Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jason McCartney

Thursday 5th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

The whole House has now realised the depth of concern on the part of Yorkshire Members about the decision that was announced earlier this week. If there is a petition of 600,000 signatures, that would go through the threshold to trigger a reference to the Backbench Business Committee, which would then have to find time for a debate. In the meantime, I will relay to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health the points that the hon. Gentleman has made about alleged deficiencies in the review, and see whether there is any role for him to play in that respect.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Last month, I had a young lad called Seb from Holmfirth on work experience with me. Seb has had three major heart operations, and a pacemaker fitted at Leeds children’s heart unit. Most of my constituents and I are absolutely appalled at the decision to close Yorkshire’s only children’s heart surgery unit, as are many other Yorkshire Members—and, indeed, Lincolnshire Members. Patient flows and parent journeys have not been given due consideration in the decision. Yet again, may I ask for an urgent debate on this pressing issue?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend has confirmed that concern about the decision crosses the Floor of the House, and it is a matter for all Yorkshire Members. I repeat what I said at the beginning of business questions: this was an independent review, conducted at arm’s length from Ministers and endorsed by the Royal College of Surgeons and by charities with an interest in this field. I cannot promise an early debate in Government time, but I say to my hon. Friend and others who have intervened that I recognise their concern, and I hope that in some way it might be possible to raise these issues on the Floor of the House, given the depth of that concern.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jason McCartney

Thursday 21st June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I will raise with the Home Secretary the question of banning that particular group. However, the hon. Lady should be careful about making accusations about who travels along with whom, because I am sure that that is an issue that could be raised by Members on both sides of the House.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

I, too, would like a debate on anomalies in the rail fares pricing system. Constituents in Marsden and Slaithwaite in my patch are constantly baffled that it costs three times as much to travel just one stop in a direction that goes across different passenger transport executives as it does to go 20 miles in the other direction to Leeds.

[Sir George Young]

I understand the perplexity of my hon. Friend’s constituents. There is a consultation on ticketing that ends towards the end of the month. I encourage him and his constituents to make representations to that review of ticketing policy. There is a separate consultation exercise on devolving more autonomy to local organisations to resolve issues such as ticketing for local journeys. There are therefore two opportunities to influence the fares structure to which he has referred.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jason McCartney

Thursday 14th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am not sure that any discourtesy was extended by my right hon. Friend. Speaking from memory, I think he called the hon. Gentleman a poet; I am not sure that that is a form of abuse.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend, like me, is a keen cyclist. May we have a debate on the benefits of bringing the Tour de France to Yorkshire in 2016, for which a bid has gone in that has been supported by Welcome to Yorkshire, the county’s tourism body? I am particularly looking forward to one of the legs being held at Holme Moss in my constituency.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jason McCartney

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

Of course Treasury Ministers care about the hon. Lady’s constituents. The Chancellor of the Exchequer will be at this Dispatch Box in a few moments’ time. Rather than waiting for a debate, if she lets me have her constituent’s details I will see that the appropriate Treasury Minister gets on to the case. If there is an injustice and money is being wrongly withdrawn from an account, we will see that it is stopped straight away.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

The Government are investing heavily in rail infrastructure across the north, with the electrification of the trans-Pennine route. The big decision is coming up on the funding of the northern hub rail investment programme, which would stimulate 20,000 to 30,000 jobs across the north. May we have yet another debate on the fully funded northern hub project, focusing in particular on the support that the scheme is getting from local enterprise partnerships and the private sector?

[Sir George Young]

That is an important project. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport spoke in the debate yesterday on transport-related issues. I cannot promise another debate in the near future. My hon. Friend will know that we have agreed to fund Network Rail up to a maximum of £130 million to implement the package to which he refers. The investments to increase capacity and speeds on the Sheffield to Manchester line, and to increase speeds on the Manchester to Bradford via Rochdale and Halifax line and the Manchester to Preston via Bolton line are subject to value for money being confirmed, but they are a demonstration of our commitment to infrastructure, particularly in my hon. Friend’s part of the country.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jason McCartney

Thursday 10th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that. Again, there may be opportunities in the debates on the Queen’s Speech to develop the theme, but he reminds the House that on 3 May Jaguar Land Rover announced plans to invest £200 million at its factory in Castle Bromwich. Nissan is creating more than 1,000 new jobs in Sunderland, Bentley is creating 500 jobs thanks to the regional growth fund, and Jaguar Land Rover is creating 1,000 new jobs on Merseyside. It is a good example of how we are winning export orders in a competitive world market, but also rebalancing the economy so it is less dependent on financial services.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

I join the many small food and drink manufacturers in my constituency in welcoming the announcement of a groceries adjudicator in the Queen’s Speech. Bearing in mind that Longley Farm dairy, in my constituency, exports more than half the products it makes, may we have a debate on the wonderful contribution our small food and drink manufacturers are making to our economy?

