Business of the House

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Thursday 25th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

Attacking places of worship and religious buildings is a war crime. Russia has a long-standing record of domestic repression of religious belief, and that has only increased since its illegal invasion of Ukraine. The hon. Gentleman will know that we have welcomed the findings of the review to take forward the recommendations made in the Truro review, and we will continue to ensure that progress is made on freedom of religious belief, which is central to our wider work on human rights.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for continuing to raise these important issues. He will know about the work of the special envoy on freedom of religion or belief and the Foreign Office, which supports her. He will be able to scrutinise that on 13 June, at Foreign Office questions.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I have been very lenient in letting questions to the Lord President of the Council run, but they have been far too long. I give notice to the Chamber that I will not be so lenient in the next three statements, because we have a lot of business to transact today. I want to ensure that everybody has a chance to contribute in a timely fashion, so we will not have any statements at the beginning of questions; we will just have questions.

[Anna Firth]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. At Prime Minister’s questions on 24 May, in reference to the Government’s apprenticeship levy, the Leader of the Opposition claimed

“that almost half the levy is not being spent”.—[Official Report, 24 May 2023; Vol. 733, c. 282.]

In fact, in the year 2021-22, 99.6% of the levy budget was spent in England, according to Department for Education data. I am sure the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer) did not intentionally aim to mislead the House, but have you had any indication from him or his office, Madam Deputy Speaker, that he intends to come back to the House to correct the record and provide clarity to right hon. and hon. Members?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order. As I am sure she appreciates, it is not a matter for the Chair. What any Member says in this Chamber is a matter for that Member. The hon. Lady has put her case very well as to why the statistics, as she interprets them, are different from the statistics as interpreted by the right hon. and learned Member to whom she refers. Did she give notice that she wished to make a point of order?

[Anna Firth]

Yes, I did, Madam Deputy Speaker.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I am grateful for her confirmation. It is a matter of interpretation of the statistics. They are not for me to interpret, but I am quite sure that the hon. Lady has made her point well and if there is a need for correction of the record, honourable behaviour in his House will lead that to happen.

Business of the House

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Thursday 15th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind remarks. I am always pleased to be able to turn a spotlight on those issues, and will continue to do so. I shall certainly raise his concerns with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Home Office. He will know that there is sometimes a lag before we receive data; he will also know that the Prime Minister—as he said this week—wants to be very clear about the legal and safe routes for people who are still trapped in that country and who could perhaps come here and be reunited with their families. I will flag up the issue with both Departments and ask them to update the hon. Gentleman.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I thank the Lord President of the Council and everyone else who took part in that item of business. I will pause for a second to allow changes of personnel before calling the Paymaster General to make a statement on infected blood.

Business of the House

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

With regard to the hon. Gentleman’s other point, if there were no route to having a referendum, we would not have had one.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Order. I note that the hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Neale Hanvey) is trying to raise a point of order to the effect that he is not a Scottish National party Member. I think that is recognised, but it is not a point of order and I am not sure that it is relevant. He asked a question, he got an answer—the rest is irrelevant.

[Sarah Atherton (Wrexham) (Con)]

My constituent Stephen Harvey, a veteran, was due to spend his 100th birthday trapped on an acute cardiac ward, despite having been fit for discharge three months earlier. He has been failed by the Welsh Labour Government’s health and social care system, but thankfully, because of funding facilitated by my office, Wrexham Maelor Hospital is now Veteran Aware-accredited and has a dedicated healthcare co-ordinator in place. A birthday bash was thrown and we are now helping to facilitate a discharge, with his family looking to England for a suitable care placement. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Wrexham Maelor Hospital’s veterans team on their great work?

Business of the House

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Thursday 17th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Penny Mordaunt)]

The business for the week commencing 21 November will include the following:

Monday 21 November—Debate on the autumn statement and consideration of resolutions (day 1).

Tuesday 22 November—Conclusion of the debate on the autumn statement and consideration of resolutions.

Wednesday 23 November—Remaining stages of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill (day 1).

Thursday 24 November—A general debate on the UN international day of persons with disabilities, followed by a general debate on the independent review of children’s social care. The subjects for these debates were determined by the Backbench Business Committee.

Friday 25 November—Private Members’ Bills.

The provisional business for the week commencing 28 November includes:

Monday 28 November—Remaining stages of the Levelling- up and Regeneration Bill (day 2).

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I call the shadow Leader of the House, Thangam Debbonaire.

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Order. Before we move on, I must say to the SNP spokesman that I did not interrupt her because I do not like to interrupt the flow of this important item of business, but it really ought to be about asking a question concerning next week’s business. It is fascinating to know the hon. Lady’s views on the Leader of the Opposition, but they do not really have a lot to do with next week’s business here in the House of Commons. I am sure that in future she will find a way of asking questions.

