Independent Advocates for Trafficked Children

Debate between Fiona Mactaggart and Gary Streeter

Tuesday 28th June 2016 Westminster Hall

[Fiona Mactaggart]

That is exactly the point I was coming on to. [Interruption.]

[Mr Gary Streeter (in the Chair)]

Order. We have a Division. The right hon. Lady will have to answer that intervention when we get back. The sitting is suspended for 15 minutes. If there are two votes, please come back as quickly as possible.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gary Streeter (in the Chair)]

We are waiting for one or two colleagues to return, but I think that we are able to get under way, so I call Fiona Mactaggart to answer the intervention that was made 20 minutes ago.

[Fiona Mactaggart]

Thank you very much, Mr Streeter. The hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald talked about the complex factors that lead to children going missing. As Professor Ravi Kohli, who led the evaluation team, told a joint meeting of the all-party groups on human trafficking and modern slavery and on runaway and missing children and adults, the circumstances in which a trafficked child goes missing from care are complex. Many factors may be involved and may need to be addressed to provide a solution. An advocate can help to mitigate those factors by raising awareness of the risks among other professionals, pressing for the provision of safer accommodation and building strong relationships with the child, but other action is also needed. As the evaluation report said, the circumstances in which children go missing require further investigation to ensure that we put in place the most appropriate measures to prevent that from happening.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Fiona Mactaggart and Gary Streeter

Thursday 9th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Streeter]

My hon. Friend raises an interesting idea, which I will certainly take back to the Electoral Commission. This is perhaps more a matter for the Cabinet Office than for the commission, but my hon. Friend has raised it in this forum and it is worth investigating further.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

I was a little disconcerted by one thing the hon. Gentleman said in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Tom Blenkinsop), which was that electoral registration officers will be informed of what is happening on 5 February. EROs are operating in local authorities, which are pressed for cash, and if they do not already know about this important day, the opportunity to increase electoral registration, particularly in constituencies such as mine, where there are many hard-to-reach voters, will be lost. What is the hon. Gentleman doing about that?

[Mr Streeter]

The hon. Lady raises an important point. She may be interested to know that the Electoral Commission has only just been officially notified of the national voter registration day, which is why it is now in the process of informing EROs. Obviously, until the Electoral Commission knows about something, it cannot pass the news on to the people to whom it is responsible.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Fiona Mactaggart and Gary Streeter

Thursday 7th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

1. What support the Electoral Commission is offering to parliamentary constituencies with a high proportion of ethnic minority voters to assist with individual registration.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon)]

The Electoral Commission will provide guidance and support to electoral registration officers on how best to ensure that people are registered under the new system. The guidance will advise on how best to reach those who are least likely to be registered or to respond to the change, including certain black and minority ethnic groups. Electoral registration officers should use their knowledge of the local community to ensure that they do that as effectively as possible. The Electoral Commission will also run a public awareness campaign targeted at those groups during the transition.

[Fiona Mactaggart]

I think that we need more than that. The data-matching pilots, the evaluation of which was published in December, revealed that in Tower Hamlets, data matching connected with only 55% of voters, whereas in Wigan the figure was over 80%. We know that the mismatch between the registration of ethnic minority eligible voters and white eligible voters is about 10%. Therefore, should the Electoral Commission not work with electoral registration officers in areas with large ethnic minority communities to look at new methods and resources that could ensure that individual registration works for all of us?

[Mr Streeter]

The hon. Lady raises an important point. The Electoral Commission is working with electoral registration officers, particularly in areas where there are hard-to-reach groups. However, electoral registration officers should rely on their own local experience and expertise to get the job done. It might help the hon. Lady to know that data matching is expected to ensure that 70% of people across the country will transfer automatically to the new register. As I have said before, anyone who is on the register in 2014 will be transferred automatically to the May 2015 register.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Fiona Mactaggart and Gary Streeter

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

9. What steps the Electoral Commission is taking to prepare for the introduction of individual electoral registration.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon)]

The Electoral Commission has supported the introduction of individual electoral registration since 2003. It is taking a number of steps to prepare for this important chance. Subject to the successful passage of the Electoral Registration and Administration Bill, the commission will be responsible for developing guidance and setting performance standards for electoral registration officers, conducting research into the equity and completeness of the electoral registers and planning national public awareness campaigns to support the transition.

