Business of the House

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 14th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

We do have to be very careful if there are any ongoing cases.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

I am sure the Leader of the House will join me in my praise and thanks to London’s Community Kitchen and the Sufra food bank, which do such wonderful work in my constituency, but will she do more? In the new year, will she hold a debate in this place about the work of food banks across the country, not just so that we can praise and thank them for all that they do, but so that we can make them redundant?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am very happy to join the hon. Gentleman’s praises not only for that particular organisation, but for the many food banks across the country for the work that that they do. There are different models to how they work; some are sustainable, with a focus on using food that would otherwise be going to waste, and with some there would be merit in their continuing. But of course we want everyone in this country to be confident about their financial resilience. That is why we have stood up an enormous cost of living help package—over £100 billion now—and why we have done so much to focus on lifting people out of poverty, whether through the tax system, other local support grants or, of course, the uplift in benefits and pensions that we saw continued again in the autumn statement. He will know how to apply for a debate and I encourage him to do so.

Business of the House

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue, and I am so sorry that his community are suffering from this antisocial behaviour and criminal activity. He will know that it takes a team of people to redress this situation—it is about education, it is about the local authority and it is about a good policing approach. This will be an excellent topic for a debate, and I encourage him to apply for one in the usual way.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

Some 15,626 families in my constituency are dependent on means-tested benefits. Failing to uprate benefits in line with prices may save the Government £3 million, but it will put those families in Brent North and millions like them across the country into deep debt and despair. Will the Leader of the House arrange for a debate in Government time on benefits uprating and on poverty this winter?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that important issue. I encourage all Members to write to the Department for Work and Pensions and the Treasury on such matters and make their views known. Clearly there is a timetable for the uprating announcement, and we must wait for that, but I point him to our record in government, which is to support the most vulnerable and to create a modern welfare system that protects those people.

Business of the House

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 8th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am very aware that, because this relates to sitting days, it is a longer period of time, and hon. Members have raised many issues today that need to be dealt with swiftly. I am having discussions with my team and the Deputy Leader of the House about how we can ensure that the measures that are urgently needed are brought forward in the swiftest possible time.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

Delays to cancer treatment can be a matter of life and death, yet the Government are still not meeting seven of the nine urgent referral cancer targets. Can we have a debate in Government time about how we can improve the situation for those awaiting cancer treatment?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that issue. Much of the waiting list pressure that the NHS is under is because of diagnostics, and I know that this will be a key focus for the new Secretary of State. I encourage him to apply for a debate in the usual manner.

Business of the House

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 21st July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I join my hon. Friend in, again, paying tribute to our firefighters. I know that many of them came in on rest days to give their support in terrible circumstances. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Watford (Dean Russell), I think that an Adjournment or Westminster Hall debate would be highly subscribed, as Members will want to pay tribute to their own local firefighters.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

The children of our service personnel in Cyprus are being taught by supply teachers who were brought out under employment contracts with the Ministry of Defence. The MOD is now threatening to sack them unless they sign new contracts that abolish their pension rights and lower their terms and conditions. Given that the Government profess to be against the practice of fire and rehire, may we have an urgent statement on why the MOD is joining companies such as P&O in using such unfair employment practices, and an assessment of the impact that the dispute with the teachers is likely to have on armed forces children’s education?

[Mark Spencer]

P&O actually broke the law. I should be very surprised if the Ministry of Defence is breaking the law. Unfortunately, we have missed Defence questions, which took place earlier this week, but I will write to the Secretary of State on the hon. Gentleman’s behalf.

Business of the House

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 14th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I can give the hon. Lady good news: the Bill does not break the law. The Attorney General has been clear on that. Legal advice of that nature is not published, but the Attorney General has ruled that it does not break the law and I think that is good news.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

Two days ago, my constituent sent me a photograph of his 15-year-old daughter Zahida. She was lying in her coffin, because she had drunk poison to avoid a worse fate, living under the Taliban. On 25 August last year she, her mother and her sisters were called to the Baron Hotel at Kabul airport but were unable to board the plane to safety because of the bomb explosion that occurred on that date. Many families of British residents are still trapped in Afghanistan. I wholly applaud all the work the Government have done for Ukrainian refugees and the setting up of the hub, but it seems that the Afghan refugees are absolutely forgotten. Please will the Leader of the House secure a debate in Government time on what the Government are doing to assist Afghan refugees?

[Mark Spencer]

I am truly sorry to hear the story the hon. Gentleman relates, which clearly is a tragedy. The Government have done a huge amount to help people to escape from Afghanistan and from the Taliban. Operation Pitting evacuated 15,000 people; I know the hon. Gentleman recognised those efforts, but the story he describes is a tragic one and I will make sure his comments are passed on directly to the Minister. I hope we can continue to support Afghan refugees as they escape the Taliban.

Business of the House

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 7th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

The hon. Lady is perfectly at liberty to apply for a Westminster Hall or Adjournment debate on that matter. It is worth recognising that there is huge global inflationary pressure and we as a Government must act responsibly with fiscal responsibility to ensure that we do not add to that inflationary pressure. That will require some pay restraint across the country.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

Last week, at business questions, I raised the issue of redundancies in the Royal Mail. I apologise to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, because I may have inadvertently misled the House when I said that there were 1,400 agreed redundancies and 900 in dispute. The actual figures are that 1,250 redundancies were achieved at Royal Mail and 542 are in dispute. The Leader of the House was good enough last week to say that he would raise the matter of the disruption to service with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who I understand is still in his post. Has he done so? If so, will we get an urgent statement from the Business Secretary about the current disruption to postal services across the country?

