Prime Minister's Update

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Wednesday 25th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I ask the hon. Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes), before calling him, whether he can confirm—if he can, that is fine—that he has been here since 6.30 without interruption and without going out of the Chamber at any stage?

[Eddie Hughes]

Without interruption.

[Mr Speaker]

Very good. I call Mr Eddie Hughes.

[Eddie Hughes]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was inspired to get to my feet by the excitement in the Chamber. I want to draw attention to the fact that on 27 April the Prime Minister, then a humble Back Bencher, visited my constituency. Four or five days later the Conservatives won two more council seats. However, the Leader of the Opposition visited my constituency about 10 days ago, and since then I have had five new party members. Does the Prime Minister believe that this net effect might explain the hesitance on the part of the Leader of the Opposition to try to call a general election?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Monday 22nd July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

In my excellent recent private Member’s Bill, I suggested that ground rent for leasehold properties should be set at the lower of £250 or 0.1% of the property’s value. Does the Secretary of State agree with that suggestion?

[Mr Speaker]

It is good of the hon. Gentleman to blow his own trumpet.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Monday 24th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Final inquiries must not exceed a sentence each.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

I hope the Minister will agree that Catholic education providers make a great contribution to education in this country. With that in mind will the Minister provide an update on the uptake of the voluntary-aided capital scheme?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Monday 8th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Yes, young Hughes—Eddie Hughes.

[Eddie Hughes]

Thank you again, Mr Speaker. Will the Minister consider allowing local authority licensing committees to authorise the use of digital ID for the purchase of alcohol?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Thursday 28th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Will the hon. Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes) not seek to intercede at this time? His question might not be reached, but he has a similar inquiry. Get in there, man.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

12. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was just thinking the same thing, but I did not want to break protocol by trying.What assessment has the Department made of air quality on the M6 from junction 9 to 10A, where it cuts through my constituency, and what work can be done to mitigate the effect of traffic on air quality?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Thursday 31st January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We have overrun, because I am keen to accommodate colleagues, but I know that the hon. Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes) will confine himself to a pithy sentence.

[Eddie Hughes]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. What assurance can the Minister give me that work to develop AI is being co-ordinated across not just government, but the whole public sector?

Points of Order

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Wednesday 9th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. First, let me thank him for his kind remarks that prefaced his inquiry. This is the first that I have learned of the matter, and that makes it difficult for me to give immediate advice. It is a matter upon which I may need to reflect before giving him what I would call substantive advice.

Obviously, I was not aware of the hon. Gentleman’s visit to the Table Office, of which he has now informed me. I understand that he is telling me that he was advised that the motion was unamendable, and I do not know whether he went into the Table Office before the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve) or after. All I know is that in my understanding the motion is amendable—I am clear in my mind about that—so insofar as the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) is disappointed that he was unable to table an amendment, I understand that. Whether there is an opportunity for him to do so now seems doubtful. I would have had no objection to him seeking to table an amendment, but I was unaware that he was attempting to do so. That is my honest answer to him. I absolutely accept that he is a person of complete integrity and will always try to do the right thing, and the same goes for me. I am trying to do the right thing and to make the right judgments. That is what I have tried to do and will go on doing.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I hope you will bear with me because, as a relatively new Member who has never raised a point of order before, there may be some inaccuracy in the process. Given the comments that you have just made, I wonder whether you could point me towards the precedent that would allow for what seems to be an unamendable motion to be amended.

[Mr Speaker]

I am immensely grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I am not in the business of invoking precedent, nor am I under any obligation to do so. I think the hon. Gentleman will know that it is the long-established practice of this House that the Speaker in the Chair makes judgments upon the selection of amendments and that those judgments are not questioned by Members of the House. I am clear in my mind that I have taken the right course of action.

By way of explanation to the hon. Gentleman and to the House, the motion in the Prime Minister’s name is indeed a variation of the order agreed by the House on 4 December. Under paragraph (9) of that order, the question on any motion to vary the order “shall be put forthwith.” I interpret that to mean that there can be no debate, but I must advise the House that the terms of the order do not say that no amendment can be selected or moved. I cannot allow debate, but I have selected the amendment in the name of the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield. At the appropriate point, I will invite him to move it once the motion has been moved. That is the position.

Homes (Fitness for Habitation) Bill

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Friday 26th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes]

When we consider how many properties are rented out, for both social and private purposes, it is important that they are all as safe as possible.

Unfortunately, when I became a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, I had to step down from my position as chair of the board of Walsall Housing Group, a housing association with 20,000 properties in Walsall. I had been leaning very heavily on the association to get it to provide carbon monoxide detectors in its properties, and I believe it now does that for all its new build properties. I shall continue to try to influence the association to do that in its existing social rented properties.

I completely support and endorse all elements of the Bill and look forward to its becoming law.

