Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Thursday 26th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Are you going to agree?

[Duncan Hames]

Amen to that, Mr Speaker. The Secretary of State will know that advanced manufacturing businesses have exceeded the Government’s expectations with their high value bids for the supply chain initiative for their sector. Will he ensure that the over-programming necessary to accommodate those bids does not cause any further unwelcome delay in enabling those businesses, including one in Chippenham, to make great strides in creating jobs in this valuable sector?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Tuesday 17th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

There are 6,100 tariff-expired offenders serving indeterminate sentences, at a cost, I estimate, of £200 million annually. What are Ministers doing to ensure access to courses in prisons to facilitate offenders’ timely rehabilitation?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Monday 9th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, Mr Duncan Hames.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Now that the roll-out of universal credit is beginning in Wiltshire, what effect will it have on the identification of children’s eligibility for free school meals, and what conversations has the Secretary of State had with Ministers in the Department for Education on how that will affect the allocation of the incredibly popular pupil premium?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Monday 12th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, I call Mr Duncan Hames.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Allied warplanes cross the skies above Syria while Assad’s helicopters drop barrel bombs on the civilian population. How can this apparent indifference help us to prevent the civilian population of Syria from turning to the ISIL militia?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Monday 16th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think that the Secretary of State was referring to the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett). I feel sure that he was.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

T3. Last week, the Secretary of State described the safety of children as central to his Department’s mission. In March, prompted by information arising from the police investigation into Jimmy Savile, he ordered investigations into 21 schools and care homes. How will he co-ordinate that work with similar investigations in the NHS and report the findings to the House?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Thursday 3rd April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

The latest quarterly figures reveal that the share of the UK’s electricity generated from renewable sources rose year on year from an eighth of our electricity supply to a sixth. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we need to go further in reducing carbon emissions from our energy supply and that, given that the largest share of that increase came from onshore wind, that should play a key part?

[Mr Speaker]

That is quite long enough.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Thursday 6th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

Food waste from prepared dishes in the House of Commons catering outlets, as measured as a percentage against sales, is 3%. This is well below the national average for the catering industry, which is 5%. The Sustainable Restaurant Association has rated the House of Commons as a good-practice organisation in respect of food waste. We take a variety of measures to monitor and reduce the amount of food waste from catering outlets. There are plans to extend composting of food waste, which is already undertaken in the Palace in relation to other outlets.

[Mr Speaker]

We are now better informed.

[Duncan Hames]

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply and for the progress that is being made. Does he agree that, as staff in the catering service see this challenge day in, day out, it would be wise for the Commission to invite them to make their own suggestions on reducing food waste?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Tuesday 21st January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames]

Supporters of Christian Aid from St Andrew’s church in Chippenham who met me before Christmas will welcome the Government’s decision to publish a register of company beneficial ownership and the leadership they have shown on the matter, but given that so much money is leaving developing countries for our overseas territories, it is very important that similar transparency is shown there. If the consultations that are currently being launched by the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands provide a further opportunity for the Government to present evidence to encourage them to publish a register, will he please take that opportunity in the hope that that might happen?

[Mr Speaker]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will get back to his normal form, having recovered from his splendid paternity leave.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Thursday 6th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The Minister got the U right, but the U is not for unstarred; it is for urgent.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

I welcome local authorities being allowed to make their own decisions on the merits of wind turbine applications. Does the Minister agree that setting excessive minimum separation distances, as proposed in a private Member’s Bill in the House of Lords last year, or more recently by Wiltshire council, only serves to deny local communities the chance to have their say?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The answer is too long.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

The regional growth fund has certainly attracted interest in Wiltshire, with bids from Melksham’s Cooper Tires and the Corsham Institute. Whether it brings sustainable energy solutions or exploits the digital economy, is this not a welcome diversification of Wiltshire’s economy?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Monday 11th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, Mr Duncan Hames.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Next month, the UK will join other Governments at the United Nations to negotiate and agree an international arms trade treaty. We are often told that Britain’s arms controls are among the strictest that one will find anywhere. Does the Minister recognise the benefit to Britain and the world of reaching a strong agreement with as many countries as possible, even if certain countries opt not to become signatories at this time?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Monday 16th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

It is also important to me to reach the hon. Member for Chippenham (Duncan Hames).

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

23. What support his Department provides to children who are home-educated; and if he will make a statement.

Budget Leak Inquiry

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Thursday 22nd March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

It is not really a matter for the Minister. These matters are dealt with in a very specific and orderly fashion—the submission of a request, the consideration of the matter at the appropriate time of the day by my colleagues and me, and the disclosure of the result of the request to the interested parties. All was done—I know the hon. Member for Kingswood (Chris Skidmore) will be satisfied that it was—in an absolutely orderly way on this occasion as it is on every other.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Has the Minister discussed this matter with his colleague the Chief Secretary to the Treasury? I have found the earliest published source of information on the Budget. It was written by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary—on the front page of the Liberal Democrat election manifesto nearly two years ago.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Wednesday 21st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I thank the Minister for his gracious apology.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Five months ago, the Prime Minister told me here that he would look at the funding gap arising from changes to legal aid funding for advice services such as the citizens advice bureaux in Wiltshire. Does the Minister consider that he has yet found lasting funding arrangements to sustain that voluntary sector service in future years?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Wednesday 18th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I remind the House that we are on the subject of the First Great Western franchise.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Some of the cross-border services on the franchise run on the Cardiff to Portsmouth line, which in places suffers from severe overcrowding, as experienced by my constituents in Bradford on Avon. Will the Wales Office support our call for greater capacity on that cross-border route under the new franchise?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Tuesday 22nd November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It seems that the subject matter for an Adjournment debate is being provided.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Two, or even three, wrongs do not make a right. Regarding an exemplary risk register, does the Minister consider that the mitigation plans for any risks identified there may serve to reassure Members of the other House, if it were to be published in advance of the conclusion of the Committee stage there?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Monday 17th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Question 2, Mr Speaker—no, Question 3.

[Mr Speaker]

We are grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who is discussing mathematics.

[Duncan Hames]

3. What his policy is on the inclusion of financial education in the mathematics GCSE.

Business of the House (Thursday)

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Wednesday 8th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I was slightly perplexed and taken aback by that attempted point of order for the simple reason that we are not discussing tomorrow’s motion, and I am not going to get into the subject of amendments thereto. I was focusing simply on manuscript amendments tabled tonight by, I believe, the hon. Members for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) and for Glasgow South (Mr Harris). It is with that, and that alone, that I was, and am, concerned.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Can you advise us whether it is in order for Members to seek to speak in this evening’s debate if they were not present for the whole of the opening two speeches?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. [Interruption.] Well, I do not think the hon. Gentleman is applying to make a speech, so I do not think he is caught by his own stricture. I consider it to be a general courtesy applying to all debates that if a Member wishes to speak he or she should be present for the opening speeches, and that is the basis on which I work. I hope the hon. Gentleman is content with that response.

Political and Constitutional Reform

Debate between Duncan Hames and John Bercow

Monday 5th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It has been a bit broad so far. I gently remind the Deputy Prime Minister that we must focus on the policies of the Government, rather than those of the Opposition.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that it is the responsibility of local authorities to address their record in electoral registration in time for this new electoral roll to be used in his boundary review?