Middle East
Bob Blackman Excerpts(2 weeks, 1 day ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Prime Minister
I thank the hon. Lady for making that important point. We are working with others: the Foreign Secretary attended a conference in Paris last week where on the agenda, among other things, was how we can support the restoration of healthcare, which is vital. As we do that, we will update the House on the measures that we are taking.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
Over the past two years, as co-Chair of the all-party parliamentary group on UK-Israel, I have hosted innumerable meetings where the families of hostages have come before us pleading for our support and help. In addition, we have screened multiple films of the terror events on 7 October 2023 that use real-life footage captured from Hamas terrorists. As my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Joy Morrissey) said, the Jewish community in this country feels unsafe and that this is not a safe place to live any more. The Prime Minister rightly alluded to the growing rise in antisemitism in this country. What will he do on a concrete basis to eliminate that scourge, in particular at our places of education, including at universities, so that our Jewish students feel safe on campus, and at all our schools, so that young people growing up in this country are no longer exposed to antisemitism?
The Prime Minister
I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that point. It is important that we rise to that challenge and ensure that our Jewish communities feel safe, secure and part of who we are in this country. That requires concrete steps in relation to security and safety measures. We need to go further on education, particularly but not only in our universities. Although he did not mention it, I am sure the hon. Gentleman knows that we need to ensure that we drive out any instances of antisemitism in the NHS. I look forward to working with Members from across the House on all those initiatives, because we also need to ensure that our Jewish communities see that this House is united in ensuring that they have the safety and security that they deserve.
Security Update: Official Secrets Act Case
Bob Blackman Excerpts(2 weeks, 2 days ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Dan Jarvis
The hon. Member talks about a stench. He has some brass neck, given what has gone on in his party recently. The National Security Adviser is a special adviser, and, given the reference to the United States, I would point the hon. Member in the direction of President Trump’s policy adviser, who just this morning praised the contribution made by the NSA.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
The problem that the Government have is that the story keeps changing, either each day or within a day. The right hon. Gentleman, who is obviously stating the Government’s position now, is giving us a view that completely contradicts the messages given by Ministers over the weekend. He has clearly referred to a huge number of meetings at which—I say this with the greatest respect—he was not present. Can he agree now that the content of all those meetings, and the minutes of those meetings, will be published, so that everyone in the House can understand what has happened? If that has to be done under certain rules so that the public do not have access to the information, fair enough; but the reality is that until such time as the Government come clean, the stench of this will continue.
Dan Jarvis
Let me assure the hon. Member that I take very seriously the points that he has made. Clearly there will be a legal dimension to all this, but I am happy to go away, look at his point and then come back to him.
Oral Answers to Questions
Bob Blackman Excerpts(1 month, 2 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Liz Kendall
Yes. If Reform Members are so concerned about the Online Safety Act, why are they not here in the Chamber asking me questions about it? Reform wants to scrap the Act, which would mean ripping up protections that crack down on revenge porn, violent misogynistic content, and posts encouraging self-harm or suicide. I commend my hon. Friend on his campaign. Families in his constituency want action, and that is what we intend to take. Finally, we are putting child safety first by taking down illegal content, taming toxic algorithms and making age-inappropriate content harder to access. We will go further if we need to.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
I welcome the new Secretary of State to her position. Will she look at the downloading of virtual private networks, which allow people to get content from all over the world? Many VPNs are based overseas. Once they are downloaded, parents have no control whatsoever if their children are then accessing immoral and illegal content.
Liz Kendall
In the few days that I have been in post, a number of MPs and other organisations have already raised this issue with me. I will always be driven by evidence. I want to protect people’s rights to privacy, but I want to make sure that nothing is done that will put people at risk. If the hon. Member has evidence and wants to send that to me, I am more than happy to look at it, because I want to take the action required.
Oral Answers to Questions
Bob Blackman Excerpts(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Georgia Gould
While I cannot comment on the individual procurement, I can say that we are changing procurement rules to strengthen the focus on British jobs and skills and to support British industries critical to our national security like energy. We are consulting on this at the moment, and I would be more than happy to meet my hon. Friend and the company to discuss this further.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
Georgia Gould
I absolutely agree that we need to support SMEs, which is why we set targets for all Departments on SME and voluntary, community and social enterprises spend. It is why we are reviewing the rules to make it easier for SMEs to get on to Government contracts, and why we are consulting on new plans to set targets for the entire public sector on SME spend.
Oral Answers to Questions
Bob Blackman Excerpts(5 months, 3 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Bridget Phillipson
That sounds like a sensible and constructive suggestion. I will ensure that the views of the hon. Gentleman’s constituents are shared with colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care, so that they can provide further advice on how that might best be taken forward.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jess Phillips)
The Government are taking unprecedented action to improve the response to these heinous crimes, so that we get more perpetrators behind bars and get justice for victims and survivors. We are increasing investment in the taskforce, and every police force has been asked to review cases that were closed with no further action taken. Arrests are increasing. We are expanding victims’ rights to review. Crucially, we are introducing the new, long-overdue mandatory reporting duties, and the new statutory aggravating factor for grooming offences.
