(10 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberWe might learn more about the book later, but we must move on now. I am saving the hon. Gentleman up; he should not worry.
9. What steps he is taking to facilitate mutual ownership of probation trusts; and if he will make a statement.
(10 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberWhatever the worthiness of the efforts of the council to which the hon. Gentleman refers, unfortunately it has absolutely nothing whatever to do with Question 1.
2. What assessment he has made of the effect of freezing fuel duty on the price of petrol.
(10 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order and for his reassurance that he made contact with the hon. Member for Bradford West, or his office, in advance of raising it. Let me just reiterate the factual—constitutional, if you will—position. All hon. and right hon. Members are responsible for what they say in this Chamber. If they make a mistake, it is their responsibility to correct it. The hon. Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Mike Freer) is a sufficiently astute student of the procedures of the House to be aware of the many channels that are open to him to pursue the matter. I feel sure that he will be tenacious in pursuit of his opportunities. He will, I am sure, readily accept both that I have not heard the interview in question, and that it is not for the Speaker to adjudicate upon the factual accuracy of the content of Members’ speeches. I feel sure that he will pursue the matter in one or more of the ways I have outlined.
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. May I clarify for the record that, in the Opposition day debate on 10 July, I did not intend to suggest that I regarded either Pat’s Petition or We Are Spartacus as extremist groups?
That is commendably clear and pithy, and we are grateful to the hon. Gentleman.
(11 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberOrder. I fear I must now call the Minister—I am sorry to disappoint the hon. Gentleman.
In the very short time available, I shall first deal with the previous two speeches. I agree with every word spoken by my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose) and am grateful for his intervention, but I disagree with almost everything that the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) said, not least because the Government’s measures will make his situation easier, and because changes other than where there is a special interest will no longer require consent in the same way. That will make his life easier.
(12 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberWith reference to alternative to custody projects, Mr Paul Maynard.
Thank you Mr Speaker, and indeed it is. If we are to increase public confidence in more intensive forms of community sentencing, we clearly need to link them, as we have just heard, to evidence showing how they reduce reoffending. In the commendable analysis of the pilot in Manchester published in July 2011 by the Ministry of Justice, the difficulty of calculating reoffending statistics is made clear. Will the Minister reassure me that he will do all he can to square this circle so that we can persuade members of the public that this is the way forward?
(12 years, 7 months ago)
Commons ChamberIs the shadow Minister aware that on this issue we need to consider not only what the British Government can do, but what the Scottish Government can do? Is she prepared to consider allowing the Scottish Government to ensure that they can start to build the high-speed line themselves, using their own money and at no cost to English taxpayers?
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman did not intend to relegate or demote the Secretary of State.
(13 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberOrder. I am grateful to the Secretary of State, but we do not need to have a Second Reading debate on the state of the economy and we are not going to do so.
2. What progress he has made on bringing forward proposals for reform of energy markets to improve security of supply.
8. What steps he is taking to improve the co-ordination of Government policy on homelessness.
That will be me then.
The most important thing is that there is an honest street count, but there has not been such a count up to now. We will introduce measures to take street counts into account. The last street count said that there were just 468 people sleeping rough in the entire country: it is nonsense, and we are going to get it sorted.