[Fiona Mactaggart]

Given the admission by Republican Senators and officials in the US that their election law changes were designed to suppress minority and Democrat votes, how can we be sure that individual registration in Britain does not have the same effect?

[Mr Streeter]

The hon. Lady raises an important point. We all want to increase the number of people who register to vote in elections. I remind her that this measure was introduced by her own party when in government. The Electoral Commission is confident that if the Government follow its advice there is no reason at all why the number of electors registered for the 2015 general election should not be at a very high level.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Fiona Mactaggart and Gary Streeter

Tuesday 30th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Streeter]

Under current law, the BBC and other broadcast organisations must have regard to the commission’s views when deciding their policy and rules about any referendum campaign broadcasts. Discussions have already taken place, and the Electoral Commission supports the BBC’s proposal to allocate broadcasts on the referendum only to those organisations designated by the commission, which will ensure a fair balance between the yes and no campaigns.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

2. What discussions the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission has had with the Local Government Boundary Commission for England on the likely effects on its future work programme of implementation of the provisions of the Parliamentary Voting and Constituencies Bill.

[Mr Streeter]

The Speaker’s Committee and the Local Government Boundary Commission for England have held no such discussions. The LGBCE advises me that parliamentary constituency boundaries are not a statutory or material consideration in its review work.

[Fiona Mactaggart]

But is the hon. Gentleman not worried, as I am, about the huge variation in ward boundaries in the most recent LGBCE assessments? In the last two, there has been up to a 30% difference between wards in Stoke and Cheshire in the number of voters per ward. Will that not make it much harder to ensure that wards will not be split in the new constituencies envisaged in the Bill? I think most Members would rather avoid that.

[Mr Streeter]

It is certainly the case that there are variations in the number of electors in certain wards, which is one reason why, in the hon. Lady’s own constituency, the LGBCE is about to start work on reforming the wards in Slough borough council. Whether the Boundary Commission for England will take those variations into account is very much a matter for itself, not for the Electoral Commission.

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Debate between Fiona Mactaggart and Gary Streeter

Monday 25th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Temporary Chair (Mr Gary Streeter)]

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. I am sure that his comments have been heard by those on the Treasury Bench and the House is grateful to him for his assistance.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Streeter. I have participated in many of the debates on this Bill, but it has been drawn to my attention that the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper) suggested that I had earlier today requested that there be fewer hours spent scrutinising this Bill. What I specifically said was that there should be fewer hours after 10 pm spent scrutinising this Bill, and we would have been able to achieve that had he and his colleagues acceded to the Opposition request for an additional day to debate it.

[The Temporary Chair]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady. That is not a point of order for the Chair, but I am sure that she is pleased to have put the record straight.

New Clause 7

Variation in limit of number of holders of Ministerial offices

‘(1) The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 is amended as follows.

(2) For section 2(1) substitute—

“(1) The number of holders of offices specified in Schedule 2 to this Act (in this section referred to as Ministerial offices) entitled to sit and vote in the House of Commons at any one time, whether paid or unpaid, must not exceed 95 if the number of constituencies in the United Kingdom is 650.”.

(3) After section 2(1) insert—

“(1A) If the number of constituencies in the United Kingdom decreases below 650, the limit on the number of holders of Ministerial offices entitled to sit and vote in the House of Commons referred to in section 2(1) must be decreased by at least a proportionate amount.”.

(4) In subsection (2), after “subsection (1)”, insert “or subsection (1A)”.’.—(Mr Charles Walker.)

Brought up, and read the First time.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Fiona Mactaggart and Gary Streeter

Tuesday 27th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Streeter]

I am afraid I do not know the precise answer to that question, but no doubt the Deputy Prime Minister will be in touch with my hon. Friend to make the position clear.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

The extra jobs that the Electoral Commission will have to do in helping with individual registration and so forth will cost money if the system is going to work. Will the hon. Gentleman agree to be the champion of the additional resources that the commission will require, and will he argue for them with his colleagues in Government?

[Mr Streeter]

I am happy to be considered to be a champion on that issue. I have little doubt that the Electoral Commission, which has an important role to play in overseeing the political processes in this country, will receive sufficient resources to enable it to do its job.