Public Spending: Inheritance

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Monday 29th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

The legacy of the Conservatives’ new hospitals programme is dire, but the Chancellor will know that there is also a cost to delay. We have life-expired buildings that will continue to need to be patched up until they are replaced, so I urge the Chancellor, as I urged the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care last week, to give the go-ahead to those projects that are ready to go and involve life-expired buildings. Will she review the outdated rules, and allow hospitals to spend more of their capital funds on helping with repairs and rebuilds?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the Chancellor.

[Rachel Reeves]

I welcome you to your place, Madam Deputy Speaker. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will meet with people affected. We were promised a new hospital in Leeds that has never been built, so I understand the concerns that right hon. and hon. Members have about the hospital programme. However, there is a £22 billion in-year overspend, which means taking incredibly difficult decisions. They are not the decisions that we would want to make, but they are responsible ones in the circumstances, given our dire inheritance from the Conservative party.

[Rachel Reeves]

My hon. Friend is welcome on the Government Benches with his expertise. Everything in our manifesto was fully costed and fully funded, including 40,000 additional NHS appointments every single week, which will be funded by cracking down on tax avoidance and ensuring that people who make their home in Britain pay their taxes here. We will finally deal with the terrible situation of non-doms claiming that they do not live in Britain for tax purposes, despite making their home here. Those people should contribute to the public purse; under Labour, they will.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Sir Julian Lewis.

[Sir Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)]

Congratulations on your election, Madam Deputy Speaker.

I cannot hope to match the splendid double entendre of the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy), but I may I say to the Chancellor that one effect of being here for a long time is a realisation that no one party has a monopoly on wisdom? Given the impartial assessment by the Library that covid cost this country between £310 billion and £410 billion, is she willing to at least concede that the previous Government did a pretty good job in getting inflation down to 2% less than two years after the pandemic?

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[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Bill Esterson.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

Welcome to your place, Madam Deputy Speaker.

It was not just the public finances that the Conservatives mismanaged over 14 years; they failed to support industry too. Figures published today demonstrate that Britain has dropped out of the top 10 countries for manufacturing for the first time since the industrial revolution. I welcome my right hon. Friend’s commitment to leveraging millions more in private investment to make up for the record low levels of private investment we saw under the previous Government. Does she agree that the latest manufacturing figures show how critical it is that the Government work closely with business and trade unions on a long-term industrial strategy?

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[Rachel Reeves]

First, it is an extraordinary omission that the previous Government did not set affordability criteria for the independent pay review bodies, which meant that they were able to come back with these recommendations. It would be almost without precedent not to accept recommendations from an independent pay review body. If the hon. Gentleman wants to go to the doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers and those in the armed forces in his constituency and say that they do not deserve a pay increase in line with private sector wages, that is up to him, but I believe that those public sector workers deserve those pay increases.

On pensions and the winter fuel payment, this is not the decision I wanted to make and it is not the decision I expected to make, but we have to make in-year savings, which is incredibly difficult to do. Without doing that, we would put our public finances at risk. We are ensuring that everybody who is entitled to pension credit—the poorest pensioners—continue to get the winter fuel payment, and we will work with the Department for Work and Pensions, local authorities and charities to boost the take-up of pension credit.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Rachael Maskell.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and welcome to your place.

I thank my right hon. Friend for her forensic approach to the nation’s finances. As she digs deeper, she will see that York, the city I represent, is at the bottom of many of the matrices for the funding formulas. Will she look at the funding formulas before the Budget so that we can see the distribution of funding? The last Government handed out, for pet projects, much of the money that she is trying to get control of now, but will she look at how that is distributed across the country?

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[Rachel Reeves]

I can see, on behalf of the hon. Gentleman’s constituents, the frustration and anger that he feels at the previous Government letting his constituents down so badly by not funding the hospitals that they promised. I commit to my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary meeting everybody affected. We also have a workforce plan, to invest in the future workforce in our national health service, and we are announcing today that we are accepting in full the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies to pay properly our doctors, nurses and others who work in our NHS.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call Torsten Bell.

[Torsten Bell (Swansea West) (Lab)]

Congratulations on your new post, Madam Deputy Speaker.

There can be reasonable political debate across the House about the total levels of public spending—there was a lot of that during the election campaign, with our calling for higher levels of public investment—but there should be complete agreement about the need for the Treasury to ensure that public money is well spent. At the top of that is making sure that the policies and commitments of every Department match their budgets. We hear from experts right around the country today that they do not match those budgets, so can the Chancellor reassure this ex-Treasury official, this House and my Swansea constituents that this will never happen under this Labour Government?

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question and welcome him to his place in this House—he speaks powerfully, based on his previous experience. I will fix the mess that we have inherited, but it is a terrible mess: a £22 billion in-year gap between what was forecast to be spent and what was actually being spent by the previous Government. We will get a grip on our public finances; that requires tough choices, but that is the role of Chancellor, and it is the role of Government. These are choices that the previous Government ducked and diverted, but we will make the difficult decisions to get our public finances back on a firmer footing.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

We could do with some masterclasses in short questions and short answers.

