Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Wednesday 17th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Sadiq Khan is failing London. While burglary is down across England, it is up in London. Violent crime is down across England, but up in London. The Labour Mayor is the only one of 43 police and crime commissioners to have missed his police recruitment target. Londoners will have the chance to speak when they cast their votes on 2 May. I hope that they kick him out because we all know they will be safer with Susan Hall.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

My local community is reeling from the discovery of 35 bodies and unidentifiable cremated ashes at a local funeral home. The pain was made worse when people realised that the funeral plans they had used their life savings for were fake. Does the Prime Minister agree that in these unique and limited circumstances banks should offer discretion when deciding if chargeback applies to payment refunds?

[The Prime Minister]

I express my sympathies to the families affected by the case that the hon. Lady raises. I believe the Ministry of Justice is urgently looking at the matter. I will ensure someone gets in touch with her as soon as possible.

Iran-Israel Update

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Monday 15th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I refer the hon. Lady to any of my previous answers on both those topics.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

In response to my hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra), the Prime Minister said that he would take the time to set the right future approach to UNRWA. As the famine continues, I wonder how much time the Prime Minister needs before he makes up his mind to restore funding and get aid to the people who need it.

[The Prime Minister]

What the hon. Lady failed to mention was the shocking allegations of people involved in UNRWA also being involved in the massacre on 7 October. It is right that those allegations are properly investigated and new procedures are put in place to ensure that that could never happen again. The final reports, which have been commissioned, are due at the end of April. We are already in dialogue with our partners; once we review those reports, we will set out our future approach, but that is not to say that we are not already doing an enormous amount to bring more aid into the region. We have tripled our commitment, and right now are delivering aid by land, sea and air. We are taking a leading role, and everyone in this House should be incredibly proud of what the UK is bringing to the table.

Action Against Houthi Maritime Attacks

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Tuesday 23rd January 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The position of this Government is the same as that of previous Governments and is long-standing: we will recognise a Palestinian state at a time that best serves the peace process.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

There are 21 million people starving and in desperate need of food and aid in Yemen. How will the Prime Minister ensure that the military action taken by the British Government does not impede that desperately needed humanitarian support?

[The Prime Minister]

I refer the hon. Lady to my previous answer. In fact, the Houthis’ disruption of Red sea shipping is harming the Yemeni people, who are relying on those corridors to bring aid in. As I said, we are the fourth or fifth largest donor to the UN appeal this year, we have contributed £1 billion since the conflict began in 2014, and we are currently helping to feed 100,000 people in Yemen every month.

Defending the UK and Allies

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Monday 15th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As I have pointed out, 14 countries signed a statement earlier this year calling on the Houthis to desist from what they were doing and saying that there would be consequences, and we have had a UN Security Council resolution condemning Houthi activity and noting the right of states to act in self-defence. That is what we did: we acted in a proportionate and necessary way following the direct threat to UK vessels and therefore to the UK itself.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

Many people are deeply worried about the escalation of hostilities and the growing instability across the region. There must be an accelerated determination to bring about an urgently needed ceasefire in Gaza and hostage release. If the bombing does not deter the awful actions of the Houthi rebels, what is the Prime Minister’s plan B?

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said, in all cases there is a risk of inaction in the face of attacks on civilian lives and British interests, and it would have been wrong to do nothing. There has been extensive diplomatic activity and this military action was limited, proportionate, necessary and in self-defence. I believe that that was the right course of action, and to do nothing would have been wrong.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Wednesday 13th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I know the frustration that this is causing to my hon. Friend’s constituents. I am told that HS2 Ltd is prioritising the completion of works that are under way, including roadworks in Lichfield, to keep disruption to a minimum. I know that the Transport Secretary will continue to hold it to account and that the company will keep local communities informed about future works.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

UK billpayers are facing having to pay an extra £1 billion because of the Government’s failure to agree new offshore wind. With Russia using energy as a weapon, when will the Prime Minister take energy security seriously and protect us from the whims of fossil fuel autocrats?

