Scotland Bill

Debate between Dan Poulter and Graham Allen

Monday 9th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Allen]

It is always good to hear of examples of further devolution. I say more power to those who want to “double devolve”—and the more that happens, the more those in the other nations of the Union will learn from such examples. I gently warn the hon. Gentleman, however, that it is no good always going back to times before his party controlled and ran the Scottish Parliament with powers that are unheard of in the rest of the Union—and that should be spread to the rest of the Union. There has to be a point where people are clearly using those powers rather than complaining about what they would like to have, do not use or think they ought to have. It is a really important lesson for all of us who believe in devolution that we need to push these things further. In that case, why have my good friends in the Scottish National party not supported or proposed amendments to make sure that local government—in this case, in Scotland—can go further and run much more of its own affairs?

[Dr Daniel Poulter (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) (Con)]

As always, the hon. Gentleman makes a coherent argument about constitutional matters on which he possesses great expertise. Does he agree that this is often a two-stage process? The first stage is devolving powers to the Scottish Parliament, after which it is then for the Scottish Parliament further to devolve the powers, to the islands and other communities, as indeed it has done?

[Mr Allen]

It is important to see devolution develop in stages. I mentioned earlier that we have made a start on the devolution proposals for England and that another couple of Bills might be necessary, even in this Parliament, before we can really see what devolution in England looks like. However, there must be a point at which the powers already devolved—in this case to the Scottish Parliament—can be pushed beyond and down to people on the ground. That is why I proposed—I did not hear a great deal of support for it—to ensure that local government in Scotland can, with the local people’s consent, raise its own taxation. If people are won over and convinced of the need, it should be possible to raise levels of a particular tax in an area. I often mention my local circumstances in Nottingham, where we would like to levy a tourist tax or a bed tax in order to do good works, providing that people in the local area consent and agree.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dan Poulter and Graham Allen

Tuesday 16th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab)]

9. If his Department will make early intervention a priority for clinical commissioning groups and public health officers.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Dr Daniel Poulter)]

I commend the tremendous amount of work undertaken by the hon. Gentleman on early intervention. Yesterday, he and I attended the Early Intervention Foundation, which he has set up. We are talking a lot about legacies this week, and his legacy and the work that he has done to promote early intervention will certainly stand the test of time. The Government are committed to supporting that work, both through his foundation and through the work that we are doing to expand the family nurse partnership programme and the number of health visitors available to young families.

[Mr Allen]

I thank the Minister for those remarks, and I would like to thank those on both Front Benches for their support for the Early Intervention Foundation, which is greatly appreciated. Would the Minister accept that, in addition to having police and crime commissioners and councils promoting early intervention, the role of GPs, of directors of public health and of health and wellbeing boards will be absolutely central to getting early intervention plans and programmes to scale across the whole of England?

[Dr Poulter]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. The health and wellbeing boards in particular will be well placed to bring together and join up what goes on in early interventions and to break down some of the silos that have existed in education, social services and health care. It is through the health and wellbeing boards that a lot of the work being done by health visitors and others to improve the life chances of many children, particularly those in the poorest communities, can be taken forward locally in a much stronger way.