[Nick Timothy (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Earlier, the Chancellor quoted Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, but she omitted the end of his comments. He said that half of the spending hole she claims is public sector pay

“over which govt made a choice”.

That is the truth, is it not? The Chancellor does a good shocked face, but she chose to create her own spending hole, did she not?

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[Rachel Reeves]

There is nothing pro-growth about making commitments that we cannot afford. There is nothing pro-growth about having £22 billion of unfunded commitments. We saw that when Liz Truss did her mini-Budget less than two years ago, and right hon. and hon. Opposition Members would do well to learn that lesson.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Clive Lewis.

[Clive Lewis (Norwich South) (Lab)]

I welcome you to the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker.

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor will probably not be too surprised to hear that when it comes to wasteful and expensive vanity projects, the Conservative party has not confined itself to national matters. Conservative-run Norfolk county council is attempting to push through a £300 million vanity road known as the Norwich western link, which measures 3.9 km at a cost of more than £70 million a kilometre. Will she look at that environmental and financial disaster, and work with those of us who know that there are more cost-effective and ecologically sound alternatives?

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[Rachel Reeves]

Yes, page 5 of the “Fixing the foundations” document that we have published today sets out the pressures on public spending. On rail services:

“Pressures have emerged on rail finances, primarily due to the weaker-than-expected recovery in passenger demand”,

as well as the cost of industrial action, have led

“to a pressure of £1.6 billion”

in this financial year alone.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Christine Jardine.

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

I would also like to welcome you to the Chair, Madame Deputy Speaker.

Much of what the Chancellor says I welcome—no fresh income tax, national insurance or VAT—but I am sure the Chancellor will recognise the concern that many pensioners, particularly in the coldest areas of the country, will be feeling at the announcement of the withdrawal of winter fuel payments. Although she is saying that she will work on bringing more people forward and encouraging them to sign up for credits, can she tell us how she is going to do that if she is also going to cut the Government communications budget?

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[Rachel Reeves]

If our economy had grown at just the average rate for OECD economies over the past 14 years, it would today be worth £140 billion more. That would have been worth £5,000 for every family in Britain and would have meant an additional £58 billion for our public services, without increasing tax by a single penny. That shows how important economic growth is, which is why getting our economy growing is the No. 1 mission of this Government.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call David Simmonds.

[David Simmonds (Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner) (Con)]

Thank you and welcome to your place, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The estimates day provisions presented by the Chancellor to the House last week included a capital departmental expenditure limit of £12.655 billion for the Department of Health and Social Care. We know that it included the funds for the new Hillingdon hospital, which was granted planning permission and where work has already started. Does the Chancellor of the Exchequer stand by what she told the House in the estimates day debate, on which we all relied when casting our vote? Can she therefore assure my constituents that that hospital project, which was fully budgeted for and where work has already started, will be delivered by this Government?

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[Rachel Reeves]

I can fully understand why the hon. Gentleman’s constituents are so angry with the previous Government for leaving this mess and making unfunded commitments. I assure him that projects that have already started, such as the station he mentions, will go ahead.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Final question. I call Jim Shannon.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Still the strongest legs in the Chamber, Madam Deputy Speaker. Thank you for calling me to ask a question.

I am very pleased to hear the Chancellor’s statement. The clear financial predicament is one that all the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is in together. Will she confirm that, in light of the budget gap and the welcome announcement of the junior doctor pay offer, savings will be made in ways that do not affect required pay increases at the expense of our health staff, but that they will focus on cutting back on unnecessary quangos, on the estimated £500 million of taxpayers’ money that has been spent on issues such as diversity and inclusion—although important, they do not deserve priority in public spending—or on vanity projects such as Casement Park in Northern Ireland?

[Paul Holmes]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I raise a significant issue that I am concerned about, in relation to the Chancellor’s statement? [Interruption.] The Chancellor obviously does not want to stay in the Chamber to hear this.

In the course of her remarks, the Chancellor appeared to indicate that the Government had knowingly laid wrong or misleading estimates before the House on Thursday last week which differed significantly from what she has presented today, one working day since those estimates were laid. This, if true, is of serious concern. What steps can we take to ensure that the Government retract either the estimates laid or the document that they produced today, and can you tell me whether this possibly constitutes a breach of the ministerial code?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

The hon. Member will know that the Chair is not responsible for the content of contributions made by Ministers, but I am sure that his concern has been heard on the Government Benches. I am sure that if an error has been made in this instance, the Minister will seek to correct it as quickly as possible. It is for the Government to decide on the estimates that they put before the House.

