Business of the House

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 10th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I do not immediately have an opportunity for a debate on this subject, but it will no doubt be discussed at Treasury questions and elsewhere soon. Of course, it was announced only this morning. For my part —I am sure the same will be true of other Ministers—we will look to the ONS to make recommendations and we will now consider them very carefully.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

In the light of Lord Heseltine’s report, “No Stone Unturned” and his agreement to pilot its proposals in the Humber region, is it possible to have a debate on whether local enterprise partnerships need additional powers and resources to make an impact in areas such as Hull?

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady will have seen that, in the autumn statement, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor gave strong support to Lord Heseltine’s report, and, in particular, for LEPs. Also, additional financial support for LEPs was announced in autumn last year. I do not have an immediate opportunity for a debate, but perhaps, through the Backbench Business Committee or elsewhere, we will see a proposal for a debate come forward. It would be useful to have a debate at an early point, not least so that the LEPs can see us understanding and recognising what they are achieving, the plans they are bringing forward, and the opportunities we want to help them realise.

Business of the House

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 13th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I am very interested in that news, and I shall congratulate Yorkshire if it is successful. The matter is obviously the responsibility of UK Sport, but I will draw it to the attention of my colleagues at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and ensure that those at UK Sport are aware of my hon. Friend’s comments.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Is the Leader of the House comfortable with Ministers’ refusing to meet other Members of Parliament? On 17 October, I presented a ten-minute rule Bill on alcohol, relationship and drugs education that received cross-party support and the backing of 14 national charities. I wrote to the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), asking whether I could bring the Bill’s sponsors and representatives of the charities to discuss the matter with her, but I was refused a meeting.

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady will know, as I hope the whole House does, that I consider one of my responsibilities to be ensuring that the interests of the House and its Members are understood and acted on in Departments and by my colleagues. I will therefore take the matter up.

Business of the House

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his work on the all-party group on justice for Equitable Life policyholders. I am sure that many thousands of those policyholders are grateful to him for his advocacy. If I may, I will ask my colleagues in the Treasury to look at the position for pre-1992 annuitants and I will let my hon. Friend and the House know if anything further can be done to help.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

May I first thank the Leader of the House for his assistance in helping the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs find the 300 letters that my constituents had written to him, which he seemed to have lost? He has now found them, so I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his help. I would, however, like to ask him if he could assist me a little further in respect of the Enhanced Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Bill. In a letter dated 26 June this year from the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (James Brokenshire) who is responsible for crime and security, I was told that membership of the pre-legislative scrutiny Committee was being agreed through the usual channels and that the Committee was expected to report in the autumn. It is now well past the autumn, so I wonder whether the Leader of the House would investigate where this Bill has got to.

[Mr Lansley]

I will, of course, and I will write to the hon. Lady about that.

Business of the House

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 29th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend will not expect me to comment on the allocation of those costs. Technically, these are matters not for the Government but for the BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. He will share my desire for the BBC to make rapid progress with the Pollard review and publish it in full so that the public can see what was done in relation to the “Newsnight” report.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Continuing the “Yes Minister” theme, more than a month ago I personally delivered 300 letters from constituents about flooding insurance to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I raised the issue with the Leader of the House a few weeks ago, because I had received no acknowledgement or response. Yesterday, I had a telephone call from the Secretary of State’s private office to tell me that they could not find the 300 letters. Will the Leader of the House advise me on what I should do next?

[Mr Lansley]

I will be happy to continue to talk with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. The hon. Lady will be aware from my right hon. Friend’s recent statement, and indeed from Prime Minister’s questions, that we have been in active negotiations with the Association of British Insurers and are determined to bring the matter to a successful conclusion.

Business of the House

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 22nd November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I have not been able to announce that business yet, but I will fully take into account my hon. Friend’s views when we schedule it in future.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

In July, the then Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told me that there was to be an announcement about the new agreement between the insurance industry and the Government on flooding insurance. Some 500 of my constituents wrote to the new Secretary of State recently but have not had a response. With the inclement weather, flooding is obviously becoming more of an issue. Can the Leader of the House tell us when that statement is to be expected?

[Mr Lansley]

I recall the Secretary of State making it clear at questions recently that continuing progress was being made in those discussions, but that there were complex discussions to be had with the Association of British Insurers and others. I will of course discuss the matter with my right hon. Friend. The hon. Lady is absolutely right that under the current circumstances people will be reassured if such a statement can be made, but clearly it is dependent on the outcome of negotiations.

