Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Conor McGinn and John Bercow

Thursday 21st December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The right hon. Gentleman makes it all sound very exciting, I must say. I obviously have not lived yet.

[Conor McGinn (St Helens North) (Lab)]

Will the Minister join me in welcoming moves by the Advertising Standards Authority to ensure that providers advertise more accurate average broadband speeds rather than “up to” speeds? Will the Government push for that to be introduced immediately rather than next May, as currently proposed?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Conor McGinn and John Bercow

Tuesday 5th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Conor McGinn (St Helens North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I believe that the point of order flows directly from questions. I will take it if it is dealt with very briefly.

[Conor McGinn]

Mr Speaker, you will be aware of my campaign to introduce Helen’s law. On 14 September, I wrote to the Justice Secretary, asking him to meet Marie McCourt, Helen’s mother, and victims’ families about this issue. Having not received a reply two months later, I tabled a parliamentary question to ask when that meeting was likely to happen. That parliamentary question was answered on 1 December and said that the correspondence had been sent to my office on 16 November. After a trawl of my correspondence, I found that none such had been received. Having contacted the Ministry of Justice, it transpired that, in fact, none had been sent because it was still waiting on ministerial approval. What does that say about the Government’s attitude to the families of victims who have suffered so grievously? Can you advise me, Mr Speaker—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I can certainly give him two pieces of advice. First, a very important matter though this is, it does not flow from this oral questions session, as I had, perhaps wrongly, understood it to do. Secondly, may I offer the hon. Gentleman a tip, which he could learn from many a senior hand in this place? If what the hon. Gentleman described happens again, he should table a question to the Minister—

[Conor McGinn]

I did.

[Mr Speaker]

Let me finish. The hon. Gentleman should table a question to the Minister, demanding to know when that which was promised will be delivered. [Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman is gesticulating from a sedentary position to give the impression that that is precisely what he did. If he still did not get a response, as he should have done, my advice is that persistence pays; he should just keep going until he gets there. Alternatively, he should approach the Minister’s office and seek a meeting. This is a very unsatisfactory state of affairs. However, knowing the Secretary of State for Justice as I do, I know that he is polite to a fault. Therefore, the error will have been inadvertent. It is extremely incompetent, but no further time of the House should be taken up today. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman and the Secretary of State meet, but I readily acknowledge to the hon. Gentleman that the situation is most unsatisfactory.

Armed Forces Pay

Debate between Conor McGinn and John Bercow

Wednesday 1st November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) should not keep hollering from a sedentary position in evident disapproval of the stance taken by the Minister. Apart from anything else—he is chuckling about it—it is marginally discourteous to his hon. Friend the Member for St Helens North (Conor McGinn), who had requested an intervention and had it granted, before it was ripped away from him by the hon. Gentleman’s unseemly behaviour.

[Conor McGinn]

Talking about the figures, I was very concerned to read in the London Times this morning that the Government are considering scrapping the £29 deployment allowance that applies to soldiers on the frontline in Iraq. The Minister is an agreeable chap, and I would like to give him an opportunity to deny that categorically at the Dispatch Box.

Mental Health Taskforce

Debate between Conor McGinn and John Bercow

Tuesday 23rd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Thank you for that helpful interjection from a sedentary position.

[Conor McGinn (St Helens North) (Lab)]

The Minister welcomed the work of the taskforce and its comprehensive report. I agree entirely. He said that he would seek to implement the measures in a rolling programme, but can we infer from that that he is committed to implementing all the measures and that he fully accepts all the recommendations?

Business of the House

Debate between Conor McGinn and John Bercow

Thursday 25th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The misguided Reverend is obviously rather a blinkered fellow, to put it mildly.

[Conor McGinn (St Helens North) (Lab)]

It was announced yesterday that my local authority in St Helens is having a further £23 million cut from its budget, meaning that by 2020 it will have suffered a 50% reduction in funding under this Government. May we have a debate on the crisis in local government funding and its impact on critical services?