[Kit Malthouse]

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Chancellor of the Exchequer made certain assertions about timing during her statement. However, we know from the media that the contents of the statement were briefed to The Guardian at 8.58 pm on Thursday, just after the estimates had been voted on. While I understand that the Chair is not responsible for the content of what is said at the Dispatch Box, the Chair is responsible for the integrity of documents that are laid before the House and on which we vote and rely. May I ask whether this is a matter for the Prime Minister in his governance of the ministerial code, or for the Commissioner for Standards in his upholding of standards in the House? Prima facie, in the absence of any evidence from the Chancellor, it looks as if we have all been misled.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

The right hon. Member will know as well as I do that that is not for the Chair to decide. It is for the Government to decide what they put in their estimates and in documents that are published.

[Stuart Anderson]

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Chancellor said—for transparency—that she had found out about everything this weekend, but last week, prior to this weekend, she said that the Treasury had also met the Office for Budget Responsibility to explain how bad things were. The two cannot both be correct. Could the Chancellor come to the House and correct the record?

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I have made it very clear that it is not a matter for the Chair. Those on the Government Benches will have heard three points of order on the same subject. If they wish to come to the House, I am sure the Chancellor will.

HMRC Self-Assessment Helpline

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Huddleston]

Very simply, we have one of the lowest tax gaps reported in the world, at about 4.8%, precisely because of the clarity of the tax system and the efficiency of HMRC in gaining the tax that is owed. Of course there are customer service challenges, and I am having conversations with HMRC about that. HMRC is also held to account in the Chamber, the Treasury Select Committee and elsewhere, as appropriate. It is important that we recognise that HMRC received 38 million telephone calls and 16 million pieces of correspondence in 2022-23. If it were a private sector business, we can see how it would make sense strategically to move, where appropriate, as much of that activity as possible online, where it can be dealt with more appropriately and often more quickly.

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

The Women and Equalities Committee, which is currently carrying out an inquiry on the rights of older people, this week met Independent Age and a range of stakeholders in Andover. They made the point that older people need to be able to access all services on the telephone, as people who are disabled or have a visual impairment find online services difficult. To be able to communicate effectively, people who are hard of hearing need websites with a British Sign Language overlay. Independent Age and the stakeholders I met were horrified at yesterday’s announcement on the closure of the helpline.

What consultation has there been with my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Mims Davies), in her expanded role as Minister for Disabled People, on the potential impact of these changes? When Members of Parliament deal with HMRC on constituency casework, it now tries to push us into using the telephone rather than email. Can the Financial Secretary assure me that vulnerable people will still be able to use telephone services? Will he comment on the contradiction between how Members of Parliament and the public are dealt with by HMRC?

[Nigel Huddleston]

I assure my right hon. Friend that we are having live conversations with HMRC about how it communicates with Members of Parliament on behalf of our constituents. Some Members tell me that they would prefer a telephone call, whereas others would prefer email. It is important that we have both. I am more than happy to communicate views and opinions from across the Chamber on that point. I am well aware that one of the biggest areas of concern about yesterday’s announcement, and one of the reasons why the feedback has been so loud, is that vulnerable people, including those with disabilities, might not be helped. It was never the intention or the plan that such people would be unable to access online, webchat or other channels.

Future of UK Capital Markets

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 30th January 2024 Westminster Hall

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

I will call Alun Cairns to move the motion and then the Minister to respond. There will not be an opportunity for Mr Cairns to wind up, as is the convention for 30-minute debates.

Mortgage and Rental Costs

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 27th June 2023 Commons Chamber

That this House welcomes the Government’s drive to halve inflation, grow the economy and reduce debt; particularly welcomes the Government’s new Mortgage Charter which has been agreed by 85 per cent of the residential mortgage market and will provide support to mortgage holders through new commitments and flexibilities to help borrowers who are anxious about rising interest rates; notes the extensive package of cost of living support to help families with rising prices, worth an average of £3,300 per household including direct cash payments to the eight million most vulnerable households; and further believes that Labour’s policies to manage the economy would be inflationary, lead to higher interest rates and put more pressure on mortgage holders and renters.

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I rise to seek your advice. Following the ten-minute rule Bill of the Member for North West Leicestershire (Andrew Bridgen) this afternoon, a number of right hon. and hon. Members of this House have been accused of being in support of grooming children. I have looked at the Metropolitan police’s website, which specifically says:

“Grooming is when a person builds a relationship with a child, young person or an adult who’s at risk so they can abuse them and manipulate them into doing things. The abuse is usually sexual”.

That accusation has been retweeted by the Member for North West Leicestershire. I seek the House’s and indeed your advice, Mr Deputy Speaker, as to what action Members can take to ensure that there is some sort of sanction on that—I believe—unparliamentary behaviour.

Bank Closures: Stoke-on-Trent North

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Wednesday 14th June 2023 Westminster Hall

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

I will call Jonathan Gullis to move the motion and then the Minister to respond. As this is a 30-minute debate, there will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to make a winding-up speech.

