Business of the House

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Thursday 29th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I am sorry to hear that about the hon. Lady’s constituents, with whom I am sure we all sympathise. I will of course take the opportunity to talk with colleagues, not least in the Department for Transport, because I know from experience in my constituency that the lead for that comes best through the Department to Network Rail. I will be happy to correspond with the Department on that.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

May I ask my right hon. Friend again for a debate on the conduct of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and its handling of allegations of child abuse in north Wales? A report issued last weekend by the bureau’s trustees sought to whitewash their responsibility for the widely discredited “Newsnight” report on the matter. The licence fee payer now faces a bill of £185,000 in damages, but many would argue that the main responsibility lies with the shoddy journalism of the bureau’s chief reporter, Angus Stickler. I believe that the bureau bears equal responsibility; surely it should share the BBC’s costs.

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend will not expect me to comment on the allocation of those costs. Technically, these are matters not for the Government but for the BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. He will share my desire for the BBC to make rapid progress with the Pollard review and publish it in full so that the public can see what was done in relation to the “Newsnight” report.

Business of the House

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Thursday 22nd November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I recall the Secretary of State making it clear at questions recently that continuing progress was being made in those discussions, but that there were complex discussions to be had with the Association of British Insurers and others. I will of course discuss the matter with my right hon. Friend. The hon. Lady is absolutely right that under the current circumstances people will be reassured if such a statement can be made, but clearly it is dependent on the outcome of negotiations.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

In recent weeks it has become clear that the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s work on the BBC “Newsnight” investigation into allegations of child abuse in north Wales was highly inaccurate and lacked even the most basic journalistic rigour. On Monday 12 November, I wrote to the bureau asking journalists there to detail any payments they had received from the BBC for that work and to return this licence fee payers’ money. As yet I have had no response. Can we have an urgent debate on whether an investigation should be carried out into whether any organisation profited from this shoddy work of journalism, which has caused distress to so many and so damaged the reputation of the BBC?

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who raises an important point. Many colleagues will share his view about this. I can reassure him that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has provided no public funding to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Broadcasters are independent of Government, so whether they work with the bureau or any other organisation is a matter for them, but it is also incumbent on them to ensure that they maintain the tradition of strong investigative journalism—which we all appreciate and which is an essential part of public service and commercial broadcasting—in a way that maintains high standards. That is the balance—I think we will be debating this a lot in coming weeks—of achieving freedom and having a mechanism of scrutiny and accountability, which a free press and free broadcasters enable us to have, while maintaining high standards.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Hugh Robertson]

Let me be clear about this. The point I am simply making is that hon. Members cannot criticise a policy if they do not have a policy, and the Opposition do not, at this moment, have a policy. [Interruption.] No, no; I think I heard the shadow Chancellor saying that there would be no restoration of funding and that the Opposition could not make wide-ranging funding commitments. If the Opposition do not have the money to restore the partnership, the better approach is to follow the advice very wisely offered by the right hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Dame Tessa Jowell), which is to ensure that we work together to deliver the improvements we all want to see in school sport and deliver a proper legacy from London 2012.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Will the Minister join me in congratulating Sir John Major on his foresight in setting up the national lottery and direct funding of sport, which is seen as a major contributory factor to our amazing Olympics success? Does that not show that a good Government can leave a legacy that can be enjoyed for generations, whereas a bad Government just leave debts that take generations to pay off?

[Hugh Robertson]

Absolutely, and it is noticeable that many of the legacy programmes from London 2012 are being run as a direct result of this Government’s decision to restore national lottery funding to the levels envisaged by Sir John Major. The figure was 13.7% when we took office; it is 20% now, and that is what is underpinning the legacy.

Business of the House

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

Well, I imagine it was because they think that my right hon. Friend is a first-rate Member of Parliament. I know that he would not, and am sure that he did not, allow that to influence any decision that he made. Opposition Members must recognise, as do Government Members, that it is important that the public support political parties, because otherwise they cannot exist, function or do their work. However, it is important that that does not cause any influence. Opposition Members should look to the beam in their own eye, because the trade unions not only provide the overwhelming majority of the Labour party’s money, but exert direct influence over its policy as a consequence.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

In March this year, in response to a written question, the Department for Education stated that it was considering proposals to form military academies. May we have an urgent debate on the role that military academies might play in addressing issues such as low aspiration and low social mobility, particularly in deprived areas?

[Mr Lansley]

Yes, I will ask my hon. Friends to respond on that. The Government welcome the role of military cadet forces, which can help tremendously to engage young people. We recently announced a £10.5 million-plus expansion of school-based cadet forces, which will create a further 200 units by 2015. Of course, free schools and academies have the flexibility to extend such an ethos in their schools. I am sure that the Department for Education and the Government would welcome that.

