Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Carol Monaghan

Wednesday 16th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend and he will have heard what President Zelensky has said overnight in relation to this, but the Government have always been crystal clear that if there is a diplomatic off-ramp—although I have to say we have a heavy measure of scepticism about whether Putin could ever fulfil such a deal—it has to be done with the will and volition of the Ukrainian President and people.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

Q15. A constituent of mine is a popular parish priest in Glasgow. Originally from Nigeria, he became a British citizen last year and applied for his first British passport last summer. His naturalisation certificate, issued by the Home Secretary, includes his title, reverend father, under his name. This is causing the Passport Office unexplained difficulties and seven months on he is still waiting for his passport. Will the Deputy Prime Minister look at this case as a matter of urgency? His mother is extremely ill in Nigeria; he needs to get his passport to visit her.

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising that case. It sounds very sensitive and I will make sure a Home Office Minister looks at it as a matter of urgency.

UK Telecommunications

Debate between Dominic Raab and Carol Monaghan

Tuesday 28th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend makes a good point not just about new entrants to the market but about those with existing stakes in infrastructure. The guidance and legislation will apply to all of them. There will be transitional arrangements to make sure that those already in the marketplace can adjust, but that will have to be reasonably swift so that we also have the assurance we need around security.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

I cannot work out whether it is naivety or arrogance that prevents the UK Government from seeing the high risk presented to our national security by Huawei. This is a company financed by the Chinese Communist party, and we are giving it an open door to our security. How can the Secretary of State provide any guarantee of our future security when software can be updated remotely and technology develops daily?

[Dominic Raab]

The hon. Member is right to point to the fluid nature of technology. We will make sure we have the right regulatory regime. It will be one of the toughest in the world and, through the technical requirements and guidance, will be able to adapt to any shifts in technology. Inherently technology is fluid, and we will have to keep this under constant review, but we have struck the right balance not just to deal with the security risk we face, which both sides of the House share an interest in addressing, but to make sure we have investment in infrastructure. That is the balance the Government have struck.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Carol Monaghan

Tuesday 3rd September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

To be very specific on the understandable question my hon. Friend asks, we have added over 100 diplomats as well as 140 locally engaged staff across capitals as well as in Brussels, and I hope that shows the seriousness with which we are approaching negotiations to get a deal.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

T3. The UK Government have pledged £10 million to tackle the Amazon forest fires. That is an embarrassing 14p per person in the UK to ensure they have oxygen to breathe. The Prime Minister has, we know, extremely deep pockets, so what representations has the Secretary of State made to the Prime Minister to ensure we make a realistic contribution to this global issue?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Carol Monaghan

Tuesday 5th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

The hon. Lady is right to refer to the ending of the fees and the proposals for reimbursement that we will bring forward shortly. If there were potential claims that should have been made but were not, anyone who was unable to bring a claim can submit to the employment tribunal to have their case heard outside the usual time limits. The judiciary will consider those applications case by case.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

10. What his Department’s policy is on the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Education and Social Mobility

Debate between Dominic Raab and Carol Monaghan

Tuesday 22nd November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Carol Monaghan]

I would welcome very little of the Green Paper. I do not agree with selective schooling.

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

Does the hon. Lady think that eligibility to stay on at either a college or a sixth form based on the level of qualifications at GCSE should therefore also be abolished?

[Carol Monaghan]

I am not sure I understand the hon. Gentleman’s question. Students should be able to stay on in school as long as the school fits their requirements, and as long as the school is able to offer them something. That might not be what he asked, but I will move on.

I have received correspondence not from my constituents but from people living in England. They have shared their concerns about grammar schools. I will read out a section of a letter I received from a gentleman in England:

“As an 11+ failure…The sense of failure is still with me…so much so I find it hard in this letter to admit I went to a Secondary Modern School. Nearly all of my fellow pupils…came from poorer or deprived backgrounds—I cannot think of one who came from a well-off background. As children, we accepted our lot and it was made clear to us that our choices of work were limited after school…There was a small cohort of teachers who did their best for us despite (as I realise now) limited resources. However, the turnover of teachers was high, which did not bode well for continuity of education. There was no question of taking any exams for qualifications of any kind. University was unthinkable. Higher education…was closed off to us; we were in the rubbish bin.”

It is well known that young people’s thinking skills develop at different rates. Some at aged 11 will have advanced cognitive abilities. For others, it takes several more years for their thinking skills to mature. A number of years ago, I taught a young boy who had come from the primary school at age 11 with extremely poor literacy and numeracy skills. As time went on, however, he showed some talent for science. Despite all the original expectations placed upon him—not by teachers, but probably by the young boy himself—he managed to scrape by in his national exams and went on to university. He went on to achieve a degree in chemistry and then a PhD. He now travels the world as a chemical engineer. That is social mobility and it was achieved in a comprehensive school. That boy would not have come close to passing an 11-plus exam. I completely oppose selective education, which, thankfully, will not be introduced in Scotland.