[The Prime Minister]

We do take energy security seriously. Indeed, we created a brand-new Department to focus on energy security, so it is a bit rich coming from a Labour party, which wants to cut off our access to home-grown British oil and gas, which would increase our reliance on foreign oil and gas, increase our reliance on dictators and increase our exposure to those markets. As independent reports have said, it would also be bad for the climate, as imported fossil fuels come with something like two or three times the emissions. Labour’s policy is not just bad for the environment; it is bad for our energy security and bad for British jobs.

Financial Statement

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Wednesday 23rd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I thank my hon. Friend for his support. He is right to point out that the significant increase in personal tax thresholds is particularly well targeted at those on lower and middle incomes, and I look forward to discussing with him, over the coming months, potential reforms in the way in which we tax training and apprenticeships.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

I have just received a message from Michael, who is a carer for his disabled wife in Hull. He says:

“So no help for the disabled. I guess I’ll have to put my wife into hospital next winter so she can stay warm”.

What would the Chancellor say to Michael, who does not drive a car and is not planning to install solar panels on his rented home?

[Rishi Sunak]

Obviously it is hard for me to comment on individual circumstances, but in general I am proud of this Government’s support for those who are disabled. We have spent some £58 billion on disability welfare. When I last checked the figures, the OECD ranked us higher than many other countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Austria, so we are generous and compassionate in our support for those who are disabled.

We are taking a range of measures, not least spending £1 billion to help people with disabilities into work and providing £1.5 billion for the disabled facilities grant to improve the conditions of their homes. Today we announced a small amount of extra funding to improve the provision of Changing Places toilets across the country, an issue about which I care passionately. That funding will increase their number by 40%, so that the quarter of a million people with complex disabilities who need access to such facilities will now find one closer to where they need it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

Talking about young people and financial services, I was recently in Glasgow talking about young people starting exactly what the hon. Gentleman described: new apprenticeships in the financial services industry, growing in Glasgow, supported by this Government who have put more money behind apprenticeships than any previous Government.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

I am hearing from colleges that fewer level 1 and level 2 students are going to college as they are going straight into work and that is to be commended, but we know that having a level 3 increases people’s earnings potential in the long term and therefore opportunities to obtain that level 3 must be available to those young people as they get older. How can they achieve that, however, when the Chancellor has cut the adult skills budget by half since 2010?

[Rishi Sunak]

I point the hon. Lady to the Prime Minister’s speech on skills last year when he unveiled this Government’s lifetime skills guarantee, which delivers exactly what she is asking for. Those 10 million adults without a level 3 qualification, who she is absolutely right to highlight, will, for the first time, be able to get one, fully funded by this Government. That is a Conservative Government delivering for people, giving them the skills and opportunities they need.

Covid-19: Economy Update

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Thursday 22nd October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: the best way to help businesses and protect people’s jobs is to allow businesses to trade and allow the economy to function as normally as possible. The support we have put in place today will not be used as an excuse not to do that, and as the Prime Minister said, we will be reviewing all these restrictions on a 28-day basis. Of course, we all want to see our local areas get back to as much of normality as they can, as quickly as possible.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

One hundred and nine coach companies have gone bust, with 7,100 people made redundant, which is one sixth of the entire coach industry. Coach companies tell me that one reason for that is that they fall between gaps in support, being classified as neither tourism nor essential travel. Please will the Chancellor look urgently into what specific support can be given to the coach industry? Will the relevant Minister meet me and representatives of the sector to discuss their concerns?

[Rishi Sunak]

I am happy to organise for a relevant Minister to meet the hon. Lady. I hope that those companies—she is right about the difficult time they are experiencing—will have been able to access, for example, the bounce back loans or the coronavirus business interruption loans to help them with cash flow, and ditto with the VAT deferral and time to pay. But I appreciate that it is a difficult time for them, and the best thing we can do is allow more economic activity so they can get their coaches full as quickly as possible.