Business of the House

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Thursday 28th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am delighted to hear the good news in my hon. Friend’s constituency. In the last quarter, youth unemployment in the country as a whole was down by 29,000. I am convinced that the Work programme has a role to play, as do work experience and investment in apprenticeships. He is right to say that the higher the qualifications of those leaving school, the more likely they are to find a job in competitive markets. The thrust of our education policy is indeed to drive up those standards to improve the employability of those leaving school and college.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Can we have a debate on the definition of poverty? The current measure of poverty as an income of less than 60% of the national median wage means that if anyone increases their income, even the lowest paid worker in the country, they are judged to have pushed someone else into poverty. Perhaps even more perversely, if everyone in the country was to have an income of zero, we would be judged to have eradicated poverty altogether. That flawed measure highlights the failings of the previous Government, with their concentration on income transfer rather than on addressing the root causes of poverty, namely low aspirations and worklessness.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question and it is right that we should, if possible, move away from a purely mathematical calculation of poverty that aims to move a group of people from just below a level to just above a level. We should try to define poverty in more general terms and then deal with the causes of poverty. Speaking from memory, I think my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is proposing to change how poverty is measured in exactly the direction my hon. Friend proposes.

Ministerial Code (Culture Secretary)

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Ms Harman]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

In response to my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas), I think that the exchange of letters from the Prime Minister is nothing more than an attempt to distract and provide a smokescreen, and we should not be distracted from the very important issues that are the subject of this motion: misleading the House and failing to take responsibility for a special adviser.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Ms Harman]

If the hon. Gentleman had listened to me, he would have heard me say that the ministerial code says that if there is an inadvertent error, it must be corrected at the earliest opportunity.

[Andrew Bridgen]

rose—

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

rose—

Business of the House

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

That is an important issue. I wonder whether it would be appropriate for the hon. Lady to make an early application to the Backbench Business Committee to see whether we could have a debate on bullying in schools and the particular type of bullying to which she has referred. We can be proud that the UK has been recognised as the No. 1 country in Europe for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights by the International Lesbian and Gay Association.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

May we have a statement on how this Government are helping hard-pressed households by freezing council tax? That is something that the last Labour Government completely failed to do. Indeed, council tax more than doubled during their time in office. I am pleased that it is not only the Government who are delivering on council tax pledges, but my district council of North West Leicestershire, which is freezing council tax for the third successive year.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for reminding the House that the compounded saving of two years’ freeze is worth up to £147. I pay tribute to those local authorities that have been able to make sometimes difficult decisions to pass those benefits through. He also contrasts the record of the coalition Government in our first two years with the record of the previous Labour Government, under whom, as he said, council tax doubled.

Business of the House

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Thursday 10th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

This morning I spoke at the UK and European symposium on addiction disorders, an issue which I know is of great concern to Mr Speaker. May we have a statement about Government policy on addiction, and its impact on families and on wider society? I am sure that Members on both sides of the House will have dealt with casework in which addiction has been an issue, and have observed at first hand both its huge human cost and its financial cost, which is estimated to have been £110 billion in the UK last year alone.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend raises an important issue. As he will know, we set out our drugs strategy in December 2010, and we are in the process of updating it. We will shortly publish a report on the achievements in the first year of the strategy, and it might be possible to “pin” a debate once the report becomes available. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for having spoken at the symposium this morning.

Business of the House

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Thursday 26th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

We have no plans to amend the ministerial code in the way that the hon. Gentleman suggests. It makes sense to allow the Leveson inquiry to continue. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport is sometimes accused of having made up his mind before hearing the evidence; there is a real risk of Opposition Members making that mistake by coming to a conclusion before they have heard both sides of the case. I honestly think it makes sense to proceed with the Leveson inquiry before jumping to conclusions.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

May we have a debate about the correlation between the size of the state and economic growth? Evidence from around the world shows that economies with a smaller state sector have faster and higher economic growth. My constituency is the 10th least reliant on public sector employment, has less than half the national average of unemployment and is one of the 20 fastest growing districts in the country. Does that not demonstrate to the Leader of the House that the Government must press on with measures to rebalance our economy as a matter of urgency?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is right that if we want sustainable growth and secure, well-paid jobs we must rebalance the economy so that it is less dependent on public sector employment and more dependent on private sector employment. I welcome the way that my hon. Friend’s constituency has diversified and is less dependent on public sector employment. He has just outlined the advantages of a relatively high employment rate and a relatively low unemployment rate. That is the transition that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor is seeking to promote in other parts of the country, with assistance for those parts that are at the moment over-dependent on the public sector through the regional growth fund and with other measures.

Business of the House

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is right that if we are to hit our targets, we need to develop more effective methods of storing electricity. I understand that storage demonstration projects have been funded through Ofgem and through DECC’s low carbon investment fund. Announcements will be made in the summer about how the Department proposes to support energy storage innovation, which will include the examples to which he has referred.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

May we have a debate on truancy at primary schools? The latest figures show that almost 400,000 primary school pupils are absent for 15% of the school year or more, which is equivalent to a month out of school. I hope that all Members agree that addressing poor patterns of school attendance early would have major benefits not only for the pupils and families involved, but for the whole of society.

[Sir George Young]

I agree with my hon. Friend. He may have seen Charlie Taylor’s report, which was published on Monday, and the accompanying written ministerial statement, which supported the report and stated which measures would be taken forward. I agree that attendance at school is a key factor in driving up levels of achievement. We need to change the culture whereby it is acceptable regularly to take family holidays during the school year. We also need better statistics on truancy, which was another of the recommendations. I would welcome such a debate, but my hon. Friend may have to contain himself until the new Session.