European Council

Debate between Simon Hoare and John Bercow

Tuesday 14th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Ah, two Dorset Members. I call Mr Richard Drax.

Children and Social Work Bill [Lords]

Debate between Simon Hoare and John Bercow

3rd reading: House of Commons & Legislative Grand Committee: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Tuesday 7th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Before I call the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare), I emphasise that I would like to call the hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Stuart C. McDonald) from the Scottish National party as well, so extreme brevity is required.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

I rise to speak in warm support of new clause 15 and to congratulate the Government. The Minister will remember that I served on the Public Bill Committee and spoke in support of the then new clause, which was tabled by the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy). I very much welcome the two safeguards in the new clause—on age-appropriateness and parental rights to withdraw—which I think address the points that have been raised.

This is a new clause—a 21st-century clause—for a 21st-century education system and for the world in which we live, and it reflects the deep need to provide our young people with the education and skills they require to meet challenges that many of us on the Conservative Benches did not face when we were their age.

Many people rail against the rates of divorce, abortion, teenage pregnancy and the like, and I am absolutely convinced that there must be a causal link between those statistics and the very patchy and relatively poor levels of sex and relationship education we have had in this country hitherto.

The new clause appears to have garnered the support of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, of which I am a member, as well as of Barnardo’s, the Terrence Higgins Trust and others. I would therefore suggest to right hon. and hon. Members that the Government are clearly on to something and are approaching it in the right way.

We do nothing that could be described as moral if we leave our young people unprepared to meet the challenges of relationships and modern life. I certainly support the fact—I raised this in the Adjournment debate brought by my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller)—that the clause covers academies and free schools. Given the direction of travel in the education environment, that seems entirely appropriate, and I support the new clause.

Points of Order

Debate between Simon Hoare and John Bercow

Wednesday 23rd November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. As exchanges this afternoon have underscored, the national health service, and the facts about it, are crucial for all our constituents. In yesterday’s debate, the shadow Health Minister, the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Justin Madders), to whom I have given notice of this point of order, declared: “Our”—that is, the Labour party’s—

“manifesto was very clear that we would put in £2.5 billion immediately”,

and then his addition,

“plus whatever was needed.”—[Official Report, 22 November 2016; Vol. 617, c. 859.]

In fact, the 2015 Labour party manifesto said:

“we will introduce a tax on properties worth over £2 million to help raise…£2.5 billion”.

There was no mention of “plus whatever was needed”. We all know that our constituents are looking for veracity and truth with regard to the health service. I am perfectly certain that the hon. Gentleman did not intend to mislead the public or this House, or to make this slip, but could you advise me, Sir, on how best to place on the record this corrected point so that the public can see the veracity of the argument?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman has just found his own salvation, as the puckish grin on his face suggests he realises.

Points of Order

Debate between Simon Hoare and John Bercow

Wednesday 7th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. What he says about the seriousness with which leaks of copies, or draft copies, of Select Committee reports are taken is absolutely true. He is quite right about that: it is a very serious matter. I do not know whether there has been such a leak or whether there is merely speculation, but I am happy to make inquiries into the matter, and knowing the dogged and tenacious character of the hon. Gentleman, I have a feeling that if I do not get back to him, he will probably return to it. We will leave it there for now, and I am most grateful for him for the public service that he has done in mentioning it.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Earlier today, during Cabinet Office questions, it seemed to be suggested by some hon. Members that the Boundary Commission was a gerrymandering organisation, there to act at the behest of the Government. My understanding, sir—and I would welcome your confirmation or, indeed, correction, if I am not correct—is that the commission is entirely independent, that it will come up with its own proposals, and that we, as Members of Parliament, and our constituents will then be able to respond to them through a formal consultation process. Can you confirm, Mr Speaker, that the commission does not act, or come up with proposals, at the behest of the Government?

[Mr Speaker]

I am very happy to confirm that the Boundary Commission operates, and has always been expected to operate, on the basis that the hon. Gentleman suggests.



Bill Presented

Neighbourhood Planning Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Secretary Sajid Javid, supported by the Prime Minister, Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary Greg Clark, Secretary Chris Grayling, Secretary Andrea Leadsom and Ben Gummer, presented a Bill to make provision about planning and compulsory purchase; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time tomorrow, and to be printed (Bill 61) with explanatory notes (Bill 61-EN).