Economic Update

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend knows well, and he has seen first-hand, what a great job his local businesses have done in ensuring that their premises are safe for us to return to. They have made an enormous effort to be able to welcome us back. With our new eat out to help out discount, we can all play our part in helping to support their businesses and to protect those jobs.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that 13 universities could go bust as a result of covid-19. That will not only reduce choice and opportunity, but create unemployment and damage the local economies where they reside. Can the Chancellor state his commitment to build back better and support social mobility by confirming that no university will be allowed to collapse?

[Rishi Sunak]

My right hon. Friends the Education Secretary and the Business Secretary have already outlined proposals to engage with universities where they face difficulty. In particular, they have put in place measures to deal with the issue of fewer overseas students being here and to protect our higher education research base.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Tuesday 7th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

It has been a pleasure to meet the young entrepreneurs in Hull. Many of these young people faced great adversity before setting up their own businesses, but they have had no income, no support and no grants from the Government. Have these young people been forgotten?

[Rishi Sunak]

These young people have absolutely not been forgotten, and we remain indebted to them for their dynamism in helping to power our recovery. I am delighted that our start-up loans scheme has recently been expanded and is able to provide cash loans to those budding entrepreneurs in her constituency and others. I urge them to have a look at it to see whether it will help fund their plans.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Monday 8th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

The recent Budget provided more than £400 million for children’s services but, beyond money, it is important to note that it is quality of leadership that makes the difference in providing for vulnerable children. The hon. Lady’s own council recently won a prestigious award for being the best council in the country, and its leader remarked that

“we are still able to give residents first class care”.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

11. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on improving local authority support for vulnerable children.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Rishi Sunak)]

I am working closely with colleagues at the Department for Education to ensure that local authorities can properly support vulnerable children. I recently gave evidence to the Communities and Local Government Committee together with the Children’s Minister on that very topic.

[Emma Hardy]

As the Minister is aware, the Select Committee is doing an inquiry into children with special needs and disabilities. One of the things that comes back from all the evidence is the fact that support is often based on the resources available and not on the child’s needs. Will the Minister ensure that funding for the high needs block is based on need and not on historical data?

[Rishi Sunak]

Responsibility for high needs funding rests with the Department for Education, but I would be more than happy to raise that point with my colleagues.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Monday 30th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I could not agree more, and it was a pleasure to meet his local council to understand its model. It has a lot to commend it, and we will consider it as part of our fair funding consultation.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

I am pleased that Labour’s Hull City Council rejected the Secretary of State’s predecessor’s and the local Liberal Democrat councillors’ proposal to spend all its reserves, because we have seen in Northamptonshire how badly that can go wrong. Does the new Secretary of State accept that spending the reserves is an incredibly bad idea?

[Rishi Sunak]

It is worth pointing out that council reserves across the country have actually increased over the past few years and that it is of course for local authorities to decide what prudent level of drawing down may be possible in any given year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Emma Hardy and Rishi Sunak

Monday 12th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

As we have been discussing, the Government have put extra financial resources into social care. It is pleasing to see that over the past year, delayed transfers of care across England attributable to social care have fallen by 34%, showing that the resources we are putting in are making a difference on the ground.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

Since 2010, Hull City Council has been forced to cut its children’s services budget by £37.2 million, which means that it has not had the money that it has needed for early intervention support for families. It is no surprise that the number of looked-after children in Hull has increased by 140—that is 140 children’s lives changed forever. Will the Minister please give authorities such as Hull City Council more money, so that they can give those families support when they need it, before they enter crisis?

[Rishi Sunak]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to highlight the important work that prevention plays. Nobody wants to see a child in need in those circumstances, which is why this Government have committed almost £1 billion to the troubled families programme over this period in the spending review. As recent results have shown, that is reducing the number of children in need after heavy intervention from their key workers in the programme.