideration can be given to the many changes that the Procedure Committee has recommended.
Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)
2. What assessment he has made of the effect of the introduction of the Backbench Business Committee on the work of the House.
Business of the House
Debate between Lord Hague of Richmond and Mary Glindon(9 years, 4 months ago)
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Mr Hague
The Bill is minutes away from introduction and publication, and this whole issue has indeed been the cause of rejoicing in both Houses, as my right hon. Friend rightly says. I will confirm the arrangements for the handling of the Bill in due course, but he is right that it is a short and simple Bill that should enjoy widespread support. When I come to announce the handling of business, I will certainly hope it can be considered quickly, with these facts in mind.
Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)
NHS England has announced at a late stage that it is halting the assessment for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment Translarna. This decision has caused significant anxiety for people affected by the condition, so will the Leader of the House set aside time to debate the emergency interim measures that the Department of Health and NHS England need to put in place to ensure that Translarna completes the approval and funding process and can be made available to the boys it could help from as early as next April?
Mr Hague
I know that Health Ministers are conscious of this matter. It is a priority to ensure that patients in England have access to new and effective treatments on terms that represent value for money for the NHS and the taxpayer. I believe the decision-making framework for adoption of new treatments and interventions was discussed yesterday at the NHS England board meeting, but there will be many further opportunities to put questions to Health Ministers in the early weeks of the new year.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Hague of Richmond and Mary Glindon(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Mr Hague
Opposition Members cannot have it both ways. Well, they can try to have it both ways—we have heard both arguments from those on the Opposition Back Benches. That perhaps shows that everything relating to the autumn statement was presented in the correct way. As someone who served as Leader of the Opposition when Alastair Campbell was advising the Government of Tony Blair, I do not need any lectures from anybody about announcements being made in the press rather than elsewhere.
Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)
Business of the House
Debate between Lord Hague of Richmond and Mary Glindon(9 years, 6 months ago)
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Mr Hague
The hon. Gentleman is understandably promoting his Bill and would like to have seen a money resolution for it. He is right that it is unusual but not unprecedented for the Government not to move a money resolution. There have been previous instances of that under Governments of different parties. He also understands that his Bill is a very unusual one, because it is unusual for the expenditure entailed by a private Member’s Bill—the precise figure may be disputed—to run into hundreds of millions of pounds. On such issues, the Government must, of course, ask whether they can responsibly provide a money resolution. This is an unusual situation. There is no particular provision in our rules for statements about that, but I think I have made the Government’s position clear.
Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)
During Health questions last week, the Secretary of State referred to the importance of peer review, yet the national peer review programme, which monitors the quality and safety of cancer services across England, is under serious threat of being cut. May we have an urgent debate on the future of that vital programme?
Mr Hague
As is often discussed in the House, the Government have a strong record on cancer. We have introduced the cancer drugs fund and put a great deal of emphasis on early diagnosis, and we will continue with that work. I will draw the point the hon. Lady makes to the attention of Health Ministers, but I encourage her also to pursue it with them at Question Time and through Adjournment or Back-Bench business debates.
Business of the House
Debate between Lord Hague of Richmond and Mary Glindon(9 years, 8 months ago)
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Mr Hague
Although I cannot offer an additional debate at the moment, the Government strongly support this. As my hon. Friend knows, we have introduced a community right to bid to give communities a better chance to buy local assets that they cherish. He will like to know that so far 1,500 assets around the country have been listed as assets of community value. We are providing £19 million-worth of support for communities to help them to utilise this right to bid. While not knowing the local issues regarding this very important facility, I strongly encourage all those involved to look at how the Government’s approach can benefit it.
Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)
As the Leader of the House is patron of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign’s Yorkshire and Humber Muscle Group and has met members of that group, I am sure he will take an interest in the gaps in neuro-muscular services across the whole of England and the urgent need to improve them. Will he therefore set aside time for a debate on the important issue of delivering the necessary standard of neuro-muscular services across the whole country?
Mr Hague
I am a strong supporter of the muscular dystrophy group in Yorkshire, and I am grateful to the hon. Lady for mentioning it. Clearly, she is a very strong campaigner on these important issues as well. I cannot announce any debate additional to those I have already announced for next week, but I will draw the attention of my colleagues in the Department of Health to what she has said and ensure that they write to her about it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Hague of Richmond and Mary Glindon(11 years, 6 months ago)
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Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)
11. What recent reports he has received on progress in uniting Syrian opposition forces around a credible transition plan for a post-Assad Syria.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)
We judge that co-operation between opposition groups is increasing, but there is much more to do. They need to unite and to appeal to all Syrians, regardless of religion and ethnicity. Our special representative is in constant contact with opposition groups and there will be a further meeting with them in Doha next month—next week, in fact—to work on that more united position.
Mr Hague
The first thing to say is that our assistance is non-lethal. We are providing to the opposition equipment such as generators, communications equipment, water purification kits and things of that kind. We make every effort to track such equipment and ensure that we know where it is going, but as I have explained to the House before, the risks that we take in this area are outweighed by the risk of not giving any assistance to such groups and to civilian populations in Syria, who are in a dire situation. The balance of risk suggests that we should give assistance to them.
Mrs Glindon
Can the Secretary of State say what progress he is making with the Governments of Russia and China on their position, which is clearly proving a stumbling block to action by the UN Security Council?
Mr Hague
We continue to try to make such progress. I and all the EU’s Foreign Ministers met the Russian Foreign Minister two weeks ago for a further discussion about this in Luxembourg. There is no change in the position of Russia as things stand, which is a tragedy for Syrians and the world. In fact, since the last attempt to pass a chapter VII resolution was vetoed by Russia and China, more than 13,000 people are thought to have died. This is a major block on our diplomatic progress. In the absence of that, we are giving non-lethal support to the opposition, we are the second largest bilateral donor of humanitarian aid, we work with other nations to prepare for the day after Assad and we continue to assist the opposition in coming together as a more coherent force.