Business of the House (Today)

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Wednesday 6th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)]

Will the Leader of the House confirm that, because the following motion will reduce the time available for the estimates debates tabled by Select Committees, an opportunity will be provided to debate the Prevent strategy—likely to be the one squeezed out today—at a later date?

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for that question and I can give him that assurance. He is entitled to injury time and it will be provided.

Question put and agreed to.

Business of the House

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

With permission, Mr Speaker, I should like to make a short business statement. The business for tomorrow and Wednesday remains unchanged to that announced previously. However, the remaining business will now be:

Thursday 7 July—Proceedings on the Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Bill, followed by consideration of a business motion, followed by all stages of the Police (Detention and Bail) Bill.

I can advise the House that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will make the final draft of the Bill available to hon. Members in advance of its formal introduction and publication tomorrow. I have been advised by the Home Office that copies of the final draft will be available in the Vote Office by 6 pm this evening. I will of course make my usual business statement on Thursday.

[Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)]

I am grateful to the Leader of the House for his statement and for advance sight of it, which responds to the point that I raised with him last Thursday. It has taken Home Office Ministers far too long—six weeks now—to respond to a court judgment that was originally given on 19 May. The result has been a complete mess, with doubt about the enforcement of bail conditions—for instance, in domestic violence cases—and the Leader of the House having to make this statement, completely changing the business for Thursday. Can he give us any news on the application to stay the judgment pending the appeal hearing, which I understand is scheduled for 25 July, because it might have a bearing on Thursday’s business?

As I indicated last week, we are very willing to assist in getting the legislation on the statute book as quickly as possible, because we all want to ensure that the law is restored to what everyone thought it was before the judgment. However, let me ask the Leader of the House two questions. First, can he confirm that the Home Secretary will be leading the debate? We see from his statement that all stages will be taken in one day, including the Committee stage on the Floor of the House. Secondly, when does he anticipate the Bill being considered in the other place?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his renewed offer of support for getting the legislation on the statute book. On his first point, the timeline was dealt with on several occasions on Thursday by the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice.

On the application to the Supreme Court, the greater Metropolitan police are asking for a stay of execution. It would not resolve the main issue, and it would not happen until later this month, by which time the House will have risen. The Home Secretary will indeed be taking Second Reading. I anticipate that the Bill will then go to the other place on Thursday evening, and I hope that it will be dealt with early next week.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)]

The very important business that the Leader of the House has announced will mean that an hour and a half debate on the use of electronic devices in the Chamber will not now occur. Will the Leader of the House tell us when he intends to allow that debate to occur?

[Sir George Young]

First, may I say that in replying to the shadow Leader of the House I should have said the Greater Manchester police, not the greater Metropolitan police?

I am sorry that the debate on Thursday will not now take place. I will make my normal business statement on Thursday outlining the business for forthcoming weeks.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab)]

In his business statement on Thursday, could the Leader of the House tell us what the Home Secretary seems not to be capable of telling us about the case of Sheikh Raed Salah, including when she signed an order that he was to be deported from this country, why he has been held for some days in Her Majesty’s Prison Bedford, why he is being denied legal access until tomorrow and why, and under what pressure, she decided to make what I believe to be a retrospective decision?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think this is a question for Thursday, unless the Leader of the House has any plans to indicate that the matters will be debated on Thursday.

[Sir George Young]

I understand that the matter is before the courts.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

I assume that the Leader of the House is not going to move item No. 2 on the Order Paper tonight, but has he considered whether it could be moved and tacked on to whatever time we finish our debate on the emergency Bill?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is quite right that there is now no need to move the motion that protects the Backbench Business Committee debate for 90 minutes. We do not propose to add that debate to the end of business on Thursday; it will have to be dealt with on another occasion.

[Mr John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)]

Obviously, no leader of the House likes having to change business, although that is often necessary under the force of circumstances. We fully understand why that is being done in this case and the Opposition have indicated that they support that. However, I hope that the Leader of the House has satisfied himself regarding this question: did officials, when they knew about this decision, not tell the Minister, or is it the case that the Minister was told and did not act on it? What is the answer?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

If the right hon. Gentleman looks at Hansard for last Thursday, he will see the timeline outlined by the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice. Ministers were told on 24 June.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

I have Hansard for last Thursday, and the Minister made it quite clear that the original decision was on 5 April and that a judicial review gave oral confirmation of that decision on 19 May. Can the Leader of the House say whether he was alerted, after 19 May, to the possibility of the need to legislate on the Floor of the House to reverse that decision?

[Sir George Young]

This is rehearsing to some extent the arguments that were dealt with on Thursday. As my right hon. Friend the Minister said on Thursday, we had to wait for the written judgment to follow the oral one.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

When will the House consider Lords amendments to the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill? Given that the Leader of the House has effectively included an extra day of legislation into Parliament’s proceedings, does he anticipate that the House will run for longer than intended in the current Session?

[Sir George Young]

That is not the Government’s intention. We plan to adjourn on the day that has already been announced.

[Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Bradford South) (Lab)]

We had a statement last Thursday. Why are we waiting until this Thursday when we could have debated the exceptional Bill today? There is an increased cost to the police in not understanding what the position is and having to do bail at the doorstep level. Could we not have had the opportunity at least to see the draft Bill given that the Minister had the statement ready on Thursday?

[Sir George Young]

The Bill had to be drafted before it could be presented to the House. We have worked as quickly as we could and the Bill will be available to Members by 6 o’clock this evening—in good time for discussion on Thursday.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

I do not understand why we cannot have the Bill earlier in the week. I am particularly concerned about the people who are suspected of domestic violence and have conditions on their bail, which I understand will not be enforced. That is clearly a major problem and I wonder why it is taking so long—until Thursday—to bring forward the Bill.

[Sir George Young]

The announcement was made on Thursday and the Bill will be available later today. I think that is moving at good speed. On the specific issue the hon. Lady raised, the police service is dealing with the implications of the ruling, including in the circumstances that she outlines, and the Home Secretary has been told that the police will be able to manage operationally in the meantime.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

Can the right hon. Gentleman explain why it has taken five weeks to deal with this matter? Is an investigation going on to find out why this important legislation has taken five weeks, and is it true that the Government are only acting on the back of the report and legal advice of the Association of Chief Police Officers?

[Sir George Young]

Again, this is rehearsing to some extent the exchange we had on Thursday, and an exchange that can take place again this Thursday. The announcement that I have just made relates to the business we are dealing with on Thursday; the substantive matters will be dealt with on that day.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Although it will be good to have time to debate the Bill—that is all very well—can the Leader of the House allow us time for a separate debate about the general shambles in the Home Office and which Ministers and Law Officers were clearly asleep on the job?

[Sir George Young]

If the hon. Gentleman comes along on Thursday, he can put in a bid for such a debate. I am not sure whether he was here last Thursday, but there was a protracted exchange involving the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice on precisely the issues that the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues continue to raise.

[Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)]

Two promises were made last Thursday. The first was on the request from the police that they should have the best legal advice from the best legal brains. I am sure that refers to the Solicitor-General. The second promise was that the Bill would be discussed with the Select Committee on Home Affairs and with the shadow Home Secretary before the final draft appeared. As the Home Secretary will be appearing before us tomorrow morning, could she please bring her latest version to the meeting?

[Sir George Young]

Indeed, the Home Secretary will be bringing a copy of the Bill with her, and I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will also have his copy—available from 6 o’clock this evening.

[Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

With regard to the timing of the debate on Thursday, is it not true that parliamentary business is being lost and legislation is being made in an emergency because the Home Office was not on top of its brief in the first place? Is any investigation going on to make sure that next time round we get legislation to protect the police earlier?

[Sir George Young]

Again, these issues were raised last Thursday, and the hon. Gentleman will have an opportunity this Thursday to discuss the background to the Bill. My responsibility is simply for announcing the changed business on Thursday, and in response to requests from some of the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues we are dealing with this as quickly as we possibly can.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

Why did it take the Home Secretary so long to tell the Leader of the House that there was a need for this change?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

The moment the statement was made last Thursday, and it was clear that legislation was needed, we decided to change the business of the House, and a statement was made at the earliest opportunity.

[Vernon Coaker (Gedling) (Lab)]

What a fiasco! Why does the House have to wait until Thursday before it debates the emergency legislation when the Home Office has known about this for six weeks? Will the Home Secretary be able to tell us what the current situation is with respect to those on police bail? How many people are being let out who should not be? How many people do not know what is happening? Should there not be an emergency statement now, rather than waiting until next Thursday?

[Sir George Young]

Yes to all the questions except the last one, which is no.

Business of the House

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 30th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

The business for next week will be:

Monday 4 July—Continuation of remaining stages of the Finance (No. 3) Bill (day 2).

Tuesday 5 July—Conclusion of the remaining stages of the Finance (No. 3) Bill (day 3).

Wednesday 6 July—Estimates day [3rd allotted day]. There will be a debate on the “Prevent” strategy followed by a debate on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Further details will be given in the Official Report.

[The details are as follows: The Prevent strategy: 6th Report from the Communities and Local Government Committee of Session 2009-10, HC 65, “Preventing Violent Extremism”. Afghanistan and Pakistan: 4th Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee of Session 2010-12, HC 514, “The UK’s foreign policy approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan”; and the Government’s response CM 8064.]

At 7 pm the House will be asked to agree all outstanding estimates.

Thursday 7 July—Proceedings on the Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Bill, followed by consideration of Lords Amendments to the Fixed-Term Parliaments Bill, followed by a debate on use of hand-held electronic devices in the Chamber and Committees. The subject for this debate was nominated by the Backbench Business Committee.

The provisional business for the week commencing 11 July will include:

Monday 11 July—Consideration of Lords Amendments to the European Union Bill, followed by motion to approve European documents relating to civil law.

Tuesday 12 July—Motion relating to the retirement of the Clerk of the House, followed by Second Reading of the Public Bodies Bill [Lords].

I should also like to inform the House that the business in Westminster Hall for Thursday 7 and 14 July 2011 will be:

Thursday 7 July—A debate on intellectual property and the Hargreaves report.

Thursday 14 July—A debate on “The Future of CDC”, the International Development Committee’s fifth report of session 2010-12, HC 607.

Further to your earlier announcement, Mr Speaker, the whole House endorses what you said in congratulating Robert Rogers on his appointment as Clerk of the House and wishes him well in his new responsibilities.

[Hilary Benn]

I am grateful to the Leader of the House for that reply. I associate myself with the congratulations to Robert Rogers on his appointment. We look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role.

We are about to have a statement on police detention following the court ruling. We stand ready to assist with emergency legislation if that is what is needed to deal with the problem. The Leader of the House did not refer to the possibility of such legislation in his statement. Will he tell us the latest position?

Last week, my hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) raised the problem of questions addressed to the Minister for Women and Equalities being transferred to other Departments. Has the Leader of the House made any progress in looking into that? Can we have topical questions on this important area of the Government’s responsibilities?

Next Monday, Andrew Dilnot’s report on social care is due to be published. Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that there will be an oral statement? Will he also undertake to find time subsequently for the House to debate these important matters? Talking of which, in view of today’s industrial action, may we have a debate about the Government’s mishandling of the public sector pensions negotiations?

The Business Secretary said recently that he wanted a resurgent manufacturing sector. Therefore, can we have a statement from the Secretary of State for Transport on why he awarded a £1.5 billion contract for 1,200 new train carriages to a company in Germany, when it will put some 3,000 British railway manufacturing jobs in jeopardy?

Has the Leader of the House seen the e-mail that was released this week from Evan Harris, the former Liberal Democrat Member? In discussing the changes to the Health and Social Care Bill, he wrote:

“There is a view that we should keep quiet, say we had a victory and hope no-one notices this stuff—but I think that is not realistic. The plans remain bad for the NHS”.

May we have a debate so that we can sit back and discover whether those views are shared by the coalition Liberal Democrats who still have their seats or whether they are doing what they do on occasion, which is to face in several different directions at once?

Last week, the newspapers reported the Deputy Prime Minister’s plan to give away shares in the publicly owned banks. No sooner had it hit the front pages than a source was briefing that it was back-of-the-envelope stuff:

“He…should know better. This is not the way you make policy.”

A few days later, the Deputy Prime Minister announced the localisation of business rates, again outside the House of Commons. Here are two major policy announcements. In one case, it seems that the Cabinet has not even had the chance to question him, let alone the House of Commons. In the other, we are still waiting for a statement.

May we have a debate on Camnesia? That is not a previously undiscovered Polynesian island, but a previously undiagnosed condition that affects the Prime Minister’s ability to recall the detail of his own policies. As we saw again at yesterday’s Prime Minister’s questions, he seems to know nothing about the huge increase in the number of NHS quangos that he is creating.

After all the remarkable U-turns we have seen in the last few weeks, the very special humiliation of last week’s vote on wild animals in circuses took some doing. The issue was extremely clear: it is not right for the entertainment of others to make big beasts do things that do not come naturally to them, which is why we have all felt great sympathy this week for the Justice Secretary. As we have heard, first thing in the morning, there was a hard three-line Whip in a desperate attempt to defeat the motion, but by 4 o’clock in the afternoon it had vanished, along with the Government’s courage, because the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard) had made it clear that he would neither be induced nor bullied by the Prime Minister into withdrawing his motion. Can we have a debate to praise the hon. Gentleman—others are trying to bury him—or at the very least to save him from being taken round the back of the bike sheds for a good hiding, as one colleague has apparently suggested? I assume that he did not mean it—perhaps it was just a job application to be a Tory Whip.

Finally, as yet another policy bites the dust, does this not all reveal the fundamental truth about the current occupant of No. 10 Downing street? Unlike his much more resolute predecessor—[Interruption.] Unlike Baroness Thatcher, this Prime Minister is for turning.

[Sir George Young]

As always, we enjoyed that, but there was a slight absence of questions about the future business of the House, from which I take it that the Opposition are perfectly happy with the way in which this Administration are managing the business of the House.

I am grateful for what the right hon. Gentleman said about police detention and bail. We will have to await the statement that is to follow to discover whether emergency legislation is necessary. I am grateful for his offer of support should that be the outcome.

Turning to the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart), I will share with my right hon. and hon. Friends the right hon. Gentleman’s request to extend topical questions to the Government Equalities Office, which at the moment does not have them because it has a relatively narrow slot. The procedure for transferring questions has not changed at all under this Administration. A question is transferred to the Department that is best able to answer it.

On Dilnot, this is an important issue. That is why one of the first things we did on taking office was to ask Andrew Dilnot to chair this commission, which I understand will report on Monday. It is an issue that should be debated by the House in due course, but I cannot promise a statement by the Government on Monday, which is the date of the publication. It may be some time before the Government come up with their response.

We would welcome a debate on our approach to industrial action and strikes, and I hope that the Labour party might clarify its own views. I see that the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) said that the Leader of the Opposition was under some misapprehension as to what was going on. However, I am grateful to the him and many other Members for making it into the building today.

The matter of train carriages was dealt with in Transport questions. The contract was awarded under exactly the same procedure that the previous Government used to order new rolling stock, and there has been no change whatever.

I was in the House when the hon. Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) raised the issue of local government finance, and I refreshed my memory about the coalition agreement, which committed us to

“promote the radical devolution of power and greater financial autonomy to local government and community groups. This will include a review of local government finance.”

The terms of reference for that review were set out in a statement on 17 March. The review is ongoing, and a consultation document will be published in due course. There has been no dramatic change in Government policy.

The shadow Leader of the House mentioned the events of last Thursday and talked about the vote, but there was no vote at the end of that debate. The Government accepted the motion. He might at some time pay tribute to the coalition Government for setting up the Backbench Business Committee. There would have been no such debate had his party remained in power, because it refused to set up the Committee.

Finally, I admire the right hon. Gentleman’s acting ability in keeping a straight face in his final remarks about the former Prime Minister.

[Mr Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)]

May I warmly welcome the announcement of the business for next Thursday based on the Procedure Committee’s report on the use of hand-held devices in the Chamber and in Committees? Does he agree that that is a very important matter, on which it is desirable that an early decision is made? Will he therefore bring forward a business motion to ensure that the House can reach a decision next Thursday one way or the other?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend and his Committee for producing that report. I think some hon. Members have anticipated the House’s decision by already using hand-held devices, but it is important that we regularise the matter.

The Government are anxious not to create a precedent of routinely timetabling Backbench motions, but I will consider my right hon. Friend’s request. Subject to the agreement of the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee, and indeed of the House, I will be prepared to table an appropriate motion to protect the business on Thursday.

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

On Monday the House will devote considerable time to debating, and voting on, an amendment to tackle the problems caused by legal loan sharking. Given that, may we have an urgent statement on the Government’s plans to cap the cost of credit? As part of that, will the Leader of the House investigate a meeting that I understand took place on Wednesday, at which it was agreed that the Government would vote against the amendment on Monday, delaying action to relieve the misery caused by high-cost credit, purely so that an announcement can be made at the Liberal Democrat party conference? We need to know that when MPs vote on Monday, they are not putting choreographing coalition dividing lines ahead of the interests of vulnerable consumers.

[Sir George Young]

May I say by way of preface that I commend the action that the hon. Lady is taking, in conjunction with others, to tackle excessive interest rate charges on credit cards and other means of credit? She asked for a debate, but answered her own question by saying that there would indeed be a debate next Monday. I shall draw her remarks to the attention of my colleague at the Treasury who will be replying to that debate. I am sure that nothing underhand has taken place at all.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

May I draw the House’s attention to the real concerns, particularly in Norman Shaw, about the proposal to transfer the postal delivery from the Attendants to the postmen? That is causing great concern among the Attendants, many of whom have worked for the House for 20 or up to 36 years. Are they going to be made redundant? What is going to happen to them if that change is made?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern, and I share his appreciation of the work that the Attendants have done. As he will know, this is a matter for the House of Commons Commission rather than the Government. You, Mr Speaker, as Chairman of the Commission, will have heard the comments, and I will ensure that the Commission addresses the issue at its next meeting.

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

The Leader of the House will know that the Business Secretary constantly hints that he is going to introduce some sort of legislative curb on the freedoms of the trade unions, despite the fact that we already have some of the most restrictive labour laws in the western world. Is the Business Secretary finally going to come to the House and make an announcement, or is this just going to lurch on for a few more months?

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman must have been listening to different speeches by the Business Secretary from the ones that I have heard, in which he has consistently said that he has no plans to change industrial relations legislation. I am not quite sure where the hon. Gentleman got that idea from.

[Kris Hopkins (Keighley) (Con)]

May I ask the Leader of the House for an urgent statement from the Secretary of State for Education, following the latest appalling figures released by my local district council? They show that a total of 28,000 children in the district do not speak English as their first language, representing 43.5% of primary school children and one in three secondary school children. For clarification, I believe that more than 90% of those children were born and raised in this country. There is a clear responsibility on parents, who are failing our children. How are we going to hold them to account?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the challenges that face teachers in educating children who do not have English as their first language, and the consequential issues for other children at their schools. My hon. Friend will know that in April, the ethnic minority achievement grant, which currently stands at just over £200 million, was mainstreamed into the wider dedicated schools grant. He will know also that the coalition Government’s priority for children with English as an additional language is to promote rapid language acquisition and include them in mainstream education as soon as possible. I will draw his remarks to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education.

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

I make my usual declaration of an indirect interest in the interests of my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr Raynsford).

Will the Leader of the House consider asking the Minister for Housing and Local Government to make an urgent statement to the House, preferably this afternoon, on the regional growth fund? There is a real contradiction between what he has been saying in the House and the evidence given by Lord Heseltine to the Communities and Local Government Committee yesterday. The Minister says that housing is definitely part of the regional growth fund, but Lord Heseltine says, “Oh no it isn’t”. Will the Leader of the House please encourage the Housing Minister to come and clear this mess up?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Lady’s concern that areas that benefited from the housing market renewal grant may not benefit from the regional growth fund. She will be pleased to know that two authorities have already received money under the regional growth fund for projects that include a very large element of housing. They are two areas that were previously getting funds from the housing market renewal programme, so the situation is not quite as dire as she has just implied.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

In a written parliamentary answer, the Lord Chancellor confirmed that his Department had provided information to a journalist from The Daily Telegraph on the Government’s new policy on legal aid prior to his written statement to the House on 21 June. It was published on the front page of The Daily Telegraph prior to the statement. May we have a statement from the Leader of the House next week on the Government’s views on statements, and could they be heard first here, not on the front page of The Daily Telegraph?

[Sir George Young]

The ministerial code is absolutely explicit that important announcements of Government policy should be made in the first instance to the House. I would regret any breach of that part of the code. This Government have made roughly one third more oral statements per day than the previous Administration, so we take that responsibility seriously, and the Prime Minister has made more oral statements in his first year than his predecessors.

[Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)]

May we have a debate on the way in which we pay our respects to the fallen, particularly in Afghanistan? The practice of Back Benchers reading out the names of the fallen in the House is now forbidden, and on two occasions the announcement by the Prime Minister of their names has been moved, to a Monday and a Tuesday.