[Mr Speaker]

The board is now sadly deprived of the hon. Gentleman’s expertise and commitment, but at least we have been able to enjoy his eloquence today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Wednesday 24th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

On the Minister’s first outing at the Dispatch Box, will she join me in welcoming the additional funding given to the Welsh Government to fund teachers’ pay rises in Wales?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. This is about non-funded pension schemes, not funding pay rises. It was a nice try, and the hon. Gentleman is a cheeky chappie, but we will leave that one there and come to the other Smith, Nick Smith.

Construction Sector Deal

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Thursday 5th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

It is always a great pleasure to listen to the mellifluous tones of the Minister, who I know from personal experience to be an extremely agreeable fellow, but I gently point out to the House that the statement has now run for half an hour and we have heard from only five Back Benchers. Perhaps there is scope for an improvement in productivity, to be brilliantly exemplified, I feel sure, by Mr Eddie Hughes.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

I am approaching my 50th birthday in October and I am concerned by the undertones suggesting that that is in any way old.

I am a member of the Chartered Institute of Building and a fan of innovative technology such as blockchain. What can these new technologies do to improve productivity in the construction sector deal?

[Mr Speaker]

We often hear from the hon. Gentleman about this blockchain business. I feel I ought to educate myself on the matter.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Monday 4th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

With ingenuity, the hon. Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes) will detect that his question is not unadjacent, and if he wishes to put it now, he can.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

21. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. May I ask my right hon. Friend what work his Department can do to support the Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, as he seeks greater collaboration between the police and fire services in the west midlands?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Tuesday 22nd May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

The people of Bloxwich will soon be hearing more about blockchain. Will the Chancellor confirm that the Government will continue to invest in this innovative technology to keep the public’s data safe?

[Mr Speaker]

Sounds fascinating, and I think we are going to hear more about it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Tuesday 8th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Eddie Hughes. Get in there, man.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

T9. I hope the Minister will join me in congratulating the mayor of Walsall, Marco Longhi, whose mayoralty has raised a significant sum to support WPH Counselling and Education Services, which provides adolescent mental care and counselling in Walsall.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Monday 26th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

A short sentence of Walsall eloquence—Eddie Hughes.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that young people with disabilities should have access to work experience while they are still at school? Will she join me in visiting Walsall College students on supported internships?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

Thursday 18th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Similarly brief, the hon. Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes).

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

I will speak quickly. As the Minister said in his opening remarks, 2018 is the year of engineering. Will the new Minister, my fellow Brummie, say what the Government are doing to increase diversity within the engineering profession?

[Mr Speaker]

I give the hon. Gentleman permission to breathe.

Carbon Monoxide (Detection and Safety)

Debate between Eddie Hughes and John Bercow

1st reading: House of Commons
Wednesday 13th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about requirements for carbon monoxide detectors; to make provision about carbon monoxide safety; and for connected purposes.

Carbon monoxide is a killer. In recent years, more than 25 people have been killed each year in carbon monoxide-related incidents and hundreds of people have been hospitalised—264 last year—and the figures I have seen show that approximately 4,000 people go to A&E each year with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. We have a problem, and it is a serious problem; in fact, it is a fatal problem. That should not be the case in the 21st century, because it is almost entirely preventable. We should make this “silent killer” history.

Nearly three months ago, on 14 June, at least 80 people tragically lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire. I believe the first hearing of the public inquiry into the fire will be held tomorrow, with an interim report expected by Easter 2018. I am sure there will be many opportunities in future for Members to contribute to the debate and the subsequent changes in legislation that will no doubt follow. But Grenfell serves as a reminder that we need to improve safety across the board for all residents across both the public and private housing sectors, and to design out any weaknesses. That is why I took this early opportunity to secure one of the ten-minute rule Bill slots at the start of this Parliament.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is predominately a matter of housing safety, and I have no doubt that the improvements to current legislation proposed by my motion will contribute to a reduction in the number of unnecessary deaths each year due to carbon monoxide poisoning. The stories associated with these deaths are heart-rending.

For example, I have been contacted by Avril Samuel of the Katie Haines Memorial Trust. On 12 December 2009 Avril’s daughter Katie had the happiest day of her life when she married Richard Haines at the church of St Mary the Virgin in Gloucestershire. Katie had planned the day down to the minute and everything went to plan. They honeymooned in Brazil and Argentina before returning to settle into a happy married life. But Katie’s life was tragically cut short just a few months later on the evening of 18 February 2010 when she died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Her husband Richard and father-in-law Gordon were also poisoned, but, thankfully, survived. The Katie Haines Memorial Trust was founded by Katie’s husband Richard and her family to promote awareness of the dangers of carbon monoxide, and in time to support other charities that would have been close to Katie’s heart.

