Draft Government of Wales Act 2006 (Amendment) Order 2019

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2019 General Committees

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

May I say what a pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David? This is the second such occasion in less than a week, as I attended the meeting on endometriosis that you chaired last week, and I pay tribute to your qualities as a chairman. I also pay tribute to the Minister. He is a consensual and easy-going Minister, and I do not intend to give him a hard time on this occasion, because I fully support the draft order and this transfer of functions to the Welsh Government. It is a sensible way of doing business with Wales.

I was at a meeting yesterday where, on other issues, Welsh and Scottish Ministers feel that they have been treated like children, and not in a very mature way. Today that is not the case; I think we are treating the Welsh Government and politicians in Wales in an adult way, and it is long overdue.

Giving the Welsh Government, with all the functions they have, full licence to do what they want in this area without coming back to London to seek permission for this or for that means that all the ducks are in a row now and they can pursue the initiatives that they want to pursue. That is the great thing about devolution. We have four Chambers—five, if we include London—where good practice can be looked at and experimented with. The best practice can then be spread around the whole of the United Kingdom.

The measure is eminently sensible. In fact, Lord Griffiths of Burry Port highlighted a great Welsh word, which describes what has gone on in the Lords and what will hopefully go on here today: “tidy”. This is tidy; we have tidied things up, made them presentable and allowed the Welsh Government to do what they are supposed to do.

I could bore for Britain on this subject. I have been switched on to the issue of electoral registration since 2001, when I found out that 4,000 of my constituents had disappeared—not physically, but they were off the register. I have maintained an interest in it. I think that I have tabled 1,000 questions on electoral registration and registration issues.

I question what the Government are doing nationally with individual electoral registration and photo ID. I believe that those measures have been used in America by the Republicans in their attempts at voter suppression. However, this order is not voter suppression; it extends the ability of the National Assembly to get on with its job.

The National Assembly already pursues many excellent policies on electoral registration, including extending the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds for local elections and National Assembly elections. I hope that what we are passing here today will enable the National Assembly to go on and do even bigger and better things. It should explore the ways in which young people can be registered to vote at the age of 15 and three quarters. On the day that they get their national insurance number at 15 and three quarters, hopefully the National Assembly will now have the powers to register them, perhaps even at school.

I hope that the National Assembly ensures that all EROs fulfil their statutory responsibility and knock on every door of every non-responder, and take forceful action against those who do not respond. That work has not been done across the whole of the country; many EROs and many local authorities have not done the annual canvass for years on end. The measure will allow the National Assembly to pursue those policies.

This process is not just about taking a big stick to the EROs; much more needs to be done to celebrate them. They are magnificent people. They develop the building blocks of our democracy—the electoral register. So, hopefully, the National Assembly will celebrate them, perhaps even giving civic awards or national awards every year, and celebrating a democracy day with democracy awards for those EROs who more than fulfil their responsibilities.

I hope that these comprehensive powers will be used to develop service-level agreements with people who have a track record in registering people and groups who are unregistered; I am thinking about Operation Black Vote and Bite the Ballot. Bite the Ballot can go into a sixth form, engage with young people and ensure that 100% of that sixth form is registered. The average cost of doing so is 25p per registration. We see the Electoral Commission, with its advertising campaigns. When it compares the cost of those advertising campaigns with the number of downloads of electoral registration forms that they generate, the cost can be up to £95 per registration.

I hope that the Welsh Government and the National Assembly will use the powers to the full. They fully support the changes that we are considering here today, and I also welcome them.

Brexit Readiness: Operation Yellowhammer

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Wednesday 25th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Lady raises an important point. I would say two things. First, we want to minimise the number of non-compliant consignments of all kinds, which is why we are spending so much on readiness, and why businesses have responded so well. However, radioisotopes and other vital medical supplies are category 1 goods, and as well as ensuring that we have the maximum possible flow over the border, through the short straits, we are providing additional freight capacity. The Department for Transport will update the House on that shortly.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

The Yellowhammer report warns of shortages of key drugs and medicines. Can the Minister supply the House with a list of those medicines that are likely to be in short supply? If there is scarcity, what measures are in place to ensure fair and equitable distribution of those scarce medicines across the nations and regions of the United Kingdom?