There is now great concern that the moving tributes paid by the people of Wootton Bassett cannot be paid under the new arrangements at Brize Norton, because the hearses are taken on a route that does not allow the public to line up and pay their tributes in order that we as a Parliament can be reminded of the consequences of our decisions and the country can be reminded of the true cost of war.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

It is important that this House has an opportunity to pay the sort of tributes that the hon. Gentleman has mentioned, although some of the issues that he raised at the beginning of his question fall more appropriately to you, Mr Speaker. I will raise the matter with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, who has a constituency interest, and see whether there is any way that what used to happen in Wootton Bassett can take place under the new arrangements for repatriating those who have fallen.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

May we please have a statement on when the driving test centre in Bury, which has already been closed for over six months, will reopen? Its continued closure is causing enormous inconvenience to both driving school instructors and their pupils in Bury and the surrounding area.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend will be pleased to hear that the Driving Standards Agency is committed to reopening the driving test centre in Bury, which suffered from extensive flooding damage in late 2010. Feasibility studies have now been obtained and the building works will be subject to a competitive tender exercise. The planned reopening is scheduled for late 2011, and I hope that my hon. Friend is invited to do the honours.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

May we have a statement about what the Government are going to do about the treatment of the two classes of Members in this House—those who turn up and do their work here in Parliament, and those who refuse to take their seats, but who, scandalously, will still get paid an estimated £3 million to £4 million over the course of this Parliament, not only in constituency money, but in Short money, which they, unlike us, can use for non-parliamentary, political party activities? When will the Government deliver on their promise that it would be inconceivable that MPs would continue to allow that to happen in this Parliament?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s concern. The Government’s view is quite clear: those who are elected to the House should take their seats in the House like everybody else. As he may know, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is discussing this very issue with the political parties, and I will remind him of the continuing need to find an appropriate solution.

[Mrs Anne Main (St Albans) (Con)]

In an answer that the Minister for Immigration gave me yesterday, it was confirmed that we could extend to 2013 the transitional arrangements for migrant workers from new accession countries who have access to our job market. I would like to protect British jobs for British workers where possible, so may we please have a statement from the Minister on why we are not taking advantage of that extension of protection for our labour market?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern. There will be an opportunity at Home Office questions to cross-question the appropriate Minister, who I believe was before the House during Home Office questions earlier this week. In the meantime, I will share my hon. Friend’s concern with him and see whether there is any possibility of changing the date that she has mentioned.

[Stephen Twigg (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Leader of the House ask the Business Secretary to make a statement on the serious situation facing the Liverpool retailer T J Hughes? Some 4,000 jobs across the country are under threat, with the company going into administration this week. Will the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills use all its efforts to find a buyer, so that the company’s jobs can be protected and the service to local people continued?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern about the prospective loss of jobs in his constituency and elsewhere. I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills will want to do all that his Department can, either to protect those jobs in the way that the hon. Gentleman has just outlined, or to assist in every practical way those who may lose their jobs.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

Can consideration be given to holding a debate on the way BT treats its elderly and vulnerable customers? I have recently dealt with a case in which a widow in her 70s was without a domestic telephone service for a month, despite many efforts to resolve the problem.

[Sir George Young]

I am sorry to hear about the inconvenience caused by BT’s failure to restore the service to my hon. Friend’s constituent. I will raise the issue with BT. Speaking as a constituency MP, I can only say that I have found the liaison officer, Clova Fyfe, to have been enormously helpful in addressing such issues when they have arisen in North West Hampshire.

[David Wright (Telford) (Lab)]

May we have a debate on standards in the production of wills and possible regulation? I have been approached by a number of constituents who have had difficulties ensuring that their partner’s will is delivered and executed correctly, where it is clearly against their partner’s wishes, as expressed to them before their death. We need regulation in this important area, so may we have a debate?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern. I do not know whether it would be appropriate to raise the issue either on the Adjournment or, if the Backbench Business Committee so decides, in the series of Adjournment debates that we normally have on the last day before the recess. In the meantime, I will inform the Justice Secretary of his concern and see whether he has any plans to sort out the uncertainty that arises in the situations that the hon. Gentleman has set out.

[Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con)]

I very much hope that we can have a debate on public sector pensions, on whether it is fair that those in the private sector should have to work longer and pay more so that those in the public sector can retire earlier and receive more, and on how we achieve a pensions system that is fair to all.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is right: we have to get the balance right. We have to be fair to those who are entitled to public sector pensions and to the taxpayers, who fund a large part of that. If he has read the Hutton report, he will see that there is a strong rationale for rebalancing the current arrangements, as the cost to the taxpayer has increased by about a third in the last 10 years, to some £32 billion. We want public sector pensions to remain the best. We do not want a race to the bottom, but we must find a sustainable way of funding them in the long term.

[Jon Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)]

The Leader of the House will be aware of the Government’s upcoming cuts to provision for ESOL—English for speakers of other languages. He will also be aware that the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning has promised an equality impact assessment. Can he guarantee that that impact assessment is published before the recess and that there is a debate on its findings on the Floor of the House?

[Sir George Young]

The first of those two requests may be easier to deliver than the second. I cannot promise a debate on the Floor of the House, but I will see whether publication will be made promptly, as the hon. Gentleman has just said.

[Andrew Griffiths (Burton) (Con)]

May I return to the thorny issue of IPSA? I recently submitted two duplicate invoices to IPSA by mistake. Despite having the same supplier name, the same date and the same reference, and despite being for the same amount, those receipts were paid by IPSA. The first that IPSA knew about it was when I turned up in its office with a cheque. Not only was I advised by an IPSA member of staff that there was no system in place to pick up such duplication, I was also advised that the system ran by “trusting Members”. Given the urgent importance of reassuring the public about the way our expenses system operates, may we have an urgent debate about what we are spending £6 million of taxpayers’ money on?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend has not used the fifth amendment to protect himself from self-incrimination. I hope that there will be no dire consequences from his double claiming for the same item. He will know that there is a liaison group between the House and IPSA. A number of my hon. Friends sit on it, and he may like to raise the matter with them. The House has just approved the estimates for IPSA for the current year. If he looks at the suggestions that were made alongside that, he will see that SCIPSA, the committee that gives money to IPSA—[Laughter]—I am sorry: the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority—has made some suggestions about IPSA continuing to raise its game and improve the quality of its performance.

[Mr Speaker]

What a master of understatement the Leader of the House is.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Leader of the House will know that there is increasing evidence of economic and financial warfare being waged against companies in this country—indeed, against Governments—involving the manipulation of interest rates and currencies. The Government are aware of this, but there is no joined-up reaction to it. Are we coping with it and doing our best to combat it? May we have an early debate, so that we can enlighten some Members on just how worrying this economic warfare is?

[Sir George Young]

We are debating the Finance Bill for two days next week, including on Third Reading. It may be appropriate for the hon. Gentleman to raise the subject in those debates. However, in the meantime I will alert my Treasury colleagues to his concern and see whether we can take any additional action to prevent the sort of manipulation to which he refers.

[Stephen Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the lack of transparency in the annual accounts of many arm’s length bodies? For example, the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust increased its management costs by 23% in its last accounts, but when I asked for an explanation, I was told that I would have to submit a freedom of information request. Can my right hon. Friend look at how we better hold to account senior executives for the spending choices that they make?

[Sir George Young]

I am sorry that my hon. Friend has had that problem. His request sounds perfectly reasonable, and it is one that someone charged with safeguarding the taxpayer’s interests is entitled to make. I would hope that we can get the information that he has asked for without going down the FOI route, and I will ask my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health to see whether he can make some progress on it.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

The Leader of the House will recall that, last week, I raised the issue of the proposed takeover by B&Q of a Focus store in my constituency. He very kindly offered to speak to the Office of Fair Trading that day about what appeared to be its tardy decision making. He did so, and I am grateful to him. The OFT has now told us that a decision will be reached by 5 August, but that will be too late for the employees who will be made redundant on 18 July in my constituency, and in the constituencies of 30 other Members including the Prime Minister, at a cost of £4.5 million in unnecessary redundancy and welfare payments. I realise that I am being greedy with the Leader of the House’s time, but will he speak again to the OFT and ask if it could possibly move the decision forward, so as to avoid unnecessary heartache for the employees and unnecessary costs to the public purse?

[Sir George Young]

Of course I understand the concerns of those who might lose their jobs, and the hon. Lady’s anxiety to bring the matter to a swift conclusion. I was pleased to hear that last week’s exchange produced results. Without making any promises, I hope that she is on a roll and I will have another go this week.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House grant us a debate or a statement on the effect of entrepreneurs’ relief, particularly on manufacturing firms in my constituency, in encouraging those who want to expand their businesses and invest in growth?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

That is indeed an important engine for growth, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising the matter. He will know that we have raised the lifetime limit on capital gains qualifying for entrepreneurs’ relief to £10 million, and I hope that that will make the UK a more attractive location for entrepreneurs by encouraging those who want to expand their business and reinvest in growth to do so here.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

May we have a statement on Ministers’ replies to Members’ correspondence? I have received an e-mail from the Under-Secretary of State for International Development, the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr O'Brien), in which he says that it is not the policy of the Department for International Development to respond to “similar items” of correspondence that MPs send to it, because

“this places a burden on DFID’s resources which would be better directed towards the poor.”

I do not recall the code of conduct on Ministers replying to Members’ correspondence containing that kind of provision, and I would be grateful if we could have a statement and perhaps some consultation on this matter, to clarify the extent to which Ministers can pick and choose to which MPs’ letters they reply.

[Sir George Young]

Every Member of Parliament is entitled to a prompt and courteous response from Ministers to the letters that they send, but if a Member sent 1,500 identical cards to a Minister, for example, it would be reasonable for the Minister to send one reply and ask the Member to notify the constituents who had sent all the cards to him. It does not follow that every single identical letter sent to a Minister is entitled to a personal reply, but each individual subject should certainly get an answer from the appropriate Minister.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

Earlier this week, I accompanied my constituent, Karen Kannair, to meet officials from the Department for Education, to whom she gave a harrowing description of the treatment that she and her son had received after he had been excluded from school some two and a half years ago. Could we find time for an urgent debate on the performance of local education authorities in dealing with excluded pupils?

[Sir George Young]

It is important that pupils who are excluded from school should not lose contact with mainstream education, and that they should get back into it as soon as possible. The experimental statistics published today show that pupils in alternative provision perform significantly less well in GCSEs than those who are in mainstream schools. These are vulnerable children, and they need the support to which my hon. Friend refers. We set out in our White Paper last year our plans to increase the autonomy, accountability and diversity of alternative provision in order to help to drive up standards.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

May we please have a debate on the effect of the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday about business rates? It seems to me that the better-off areas of the country will become still better off, and that the poorer areas such as my constituency will suffer even more.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

We have not come to a final decision on business rates, as I said earlier. However, if local authorities decided to keep the business rate, there would still have to be a system of equalisation to ensure that those local authorities with fewer than average businesses did not suffer unduly.

[Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne) (Con)]

May we have a debate in the House on bureaucracy in the NHS, and a statement about the reduction in the number of managers since the general election?

[Sir George Young]

I would welcome such a debate because, since the general election, we have reduced the number of managers in the NHS by 4,000, reversing the record of the previous Administration, under whom the number of managers increased at six times the rate of the number of nurses.

[Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Bradford South) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House have a word with the Home Secretary about her failure to answer named-day questions? The shadow Home Secretary has tabled 15 questions over the past couple of weeks, only two of which have been replied to. Is not that a distressing return on the number of questions tabled, given that the convention is that named-day questions should be answered on the named day?

[Sir George Young]

I will raise that matter with the Home Secretary, who might possibly be in the House quite soon. It is indeed the objective of every Minister to reply to questions on the named day, and if that is not possible, they will send a holding reply, but I will raise the matter with my right hon. Friend to see whether we can get a prompt response to the outstanding questions.

[Brandon Lewis (Great Yarmouth) (Con)]

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft are working hard to pull together with the local enterprise partnership to put forward a bid for an enterprise zone in our area. Bearing in mind all the work that they are doing, may we have a debate in the House on what small and medium-sized enterprises are doing for the economy and what the Government are doing to assist their development?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s advocacy of an enterprise zone for his constituency, and I commend his zeal in bringing it forward. There might be an opportunity on Monday and Tuesday next week to discuss the incentives that we have produced, including a moratorium on domestic regulations, abolishing the jobs tax, the small business rate relief, the enterprise finance guarantee, the growth capital fund and many similar initiatives.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

Following the announcement by Scottish Power of its price increase of up to 20%, consumer organisations have said that, should other utility companies follow suit, 4 million households in the UK could be driven into fuel poverty. Will the Leader of the House arrange for a debate on electricity market reform, so that we can address the vertical integration of the companies and the lack of transparency, and ensure that that does not happen?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

There will be an opportunity a week today, on 7 July, to address those specific questions to my hon. Friends in the Department of Energy and Climate Change. We have retained a number of measures to help to tackle fuel poverty, including cold weather payments and winter fuel payments, and a Bill is going through Parliament that will enable people to insulate their homes without having to dig into their pockets. There will also be a statement in due course on electricity market reform.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

May we have a debate on Tuesday’s higher education White Paper? Yesterday, I welcomed representatives of Drexel university, one of the leading universities in the United States, to my constituency. They are looking to set up an operation in the United Kingdom with a UK institution. Is not the Government’s policy of freeing up institutions to expand and allowing new entrants into the market the best way to ensure that students get value for money in higher education?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Perhaps he was in the House on Tuesday, when the Minister for Universities and Science, my right hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Mr Willetts) made a statement—which was well received, certainly on this side of the House—offering a sustainable future for higher education, giving more power to students to choose their university and rewarding those universities that perform well. Also, looking ahead, we will strike a fairer balance between taxpayers and students.

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

I recently met Frankie, a Whizz-Kidz ambassador in Liverpool, who told me about the situation that he is facing. He finishes school this year, but he still does not know whether the course that he has applied for at the local college will be made available. He will not find that out until August. His travel to the youth club has been cut, and his opportunities to socialise have been significantly scaled back. Frankie and his family face an uncertain future. May we please have an urgent debate on how the Government’s cuts are specifically affecting disabled older teens?

[Sir George Young]

In taking the difficult decisions that we had to take to get the deficit under control, we have sought to protect vulnerable members of the community—people who suffer from disabilities, the elderly and the sick; we protected the NHS budget—and in our reforms to welfare, we are also seeking to protect people such as Frankie. Inevitably, some reductions in public expenditure have had to be made and it would help if the hon. Lady’s party would at some point indicate how it would have responded to the fiscal challenge that we inherited.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

From today, victims of the Equitable Life scandal—in Tamworth and around the country—begin to receive justice as the compensation scheme begins to pay out. Following years of vacillation from previous Governments, may we have a statement or a debate to mark that milestone?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is right. In 13 months we have done more for Equitable Life pensioners than the previous Administration did in 13 years. It is indeed the case that, as we said, the first payments would be made in the first half of this year. Those first payments are now going out, so we have honoured the commitment we made to providing a transparent and fair system of compensating those who lost money in Equitable Life.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

The Government have now confirmed that £115 million will be made available to schools and colleges to disburse through discretionary learner support awards and bursaries rather than the £180 million that was originally promised. Will the Leader of the House arrange for the Secretary of State to make a statement on why those amounts have changed?

[Sir George Young]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education did indeed make a statement when he announced the transfer from education maintenance allowance to the discretionary learner fund, so we have already had that exchange. There might be an opportunity at questions on Monday 11 July to press the Secretary of State even further on the matter.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House make a statement about the training of hon. Members in matters of procedure, which can be confusing and difficult not just for new Members like me? I noticed on Report of the Finance Bill that there were starred amendments and new clauses from more senior Members of the House, so a general refresher might be worth while.

[Sir George Young]

We are debating the Finance Bill again next week and I hope that there will be no repetition of this week’s inexplicable incident. The official Opposition failed to table an amendment in time on their flagship policy; they then refused to vote on an identical amendment tabled by another party, only to vote for some anodyne alternative. I hope that there will be no repetition of that embarrassment from the Opposition Front-Bench team.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

May we please have a debate on the funding of political parties? At a time of industrial action, it would be useful to tease out the influence that trade unions can have on some parties’ policies.

[Sir George Young]

As my hon. Friend knows, Sir Christopher Kelly and the Committee on Standards in Public Life are looking at the important issue of party funding. My own view is that it is unhealthy that one political party is dependent for about 87% of its funding on the trade unions.

[Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the reform of the laws relating to industrial action? The nation is clearly opposed to the teachers’ unions going out on strike when only one third of their members voted.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend reminds us that less than 20% of the overall PCS membership voted for strikes, which is less than 10% of the civil service. Only two teaching unions have a mandate for strike action and the turnout in both ballots was low. As I said in response to an earlier question, we have no current plans to legislate, but we are keeping the matter under review.

[Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

My constituency carries the unenviable burden of having one of the highest rates of empty shops. Will the Leader of the House facilitate a debate on what measures could be introduced to encourage local authorities to provide free car parking, which would be a fillip not just to city centres, but to high streets and small independent retailers?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern. The coalition Government are very committed to localism and devolving decisions such as whether to extend free local car parking to local councils and local authorities, which are best placed to take such initiatives forward. If he has not already done so, my hon. Friend should get in touch with his local authority to see whether it will take the action that he advocates.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

Following my question to the Prime Minister yesterday, may we have an urgent debate on petrol prices and how they are hitting public services? Last year, the police spent £78 million on motoring fuel and it could hit £90 million this year—money that could have been spent on policing. The Royal College of Nursing says that 60,000 nurses now subsidise NHS petrol bills out of their own pockets. Does my right hon. Friend agree that high petrol prices are becoming a real threat to front-line services?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is right. Our petrol prices have begun to come down over recent weeks, and we all hope that that initiative can be sustained. The coalition Government have taken action to help. As he knows, average pump prices are approximately 6p a litre lower than they would have been if we had continued with the previous Government’s escalator.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on the importance of the food and drink manufacturing sector to the UK economy, which would enable Members to explain the importance of the sector locally and allow me personally to trumpet the quality and value for money of Thorntons products?

[Sir George Young]

If my hon. Friend is ingenious, he might be able to get into the debate on the Finance Bill next Monday or Tuesday to draw attention to the importance of the food and drink sector to the national economy. Alternatively, he could put in for an Adjournment debate on our last day, which, if the Backbench Business Committee so decides, would give him more time to amplify his point.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

Points of Order

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Wednesday 29th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

On a point of order, last Thursday at business questions, I announced to the House that the first business tomorrow, Thursday 30 June, would be consideration of a motion for a resolution on which a Bill is to be brought in. Following what you have just said, Mr Speaker, I inform the House that hon. Members will have the opportunity to debate Her Majesty’s Gracious Message at tomorrow’s business.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the Leader of the House for what he has said, which will have been heard by colleagues.

Business of the House

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 23rd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

The business for next week will be:

Monday 27 June—A debate on House of Lords reform.

Tuesday 28 June—Remaining stages of the Finance (No.3) Bill (day one).

Wednesday 29 June—Second Reading of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.

Thursday 30 June—A motion to bring in a resolution, on which a Bill is to be brought in, followed by a motion to approve a regulatory reform order relating to Epping Forest.

The provisional business for the week commencing 4 July will include:

Monday 4 July—Conclusion of remaining stages of the Finance (No.3) Bill (day two).

Tuesday 5 July—Opposition day (19th allotted day). There will be a debate on an Opposition motion. Subject to be announced.

Wednesday 6 July—Estimates day (3rd allotted day). There will be debates on the Prevent strategy, and on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Further details will be given in the Official Report.

[The details are as follows: The Prevent strategy: 6th Report from the Communities and Local Government Committee of Session 2009-10, HC 65, “Preventing Violent Extremism”.

Afghanistan and Pakistan: 4th Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee of Session 2010-12, HC 514, “The UK’s foreign policy approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan”; and the Government’s response, CM 8064.]

At 7 pm the House will be asked to agree all outstanding estimates.

Thursday 7 July—Proceedings on the Consolidated Fund Bill, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Fixed-Term Parliaments Bill.

I should also like to inform the House that the business in Westminster Hall for Thursday 30 June 2011 will be:

Thursday 30 June—A debate on co-operatives and mutuality in the economy.

[Hilary Benn]

I am grateful to the Leader of the House for that reply.

On tonight’s vote on stopping the use of wild animals in circuses, will the Leader of the House reassure us that the Government are not whipping their vote? Would it not be ironic if the whip were used to defeat the ban so that people can go on cracking a whip at circus animals?

It is learning disability week, and yesterday I met a group from Leeds who had come to tell MPs that they face discrimination every day. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that any idea that disabled people should be paid less than the minimum wage would be outrageous discrimination, and may we have a statement condemning it?

Following your comments on Tuesday, Mr Speaker, about the Government holding press conferences on major policy announcements before they come to the House to answer questions from MPs, will the Leader of the House now make time available for the Procedure Committee’s proposals on ministerial statements to be debated? The Committee’s idea that Ministers would be forced to make a formal apology on the Floor of the House for breaching the rules might concentrate the Government’s mind.

Last week I asked the Leader of the House about reconsidering the strategic defence review. Yesterday the Prime Minister came to the House and let slip that he is doing so already, although he had not previously told anyone, least of all the House of Commons. In the Prime Minister’s own words:

“We have had a review of the national security and defence review over the past year”—[Official Report, 22 June 2011; Vol. 530, c. 315.]

When can we expect a statement on the outcome of the review?

This week the climate change Secretary attacked right-wing ideologues and deregulation zealots for putting environmental regulations, including those in climate change and national parks legislation, on a list of so-called red tape that might be scrapped. We wish the Secretary of State well in his fight to save the regulations, but has the Leader of the House had any indication that the Cabinet Secretary’s right-wing, zealous Cabinet colleagues—presumably they were who he was talking about—have asked to make a statement by way of right of reply to this grave charge? If not, may we at least be given a list of their names so that we can keep score?

On the subject of zealots, may we have a statement from the Prime Minister on how he has got on since PMQs yesterday in his desperate attempts to prevent Tory MEPs from voting against a 30% reduction in emissions—which is, after all, a coalition policy—in the European Parliament today? This is a real test of his authority, and if he fails it his claim to be leading the greenest Government ever will be in tatters.

May I offer the Leader of the House an apology? I fear that my comments on weekly bin collections may have inadvertently contributed to a widening of the rift between the Environment Secretary and the Communities Secretary over whose turn it is to take the rubbish out. The Daily Telegraph today reported:

“Cabinet pair ‘at daggers drawn’ after bitter bin collection feud.”

