Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jessica Morden

Thursday 24th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am very sorry to hear of what happened to my hon. Friend’s father’s tombstone; I understand how distressing that must be. He will know what the Prime Minister said at yesterday’s PMQs. We have already taken some steps in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, but we recognise that other measures may well be needed. The Government are actively considering what further steps we might take, such as increasing the penalties and having a better regulatory regime for scrap metal, in order to avoid distressing incidents such as that which my hon. Friend described.

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

Please may we have a statement from the Secretary of State for Wales on why this week, out of the blue, she published a Green Paper on redrawing the Welsh Assembly boundaries, even though the Prime Minister assured the Welsh First Minister that there would be no change in the electoral arrangements without the agreement of the Welsh Assembly?

[Sir George Young]

A Green Paper is a Green Paper; it is a consultation. If the hon. Lady has views on this matter, I am sure she would be able to respond to the Secretary of State for Wales, but I will draw her concerns to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, and ask her to write to her.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jessica Morden

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I applaud my hon. Friend’s work as vice-chairman of the all-party group, which I understand was founded by the Deputy Leader of the House. About 900 million prescriptions are issued each year for about 16,000 medicines, some of which, as my hon. Friend said, are in short supply. The Government will want to respond to the report. Contingency arrangements are in place whereby if a pharmacy cannot get a medicine from the wholesaler, it can go direct to the supplier. We do all that we can to prevent shortages, but as I said, we will want to respond to the suggestions in his report.

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

Please may we have a chance to debate the Government’s thoughts on regional pay? Last week, the Welsh Government produced an excellent response to the Government’s consultation, and it would be fantastic to have an early opportunity to articulate just how unfair, divisive and damaging these proposals will be for areas such as Newport in my constituency.

[Sir George Young]

It might be in order for the hon. Lady to raise that issue on the amendment that her party has tabled to today’s debate. The Government are consulting on the matter, and I welcome the contribution to that process to which she referred. I think that the consultation ends later this year, at which point it might be sensible to have a debate to indicate where the Government are going, having initiated the consultation process, and to see whether there is a case for differential rates of pay in the public sector to reflect regional cost variances.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jessica Morden

Thursday 3rd November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend and of course we will take on board what he says. The current VAT threshold, at £73,000, is one of the highest in the EU. It is the case that some traders would like it to be raised so that they are outwith it, but others would like it to be reduced to avoid unfair competition from those who are exempt. I believe that we have got the balance about right, but in the light of his comments I am sure that Treasury Ministers will want to keep this under review.

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

We have just passed the fifth anniversary of the collapse of Farepak, but my constituent Deb Harvey, who was a Farepak agent, and her customers have not received any compensation and are still waiting for justice to be done in relation to the people who caused the collapse of the company. Does the Leader of the House feel that we should find time to revisit this issue, not least to ensure that it never happens again?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising this issue. I think we have had debates on Farepak in the past—possibly in the last Parliament. I will raise this with appropriate Ministers to see where we have got to in the process of getting funds for those who lost money. I would welcome a debate on this matter and she might like to apply to you, Mr Speaker, for a debate on the Adjournment.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Jessica Morden

Thursday 7th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I was sorry to hear about the problems that are confronting the local branch of the RSPCA in the hon. Lady’s constituency. The RSPCA has one of the broadest bases of funding in the country. It is a very well supported and well respected organisation, and I was sorry to hear about that particular decision. As I said a few moments ago, we have made available transitional funding to help certain charities to get through a difficult time, but I am sorry that I cannot offer any immediate assistance to her local branch.

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

In the recent past, there were far more opportunities to discuss Welsh issues on the Floor of the House in the presence of the Secretary of State for Wales, but we now have only Welsh questions. Would the Leader of the House be amenable to discussing with the Secretary of State more opportunities to talk about Welsh issues, especially in view of the disproportionate effect of the cuts on Wales?

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Lady’s concern. She will know that, under the recommendations of the Wright Committee, responsibility for allocating days for debate other than on Government legislation now falls to the Backbench Business Committee, whose Chair will have heard her plea.