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered bank closures in Stoke-on-Trent North constituency.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Nokes. I am grateful to Mr Speaker for permitting the debate, and I thank right hon. and hon. Friends, including the Minister, for attending. There is one Member who would like to be here—my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Aaron Bell), whose constituency is also suffering a closure—and he is hoping to join us later, and I place on the record my thanks for my hon. Friend’s support.

Banks are at the very heart of local communities, and they provide the most vulnerable people in society with vital services and support with their money. Banks have been at the centre of high streets up and down this great country for generations, drawing people to the local area, which has the added benefit of increasing footfall for local businesses. In Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke, we have a Lloyds in Tunstall and a Barclays in Kidsgrove, but constituents tell me that they feel there is already a significant lack of access to in-person banking services, which impacts the most vulnerable in our communities—the elderly and the disabled—disproportionately.

According to Which?, 86% of banks have closed in Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke since 2015, which in my opinion justifies my constituents’ concerns. At the national level too, there has been a significant number of closures: between June 2015 and January 2023, 5,391 bank branches closed in the United Kingdom, which is a shocking 54 per month. This year, regrettably, the pace of closure has not relented, with 114 HSBC, 95 Barclays, 52 NatWest and 23 Lloyds branches closing their doors, leaving gaping holes in local high streets and local communities.

Cost of Living Crisis: Wales

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2022 Westminster Hall

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

Before we start the debate, I would like to say something about the exceptional heat. I am content for Members not to wear jackets or even ties in Westminster Hall. Mr Speaker has announced similar arrangements for the Chamber. When the House returns in the autumn, Mr Speaker and the Deputies will expect Members to revert to wearing jackets and will strongly encourage male Members to wear ties when speaking in the Chamber and Westminster Hall. I call Ruth Jones to move the motion.

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the impact of the cost of living crisis in Wales.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship this afternoon, Ms Nokes. Thank you for the warning about the heat. I am grateful for the opportunity to lead the debate on behalf of the many families in Newport West who have written to me, called me and messaged me with their stories, experiences and fear for the months and years ahead.

I was elected to the House three years ago. In that relatively short time, despite the devastating pandemic and all the pain associated with it, until now I have never seen such worry and fear in the eyes of my constituents. I am so angry that they have been forced into that position by the actions of this 12-year-old Tory Government. Let me be clear: this is a cost of living crisis made in Downing Street. The biggest challenge facing us all is that we have a caretaker Prime Minister who is more focused on hosting parties than attending Cobra meetings, and more focused on holding power than using power. He is so evidently uninterested in ensuring that the people of Newport West, of Wales, and across the United Kingdom have the support they need and the good government they deserve.

I have shared this story before, but it speaks volumes to the challenge that the cost of living crisis has placed on people in Newport West. My constituent says this:

“Thank you for responding to my e-mail Ruth Jones, these are my concerns. We are in a position right now where we’re not coping. Our energy bills have risen 54% and I am afraid that myself and many others will not be able to provide for our families. My husband’s parents are on a state pension of £82.45 a week, we are concerned for their welfare as they cannot afford to heat their home nor pay for food if these energy prices continue. Many of my friends are concerned for their own families too, we are all struggling, and instead of living, we’re surviving day to day. If these prices don’t change, we must have an increase in the minimum wage.”

That is just one example of the constituents’ emails that I get every day.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

I am hoping to avoid having to put a time limit on Members, so they might like to think about how many of them are currently standing.

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[David T. C. Davies]

If that is such a good idea, why are the Welsh Labour Government not doing it in Wales? They have the power to do so.

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

Order. I gently remind the Member that this is a debate about the cost of living in Wales, not transport.

[Geraint Davies]

I know that, yes. It is not the Welsh Government’s decision: we do not have the money to do that, and it is not devolved. The Exchequer runs UK plc; we all know that. We do not charge the windfall tax. The Welsh Government are not in a position to introduce a windfall tax or nationalise the oil companies, sadly, although they have done something about rail.

[Geraint Davies]

I am not talking about raising taxes; I am talking about taking back the money that has been stolen from the travelling public by oil companies. They did nothing to earn that money: it was simply that Putin invaded Ukraine, and they said, “We’ll put the price up, take the money and fill our pockets.” The Government belatedly took a small share of that money, and now they are going to give 90% of it back to drill for more oil, when what they should be doing is investing in scaling up things like organic batteries. Swansea University has identified that the renewable energy from wind farms is only put into the grid at breakfast time and teatime, and is saying, “Let’s use that wind, create hydrogen, and put that hydrogen in the gas grid”—which takes up to 40% of hydrogen, as used to be the case for coal gas. That would reduce the carbon footprint.

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

Order. The debate is about the cost of living in Wales.

[Geraint Davies]

I am talking about Wales.

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

Hydrogen is stretching my tolerance slightly.

[Geraint Davies]

It is permissible on a Wales-only basis, and that is what Swansea University suggests we do. Obviously, we would have to work in co-operation with the UK Government to do that, but the idea would be to put that gas into the grid, or put the hydrogen into cylinders and send it to Ceredigion in place of the oil, so that people in rural environments would have a lower carbon footprint and a lower energy bill.