It seems that the right hon. Lady hung up on the right hon. Gentleman, and the pair are thought not to have spoken since. A colleague said:

“The whole thing is fairly unpleasant. . .”

So may we have a statement on why this fragile coalition inside the Conservative party now seems to be falling apart?

After all the policy changes, pauses, rethinks, repudiations, and U-turns in the past few weeks—by the way, I congratulate the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website on its honesty for yesterday announcing changes to the BBC World Service with the headline

“Massive U-turn on BBC World Service funding”—

did the Leader of the House see the conclusion drawn by one unhappy Conservative MP who this week said:

“It’s not worth going out on a limb for something if it may be abandoned when the tabloids or the Lib Dems kick up”?

Pity the loyal Back Benchers: they are keen to help, eager to please and want to back their Government, but they now have absolutely no idea, with all this prime ministerial hokey cokey, whether policies that are in this week might be policies that are out next week, or at the very least shaken all about. May we therefore have a statement reassuring them that if they do take the plunge and voice support for the Government, they will not be left high and dry as so many of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet colleagues have found themselves in recent weeks? Finally, does this collective loss of nerve by the Government not show just how right was the Treasury mandarin who last week complained:

“They just don’t seem to have thought any of this stuff through”?

Sir Humphrey could not have put it better himself.

[Hon. Members]

More!

[Sir George Young]

We hear that the shadow Leader of the House’s bid to lead his party goes from strength to strength. I can report that following my comments last week, even The Independent has been tempted into a flutter:

“I’d put £50 on Hilary Benn. He’s not an automatic embarrassment. His performance as shadow Leader is widely admired. And there’s the hereditary principle working in his favour.”

With friends like those, what is holding—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want to hear the views of the Leader of the House on the hereditary principle.

[Sir George Young]

As the sixth baronet, I am in favour of the hereditary principle.

Let me turn to the shadow Leader of the House’s questions. I note in passing that he asked very few questions about next week’s business. None the less, on the motion dealing with circus animals, we are tackling a problem that he singularly failed to tackle during his time in government.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

Are you whipping?

[Sir George Young]

The Government are perfectly entitled to defend their position in the House and in a Division.

As for shadow Leader of the House’s question about disabled people and the minimum wage, the suggestion made was outrageous. It is not Government policy, and I agree with what he said about it.

We would welcome a debate on ministerial statements. It is for the Backbench Business Committee to find time to debate the proposals of the Procedure Committee. This Government have made roughly one third more ministerial statements a day than the outgoing Administration, and we are more than anxious to keep the House fully informed. There will not be another SDSR, as the Prime Minister made clear, and there is not a review of it.

As for the right hon. Gentleman’s comments about zealots, which I believe were reported in the press, the comments and criticisms within the coalition Government are, from time to time, made by members of two different parties, whereas in the previous Government much more offensive comments were made about Ministers in the same party, so I am not sure that he should raise the issue on the Floor on the House.

So far as MEPs are concerned, the coalition’s policy is wholly unaffected by what happens in the European Parliament. The coalition Government’s commitment to reducing CO₂ emissions and climate change remains unaffected.

As for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, I hope that the right hon. Gentleman welcomes the additional £2.2 million for the Arabic service, for which there was support among Members on both sides of the House. In the context of a budget for the World Service of some £250 million, it is difficult to describe that as a mammoth U-turn. It is a sensible and welcome change in response to pressure from the House.

So far as rethinking Government policies is concerned, I wonder how long it will be before the right hon. Gentleman’s party reconsiders the shadow Chancellor’s view on a reduction in VAT, which it seems was introduced without any consultation with his colleagues.

[Sir Alan Haselhurst (Saffron Walden) (Con)]

Would my right hon. Friend consider it appropriate to hold a debate in Government time on the future of the Commonwealth? We are approaching an important Heads of Government conference in the autumn and, more imminently, the centennial conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association here in London.

[Sir George Young]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s work as chairman of the CPA in organising an important conference at the end of next month. I am glad that a number of my ministerial colleagues will speak at the conference, which I hope will be a great success. I would be misleading him, however, if I said that I could find time between now and the summer recess for a debate on the Commonwealth, but I hope that there might be an opportunity to raise the issue in Foreign and Commonwealth Office questions or perhaps to seek a debate in Westminster Hall.

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

I am sorry to go on about this, but the Leader of the House gives me absolutely no option. The Government are not sticking to their promise of allocating one day a week as Back-Bench time. At the moment, we are running at about one day a month, and I am sure that the problem cannot possibly be the subjects that we are choosing to debate on the Floor of the House, so will he please again consider allocating one set, regular, non-Thursday slot as Back-Bench time?

[Sir George Young]

Let me reassure the hon. Lady, whose work as Chair of the Backbench Business Committee I admire, that we will stick to our promise that there will be 35 days in the Session, plus injury time because this Session is longer. We cannot offer one day every week, and a large number of days at the beginning of the Session were devoted to general debates. We might be able to catch up towards the end of the Session, but at the moment I am under enormous pressure to provide adequate time to debate Government measures, and she has a whole day today to debate Back-Bench business. I reassure her that we will honour the agreement of 35 days per Session, plus injury time because this Session is longer than normal.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr James Arbuthnot (North East Hampshire) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend share my disappointment that he was unable to announce today a debate on the armed forces? Is he aware that the Backbench Business Committee—through no fault of its Chair, I have to say—has refused my request for a debate on the armed forces, although we have not had one since September last year, in favour of a request to debate eight or 28 circus animals? That is an important subject that would be appropriate for a debate in Westminster Hall, but I understand that that already happened a couple of weeks ago.

[Sir George Young]

I understand where my right hon. Friend, who is Chair of the Defence Select Committee, is coming from, but under the Wright Committee proposals the four days per Session that were allocated for defence have been put into the pot, which is now owned by the Backbench Business Committee. It is therefore up to the Backbench Business Committee to decide how to allocate those days, and I think that his comments were addressed as much to the Committee as they were to me.

[Mr David Winnick (Walsall North) (Lab)]

On parliamentary accountability, or the lack of it, why did the Secretary of State for Defence table a written statement today on the cost of the military operation in Libya, rather than making an oral statement at the Dispatch Box? Is it not unfortunate that we get our information either from the media or from written statements, and that the Minister responsible does not come here to explain and justify his actions and to answer questions accordingly?

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman says that the Government have not made a statement, but he is holding in his hand the Government’s statement. As I said a few moments ago, the record of this Government on making statements is better than the record of the Government whom he supported.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

Following the schools Minister’s welcome announcement this morning that grammar schools such as those in my constituency will be allowed to expand, may we have a debate on grammar schools and their positive impact on social mobility?

[Sir George Young]

Again, my hon. Friend’s request might have been heard by the Backbench Business Committee. The policy of the coalition Government is that, where grammar schools exist, they should be allowed to expand. We are not, however, in favour of starting them in areas that do not have them. I personally would welcome such a debate, and I hope that that can be arranged through the Backbench Business Committee or possibly on the Adjournment.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Leader of the House will know that the base interest rate is 0.5%. Is he aware that my constituents and others up and down the land are paying 19.1% interest on their credit cards? The failure of the credit card industry to lower its rates in line with the base rate has ripped off our constituents by £500 million. When may we have a debate on the way in which interest rates are ripping off consumers and small businesses?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern at the gap between the base rate and the rate charged by credit card companies and other lending organisations. There will be an opportunity to raise this matter of consumer protection in questions to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, as well as in Treasury questions. Alternatively, the hon. Gentleman could apply for a debate on the Adjournment.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

May we have a statement next week from the Leader of the House on why the Government are rowing back on their commitment to provide a day a week for Back-Bench business? It is no good for him to suggest that Members refer their requests to the Backbench Business Committee if the Government are not giving us any days. May I suggest that it is his job to resist pressure from the Executive for debates?

[Sir George Young]

I am under enormous pressure from both sides of the House to provide adequate time to debate Government legislation. We have accommodated two days for the Report stages of a number of Bills because we think it important that the House has adequate time for such debates. If my hon. Friend looks at the Standing Orders, he will see that the commitment was to 35 days per Session, not to one day a week. As I said to the hon. Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel), we will abide by our commitment. I must also point out that there would be no Backbench Business Committee at all, were it not for the coalition Government introducing one.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

There is a Focus store in Consett in my constituency, as I am sure there are in many others. I have been contacted by Kingfisher, the parent company, which wants to take over the store and all its staff, but it has been advised that it will not get a decision from the Office of Fair Trading until September. That will be too late for my constituents, who will be made redundant by the Focus receiver on 18 July. The redundancy payments and welfare benefits represent a massive cost that does not need to be incurred. May we have a statement on what action the Government will take to speed up the OFT’s decision?

[Sir George Young]

Of course I understand the concern that the hon. Lady expresses on behalf of her constituents, and I will contact the OFT today to remind it of her concern and ask it for an urgent response.

[Priti Patel (Witham) (Con)]

Local communities in my constituency have been left devastated after the Planning Inspectorate imposed Traveller sites on various communities, based on the outdated planning policies of the previous Government. A Government consultation is taking place on the planning circulars. May we have a debate, so that Members can influence that consultation?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern. It sounds as though that decision was reached under the existing rules on Traveller sites. Our view is that the rules are not fit for purpose, so we are consulting on an alternative set of proposals. The consultation closes on 6 July, and I am sure that my hon. Friend will respond to it. I cannot promise her a debate on the subject she raises, but the Localism Bill is now in another place, where there might be an opportunity to debate proposals on Traveller sites.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Is the Leader of the House aware that hundreds of Derbyshire constituents are up in arms at the prospect of there not being an oral statement about the railway contract that went to Siemens in Germany, rather than to Bombardier in Derby? Why are this Government not acting like the Government in Germany, where about 90% of the contracts stay in Germany? About 100% of such contracts stay in France. And do not tell me it is because of what the last Government did; this Government are supposed to be doing something else. I never voted for the free movement of capital and labour, unlike the Leader of the House and thousands of others. Stop rolling over to the EU!

[Sir George Young]

I am not sure whether the hon. Gentleman was in Transport questions a few moments ago when that subject was raised.

[Mr Skinner]

I was. I tried to get in.

[Sir George Young]

If he was listening, he would have heard that the terms of the tender were set by the Government who, from time to time, he supported. His point about Ministers not being able to defend the proposition is wholly untrue; we defended it a few moments ago.

[Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry) (Con)]

The Local Government Boundary Commission’s review of Daventry district has united all political parties locally and a huge number of the parishes against the proposals. Few if any of the views expressed in the consultation period have been taken into account, and I am being asked to pray against the measure when it is placed before the House after the summer. Will the Leader of the House advise me on the parliamentary routes available to me to get the Local Government Boundary Commission to listen to the views of my constituents?

[Sir George Young]

The short answer is no, but I will write to my hon. Friend outlining the procedures available to him to pursue this important matter.

[Hywel Williams (Arfon) (PC)]

May we have an urgent statement on the newly leaked plans to close seven of the eight HMRC offices in Wales, leading to a possible 1,000 redundancies and affecting the quality not only of the service in Wales generally but in particular of the service through the medium of Welsh provided in Porthmadog?

[Sir George Young]

Of course I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern, which I will convey to the appropriate Minister and ask him to write to the hon. Gentleman as soon as he can.

[Mr David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend arrange for a debate on the apprenticeships programme, in the light of today’s excellent news about apprenticeship numbers? We should all be delighted that there are 114,000 more apprenticeships in the year, which will provide real opportunities for our young people.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question, and I commend to the House the written ministerial statement from the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning. There will be some 25,000 more apprenticeship places as a result of the steps we have taken, and we see that as an important part of the road to recovery and dealing with the high youth unemployment that we inherited.

[Mr Denis MacShane (Rotherham) (Lab)]

Ahead of the visit by the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, may we have a debate on human rights in China? We welcome the release yesterday on conditional bail of Ai Weiwei, but the Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo is still banged up in the Chinese communist gulag. When the Prime Minister meets his opposite number here in London, will he say in public that Liu Xiaobo should be freed? He did not do so in China, which I think was contemptible, but now that the Chinese Premier is coming to English democratic territory, will he tell him to his face to release Liu Xiaobo?

[Sir George Young]

I welcome the release to which the right hon. Gentleman refers. I give him the assurance that my right hon. Friends will raise with the Chinese delegation the important issue of human rights, and I am sure that they will do so diplomatically and effectively.

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

On a recent visit to an RAF station, it was highlighted to me that junior rank servicemen living in single room accommodation in blocks of more than 40 still have to pay the full television licence, even when serving abroad. With Armed Forces day approaching, could we have a statement from the relevant Minister to see whether we could review that situation?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern. There will be an opportunity to question Defence Ministers on 4 July, when he might have an opportunity to raise the matter during topical questions.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

I am also in favour of the hereditary principle because, just like the right hon. Gentleman, I come from a very long line of parents. I know he reads the Daily Mirror. Has he seen today’s report that Cardiff has been listed in National Geographic magazine as one of the top 10 alternative places to visit this summer? May we have a debate on tourism and the importance of promoting and publicising our wonderful cities like Cardiff?

[Sir George Young]

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman risks setting up a bidding war between every Member who believes that his or her constituency is the best one to visit for holidays, but he has achieved his objective by putting his views on the record.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

May I urge the Leader of the House to support having a debate on the rare cancer of neuroblastoma? My constituent, Mr Samual Daubany-Nunn, suffers from this rare cancer and has to go to Germany to get treatment. Some primary care trusts fund going to Germany for treatment, but the one in my constituency does not do so at the moment. I really think that people should be treated fairly throughout the country.

[Sir George Young]

I share my hon. Friend’s concern. He will know that we have put extra resources into cancer treatment over the past year, but I will draw his remarks to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health.

[Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

I draw the attention of the Leader of the House to early-day motion 1956:

[That this House recognises the sacrifice of the UK's atomic test veterans; notes that many test veterans are now ill; further notes that many countries have paid compensation to ex-service personnel who were exposed to atomic tests; believes that atomic test veterans fulfilled their military duties in good faith; and urges the Government to make an ex-gratia payment to the UK's atomic test veterans.]

It calls for compensation payments to atomic test veterans. This issue has gone on for an extremely long time. At one time or another, we all praise the hard work of our armed forces; now is the time to turn those words into deeds. After all, there are not many of these veterans left and they are probably now outnumbered by lawyers.

[Sir George Young]

As the hon. Gentleman was good enough to concede, this problem has been going on for some time. There will be an opportunity to raise it with Defence Ministers on 4 July. In the meantime, I will remind my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence of the concern that this matter remains outstanding and urge him to do all he can to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion.

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol West (Stephen Williams) and, this morning, the Deputy Prime Minister are calling for shares in Northern Rock and Lloyds, which we substantially own, to be distributed to the British people. Given the interest in this proposal, may we please debate it on the Floor of the House?

[Sir George Young]

Indeed, that is one of a number of options. I think the reference was to Lloyds and HBOS, as I think a Treasury statement about Northern Rock was made last week. It is important to have an open debate about the options available to the Government when the time is right for transferring these banks to the private sector. I cannot promise an immediate debate, but I am sure there will be opportunities, perhaps in the remaining stages of the Finance Bill, to deal with it.

[Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley) (Lab)]

Is the Leader of the House aware that Syrians living in London are being threatened and intimidated by agents of the Assad regime? Does he know that these people have been photographed and the photographs shown to their families in Syria? The Syrian ambassador is about the Houses of Parliament this morning. Has he been called in and told that that is totally unacceptable behaviour in this country, which believes in freedom of expression and freedom of speech?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for raising this matter. We are indeed aware of the reports and we are discussing them with the Metropolitan police. Any evidence of offences committed by embassy staff—or, indeed, anybody else—against demonstrators should be reported to the police. Anybody who has any such information should do the same. We will, of course, take up with the police any information they receive regarding alleged offences by the Syrian or any other embassy, and we will take the appropriate action.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

What has been the role of the Leader of the House in framing the new construct for the release of Government information—namely, a written ministerial statement, a press conference and then an oral statement to this House? Given your very clear pronouncement on this issue, Mr Speaker, will my right hon. Friend assure us that this will not happen again?

[Sir George Young]

On the specific issue that my hon. Friend mentions, we were following a precedent established by the previous Government. In December 2009, for example, Labour published its “smarter government” strategy via a written ministerial statement; it was then followed by a detailed speech by the then Prime Minister and an oral statement took place later in the afternoon. I have, of course, heard what you, Mr Speaker, said on both 14 and 21 June. I recognise that there is a balance to be struck between observing the proprieties of the House and informing the public. I will draw the attention of my ministerial colleagues to both those rulings and to my hon. Friend’s point.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

May we have a statement on compliance with UN resolution 1973? We found out this week that the war in Libya is costing £0.25 billion and that this country’s military leadership believe that our armed forces are overstretched in engaging in that endeavour. May we now have a debate to find out why British troops are not enforcing the ceasefire on both sides, but acting as the military wing for the rebels in a civil war?

[Sir George Young]

The Government have done all they can to keep the House in the picture on Libya—and, indeed, on Afghanistan and other issues. There will be an opportunity on 4 July to raise these issues again with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

The Leader of the House may be aware of the possibilities for an early debate—I hope so, anyway—to discuss the guidance issued under the Reservoirs Act 1975 by the Institution of Civil Engineers, as approved by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency. At no stage has the House considered this guidance, which caused the failure of a flood defence in Pickering. May we have an early opportunity to discuss and, possibly, amend these guidance notes?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

I will raise those issues with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I cannot promise a debate. I was concerned to learn about the incident to which my hon. Friend referred. She might like to apply for a debate in Westminster Hall or on the Adjournment in the meantime.

[Stephen Twigg (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on the situation in Sudan? In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Nuba people have been displaced from their homes, and we have seen the resumption of aerial bombardment by Khartoum. In two weeks’ time, South Sudan takes its place in the league of nations, but the situation is very fragile. May we have an opportunity to debate it in the House?

[Sir George Young]

I am aware of problems in Sudan, following the referendum and the decision to split the country. There will be an opportunity to raise this during Foreign Office questions in the middle of next month, but in the meantime I will share the hon. Gentleman’s concern with my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and ask him to write to him.

[Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

May we have a debate on procedure? Politics is about choices. We have a slightly bizarre situation whereby it is possible and in order to draw attention to Opposition policies in debate, but not in questions. Surely the Opposition’s approach to debt and the deficit and their proposals for unfunded VAT cuts must be a matter of parliamentary interest and a matter of concern to the country.

[Sir George Young]

That may be a question that you, Mr Speaker, feel better placed to answer than me. As my hon. Friend will know, we had an opportunity yesterday to test the Opposition on their VAT policies and, indeed, found them wanting. I am sure that you, Mr Speaker, will have heard what my hon. Friend has said about the propriety of questions on Opposition policies.

[Mr Speaker]

Yes. Questions are to the Government about the policies and proposals of the Government. ’Twas ever thus and ’tis still so.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

May we have an urgent debate on how to secure the future of the British train manufacturing industry, following the decision to appoint Siemens as the preferred bidder for the Thameslink contract, which will potentially cost 3,000 jobs at Bombardier based in Derby and a further 12,000 jobs in the supply chain? This could spell the end of the British train manufacturing industry because, come this autumn, Bombardier’s order books are empty.

[Sir George Young]

Of course I understand the concern felt in Derby about what has happened, but there has just been an opportunity to ask Ministers about this issue at Transport Questions, and questions were asked, and answers were given.

[Kris Hopkins (Keighley) (Con)]

As this is a time when both central and local government are short of money, I ask that a Minister come to the House to explain, perhaps by making a statement, how we are supporting local government and the police in pursuing litter louts. That may seem a trivial issue, but my local authority is spending £6 million a year picking up rubbish, and that money could be spent on educating kids or looking after the elderly.

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern. I cannot promise a debate on this important issue, but perhaps he would like to put in for an Adjournment debate so that he can expand his ideas at greater length.

[Albert Owen (Ynys Môn) (Lab)]

May I again press the Leader of the House for a debate in Government time on energy prices? He kindly suggested that I should make a request to the Energy and Climate Change Committee, yet I am, in fact, a member, and we have dealt with the issue on many occasions. Ofgem has made its proposals clear, yet prices are still rising. This issue affects every constituency, and such a debate would provide an opportunity for all Members to discuss it, and to stop our constituents getting ripped off.

[Sir George Young]

I note the hon. Gentleman’s concern. Energy prices have risen by about 50% over the past 12 months. We have taken a number of initiatives: the cold weather payments are being maintained at their higher level, and we also have winter fuel payments, Warm Front and the green deal. We are doing all we can to reduce energy costs, particularly for poorer-income households, at a time of rising prices.

[Stephen Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

Further to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Mr Evennett), I welcome the announcement of 114,000 new apprenticeships and pay tribute to the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning for his sterling work on that. However, may we have a debate or a statement on why so many publicly funded organisations—such as the Charity Commission and the Met Office—currently offer no apprenticeships whatever?

[Sir George Young]

I would be very grateful to my hon. Friend if he would let me have a list of the public bodies he thinks are not pulling their weight in offering apprenticeships, and we will, of course, then pursue the matter through the appropriate Minister.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

May we have a debate in Government time on what more the Government can do about the increase in fuel prices—they have gone up by 10% in the last year, compared with an average rise in retail prices of 5%—especially since the fuel duty stabiliser does not seem to have cut prices at the pumps?

[Sir George Young]

As a consequence of the fuel duty stabiliser, the price of petrol at the pumps is 6p a litre less than it would otherwise have been. We have the warm home discount, which amounts to £250 million a year, and the Warm Front scheme helping 47,000 families. We are also giving Post Office account holders a discount, and as a result of the £1.9 billion fuel duty package the typical Ford Focus driver will be £56 better off. We have, therefore, taken steps to try to insulate people against the higher fuel prices.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers—the RMT—is threatening, on a minority vote of its membership, to make travelling in London a misery over the next few weeks. May we have a debate in Government time on requiring unions to secure a majority vote of their membership before they can take industrial action?

