Oral Answers to Questions

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Wednesday 13th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Helen Whately]

I know that the report to which the hon. Lady refers, which was commissioned by the Secretary State for Health and Social Care, did indeed have some very serious findings. We absolutely will take action based on that report. We are also working on the Transforming Care agenda to ensure that people with learning disabilities and autism are not inappropriately in in-patient settings. There is, of course, also the reform of the Mental Health Act, which will mean that it should no longer be used for the detention of people with learning disabilities and autism beyond the 28-day period for assessment.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

What steps her Department has taken to help tackle the disproportionate effect of the covid-19 outbreak on Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

[The Minister for Equalities (Kemi Badenoch)]

My first report on the disproportionate impact of covid-19 on ethnic minority groups in October concluded that there is no evidence suggesting that ethnicity itself is a risk factor. Rather, the evidence suggests that a range of socioeconomic and geographical factors, as well as pre-existing health conditions, largely explained the disparities. The report set out the range of measures that the Government had put in place as well as recommendations to target those risk factors, which we are carrying out across Government. We are also working with stakeholders, including the British Medical Association and the Community Advisory Group, specifically in relation to adult social care.

[Chi Onwurah]

The disparities impact report did not say that race was not a factor. What it actually said was that data were not being collected. Has the Minister ensured that ethnicity data, including test-taking, positive tests, vaccinations and deaths at a national and regional level, are being collected to enable the robust monitoring of the impacts of covid-19 on black, Asian and minority ethnic communities? If she has, we will see whether her deep-rooted reluctance to acknowledge the role that structural racism plays is actually justified.

[Kemi Badenoch]

I am afraid that the hon. Lady seems to have completely misunderstood the report. I encourage her to re-read it. There is no evidence to suggest that structural or institutional racism is the cause of the higher infection rate for ethnic minority groups. In fact, data published by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre shows that from September to December, the direct impacts of covid-19 have improved for ethnic minorities overall when it comes to the percentages of critically ill patients and deaths in England by ethnicity when compared with the first wave. We need to understand that this is a health crisis, and it is really sad that Opposition Members continue to politicise the issue and to look for racism, when medical experts have supported our report and shown what is driving these disparities.

EU Withdrawal Agreement

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Wednesday 9th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The United Kingdom Internal Market Bill is a critical piece of legislation which safeguards the rights of producers and consumers across the UK. The clauses she mentions excited controversy, but I think they were necessary. In any case, that controversy can now pass because they are being withdrawn. I hope the Bill will pass as well.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

The Government’s “Get Ready for Brexit” campaign looks lovely, but it does not answer the question: get ready for what? Deal? No deal? What deal? Businesses have a pandemic to deal with. Will the right hon. Gentleman admit that the combination of Brexit shambles with the absence of proper support for small businesses facing covid-19 measures, and the total exclusion from support of so many businesses, means that the Government are totally letting down small businesses in the north-east and across the country?

[Michael Gove]

It will probably not surprise the hon. Lady to learn that I do not agree with her. When it comes to Brexit transition, we know that because we are leaving the single market and the customs union, and whether or not we secure a free trade agreement, much of what most businesses need to do is broadly the same, and of course the Government stand ready to help businesses to adjust.

The fate and the future of businesses in the north-east are very dear to me, having lived and worked in Newcastle in the past. It is striking how many of those who work for businesses in the north-east voted Conservative just 12 months ago, which is why Conservative MPs in Blyth Valley, in Bishop Auckland, in Redcar and across the north-east are standing up—[Interruption.] I will mention more constituencies that the Conservatives won if the hon. Lady likes: North West Durham, with Consett, is now a Conservative constituency; Sedgefield, with Spennymoor, is now a Conservative constituency—[Interruption.] Anyway, as the hon. Lady and the House know, the north-east is Tory, and that is because we stand up for workers.

