Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 4th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I do not accept that. If Members look at what has happened with school funding, they will find that it has been protected under this Government, and we want to continue protecting school funding. What I make no apology for is the very clear focus that we have on getting the basics right in our schools. It is essential that we get more children learning the basic subjects and getting the basic qualifications. It is then more possible to put in place the arts, the dance and the drama that I want my children to enjoy when they go to their schools.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

Q6. The channel tunnel and the port of Dover are major pieces of national infrastructure, but when there are big disruptions to services it causes chaos on Kent’s roads. As the Government complete their final work on the spending review, will the Prime Minister give special consideration to the need for an urgent and long-term solution to Operation Stack?

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely recognise the serious problems that are caused to Kent residents and businesses when it becomes necessary to put in place Operation Stack. We have already implemented short-term measures to reduce the impact, including using the temporary availability of Manston airfield as a contingency measure. I know that my hon. Friend and other Kent MPs met the Chancellor this morning. We are happy to build on that work. I understand the pressures, and we will do everything we can to relieve them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 25th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 25 June.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, and in addition to my duties in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

[Damian Collins]

Andy Coulson’s conviction shows that the parliamentary inquiry into phone hacking, of which I was a member, was consistently misled by him and others over the extent of, and knowledge of, phone hacking at News International. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that our first concern should be to see redress for the victims of phone hacking and to uphold the democratic principle of a free press?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The first thing is that we should remember the victims, people who had their privacy wrecked, and we should ensure that that cannot happen again. As we do so, we must, as he says, cherish a free and vibrant press in our country. I said yesterday, and I say again today, that I take full responsibility for employing Andy Coulson. I did so on the basis of assurances that I received and that the Select Committee also received, but I always said that if those assurances turned out to be wrong, I would apologise fully and frankly to this House of Commons, and I do so again today from this Dispatch Box. I am sorry; this was the wrong decision, but I think it is right that we have had a public inquiry in this country, and it is right that we have proper investigations. Yesterday once again showed that no one is above the law in our country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 6th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

There are no changes to services unless they are supported by local GPs. That is completely different from what happened under Labour, when there were top-down closures of hospitals. That is not happening under this Government.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

Q4. According to Unite, it is“increasingly recognised that…bullying, harassment and violence are a major problem throughout industry.”Does the Prime Minister agree that the authorities should always investigate allegations of harassment against employees and their families, including when the allegations involve the members of a trade union?

Ministerial Code (Culture Secretary)

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 30th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

All that information is going to be provided to the Leveson inquiry. My right hon. Friend the Culture Secretary has been very clear about the role he played and the role his special adviser played. The special adviser has been very clear about the role he played and the fact that he went way beyond anything that he was authorised to do, but the difference between the process we are about to go through and a normal Cabinet Secretary or independent adviser process, is that people are going to be answering questions under oath—questioned by a barrister, in a court. That is pretty powerful.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

Does the Prime Minister agree that, even if the matter should have been referred to the independent adviser, they would almost certainly be heavily guided by the Secretary of State’s evidence in front of the Leveson inquiry anyway, given that it provides for the highest level of public scrutiny possible?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. We could not even guarantee that the independent adviser would be quicker, but as I tried to explain earlier there would be a danger of a duplicative fact-finding process that would cut across what Lord Justice Leveson is doing. But let me repeat again: I am not in any way denying that I am responsible for the ministerial code. If breaches occur, I must act, or ask the advice of Alex Allan in order to do so. I could not be clearer about it.

Public Disorder

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course police authorities do not welcome the fact that they are being replaced, but I think that it is right that they are being replaced, because they have not done a good job at calling police chiefs and police forces to account. We need a new system for doing just that.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

The Prime Minister was right to say that the riots not only appalled all law-abiding people in this country, but shocked people watching around the world. In the light of the riots, will the Government be prepared to review the policing arrangements during the Olympic games period, when understandably the police in London and in my own force in Kent will be highly committed?

[The Prime Minister]

We believe that we have good security measures in place for the Olympic games. We keep them under review. There will be very intense meetings from the autumn onwards to the Olympic games, chaired by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, to make sure that we do everything possible to make the games not only a success, but a safe success.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly look very carefully at what the hon. Lady says. She speaks very powerfully on behalf of her constituents about something that, yes, happened many years ago, but people will still have strong family memories of what happened at that time. I will look carefully at what she says and see what support my office and I can give.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

Does the Prime Minister agree that nuclear power stations in the UK, such as Dungeness in my constituency, have an excellent safety record, and that new nuclear power will be an important part of our energy needs in future?

[The Prime Minister]

I do think that nuclear power should be part of the mix in future, as it is part of the mix right now. Obviously, I am sure that everyone watching the dreadful events in Japan will want to make sure that we learn any lessons. Of course there are big differences: we do not have those reactor designs in the UK, nor do we plan to, and we are not in a similar seismically important and significant area. Nevertheless, I am sure that there will be lessons to learn, and that is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has asked the head of nuclear inspections and safety to learn the lessons, and to make sure that we do so in our country.

EU Council and North Africa

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Monday 7th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I know that a number of victims’ families will obviously be interested in the report, and some will be seeking meetings either with the Government or with others. To be frank with my hon. Friend, not all the victims’ families take the same view about al-Megrahi and what happened and whether he was responsible, and all the rest of it. We have to be clear that he was convicted after a properly constituted and thorough trial. He then had an appeal, which was quashed. On that basis, the decisions that were made were clearly wrong decisions.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

In the Cabinet Secretary’s report, he notes that the former Justice Secretary, the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw),

“contemplated the merits of offering the Scottish Government a letter in support of a Libyan request”

to release al-Megrahi. Does the Prime Minister agree that that was an odd thing to contemplate if it was clear that there was a Government policy not to put any pressure on the Scottish Executive?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 19th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

Will Tony Blair’s correspondence with George Bush be published before Mr Blair’s next appearance in front of the Iraq inquiry?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend will know that there is a long-standing convention, quite rightly, that a serving Prime Minister does not and cannot order the release of papers that refer to a previous Prime Minister. That is why the Cabinet Secretary will be looking at this issue, which is a matter for him. Anyone unhappy with the conclusions is clearly able to write to Tony Blair to make their views known. For my own part, I hope this inquiry can be as open and clear as possible so that we get to the bottom of the very important issues it is looking at.