[Nickie Aiken (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con)]

Historic gas lamp street lights are very precious to many people in Westminster. I have been working closely with the London Gasketeers—a brilliant campaign to save the gas lights—and with Conservative councillors. The Conservative administration before May stopped the plan to replace the gas lights; sadly, the new Labour administration has reintroduced the plan and is now consulting on it. The consultation ends on Sunday. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is important that we do all we can to protect the historic fabric of central London and encourage people to take part in the consultation and send a clear message: “Keep our gas lamps”?

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. I think the hon. Lady means that she would like to ask the Leader of the House for a debate as part of next week’s business. This is business questions, not “Opinion Time”. Would the hon. Lady like to ask a business question?

[Nickie Aiken]

I would like to ask the Leader of the House whether we can send a clear message by having a debate in this House about the importance of protecting the historic fabric of central London and the rest of the United Kingdom, and of protecting our precious gas lamp street lights.

Point of Order

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Wednesday 12th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Penny Mordaunt)]

On a point of order, and for the convenience of the House, it may be helpful if I give some advance notice of my business statement tomorrow. In tomorrow’s business statement, I will announce that the business for Monday 17 October will be all stages of the Energy Prices Bill that has just been introduced. A motion appears on today’s Order Paper that, if agreed, will mean that notices of amendments, new clauses and new schedules to be moved in Committee may be accepted before the Bill has been read a Second time. I wanted to be able to advertise that fact, and I hope it is helpful to the House.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I thank the right hon. Lady for her point of order. It is indeed helpful to the House to know the intention of the Government on when this important Bill is going to come forward. I ought to add to that point of order and to the motion on today’s Order Paper relating to the management of the Bill that, for amendments at Committee stage, I will be lenient about the timetable for putting down such amendments. Just as the Leader of the House is trying to help the House, I will also try to help the House to engage in a full and proper debate on the Bill.

Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Thursday 21st July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I am afraid that I have to reduce the time limit to four minutes.

--- Later in debate ---

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Thank you. This has been an excellent debate—quite a contrast to the rest of the week—and a fitting remembrance of our dear friend Sir David. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”]

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming adjournment.

[Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley) (Con)]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Yesterday in this House I raised on point of order that images of my wife and two children have been used this week in paid-for Facebook adverts by the Rother Valley Labour party.

Today my office received this message from a constituent:

“I’ve arrived at work to 4 people being asked to leave the carpark”—

this was outside the Dinnington Tesco in my constituency —with

“a petition to remove Alex Stafford.”

She then says that she was shown an image of

“Alex, the wife and kids”.

Let me be clear about what has been reported by several constituents. The Rother Valley Labour party is using images featuring my wife and two young children, one of whom is only seven months old, to drum up anger and sentiment against me and my family.

On top of this, a former Rother Valley Labour councillor said today on a Rother Valley Facebook page:

“Stafford made the mistake of posting family images on Facebook…he is only in a hole because he dug it himself…he is happy for his family to stand metaphorically in the road on a busy bus route.”

He is stating that my wife and my two children are fair game because they feature on Facebook. What sort of level of politics have we sunk to when children are being used to attack other politicians and to whip up hatred?

I am again calling on the leader of the Labour party, the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), and the Labour Chief Whip, the right hon. Member for Tynemouth (Sir Alan Campbell), to immediately suspend all the Rother Valley Labour party members involved, and to speak to me tonight about these incidents, which I can only see as being designed to create anger and hatred against my family. I am also calling on my fellow Rotherham borough MPs—the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey) and the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion)—to condemn the use of pictures of my family in party political attacks.

This is not “campaigning”, as some have suggested. These are pictures of my young children, being used to whip up anger and hatred, and being shown to people in order to create an environment of intimidation. This needs to stop before we have another horrific incident.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. I took the point of order that he made yesterday on the same subject, and I appreciate that matters have deteriorated since yesterday. As I said to the hon. Gentleman and to the House yesterday, I have to be very careful in dealing with these matters here in public in the Chamber, because this really is a matter of security. I have made sure that our security team here at the House of Commons will give the hon. Gentleman every assistance that they possibly can, because these matters are taken very seriously.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned various Members of this House. I appreciate that he was, of course, not criticising them, but having mentioned them, I hope he will give them notice, if he has not already done so—[Interruption.] I am grateful to him for confirming that he has already done so. I appreciate that he was not criticising any Member of this House, but merely drawing the matter to their attention. I repeat that these are matters that are taken very seriously.

Speaker’s Conference

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I will respond briefly. I thank hon. Members for taking the trouble to turn up today and for contributing. I also respond on behalf of Mr Speaker in saying that, yes, the conference will have the powers of a Select Committee, so of course it will consult with Members. I am sure that Mr Speaker will read the debate in Hansard and take on board many of the comments made by hon. Members.

I specifically pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Dame Maria Miller), who has done a great deal of work in this area and has a lot of expertise to offer. Whether she is a member of the Committee or a witness appearing before it, I am sure that the Speaker’s Conference will take note of her expertise, which will be of huge benefit.

On the remit of the Committee, I do not want to box Mr Speaker in. I want to allow the Committee to establish what it looks at and in what order, and I am sure that will be brought forward and agreed in due course. I am delighted to commend the motion to the House and am grateful to Members who have contributed to the debate.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I am certain that Mr Speaker will be paying extreme attention to all that has been said in this short debate.

