Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Gerry Sutcliffe

Thursday 8th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

It is important that the financial sanctions agreed against Iran are not undermined or subverted in any way. I will ask my right hon. Friends at the Treasury to take up my hon. Friend’s point and see whether there is any action we can take to ensure that the appropriate UN resolutions are enforced.

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

May we have a debate on the definition of Britishness? The Leader of the House may be aware of a Channel 4 documentary with the inflammatory title “Make Bradford British”. It did not succeed in the way the programme makers wanted the programme to move forward. It would be interesting to have a debate on this topic, perhaps accompanied by a survey of Members beforehand, to find out whether any of us would pass the current citizenship test.

[Sir George Young]

A test brought in by Labour Members, I might add. I would welcome such a debate on Britishness. I cannot promise Government time for it, but given that a writ was moved in Bradford yesterday for a by-election, I am sure that there will be adequate opportunities during the campaign to debate those sorts of issues. Indeed, that campaign might have started a few minutes ago.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Gerry Sutcliffe

Thursday 13th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern to make sure that anyone guilty of misdemeanour is held accountable. This is a matter for the local NHS, and I understand that NHS Midlands and East is working with NHS Norfolk and the Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust to take forward the report’s recommendations. I have been assured by NHS Norfolk that there will be accountability for the failings to which she refers.

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

When we discuss the Localism Bill next week, will the Government give a guarantee that the protections against the sale of playing fields—school playing fields or public playing fields—will still be in place? At the moment, there is nothing in the Bill to protect those playing fields.

[Sir George Young]

The debate next Thursday is not on the Bill as such—it is on the policy framework—but the hon. Gentleman will be able to catch your eye, Mr Speaker, and raise those issues. In the meantime, I will alert the relevant Secretary of State to the fact that the hon. Gentleman is concerned about the disposal of playing fields and that he is anxious that proper protection should be in place to ensure that children and others have access to recreational facilities.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Gerry Sutcliffe

Monday 4th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[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.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Gerry Sutcliffe

Thursday 30th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[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.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Gerry Sutcliffe

Thursday 3rd February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

There may be an opportunity for my hon. Friend to raise that issue on Wednesday when the House debates local government finance. I understand the concern of those who are leaving their property empty not because they want to but because they cannot find any tenants. I will raise that matter with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

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

Can the Leader of the House tell us whether the draft counter-terrorism Bill is ready? If it is not ready, why have a succession of Ministers, including the Home Secretary, told us that it will be in the Library very soon?

[Sir George Young]

No date was given when the relevant Minister made the statement to the House, which I believe was a fortnight ago. The shadow Leader of the House told us that cross-party talks might take place on this issue so, given that background, it might be sensible not to publish a Bill straight away.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Gerry Sutcliffe

Thursday 9th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

To one extent, we were better off having that debate yesterday; otherwise, we would have had it on Tuesday at 10.30 pm, and it would have gone on until even later. We do not plan to have debates after the moment of interruption on a regular basis but, from time to time, it is necessary to ensure that the business of the House is properly discharged.

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

On school sport, the Prime Minister said in answer to a question I asked last week that there would be a change of heart and that he would examine the matter. We had a debate in which there was wholehearted support from all parties for a change of mind. The redundancy notices are starting to go out to school sports co-ordinators. May we have a decision on what will happen?

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Gerry Sutcliffe

Thursday 2nd December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

We will make a statement in due course about the allocation of resources to local authorities. As I said earlier, we will be delivering school sports in a different way from the previous Government, and we will announce how we will spend the money we have allocated for school sport in due course.

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

May we have a debate on where Ministers make statements, to whom, and at what time? We were promised a statement by the Deputy Prime Minister on the progress relating to immigration centres, Yarl’s Wood in particular, and that statement should have been made this week. Today, we are told by the press that he is going to make the statement via a video link from Kazakhstan to a charitable organisation. Is not that disrespectful to the House?

[Sir George Young]

The coalition agreement is quite clear that we want to phase out the detention of children for immigration purposes in centres such as Yarl’s Wood. At the moment, we are looking at alternatives—namely, looking after families with children in the community rather than in detention. When those alternatives have been developed, the House will be informed in due course.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Gerry Sutcliffe

Thursday 11th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

This is an important constitutional Bill that I would anticipate being taken on the Floor of the House. My hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr Cash), who chairs the European Scrutiny Committee, has just handed me a letter asking for more time before we reach Second Reading so that his Committee can conduct an inquiry. I will of course reflect on that letter, which has only just reached me, and respond in due course.

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

Will the Leader of the House have a word with the Home Secretary and tell her that it is unacceptable that she has not answered the questions put to her by my right hon. Friend the shadow Home Secretary during her statement on aviation security on 1 November? She said that she would write to him, but she has not done so, and the answers to some of those questions are now out there in the media. Is that not disrespectful to the House?

[Sir George Young]

I understand that that matter was raised on a point of order yesterday, and I know that inquiries were being made of the Home Office in order to make progress. I will pursue those inquiries with added urgency today.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Gerry Sutcliffe

Thursday 27th May 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

We made a firm manifesto commitment on the third runway at Heathrow, which the hon. Gentleman would expect us to honour. I welcome his support for what we said on Crossrail. It is an important project that we want to take through. However, if he wants to press the Transport Secretary more fully on the funding issues, there will be an opportunity to do so at Transport questions.

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

The Leader of the House will know that, in the previous Parliament, all parties supported the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London. In the light of the change of Government and the many new Members, may we have an early debate—perhaps a topical debate—about the future of the Olympics, given that the Government have announced £6 billion-worth of cuts, including some to the infrastructure relating to the Olympic games, and more worryingly, cuts in the departmental spending of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which could affect the ability of our athletes and para-athletes who are now in training to be successful?