Covid-19: Winter Plan

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Like many of us, I have spent happy hours in the Blackpool Tower ballroom, and I know it well. It would be a fine thing to see Blackpool open up again as fast as possible. I repeat the answer I gave a moment ago: we cannot say yet what the tiering will be, but mass testing does offer a route forward for Blackpool and all its attractions—illuminations included.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

Small Business Saturday is only a couple of days after the lifting of this lockdown, but the fantastic small businesses in Newcastle do not know how or whether they will be able to trade. Many small businesspeople are excluded from all support, for one reason or another, and their losses are mounting, so will the Prime Minister set out the per head economic support he will be providing to local authorities to help small businesses make it through to the promised land of covid-free vaccines?

[The Prime Minister]

The local authorities have been given about £4.6 billion so far to support them through the pandemic and to help them to support hard-hit businesses in their areas, and that is on top of the investment that we have made in the VAT cuts—the business rate cuts—right the way through to next year. Altogether, it is about a £200 billion package of support. The whole point of coming out into the tiers now, or next week, is to allow small businesses to get going again. It was awful to have the restrictions that we have had. We hope that we will be able to take them off and keep them off, but clearly that depends on everybody doing their bit.

Integrated Review

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Thursday 19th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Under the consolidated guidance, we have some of the strictest rules about exports of weapons to any country in the world. Everything is closely overseen and scrutinised by our lawyers, and, indeed, judicially reviewed. I am content that we are doing everything in accordance with the law and in accordance with humanitarian law.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

I very much welcome this increased commitment to invest in our armed forces, though to pay for it by reducing the commitment to global peace, which our overseas aid budget represents, would be a mistake. How is the Prime Minister going to ensure that jobs are created across the country through this investment? Innovative, high-tech businesses in Newcastle tell me that it is easier to secure a contract with the American Department of Defence than with the British Ministry of Defence, so what is he doing to improve procurement opportunities for small businesses?

[The Prime Minister]

I am interested that the hon. Member says that, because, as I recall, one cannot even sell rulers or paperclips to the US military under the Pentagon’s procurement policies; but I may be in error. The hon. Member makes an important point about the need to source as much as we can from the UK. That is obviously what we are going to do. It is a big opportunity to buy British, to stimulate jobs and technology, and to drive jobs across the UK, and I have no doubt that Newcastle and the north-east will be big beneficiaries.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Wednesday 18th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. I am very pleased that Facebook, Twitter and Google have committed that no company should profit from or promote vaccine disinformation and that companies should respond to that kind of content very quickly. We are going to publish our response shortly to the online harms White Paper consultation and will be setting out our plans for legislation.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

Child poverty is evil—I know; I grew up with it. The North East Child Poverty Commission reports that our region suffered the country’s biggest increase in child poverty between 2015 and 2019, when half of children in Newcastle upon Tyne Central were growing up poor, and that was before covid. Yet 15,000 of the poorest households in my constituency stand to lose £1,000 a year because of planned cuts to universal credit in April. Instead of damaging last-minute U-turns, will the Prime Minister now commit to maintaining universal credit at least at the current rate?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady is right in what she says about the impact of child poverty, and that is why this Government have worked so hard to combat child poverty. That is why we did indeed uprate universal credit, which is right for the exceptional circumstances we are in. That was £1,000 a household, and we will continue to support people throughout the country, but the most important thing we can do is to ensure that we get people into work and support families to get the jobs they need. It is the record of this country in creating jobs, and new jobs in particular, that has meant that 400,000 children have been lifted out of poverty in the past 10 years. That is progress. It is not enough, but it is progress.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

You have asked for speed in my answers, Mr Speaker, and the answer to my right hon. Friend is basically yes. I reiterate that we are committed to that 2.4% and to increasing public investment in R and D by £22 billion by 2024-25.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

My constituent Rikky Wilson is one of the excluded. From nothing, he built a private coach business with 18 employees and £1 million in turnover, until covid. Coaches are not classed as either tourism or leisure, so he cannot get any grants, and the banks will not accept his assets for loan guarantees. Buses might be just a photo-op for the Prime Minister, but they matter in the north. They also matter in Northern Ireland, which has just announced a special fund, so will he do the same? Will he also write to me to explain how we can protect those threatened by personal debt guarantees?