Whether it is those innovations or whether it is the tidal lagoon, there is no shortage of ideas; what there is a shortage of is Government focus on greening the economy and powering us up in a sustainable way. Instead, they just go to their mates—the oil barons—who say, “You’ve had to do this windfall tax. Give us 90% back to drill for more oil and destroy the environment.” Look at the temperature outside! It is absolutely disgraceful. The Government would not even help us with the tidal lagoon. That is not going to stop, is it? Of course, they said, “We are not helping.” That does not make any sense, even though it will go on for 100 years. The council and the Welsh Government have had to deal with it on their own.

We need a Government who care about people and stopping them starving. People may have heard of Professor Amartya Sen, a Nobel prize-winning economist who had the joy of teaching me on one occasion. He wrote “Poverty and Famines”, and found that famines were not a function of food shortages, but a function of high prices, low wages and some food logistics. He was not writing about the UK at the time, but that is precisely what we are now finding in the UK. We see pockets of starvation. We should stop that. The Government are empowered to stop it and they should, whether by indexing social security and universal credit, increasing rent, investing in green technologies, or stopping obeying everything the oil barons say. I will leave it there.

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

I call Jamie Stone—to speak on Wales!

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Nokes. I congratulate the hon. Member for Newport West (Ruth Jones) on securing this highly important debate. I rise with some trepidation as the sole Scot among so many Welsh colleagues, but I rise in support of some excellent contributions.

As everyone is saying, this is about families who are right up against it. One of my daughter’s best friends is a single mother who lives in social housing. I sat down with her and said, “Can we go through the budget?” She went through how difficult it is to make ends meet, and how everything matters. Each week and each month is down to just a pound or two. That was a year ago, and we are where we are now, which is a very different situation indeed. It is with her in mind that I think of my huge, far-flung constituency. The hon. Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones) said that this affects all of the UK, and it does—right up to the north of Scotland, which I have the honour of representing. The village of Altnaharra in my constituency is—

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

Order. Mr Stone, please do not stretch my tolerance. This debate is about the cost of living in Wales, not in your own constituency.

[Jamie Stone]

I am sorry, Ms Nokes. I stand corrected. This particular village has the coldest climate every single year. Am I out of order, Ms Nokes?

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

Yes. The debate is on Wales, not the climate in Scotland.

[Jamie Stone]

Very well. In that case, I will echo two points made by the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Ben Lake). We need a cap on the price of heating oil. As he said, so many homes in Wales have no alternative at all. They are off grid; they cannot use gas. I approached the Minister of State for Energy in March this year, and he said that it was not going to work because of a survey done in 2011 that said so. How different is our situation now from March of this year, let alone 2011? The first point made by the hon. Member for Ceredigion is absolutely correct. His constituents—and I might say, sotto voce, mine too—are petrified of their bills. They are really terrified. I am the oldest member of the Lib Dem group in this place; I am getting on. I know that old people feel the cold more than young people, and they worry about money more than young people. I go back to my young friend who I mentioned earlier on, who is trying to balance a budget. It is a pretty desperate situation.

The other point made by hon. Member for Ceredigion was about the lack of choice other than to use a car. The price hike on petrol and diesel is really cutting into budgets. Some years ago, a scheme was put in place for certain parts and certain postcodes of the UK. As he said, we seek to extend that to other needy areas, such as Wales and—dare I mention, also sotto voce; I fear that I am sailing close to the wind—the north of Scotland..

I have one final point, in a Welsh context. There is such a thing as digital poverty. We have social tariffs, but their take-up is lamentable. When we look at a food bank anywhere in the UK, many of those people would not quite quality for the Department for Work and Pensions triggers to be put forward for a social tariff. However, we still look at them and say, “I bet you need help.” We need to mobilise. All of us—the Government—need to think about getting people access to social tariffs. It is about information, and working through local authorities and, maybe, banks. Who knows? There could be a huge, much bigger take-up, which would help families all over the UK to balance their budgets.

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (David T. C. Davies)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Nokes.

I thank the hon. Members for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), for Newport West (Ruth Jones), for Llanelli (Dame Nia Griffith), for Swansea West (Geraint Davies), for Ceredigion (Ben Lake), for Cynon Valley (Beth Winter), for Cardiff North (Anna McMorrin), for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris), for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Gerald Jones), and—last but certainly not least—for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone). I may have left somebody out; if I have, I apologise. A lot of points were raised during the debate and I will try to deal with them as best I can within the confines of the time that I have.

First of all, may I make it absolutely clear that, although I am pleased that we are having a debate on this matter, there is absolutely no doubt at all in my mind or the mind of anyone in Government not only that we have a cost of living challenge, but that it is a global matter? Hon. Members can just look at the statistics for any countries across western Europe or the rest of the world to see that the problem is not an isolated one; it has come about for reasons that I will turn to in a minute. Before I go into detail on the UK Government’s commitments to support the people of Wales, I just want to make it clear that things such as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have had a significant effect on the global economy.

