Information for Backbenchers on Statements

Wayne David Excerpts

Tuesday 20th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

Does the hon. Gentleman think that members of the Government who have leaked or given such information before the House has been informed were weak, or does he think that there has been a Government strategy to bring it about?

[Mr Hollobone]

It is probably both, to be fair. I am not moving this motion in a politically partisan way; I am moving it on behalf of my colleagues on the Backbench Business Committee and all Back-Bench Members, whatever parties they represent, in order to hold the people on the Front Bench to account for their behaviour. As a Back-Bench Member, I do not particularly care whether they are Conservative, coalition or Labour Ministers. Their first duty should be to report their new policy announcements on the Floor of the Chamber.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hollobone]

I do not detect a huge appetite for Saturday sittings, but if the hon. Gentleman wants to make that representation, he is perfectly entitled to do so. I recognise that there is a problem with the weekend media. Are we really saying that the media are so voracious in their desire for news and so powerful that Her Majesty’s Government are unable to resist them? If so, we are saying that our democracy is pretty hopeless.

[Mr David]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that what he describes could be put to an end if the Prime Minister of the day said simply that this should happen no more?

[Mr Hollobone]

I do not think that would be enough, which is what is behind tonight’s motion. It is not for the Prime Minister alone to say these things; it is up to us in this House to assert our authority over the Prime Minister and other Ministers of the Crown. It is up to us collectively to say, “We are the House of Commons, rightly or wrongly, and all of us were elected by our constituents to hold the Government of the day to account.” It is not up to us, on matters like this, to take diktats from the Prime Minister. It is for us to say to Ministers, “If you have an announcement affecting the nation, we want to be told first”—not only because we were elected by the people to represent them, but because we can then question Ministers about the statements they make. If we get this right, it will raise the level and quality of statements because Ministers will know, as the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) said, that they cannot just spin things out to the media, as they have to come here and face our wrath first.

Business of the House

Wayne David Excerpts

Thursday 15th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend raises an important issue, and I suspect that he may have seen the written ministerial statement this morning commenting on the CQC’s report. Out-of-hours care needs urgent reform and GPs are best placed to ensure that patients get the care they need when they need it. That is what our health reforms will deliver.

[Mr Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

The Deputy Prime Minister has admitted that there was no prior consultation with the devolved Administrations about the date of the alternative vote referendum. As we know, it will clash with the elections for the devolved Administrations. May we have a debate on procedures that might be established to provide an effective dialogue between the Government and the devolved Administrations to ensure that such a mix-up does not happen again?

Business of the House

Wayne David Excerpts

Thursday 1st July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Heath]

First, I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his election to the Backbench Business Committee, on which he will have some responsibility for ensuring that these very important matters are debated in full. What I heard the Secretary of State for Justice say was that he wanted a justice system that worked, and that disposals for people who are convicted ought to be the most effective disposals that will reduce the likelihood of their offending again. He said that many of the recurrent offenders whom the hon. Gentleman mentions—those whom the police pick up time and again—serve short sentences in prison and then go on to reoffend. Surely it cannot be right to continue with policies that fail.

[Mr Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

The Deputy Leader of the House will know that yesterday afternoon the Government suffered an embarrassing defeat by 21 votes to seven on the Welsh Grand Committee, which rejected the proposition on the Budget and the legislative programme as they apply to Wales. May we have another meeting of the Welsh Grand Committee to consider these issues?

[Mr Heath]

The hon. Gentleman is making an awful meal of the fact that he engineered a win of a vote in a Committee with 26 Labour members, three Plaid Cymru members, eight Conservatives and three Liberal Democrats. Not even the most incompetent Opposition could lose a vote on a Committee with those numbers.

Business of the House

Wayne David Excerpts

Thursday 3rd June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I believe people of all incomes, all ages and all types of family arrangements should be eligible to become Members of Parliament, and the allowance regime should not penalise any particular group or deter any particular group from becoming MPs. IPSA has said that it will conduct a review of the regime. I believe that that is an important step, and I know that other hon. Members will feed into the review points similar to the one that the hon. Gentleman has raised, so that Members are not separated from their families for large lengths of time.

[Mr Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

I am aware that the Government have so far announced in just two weeks some 24 reviews; there may well be many more. May we have a debate in the House on the number of consultants who will be employed to conduct these reviews—and, possibly, the Leader of the House might be agreeable to having a debate on whether we need a review to look at the number of reviews?

[Sir George Young]

I am sure that that was meant in an entirely helpful way. I see nothing wrong in having a review on a serious and complex issue, in order to ensure that Governments come to the right conclusion, and the last Labour Government announced a long series of reviews. At the same time, we are taking steps to cut costs in-year on IT and the use of consultants, and I see no conflict between having some serious reviews on constitutional issues, economically conducted, and at the same time reviewing the use of consultants more widely within Whitehall.