Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cat Smith and Kit Malthouse

Monday 24th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

1. What steps he is taking to help support students with the cost of living.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Kit Malthouse)]

My Department continues to work with the Office for Students to ensure that universities support students in hardship by drawing on the £261 million student premium.

[Cat Smith]

I have been hearing from students from the University of Lancaster and the University of Cumbria, and I share the concerns of the organisation MillionPlus, whose report “Learning with the lights off” highlights the difficulties that around 300,000 students are facing. Has the Secretary of State seen the report, and will he meet me and representatives of MillionPlus to discuss how the report’s recommendations on bringing immediate grant support to students could be implemented by his Government?

[Kit Malthouse]

I am afraid that I have not yet seen the report, but I will ask my team to dig it out and give it a look over. If the hon. Lady has specific issues that she wants to raise, I will be more than happy to meet her. Alongside the significant funding that we are putting into the student premium to deal with hardship in the student body, many students who are not living in halls of residence or other tied accommodation will benefit from the wider cost of living package that the Government have put together.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cat Smith and Kit Malthouse

Monday 12th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kit Malthouse]

My hon. Friend is known for his innovative approach to policy and he certainly raises something that merits further investigation. He is quite right that we have seen a growth in the number of cannabis farms across the country in all sorts of buildings. Notwithstanding the drugs they produce, there is very often disgusting oppression and victimisation taking place inside—people who are trafficked across the world to tend the plants—and we need to do something about that as well. He might be interested to know, however, that in their off-hours when police helicopters are not dealing with other crimes, one thing they do is circle around using thermal imaging cameras to find houses that are strangely heated to full blast in the middle of summer, indicating that there may be something afoot. That has been a very rewarding way of investigating those farms. I will look at his idea and pursue it further.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

What steps she has taken to help ensure that Border Force staff are trained on exemptions from requirements for covid-19 testing.

Criminal Justice Review: Response to Rape

Debate between Cat Smith and Kit Malthouse

Tuesday 25th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Violence against women and girls starts really young. I do not know whether the Minister saw the news today about the research done by Radio 4 and the NASUWT into sexual violence and harassment in schools, but a third of teachers had witnessed peer-on-peer sexual harassment or abuse and one in 10 see this happening on a weekly basis.

The problem we have with violence against women and girls in this country starts young and it never ends. We have a real problem, so as well as no more delays to the publication of the end-to-end rape review, will the Minister commit to talking seriously to his colleagues in the Department for Education about addressing the need for education on consent for boys and girls in schools and through youth work?

[Kit Malthouse]

The hon. Lady makes an important point which, as I am sure she appreciates, is not within my ministerial ambit to comment on. However, through the work of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the online harms Bill and of the Department for Education, we are all very much aware that young people take their signals and learn their behaviour from the adults around them. We all have a duty to ensure that they grow up as right-thinking members of society.

Birmingham Attacks and Extinction Rebellion Protests

Debate between Cat Smith and Kit Malthouse

Monday 7th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kit Malthouse]

My hon. Friend is quite right that that is the unfortunate effect of some of those protests. As I said earlier, the Metropolitan police has made over 600 arrests now, with dozens made over the weekend. Hopefully that is having an impact on the numbers, but we all want XR to think about the practical consequences of their protests, in terms of not just what we in this House think, but the impact on their fellow citizens.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Policing and police resourcing is one part of the picture of reducing knife crime. Another part, of course, is preventive work. Youth services in England have seen a cut of £1 billion, or 73%, since 2010. Youth work can provide a really good preventive strategy when it comes to knife crime. What discussions is the Minister having with his colleagues to reverse the cuts to youth services?

[Kit Malthouse]

We are obviously going into a spending round and giving consideration, through the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, my Department and the Ministry of Justice, to what funding and capability we can point towards diverting young people away from crime. The hon. Lady will know that, happily, I am also in the middle of a process of engaging with the violence reduction units that we have funded across the country, to learn from them and understand what is working, so that we can promulgate that across the rest of the country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cat Smith and Kit Malthouse

Monday 10th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

7. What recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the number of police officers in Lancashire.

[The Minister for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service (Kit Malthouse)]

We believe that the entire country, including Lancashire, could do with a boost in police numbers to address the changing nature of crime, and as a result we have provided enough money to recruit 6,000 police officers over the next year. Of that, Lancashire will benefit from 153 more.

[Cat Smith]

I am sure, Mr Speaker, you will wish to join me in paying tribute to Lancashire police, who responded over the weekend to the devastating effects of Storm Ciara, alongside all the other emergency services.

The Minister points out that Lancashire is to receive 153 officers under this core grant allocation-style funding, but Lancashire has lost 750 police officers since 2010. On that pattern, we will not regain the total number of officers lost, whereas Surrey, which has lost eight officers since 2010, looks to be gaining hundreds of officers under this funding formula. Can the Minister explain to my constituents why that is fair?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cat Smith and Kit Malthouse

Monday 22nd July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

11. What steps he is taking to ensure that planning policies on fracking provide for the safety of people and communities.

[The Minister for Housing (Kit Malthouse)]

National planning policy makes it clear that, in considering planning applications, mineral planning authorities should ensure there are no unacceptable adverse impacts on the environment or on human health.

[Cat Smith]

Fifty seven earthquakes of up to 1.5 magnitude were detected in Lancashire last year in the two months when Cuadrilla was fracking at Preston New Road. Will the Minister commit to listening to communities such as mine in Lancashire and act in their interests to prevent permitted development rights being granted for shale gas exploration?

[Kit Malthouse]

As the hon. Lady will know, we have consulted on these permitted development rights. I am hopeful, once consideration by colleagues at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has finished, that we will be able to issue our response to that consultation. I would, however, point out to her that our ability to access gas allows us to stop burning coal. This country has just been through its longest period of not burning coal, by far the dirtiest of fuels, since the industrial revolution.