The UK Government have been steadfast in our support for the people of Wales throughout these global economic challenges. We have certainly not been asleep on the matter of Wales—far from it. My right hon. Friend the Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart), who is my former ministerial colleague, and his successor as the Secretary of State for Wales, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for South Swindon (Sir Robert Buckland), who of course is from Llanelli, are well aware of the problems in Wales and have been raising them at all times in Cabinet.

I often stood in for Mr Hart when he was unable to attend meetings—

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

Order. Could you please use Members’ constituency names and not their own names?

[David T. C. Davies]

Yes. He is one of the Pembrokeshire seats—[Laughter.]

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[Geraint Davies]

The Minister’s basic proposition is that this cost of living crisis is some sort of global issue. Will he accept that the issue is about the level of underlying resilience before these global shocks occur? If the rate of growth under the Labour party had continued thereafter, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the average wage would be something like £13,000 better, so we would be in a much better place to take the shocks. Instead, we are impoverished by the Minister’s party.

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

Order. I remind hon. Members and the Minister that they should stick to the question.

[David T. C. Davies]

If we are going to have an economic history lesson going back to 2010, we will have to look at the enormous amounts of money that the then Labour Government borrowed, the financial crisis and its impact, and then the impact of covid and then a war. Generally speaking, every 10 years or so, a Government will face a serious crisis of global proportions. It could have been the fall of the wall in 1989.

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

Perhaps the cost of living in Wales, Minister.

[David T. C. Davies]

Let me go back to what the Government have been doing. We have been steadfast in our support. We have provided more than £37 billion across the UK to help people with the cost of living challenge. Millions of the most vulnerable households across the UK will receive at least £1,200 of one-off support in total this year to help with the cost of living. The maximum possible benefit for a household is more than £1,600. We put in place a targeted £12 billion energy bill support scheme for domestic electricity customers in Great Britain to help with rising energy prices. We are supporting people across the UK with one-off cost of living payments, including £650 for 8 million households on means-tested benefits, £300 for more than 8 million pensioner households and £150 for around 6 million people who receive disability benefits. We are increasing the national living wage by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour, which was also mentioned here. Along with increases to the national minimum wage, we expect to be able to give a pay rise to 120,000 workers in Wales.

We also want to ensure that people across Wales keep more of what they earn. We are raising income tax personal allowances and freezing alcohol and fuel duty, saving car drivers up to £15 every time they fill up. We have reduced universal credit taper rates from 63% to 55% and we are increasing universal credit work allowances by £500 a year. Those together will see households keep an extra £1,000 a year on average. This July, we raised the national insurance contribution threshold to £12,570, meaning a typical employee will save more than £330 this year. Frankly, I could go on and on.

Opposition Members may say we are not doing enough, but to say that we have slept through this crisis and do not care is ridiculous and outrageous. I have lists and lists of stuff that the Government have been doing to support people across Wales. It is a £37 billion package. To try to suggest that there is not an enormous amount of work going on or that we do not recognise the problem is unfair. We absolutely recognise the problem—I cannot say it enough times. There is a cost of living challenge out there and there are people suffering. I do not want to hide from that in any way. At the same time, it would be nice if Opposition Members could at least recognise that when we put £37 billion into a whole host of schemes, it is deeply unfair to suggest we do not know about the challenge, we do not care about it and we are doing nothing about it. That is simply incorrect.

To take one example, the hon. Member for Newport West, who I greatly respect and who I appreciate is a hard-working MP, made a point about prescription charges. Yes, prescription charges are free to everyone in Wales. Wonderful. I get a free prescription as a Member of Parliament. In England, the number of people who get free prescriptions is very large. People in full-time education, who are pregnant, who have certain medical conditions, NHS in-patients and people on income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, employment support allowance, pension credit guarantee or universal credit. Anyone who faces difficulties will not have to pay for their prescription in England, but the hon. Lady did not make that point. She gave us half the story and gave the impression that everyone is paying for their prescriptions in England. That simply is not true. In fact, it is rather more progressive to target free prescriptions at those who need them because they cannot afford to pay than just to give them out to everyone.

It has taken me probably a minute just to rebut that single point. That is the problem I face. There are quite a few other points I would not mind rebutting if I get the chance to do so.

--- Later in debate ---

[David T. C. Davies]

I was not aware of that, although I would be registered for it in Wales if I was. I do not think the hon. Lady got around to making her fair comment—no doubt the press can have some fun with that. I think she was also going to lead into the situation with women and the menopause; there is possibly an unfairness that needs correcting. She has been very good at raising that issue, and I praise her for it. I am not pretending that we get everything right all of the time, so I always listen to the hon. Lady with interest, because she can sometimes shed light on things that need changing. There might be an unfairness, but I am not here to discuss health policy; I am sure the hon. Lady will raise her point elsewhere.