[Michael Gove]

The first thing to stress yet again is that it is a reasonable worst-case scenario and we have taken steps to mitigate it. In terms of the fair and equitable distribution of medicines across the UK, the system we have, and one I am proud to uphold, is the NHS.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Wednesday 4th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Alun Cairns]

I met the Farmers Union of Wales yesterday to discuss the challenges and opportunities that Brexit will bring. I plan to meet NFU Cymru shortly. We recognise that there are new markets that we need to be exploring. I have already highlighted Japan as one of those markets, but there are many more.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

To continue that point, 40% of the UK’s sheepmeat is exported tariff-free to the EU. Yesterday, our shadow team met the FUW, which said that on 1 November there will be a huge lamb market in Dolgellau. If we crash out of the EU without a deal on Halloween, the lamb export market will disappear overnight. The lambs in Dolgellau will have no market value and will be culled, buried or sold off as pet food. Which of those options does the Secretary of State think is the best?

[Alun Cairns]

Our record supporting rural Wales and the rural economy across the whole of the UK is strong. It compares favourably with the hon. Gentleman’s performance. I hardly saw him as the champion of Welsh agriculture in the past.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Wednesday 26th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Foster]

It is worth saying that Ford has said that the decision is not linked to Brexit; if Opposition Members are interested in the views of Ford, it said to vote for the deal on Friday 29 March. Let me be clear that there is positive news. Only this month, Aston Martin started production of a new line of vehicles in St Athan in south Wales—in the Secretary of State’s constituency. That shows what can be done when there is positive work on behalf of local people.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

The design of the shared prosperity fund will be crucial to Wales’s industrial strategy. Communities and business shareholders are clear on what the fund should look like—not a penny less, nor a power lost for Wales. The consultation on the fund was in the 2017 Conservative manifesto, and was mentioned in a written statement in July last year and by the Secretary of State at the Dispatch Box last October. Can the Minister confirm that this consultation has now been withdrawn?

[Kevin Foster]

We continue to work on the shape of the UK shared prosperity fund that will come forward after Britain leaves the European Union. We look forward to providing more information in the spending review later this year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Foster]

I would be concerned to hear of any person not getting the support that this Parliament has voted for them to have. We are engaging with people who may be eligible for these benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim state pension or report a change in their circumstances. We are also looking to work with stakeholders such as Independent Age and Age UK to discuss pension credit take-up across Great Britain. I encourage Members of Parliament to play a role in their constituencies.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

Some 120,000 pensioners in Wales live in poverty. Today the Government have worsened their financial position with changes to pension credit for mixed-age couples, which will leave some married pensioners worse off by up to £7,000 a year. Will the Secretary of State meet the shadow Wales team, Citizens Advice Wales and pensioner organisations to listen to the just concerns and grievances of elderly citizens who have paid into the system their entire lives and now feel betrayed and left behind by this Government?

[Kevin Foster]

I suppose it is somewhat apt that a question on mixed-age couples comes to me—for those who know my own background. This is about balancing fairness between the taxpayers who pay for the pension system and welfare system, and those who need to benefit from it, and we do not believe that this change is unfair. However, we do need to ensure that those who are entitled to pension credit take it up and receive it. I am always happy to meet people to discuss how we can do that.

Wales: Regional Development Funding

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Tuesday 7th May 2019 Westminster Hall

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Graham. I, too, extend my gratitude to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon (Stephen Kinnock) for having secured the debate. Perhaps more importantly, I am grateful to him for having sponsored the “not a penny less” report through the all-party parliamentary group for post-Brexit funding for nations, regions and local areas. That report has informed the debate throughout.

This is the second debate on the shared prosperity fund over the past six months; the previous one was secured by my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham (Ian C. Lucas). There were nine Labour speakers at that debate in November, and 11 are here today. The fact that so few Conservatives have attended speaks volumes about how important they view the shared prosperity fund for Wales as being. [Interruption.] Well done to the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Glyn Davies).