I have also spoken to Project SHOUT, which was created following the death of Dominic Rogers, whose mother Stacey bravely tells Dominic’s story on the Project SHOUT website. On a night like any other, Stacey kissed her 10-year-old son goodnight, told him she loved him and went to bed. The next morning when she went into his bedroom, she found him cold and face down. Following an investigation, it was announced that he had died from carbon monoxide poisoning, that the carbon monoxide had seeped through the brickwork from the neighbouring property, and that Dominic would have been overcome by the poisonous fumes within five minutes.

Even one of my staff has shared with me a story of a friend of theirs who moved into a brand-new home just a couple of years ago: brand-new boiler, up-to-date building standards, and ticked all the building reg boxes, but there was a problem, and no one spotted it, because carbon monoxide is undetectable to human senses. A young mother and her child started to get headaches and to feel unwell, and ended up in their local A&E department. It turns out there was a fault with the boiler and they had carbon monoxide poisoning. That would have been completely detectable and preventable if a carbon monoxide detector costing less than 15 quid had been installed.

I firmly believe that not only should carbon monoxide detectors be mandatory in new-build properties, but they should be installed in all rented properties, including social housing and those in the private rented sector. We should be designing this problem out.

However, we also need to ensure that people are fully aware of the risks associated with a gas that people cannot see, smell or taste, because any fuel-burning appliance that is not properly maintained has the potential to be a source of carbon monoxide. This is why I am also proposing that fire authorities have an explicit duty to promote carbon monoxide safety. That would not be an additional strain on the public purse, but would make current best practice by many forces enshrined in law.

The timing of the presentation of this motion is fortunate given that today sees the launch of gas safety week. The promotional material for this event includes an assertion that we should check gas appliances for warning signs that they are not working properly. These include a lazy yellow flame instead of a crisp blue one, black marks or stains around the appliance, and too much condensation in the room. The material also reminds people of the six signs of carbon monoxide poisoning: headaches, dizziness, breathlessness, nausea, collapse and loss of consciousness. People can see a short video of one survivor’s account of her symptoms on the website of the Carbon Monoxide and Gas Safety Society. I am very grateful to Stephanie Trotter OBE, the president and director of that organisation, for the help and support she has given me. In fact, I welcome all of the work done in promoting this seventh annual gas safety week, and I hope that many Members from all parties will promote the event enthusiastically across all media platforms.

But it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the work that has already been done recently to improve legislation relating to gas safety. Prior to 2015 there was no statutory requirement on private landlords to install either smoke detector alarms or carbon monoxide detector alarms in their properties. The Government have addressed that, following consultation, via the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, which came into force on 1 October 2015. These regulations require that smoke alarms be installed on every storey of a rented property and that carbon monoxide detectors be installed in any room housing a solid fuel combustion appliance. These changes are of course welcome, but they do not go far enough in helping to prevent unnecessary deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning.

To mark the start of carbon monoxide awareness week in 2011, Professor Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, said:

“Carbon monoxide is a silent killer which leads to many deaths every year…We can all prevent these avoidable tragedies by making sure gas and fuel appliances are properly installed and maintained and fitting an audible carbon monoxide alarm that meets European Standard EN 50291.”

Six years later, this advice is still valid. Some devolved nations have already changed legislation to ensure that residents are protected by the presence of carbon monoxide detectors. In Northern Ireland, carbon monoxide alarms are a mandatory requirement for all new homes built since 31 October 2012, after a change to the building regulations there. In Scotland, landlords have been required to install a carbon monoxide detector in every space containing a fixed combustion appliance since 2015. We should embrace some of this best practice. Big international cities such as New York also have similar carbon monoxide laws. Now is the time to enshrine that protection in English law.

I understand that many prefer to leave such matters to individuals, so that people can make choices for themselves rather than being compelled to action by an overbearing state. In general, I would wholeheartedly agree, but this will not involve loads of new red tape or piles of regulation that will end up becoming an annoyance. It involves three simple things we can do as a society to prevent needless deaths and raise awareness. If we intend to ensure that the lives lost in Grenfell Tower serve to prevent others from losing their lives in the future, we need to carefully consider all options for keeping people safe in their homes—the place where they have a right to feel most safe and secure. This should include protection from carbon monoxide. In a hung Parliament, it is even more important that MPs work cross-party to get things done, and I hope we can all unite in trying to stop deaths from this silent killer. Thousands visit A&E every year with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, hundreds are hospitalised and many die. Let us take this opportunity to do something about that.

Question put and agreed to.

Ordered,

That Eddie Hughes, Michael Tomlinson and Mr Barry Sheerman present the Bill.

Eddie Hughes accordingly presented the Bill.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 19 January 2018, and to be printed (Bill 107).

[Mr Speaker]

That will be a fine day, because it will be my 55th birthday.