Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Cathy Jamieson

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend is quite right. He reminds me that the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson) also made a point about privatisation. As has been made clear a number of times from the Dispatch Box, that is a fallacy that he made up. I know that he continues to perpetuate it, but it is a complete fallacy and is not what this Government are doing.

My hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Sir Tony Baldry) is right that firefighters will end up with one of the best schemes in the public sector and that the age is being brought into line with the police and the armed forces.

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

13. What estimate he has made of the average cost of adapting properties for disabled people who move home because of the under-occupancy penalty.

Thalidomide Victims

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Cathy Jamieson

Wednesday 5th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Brandon Lewis (Great Yarmouth) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this hugely important debate. Does she agree that as the welcome pilot scheme is coming to an end, it is important for sufferers to have some certainty and confidence that something will follow? Will the Government give guarantees and assurances that there will be future financial security?

[Cathy Jamieson]

That highlights why I thought it was important to have this debate. It gives us the opportunity to raise issues on behalf of those affected by thalidomide and, at this crucial point, to get some indication about the future of the grant following the pilot. Thalidomiders argue that the most cost-effective answer is to give each of them the financial flexibility to develop their own solutions. They want the flexibility to combine all their different needs and to obtain one solution. They may need additional paid assistance if they have elderly carers or if their family circumstances change. They may need bespoke adaptations for their homes. We are used to homes being adapted for people with disabilities, but the cost of such adaptations for people affected by thalidomide might be way in excess of anything that that is done routinely for adapted housing. They may need better mobility solutions to enable them to travel and to use public transport, or they may need to make permanent lifestyle changes to help them to manage pain and other problems, and the health grant has been used for such things.

Finance (No. 4) Bill

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Cathy Jamieson

Wednesday 18th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Cathy Jamieson]

I am sure that the pasty industry is looking on as we speak and will want to know exactly which MPs have gone and sampled the local delicacies in whichever part of the UK they happen to live.

Those weeks of torrid headlines have led us to the current situation. There is now a pasty petition, and there has apparently been a pasty summit, while Greggs is planning a pasty protest march on Downing street to plead with the Prime Minister to step in personally and kill off the hated pasty tax.

[Brandon Lewis]

rose—

[Brandon Lewis]

The shadow Chancellor is quite right. Does the hon. Lady not agree that in removing this VAT anomaly, it is only fair to protect the interests of the fish and chip mongers in places such as Great Yarmouth?

[Cathy Jamieson]

The interests of fish and chip shops have been raised on a number of occasions in this debate, and I am sure that plenty of people will want to patronise those local establishments. However, that does not get us away from the fact that the introduction of this measure has been an absolute shambles.