Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Gauke and David T C Davies

Tuesday 5th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, the cleaners and security guards are employed by private contractors, and that is a matter for them.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

T4. Following the sexual assault of four female prisoners by a male claiming to be transgender, what additional advice has been given to prison authorities about housing transgender prisoners?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Gauke and David T C Davies

Tuesday 13th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

The hon. Lady will be aware that we are currently looking at access to justice as part of our post-implementation review. In terms of the particular case she mentions, I know that the courts Minister will be happy to meet her.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

T2. What is the Ministry of Justice doing to ensure that female prisoners can never again be assaulted on the female estate by male prisoners who claim to be transgender?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Gauke and David T C Davies

Tuesday 10th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

6. What steps his Department is taking to help offenders find employment upon leaving prison.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Mr David Gauke)]

The education and employment strategy will set each prisoner on a path to employment from the outset. Through work, people can turn their backs on crime. Good behaviour and hard work will be rewarded with opportunity. Since the strategy’s publication, more than 30 new organisations have registered an interest in working with offenders. Nine Government Departments are signed up to the Going Forward into Employment pilot to hire ex-offenders in the civil service, and the first cohort of offenders is already in post.

[David T. C. Davies]

I thank my right hon. Friend’s Department for the interest it has already shown in a project to enable serving prisoners to undertake the theoretical exams required for a career in the haulage industry, which is currently very short of workers. As a result of the meetings I have had with the Department, a pilot project is taking place in south Wales. I thank Ministers for that and ask that they continue to show interest in the project.

[Mr Gauke]

I thank my hon. Friend for his point. It is an example of where I hope that my Department and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service can work with employers to ensure that we help get more people into work, which is good for the individual offenders, good for the employers and society benefits as a whole because it contributes to reducing reoffending.

Equality: Autumn Statement

Debate between David Gauke and David T C Davies

Wednesday 14th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Jess Phillips]

I am absolutely not saying that we should not spend money on infrastructure. What are the Government going to do to make sure that all the infrastructure spending set out in the autumn statement is shared equally between men’s and women’s jobs?

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Gauke]

I will come back to the hon. Lady’s question, but I will give way to my hon. Friend first.

[David T. C. Davies]

I am grateful. My right hon. Friend will surely be aware that Alun Griffiths (Contractors) based in my constituency, which builds motorways, has received a parliamentary award for its commitment to championing women in the construction industry. Perhaps we should look carefully at tenders and make sure that such companies are considered.

[Mr Gauke]

There is a very important point to be made about how we encourage more women to become involved in engineering and construction. Increasing numbers of employers are taking more steps to do that—Crossrail is another example of where that is happening. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Jess Phillips) seems to be objecting to infrastructure spending, which is a strange position—[Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Gauke and David T C Davies

Tuesday 16th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

6. What steps he is taking to reduce the tax gap.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

Since 2010, the percentage tax gap has stayed lower than at any point under the previous Labour Government, saving the country £4 billion. One way in which the Government will address the tax gap is by tackling tax avoidance and evasion. We have committed to raising at least £5 billion more from measures to tackle evasion, avoidance and aggressive planning within the tax system, and we will announce further details at the Budget.

[David T. C. Davies]

Last year, Caffé Nero managed to make £20 million of profit and pay not one single penny in corporation tax, unlike many hard-pressed local businesses, such as dairy farmers. Does my hon. Friend agree that we might need to look at the rules on tax deductable interest payments and, in the meantime, support coffee chains that pay into the system and support their local businesses?

[Mr Gauke]

As my hon. Friend will be aware, Treasury Ministers do not discuss individual cases, but I can say that the Government are determined to ensure we have a competitive tax regime in which everyone plays by the rules and pays their fair share. We have been involved in a number of crackdowns on tax avoidance, both domestically and internationally, with the OECD base erosion and profit shifting projects, and we continue to work hard on that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Gauke and David T C Davies

Tuesday 2nd September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

Much of that £21 billion figure is based on the Labour party’s own announcements. I do not know why the hon. Gentleman is complaining about that. If the Labour party wants to have credibility on fiscal policy, perhaps it should stop making so many announcements of spending splurges. Our view is that the OBR is in its infancy. We want the organisation to succeed and therefore do not want to draw it into party political matters.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

If the OBR ever does decide to look at the Labour party’s figures, perhaps it will be able to explain how it is possible for the Labour party to be able to call for reductions in borrowing and in the deficit while making all sorts of promises to spend billions of pounds that it simply does not have. Does it not show that the Labour Members are as incoherent on economics as they were when they lost the last general election?

[Mr Gauke]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The OBR is a very successful organisation that has achieved a lot, but trying to explain the fiscal policy of the Labour party is something that would currently be beyond it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Gauke and David T C Davies

Tuesday 13th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

The fact is that we had to raise VAT because there was no money left. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman is proposing that we should have cut spending by even more, but I do not think that that would have a lot of support on his Benches or on ours. After all, our predecessors looked very closely at raising VAT and would have done so had the previous Prime Minister not vetoed it.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

What would the people of Wales make of the fact that the previous Government were going to raise VAT to 19%? Would they not surely conclude that this was going to happen under any Government elected in May 2010 because of the mess made by the last one?

[Mr Gauke]

The fact is that the deficit has to be reduced, and VAT is one of the few levers available to the Government to do that. Any sensible Government would consider it; and indeed, given the circumstances we are in, any Government would do it.