[Sir George Young]

I very much hope that the RMT will not go ahead with the industrial dispute, which will cause widespread disruption in London. I am aware of my hon. Friend’s views on changing the law—and, indeed, those of the Mayor of London. We have said that we plan to keep the industrial relations legislation under review, but as of now we have no plans to change it.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I thank the Leader of the House for persuading his colleagues at the Department for Communities and Local Government to see sense over the ridiculous plan to impose a shadow executive mayor on Birmingham. May we now have a debate on the equally ridiculous plan to make the people of Birmingham pay for the Government’s referendum at a time when their budgets are being cut to the bone?

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman is referring to the Localism Bill, which is now in another place, and to a number of Government amendments to it. If he has colleagues in the other place who share his concerns in respect of Birmingham, there will be an opportunity to press the Government further on the second issue that he raised.

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

On 12 October last year, I had the privilege of a visit from the public health Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford (Anne Milton), to Porton Down in my constituency, when she said she hoped a decision about the future location of that facility would be made by the end of the year. I raised this matter in the House on 11 March, yet we are still no clearer. Does the Leader of the House agree that the time has now come for the Government to make a statement and thereby address the uncertainty felt by the large number of my constituents who work at Porton Down?

[Sir George Young]

As I am my hon. Friend’s constituency neighbour and constituents of mine also work at Porton Down, I understand the concern felt locally about this matter. I will raise my hon. Friend’s concerns with the relevant health Minister in order to try to discover the timetable for this decision.

[Owen Smith (Pontypridd) (Lab)]

The Leader of the House will be aware that his colleague the Secretary of State for Wales has failed in the last 13 months in that job to say a single word from the Dispatch Box about Wales, save at Wales Questions. Will he prevail upon her to try to raise her subterranean profile in this House, and secure a debate in Government time on matters of importance to the people of Wales?

[Sir George Young]

I have the good fortune to sit next to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales at Wales Questions, and I would have thought that 15 or 30 minutes would be sufficient time to deal with all the questions likely to be raised by Opposition Members. So far as the call for a debate is concerned, the hon. Gentleman will know that following the recommendations of the Wright Committee a decision on a debate on Wales—or London or any other part of the country—is now a matter for the Backbench Business Committee.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the causes of child poverty? Members on both sides of the House are concerned that it costs 50p for every pound that the Child Support Agency is able to get to children, and that the arrears are £3.8 billion. We could also talk about the provision in the Welfare Reform Bill that gives parents much greater incentive to work and therefore lift their households out of poverty, including their children.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is right: children growing up in households where a generation or more has not worked is a real issue. I think I am right in saying that the Work programme is the UK’s single biggest employment support programme. I hope it will help to end the cycle of worklessness that has blighted many families, and all out-of-work benefit customers will be able to access the programme at a time that is right for them.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister is currently in Brussels attending the European Council meeting trying to prevent a crisis across Europe which would make Lehman Brothers look like a small event. The House again did not have a debate ahead of the European Council, however. I know that the Leader of the House thinks that this is Back-Bench business. If that is so, may we have a debate on what he thinks is Front-Bench business?

[Sir George Young]

In a nutshell, Front-Bench business is the Government’s programme of legislation. There was a statement about Greece on Monday, and I know my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will want to keep the House in the picture on what happens at the European Council. The question of the House having a debate before European Council meetings is, as the hon. Lady knows, a matter for the Backbench Business Committee.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

This morning, the Secretary of State for Transport announced that he was looking into the impact of the European Union procurement regulations and how France and Germany manage to procure their trains from their own domestic manufacturers, yet we seem to be unable to do so. Given the great interest that there will be in such a review, may we have a statement or a debate so that the Secretary of State can hear the full views of the House on this controversial issue?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the concern that is felt on both sides of the House about the procurement process for rolling stock and engines. I wonder whether the best way to proceed might be to have a debate on the final day before the recess, if the Backbench Business Committee decides to have a series of Adjournment debates, or for a Member to apply for an Adjournment debate in the Chamber or Westminster Hall.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

My constituent Joe Arthur was attacked, and subsequently died, while on holiday in Corfu in 2006. Five years on, the three individuals connected to his death are still awaiting trial in Greece. Mr Arthur’s family have received exceptional support from Northumbria police, but they want justice. Will the Leader of the House arrange for me to meet a Foreign Office Minister to discuss the case and see what further assistance can be offered to the family?

[Sir George Young]

I am very sorry to learn of the death of the hon. Lady’s constituent. Of course I will contact a ministerial colleague at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to arrange a meeting for the hon. Lady.

[Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)]

May I, too, highlight the importance of human rights and human dignity, by drawing to the attention of the House the fate of the Baha’i religious community in Iran? May we have a debate to underline the importance of concerted action to promote human rights, as the Helsinki accords of 1975 did for people in eastern Europe in the following decades?

[Sir George Young]

Persecution of any individual on the grounds of their religious faith is unacceptable. I am aware of the problems faced by the Baha’i community in Iran. The FCO makes regular representations on this matter here, and we also make representations to the Iranian Government so that this persecution can be brought to an end.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

In south Wales over the past three years the theft of metal from train lines has cost £3 million. Last year alone, there were 84 instances of cable theft in our area, leading to train journey delays. May we have a debate on this issue, which is making the lives of train commuters miserable?

[Sir George Young]

I will draw the hon. Gentleman’s comments to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport, who will no doubt want to contact the British Transport police to see whether more effective action can be taken to deter these sorts of thefts and bring the criminals to justice.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

Further to the questions of my hon. Friends the Members for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Mr Evennett) and for North East Cambridgeshire (Stephen Barclay) does the Leader of the House agree that a debate on apprenticeships would be a suitable birthday present for the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, whose birthday it is today, given the massive increase in apprenticeships that was announced this morning?

[Sir George Young]

By a miracle, my hon. Friend the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning is now in his place and will have heard those wishes for a happy birthday, which I am sure are shared by hon. Members on both sides. I pay tribute to him for what he has been doing. It is a substantial achievement to have delivered 326,700 apprenticeships in the first nine months of this academic year and 114,000 in the previous year—more than double what we set out to do. That is the right way to provide a sound platform for long-term economic prosperity.

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

May we have a debate on the Floor of the House about why the Government have decided to stop publishing time to pay statistics in July and whether this is the beginning of the end of time to pay?

[Sir George Young]

I will make suitable inquiries and write to the hon. Gentleman about time to pay.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

Notwithstanding yesterday’s Opposition day debate, may we have a specific debate on tax so that we can, among other things, consider the shadow Chancellor’s proposal for a £12 billion unfunded tax cut, on which all Members, but perhaps members of the shadow Cabinet in particular, might appreciate the chance to have an opinion?

[Sir George Young]

We all enjoyed yesterday’s debate in which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor trounced the shadow Chancellor on his economic strategy. The Opposition have left their tax cut open-ended and unfunded. They have not given any definition of what constitutes “growing strongly again” and would simply be adding £51 billion to the deficit at the end of this Parliament.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

May we have a statement on the accountability of the Government on women and equalities? Today, an oral question on the impact on women of the increases in fees for courses in English as a second language was transferred to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The Department has form on this: on 3 March, I raised in questions to the Leader of the House the fact that questions on women and pensions had been transferred. How can we hold the Government to account given that we have only quarter of an hour for questions and no topical questions and given that questions specifically about the impact of Government policies on women are ducked by the Ministers responsible for women’s policies?

[Sir George Young]

I say to the hon. Lady that we have adopted precisely the same arrangements for questions about women as we inherited from the outgoing Government.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

I have been delighted by the response to my ten-minute rule Bill to ban smoking in cars when children are present, but I am aware that despite support from across the House and the country, the chances of the Bill getting a further detailed hearing are very slim. Will the Leader of the House therefore provide time for a full debate on the Floor of the House so that the topic can be aired in much greater detail?

[Sir George Young]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on having got a Second Reading for his Bill yesterday but I would be misleading him if I said that there was any time within the Government’s programme to adopt it. However, there will be an opportunity in the next Session for him to apply for a private Member’s Bill slot.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

May we have a debate on the solving of conundrums? Or perhaps the Leader of the House could solve one for me. The latest figures show that, at the moment, for every job available in the Rhondda there are 84 people seeking that job, whereas in his constituency of North West Hampshire there are only two people seeking each available job. So far as I can understand the Department for Work and Pensions’ view on all this, the way to resolve the situation is for everybody from my constituency to move to his constituency. The vast majority of my constituents own their own home, but their homes are not worth the kind of money they would need to buy a home in his constituency, so what are my constituents to do to try to get into work?

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman’s constituents would always be very welcome in North West Hampshire, but I understand the issue he raises. I think that the answer to his question is the Work programme, which is the biggest and most ambitious work programme ever to get people back into work. In addition, the Government are taking steps to build long-term, sustainable recovery, which I am sure will reach south Wales as fast it reaches anywhere else.

[Mr Kevan Jones (North Durham) (Lab)]

May we have a Government statement on the Government’s plans to mark the 100th anniversary in 2014 of the beginning of the first world war? I visited Belgium a few weeks ago, as a member of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and the other commissioners and I were briefed on the extensive work going on there. That contrasts with the confusion in the UK, where it appears that a decision is yet to be taken on whether the Ministry of Defence or the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will take the lead on that anniversary.

[Sir George Young]

I share the hon. Gentleman’s concern that we should commemorate this anniversary properly. As a former Minister in the MOD, he will have a good background to this matter. I will raise it with MOD Ministers to make sure that we take appropriate action to commemorate this important anniversary.

Points of Order

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Monday 20th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I fear that the hon. Gentleman, perhaps not for the first time and possibly not for the last, has taken matters a little outside my capacity to rule—

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

He has nevertheless spurred the Leader of the House, and the Leader must be heard.

[Sir George Young]

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. It is precisely because the Government have listened that we have tabled the motion tonight to enable a debate to take place tomorrow. Had we not tabled such a motion, under Standing Orders the recommittal motion would have been proceeded with forthwith.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the Leader of the House, who I think has clarified matters very satisfactorily.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 16th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

2. If he will bring forward proposals to hold Back-Bench business each sitting Wednesday and Prime Minister’s questions each sitting Thursday.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

I have no plans to do so.

[Mr Bone]

The House sits for 139 days a year excluding private Members’ days. Under the previous Government, Members were encouraged to turn up on Monday evening and leave on Wednesday night. If we are to restore Parliament to the fulcrum of our democratic process, we must restore Thursday to a full business day. Does the Leader of the House agree?

[Sir George Young]

I certainly believe that Thursday should be a paid-up member of the parliamentary week. There have been 38 sitting Thursdays in this Parliament, for 21 of which my right hon. Friend the Patronage Secretary has indicated that he would like me and, indeed, the Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr Heath), to be present. When the Backbench Business Committee has tabled business on a Thursday that has required a Division there has been a good turnout by Members of Parliament, so I am not sure that I entirely accept the view that Thursday is not a fully paid-up member of the parliamentary week.

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

The question put by my fellow Backbench Business Committee member, the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone), is about establishing one day every week in the parliamentary calendar as a Back-Bench day, which would surely be helpful to the Leader of the House and the business managers as the Government could then schedule business around us and have the certainty of having one day a week for Back-Bench business.

[Sir George Young]

My own view is that it is to the advantage of the Backbench Business Committee and the House to have the flexibility of the current arrangements. The Wright Committee, on which the hon. Lady and I both sat, said at paragraph 214 that

“it could be left open to a process of regular discussion and negotiation as to which day of each week would be devoted to backbench business. This would avoid the rigidities referred to above.”

[Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)]

If, as some people are proposing and as the Select Committee on Procedure is currently considering, private Members’ business was moved from Friday to some other point in the parliamentary week, there would be an even greater risk of Thursday becoming downgraded. In the nicest possible way, may I remind my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House that during his thankfully unsuccessful bid for your seat, Mr Speaker, he himself brought forward the notion of moving Prime Minister’s questions to a Thursday?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. It is indeed the case that when I was on the Back Benches I could do some blue-sky thinking but my horizons are now more constrained. I say to him that the Prime Minister is more than satisfied with the current arrangements for Prime Minister’s questions.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Is not the real reason why the Leader of the House cannot announce more time for Back-Bench business or give us the date for the end of the Session that the Government are running into trouble with their own legislation? Their Public Bodies Bill has been shredded in the Lords, they have been defeated on police commissioners, their Back Benchers are getting jittery about pensions and they have had to recommit the Health and Social Care Bill. Why do they not stop rushing into botched, ill-thought-out legislation, think things through and allow more pre-legislative scrutiny? Think how that would have improved the Health and Social Care Bill!

[Sir George Young]

I will take no criticism from Labour Members about the way we handle the parliamentary programme. We are giving far more time for legislation than the previous Government, who frequently guillotined the remaining stages of Bills. We have on several occasions allowed two days for Bills on Report, including this week, and we have extended the Session so that the House has more time to consider the legislative programme, so I entirely reject the hon. Lady’s assertions that we are rushing legislation through the House.

[Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con)]

3. What recent representations he has received on the procedure governing Opposition day debates.

Business of the House

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 16th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

The business for next week will be:

Monday 20 June—Second Reading of the Pensions Bill [Lords].

Tuesday 21 June—A motion relating to the partial recommittal of the Health and Social Care Bill, followed by remaining stages of the Scotland Bill.

Wednesday 22 June—Opposition Day [18th allotted day]. There will be a debate on an Opposition motion. Subject to be announced.

Thursday 23 June—A motion relating to review of congenital cardiac services for children followed by a motion relating to wild animals in circuses. The subjects for these debates were nominated by the Backbench Business Committee.

The provisional business for the week commencing 27 June will include:

Monday 27 June—A debate on House of Lords reform.

Tuesday 28 June—Opposition Day [19th allotted day]. There will be a debate on an Opposition motion. Subject to be announced.

[Hilary Benn]

I am grateful to the Leader of the House for that reply.

The whole House will have welcomed this week’s successful meeting of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, which showed why the last Government were right to prioritise the vaccination of children from a rising aid budget and why this Government are right to continue to show leadership to save children’s lives.

Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that the current Session will end in March next year, with a Queen’s Speech before the end of that month so that it is all done before the Easter recess and pre-election purdah?

On the Health and Social Care Bill recommittal motion, will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that it will be debatable and tell us for how long? The House must have the opportunity to discuss how the Bill will be scrutinised because the Health Secretary has said that only the relevant parts of the Bill will be recommitted. That is completely unacceptable, and it will make life only more difficult for the Government in the other place where, as we know, they already have problems with time. In the case of the last two Bills to be recommitted, the whole of the Bill was sent back. When are we going to see the draft amendments? How many clauses are going to be changed? What about the knock-on effects on other clauses? The reason why the Bill is in chaos is that the Government really messed it up first time round. That is why trust is in very short supply, making it essential that, this time round, the House and all those who care about the health service have the time and scope they need to look again at the Bill in detail.

As well as reconsidering the Health and Social Care Bill, can we also have a debate on why the Prime Minister got this so catastrophically wrong in the first place, with staff being sacked and then re-hired at great expense? As we saw yesterday—and it was really rather embarrassing—the Prime Minister does not do his homework and he does not even know what is in his own legislation. While no one wants to take responsibility for the mess, everyone is trying to claim credit for the changes. The Lib Dems think they have saved the NHS from the Tories, which has irritated those on the Conservative Benches, while the Prime Minister thinks he has saved the NHS from his Health Secretary, who is no doubt pretty cross, too. However, the people who really count, the public, think what we have known for a very long time—that you can’t trust the Tories on the NHS.

Following the comments of the First Sea Lord this week about the effects of the Libya campaign on the Royal Navy and bearing in mind that we could have saved both time and money if we still had our Ark Royal and its Harriers, when are we going to have a statement from the Defence Secretary about looking again at the strategic defence and security review? The review has proved incapable of surviving contact with real events, and it has left this country in the extraordinary position of being an island nation that cannot put an aircraft carrier to sea.

Having heard the Government’s pathetic excuses for refusing to bring in a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses, during the course of which the House was told, wrongly, that this was because of a non-existent legal case, has the Leader of the House had any indication from Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Ministers that they plan to make a statement dumping the policy before next Thursday’s debate? If not, will the right hon. Gentleman join my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick), the hon. Members for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard) and for Colchester (Bob Russell), me and many other Members in voting to do the right thing?

Finally, can we have a debate on weekly rubbish collections? Although it was the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who answered Tuesday’s urgent question, we really want to hear from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government as we all know that this was his pet project and his great cause, so he must be very disappointed. Brimful of nostalgia for the clink of glasses of warm beer, the thwack of willow on leather and the clang of weekly bin collections, he had proclaimed that having the rubbish taken away every seven days was

“a basic right for every Englishman and woman”—

Shami Chakrabarti and Liberty, please note. Jumping heroically on a passing bin-wagon, the Communities Secretary pledged to bring back weekly collections. In fact, he has been defeated by his own Conservative councillors who, after all, have introduced more alternate weekly collections than anyone else—Conservatives like Andrew Nunn, an environment cabinet member in Suffolk, who said bluntly:

“Eric Pickles should spend less time reading the newspapers. He’s got it wrong.”

I agree, but with one exception. After all the policies that the Government have had to throw away in the last few weeks, there is one address that desperately needs to keep a weekly collection of rubbish—No. 10 Downing street, where there is even enough room for a bin lorry to do a U-turn.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that response. The House will note that his performances at business questions are attracting the attention of powerful friends. Last Friday, he was praised by the Daily Mail, which announced:

“Hilary Benn for Labour leader. The campaign starts here”.

After that intoxicating but unlikely endorsement, I looked up the odds on the right hon. Gentleman becoming the next Labour leader. I was disappointed to see him some way behind the pack at 33:1, but if I were a betting man, I would say it was worth a pony on the shadow Leader of the House.

I welcome what the right hon. Gentleman said about the conference on Monday. He will have noted the extra £800 million that the Government have invested in vaccination, and he will have heard the Secretary of State’s statement on Wednesday about our overall policy on aid.

The right hon. Gentleman should not believe everything that he reads in the press. The end of the Session will depend on the progress that we make with legislation. I remind him that the then Government were not telling us 10 months before March last year—in 2009—when that Session would end. According to my recollection, we did not know when it would end until March, when the Government hit the buffers.

The motion to recommit the Health and Social Care Bill would normally have been taken forthwith under the Standing Orders. We propose to make time available for the Bill to be debated, and to recommit the parts that were amended by the Government in their recent statement.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

They were not.

[Sir George Young]

I mean the parts that we propose to amend. The recommittal motion will be tabled in good time for the House to debate it on Tuesday.

As for the right hon. Gentleman’s comments on the Bill, I hope that he read what Lord Darzi said about our policy. He said:

“I certainly don’t see it as a U-turn. I see it as a continuum of reform that the health service has witnessed for the last decade under Labour and it’s moving on into the next decade very much based on the changes in the demand on the health service.”

I hope that that view will be reiterated by Opposition spokesmen as the Bill proceeds through its remaining stages.

The Prime Minister dealt with the First Sea Lord’s comments yesterday when he referred to the statement by the Chief of the Defence Staff that we had the resources to continue the exercise in Libya for as long as it took. I remind the right hon. Gentleman that his party in government deferred the conducting of a strategic defence and security review for a long time. We have conducted one, and we have no plans to revisit it.

I announced that there would be a debate on circus animals next Thursday, in Government time, and the Government will make their position clear during that debate. I remind the right hon. Gentleman that that is yet another issue on which his party in government failed to take any action, leaving us to sort it out.

I was slightly surprised when the right hon. Gentleman raised the subject of bin collection. I remember his rather humiliating U-turn on waste only two years ago when, as Environment Secretary, he had to back down on his own proposals. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said, we are backing local authorities that want to increase the frequency and improve the quality of their bin collections, and we have abandoned Labour’s guidance to the Audit Commission which penalised local authorities that carried out weekly collections.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

When can we expect a statement and a debate on sentencing? According to new assault guidelines, an assault on a police officer which involves a punch to the stomach that winds a police officer, when the criminal attempts to evade arrest and has previous convictions for public order offences, can now be punished with only a fine. That kind of soft, lily-livered approach to sentencing is driving my constituents mad, and it is time that the Government got a grip on the issue once and for all.

[Sir George Young]

I have some good news for my hon. Friend. The Government will shortly be introducing a legal aid and sentencing Bill, which will give him an opportunity to share his views with the House at greater length.

[Vernon Coaker (Gedling) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House find time for an urgent statement enabling the Business Secretary to explain to the House why the Government are refusing to sign a United Nations convention that protects the rights of domestic workers? On the day of the announcement to that effect, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was supporting an inquiry into modern-day slavery. It is about time that the Government got their act together.

[Sir George Young]

Questions to my right hon. Friend the Business Secretary will take place on 14 July, but in the meantime I will draw my right hon. Friend’s attention to the hon. Gentleman’s question and ask him to reply to it.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House find time for a statement by the Secretary of State for Transport explaining this morning’s decision to award the contract for Thameslink trains to Siemens, which will manufacture them in Germany, rather than to Bombardier, which would have manufactured them in Derby? I think that the whole House would like to understand how we reached the position of having to export those jobs to Germany.

[Sir George Young]

I believe I am right in saying that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport issued a written ministerial statement today on two subjects, one of which was the award of that contract. Next Thursday, when my right hon. Friend responds to oral questions at the Dispatch Box, my hon. Friend will have an opportunity to press him, or more likely her—the Minister of State, Department for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Mrs Villiers)—on the reasons for a particular decision to award the contract to a particular company.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

Earlier today, during questions to the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, the future of Supporters Direct was raised. Since its creation 11 years ago, that organisation has been at the forefront of community involvement in football clubs, but its future is very much in doubt following the decision to rescind funding from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund. I believe that, whether one is a supporter of co-operatives, a supporter of the big society or just a football supporter, the excellent work done by Supporters Direct cannot be lost.

