Covid-19: Winter Plan

Mary Kelly Foy Excerpts

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. The criteria are as I have set out a couple of times now. The areas will be reviewed every 14 days.

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

While the Prime Minister might hope that coronavirus will take the day off this Christmas, key workers in prisons, local authorities and emergency services will be working hard to keep vital services running. Despite that, the Chancellor is apparently set to freeze their pay. Will the Prime Minister order the Chancellor to reverse that decision, or do key workers need to set up unproven personal protective equipment companies if they want to receive Government money?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank prison workers and all who have done an incredible job in fighting covid and helping the country to fight covid over the last few months. I think the public understand the need to keep the pressure down on public spending at the moment. We have had inflation-busting pay rises previously, but, as the Chancellor will be setting out, the economic situation is not easy as a result of what this country has been going through. We will ensure that prison workers are among the very first to be able to use the lateral flow testing system to help them get the virus down in their line of work.

Integrated Review

Mary Kelly Foy Excerpts

Thursday 19th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is completely right, and we never tire of telling other NATO colleagues that they need to increase their defence spending for the good of the whole alliance. We will continue to make that case, but we are doing the most powerful thing—that is, setting a fantastic example ourselves with 2.2%. This is something that will not only help to drive jobs and prosperity in the UK and protect the people of the UK, but help to make the world safer.

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

In June this year, the Prime Minister abolished the Department for International Development, telling me and the House that there had been

“massive consultation over a long period”—[Official Report, 16 June 2020; Vol. 677, c. 678]—

with aid organisations prior to making the decision. Since then, around 200 aid organisations and his own Secretary of State have contradicted that. Can the Prime Minister provide evidence that this consultation took place prior to making the decision, or will he finally apologise for misleading the House?

[The Prime Minister]

We are in daily contact and communication with the aid organisations that have benefited from the many billions of pounds that the UK contributes to international development—more than virtually any other country. We will continue to do that, and we will continue to work with those organisations on the ground.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I am sure the hon. Lady meant “inadvertently” misleading the House.

[Mary Kelly Foy]

indicated assent.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con) [V]]

I welcome this statement and the increased investment. The Prime Minister has rightly set out the importance of spending this money wisely and efficiently and buying as much from British suppliers as we can. Can he bring forward revised public sector procurement rules that apply right across public spending, so that we can achieve both those welcome objectives?

Oral Answers to Questions

Mary Kelly Foy Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend. He is right to lobby for the aviation industry. This country has the third biggest aviation industry in the world. It is currently having a terrible, terrible time, and my sympathies are very much with all the employees involved. One of the benefits of getting polymerase chain reaction testing up to 500,000 a day is that we have new possibilities for testing of all kinds across the country. We will be bringing forward further measures and proposals as soon they are finalised.

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

  In my short time as MP for the City of Durham, Dominic Cummings has fatally undermined public health messaging, has had historical planning violations exposed, and has short-changed us with an unpaid council tax bill of up to £50,000. Will the Prime Minister condemn this continued flouting of the rules, or does he have a blind spot that even a trip to Barnard Castle cannot fix?

[The Prime Minister]

What has possibly undermined people’s confidence in, and understanding of, what the Government are trying to do is the constant party political point-scoring, and the attempts by the Labour party and the hon. Lady to obscure what we are trying to do. The best thing would be to advise her constituents on what to do: follow the guidance, and get the virus down—and let us all do it together.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mary Kelly Foy Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

What assessment she has made of the potential effect on the gender pay gap of the suspension of gender pay gap reporting during the covid-19 outbreak.

[The Minister for Women and Equalities (Elizabeth Truss)]

To ease the burdens on businesses due to coronavirus, we suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap reporting in March. Despite that, more than 5,500 companies have reported to date, and employers continue to do so.

[Mary Kelly Foy]

Gender pay gap reporting was removed in March, yet even then, just two weeks before the deadline, only around half the businesses expected to report had done so. This cannot become a lost year for narrowing the gender pay gap. Eliminating pay inequality, especially for those women in low-paid, insecure work, must be at the heart of the recovery. Will the Minister tell me exactly when gender pay gap reporting will be restored and how the information will be used as part of the coronavirus recovery?

[Elizabeth Truss]

We are in a serious economic situation due to covid-19, and my priority, as the Minister for Women and Equalities, is to make sure that women stay in employment where possible and are able to get jobs where possible. That is where I am putting all my efforts.

Global Britain

Mary Kelly Foy Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, indeed. The UK leads the world in tackling corruption and money laundering, and once again that agenda will have far more heft after the integration of the two Departments.

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

It is hard to see this decision as anything but a populist stunt that flies in the face of what the coronavirus pandemic tells us: that we are all interconnected in this world. What consultation did the Government carry out with humanitarian and development experts, as well as leading aid organisations, before the decision was made?

[The Prime Minister]

I can assure the hon. Lady that there has been massive consultation over a long period. It is my own personal and direct experience that the UK, although it does a fantastic job with development aid, could do even better with a powerful, single, integrated voice of the kind I am describing and which we will bring into existence in September.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mary Kelly Foy Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)]

What discussions she has had with her international counterparts on requiring private creditors to cancel debt owed by developing countries during the covid-19 pandemic.

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

What discussions she has had with her international counterparts on requiring private creditors to cancel debt owed by developing countries during the covid-19 pandemic.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

What discussions she has had with her international counterparts on requiring private creditors to cancel debt owed by developing countries during the covid-19 pandemic.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Duddridge]

Last time, the allocation was split, and I am sure we would want it to be used by developing countries if special drawing rights were exercised. That could be part of the solution, but as the hon. Gentleman knows, 85% of the banks need to agree, and the US effectively has a blocking right, which means that this is perhaps not a short-term solution but one to work on over time with international partners.

[Mary Kelly Foy]

I welcome the Government’s role in the G20’s suspension of bilateral debt payments due in 2020 from the world’s poorest countries, as well as their donation of £150 million to an IMF debt relief scheme used for covid-19. However, the World Bank is yet to take action on debt relief, despite that being one of the most important things we can do to support developing countries in this global pandemic. Can the Minister tell me what actions the Government will take to ensure that the World Bank moves to cancel debt payments, to support the world’s poorest?

[James Duddridge]

I thank the hon. Lady for recognising the work that has already been done on suspension and relief. That will perhaps be looked at again, in terms of private sector relief and expanding either the data or the amounts of both those schemes, before looking at cancellation issues, which will have a longer-term impact. We need to focus on solutions that will help immediately and leave longer-term solutions for the longer term, but that is still very much on the table. I would not want to leave the House with the impression the World Bank is doing nothing. The international development banks overall are putting $200 billion into developing countries over the next 15 months as a result of the covid crisis.