Question put and agreed to.

Committee on standards

Ordered,

That, in accordance with Standing Order No. 149A, Victoria Smith be appointed as a lay member of the Committee on Standards for a period of six years, with immediate effect.—(Mark Spencer.)

Petition

Business of the House

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

May I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for saving the hon. Gentleman up until the end, so that he has an audience worthy of his question? He is a great campaigner on religious rights across the world. I think that the Qatar World cup will provide an opportunity for the world to look at Qatar and all that it does, and I hope we will take that opportunity to improve human rights and religious freedom there.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I thank the Lord President of the Council for his business statement. I hope that the House will now settle down.

Easter Adjournment

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Thursday 31st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Let us take a moment to remember that this debate was always the point in the parliamentary calendar when our late colleague Sir David Amess would make one of his amazing speeches. He would cover 10, 12 or more different topics in about four or five minutes. He would be right there in his place, and we would all think, “Oh, no—what’s he going to say next? How many times will he manage to mention his constituency?” But his perseverance prevailed eventually, making his beloved town of Southend a city. On all the matters that he raised, year after year after year, he was listened to. He made his mark. It is very good for us to remember him for a moment.

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Given how many Members are standing, I can advise the House that I am not going to put on a time limit because I hope that we can manage without one. However, if people speak for more than seven or eight minutes, not only will they lose the attention of the House—[Laughter] I think it is time that somebody actually told the truth—but they will also prevent their colleagues from having an equal opportunity to air the matters that are important in their constituency. That is just guidance, which I am sure will be kept in mind by Siobhan McDonagh.

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

It certainly will, Madam Deputy Speaker, because I have one single very important issue to bring to the attention of the House and the Leader of the House—a tragic case of dangerous driving. I also want to raise a clear gap in the law that I hope he will agree it is both easy and essential for the Government to change.

In the early hours of Christmas morning, two policemen knocked on my constituent Debbie’s door. A 3 am visit from the emergency services was their worrying signal that something bad had happened, but for Debbie, Michael, Donna and all the Clack family, the news was their very worst nightmare.

Debbie’s daughter, Lillie, had been in a car whose intoxicated driver had refused to slow or stop for the police. The car had careered into a tree, leading to the hospitalisation of Lillie Clack and the injury of several others in the car. Devastatingly, Lillie died just a few days later, in the afternoon of 28 December. For Lillie’s family, their lives have changed forever. Nothing will bring her home.

But if the grief of a lost daughter, sister and niece was not enough, the time since has brought further pain to the Clack family, and it is because of a gap in the law. As it stands, there is nothing to prevent someone charged with dangerous driving, even in this situation, where a young woman has lost her life, from continuing to drive until their case gets to court and they are found guilty. For families waiting years for a trial, their unimaginable grief is worsened by the knowledge that the driver responsible for the death of their loved one can legally jump back in their car and get back on to the roads.

The Clack family are campaigning for anyone who causes death while driving to have their licence suspended immediately. Their Change.org petition already has tens of thousands of supportive signatures, and I would like to quote from the family’s petition directly.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. Before the hon. Lady continues with what is a heartbreaking story—all our hearts go out to the family in this awful tragedy—I am sure she will give consideration to sub judice rules, and that if this is a matter that has yet to come before the courts, she will be very careful to anonymise the case to which she is referring.

[Siobhain McDonagh]

I can assure you, Madam Deputy Speaker, that there will be no reference to those involved in the particular case or to anyone who will potentially be charged.

The petition states:

“The law needs to change! If it doesn’t, people will continue to die and families will continue to endure the torment and torture after losing a loved one.

We will never get Lillie back and the experience so far can’t be changed but we will fight to endeavour that no other family has to go through the hell that comes after a loved one has been killed by a driver that made a choice to drive recklessly and dangerously!”

Will the Leader of the House indicate in his closing remarks whether he agrees with me and the Clack family that there is a clear and rectifiable gap in the law? If that is the case, will he take this issue up with the relevant Minister to report back?

Sadly, this is not the only painful experience that the family has had to face since Lillie’s death. Around a dozen videos have been uploaded anonymously to YouTube, featuring Lillie’s name, photograph and details of her death. The purpose of the videos is unclear, other than to cause further pain to the family. My office has repeatedly been in contact with YouTube to call for the videos to be taken down. Although progress is finally being made, it has taken weeks of discussion and delay. It seems the threshold for removing harmful content is, appallingly, higher than the trolling of a mourning family.

My heart goes out to the Clack family for the pain that they have suffered these past three months. I hope the Leader of the House will agree that changing the dangerous driving law is unquestionably the right thing to do. I know his assurance that he will take this forward will be of considerable comfort to a grieving family.

Business of the House

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Monday 28th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question; he is right to be supportive and I am grateful for his comments. I am sure that he will be able to question a Minister at the Dispatch Box tomorrow.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I thank the Leader of the House for coming here with his statement, which we have all heard.