I understand that my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex) has applied for a Westminster Hall debate on the subject. I do not know whether the Leader of the House is a football-supporting man, but I wonder if he will support my hon. Friend’s request.

[Sir George Young]

He is. He has supported Queen’s Park Rangers for a very long time, and welcomes its recent promotion.

I understand that during the exchange at Question Time, the Minister for Sport and the Olympics, my hon. Friend the Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Hugh Robertson) was very supportive indeed of the hon. Gentleman’s proposition. I hope that it will be pursued further in Westminster Hall, and I will ask my hon. Friend whether he can add to what he said earlier.

[Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

Many of my constituents have contacted me because they are concerned about the disruptive effect that industrial action by teachers will have on their children’s education. May we have a debate on that important issue?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern, which I am sure is shared by many Members on both sides of the House. I think it regrettable that two teachers’ unions have decided to take industrial action at a time when the Government are still negotiating with them about the future of pensions. That will be bad news for the children, and bad news for parents who go out to work.

Responsibility for contingency planning rests with individual employers, and at this stage the Government have no plans to change the legislation, but I will bring my hon. Friend’s concern to the attention of the Secretary of State for Education, and will see whether there is any further action that he can take.

[Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)]

In his Mansion House speech last night, as well as pre-empting the final report of the Independent Commission on Banking, the Chancellor announced the sale of Northern Rock to the highest bidder. I do not know whether that will be considered in the statement that will follow business questions, but, if not, may I urge the Leader of the House to arrange a debate, or indeed a statement, on the issue? That would enable the House to be told why, in this instance, the Government have chosen not to implement the pledge in the coalition agreement

“to foster diversity in financial services, promote mutuals and create a more competitive banking industry.”

[Sir George Young]

Let me respond to the direct question posed by the hon. Gentleman by saying that whether a question about Northern Rock would be in order in the statement that is to follow would be a matter for you, Mr Speaker. I see that you are reflecting on it as we speak.

It has always been the Government’s policy to return Northern Rock to the private sector, and that is what my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced yesterday evening.

[Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight) (Con)]

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games appears to believe that the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 prevents other people from even mentioning next year as a date. It says that the term “2012” is now widely used in the United Kingdom as a reference to the games. My constituent Julie Benson, founder of the Great Exhibition Company, is being threatened by that. She said that her exhibition next year

“will promote the best of Great Britain to the rest of the world —it’s not about a sporting event in London.'”

Can the Leader of the House reassure me—and Julie Benson, and printers of diaries and calendars everywhere—that the Act does not confer on LOCOG exclusive rights to any number or date, and that Members will not have to rely on the privileges of their membership of the House to talk about the date next year?

[Mr Speaker]

I am sure the ingenuity of the Leader of the House is such that he will fashion a way to relate his answer to the business of next week.

[Sir George Young]

Or, indeed, next year.

I endorse my hon. Friend’s general proposition: that there is no monopoly on 2012, and we are at liberty to refer to it. However, I would hesitate before engaging in what appears to be a legal dispute between two companies, as I believe that would be better sorted out by the courts than by Ministers.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

May we have a debate on the fiduciary responsibility of members of boards of directors? Both UK and United States law makes it clear that directors are bound to

“exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence”

in ensuring companies act lawfully, yet this clearly has not happened in relation to News Corporation, the owner of the News of the World, where criminality has gone on extensively. That now leaves people such as José Maria Aznar, Andrew Knight, Kenneth Cowley, Rod Eddington, Thomas Perkins and Stanley Shuman in real legal peril.

[Sir George Young]

I believe that the hon. Gentleman has just asserted that somebody had acted unlawfully. If that is the case, it is a matter for the police.

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the ownership and effectiveness of local and regional newspapers—including mine, The Enfield Advertiser and the Enfield Independent—since many editors throughout the country feel they are unable to scrutinise local public bodies? While it is not our role to run newspapers, I believe that, given the pressures on the industry, we should debate the implications of this serious matter.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

I would welcome a debate in Westminster Hall, or initiated by the Backbench Business Committee, on the health of local newspapers, in which we all have an interest. My hon. Friend’s question did not make it clear why they were impeded from reporting on certain matters, but if he writes to me, I will see what I can do, in conjunction with my right hon. Friend the Culture Secretary.

[Mr Denis MacShane (Rotherham) (Lab)]

May we have an early debate on nannies? I think the Leader of the House is now beyond the nanny-using stage of his life, but for many of us he is a kind of generous nanny within the House. However, as I speak, in Geneva, British representatives, instructed by the Prime Minister, are seeking to vote against a vital International Labour Organisation convention to protect domestic workers, and we are the only democracy so to do. This is not a matter for Department for Business, Innovation and Skills questions; it goes to the heart of this Government and, as with the EU trafficking directive, their contempt for international conventions to protect the most weak and vulnerable in our nation.

[Sir George Young]

We did, of course, sign up to the EU trafficking convention. I think the right hon. Gentleman’s question is the same as that asked a few moments ago by his party colleague, the hon. Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker), in answer to which I undertook to raise the concerns with my right hon. Friend the Business Secretary, who has responsibility for these matters, and then to communicate that answer to the hon. Gentleman. I will send that response to the right hon. Gentleman as well.

[Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend support me in getting Ministers to answer questions on the dreadful treatment of my constituent, Julie Roberts? She has worked for Royal Mail for 21 years in the villages of Seisdon and Trysull. She recently had her mail van stolen. She immediately jumped on to its bonnet and held on for a mile while the thief tried to make a getaway. She was able to get the van stopped, and regain control of the vehicle. How does Royal Mail treat this lady? It suspends her, and she is under threat of losing her job. People in South Staffordshire want her back in work and Royal Mail to show some common sense and common decency.

[Mr Speaker]

I am unsure whether that is a request for a statement or a debate.

[Sir George Young]

Julie sounds like a courageous lady who was doing her best to defend Royal Mail property, and I will certainly draw my hon. Friend’s remarks to the attention of the Royal Mail chairman, and make sure this lady is recognised, if appropriate, rather than penalised.

[Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)]

It used to be the case that after the G8 summit the Prime Minister would make an oral statement to the House, which would allow us to question him on what he had done on the nation’s behalf, but we appear not to be having such a statement this year. Will the Leader of the House ensure that we reinstate this practice in future years, and not just for the G8 summit coming up shortly in the year that cannot be mentioned, but for other events such as the G20 summit, so we can properly hold the Government to account on what they do on our behalf in the international arena?

[Sir George Young]

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has made more statements from the Dispatch Box than his predecessor and has reported after most major conferences, and he is more than happy to hold himself to account. I will make some inquiries, including about the particular point the hon. Gentleman mentioned, but my right hon. Friend is certainly more than prepared to come to the House and answer questions after major international conferences.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

May we have a statement on the continuing debt crisis in the eurozone and its effect on our International Monetary Fund contributions?

[Sir George Young]

I think my hon. Friend might be referring to a wholly misleading article that appeared in The Sun this morning. A resolution referring to our contribution to the IMF is before the House, and it will go upstairs to a Committee. The move to increase the IMF’s resources was first agreed by the G20 in April 2009, which was before any eurozone support, and I am sure the proposition will receive the attention it deserves from the House.

[Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

Further to today’s written statement from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs saying that the Government will extend buying standards for food and catering across Whitehall, may we have a debate on such regulation? We need a national framework that applies to all public sector bodies, and it is wrong for hospitals to be excluded, particularly when we have made so much progress in the fish campaign.

[Sir George Young]

I commend the campaign. The next DEFRA questions will take place a fortnight from today, but in the meantime I will see if I can get an answer to the hon. Lady’s point.

[David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)]

Community groups play a vital role in helping to regenerate town centres and in attracting people to them by holding events such as the Barnaby festival, which will take place this weekend, and to which all Members are welcome. Will my right hon. Friend consider holding a debate on the important role community groups play in the regeneration of town centres, and will he join me in wishing the Barnaby festival every success this weekend?

[Sir George Young]

I am sorry that I cannot attend the Barnaby festival, but I am sure my hon. Friend will be present. This is an example of the big society in action. It is an opportunity for the community to come together and celebrate its history, and to promote Barnaby. I hope that the Barnaby festival will create opportunities for further regeneration and renewal, and I wish it every success this weekend.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

On recommittal of the Health and Social Care Bill, why should not all Back-Bench and Front-Bench Members of any party have as much opportunity as the Government to table amendments, and to any part of the Bill they choose?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

They will have exactly that opportunity when the Bill reaches its Report stage; any Member will be able to seek to amend any part of the Bill when it comes back to the House on Report.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Saturday marks the 196th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. May we have a statement from the Leader of the House on what plans are in place to mark the day when Britain, led by a future Conservative Prime Minister, defeated the French and ended their domination of Europe—and is there any likelihood of history repeating itself?

[Sir George Young]

One of my ancestors, Admiral Sir George Young, was a contemporary of Nelson, so I have a particular interest in my hon. Friend’s question. I will refer the matter to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence, in order to find out whether there are any proposals to commemorate this important anniversary.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House consider finding time for a debate on the proposed sale of Northern Rock? I understand that the Treasury has this morning told reporters that retention of the Northern Rock Foundation, which does important big society work in the north-east of England, will not be a condition of the sale, which is a great concern to many of my constituents, and to people across the north-east of England.

[Sir George Young]

I have had a very quick conversation with my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who is sitting beside me, and I understand that he has the answer to the questions the hon. Gentleman has just posed somewhere in his red folder.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

Later this afternoon, a plaque is being unveiled at the excellent Brentham club in Ealing to commemorate Fred Perry, who started his tennis career there. Does the Leader of the House agree that we want more of our young tennis players to get into the top rankings and that it might be helpful to spend some time in a debate working out how we can help to achieve that?

[Sir George Young]

I have happy memories of the Brentham club, which used to be in my Ealing constituency, and I am delighted to hear of the event commemorating Fred Perry. I also have happy memories of the Ealing lawn tennis club, which I hope is also surviving. I would welcome a debate on sport and how we might do more to encourage young people, not only in tennis, but in other activities. I very much hope that 2012—I hope I may mention that date without getting into serious trouble—will provide an opportunity to raise the profile of sport and encourage more young people to get involved.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

May we have a debate on the decision that the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) took this week to increase the Humber bridge toll to £3 per car per crossing, which is now the most expensive in Britain? The decision was taken without waiting for the Treasury’s review on bridge tolls. Such a debate would allow us to discuss what this will mean for the regeneration of the Humber bridge area.

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Lady will know that in a week’s time that Minister will be at this Dispatch Box, ready, willing and able to answer questions about the Humber bridge toll.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

May we have a debate about unemployment and jobs growth? Yesterday’s jobs figures showed a substantial increase in private sector jobs growth in the last quarter, which is of vital importance to my constituency, as it needs to get more, sustainable private sector jobs.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend reminds the House of the very encouraging set of figures we saw yesterday, which showed that there were an extra 500,000 jobs in the private sector, more than counterbalancing any decline in the number of public sector jobs. Particularly good news was the decline in youth unemployment—that is now at a lower level than we inherited from the outgoing Government.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Given that the demand for Adjournment debates in Westminster Hall regularly outstrips supply, could we have sittings in Westminster Hall on Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings?

[Sir George Young]

That is an ingenious suggestion. As my hon. Friend will know, the Procedure Committee is examining the calendar. His proposition would certainly be within the terms of reference and I am sure that he has given evidence along those lines.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

The Chancellor has talked about the need for a cultural change in banking regulation, given the failed system that was set up and led by the previous Administration. What plans does the Leader of the House have to allow a full debate on these issues, given that a White Paper has been published?

[Sir George Young]

That debate will be initiated in a few moments’ time by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who will make a statement. My hon. Friend the Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Alun Cairns) is right to say that we need to reform the financial services regime, which manifestly failed, if the City is to continue to be a centre of wealth, enterprise and encouraging employment. I hope that he will remain in his place for a few minutes longer, so that he can get a more authoritative reply from the Financial Secretary.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

As this is carers week, may we have a debate on the support for carers? I understand that the chief executive of Carers UK has welcomed the fact that the carer’s allowance will remain non-means-tested outside the universal credit. In that debate, we could discuss the extensive additional support that the Government are putting into respite care for carers.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend rightly reminds us that this is carers week. Tomorrow, I will be at the Princess Royal Trust for Carers’ Andover branch, praising those carers, who save this country a huge sum. My hon. Friend is also right to say that we have found additional resources for respite care for parents of disabled children and also for others via the NHS. We have also ring-fenced the carer’s allowance, so that it is not subsumed within universal credit.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on harsh practice by the Royal Bank of Scotland? Louisa Allen is the latest of my constituents to be treated very toughly by RBS, which is risking an unnecessary court case and threatening her with bankruptcy even though she has the funds to pay for a reasonable settlement. Will my right hon. Friend speak to the chairman of RBS to see what can be done?

[Sir George Young]

I will certainly convey what my hon. Friend has just said to the chairman of RBS. My hon. Friend will know that under Project Merlin a clear commitment was given to increase bank lending. Although the banks are on target to hit the overall figure of some £190 billion, they are falling a bit behind on the small and medium-sized enterprises side of things. We made it clear that we reserve the right to return to the issue and take further measures should that be necessary. Not only will I pursue the matter with RBS, but the Financial Secretary has heard the question.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

Can my right hon. Friend find time for a debate on energy policy and the performance of the regulator? Like my constituents, I am fed up to the back teeth of a situation where the retail price of gas increases when the wholesale price does, but never comes down when the wholesale price drops. We clearly need urgent action on this because it is combating our work on our inflation targets.

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern that retail prices go up faster than they come down. Hon. Members will have an opportunity to question Ministers from the Department of Energy and Climate Change on 7 July, so this question can be raised then. I know that this is concerning many hon. Members as we read about fuel prices increasing. We have introduced a number of measures to help, including the green deal, which is going through the House.

[Mr Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con)]

The community of Ollerton has for a number of years been seeking to redevelop its former miners’ welfare building. The project is being held up by the siting of a communications mast, which is the property of a company called Cornerstone, a subsidiary of Vodafone. Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate to discuss the power of communications companies to hold communities to ransom over projects such as this?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

I would be misleading my hon. Friend if I said that I could find time for such a debate, but it does sound to be a worthwhile subject for an Adjournment debate. I am sure that other Members of Parliament have similar concerns to those that he has outlined. I will draw his concerns to the attention of the Minister with responsibility for planning and Ministers at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the progress being made by the Government on the essential rebalancing of, and restoring of health to, our economy? Will my right hon. Friend ensure that Ministers have time in that debate to address the warnings issued last night by the Governor of the Bank of England that changing the mix of tight fiscal and loose monetary policy would “make little sense”?

[Sir George Young]

I entirely endorse what my hon. Friend has said and, indeed, what the Governor of the Bank of England said last night, which makes it all the more extraordinary that we heard a speech this morning demanding yet further tax cuts that are wholly underfunded.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House grant us a debate on the Independent Commission on Banking report and the specific proposal for more competition in the retail banking sector, so that healthy competition can be a powerful defender of the interest of consumers?

[Sir George Young]

As I said to one of my colleagues a few moments ago, there will be an opportunity after the Financial Secretary has made a statement for questions about our proposals to maintain the City of London as a thriving centre of enterprise that concentrates on serving its customers. There will be an opportunity to question the Financial Secretary on the ICB’s proposals.

[Brandon Lewis (Great Yarmouth) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend find time for an urgent debate on trade union reform laws, in order to give this House a chance to discuss the appalling way in which unions such as the Public and Commercial Services Union are threatening this country with strike action? That is happening even though that union had a turnout of only just over 32% in its ballot.

[Sir George Young]

Indeed, under 20% of that union’s members actually voted for industrial action. So far, we have had a good record on days lost through industrial action—the level has been one of the lowest. As of now, we have no plans to reform trade union legislation, but if we see a wave of irresponsible strikes, we would want to re-examine this again very carefully.

Business of the House

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 9th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House give us the business for next week?

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

The business for next week is as follows:

Monday 13 June—Remaining stages of the Welfare Reform Bill (Day 1).

Tuesday 14 June—Consideration in Committee of the Armed Forces Bill.

Wednesday 15 June—Remaining stages of the Welfare Reform Bill (Day 2).

Thursday 16 June—Remaining stages of the Armed Forces Bill.

Friday 17 June—Private Members’ Bills.

The provisional business for the week commencing 20 June will include:

Monday 20 June—Second Reading of the Pensions Bill [Lords].

Tuesday 21 June—Remaining stages of the Scotland Bill.

Wednesday 22 June—Opposition day (18th allotted day). There will be a debate on an Opposition motion. Subject to be announced.

Thursday 23 June—Business nominated by the Backbench Business Committee.

I should also like to inform the House that the business in Westminster Hall for Thursday 16 and 23 June 2011 will be:

Thursday 16 June—A debate on student visas.

Thursday 23 June—A debate on the private finance initiative.

[Hilary Benn]

I am grateful to the Leader of the House for that reply. Given his reputation as a reformer, I was surprised, and I am sure that view is shared by the Procedure Committee, by the Government’s rather dismissive response to its report on ministerial statements. Never mind, because the Backbench Business Committee can come to the rescue by giving the House the chance to vote on the proposals, so will the Leader of the House join me in encouraging the Committee to find time for that to happen?

I come now to the forthcoming business and, in particular, next week’s remaining stages of the Welfare Reform Bill. On 24 March, I asked the Leader of the House for an assurance that the regulations would appear in good time. He said in reply that

“we will seek to publish the appropriate regulations well in advance so that the House has an opportunity to reflect on them.”—[Official Report, 24 March 2011; Vol. 525, c. 1100.]

We are now two working days away from Report and we still have no policy and no regulations on how the costs of child care are going to be covered within the universal credit. What does the Leader of the House intend to do about this?

Following Lord Freud’s comments this week that spare bedrooms for people in social housing are a luxury, can we have a statement from the Work and Pensions Secretary so that he can confirm that a widow who has lived in the same two-bedroom house all her life now faces having her housing benefit cut, and may therefore be forced to move? If that is the case, where will she be expected to move to? The National Housing Federation says that while 180,000 social tenants in England are “under-occupying” two-bedroom homes, only 68,000 one-bedroom social homes become available for letting each year.

Following Tuesday’s written statement on the crisis at Southern Cross, it was reported yesterday that 3,000 jobs are to go there. May we have an oral statement so that the large number of elderly people who depend on these homes for their care can be reassured that they will be looked after come what may?

When will we have an oral statement on the changes to the Health and Social Care Bill that the Prime Minister saw fit to announce this week at Ealing hospital, rather than to the House? Can the Leader of the House give us a very simple assurance? Can he tell us that the Bill will be sent back to Committee in this House, so that we can consider the proposals in detail? It would be unacceptable to do anything else.

Given the extensive briefing from No. 10 this week on sentencing policy, when will the Justice Secretary come to the House to confirm that he has now been overruled by the Prime Minister and that his plans for a 50% reduction in sentence length for all those who plead guilty early, including to sexual offences and violent crime, have been scrapped? When he does come here, can he try to explain why the Prime Minister thought this was a good idea in the first place?

Now that the Public Accounts Committee has confirmed that the Government have made a complete mess of university funding, in particular with their gross underestimation of what universities would charge, when are we going to have a statement from the Minister for Universities and Science about what he proposes to do ? When he gives his statement, perhaps he could explain why the long-promised White Paper has now taken longer to gestate than a donkey, which takes 365 days, on average, and almost as long as a camel, which takes 400 days? It is no wonder that the academics of Oxford have no confidence in the Minister.

Talking of shy and overdue White Papers, back in February the Prime Minister proclaimed:

“We will soon publish a White Paper setting out our approach to public service reform...that will signal the decisive end of the old-fashioned, top-down…model.”

Bold words those, “soon” and “decisive”. What has happened? Nothing. First, this was put off until May and now we hear that it has been delayed until July because of another coalition split. One Lib Dem official has very helpfully said:

“Nick does not want there to be any sense that the public sector can’t be a provider of good quality public services”.

I think we can all feel another pause coming on.

Finally, Baroness Thatcher famously possessed no reverse gear, but this Prime Minister has a car stuffed full of them and a pause gear as well, as we have seen on school sport, forests, the NHS and now sentencing. But it does make us wonder what exactly goes on inside No. 10 when the Prime Minister approves all these policies in the first place only to reverse in the opposite direction, scattering his Cabinet colleagues along the way, when his pollsters tell them just how unpopular they are. So after yet another week of chaos from this coalition, is it any wonder that the Archbishop of Canterbury is now on his knees in despair?

[Sir George Young]

May I commend the shadow Leader of the House for a much better performance at the Dispatch Box than the leader of his party yesterday? On the Procedure Committee’s report on statements, the Government have, as he said, responded. I will not be going personally to the salon to bid for a debate but I would welcome a debate on statements. We have made more statements to the House than the previous Government—about 30% more on average—we have been very open with ministerial statements and we have responded with enthusiasm to urgent questions.

I will share with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions the point that the right hon. Gentleman raised about the regulations. I anticipated that the bulk of them would have been tabled, but if some have not been I shall take that up with my right hon. Friend straight away.

On the point about housing benefit and the changes, I have announced two days’ debate on welfare reform in which there may be an opportunity to debate those, but there are transitional funds available to help people in situations such as the right hon. Gentleman described who might otherwise be caught by the proposed cap.

On Southern Cross, we have been working very closely with the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services to ensure that arrangements are in place in the event of any need. The National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 gives local authorities all the powers they need to intervene if necessary. Whatever the outcome, no one will find themselves homeless or without care.

On the Health and Social Care Bill, it makes sense to await the outcome of the Field review and the Government’s response to it before we take a decision about whether the Bill should be recommitted. However, I say to the shadow Leader of the House that we spent more time in Public Bill Committee on that Bill than on any Bill since 2002. Whatever the outcome—whether recommittal or Report—I am determined that the House will have adequate time to debate the Bill’s remaining stages.

