Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Whitehead Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What a brilliant idea. I think Sedgefield should be careful what it wishes, but I will certainly investigate that possibility. My hon. Friend will know what we were doing, whether it is the 300,000 homes that we want to build every year, massive investment in gigabit broadband, or the huge investment in railways and roads, and I will make sure that I add to that an ambition to come and see Ferryhill station launched with him.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

Will the Prime Minister address himself to the question of quarantine arrangements? Most European countries have had quarantine arrangements for quite a while now and are beginning to reduce them. This country has had no quarantine arrangements to date and is only now introducing them. Why is that?

[The Prime Minister]

For the simple reason that as we get the rate of infection down, with the efforts that we are making as a country, it is vital that we avoid reinfection from elsewhere. That is why we are doing it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Whitehead Excerpts

Wednesday 25th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My right hon. and learned Friend speaks powerfully. We of course must have a care system that does the very best for children who find themselves in it. As I said in reply to an earlier question, the Queen’s Speech contains measures in that respect. The other thing that we are doing with my right hon. Friend the Lord Chancellor is reforming our prison system so that, yes, people are punished for crimes, but that they also have a chance to rehabilitate themselves. That is one of the social reforms of which I am proudest to be part.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

Q14. A Southampton letting agency has recently been banned from trading for three years for not giving tenants their deposits back, using them for other purposes. Letting agencies are almost completely unregulated, and it is pot luck whether Southampton residents actually get a fair deal. Does the Chancellor intend to do anything about that?

[Mr Osborne]

We are looking at what we can do to make sure that people who rent have proper consumer protection, including protection from landlords who withhold deposits unreasonably.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Whitehead Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd November 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. The defence budget overall is £35 billion and it will continue at pretty much that cash figure throughout this Parliament. It will still be the fourth largest defence budget anywhere in the world. I assure him that there are no current plans to reduce the number of Ministry of Defence police at the Faslane or Coulport naval bases. Those are vital sites, as he knows, but obviously we have to look at all the costs at the Ministry of Defence and ensure that we are getting the safety that we need.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

Q11. Does the Prime Minister favour the establishment of local authorities that meet only to give out contracts to others and that provide no direct services to the local population?

[The Prime Minister]

What I support is local authorities that provide good services and keep their council taxes down. I think that the hon. Gentleman’s part of the world has had the advantage of a bit of change and some common-sense conservatism.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Whitehead Excerpts

Wednesday 11th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly agree with my hon. Friend, and in the review of child cardiac services—this affects my constituency as well as hers, and people are talking about how Southampton and Oxford should work together—I think that there should be as many events as people want to go to, as much transparency as possible and, if specialisation is necessary, as much explanation as possible about why it is necessary and why it is good for patients. In the end that must be the test of everything we do in the NHS.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

Q11. We know what a number of the right hon. Gentleman’s Ministers think about the adoption of the fourth budget proposed by the Committee on Climate Change, but what does he think about it? Will he press for the adoption of that budget when the Cabinet meets to discuss it, as we are reliably informed it will?

[The Prime Minister]

We will respond in full to the House on the fourth carbon budget. It is very important that we get that right. We have strict timetables and targets laid out in terms of our carbon reduction, and this Government are committed to making sure that we meet those.