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Simon Hoare and John Bercow

Monday 5th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We are running late and I fear that colleagues are making up for unspoken words in August with spoken words in September. That said, I am very keen to accommodate two further inquiries. I call Mr Simon Hoare.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

12. What steps she is taking to protect people from fraud and its effect on families and communities.

Local Government Finance (England)

Debate between Simon Hoare and John Bercow

Wednesday 10th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Simon Hoare]

The right hon. Gentleman has obviously been to Specsavers—he has the rose-tinted glasses and he is looking through a completely different Labour history.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There is an unseemly tenor now to the debate. I urge the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare) to return to the path of virtue, which he ordinarily occupies, in terms of the conduct of debate. I remind the House that we are discussing not budgets, but Local Government Finance (England).

[Simon Hoare]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I take that Lenten reprimand in the way that it was intended.

The Labour Opposition are judging this Government by their standards. The formula that they put in place when they were in government was patently skewed. It was gerrymandering on a massive scale. That is why, in my closing remarks, I turn to the future. The announcement that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made on Monday makes a tough settlement for local government across the piece just a little less tough. It provides an opportunity and a breathing space, particularly for counties such as Dorset, which was going to have revenue support grant for only two years—Dorset County Council, that is—rather than for four. That is where the transitional relief has had to kick in, and the rural services delivery grant has also come in to help. But that help is temporary, so I will be pressing, as I am sure will some of my hon. Friends—no doubt Opposition Members will do so too—for an efficient and speedy review and formulation of the new methodologies to be deployed in calculating what our local authorities need. I think the Ministers get that point.

In broad terms, the motions that we are debating are to be supported. There is additional help for my rural areas, which I welcome. The Secretary of State listened to my call for the £5 de minimis and has put that in. Something similar applies to the localisation of planning fees. In closing, I repeat my call in an earlier intervention for town councils to work fully in concert with district councils. They should be exempt from having their precepts capped. That will allow them to forge a deeper relationship with senior tiers of local government, instead of the year-on-year question of whether they would be capped or not. I welcome the settlement and I will join the Government in the Lobby tonight to support it. Rural communities throughout the country, which have suffered for too long under a faulty Labour manifesto, are now getting—

Local Government Finance

Debate between Simon Hoare and John Bercow

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

May I thank my right hon. Friend for his patience and courtesy, and ministerial colleagues and indeed officials at the Department for Communities and Local Government for theirs in their dealings with colleagues from Dorset, including the leader of the county council and me? It is appreciated, and I welcome wholeheartedly today’s announcement from my right hon. Friend. If it was parliamentary, I am sure that rural local government would plant a big, wet kiss on the cheek of the Secretary of State—but I am not entirely sure that that is parliamentary.

Will my right hon. Friend give further details of the transitional funding for Dorset that he has announced? The devil is in the detail, as always, so will he set out further information on the timing of the welcome review of the assessment of needs? The sooner we can get that sorted out, the better for rural local government.

[Mr Speaker]

Before the Secretary of State provides a comprehensive and, I am sure, scintillating reply to his hon. Friend, I take this opportunity to say what a delight it is to see our new Serjeant at Arms in the chair.

ISIL in Syria

Debate between Simon Hoare and John Bercow

Wednesday 2nd December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Simon Hoare]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, as are a number of Members on all sides of the House. I agree with the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Toby Perkins) that there is no certainty in this. We have all come under a huge amount of pressure from constituents—90% of mine who have emailed me are opposed—but I rely on Edmund Burke, who said in 1774—[Interruption.] This is as true today as it was then—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Let us hear about what Burke said in 1774.

[Simon Hoare]

I am grateful, as long as I am not the Burke of 2015.

Burke said, “Your representative”—that is, one’s Member of Parliament—

“owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

We are here to exercise our judgment, and in my judgment the wording of the motion covers all the bases, all the challenges and all the tests that Members of this House have set the Prime Minister.

We are not the policemen of the world, but we find nothing splendid in isolation. What we do reflects on our values, and the value we place on our strategic and political partners. “Je suis Parisien” has to be far more than just a Twitter tag. It is time for action.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Simon Hoare and John Bercow

Monday 13th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Of course, repetition is not a novel phenomenon in the House of Commons.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

T6. Does my right hon. Friend agree with my analysis that the very welcome investment in both Typhoon and the joint strike fighter to provide the Royal Air Force with the best aircraft possible is a direct result of, first, a growing economy and, secondly, sorting out the basket case of an MOD budget that we inherited?