Education and Adoption Bill (Third sitting)
Debate between Bill Esterson and Graham P Jones(8 years, 9 months ago)
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Bill Esterson
As long as he does not charge me, I will be more than happy. Without risking a further intervention or wanting to challenge his legal expertise or that of the other lawyers in the room—
Bill Esterson
It is amazing how many lawyers find their way into this place, but it is probably time to move on from criticising the legal profession.
My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West made the important point that we should avoid delays by any means—let alone the risk of judicial review—given the importance of permanence, of the attachment of young people coming into the care system and of the need to make swift decisions about where a child should be placed and whether every effort should be made to keep them with their birth parents or within the extended family, or whether another form of permanence is right for them. Coming back to the Children and Families Act 2014, one thing that the Minister has rightly focused on in his efforts over the past few years is increasing the speed of decision making. It is important to ensure that a child has the certainty of permanence, and any delay is to be avoided as much as possible.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill
Debate between Bill Esterson and Graham P Jones(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Bill Esterson
My hon. Friend raises an incredibly important point and is absolutely right to raise it in the context of this debate. It is extremely relevant to the points I have been raising, as I am sure you will agree, Mr Speaker.
Graham Jones
My hon. Friend referred to the Government policy of name and shame, which I understand has been announced four times. Only 25 firms have been named, despite evidence that as many as 300,000 people in the UK earn less than the national minimum wage.
Bill Esterson
My hon. Friend must have been reading my speech, because I was about to make exactly that point. He has made it for me. The reality of the naming and shaming policy is that it has not worked: it has not delivered an improvement in the enforcement of the national minimum wage. If 300,000 people are being paid less than the national minimum wage, Government Members should be ashamed of that.