Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Harrington of Watford and John Bercow

Monday 21st November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Richard Harrington]

I sincerely hope that my hon. Friend does not work until he drops, but I take his main point that people are retiring later. As part of the policy of continually reducing taxation on people, I am sure that the Treasury will be looking at the matter in future. With pension freedoms and the tax-free element that pensioners enjoy, the good news is that there is much more scope for pensioners to do the kind of thing he mentions.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Kelvin Hopkins. Not here.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Harrington of Watford and John Bercow

Monday 11th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Richard Harrington]

As the right hon. Gentleman will know, the Government are currently looking at reports from the UNHCR on precisely the issue of unaccompanied children, and I hope he will agree that lots of efforts are under way to ensure that that happens.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Callum McCaig.

[Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

22. Thank you, Mr Speaker; I was not expecting to be called. The Government have rightly made a big deal of the Syria donor conference in London, but the UNHCR has said that financial solidarity is not enough. Why will the United Kingdom Government not listen, and why did they not step up to their responsibilities at the Geneva conference and do more to help Syrian refugees?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Harrington of Watford and John Bercow

Tuesday 7th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Richard Harrington]

My constituent Mr Shabir Ahmed, whom I have visited, was repeatedly recommended, by the optician he went to for his NHS eye test, to have an eye operation involving complex refractive laser surgery. Over two years, the optician called him every month, bringing the price down until it was half what it was originally. It did not work out: the surgery led to a significant deterioration in his eyesight, and the company denies all responsibility and liability. It seems to me—

[Mr Speaker]

Order.

[Richard Harrington]

Mr Speaker, please bear with me for two sentences. Surgery as complex as that needs the same kind of regulation as if it were in hospital.

[Mr Speaker]

Questions do need to be shorter, otherwise they will eat into everyone else’s time.