On higher education, I have seen the report of the Public Administration Committee and we plan to have the same numbers going to universities in 2012-13 as the numbers we inherited from the outgoing Government.

Let me address another issue that the shadow Leader of the House raised—that of the archbishop. I have not seen the full text of what the archbishop said but I hope that he has found time to balance any criticism of the coalition with commendation for some of the things we have done, such as the commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on overseas aid to ensure that the poorest people in the world do not bear the burden of solving our problems. I hope that the archbishop also finds time to commend our actions on the pupil premium, on giving more resources to the NHS and on taking lower-income people out of tax. He said that the coalition was rushing through things that nobody had voted for, but one could turn the coin over and say that in a Parliament in which no one party has a majority, there is much less likelihood of that happening.

[Mr Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)]

Does the Leader of the House agree that the Procedure Committee’s report on the use of hand-held devices in Parliament is a matter that should be debated sooner rather than later? Does he also agree that such a debate should not depend on the vagaries of the amount of time available to the Backbench Business Committee and that if necessary, the Government should provide time to enable the House to reach an early decision?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my right hon. Friend’s anxiety and that the gun has been jumped on the use of hand-held devices in the Chamber in advance of any decision, in that certain Members have already made use of that facility. Having implemented the Wright Committee’s recommendations and having allocated to the Backbench Business Committee time that would otherwise have been available to the Government, I am very reluctant to then find more time for Select Committee reports out of the finite time left to the Government, which we want to spend giving adequate time for Reports, Second Readings and other Government legislation.

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

The Select Committee on Communities and Local Government has concluded that the Government’s localism plans are “incoherent” and that their most serious flaw is the accountability gaps. Sir Gus O’Donnell and Sir Bob Kerslake were supposed to be looking into that issue. Given the importance of this issue to local government, will the Leader of the House make time for a debate and may we have an update on those important accountability issues?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the Select Committee report and, of course, the Government will respond in due course. The Government are committed to what we call “double devolution”—enfranchising not only local government, but people beneath local government—and that is at the heart of the debate between us and those who take a different view. I cannot promise time to consider the report, but no doubt the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee will have heard the hon. Lady’s question.

[Jane Ellison (Battersea) (Con)]

The Government’s decision to establish the Backbench Business Committee was more than justified by this week’s vibrant sitting in which we heard many excellent bids for time. I understand the timetabling pressure on the Government, but while we received bids for 28 hours of Chamber time, we know of only one day that we can allocate. May I simply request on behalf of the Committee that we know about further time that we can allocate so that we can facilitate the many excellent bids that we receive?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s anxiety, and I remind the House that this Government established the Backbench Business Committee. We are committed to allocating 35 days in a normal Session, which is roughly one day a week. We will adhere to that commitment, and given that this Session will be slightly longer than normal, we will extend those 35 days by an appropriate proportion. I understand that no such day is allocated for the next two weeks, but we will of course catch up between now and the end of the Session.

[Mr David Winnick (Walsall North) (Lab)]

May we have an urgent statement on the situation faced in my constituency by an 84-year-old widow with a limited income and hardly any savings? She looks after her 60-year-old disabled son, as she has done all his life, but because community care services are being provided on a limited scale, Walsall council has asked my constituent to pay £4,789 this year, starting with an instalment of some £400. That is quite disgraceful. Why are the most vulnerable in our society, such as the constituent whom I have cited—I have heard about other cases in the past few days—being targeted by this Tory Government and Tory councils?

[Sir George Young]

I reject the hon. Gentleman’s assertion that we have targeted the most vulnerable. On the contrary, we have allocated an extra £2 billion for social care through the NHS and local government that is aimed precisely at the sorts of cases to which he refers.

[John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD)]

Further to the question asked by the hon. Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison), it is inevitable that the Backbench Business Committee cannot satisfy everyone’s concerns about time. However, members of the Procedure Committee are worried that whereas the time that was available to debate its reports used to come out of Government time, it now comes out of Back-Bench time. What proposals do the Government have to introduce a House business committee that will allow all these things to be balanced in an accountable manner?

[Sir George Young]

The Wright Committee proposed that we should have a House business committee. Although that proposition was rejected by the outgoing Labour Government, we have accepted it and said that within the first three years of the Government, we will move towards a House business committee that will merge the responsibilities of the Backbench Business Committee and of the Leader of the House for deciding the future conduct of business.

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

May we have an early debate on the Government’s disastrous decision today regarding the feed-in tariff regime for solar energy? More than 80% of those who responded to the consultation disagreed with today’s outcome. The Solar Trade Association says that today’s announcement “effectively kills” the solar industry, and companies such as Kingspan and Sharp in my part of the world of north Wales will be shattered by this decision to end solar manufacturing.

[Sir George Young]

The Government are committed to providing more energy through alternative sources such as solar energy, and we have taken several steps to increase the supply. I cannot promise a debate in Government time, but I think that we will next have Energy and Climate Change questions on 7 July. Alternatively, the right hon. Gentleman could bid for an Adjournment debate on this important subject.

[Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)]

Throughout Business, Innovation and Skills questions, we heard of a strong and determined interest in manufacturing and engineering. May the House have a proper debate about the importance of that sector to highlight the necessity of encouraging young people to think about it as one in which they can have an exciting and rewarding career so that we can march forward for growth?

[Sir George Young]

I agree with my hon. Friend. There will be 250,000 more apprenticeships and I hope that many will end up in the manufacturing industry. We want to rebalance the economy, and a resurgent industrial sector will enable us to have a much more resilient model of long-term growth. I welcome some of the encouraging signs in manufacturing that we have seen over the past 12 months.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

There is little doubt that Scotland could survive as an independent country, but the critical question is whether it would be a more prosperous and fairer country. May we have an urgent debate in the House on the positive contribution of the Union to Scotland and the Scottish people and the positive contribution of Scotland and the Scottish people to the Union?

[Sir George Young]

The answer is yes, because the Scotland Bill will be returning to the Floor of the House within the next two weeks, when the hon. Gentleman will have an opportunity to make a speech. We will reassert our commitment to a United Kingdom and to Scotland remaining an integral part of it.

[Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne) (Con)]

Given the housing need and shortage in constituencies in the south-east such as mine, will the Leader of the House allow us to have a debate on housing?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend will welcome the announcement on Wednesday that 100,000 acres of publicly owned Government land will be made available for housing, providing not only much needed housing, but 25,000 jobs in the building sector. We are very anxious to increase the supply of housing and I hope that the initiative we announced yesterday will do exactly that.

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

Civitas produced a report last month indicating that, because of carbon floor pricing policy, more than 600,000 chemical workers’ jobs could be lost in the UK. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers recently published a report that surveyed 1,000 companies, only 12% of which indicated that they thought the Government’s programme to rebalance the economy was working. May we have a debate in the House on how the Government are rebalancing the economy?

[Sir George Young]

We have just had Business, Innovation and Skills questions, when those exact issues could have been raised with the Secretary of State. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was in his place at the time and sought to raise them, but if he was he will have heard about the Government’s initiatives to help the manufacturing sector of the economy and drive up employment, and I am sure that reference was made to initiatives such as the regional growth fund.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware of the excellent campaign being run by the Evening Standard to promote reading across London. It is somewhat ironic that large numbers of Labour-led local authorities are closing libraries across London. May we have a debate on how to combat this cultural vandalism inflicted by members of the Labour party?

[Sir George Young]

I hope that when local authorities take the necessary decisions to balance the books they will not take easy decisions and close libraries without exploring all the alternatives. My hon. Friend will know that there is a provision in the legislation whereby the Secretary of State has a role in the closing of libraries, so he might like to keep that at the back of his mind.

[Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

May I return to the Health and Social Care Bill? Given the real confusion and uncertainty surrounding the future of the NHS, it is absolutely essential that we have a debate in the House following the Field review and before we go to recommital of the Bill. The founding principles of the NHS are now at risk and the legal duty to secure the provision of health care will be abolished unless the House looks at that in detail.

[Sir George Young]

The founding principles of the NHS are not at risk, and I refer the hon. Lady to the speech that the Prime Minister made earlier this week. I am determined that there should be adequate time to debate the Health and Social Care Bill. As I said, it makes sense to await the outcome of the Field review and see what amendments to the Bill the Government propose to table before deciding whether it should be recommitted or dealt with on Report. I am determined that the House should have adequate time to consider the Bill’s important remaining stages.

[Mr Matthew Offord (Hendon) (Con)]

May we have a statement on the citizenship status of suspected war criminals who now reside in the UK? I have been seeking information from the Home Office on the number of people who were actively involved in the Trawniki concentration camp in Poland. In March, I received a written response from the Minister for Immigration, who said he would undertake to take away citizenship from people who were engaged in these activities, but since then I have heard nothing and no more information has emerged.

[Sir George Young]

It should be absolutely clear that the UK will not be a safe haven for those fleeing from international justice. I do not have the details of the case to which my hon. Friend refers, but I will refer it to the Home Secretary. The UK Border Agency refers appropriate cases to the Metropolitan police for investigation and the decision on whether to prosecute lies with them. Cases will be referred where there has been an admission or allegation of an offence where the UK has jurisdiction to prosecute.

[Mr Tom Harris (Glasgow South) (Lab)]

I doubt that I am the only Member whose constituents have been targeted in a new internet scam whereby they are cold-called at home, told that their computer has a virus and asked for their internet protocol address over the phone. Clearly the IP address would be used to access their computers remotely for less than honest reasons. Will the Leader of the House invite the Minister responsible to the House so that we can debate how the Government can contribute to protecting people’s home computers and privacy?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for using the air time available to him to warn people of that risk. There will be an opportunity next Thursday during Culture, Media and Sport questions to raise it further. In the meantime, I will see whether the appropriate authorities can take further action to alert people to this dangerous scam.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

May we please have a debate on the BBC’s news and Parliament channels? The BBC Trust is currently conducting one of its regular reviews on those two important channels and a debate would allow Members to contribute to the consultation process that is part of the review.

[Sir George Young]

I understand the anxiety about the coverage of the BBC’s news and Parliament channels. It is a matter for the BBC, and the Government should not become directly involved. I would welcome such a debate and hope that my hon. Friend will make an appropriate bid. The period of the current charter runs until the end of 2016 and there will be a full review as that time draws near, although no date or remit have been set.

[Mrs Jenny Chapman (Darlington) (Lab)]

I am one of 15 Members who wrote to the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), who is responsible for consumer affairs, with a request for a meeting to discuss high-cost lending, which was declined following five months waiting for a response. Will the Leader of the House investigate the Minister’s work load and establish whether a meeting would be possible?

[Sir George Young]

I caught the end of BIS questions and heard the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy) press the Minister for a further meeting on that issue. I will also press for a further meeting on the issue and report the bid of the hon. Member for Darlington (Mrs Chapman) to my hon. Friend the Minister, but I assure her that he, like every Minister in the Government, is very busy on governmental business all the time.

[Priti Patel (Witham) (Con)]

My constituent Marie Heath has been left devastated by the brutal murder of her son Lee in Frankfurt in April. Will the Leader of the House give her an assurance that the Government will fully support her family during this most difficult time and, importantly, press the German authorities to bring her son’s murderers to justice?

[Sir George Young]

I extend my condolences to Marie Heath on the recent tragic death of her son Lee. The consular service of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office should of course continue to provide all assistance necessary to Mrs Heath and her family and maintain contact with her, as it did when she went to Germany following the attack. I understand that it has also arranged for the family to receive assistance from Victim Support’s national homicide service. I will also ensure that the FCO is aware of my hon. Friend’s interest in the case.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

In Business, Innovation and Skills questions earlier today the House heard that the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning plans to produce an equality impact assessment of the proposed increases in charges for English for speakers of other languages courses before the House rises for the summer recess. If that shows, as my experience in my constituency does, that the changes in ESOL fees will bear unfairly on women—seven in every 10 students affected in Slough are women—will the Leader of the House ensure that we have time before the House rises to change the policy on behalf of those women?

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Lady is making an assumption that the document to which she refers will indeed confirm her suspicions. I think it makes sense to await the outcome of the impact review, but I will share her concern with the Minister and ensure that there is an opportunity to take what she says on board if it turns out that there is an adverse impact.

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

The fog of war is one thing, but the fog of confusion at the Ministry of Defence is quite another. There are reports that soldiers in 16 Air Assault Brigade face a pay cut of about £2,000 a year. On Tuesday, the brigade, which recently returned from Helmand province, had a welcome home parade in Colchester, and yesterday at St Edmundsbury cathedral there was a service of thanksgiving, remembrance and hope. Does the Leader of the House agree that a wage cut of £2,000 is not the reward they should receive, and if he cannot arrange for a Minister to come to the House to clarify what is going on, will he at least arrange for a Minister to clarify in the armed forces debate precisely what the position is?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend knows that there will be two days next week to debate the Armed Forces Bill, when there may be an opportunity to raise the matter. I heard his point of order earlier this week at a relatively late hour, and my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary has made it clear that all service personnel who have a current qualification to parachute and are in a post where we might ask them to use that skill on behalf of this country must continue to receive specialist parachute pay in recognition of that. I recognise that this is a sensitive and emotive subject, and I hope that what I have said is of some help.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am sure that you, Mr Speaker, and the Leader of the House will want to join me in congratulating Swansea City on their recent promotion to the premier league, but in addition will the Leader of the House provide time for an urgent debate on the further electrification of the railway line out of Paddington from Cardiff to Swansea in the light of the increased traffic due to that promotion, plus the extra convergence funding that might be available to subsidise the cost, and in the light of the Prime Minister’s statement in April in Swansea, when he said that the Government would look at the further extension of electrification to Swansea?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

As a former supporter of Reading football club, I was less than pleased at the outcome of that match. The hon. Gentleman has raised the question of electrification several times, but we would not save any time if we made the change that he outlines. It has been raised several times at Transport questions, and despite the heroic work of his local football club I would be misleading him if I said that it would generate enough traffic to alter substantially the arithmetic on which that decision was based.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

Following information from whistleblowers, I recently raised the case of The Manchester college and its highly questionable activities in relation to the delivery of taxpayer-funded training contracts at prisons such as Reading. May we therefore have a debate on the illegal and inefficient spending of taxpayers’ money, in which I would be able, for example, to call for a thorough audit of all the taxpayer money that has gone to The Manchester college?

[Sir George Young]

I share my hon. Friend’s concern if there has been any misuse of taxpayers’ funds. I shall draw his remarks to the attention of the appropriate Minister and ask him to write to my hon. Friend, reassuring him either that there has been no misuse or that appropriate action is being taken to ensure that any misuse is put right.

[Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)]

Scottish Power this week announced that it will increase its energy prices by 19%, and other energy companies are likely to follow suit. May we have an urgent statement from the Government outlining what discussions they have had with energy companies and what measures they will take to ensure that we support families, who already have very tight budgets?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern at the recent announcement of fuel price increases, and we are committed to doing all we can to ensure that vulnerable older people can keep their homes warm in the winter. We have protected the winter fuel payments and permanently increased cold weather payments from £8.50 to £25 per week. We have also announced the triple guarantee for more generous state pension provision, so that vulnerable people do not have to choose between food and heating their homes, but I will share his concern with my right hon. Friends.

[Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West and Abingdon) (Con)]

The Safe and Sustainable review that is out to consultation implies that Oxford’s child heart surgery unit will close. Clinicians in Oxford and Southampton, however, have developed a partnership proposal that offers the quality assurance that the Government seek while retaining the accessibility that patients and clinicians fear losing. As Safe and Sustainable, an inherited review, runs the risk of being seen as an imposed reorganisation from above, that proposal seems exactly the kind of innovative local solution that we want to encourage. May we therefore have a debate on child heart surgery partnerships between trusts in order to assist those making a decision on the Safe and Sustainable recommendations and to encourage such solutions in other parts of the country?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who will know that the consultation is under way and concludes at the end of the month. I have an interest, because Southampton general hospital serves a number of my constituents, and I was interested to hear her float the idea of a partnership between the relevant hospitals in Oxford and Southampton. The future of cardiac paediatric surgery has been a matter of some debate since the problems in Bristol, and we inherited a review, which my hon. Friend knows about, to try to get a better and safer balance of services, but I will certainly see that the committee that looks at the review when it is completed takes on board her suggestion of a partnership between the two hospitals.

[Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)]

May we debate the almost certain link between the tragic deaths of six of our gallant soldiers in the past two weeks and the escape eight weeks ago of 500 members of the Taliban, probably because of the incompetence or, possibly, collaboration of their jailers? Should we not examine whether the Government’s over-optimistic trust in the Afghan police and army is having lethal consequences for our soldiers?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern. He will know that the Government make regular statements on the position in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and we will continue to do so. When we make those statements, he will have an opportunity to share his concern about the prisoners who escaped and their possible impact on the soldiers who have lost their lives. I cannot promise a debate about the issue, but perhaps Foreign Office questions would be a good opportunity for him to press Ministers on it.

[Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)]

May we have a debate about economic growth and confidence? I was surprised to see, in assessing macro-economic policy, the views of a very small, left-wing bunch of economists being given so much weight, when I know that credible economists back the Government.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that helpful and supportive point, and he makes it in the week when the IMF said:

“Aided by the implementation of a wide-ranging policy program, the post-crisis repair of the UK economy is underway.”

That view is endorsed by the European Commission, the CBI and many others, and most people will accept their interpretation of what is happening, rather than that of the outgoing Labour Administration, who got us into this mess.

[Albert Owen (Ynys Môn) (Lab)]

Further to what my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow Central (Anas Sarwar) said about the huge increases in domestic energy prices, may we have an immediate and urgent debate on the subject, in which we could also look at the role of the regulator to ensure that it protects not just vulnerable customers but all consumers of gas and electricity, both on and off the grid?

[Sir George Young]

I cannot promise an immediate debate, but it strikes me as an issue that the Energy and Climate Change Committee might like to look at, as it involves both the regulator and the increase in fuel prices. There will be an opportunity, however, to press Ministers from the Department of Energy and Climate Change at the next question time.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House grant us a debate about Government plans for the natural environment? This week the Government published on the subject a crucial White Paper, which will be hugely beneficial in safeguarding and enhancing the natural environment, and I feel that a debate on those welcome proposals would be appropriate.

[Sir George Young]

I hope that my hon. Friend will go to the Backbench Business Committee and bid for such a debate. We launched the White Paper a few days ago—the first White Paper for some 20 years, looking ahead for the next 50 years, proposing measures to safeguard and enhance our natural environment and setting out a programme of action for some of the damage that has been done. I should welcome such a debate if chosen by the Backbench Business Committee.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does the Leader of the House agree that it is difficult if not impossible to become a full citizen of our country without speaking English? Is he aware that other countries, such as the Netherlands, link the payment of benefits to new entrants to their country to training in and learning of the language? Is it not about time that we put extra effort into the whole concept of citizenship and the necessity to teach people English in order to access it?

[Sir George Young]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman’s first sentence. I was under the impression that there was indeed an English language test as part of the citizenship test before one became a citizen, but if that is not the case I will ask my hon. Friend the Minister for Immigration to write to the hon. Gentleman setting out what the position is.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House find time for an urgent statement on the E. coli outbreak in Europe and the UK cucumber industry? Despite British produce being perfectly safe, many farmers in my constituency have seen a fall in sales of between 30% and 50%, and some are already on their way to bankruptcy. Will he ask the Government to redouble their efforts for fair access to the €150 million of EU compensation and to persuade Russia to lift its unfair ban on UK cucumbers?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend said at the beginning of his remarks that there is no evidence of any contamination in the UK food chain from the E. coli disease that has broken out in Germany, and I share his concern about UK cucumber producers, because all the evidence shows that their product is perfectly safe to eat. The Food Standards Agency reminds consumers of the importance of basic food hygiene when preparing food, but I will certainly raise with my right hon. Friends the question that my hon. Friend raises about compensation for those who have lost their livelihood as a result of the outbreak.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

The Leader of the House is well aware of my concern about the Government’s secret plans to try to privatise my local hospital trust. I am now informed that the trust has expressed concern that if it has to implement the cuts that the Government want, patient safety will be put at risk. The trust has refused to publish those documents. May we have a debate on the secrecy that now surrounds the NHS?

[Sir George Young]

Legislation put on to the statute book by the hon. Gentleman’s own party when in government makes it absolutely clear that it is impossible to privatise an NHS trust. As we have said in earlier exchanges, there will be an opportunity to debate this issue in the context of the Health and Social Care Bill. He has written to me and to the relevant Health Minister several times. If there are any outstanding issues, I will ask the Minister to write to him yet again.

[Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)]

With continued disquiet across the House regarding the ongoing role of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, and following the recent debate instigated by my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie), would my right hon. Friend care to update us on any meetings or discussions that he has had about that?

[Sir George Young]

As a result of the debate that the House had before the recess, we agreed to set up a Committee of the House to look at some specific issues that the House referred to it. That is the body to which my hon. Friend should address his attention when we set it up, which will be in the near future. In the meantime, we have a liaison committee between the House and IPSA, with six or eight Members on it, and he might like to make contact with them. If he has any issues that need to be addressed urgently, I would be happy to use what influence I have to sort them out.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

May we have a statement on the Olympic tickets debacle and, in particular, how it is possible that the Olympic organising committee could devise a system whereby 1 million people did not get any tickets at all in the first ballot, which means that they will have to do what I did this week—register on a French website in order to get some sensible way of trying to purchase them? Should not Ministers be calling in members of the committee, showing them the instruments of torture, and getting them to sort this out?

[Sir George Young]

The fact is that there were many more bids for tickets than there were tickets available, so inevitably there had to be a rationing system. My own view is that the system that the committee introduced was a fair one. A week from today, the hon. Gentleman will have an opportunity to press Ministers at Culture, Media and Sport questions, and I will give them due warning that he is on the warpath.