To go back to Wales, this July we raised the national insurance contributions and I am also pleased that the Welsh Labour Government have used the £180 million Barnett consequentials from the UK Government to match the UK Government’s £150 council tax rebate offer in England. Frankly, that was a scheme brought about by the Conservative Government: the money was given to Wales, and I am delighted that Welsh Labour are following our lead in this. If hon. Members want to take the credit for it, that is fine, but let us remember that it was a Conservative Government policy, brought about by a recognition of the problems that the current crisis creates.

Our support does not end there. We are expanding eligibility for the warm homes discount by almost a third, meaning that 3 million vulnerable households across the UK will benefit as a result. We are increasing the extension of the warm home discount, and shielding the most vulnerable across the UK from the impact of global recessionary forces. I am somewhat concerned because I think, Ms Nokes, you are about to inform me that I am about to run out of time.

[Caroline Nokes (in the Chair)]

Ninety seconds.

Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 20th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Before I call Caroline Nokes, may I remind everybody, whether they are virtual or physical, that this is an opportunity to ask the Minister questions about the statement, not to make speeches?

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con) [V]]

I thank my hon. Friend for her statement. She has focused a great deal on evidence. Does she agree that narrative is also important, and that when the Government respond, it is essential that they do so in full to the 24 recommendations and get the tone right? The Women and Equalities Committee has invited Tony Sewell to come and give evidence to us, alongside other commissioners. I hope my hon. Friend will encourage him to do so, so that the Committee can hear at first hand the evidence that was presented to him and how the report was written.

[Kemi Badenoch]

I thank my right hon. Friend for her question. I agree with her that narrative is important, not just evidence. We in this House have to ask ourselves what story we are trying to tell. In the case of Conservative Members, it is a story of a shared history, shared values, shared culture and a shared future. We want to make sure that we create a sense of belonging for young people in this country, not an environment where they believe they will never be able to succeed because other people continue to tell them so despite the evidence. I will find out about the request she has made to the commissioners, and I am sure that they will respond in due course.

Covid-19: Ethnic Minority Disparities

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Monday 1st March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kemi Badenoch]

I thank the hon. Lady for her questions, and I will try to address each of them. She mentioned what the Government are doing to assist south Asian groups, where the numbers and the impact appear to be increasing. We have taken a number of steps to mitigate the impact of covid-19 on these groups, including targeting those occupations with larger Pakistani and Bangladeshi workforces. For example, we issued new guidance to private hire vehicle and taxi drivers in November—updated in January—about how to protect themselves from covid-19. Working with religious leaders and others, we have taken steps to promote vaccine uptake among these groups, including housing vaccination centres in mosques and other places of worship. The race disparity unit and No. 10 recently held roundtables with representatives from south Asian groups on how to promote vaccine uptake.

The data is changing every day, so we try to make sure that we have a clearer picture before we base any actions and recommendations on what is coming out. This is likely to be a dynamic situation, but I will continue to update the House as we know more.

I can tell the hon. Lady that the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities is due to report imminently. It is an independent commission, so I cannot control exactly when it submits its findings, but I have had regular updates from the chair, and I know it is finalising recommendations and I expect the report shortly.

The hon. Lady also mentioned the recording of ethnicity. I am pleased to tell her that data on ethnicity is now being published. It was first published on 28 January, based on the availability and quality of data. On the point of equality impact assessments, she does know that they are based on the information provided to Departments, and it is up to them to decide what they do, but we do not routinely publish equality impact assessments.

The hon. Lady asked specifically about vaccine uptake, and I can tell her that I wrote to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which is determining the prioritisation with the findings from our report. I know that this issue is being taken into account, along with the covid prioritisation tool, so the information is in the public domain and does not require an equality impact assessment to know.

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con) [V]]

My hon. Friend is right to point out that we need to have trusted voices and community champions promoting the roll-out of the vaccine and vaccine uptake. We know that there is a higher excess mortality risk for south Asian women, so can I ask my hon. Friend whether she is making sure that we also reach out to female voices in communities, including organisations such as the Muslim Women’s Network UK, to make sure that they are playing a part in increasing the uptake of vaccines?

[Kemi Badenoch]

My right hon. Friend is right to point out that we should not assume that community organisations, which might be male-dominated, are reaching female members of ethnic minority groups, and I will ensure that we continue to work on that. I will check with officials to ensure that the groups she has mentioned are included in the ones we are providing advice and guidance to and are liaising with.

Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Bill

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons
Thursday 11th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con) [V]]

I appreciate being called in this debate, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is an honour to follow not only my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General, but the hon. Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves), who made a number of incredibly important points, some of which I will echo. I want to put on the record my thanks to my right hon. Friend for having taken the time to speak to me ahead of the introduction of the Bill. It is incredibly important that we do this and that we get it right.