Bob Blackman
In previous Parliaments, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee held inquiries on Rochdale, Rotherham and other towns where sex grooming was taking place. We now know that this is a nationwide problem. We heard from Baroness Casey—then Dame Louise Casey—that there was a problem with Pakistani men and their culture, and that the victims were predominantly white girls in council care. We have evidence that council staff, councillors, social workers and possibly the police have been complicit, or have at least turned a blind eye to the issue, so local inquiries will not be good enough. Will the Minister call for a national, judge-led inquiry, in which witnesses are required to give evidence under oath, so that those who turned a blind eye can be brought to justice?
Jess Phillips
To answer the hon. Gentleman’s final point, to be clear, national statutory inquiries do not send anyone to prison. He rightly mentioned Baroness Casey and her work in Rotherham, and others’ work in Rochdale. The reason why we know about some of the terrible behaviours is because of the brilliant local inquiries undertaken in those towns. Louise Casey is undertaking a national audit that will report shortly.
Oral Answers to Questions
Bob Blackman Excerpts(7 months, 1 week ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
Bridget Phillipson
We have no plans to change the Equality Act. As my hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra) set out earlier, through the new race engagement group being led by Baroness Lawrence we will consider any such questions, including the ones that the hon. Gentleman identifies.
Oral Answers to Questions
Bob Blackman Excerpts(7 months, 3 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Georgia Gould
I know how hard my hon. Friend works for his constituency, and I very much understand his concerns. My understanding is that there are no changes expected at the Smedley Hydro site in the first instance. The Government Property Agency is actively working with the Home Office and NHS Digital to understand the future workforce requirements, but I would welcome a conversation to discuss that further.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
Pat McFadden
The hon. Member is absolutely right: the people who are attacking us are trying constantly to probe our defences, and as I have said a few times in the past hour, this is therefore a constant challenge. It is a combination of hardware, software and good practice, and that applies to central Government, local government, public bodies and�crucially�businesses. It is a national effort to protect the business that we do and the processes that we take for granted every day.
G20 and COP29 Summits
Bob Blackman Excerpts(11 months, 1 week ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Prime Minister
It is a great shame that the Conservative party has decided to go backwards on that important challenge. Not so many years ago, there was a united position across the House because it is such an important challenge. I think that is simply a sign of how far the Conservatives have fallen. It is unsurprising that they are on the Opposition Benches. May they remain there for very long time.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
I welcome the commitments that the Prime Minister shared with Prime Minister Modi in their discussions. The Prime Minister set out in his statement the position on reigniting the free trade talks that began under the previous Government. Did he set out any red lines on that free trade agreement, and has a timetable been agreed? The previous Prime Minister promised a free trade agreement by Diwali. Will this Prime Minister set a different timescale?
The Prime Minister
I think the hon. Gentleman will find that the previous Government made lots of promises about lots of things—the only unifying factor is that they met none of those promises at all. We heightened the ambition for the agreement and made it clear that the negotiations would restart early in the next year. Of course there are checks and balances, and discussions to be had on that, but I am pleased that we have raised that ambition. That engagement was constructive and in the best interests of our country.
Oral Answers to Questions
Bob Blackman Excerpts(11 months, 2 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Jess Phillips
The Government are absolutely committed to tackling misogyny, both before it starts and when it exists. Hate crime reviews are being undertaken, and I am more than happy to meet the hon. Lady. I have met her many times to discuss this subject.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
Women fleeing domestic violence are vulnerable and in desperate need of support and help, but often local authorities, which are supposed to help, do not enable women to get a place to live or receive their benefits. In the last Parliament, we tried to make sure that women in such circumstances could have a relative claim their benefits. What action will the Minister take to ensure that those women are given the support that they need in their desperate times?
Jess Phillips
I could not agree more with the hon. Gentleman, and I remember his valiant efforts during the passage of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. The Government have committed to ensuring that local connection does not apply in cases such as those he talks about. With regard to benefits, the Department for Work and Pensions is very much part of the mission group on violence against women and girls, and I will absolutely raise his points. We will seek to make sure that when and wherever people crop up with these issues, their local authorities and local systems are in place.
Oral Answers to Questions
Bob Blackman Excerpts(1 year ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Ms Abena Oppong-Asare)
As I mentioned earlier, the resilience review will strengthen our approach to resilience across a range of risks we face, including flooding. We have already taken important measures through the creation of the dedicated floods resilience taskforce, the first meeting of which I attended last month.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
The provision of blue-light escorts is clearly a matter of operational policing, but last week my colleagues on the London Assembly wrote to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster asking for an inquiry into the provision of tickets to politicians, including the Labour Mayor of London, and the pressure that was then applied to the Metropolitan police to provide an escort to Taylor Swift. Will the right hon. Gentleman conduct a review so that we can see what happened and ensure that, if mistakes were made, they are rectified and this does not happen again?
Pat McFadden
These are operational decisions for the police, but I am glad that the person who is currently the biggest pop star in the world was able to play in London, particularly following the threat of a terrorist attack at her previous concerts in Austria. I am glad that the show went on.