Covid-19 Update

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It is indeed, because people should have the freedom from fear, the freedom from seeing their jobs destroyed in the long term and the freedom to go about their lives in the normal way. The only way to restore those freedoms to this country is for us all to follow the guidance, get through this thing in the way that we are doing and get back to normal as fast as possible.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab) [V]]

Test, track and isolate must be made to work; without it, nothing can work. Can the Prime Minister tell me where transmission is occurring in Newcastle now, rather than guessing based on US data? If he cannot, after six months and hundreds of millions of pounds spent on private contractors to track transmission, will he accept that fundamentally what is not working in this pandemic is the Prime Minister, and the businesses and people of Newcastle are paying the price?

[The Prime Minister]

It is thanks to the great expansion of NHS Test and Trace that we know where the virus is being transmitted in this country and where the incidence is rising, and contrary to what the hon. Lady says, we know it with increasing and granular detail. That enables us to take the local measures that we are taking, and I take it from what she said that she supports those measures in Newcastle and the north-east.

EU Exit: End of Transition Period

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Everything my right hon. Friend said I completely agreed with, apart from one thing—I cannot believe that he went to university in 1968. He looks much younger than that.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

This morning I met the North East England chamber of commerce and local businesses. We discussed the massive investment in technology and digital skills required by the pandemic to move processes, services and products online. Now we have another transition to face, so will the Minister list each IT system with which a business will have to interface, and when it will be available to be tested by them so that they can begin the process of preparedness?

[Michael Gove]

The border operating model, which we published earlier, outlines the IT systems—

[Chi Onwurah]

How soon?

[Michael Gove]

It was published in July. It outlines the IT systems with which business will interact, but of course we are augmenting and updating it, so it will be published later this month.

Civil Service Appointments

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I have not had the opportunity to read Ms Mantel’s latest novel, but I hope to have the opportunity to do so over the summer. My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to point out that, historically, government has been carried on by a mixture of those who are dedicated public servants in the civil service and outside appointees of a political hue.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

On Radio 4’s “Today” programme yesterday, the Secretary of State for Education said that making the National Security Adviser a political appointment was following the example of the United States. President Trump has had well-documented rows with his security services. I always say that when it comes to issues such as Huawei or other security issues, we can follow and trust in the advice of our security services because we know it is non-political. Can I still say that?

[Michael Gove]

Yes, absolutely. If advice comes from the agencies, then that advice will always go, absolutely direct, to the Prime Minister and to the relevant politician. The record of previous national security advisers in the United States of America, from Condoleezza Rice to Henry Kissinger, is a distinguished one. Having people of that stature reflects well on the Presidents who appointed them, and it makes the case that a national security adviser of the kind that David Cameron introduced is a welcome innovation.

UK-EU Negotiations

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There is clarity and certainty from some parties in this House. The Scottish National party wants an extension, as do the Social Democratic and Labour party, the Alliance party and the Liberal Democrats. The Democratic Unionist party, like us, does not want one, but there is still uncertainty about what the Labour party wants. As long as that uncertainty lasts, business will want answers.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

Over the past few weeks, I have often thought of our friend, Jo Cox, and her call that we concentrate on what unites us. She is much missed.

The north-east is a great trading region. It is part of integrated supply chains—pan-European, just-in-time supply chains—which drive prosperity, jobs and economic growth. Previous Government modelling said that a no-deal Brexit would hit our economy by 10%. Talk of a no-deal Brexit may just be a negotiating position, but will the Minister promise to publish regional economic assessments so that we know who will pay the price for failed negotiations?

[Michael Gove]

As the hon. Lady knows, my professional career started in the north-east of England, and I have enormous affection and respect for the way in which she champions the interests of her constituents. She is right that part of the north-east’s economic success depends on manufacturing and supply chains. That is why we will ensure that the north-east of England not just is safeguarded, but has its economic prospects enhanced, not least by the establishment—we hope—when we are outside the UK, of a free port in the north-east.