[Mark Spencer]

The direct answer is yes, I have written to the Secretary of State. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will get a copy of my letter in his inbox very soon, if he has not already. I know that Royal Mail has also written to the hon. Gentleman directly. I have not yet had a response from the Secretary of State; if I get one before he does, I will forward it to him.

Business of the House

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 30th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

He should borrow the Leader of the House’s phone, as it might get through quicker.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

Each morning, Royal Mail delivery offices around the country are having to decide which streets to rotate and not get their letters. This is because of the wholesale restructuring in Royal Mail, by agreement, involving about 1,400 managers, but a further 900 delivery office managers are now being made redundant and the strain is showing in service delivery. Can we have an urgent statement from the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the failure of Royal Mail senior management to implement a restructuring that actually delivers a service for the people of this country?

Business Question

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 12th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

The hon. Gentleman will have an opportunity at DLUHC questions on Monday when the Secretary of State will be at the Dispatch Box to answer any questions of that nature. The Government recognise the challenges facing people who have suffered from the miscladding, let us say, of their properties and we brought forward the Building Safety Act 2022 and other legislation to try to address those challenges.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

Yesterday at the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Professor Lorand Bartels, professor of international trade law at the University of Cambridge, was asked about the ramifications for trade with the European Union if article 16 is invoked. In the afternoon at the Committee, the Minister for Trade Policy spoke passionately about the problems with the current checks in the Irish sea. However, she was unable to give an answer on the legal basis upon which article 16 could be invoked. May we have an urgent question from the Attorney General about the legal basis for the invocation of article 16?

[Mark Spencer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, and should there be any triggering of article 16 he should and would expect a statement from the Dispatch Box from the relevant Minister; I would be amazed if that was not the case. The Government would of course update the House on any changes, but there are currently no plans to trigger article 16. Our discussions with the EU continue over the challenges of the Northern Ireland protocol, but it is a challenge we need to overcome; I encourage the EU to work with us to protect the Good Friday agreement, but that needs to happen on a very rapid timescale because it does need resolving.

Business of the House

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 21st April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his question on something that is worthy of debate. Colleagues from across the House would want to engage with that debate. On a personal level, I do think that parents have the right to chastise their children in a way in which they see fit, but there clearly is a line where that stretches into abuse, and the authorities are robust in making sure that children are safe in the UK. However, this is worthy of debate and I encourage him to apply for an Adjournment debate or a Backbench Business debate.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

Although established 160 years ago, the Land Registry has been able to establish the ownership of only 83% of the land of England; the ownership of the other 17% is unknown. Unlike Companies House, the Land Registry does not have an open access register and anyone wishing to establish who does own the 83%, by purchasing copies of all the registered titles would have to pay £72 million for the privilege. So can we have a debate on the Land Registry?

[Mark Spencer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. We should celebrate the fact that 160 years have passed since the introduction of the Land Registry, which is important. I understand his concerns. I hope he would recognise that there are bits of land everywhere whose ownership is difficult to establish, as often they are not claimed by anybody. We usually find that the local authority will deny ownership if there are costs associated with the land, until there appears to be huge value attached to it and then everybody wants to claim it. However, I think that is worthy of debate and perhaps he ought to apply for a Backbench Business debate.

Business of the House

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

May I say what a pleasure it is to see the hon. Lady back in her place? I know that Members on both sides of the House will also be pleased to see her here. I, and others, understand the challenges that she is fighting and overcoming, and I pay tribute to her efforts. She will be aware that the Procedure Committee is about to report on ways in which we can assist Members through proxy voting, or other methods of enabling them to engage in the democratic process. I await the publication of the Committee’s report, but in the meantime my door is open to her, and I suggest that the second we receive the report, she and I meet to work out a plan for how we can help her to continue to exercise her democratic rights.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

My constituents have been disgusted to find out about the treatment of child Q by the police, but they are also desperately concerned about the fact that this is not an isolated incident. In Brent North we saw the vile treatment of the dead bodies of two black sisters, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, by the very police officers who were supposed to be safeguarding the crime scene, and I am currently dealing with two other disturbing cases of police racism on behalf of my constituents.

Colleagues on both sides of the House are also desperately concerned about this issue. I am second to none in my admiration for the thousands of police officers who keep us safe on our streets, but something must be done about racism in the Metropolitan police, and I ask the Leader of the House for an urgent debate on the issue in Government time.

[Mark Spencer]

The hon. Gentleman will understand that I do not want to comment on the individual case that he raised at the beginning of his question. I would say, in general terms, that the use of strip-search powers is an operational matter for the police, but we are clear about the fact that those powers should be used in accordance with the law, and with full regard for the dignity of the individual concerned.

I do not think that anyone could be other than concerned about the matter that the hon. Gentleman has raised. It should be fully investigated. There are clearly some challenges within the Met police force, of which both the Mayor of London and the Government are aware, and they need to be addressed. The hon. Gentleman was right to draw this matter to the attention of the House; it is worthy of further debate, and the situation does need significant improvement.