Oral Answers to Questions

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Tom Brake]

It is clear from the ministerial code that that is precisely what Ministers are required to do, and, as we know, if necessary the Speaker will intervene and force a Minister’s hand if that is required.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

4. What plans he has for pre-legislative scrutiny of Government Bills.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

The Government are committed, wherever possible, to publishing legislation in draft with a view to pre-legislative scrutiny. We have published nine sets of draft measures so far this Session and will publish more as it progresses.

[Diana Johnson]

But given the right hon. Gentleman’s unfortunate experience with the Health and Social Care Bill, does he not agree that it would be best for all Government Bills to have extensive scrutiny before reaching the Floor of the House?

[Mr Lansley]

I think the hon. Lady and the House will recognise that it is not possible for all Bills to have pre-legislative scrutiny, but as I said, the Government have published a substantial number of such measures. When I was Secretary of State for Health, we published the Care and Support Bill in draft for pre-legislative scrutiny—I look forward to its commencement this autumn—and it has also been the subject of both consultation and a public reading stage.

Business of the House

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. I will discuss it with my hon. Friends at the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions and ensure that he receives a reply. GPs are not in a position to charge their patients for any NHS services or to provide private health care services directly to their patients. However, under their contracts and by agreement, there are a number of additional services that they can provide to their patients that are outside those that are provided by the NHS. I will, of course, ensure that he receives a reply.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Given the concerns about the downgrading of school food standards and the influence of lobbying, may we have a debate on why Domino’s Pizza’s shareholders decided to donate £50,000 to the Education Secretary’s local Conservative association?

[Mr Lansley]

Well, I imagine it was because they think that my right hon. Friend is a first-rate Member of Parliament. I know that he would not, and am sure that he did not, allow that to influence any decision that he made. Opposition Members must recognise, as do Government Members, that it is important that the public support political parties, because otherwise they cannot exist, function or do their work. However, it is important that that does not cause any influence. Opposition Members should look to the beam in their own eye, because the trade unions not only provide the overwhelming majority of the Labour party’s money, but exert direct influence over its policy as a consequence.

Business of the House

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 28th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about this. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has said that we will challenge these ridiculous rules and make sure that winter fuel payments go to those in this country. It is ludicrous that we should have to pay for more pensioners living in warmer countries than this one.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Following the excellent debate we had in Westminster Hall on women bishops in the Church of England, after recent events in the House of Bishops and with concern across the House of Commons about the good standing of the Church of England, is it not about time that we had a debate on the Floor of the House about women bishops?

[Sir George Young]

If the hon. Lady is in her place this time next week, there will be Church Commissioners questions. The Second Church Estates Commissioner is in his place and has now had advance warning of the question, so he will come up with a scintillating reply in a week’s time.

Business of the House

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 21st June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am sorry to hear of the misfortune that happened to my hon. Friend’s constituent. I am sure that as his Member of Parliament my hon. Friend will take the matter up with the train operating company to see whether it might consider its actions. There will be Transport questions a week today, when there will be an opportunity to raise the matter with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

As the co-chairman of the Conservative party has been travelling abroad on official Government business with her business partner, who has involvement with the extremist Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, may we have a statement from the Prime Minister on whether he will honour his pledge to ban that organisation, which he made before becoming Prime Minister?

[Sir George Young]

I will raise with the Home Secretary the question of banning that particular group. However, the hon. Lady should be careful about making accusations about who travels along with whom, because I am sure that that is an issue that could be raised by Members on both sides of the House.

Business of the House

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 14th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am delighted to hear about the job fair in my hon. Friend’s constituency. I know that many hon. Members have helped to set up job clubs in their constituencies—[Hon. Members: “Of all parties.”] Of all parties. They have given support in that way, and I pay tribute to the work that job clubs do in raising morale, enabling networking and finding suitable jobs for their members. I cannot promise an early debate on employment, but there might be an opportunity in some of the debates chosen by the Opposition or the Backbench Business Committee in the days to come to talk about the important subject of unemployment and the steps that the Government are taking to reduce it.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Later this month, it will be the fifth anniversary of the devastating floods in Hull in 2007. Given the uncertainty over the statement of principles, and over the Government’s plans to provide reasonable house insurance for my constituents and others around the country, please may we have a debate in Government time on what they are going to do to protect householders?

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Lady raises an important issue. I know that there has been a dialogue between Ministers and the Association of British Insurers to ensure that adequate household insurance is available to those who live on flood plains. I will ask the appropriate Minister—I think that it will be a Treasury Minister—to write to the hon. Lady to bring her up to date with the discussions that are taking place, which I think are related in some way to the investment that the Government are making in flood protection measures in the areas concerned.