Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Tuesday 9th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It is very disorderly for Members to yell at the Minister from a sedentary position, and I remind you, Mr Lucas, that you have still got to complete your apprenticeship to become a statesman. I keep updating the House on progress, but there is still a little distance to travel.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

Many people in work are relying on benefits just to survive, and they are not paying tax, all of which contributes to the reason why the deficit has gone up more than the Minister, and her Government when they came in, promised. Today’s OECD report says countries that promote equality will grow and prosper. Will she accept that her Government have got it disastrously wrong for so many people and adopt the policies suggested by the OECD, including a higher rate of top tax?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Tuesday 21st October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

These are splendidly succinct answers. Perhaps the Minister should issue her textbook to her colleagues. That would be extremely useful.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

The Canadian Government say that foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is the most important preventable cause of severe childhood brain damage. The Minister told me in Westminster Hall last week that the chief medical officer’s review of the evidence is continuing. Is not the truth, however, that the evidence has been available for years, and that the time has come for the review to be published and for there to be much greater protection for the thousands of children who are damaged each year by women drinking in pregnancy?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Thursday 18th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Bill Esterson]

Let me tell the Minister about a constituent of mine. He was assessed as fit for work after being disabled for 12 years as a result of a degenerative disease. While he appeals, he loses £25 a week in benefits. He has now lost a further £14.71 a week through the bedroom tax and £34 a month as a result of the council tax reduction scheme. That is over £200 a month in total. Like thousands of people with disabilities—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am sorry, but we are very pressed for time. I need a quick question with a question mark at the end of it—a sentence.

[Bill Esterson]

Does not my constituent’s example show that it is time the Government admitted they have got it wrong about the impact on disabled people?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The milking of pigs is a novelty, and although I am not an expert on these matters, I hazard the guess that it would prove to be an unprofitable activity.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

3. What recent discussions he has had on flooding.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Monday 19th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

In Kent the new PCC was the outgoing chair of the police authority. When she was elected, she made it clear that she would have no truck with privatisation. It should be said that she resoundingly beat the Tory candidate by nearly 2:1. Is that not an indictment of the Government’s policy on PCCs, and is it not an example showing that the existing chair was much preferred—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman’s question is rather long and it is only tangentially related to the matter on the Order Paper. I have indulged—[Interruption.] Order. I have indulged him adequately.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Tuesday 3rd July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We are grateful to the Minister. I do not wish to be unkind, but the answers are simply too long. Progress is too slow and it needs to be speeded up.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

The double-dip recession created by the Government has made it much harder for young people in general and young offenders in particular to find work. What conversations is the Minister having with his colleagues to encourage growth in the economy and to solve the problem of youth unemployment in general and young offenders in particular?

Leveson Inquiry

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

The more that Government Back Benchers claim that the Secretary of State is a man of integrity, the less the public are likely to believe them. My hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Derek Twigg) asked whose suggestion it was that a special adviser—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman should not impugn integrity. [Interruption.] Order. I do not require any assistance from any Government Back Bencher; I am perfectly capable of handling this matter myself and that is what I am doing, and they should be quiet. The hon. Member for Halton (Derek Twigg) asked a question; it was answered. The hon. Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson) should now ask his question, but without the aspersions. Let us just have the question.

[Bill Esterson]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. To answer the question, we need to know whose suggestion it was that Adam Smith should be the point of contact for News Corporation and why the key contact was a special adviser, not a civil servant.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Thursday 9th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The difficulty in hearing was not attributable to the questioner but to ministerial nose-blowing, which is entirely understood.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

Follow that, Mr Speaker!

BBC Radio Merseyside is the most popular radio station on Merseyside and is a lifeline for many elderly and disabled people. Rather than setting up local radio franchises, would the Government not do better to support much-loved existing local BBC radio such as Radio Merseyside?

EU Council

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think that the sensible approach, in conformity with convention, is to stick to questions to and answers from the Prime Minister in this Chamber.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

In the words of one business leader today,

“Margaret Thatcher was a constant thorn in the side of European leaders, but she never vacated the negotiating table; I am anxious by the implications of what the prime minister has done.”

When will the Prime Minister give business in this country the reassurance that it needs about the impact that his walking away will have on jobs and the economy?

Points of Order

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Monday 31st October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. The short answer to his question is that of course transfers are a matter for the Department concerned, but the Department that makes a transfer of a right hon. or hon. Member’s question should do so at the earliest possible stage and should accept responsibility for directly notifying the Member well in advance of the fact of that change. Failure to meet that test is a discourtesy, both to the hon. Member and to the House. I think it is helpful, and probably not entirely coincidental, that as the hon. Gentleman has raised this important point of order, he has done so in the presence of the Leader of the House, who I know will have such communications with his colleagues as are necessary to secure an improvement in conduct.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I wonder whether you could give me some guidance on whether the Secretary of State should come to this Chamber to answer urgent questions, such as the one we heard on feed-in tariffs—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do not mean to be discourteous to the hon. Gentleman in any way, but it was obvious where his question was headed. The short answer is that the choice of Minister to respond to an urgent question is exclusively a matter for the Government. Members can have an opinion about it, and they may have wanted Mr Secretary Huhne to be here this afternoon as opposed to Minister Barker, but that is a judgment entirely for the Government. It is not a matter for the Chair.

School Funding Reform

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Tuesday 19th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State knows that the outstanding and good schools that are most likely to become academies under his system will probably have less need for support for special needs, behavioural support and advisory services. Does he agree that it follows that the academies that he is creating will be tempted not to buy back support services from local authorities under current arrangements, which will mean big cuts in authorities such as Sefton, where seven schools are becoming academies. Will he review funding arrangements for academies so that support services available within local authorities are—

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I think we understand the thrust of his question.