[Gordon Birtwistle (Burnley) (LD)]

Will the Leader of the House consider granting a debate on defence and transport procurement policies to enable British companies to operate on a level playing field, which could also deliver increased export potential as British manufacturers could sell their goods across the world?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

We are keen on level playing fields. One of the obligations of being a member of the European Union is that there should be no non-tariff barriers to trade. There may be an opportunity for my hon. Friend to raise his concerns about defence equipment in next week’s debates on the Armed Forces Bill. If he is concerned about any specific contract, I would be happy to take that up with the Ministry of Defence.

[Mrs Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) (Lab)]

In 2004, the King and Government of Malaysia awarded the Pingat Jasa Malaysia medal to soldiers who fought in the Malaysian jungle between 1957 and 1966. That medal was initially refused to veterans by the British Government. It has now been accepted, but veterans are not allowed to wear it in public. According to a written answer from the Ministry of Defence of 26 April, the review was currently with the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister and it was hoped that a decision would be made after Easter. It is now long after Easter, and we are still waiting. On behalf of people such as Ted Williams, who is national secretary of the National Malaya and Borneo Veterans Association, may we have a statement as soon as possible so that as we approach armed forces week they can wear their medal publicly, with pride, in memory of the 340 troops who died fighting bravely in those jungles?

[Sir George Young]

This is a long-standing campaign that has a lot of support on both sides of the House, and I commend the hon. Lady for raising it. I will raise with the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister exactly what she has said. If it is indeed the case that a decision rests with them, I will use what influence I have to try to get a decision before the summer recess.

[Mrs Anne Main (St Albans) (Con)]

Further to the remarks by my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) about British cucumbers being decimated, may we have a debate on why some ill-judged remarks by an EU Minister from Germany are leading to enormous financial implications and bills for our country?

[Sir George Young]

As I made clear earlier, there is no evidence at all of any contamination in the UK food chain that emanates from the problems of the E. coli outbreak in Germany. I say again to my hon. Friend that the public should be reassured that there is no reason at all why cucumbers in this country should not be consumed. If there have been unhelpful remarks from people overseas, of course I will pursue that through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

As a member of the Backbench Business Committee, may I associate myself with the comments of the hon. Members for Battersea (Jane Ellison) and for Birmingham, Yardley (John Hemming) with regard to the work of the Committee, where work is piling up? Members across the House are becoming concerned at the little time so far allocated by the Government to its duties.

May I also ask the Leader of the House about Southern Cross? There is significant concern about Southern Cross, not only because of the current self-induced financial crisis but because of significant shortcomings in levels of care in several homes around the country before the crisis was confirmed.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

On the latter point, it would be for the Care Quality Commission to pursue any failings in care and to take that up with the home directly and, if necessary, with the appropriate social services departments.

In response to what the hon. Gentleman said about time pressures, there is enormous pressure on the Government in that we are asked for more time for Report stages and for debates on important issues. Unless he is suggesting that the House should sit into the end of July and August, I am afraid that the Backbench Business Committee and the Government will both have to make difficult decisions on timing.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on NHS funding? Constituents of mine have highlighted to me the importance of mental health services provision, so a debate on the £3 billion of further investment that this Government are putting into the NHS this year would be timely and welcome.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. There will be time for a debate on the NHS when the Health and Social Care Bill returns to the Floor of the House. He reminds the House that an extra £3 billion is being invested in the NHS this year—an investment that Labour would have denied it.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

A constituent of mine is particularly worried about the Government’s plans for the NHS in England because her daughter has a rare condition that can be treated only in hospital in London. She will therefore be interested to know that the Government are talking about recommitting the Health and Social Care Bill to Committee. However, will there not be a real problem for members of that Committee, who may have to vote for exactly the opposite of what they voted for only a few months ago? Will the Leader of the House make sure that if there is to be a recommittal, the Committee has a new set of Government Back Benchers so that the original members do not have to lose any integrity or credibility?

[Sir George Young]

A nice try! If the Bill is recommitted, there will have to be a fresh Committee of Selection to appoint a new Committee. I have every confidence that Back-Bench Members of my party and of the Liberal Democrat party will use their best judgment on that Committee and continue to work with the Government to drive up standards in the NHS so that we have a world-beating health service in this country.

[Brandon Lewis (Great Yarmouth) (Con)]

In order potentially to give some support to whatever position the FA may take, may we have a debate on the appalling situation in FIFA that is bringing our beautiful game into such disrepute?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

There will be an opportunity to raise that at DCMS questions next week. I thought that the FA did the right thing in arguing strongly for a postponement of the election, but it was not successful. It is now up to Sepp Blatter to reform FIFA and make it a much more accountable and transparent organisation than it is at the moment.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

May I, too, press for a debate on the future of regulation of our care homes? Southern Cross has 750 homes across the country that are in trouble with rental payments, and yesterday we learned that 3,000 staff are being laid off. Many Members across the House will want a debate to ensure that the Government have a grip on the situation.

[Sir George Young]

I understand the concern about this. I hope that before long it will be possible to offer time to the Backbench Business Committee for which it might consider a serious bid from both sides of the House for a debate on care. The Dilnot report will come out early next month. I am sure that the House will want to debate it, because its recommendations are closely linked to the problems in which Southern Cross and other care home providers now find themselves.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Many Members have made the point that there has been not been enough time for the Backbench Business Committee. The Chairman of the Committee would have made that point today, but unfortunately cannot be here for understandable reasons. There was a solution. The Wright report recommended that Back-Bench business should be scheduled every Wednesday with Thursdays once again becoming a main day for debate on Government legislation and other matters. Will the Leader of the House make a statement next week to say whether that can be done or whether the forces of darkness are preventing it?

[Sir George Young]

There are no forces of darkness in my life. I will reflect on my hon. Friend’s point. It is not the case that the Backbench Business Committee has been offered only Thursdays. I think that the last day it was offered was a Tuesday. The Government have to balance the demands on time for Government Bills with the demands of the Backbench Business Committee. This will all be resolved in three years when we have a House business committee that can take a co-ordinated view. I commend my hon. Friend for his role in never letting us forget that we have a Backbench Business Committee.

[Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (PC)]

Diolch yn fawr, Mr Speaker. During the recess, The Observer reported a seemingly rolling commitment by the British military mission in Saudi Arabia. May we have an urgent statement from the Government on the exact nature of the role of the BMM in training the Saudi national guard? It would seem slightly duplicitous to support pro-democracy movements in the middle east, while training the jack-boot forces that are quashing protests in the region.

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern. There will be an opportunity next Tuesday at Foreign Office questions either to table a substantive question such as the one he has asked, or to ask a topical question. I will alert Foreign Office Ministers that such a question might be on the way.

[Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con)]

I very much hope that we can have a debate on intellectual property. I am sure that my right hon. Friend is aware of the great sporting event that is to take place in this country next year: the Wombourne olympics in south Staffordshire. The event’s organisers are very concerned that the Olympic authorities might prosecute them for using the word “olympics”. I am sure that a debate would clarify the matter.

[Sir George Young]

I very much hope that the matter can be clarified without the need for a debate. I will alert the appropriate Minister to the dilemma that confronts my hon. Friend’s constituents, and see whether we can find a way through.

[Stephen Twigg (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab/Co-op)]

May we have a debate on the progress of the Department for Work and Pensions in implementing the recommendations of the Harrington review into work capability assessments? My constituent, Barry Haney, who has a brain tumour with multiple side-effects, was judged fit to work after a four-minute assessment. He won his appeal. Surely it would save a lot of heartache, time and public money if the assessments were got right in the first place. Perhaps we could debate that on a cross-party basis in the House.

[Sir George Young]

There will be Work and Pensions questions on Monday. Of course we should try to get these matters right at the initial assessment so that they do not have to go to appeal. The hon. Gentleman reminds the House that there is an opportunity to appeal to an independent body. I will certainly raise the issue with the DWP and ensure that the quality control is such that the need to appeal in such cases is minimised.

[David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)]

An important decision to be made in the next few months is the location of the green investment bank. It is important that the criteria for that decision are transparent and open to scrutiny. May we have a statement on what the criteria will be, and an assurance that the process will be transparent, open and fair, in which case I am sure the bank will end up in Warrington?

[Sir George Young]

I fear that my hon. Friend may have opened a bidding war with his question. All parts of the country will be considered. The location for the green investment bank will be chosen to enable it best to deliver its mission. We will consider a number of criteria, including the ability to fulfil the GIB’s mission, ease of access to the talent pool, and commercial costs. I am sure that Warrington will be considered.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House conduct a review and make a statement to the House on the way in which the Government respond to questions from Members? On Tuesday, I asked the Secretary of State for Health about the cost of the listening exercise. He has twice been unable to answer that question and wants to write to me. Some estimates have put the cost at up to £1 billion. If the pause, listening and reflecting had been done at the White Paper stage, none of these costs would have been incurred.

[Sir George Young]

If my right hon. Friend said that he would write to the hon. Lady with an answer, I am sure that that is exactly what he will do. I think that the pause for the listening exercise has been widely welcomed. If it enables us to improve the provisions of the Health and Social Care Bill, I am sure that the whole House will welcome that outcome.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Will the Leader of the House agree to a debate on awarding a posthumous Victoria cross to Blair Mayne, the legendary member and officer of the Special Air Service, for his courageous and heroic endeavours in the desert campaign of the second world war? He was a native of Newtownards in my constituency. To use an Ulster Scots colloquialism, he was yin o’ oor ain folk. Ards borough council and the Northern Ireland Assembly support the campaign. In the last Parliament, a number of Members signed an early-day motion asking for him to be recognised with the VC. How better to ensure that their war hero is recognised? A debate in this House would allow public opinion to be reflected and enable hon. Members to indicate their support for—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I apologise, but the hon. Gentleman’s question is very long. He must try to make his questions shorter in future.

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman has spoken of someone who was clearly a very brave man. I will certainly pass his bid on to the Secretary of State for Defence.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

The Government have relied for their evidence base for scrapping education maintenance allowance on a piece of research by the National Foundation for Educational Research. Dr Thomas Spielhofer, who led that research, made it very clear in evidence to the Education Committee yesterday that there is no evidence base in the research to say that EMA is a dead-weight. In view of that, will the Secretary of State for Education come to the House to explain the evidence base on which he makes his decisions?

[Sir George Young]

If the Select Committee is doing an investigation into the subject, it would seem sensible for the Committee to summon the Secretary of State to respond to that evidence, rather than have him summoned to the Floor of the House.

Business of the House

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 19th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

The business for next week will be:

Monday 23 May—Opposition day (16th allotted day). There will be a debate on “Sentencing”, followed by a debate on “Policing and Crime”. Both debates will arise on an Opposition motion.

Tuesday 24 May—Motion relating to eurozone financial assistance, followed by a pre-recess Adjournment debate, the format of which has been specified by the Backbench Business Committee. The business for this day has been nominated by the Backbench Business Committee.

Colleagues will wish to be reminded that the House will meet at 11.30 am on this day.

The business for the week commencing 6 June will include:

Monday 6 June—The House will not be sitting.

Tuesday 7 June—Second Reading of the terrorism prevention and investigation measures Bill.

Wednesday 8 June—There will be a debate on an humble address relating to the Duke of Edinburgh’s 90th birthday, followed by Opposition day (17th allotted day) (half-day). There will be a half-day debate on an Opposition motion, subject to be announced.

Thursday 9 June—Consideration of Lords amendments to the Postal Services Bill, followed by a general debate on the Munro report and its implications for child protection.

Friday 10 June—Private Members’ Bills.

I should also like to inform the House that the business in Westminster Hall for Thursday 9 June 2011 will be:

Thursday 9 June—A debate on the Scottish Affairs Committee report on postal services in Scotland.

[Hilary Benn]

I am grateful to the Leader of the House for that reply. After the performance we have just witnessed from the Minister at the Dispatch Box it seems pretty clear that DEFRA is a Department in special measures. I begin by asking whether we may have a statement on the improvement plan that the Government plan to put in place to improve its performance?

On the terrorism prevention and investigation measures Bill, assuming that this is the Bill that will provide for an extension in the period for which people may be detained, will the Leader of the House assure us that the promise that there would be full consultation with the Opposition on the drawing up of the Bill has been kept?

On the date of the next Queen’s Speech, following our recent exchanges, will the Leader of the House at least assure us that it will not take place during purdah next April? I ask because it is now becoming increasingly clear that deciding on a date has difficulties for the Government, which might explain why the week before last the Leader of the House decided to answer a question about the date of the Easter recess that I had not asked.

Will the Leader of the House tell us when the Bill will be introduced to enshrine the commitment to give 0.7% of our national wealth in aid to those living in poverty, and will he explain why the Prime Minister has clearly failed to persuade his Defence Secretary that that is the right policy? Is it a sign of what the Tories really think about development? Will the Leader of the House also join me in condemning the remarks of the former head of the armed forces, Lord Guthrie, who was reported yesterday as calling for aid spending to be switched to defence, adding:

“We have not got time to muck about”.

Helping to save children’s lives is not mucking about.

We see that the other place will have a debate on the proposals for its reform published this week. Are the Government planning to have a debate in this House before the summer recess and in Government time?

May we have a debate on child poverty following the warning given this week that 300,000 children will be pushed below the poverty line in the next three years because of the Government’s spending cuts? The Institute for Fiscal Studies said that after falling to its lowest level in 25 years—that is the difference made by a Labour Government—child poverty is likely to rise sharply owing to the Chancellor’s decision to cut benefits and tax credits.

When will the Justice Secretary clarify the Government’s policy on rape and sentencing following the utter confusion of the past 24 hours? Having toured the TV and radio studios yesterday, offending more and more people with every interview he gave, should he not come to the House to apologise and explain what on earth is going on?

Yesterday, the Prime Minister categorically denied any link with Mark Britnell, the man who last weekend said that the national health service

“will be shown no mercy".

Will the Leader of the House therefore explain why it is reported that Mr Britnell was invited to attend a meeting of senior experts in Downing Street earlier this month by none other than the Prime Minister’s own special adviser on health?

May we have a statement from the Health Secretary following the comments made over the weekend by Professor Steve Field? He was asked by the Prime Minister to review the NHS plans—I take it that does make him an adviser—and his conclusion is damning. Professor Field told The Guardian that the Bill’s proposals are “destabilising”.

When will the Prime Minister clarify exactly who is now deciding the Government’s policy on the Health Bill? This week, the Deputy Prime Minister issued an ultimatum regarding his own Bill—that really is a first. He said that the responsibility of Monitor for competition will have to be dropped. Indeed, in a Lib Dem policy document that he has signed, the Deputy Prime Minister says that

“the decision to establish Monitor as an ‘economic regulator’ was clearly a misjudgement”.

That is extraordinary from someone who cleared the Bill, put his name to the Bill and voted for it on Second Reading. Meanwhile, the Health Secretary, who was apparently cheered to the rafters at last night’s meeting of the 1922 Committee, says the very opposite. He told the King’s Fund yesterday that

“real choice, means that providers will be…competing for patients.”

It is now clear that the longer the Government’s pause lasts, the more uncertainty there is about the future of the NHS. Nobody knows who is in charge or what is going on—it is a complete shambles. When is the Prime Minister going to get a grip?

[Sir George Young]

We are committed to legislating on the 0.7%—something that the right hon. Gentleman’s Government never did. We are the first Government in history—and, indeed in the G20—to set out clear, specific plans for achieving that 0.7% from 2013, and that commitment will be enshrined in law. That was the commitment we made and we propose to keep it. We are keeping our word and that has brought us respect throughout the world. I hope that we will have support from the Opposition when we introduce the Bill.

I think that the right hon. Gentleman has misunderstood which Bill we are introducing on our first day back. It is the Bill that replaces control orders with temporary terrorism prevention and investigation measures; it is not the Bill on the period of detention. Of course, we want to consult the Opposition on the Bill. The measure he referred to is in the Protection of Freedoms Bill, which is currently going through the House.

I am amazed that the right hon. Gentleman has raised the subject of the House of Lords. Labour was in office for 13 years but failed to deliver its manifesto commitments. Now that we are doing that, I hope that we will have Labour’s support. We will have a debate in Government time on the proposals and I very much hope that instead of sniping from the sidelines and making cheap political points, the Opposition will engage with the issue and help us to deliver not only our manifesto commitment but Labour’s.

On child poverty, I reject the assertions that the right hon. Gentleman has just made. There will be an opportunity when we debate the Welfare Reform Bill to have a longer discussion on that subject.

On the issue of rape, the right hon. Gentleman will know that his party has chosen the subject of sentencing for debate on Monday. Rape is a very serious crime with appalling consequences for victims. The Justice Secretary did not intend to give the impression otherwise and that is why he has written to the Radio 5 listener to apologise for his comments and to invite her to a meeting. We will set out in the debate on Monday the way in which we are determined to drive up the conviction rate for rapists and the support that we are giving to rape centres throughout the country with an extra grant of £3.5 million annually for the next three years, giving rape support centres the certainty that they need.

On health, I am surprised that the right hon. Gentleman chose to raise this subject in the week when a National Audit Office report has revealed the systematic waste of money on Labour’s disastrous NHS information technology projects in the previous Parliament—£6.4 billion with very little benefit to patients.

On the other issue of differences between the coalition parties, it is worth reminding the House of the vicious battles that were fought within the Labour party between the former Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, and the then Chancellor, which threatened to destabilise the entire Government and which left the then Health Secretary, according to the extraordinary testimony of one of his Cabinet colleagues, “annihilated”. From a party that annihilates its own Health Ministers, I am not minded to take any advice on the resolution of differences of policy.

Finally, there is growing concern about how comfortably the right hon. Gentleman has taken to the Opposition Benches. In a recent interview with The House Magazine, when he was asked what it was like not being a Minister, he replied:

“You learn to adapt very quickly. I’m not pining.”

Has Labour realised that there is little prospect of any return to office?

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

On Report of the Localism Bill this week, Back Benchers had about 40 minutes to debate the first group of amendments, in which there were eight new clauses and 156 amendments, and 25 minutes to debate the second group, which contained a similar number of measures. When we were in opposition my right hon. Friend was the first to criticise the Government for allowing such an appalling lack of time for debate on Report. What is he going to do to address the shameful amount of time being allocated to such debates?

[Sir George Young]

I remind my hon. Friend that in the last Session of the previous Parliament, not once did we get two days to debate the remaining stages of a Bill. The Government allocated two days for the remaining stages of the Localism Bill and we are going to do exactly the same with more Bills that are in the pipeline. We are determined to allow the House adequate time. I say to my hon. Friend that I understand that the Public Bill Committee had the opportunity to discuss all the amendments and new clauses and to conclude its deliberations slightly ahead of time.

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

Until recently, Back Benchers have been allocated roughly one day a week of time in the Chamber, which has almost always been on a Thursday, but I will leave that for another day. In the past couple of months, for various reasons, we have had nothing like one day a week and as a result quite a long list of interesting debates is stacking up. I know that the Government will be as keen as we are to hold those debates on the Floor of the House, so will the Leader of the House tell us what allocation will be made available to Back Benchers for debates in the Chamber between now and the summer recess and how he plans to let us catch up a little on Back-Bench time in the Chamber?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her question and for her work in chairing the Backbench Business Committee. I remind the House that the coalition Government introduced that Committee—something that the previous Government failed to do. I stand by the commitment we made to implement Wright in full and allow 35 days a Session, which works out at roughly one day a week. That remains my intention and that will apply to the longer Session, so there will continue to be roughly one day a week. There may be a few weeks of famine but there may then be a few weeks of flood to compensate. She mentioned Thursdays, but we have allocated her a Tuesday next week.

[Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)]

May I urge the Leader of the House to ensure that Back-Bench time is not taken up by any more debates about MPs’ pay and expenses? However, I would welcome further clarification from him about the written statement he made today about Members’ pay. Will he urge the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority to be mindful of the point that we have voted for a freeze in MPs pay to put us in line with millions of public sector workers across the country? That must be at the centre of any determination of discussions going forward.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. The background is that had we not had that debate back in March, we would automatically have received an increase. The House voted unanimously to reject that and to resolve that it should have no pay increase for the next two years. We have now implemented that part of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and have handed over responsibility to IPSA. I have no doubt that it will have in mind the strong view of the House that our pay should be frozen for two years.

[John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab)]

The finance director of AssetCo resigned on Tuesday, its share price has dropped by 90% to 5p and the general view is that it is going into administration. AssetCo owns the engines of the London fire service and is also part of the consortium bidding to train firefighters. What is happening could put fire safety in London at risk, so may we have a ministerial statement urgently to see what Government measures are being put in place to protect Londoners?

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman raises a serous issue that I will draw to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. One of his top priorities, in relation to the London fire service, will be maintaining safety.

[Mark Lancaster (Milton Keynes North) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the Cultural Olympiad arts festival, which the brilliant IF festival in Milton Keynes is supposed to be part of? There are concerns that the Olympiad festival will be increasingly based in London. Does the Leader of the House not agree that such a festival should be open to the whole United Kingdom?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend makes a forceful point and might like to apply for a debate in Westminster Hall or an Adjournment debate. I will draw his remarks to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who will respond to him.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

It is reported this week that Sir Jeremy Greenstock, former adviser to Tony Blair during the Iraq war, has taken up an advisory consultancy post with the oil industry in Iraq. He was advised to delay doing so for six months but started work after three, in clear breach of the rules governing former civil servants taking up business interests. A number of former Ministers have also taken up lucrative jobs in industries for which they used to be responsible in government. May we have a full debate on the revolving door and how we can stop it revolving?

