Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danielle Rowley and John Bercow

Tuesday 22nd October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Danielle Rowley—no relation to Lee.

[Danielle Rowley (Midlothian) (Lab)]

Definitely not, Mr Speaker. No offence to the hon. Gentleman.

The decisions that we take over the next year will be critical in preventing climate change from becoming irreversible. The Committee on Climate Change has said that fracking on a significant scale is not compatible with UK climate targets. It increases local air pollution, generates huge volumes of chemical waste water, causes earthquakes and is just not necessary for the UK’s energy security. Yet the Secretary of State recently reiterated her support for fracking. Given the climate emergency, will the Government reconsider and commit now to banning fracking?

No Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government

Debate between Danielle Rowley and John Bercow

Wednesday 16th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Danielle Rowley]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I hope it is a genuine point of order.

[Danielle Rowley]

The motion is about the Government. How is this relevant? Is this not dangerous?

[Mr Speaker]

If the Secretary of State were out of order, I would have said so. I did not because he is not.

Points of Order

Debate between Danielle Rowley and John Bercow

Tuesday 8th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Danielle Rowley (Midlothian) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Following the revelation by a former universal credit helpline employee that call handlers are instructed to use “deflection scripts” to hurry people off the phone when they have phoned up for help with universal credit, my office submitted a freedom of information request to the Department for Work and Pensions to ask to see the scripts. The response I received was that there are no scripts, but that there are “agent-led processes” and “supportive lines available”. The Department did not provide any detail of those lines, which was the clear intention of the FOI request. I do not think that the Department should be able to use semantics to avoid scrutiny. I have requested a review of the response and asked whether I could be provided with the relevant materials.

The code of practice on FOI rules states that requests should be acknowledged and replied to within 20 days. Even accounting for the Christmas break, that date has now passed and I have not received a response. The Government appear to be flouting the mechanisms set up to ensure that they are transparent and can be held to account by Parliament. Will you please advise me, Mr Speaker, on what I should do to receive this important information, to which I am entitled under freedom of information legislation, as the Government have not complied?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order and for her characteristic courtesy in giving me advance notice of her intention to raise it. I am sorry to disappoint her, but I am not sure that I can help her today. The reason is that responses to freedom of information requests by Government Departments are a matter for those Departments; the Chair has no locus in relation to the subject. It is perfectly open to the hon. Lady to continue to pursue the matter, but she does so under a regime that is informed by statute and in relation to which she will, I imagine, have rights, and quite possibly rights of appeal. As I am sure the hon. Lady will know, the issues fall within the purview of the Information Commissioner. However, whereas in relation to answers to parliamentary questions there is a direct parliamentary ownership and the Chair does have locus, in this case I do not. That said, the hon. Lady has made her point with force and alacrity, and it will have been heard on the Treasury Bench.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danielle Rowley and John Bercow

Thursday 13th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am sorry, but we are running very late. I must ask colleagues to put single-sentence questions, and let us also have very brief replies.

[Danielle Rowley (Midlothian) (Lab)]

T4. Mid- lothian is home to some fantastic, world-leading science and innovation institutes, but my young, female, particularly working class constituents feel that they cannot access them, especially the jobs at the very top. What is the Minister doing to help?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danielle Rowley and John Bercow

Thursday 28th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Danielle Rowley]

I would like to—

[Mr Speaker]

It is very good of the hon. Lady to drop in on us; I am sure she has a very busy schedule. As I am burbling on at her, she will be able to recover her breath, and we very much look forward to hearing her.

[Danielle Rowley]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to announce to you and to the House—perhaps you will excuse my lateness—that today I am on my period, and this week it has already cost me £25. We know that the average cost of periods in the UK over a year is £500, which many women cannot afford. What is the Minister doing to address period poverty?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danielle Rowley and John Bercow

Wednesday 27th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Laura Smith) is signalling that that was very much her own question. It has to be said that Whips’ handouts are also not unprecedented in the House, but she is keen to draw attention to her own independent mindedness on this important matter.

[Danielle Rowley]

I recently spoke at an event at Newbattle Abbey College in my constituency about encouraging people to vote—no Whips were in attendance. Meanwhile, the Government’s voter ID pilots saw at least 340 people turned away, and many more would have been discouraged from voting. Is this not a slap in the face of people who are working hard to encourage people to vote?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danielle Rowley and John Bercow

Wednesday 6th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We are most grateful to the Secretary of State.

[Danielle Rowley (Midlothian) (Lab)]

The Scotch whisky industry is very important, but does the Secretary of State agree that the construction industry in Scotland is, too. Crummock, a construction firm in my constituency, went bust last week, with almost 300 redundancies. What is he doing to protect construction in Scotland?