Points of Order

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Monday 18th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

There are all sorts of things that are normal. [Laughter.] The hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) might well see himself as the very national embodiment of normality and therefore a suitable judge of what is an example of the genre, but the fact that something is normal does not preclude alternatives. The Leader of the House is the person to judge these matters, and he has made his own judgment. If the hon. Gentleman wants a chat or a cup of tea with his right hon. Friend the Leader of the House, that is a matter for them and not for the Chair.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

Further to the point of order. On 13 July, I received a reply to two parliamentary questions about meetings between Ministers and News International representatives, in which I was told that

“information relating to internal meetings, discussions and advice is not normally disclosed.”—[Official Report, 13 July 2011; Vol. 531, c. 340W.]

In his statement on the same day, the Prime Minister said that he would be

“consulting the Cabinet Secretary on an amendment to the ministerial code…to record all meetings with newspaper and other media proprietors, senior editors and executives, regardless of the nature of the meeting.”—[Official Report, 13 July 2011; Vol. 531, c. 313-14.]

What advice can you give me, Mr Speaker, about the contradiction between the answers to my parliamentary questions received on 13 July and the statement made by the Prime Minister on the same day?

[Mr Speaker]

My answer to the hon. Gentleman’s attempted point of order, which is really a point of debate, is that he should ensure that he is in his seat, perched and primed and ready to pounce with his question to the Prime Minister and, possibly, to make a contribution to the debate that will follow. That is a question and that is a speech that the House will eagerly await.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Thursday 7th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We are grateful to the Secretary of State for his answer.

[Bill Esterson]

The Secretary of State did not answer the point about the big six, so I will give him another chance. We have some of the highest energy prices in Europe. What action is he taking with the big six to ensure that electricity and gas prices in this country are fair for those whose living standards are being squeezed by his Government?

Greenock Coastguard Station

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Wednesday 8th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Bill Esterson]

Well, he will get his chance in a moment to answer my points, but that has categorically been stated by a number of coastguard officers. I think there is a lesson to learn there about the advice given by Ministers.

The other point is that we should listen to front-line staff when drawing up proposals on such important issues as these emergency services and we should include their ideas. The Minister mentioned what happened at Crosby when he visited: the ideas of those staff were not put into the consultation document and were not part of the proposal, and that is of concern to staff there.

[Mr Speaker]

We are extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman. The Minister is winding up the debate on the future of Greenock coastguard station.

Points of Order

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Tuesday 8th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The short answer to the question is that sadly I have not. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice of his intention to raise this matter; however, it does not constitute a point of order on which I can rule. There will be—and I think he knows there will be—other opportunities to pursue the matter in other ways, and I have a suspicion that he will use them.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Yesterday, I asked the Foreign Secretary to investigate the circumstances in which my constituent, Jennifer Currie, and her children had left Libya, and the fact that my caseworker had had to make many of the arrangements for them to do so. The Foreign Secretary stated that the Government did not accept my description of the lack of support received from the Foreign Office. The family has confirmed to me today that the Foreign Office initially declined to help Jennifer and her children, and then told the family to book and pay for their flights. Mr Speaker, what advice can you give to my constituent and me to enable us to ensure that the Foreign Secretary justifies his claim about what happened in Libya, given the different versions of events and the real danger that she and her children faced?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice of his intention to raise this matter. Naturally, I recall the exchange that took place in the Chamber between him and the Minister yesterday. What he has said today will have been heard, or will be heard, by those on the Treasury Bench and by the Ministers directly responsible for this matter, but it is not a matter upon which I can rule. There is an argument here, and the hon. Gentleman has put his view of the events, and his verdict on the sequence of events, very clearly on the record. He can approach the Table Office and pursue the matter through questioning, if he wishes, or he can write to the Minister further to pursue the matter on behalf of his constituents, if he chooses.

Funding and Schools Reform

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Wednesday 17th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans]

My constituency is on the periphery of Merseyside and Cheshire. I want to address the needs of those in pockets of social deprivation, which you have just brushed aside. Those numbers add up. I appreciate, and have a lot of sympathy with, the issues that you have in Merseyside—indeed, I support your case—but you cannot ignore those numbers because when you put them into the comprehensive—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. First, the hon. Gentleman should not, by now, be using the word “you”. Secondly, interventions should be brief, not mini-speeches. Other Members are waiting to contribute to the debate.

[Bill Esterson]

I shall close by addressing that point. I did say it is important that we look after those in pockets of deprivation, but it is crucial issue that we do not do so at the expense of much larger areas where, historically, we have had to invest money to support people because of the extreme deprivation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Thursday 4th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I call Bill Esterson.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State accept the findings of the independent scientific group on bovine TB, in particular when it says:

“Scientific findings indicate that the rising incidence of disease can be reversed, and geographical spread contained, by the rigid application of cattle-based control measures alone”?

Education Policy

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Monday 18th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State recognise the very real concerns of families and students about cuts in child benefit, the future of the education maintenance allowance and tuition fees? Those concerns have led a number of students in my constituency to reconsider whether to go to university at all or whether to go for a different course that would allow them to be paid better when they qualify. What actions—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman but his question is very wide. I have let him ask that question, but, after a very brief reply from the Secretary of State, we will move on to matters that are, I hope, fully within order.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bill Esterson and John Bercow

Tuesday 13th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Is the hon. Gentleman’s question specifically on the north-east? No? I know that he is from the north-west. Never mind. I wondered whether he wanted to say something about the north-east, but no.