“Not a penny less” has been mentioned by virtually every Member who has spoken today. Wales is home to 5% of the United Kingdom’s population but receives 23% of European funding sent to the UK; “not a penny less” has been mentioned by every Member, and that is the level of funding that we want in future.

It is not only Wales that is concerned about the shared prosperity fund. There have been 177 written parliamentary questions about the fund over the past couple of years, many of which centre on the lack of consultation and detail that has been coming out—or, rather, not coming out—of the Wales Office, the Treasury and other Departments. We were promised a consultation in 2017, but it did not happen. We were promised a consultation in 2018, but by the end of that year it had not happened. As we speak, that consultation is nowhere in sight. We do not just need to secure the level of funding that we have received in the past.

[Nick Smith]

My hon. Friend is making an important point about the consultation. Does he agree that it is important that the consultation occurs as soon as possible, so that it can be fed into the comprehensive spending review and so that Wales can get its fair share?

[Chris Ruane]

I agree entirely. I am not sure what the Government are hiding, or why they cannot be open and transparent with the people of Wales.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a very good point about asking Ministers. I have asked Ministers from the Treasury, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Wales Office. All of my questions have fallen on deaf ears, and when I have queried why the consultation is delayed, no Minister seems to know. My concern is that there is a question of trust: the Government have cancelled various projects that they promised they would deliver, and now that we are moving into the position of what will happen post Brexit, they cannot give us answers. That is why we on the Opposition Benches are so sceptical about what the Government will deliver in the long term. Does my hon. Friend agree?

[Chris Ruane]

As ever, my hon. Friend speaks immense sense.

We are concerned not just with the level of funding, but with the issues of democracy and respect for devolution in this, the 20th year of devolution. We do not want the Welsh Government to be leapfrogged, and for the Conservative Government in London to be undermining devolution by dealing directly with local government in Wales. If we do not have direct, democratic input from the Welsh Government, what happened in the United Kingdom will happen in Wales. When the Conservatives got into power, they vired education funding away from the poorest areas and towards the Tory shires. Nine out of 10 of the most deprived areas in the United Kingdom have had three times the rate of austerity cuts than the average.

The poor will be punished unless the Welsh Government have overriding responsibility for the allocation of funding within Wales. It is not just Labour politicians saying this; the Federation of Small Businesses has called for the devolved nations to retain the power to set their own allocations and frameworks for how funding should be prioritised, taking into account local economic needs. There is unity across the board, with the private sector, government and public sector all wanting the democratic control that we have had for the past 20 years.

My hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon gave his three demands: not a penny less; that devolution should be respected; and that a date for the shared prosperity fund consultation should be given immediately, as has been mentioned by virtually every single Member who has spoken today. I hope the Minister will at least be able to answer my hon. Friend’s three questions.

Voter ID Pilots

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Wednesday 10th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith]

I would be delighted to see interest from Lancaster City Council in participating in the pilots. I would like to put on record again how grateful I am to all the local councils that are taking part in them. Some very hard work is being done by administrators to test this important move in our voting system. The example my hon. Friend gives reminds us that there are concerns up and down the country about how well protected our electoral system is, and it is right that we address those.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

I have pursued the issue of electoral registration for 18 years in this place. The hundreds of questions that I have tabled show that there is no issue with voter fraud. These are tactics that are used by the right wing in America for voter suppression. May I offer an alternative use for the £20 million that has been allocated for this policy? It should be transferred into getting the missing millions who are not even on the register on to the register.

[Chloe Smith]

If this is about voter suppression, the Labour party clearly does not want any members, because it uses it for its own party membership. This is not about voter suppression, nor is it about disenfranchisement. I object strongly to the use of those words to describe what is being done. This is a reasonable step to protect voters’ choices. It is simple common sense, as the hon. Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey) said, that people should be able to show who they are at the polling station.