[Sir George Young]

On the hon. Gentleman’s second point, the ministerial code was tightened last May. Former Ministers are not allowed to lobby for two years and are bound to accept the advice of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. I will draw the attention of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the remarks about Sir Jeremy Greenstock.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

Last night, with fellow Warwickshire MPs, I met members of the Coventry and Warwickshire chamber of commerce. One of the overriding issues discussed was business regulation and red tape. Although the business people were extremely heartened by the proposals put forward in the Budget to reduce regulation and red tape, they were dismayed by the current proposals to extend paternity rights. If we are to continue to drive new job creation through businesses, is it not time for tangible reductions in business regulation and red tape and will the Leader of the House consider a debate on reducing business regulation?

[Sir George Young]

On the question of paternity rights, there will be legislation in due course to change provision and my hon. Friend will have an opportunity to comment at that stage. We are reducing the stock of regulation through the red tape challenge. I was interested to hear about his meeting with the Coventry and Warwickshire chamber of commerce. We have an ambitious programme to reduce the flow of new regulation and are inviting the public to suggest existing regulations that could be scrapped or improved and then Government Departments will have to review their entire set of regulations.

[Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House refer his colleagues in the Department of Health to the situation of Southern Cross Healthcare, a company that owns care homes for the elderly, as 30,000 elderly people now face a very uncertain future? The company is in a parlous financial condition. It would be intolerable to see 30,000 elderly people put out on the streets. We need to know that the Health Ministers know about this situation and have a plan B.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. The top priority must be the continuing welfare of the residents in the homes to which he refers. My right hon. Friend the Health Secretary and his Ministers are in contact with Southern Cross Healthcare. He will continue to keep in close touch with the situation and will work with local authorities, the Care Quality Commission and other providers to ensure an effective response that delivers protection to everyone involved. We know that the speculation in recent days has been stressful for those in the homes concerned and their relatives. We will do all we can to maintain the quality of care to which they are entitled.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

I warmly welcome the confirmation from the Leader of House that the House will have a debate on the draft Bill on House of Lords reform. Given the Bill’s enormous constitutional importance, will he please confirm that when we come to debate it we will consider it in all its stages on the Floor of the House without any guillotine?

[Sir George Young]

It will certainly be constitutional legislation and it will certainly be taken on the Floor of the House, so I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. He has not been in the House quite as long as I have, but he will know that at times debate can be protracted and that on certain occasions it is necessary to curtail debate in order to make progress with the rest of a Bill, so I cannot guarantee that at no stage in the process of scrutiny of constitutional legislation will the House be invited to come to a decision. I rest on what I said in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies). We are determined that the House should have adequate time to consider serious legislation and believe that we are already performing far better than our predecessors in that respect.

[Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (PC)]

Following two damning reports from the Welsh Affairs Committee and the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, may we have an urgent debate in Government time on the unsatisfactory situation facing S4C, the Welsh language TV broadcaster?

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman may have an opportunity to develop the argument further when considering the Public Bodies Bill. Debates on Select Committee reports are now the province of the hon. Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel), who chairs the Backbench Business Committee, so he may like to present himself at 1 o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon at her salon.

[Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)]

Will the Leader of the House give time to discuss the important matter of the process of recruiting a new Clerk of the House of Commons? As a member of the Administration Committee, I received a copy of the advert for that post yesterday. At a time when the Government are bearing down so hard on salaries and bonuses in the public and private sectors, when there are job losses and when the Chancellor of the Exchequer has to approve all salaries in excess of that of the Prime Minister, I wonder whether the appropriate assessment has taken place of the roles involved in the Clerk’s job and whether, in fact, the residence, the uniform allowance and the £200,000 salary should be subject to some sort of discussion, along with an assessment of the criteria, rather than there being an automatic assumption about that.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I have now seen the advertisement to which she refers, which I understand was approved by you, Mr Speaker. The salary of the Clerk of the House and chief executive is linked to judicial salaries and is in the permanent secretary band, which reflects the Clerk’s position as independent constitutional adviser to the Speaker and the House. The Clerk is appointed by the Crown, by Letters Patent, and is not an employee of the House of Commons Commission. However, it is right that all public bodies, including the House of Commons, should take robust decisions on their expenditure at the current time and I support any steps to do that.

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

Further to the earlier question on Backbench Business Committee debates, on 4 February the House stated clearly that it wanted the Government to consider action on legal loan sharking. On 14 February, 20 Members from across the House wrote to the Ministers responsible to ask for a meeting to make progress on the matter and to look at how we could clarify the intention. Despite repeated requests and letters, nearly three months later no response at all has been received from the Department responsible. I know that I cannot ask the Leader of the House for help to get Wonga-man to account for his actions or to get the Wellcome Trust to account for its actions in investing in this high-cost credit industry and the impact it has on my constituents in Walthamstow and those in communities across the country, but I hope I can ask him for a new debate on holding Ministers accountable for their behaviour towards MPs on such matters and their continued refusal to protect the poorest consumers in Britain.

[Sir George Young]

If the hon. Lady, along with other MPs, has asked for a meeting with a ministerial colleague, my view is that she is entitled to have it. I will convey that view to the ministerial colleague concerned, the identity of whom she very tactfully withheld.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

We have a Prime Minister who is committed to the health service, a Health Secretary who is the most experienced Member of the House on health matters and a Bill before the House that has been approved by the Cabinet, yet we have Ministers who seem to be opposing what they originally supported. May we have a statement on collective responsibility and whether it applies only to Conservative Ministers?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that very helpful question. In my response to the shadow Leader of the House I drew attention to discussions on a health Bill that took place within a one-party Government. I think that it is entirely legitimate when there is a coalition for the two parties to have a discussion. There is a pause in the legislation. The Bill will be going ahead on Report once that consultation is concluded. We will adhere to the broad principles set out in the coalition agreement on the future of the health legislation. I remind my hon. Friend that we have decided to put more money into the NHS—there are now 2,500 more doctors in the NHS—whereas the Labour party is cutting the NHS in Wales.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

Further to the earlier question from the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) about the inadequate time made available on Report of the Localism Bill, may we have a debate in Government time about the financial cost and the implications for democracy of the Secretary of State’s appalling plans to impose a non-elected executive mayor on the people of Birmingham without a shred of evidence that they support such a form of dictatorship?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

That particular issue was debated on Report, so the hon. Gentleman has had an opportunity to discuss it.

[Chris White (Warwick and Leamington) (Con)]

Yesterday the associate parliamentary group on manufacturing held a discussion with the Skills Commission on how we can reduce the skills gap in the sector. In my constituency we have access to an excellent apprenticeship scheme through Warwickshire college, and we have two world-class universities nearby, Warwick and Coventry, but we need to do more, so will the Leader of the House provide Government time for a debate about how we can close the skills gap and encourage young people to take up careers in manufacturing in order to bring about sustainable economic growth?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend and very encouraged to hear what is happening in his constituency. Manufacturing is vital to economic growth, and the Government are taking a number of steps to support that growth, including, for example, through apprenticeships, with 250,000 more available over the next few years. We are also funding an organisation called STEMNET, which provides resources for students, teachers and professionals. We are determined to rebalance the economy, to drive up the role of manufacturing and to build on the measures that we have already announced.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

Professor Steve Field is carrying out an independent listening exercise on the NHS and reporting to the Prime Minister. The Health Committee, of which I am a member, would like Professor Field to come to give evidence, but I understand that that has been fiercely resisted if not vetoed by the Department of Health, so I should be grateful for the help of the Leader of the House in resolving the issue and answering the question of whether Professor Field acts independently and is therefore able to come to the Select Committee, or whether he is an agent of the Department—which then calls into question the independence of the listening exercise. We really need to get to the bottom of this.

[Sir George Young]

The normal routine is for Ministers to appear before Select Committees, because they are ultimately responsible for policy. There were certainly occasions when the previous Government asked Ministers to appear before a Committee despite the Committee asking for somebody else, but I will make some inquiries about the issue to which the hon. Lady refers, contact my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and draw her concern to his attention.

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

Following the tragic death of my constituent Ricky Burlton, aged 20, at the hands of a driver who had no legal right to be in the country and no driving licence, but who was able to procure insurance without the insurance company undertaking or being able to undertake any checks for a licence, will the Leader of the House please find time so that we can debate the matter and see what steps we can take to resolve this rather fatal flaw in process?

[Sir George Young]

I am sorry to hear about the loophole to which my hon. Friend refers and of the death of his constituent. I will draw my hon. Friend’s remarks to the attention of the Secretary of State for Transport and ask him to write to him. I cannot provide time for an immediate debate, but he may like to apply for a debate in Westminster Hall to explore the issue further.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

The Finucane family have spent the past 22 years in unbearable grief, not knowing why Pat Finucane was shot 14 times in front of them. Given the historic visit of the Queen to the Republic of Ireland, would it be possible for a statement to be made to the House on when there will be an independent inquiry into Pat Finucane’s murder?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady and understand her concern. I will pass her question on to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and ask him to write to her.

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will be well aware of the widespread concern throughout the UK about the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals to modernise the coastguard service, and today we have seen a lot of speculation in the press. Will he invite the Secretary of State for Transport to come to the House to make a statement?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern and, indeed, other Members’ concern about the future of the coastguard service, something that has been debated on several occasions. The Transport Committee is currently visiting Stornoway, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport will want to reflect on its report. The review of the service started under the previous Administration, and the Government are understandably reluctant to comment on the speculation in the press. We will respond in due course, have another look at the reorganisation proposals and reveal our conclusions to the House before the summer recess.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

May we have a debate about this country’s ability to respond effectively in the event of a major terrorist incident? On Tuesday I called a debate in Westminster Hall about the future of Forensic Science Service, something the Leader of the House may remember me raising at previous business questions. MPs from all parts of the House who attended the debate raised many serious concerns about the Government’s plans to wind down the FSS, plans that I believe would leave the country without the capacity to deal effectively with the aftermath of a major terrorist incident and would weaken the fight against crime. The Government simply need to look again at the issue.

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman may have an opportunity on the first day back, when I have announced a debate on the Second Reading of a terrorism Bill, to raise his concerns, or he may be able to raise them in a debate on Monday dealing with police and crime. I hope that he will have an opportunity to share those concerns with the House quite soon.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

May I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his efforts to clear Parliament square? Is he aware that the lawn there is now completely clear of demonstrators for the first time in 10 years, so when does he expect the square to be open to the general public and what is happening about the pavement?

[Sir George Young]

I applaud my hon. Friend’s continuing concern about Parliament square. He will know that the Greater London authority was successful in clearing the green, which is now being restored, and that Westminster council is now taking action to remove the encampment along the pavement, which I hope produces some results. The real answer, however, is the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, which is now in another place and provides for the necessary powers to achieve a better balance between freedom of expression on the one hand and the right to protect Parliament square on the other. I very much regret that it is becoming increasingly like a shanty town, and I hope it will not be too long before we can restore its iconic value.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Leader of the House urgently consider more attention and debates on China? China has—many people think—a malign influence on the world economy, treats its citizens barbarically and locks up even artists. Is it not about time that we took China, and its implications for world order, seriously?

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman may have an opportunity at Foreign Office questions on 14 June to raise his concerns. The Government are concerned about the treatment of Weiwei: we think his detention without charge is unacceptable, and we have made representations through the Foreign Secretary. It is important that China observes the proper standards of human rights to which all civilised countries ought to be signed up.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

The Oasis Academy Shirley Park in my constituency is one of the most improved schools in the country. May we have a debate about the extension of the academies programme under this Government, in line with Tony Blair’s original vision, as it is improving the life chances of young people from deprived backgrounds in all our constituencies?

[Sir George Young]

I welcome the progress being made with the establishment of academies, following the legislation that we put on to the statute book. I should personally welcome such a debate, which I hope would have cross-party support, given that many people who were in the Labour party strongly support our academies programme. I hope also that all hon. Members will support those schools in their constituencies that are in the process of becoming academies.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

May we have a debate in Government time about Government policy on singing “Jerusalem” at weddings? If a heterosexual couple get married in church, many clergy will refuse to allow it to be sung, because it is not a hymn addressed to God; if a straight couple get married in a civil wedding, they are point blank not allowed it, because it is a religious song; if, however, a gay couple have a civil partnership, under Government plans they will be allowed to sing it. So can we make sure that “Jerusalem” is not just reserved for homosexuals?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

I think that “Jerusalem” should be sung on every possible occasion.

[Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)]

How do you follow that?

May we have a statement about the future of the NHS Blood and Transplant service in view of the campaign to suggest that the Government are looking to privatise it? As I suspect that this is yet another myth that is being pushed out about the NHS, it would be helpful to have a statement to put it firmly back in its box.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is right. This is a myth, as there are no plans to privatise the NHS Blood and Transplant service, which will remain in the public sector.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

McMillan nursery in Hull, which has been rated outstanding by Ofsted, will close on 10 June because of the cuts to children’s centres by the Lib Dems. Can we have a debate in Government time on the reality of the policy that the Government keep talking about—early investment in our young people and children—and what it is doing for our poorer communities around the country?

[Sir George Young]

The Government have put in enough money to maintain the network of Sure Start centres. I understand that the hon. Lady’s party is now in control of Hull city council, so perhaps she would like to address her remarks to that council.

[Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry) (Con)]

May I ask the Leader of the House for a debate on the Olympic legacy? This week it was announced that the Olympic torch will travel through the country and stay in many cities and towns overnight. Alas, the county of Northamptonshire is missing from that list. We are feeling a bit sorry for ourselves because not too much of the Olympic legacy is flowing our way, and I would very much like to debate that in this place.

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s disappointment that the proposed route does not go through his constituency or, apparently, his county. I will draw his remarks to the attention of the Olympic committee that is responsible for the route and see whether there is any chance, at this late stage, of amending it.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

The regional development agencies provided an effective and timely response to sudden localised challenges in the economy. With the demise of the RDAs, will the Leader of the House arrange for a statement to spell out how the Government will respond to such challenges in future?

[Sir George Young]

We have debated on several occasions the Government’s plans to replace the RDAs with local enterprise partnerships, so there have been opportunities to have that discussion. I hope that the LEPs will respond with enthusiasm to projects in his constituency that deserve support and that they will be more nimble-minded and flexible bodies than the RDAs.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

May we have a debate on falling unemployment? In Harlow in the past three months, 200 more jobs have been created and unemployment has fallen to 2,400 from a peak, under Labour, of well over 3,000. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the best way to bring jobs back to Harlow and elsewhere is by boosting apprenticeships and cutting taxes for businesses, rather than the policies of Labour Members?

[Sir George Young]

I agree. I am sure the whole House will welcome the drop in unemployment that was reported yesterday, and I am pleased to hear what is happening in Harlow. We have undertaken a number of measures to reduce youth unemployment, in particular. We have announced a new innovation fund with £10 million a year to fund organisations working with young people through social finance models and a package of additional support for 16 to 17-year-olds’ jobseeker’s allowance, including more adviser support, access to work clubs and work experience. I hope that we can build on these measures and make much more progress in Harlow and other constituencies.

[Mr John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)]

I should like to ask a further question regarding Baroness Warsi. Business before pleasure, however, and I must ask about the impact of compulsory water metering on gardeners—the water tax. Last Thursday, I asked the hapless Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs why she was even considering compulsory water metering, and her reply completely avoided the subject. Will the Leader of the House arrange for a statement next week—the week, incidentally, of the Chelsea flower show—in which the Secretary of State can categorically rule out compulsory domestic water metering?

[Sir George Young]

I will draw the right hon. Gentleman’s concern to my right hon. Friend’s attention and ask her to write to him about our policy on compulsory water metering. I am sure that he shares the concern of Members on both sides of the House about doing all we can to drive down water consumption and conserve water, and I hope that he will not rule out measures such as the one that he has touched on.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

Last weekend, my youngest son went on his first cubs camp, and I went along as a helper. However, I was not able to stay at the camp overnight because I do not have an up-to-date Criminal Records Bureau check for the cubs. That is a pity, as I have helped out at the same Cheshire cubs branch, which my older son went to, for the past seven years. May we have a debate on the over-the-top CRB requirements that can be such a disincentive to volunteering?

[Sir George Young]

I would like to find time for such a debate, and perhaps the Backbench Business Committee could provide it. One of the unforeseen consequences of trying to protect children by introducing CRB checks is that fewer people are then able to help children through voluntary organisations such as the scouts. We have to try to get the right balance that gives children the protection to which they are entitled but does not discourage volunteers such as my hon. Friend from playing an active part in their activities.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

If the Government are to help to make substantial progress at the United Nations framework convention on climate change in December, they will have to get their submissions in before the summer recess. May we have a debate in Government time on the Floor of the House before the recess to discuss the UK’s contribution to Durban?

[Sir George Young]

We have just had Energy and Climate Change questions; I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman had an opportunity to ask that question then. I will certainly undertake to ensure that any submission is made in good time, and I will pass on his concerns to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the role of the private sector in job creation—an issue that goes to the heart of the Government’s strategy for sustainable growth? Given that the Office for National Statistics has announced 77,000 more jobs in the private sector, it seems a timely moment to discuss the progress being made to rebalance the economy.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend raises an important issue. Private sector employment increased by 449,000 between December 2009-10, and public sector employment fell by 132,000, so that rebalancing is beginning to take shape. If my hon. Friend looks at the Office for Budget Responsibility report, he will see that it forecasts an increase of 900,000 jobs over the next four years, with 1.4 million in the private sector, which more than counterbalances the fall in employment in the public sector. Rebalancing is on its way.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

An answer to a recent parliamentary question highlighted the fact that more than 1,200 young people under the age of 18 serving in our armed forces had sustained some form of injury during a 12-month period. In the light of this and other concerns about the recruitment of under-18s, can we find time to have a debate on this, either in the context of the Armed Forces Bill or in another way?

[Sir George Young]

I did not announce the business for the rest of June, but I anticipate that we will take the remaining stages of the Armed Forces Bill, when there will be an opportunity for the hon. Lady to make her point.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

Small parish councils remain very concerned about the decision by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to force them to pay their parish clerks through the pay-as-you-earn system. May we have a debate about how we can exempt small parish councils from this legislation?

[Sir George Young]

Like my hon. Friend, I have a large number of small parish councils in my constituency. It is very important that they are not discouraged in any way by unnecessary bureaucracy. I will share his concern with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and ask him to write to my hon. Friend outlining our policy on PAYE and parish clerks.

[Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran) (Lab)]

The Leader of the House will be aware of the concern about the activities in protest groups of undercover police officers such as Mark Kennedy. A review is being carried out by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary. Will the Leader of the House ensure that there is a statement to the House once that report becomes available?

[Sir George Young]

I will give my right hon. Friend the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice who is replying to Monday’s debate on the police notice that the hon. Lady has raised this issue and see whether we can deal with it in the opening or closing speeches.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

On Monday, the Government published the long-awaited report on the process of compensation for Equitable Life policyholders, thereby honouring another part of our pledge properly to compensate those people who were so scandalously treated by Labour. However, that weighty tome has given rise to several concerns among MPs in all parts of the House, and I wonder whether there will be an opportunity for a statement or a debate in the House so that the Minister can respond on the record to those concerns for the benefit of the wider public.

[Sir George Young]

I understand the concern of policyholders to which my hon. Friend refers. I cannot find time for a debate, but it strikes me that he could raise the issue at the next round of Treasury questions or put in for a debate in Westminster Hall, where there have been several debates on Equitable Life. I am sure that several other colleagues would like to attend such a debate.

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

Further to the right hon. Gentleman’s answer to the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton) on the coastguard review, the consultation closed earlier this month, but was extended by the Secretary of State for Transport to allow the Transport Committee to carry out its investigation, which is very positive. However, it is clear from speculation in The Times this morning and from the reassuring statements in Westminster Hall from the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning), who has responsibility for shipping, that the proposals will not proceed in the form in which they were consulted on. May we have an updated ministerial statement on what conclusions have already been drawn and an assurance that the original decision to report back to the House before the summer recess will be adhered to?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern. The Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning), who has responsibility for the coastguard service, will be giving evidence to the Transport Committee in the relatively near future. That will be an opportunity for such questions to be answered.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Will Her Majesty’s Government table their amendments to the Armed Forces Bill in good time, and will the Leader of the House confirm that those amendments will enshrine the military covenant in law, as the Prime Minister wishes, and not simply beef up the report on the covenant, as the Ministry of Defence is seeking to do?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

We had a statement on that matter this week, and I am sure that my hon. Friend will have read that exchange. Of course the Government will want to table any necessary amendments in good time for the House to see them and, if necessary, for Members to table their own amendments.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

Given the poor response to the Deputy Prime Minister’s puny reforms of the House of Lords, may we have a debate on whether it would be better to pass this matter to another Minister who can make more progress?

[Sir George Young]

No.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

May we have an urgent debate on trends in employment, as it is clear from the latest figures that the overall situation is far more complex than the headlines might suggest? In my constituency of North West Leicestershire, there are currently 1,513 claimants, who make up 3.3% of the economically active population. There has been a welcome fall of 10% in that figure over the last year. It would be helpful if the debate compared the overall fall in unemployment in the quarter to March this year with the number of people on jobseeker’s allowance.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is right to say that one has to drill down into the figures to get a truer picture. The rise in JSA payments, to which he referred, was due in part to new measures to move single parents whose children are attending school off employment and support allowance and on to JSA. The important figures are the continuing fall in unemployment and the continuing rise in employment.

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

A 19-year-old constituent of mine, Paul Lawrence, has been on remand since February. He is autistic and has been diagnosed with Asperger’s. He has tried to hang himself and has taken an overdose while in prison, and yet he has been kept locked in his cell, until recently in isolation, and is only let out for meals. His mother is constantly worried about his safety. May we have a debate about how vulnerable people are treated while on remand?

[Sir George Young]

There will be a debate on sentencing on Monday, during which the hon. Lady may have an opportunity to debate that matter. Some of the decisions on whether somebody should be on remand are decisions for the courts, and it is important that they retain their independence.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the Leader of the House and colleagues for their co-operation.