[Sir George Young]

I am delighted to hear of the export success of my hon. Friend’s constituency firm. There will be an opportunity when we debate the Bill to which he refers to look more closely at the role of the adjudicator, and there will be opportunities during the remaining days’ consideration of the Queen’s Speech to highlight the efforts of small firms in the food manufacturing industry to help turn the country round and create sustainable jobs.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jason McCartney

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

My understanding is that the Foreign Office has given no specific advice that people should not travel to Bahrain. The Formula 1 event is a matter for the Bahraini authorities and the FIA organisers. Although we are concerned by some of the violent exchanges still occurring in Bahrain and we call on all sides to exercise restraint and follow the rule of law, at this stage the Foreign Office is not giving any specific advice to potential visitors that they should cancel their visit.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

I had a wonderfully positive Easter recess in which I opened a new dye works—the first to open in the UK for 20 years —presented a cheque for £45,000 of Olympic legacy cash from the national lottery to a local rugby club and also met an engineering works that is expanding so fast that it needs new premises. With all that positivity around, may I suggest that my right hon. Friend should suggest to the Chancellor that we slap a tax on doom-mongers and mitherers?

[Sir George Young]

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor might be looking for new ways of broadening the tax base but whether that one would be easy to implement I very much doubt. My hon. Friend makes a good point. When the House is not sitting, MPs are not on holiday. His hyperactive work during the Easter recess shows just how hard MPs on both sides of the House work during the recesses.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jason McCartney

Thursday 1st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Jason McCartney.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Oh, thank you, Mr Speaker. I thought you were looking at somebody else.

A lot of doom and gloom is being peddled at the moment, so in this Olympic and diamond jubilee year, may we have a debate so that Members can mention all the many positive and uplifting things happening in their constituencies? For example, in the past week in my patch I have met many young apprentices—there are 130 new ones. There is a new dye works opening, David Brown Engineering has had another investment from the Government, the National Citizen Service is being launched on Monday in my constituency and young people are engaging with the Olympics. Let us have more positivity.

[Sir George Young]

I hope that my hon. Friend continues to be called in business questions. He is right to say that there is a lot of good news around. In January, retail sale volume was up by 0.9% on December and up on a year ago. The services purchasing managers index, the manufacturing purchasing managers index and construction output are up, and in January we had a budget surplus of £11.8 billion, £2.5 billion higher than last year. I hope that he will put his name in for the debate on the Budget, when we can listen to him tell us at greater length about all the good news in his constituency and the rest of the country.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jason McCartney

Thursday 19th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

It is not the case that the Government have done nothing about bankers’ bonuses. A moment ago, I outlined the action that was taken through Merlin to cap cash payments at £2,000 and to get bonuses on a downward trajectory. The hon. Gentleman will know that we finished consulting on executive pay in November. We hope to make an announcement very soon. His Government totally failed to take such action over 13 years.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Huddersfield Town fans, and I declare an interest as a season ticket holder, are campaigning for the return of the club’s original 40% share in its home ground, the Galpharm stadium. I hope that an amicable agreement can be reached between the chairman of Huddersfield Town football club and the chairman of the Huddersfield Giants rugby league club. May we have a debate on football governance that focuses not only on club ownership but on the ownership of football grounds and stadiums?

[Sir George Young]

I, too, hope that there is an amicable resolution. An unamicable resolution between those two formidable people would be a sight to behold. There has been a Select Committee report on football governance. I hope that in due course the Liaison Committee will propose it for debate. That might be an opportunity for my hon. Friend to raise his concerns. In the meantime, I will see whether there is anything that Ministers at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport can do to resolve the local tussle to which he refers.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jason McCartney

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s question, which contained within it the answer, as he outlined a number of measures—child tax credit for struggling families, early years support for vulnerable two-year-olds, more support for child care within universal credit and increasing the number of health visitors. The Government would welcome such a debate; perhaps he would like to initiate one in Westminster Hall.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

With reference to the shadow Leader of the House’s box-set collection of TV programmes, I suspect that the shadow Cabinet is currently watching “Lost”. May we please have a debate on empty homes? There is a real paradox in my local council area in that while the council is pushing through its top-down housing targets for tens of thousands of new homes, there are 11,000 empty homes. Local people find that very hard to explain when the countryside is being dug up for new homes.

[Sir George Young]

As a former Housing Minister, I share my hon. Friend’s concern. There are about 350,000 empty houses in this country, which is an affront to those who are waiting for good housing. I commend the work of the Empty Homes Agency. In addition, the new homes bonus will apply also to local authorities that bring back into use homes that are currently empty, and other money is available within the local government budget to encourage local authorities to bring homes back into use. I commend my hon. Friend’s work on this issue, and I hope that all local authorities will do all they can to bring empty homes back into use.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jason McCartney

Monday 25th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I reject the hon. Gentleman’s implication that there was any impropriety in the discharge of information relating to Equitable Life. The figure was given in the CSR statement by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor last week.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

3. What proposals he plans to put to the House in respect of the structure of the parliamentary calendar for the remainder of the current Session.