Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Amber Rudd

Thursday 29th March 2018 Commons Chamber

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

In order to choose STEM subjects at university, girls need to have seen what fantastic careers STEM and engineering can offer. I know that many engineering companies want to go into schools and show that, but there is no co-ordination and no signposting of how they can do that. Will the Minister commit to ensuring that there is a central point where companies and schools can come together to get engineering into girls’ lives?

[Amber Rudd]

I agree with the hon. Lady that young women need to see the benefits of studying STEM subjects, because then they can see the huge range of options opening up to them in the modern world. In fact, we have an ambassadors programme, to which 30,000 ambassadors are signed up, who go into schools and provide just the sort of inspiration that is needed.

Online Hate Speech

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Amber Rudd

Thursday 30th November 2017 Commons Chamber

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

When I think of Muslim children in Newcastle waking up to find themselves being attacked by the President of the most powerful nation on earth, because that is how it will appear to them, my heart bleeds. The 45th President is not accountable to the children of Newcastle—it is hard to see to whom he does hold himself accountable—but the social media giants are accountable, through the Home Secretary, so what is she going to do today to demonstrate that accountability?

[Amber Rudd]

The hon. Lady might refer her friends in the community to the comments made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. He very much made his comments as a Muslim, and I think that other Muslims in this country might take comfort from them.

We are making sure that we provide the leadership necessary to have as much as possible of the hate speech and illegal information that is sometimes put online taken down. The House must understand that the relationship with the US is critical to making real progress with the online companies. They are American companies; they are based in Silicon Valley; they are subject to US law. If we are going to make real progress with these internet companies, we have to do it in close alliance with our American friends.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Amber Rudd

Monday 3rd July 2017 Commons Chamber

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

Having lost more than 800 police officers and almost a quarter of its funding, Northumbria police have just announced that they are closing every single Newcastle police station front desk outside working hours. Given all the reassurances we have heard today, why is Northumbria police still being obliged to make operational decisions based on cost cutting, and not on preventing and detecting crime?

[Amber Rudd]

I say to all colleagues on both sides of the House that we have protected police spending—[Interruption.] Hon. Members can have their own views; they cannot have their own facts. These are the cases. As long as individual councils use the maximum precept of 2%, they can raise the money. Additional support is available from the police transformation fund, and we will always make sure that we use it to keep communities safe and to provide the best policing available.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Amber Rudd

Thursday 12th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

The hon. Gentleman may be aware that we have recently launched a consultation on tidal energy, headed by Charles Hendry. In regard to tidal stream, which he might also be asking about, we have yet to decide how the pot 2 allocation will be taken forward.

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

2. What steps her Department is taking to ensure that consumers’ data on smart meters are accessible to and controllable by those consumers; and how she plans to monitor the effectiveness of those steps.

[The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Amber Rudd)]

I welcome the hon. Member’s support for smart meters, and I am sure she will agree that their roll-out is a vital step towards putting consumers firmly in control of their energy use. Consumers will need to have ready access to the data from their smart meters if we are to achieve that goal. That is why all households will be offered an in-home display that will allow them to see the energy they are using in near real time, as well as its cost. We are also allowing suppliers to trial innovative technologies alongside that.

[Chi Onwurah]

Smart meters can transform domestic energy consumption and help to save the planet, but only if consumers are given secure control and ownership of their own data. The display options that the Secretary of State refers to will still allow smart meters to be a back door into our homes for hackers, so will she overcome her ridiculous complacency and announce measures to give consumers the digital rights that they deserve before it is too late?

[Amber Rudd]

The hon. Lady should know that privacy is absolutely protected and at the heart of the smart meter programme. She should be careful not to put fear into the hearts of people where none should exist. The data are protected, and they belong not to the Government—which some people might, not unreasonably, fear—but to the energy companies. We will always reassure consumers that privacy is at the core of delivering safe meters.