I start from the principle that no woman, whoever she is, should be forced to resign her job because she is pregnant and needs to take maternity leave. It is 2021, and that principle is, in my view, absolutely beyond question. I therefore support my right hon. Friend today because we have to solve the immediate issue, and we have to allow our right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General the right to take maternity leave. Like everyone else in this House, I wish her well as—fingers crossed—she earns the right to be the first Minister in history who is deemed to be a Minister on leave. But—my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General knows my thoughts on this—what a mess! It is well into the 21st century before we have had to face this situation, and why oh why did it cross nobody’s mind that we might need to address this issue before it acquired the urgency it now has? Is it really unthinkable that a Secretary of State or one of our Law Officers can become—heavens above!—pregnant? Where is the Government Equalities Office in the horizon scanning, thinking about what other inequalities lurk in our procedures, our way of running Government, so that they can be ironed out sooner rather than later?

Although I regret that the legislation is coming only now, at least it is coming now. But does it go far enough? It is painfully evident that it does not. Where is adoption leave, and what about provision for shared parental leave? Can my right hon. Friend put my mind at rest that this position of Minister on leave is sufficiently flexible to allow a male Secretary of State who has become a new parent to take it up? I think there are challenges here, and while I recognise the fear that making this a more comprehensive Bill would risk delaying it, thus disadvantaging the one woman it is designed to help, I regret to say that I need significant reassurance that there will be swift action to address questions around adoption, surrogacy and the myriad issues that may well crop up in the future.

Returning to the theme, this Bill is designed to stop, quite rightly, one woman from having to resign, and indeed those who we hope will follow in her footsteps in Cabinet positions. My right hon. Friend will know that the Women and Equalities Committee published this week our report on the gendered economic impact of covid. It specifically highlighted the position of pregnant women who have been incorrectly put on statutory sick pay instead of maternity pay, and those who have been denied furlough, when they could have been placed on it, because they were pregnant. One of the recommendations in that report urges the Government to introduce legislation in this parliamentary Session to extend redundancy protection to pregnant women and new mothers. I am sure my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller) will say something on this later; she had an excellent ten-minute rule Bill on the subject.

My right hon. Friend the Paymaster General has found time for a Bill for one woman, but the Government have not found time yet for a Bill for thousands of others. I urge them to do so. The report also calls for a cross-departmental strategy for dealing with pregnancy and maternity discrimination. The mere fact that we are here debating this Bill demonstrates that even in Government, in the 21st century, maternity discrimination can prevail. While I recognise that this might be outside my right hon. Friend’s remit, I hope she will take the message back to fellow Ministers that a great deal more work needs to be done. That could perhaps be in the long-awaited employment Bill, which might include provisions on such things as miscarriage leave and leave for parents with a sick child.

Finally—I do appreciate that this is a narrow Bill, and that I may be testing your patience, Mr Deputy Speaker—may I raise the issue of equalities impact assessments? There is a danger that legislation introduced at pace will overlook equalities considerations. We have seen that occur throughout the pandemic. Measures introduced with good intentions for good purposes have sometimes had impacts that had not fully been considered from an equalities perspective. Please can we try to avoid the same mistake here? By not including adoption leave or provision for surrogacy, are we perhaps inviting equalities challenges further down the line? I would like an assurance from my right hon. Friend that an equalities impact assessment will be done, and I would like that to be given to us from the Dispatch Box today.

We have to do this now. We could have done a great deal more, and when my r hon. Friend winds up, I hope that she gives me the reassurance I need that the Government recognise that the job is not yet done. There is still a great deal of work left for them to do on maternity rights, but this is a crucial step—for now.

Equitable Life

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con) [V]]

I add my congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) on securing this important debate. The long-running Equitable Life scandal has impacted a tragically dwindling number of people in my constituency. When I was first elected in 2010, I would have had numerous emails in my inbox asking me to attend a debate such as this, and to speak up in favour of justice and fairness for Equitable pensioners. Now there are very few. Tragically, many have died, and others have simply given up—given up waiting and given up hope.

These are people who did the right thing, or thought they had. They invested for their retirement and saw their savings cruelly ripped away from them decades ago. Back in 2010, the Government pledged to sort the problem once and for all, and I am often reminded that that was the manifesto on which I stood. In my constituency, the retired nurses, teachers, shop workers and small businesspeople we have heard about this afternoon are still waiting. One of the things that they call for most is full transparency on the calculations done by the Treasury on the moneys that were owed to qualifying policyholders as part of the compensation scheme set up under the 2010 Act. There remains significant disquiet from a number of my lovely Equitable Life action group constituents as to how calculations about their entitlements were made. As we have heard repeatedly throughout this debate, there have been significant errors. A joint inquiry could well give my constituents, such as Reg, the answers that they want.

Little did I think when we passed this Act in 2010 that 11 years later, in 2021, we would still be fighting for justice for this small and, as I said, dwindling group of pensioners. I know that my hon. Friend the Minister will want to do the right thing. He is a good Minister, and I hope that this afternoon he can give some hope to my constituents who are still waiting in hope that the Government will deliver on their 2010 commitment.