I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman for his campaigning over time on these issues, because he is right to keep consistent scrutiny on how we can help as many people as possible to be registered in this country. I hope he knows that I share his determination to make our registers as complete and accurate as they can be and to have as many people taking part in our elections as possible. Recent figures suggest that we have record levels of electoral registration in this country. They fluctuate slightly throughout electoral cycles, as he will know because he looks at these things closely. The point is that we do have a thriving democracy in this country—let us keep it that way.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Alun Cairns]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, but of course he is tempting me to announce elements of the comprehensive spending review well before my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will do so later this year. However, communities have said that the £4 billion has not changed communities in the way they wanted it to, so this is an opportunity to introduce a much more innovative, proactive approach that responds to the private and voluntary sectors and local authorities in a much more local way.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

I welcome the hon. Member for North Swindon (Justin Tomlinson) to his new ministerial position. May I too wish our Labour candidate Ruth Jones well in the Newport West by-election tomorrow?

There has been more than just the one meeting on the shared prosperity fund in Wales—there have been five meetings—but the consultation has not started. MPs were neither informed nor invited to those meetings, even if, as was the case with me, they were held in their own constituency. Does the right hon. Gentleman view MPs from all sides as stakeholders in the shared prosperity fund? Why were MPs not invited to these meetings and will he meet with stakeholder MPs to discuss the design of the fund?

[Alun Cairns]

First, I point out that these meetings were aimed at communities and the Welsh Government jointly presented at the last one. The hon. Gentleman has frequent opportunities to make direct representation here and it was only a little over a week ago that I met the all-party group for the UK shared prosperity fund to discuss the matter. I am sorry that he could not be present with some of his colleagues, but of course I will be happy to meet him or any other colleague who wishes to discuss the UK shared prosperity fund.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Wednesday 13th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend and the Education Committee for their work on this important issue. Obviously we all recognise that good discipline in schools is essential, but it is also important to ensure that any exclusion is lawful, reasonable and fair. Guidance sets out that headteachers should, as far as possible, avoid permanently excluding any pupil who is subject to an education, health and care plan, and make additional efforts to provide extra support to avoid excluding those with special educational needs. We want to ensure that schools play their part in supporting children who have been excluded, in collaboration with alternative providers and local authorities.

My right hon. Friend mentioned the Timpson review. It is still ongoing, but I can assure him that when it reports in due course, we will look very seriously and very carefully at its recommendations.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

Q9. Since 2013, 220 parliamentarians and 450 members of their staff have received mindfulness training in the House. Our cross-party mindfulness all-party parliamentary group has published a report, “Mindful Nation UK”, on the uses of mindfulness in education, health, prisons and the workplace, and it has been well received by the Government. After Brexit negotiations have been concluded—when the Prime Minister might need to de-stress—will she meet representatives of our cross-party group and senior scientists to discuss what more can be done through mindfulness to reduce human suffering and promote human flourishing?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this important issue, and I thank the mindfulness APPG for its work and its recent report. As the hon. Gentleman knows, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for adults with depression.

I am aware of the training that staff have received. A few weeks ago, a constituent came to my surgery to talk about mindfulness. A member of my parliamentary staff who was with me had undertaken that training, and was therefore able to speak about the impact that it had had.

The commissioning of psychological therapies is a matter for NHS England, but I will ensure that it is aware of the report.

Leaving the EU

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Monday 14th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that there is no unilateral right to exit that mechanism. There is, of course, a termination mechanism within the withdrawal agreement and the protocol, but both sides would need to agree because of the fundamental point of ensuring that, at every stage, there is the guarantee of no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. The backstop need not come into force if the future relationship is put in place by the end of December 2020. Even if there were a need for something at that stage, it would be possible for this Parliament—we have been clear that it would be for this Parliament—to choose whether to go down the route of extending the implementation period instead. I believe that the best thing for us to do is to work to ensure that the future relationship comes into place, with a long-term and sustainable guarantee of no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister has just informed the House that she and her party accepted and respected the vote of the Welsh referendum on devolution in 1997. If that is the case, why did the 2005 Tory manifesto call for a further referendum on Welsh devolution, including an option to abolish the Welsh Assembly?

[The Prime Minister]

We accepted the vote on Welsh devolution, and we accepted devolution. Of course, we looked beyond that to extending the powers of the Welsh Assembly, and this Government have extended the powers of the Welsh Assembly.