Migration and Border Security

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Yvette Cooper

Monday 2nd December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right. The former Immigration Minister and now shadow Justice Secretary also said that the net migration figures were

“a day of shame for the Conservative Party.”

They might need a little bit more shame on the Opposition Front Benches.

[Sir Gavin Williamson (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)]

Can the Home Secretary set out how many hotels have been moved into housing asylum seekers since 4 July? Will she commit to updating the House regularly as to which hotels have been repurposed for that use?

[Yvette Cooper]

I know that the Immigration Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle), has already answered some of the questions that the right hon. Gentleman has raised. He is right to express concern about asylum hotels. There are now 220 asylum hotels in use. He will know that his Government opened 400 asylum hotels. We have had to deal with the collapse in asylum decision making. In the last few months before the general election, the Conservatives went down to just a few hundred decisions being taken a week, rather than thousands of decisions each week. That was deeply damaging, and we have had to deal with it, so that we can turn things around by clearing the asylum backlog and ending hotel use.

Police Accountability

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Yvette Cooper

Wednesday 23rd October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend makes an important point: we need to see progress on the Met police’s race action plan, which responds to serious findings in the Casey review. That review raised wider issues as well, but it is essential that that action is taken. Both the Mayor and the Met commissioner have made strong commitments to ensure progress continues to be made, and I know that London MPs will also want to see that action taken. We cannot have reports released without follow-up.

[Sir Gavin Williamson (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)]

I very much welcome the Home Secretary’s statement. There is a lot of concern in my constituency about the fact that Sergeant Blake was prosecuted in the first place. We are all conscious of the amazing work of our wonderful police to keep us safe every day, so will the Home Secretary set out in more detail what additional protections will be introduced to ensure that our police are protected as they go about their job of protecting us?

[Yvette Cooper]

I thank the right hon. Member for his question. Under the reforms that we have set out following wide examination of the different evidence, where there are investigations—and there will need to be investigations in individual cases—they can happen much more speedily. The threshold for referring cases from the Independent Office for Police Conduct to the CPS is no longer lower than it is for members of the public when they are investigated for a crime. That is not justified or appropriate, and it is right that that threshold should be brought back in line.

We also want to ensure that issues of training and specialist capabilities are taken into account at a very early stage in investigations, and we will be revising the guidance for investigations to ensure that happens. The Attorney General has asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to review CPS guidance on charging in cases where officers use force in the line of duty, as I said in my statement. There is a series of areas where we are ensuring that the system can work more effectively, but, crucially, this is about raising confidence for the public as well as for police officers.

Education: Return in January

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Yvette Cooper

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

I can absolutely confirm to my hon. Friend that testing will be available both to students and to staff members in secondary school settings. Importantly, that means that we will be in a position to reduce the number of children and teachers who are having to self-isolate, and that it will be easier for education settings to work fully and as normally as possible. Most importantly, however, students will be in a position to maximise the amount of time they spend studying.

[Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab) [V]]

New College Pontefract is currently having to organise twice-weekly mass testing for 2,500 sixth-formers, but it has had no allocation of funding and no contact from the military. The college is having to find additional staff, and it has no space in which to do the tests.

Why have the Government not given schools and colleges a clear allocation of funding that will cover additional staff, Disclosure and Barring Service checks, and the other practicalities of delivering mass testing? They all want to do it, but the support from Ministers and the Department for Education is always too late or too chaotic. Frankly, they are not getting the support they need to keep children safely in education.

[Gavin Williamson]

I will certainly ensure that where schools can get that information is passed on to the right hon. Lady. It was published and made available to colleges and schools before Christmas, but I will ensure that my private office forwards it on. Information is readily available, and should hopefully be of assistance to her in her duties as a constituency Member of Parliament.

Students’ Return to Universities

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Yvette Cooper

Tuesday 29th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There should be the same set of rules across the board. There is a real cost to not opening up our universities, as there is a cost to not opening up our schools. The cost is not in money: it is in the missed opportunities for those youngsters who want to study to be a doctor, a dentist, a nurse or a teacher, or to train to become an engineer. Denying them the opportunity to be able to return, to learn and to have the opportunities that so many in this House have had would do them an injustice. That is why it has been right to make sure that young people are able to go back to university and benefit from what so many Members in this House have also benefited from.

[Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab)]

First-year students have already had to endure the Government’s chaotic handling of A-level results and now the predictable campus outbreaks, but without sufficient testing or support in place, and the very distressing threat to them and their worried parents that they might not be able to return for Christmas. Will the Secretary of State clarify the point in his statement where he talks about ending learning early? Is he proposing now that all students should have to self-isolate at the end of term, so that they can return safely for Christmas? If so, why not, instead, pursue mass testing with universities so that those students can safely go about their lives and return safely home?

[Gavin Williamson]

The right hon. Lady obviously listened to only a part of the statement. I said that all youngsters who want to be able to return home will be able to do so. We will look at where there are specific cases. She will be fully aware that many universities end at different times for Christmas, but, where there are specific cases and specific local circumstances, we will be working with the university sector to look at shifting to online learning solely to be able to ensure that all students have the benefit of being able to return home to be with their families for Christmas. We envisage that that will cover only a very small number of universities.

Education Settings: Wider Opening

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Yvette Cooper

Tuesday 9th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

My absolute ambition is to see all children back in September but over the coming weeks it is to maximise the number of children who are able to benefit by going into schools. My hon. Friend raises an important point: this is about not just the R rate, but what we are doing on track and trace, and everything we can do to minimise transmission within schools to make them a safe environment for people to work in and learn in.

[Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab)]

The problem, listening to the Education Secretary, is that he just does not convey any sense that the Government have a grip or a proper plan for the future. Let me ask him specifically: what support is he going to guarantee for the 16 to 18-year-olds, who feel particularly let down? They have lost their final term, when they might have been getting additional support to get an apprenticeship, a course or a place for the future. Currently, they are getting nothing. When will the guarantee for them be in place?

Educational Settings

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Yvette Cooper

Wednesday 18th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

I am sure that the schools to which my hon. Friend refers will have children who will have an education, health and care plan, which is the reason why they attend that school, so they would be included in the category of vulnerable.

[Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab)]

Many parents will think that this is the right thing to do for their kids and for us to stop the virus spreading, but they will also be really worried that they just cannot afford to stop work to look after them and cannot get the grandparents to step in. Given that the Secretary of State said this situation could last for some time, will he look at urgent financial support for parents—not just of those on free school meals, but all parents in these circumstances—or at working with local councils on free childcare options in much smaller or one-to-one settings, which could help?

[Gavin Williamson]

That is certainly something we have been discussing with the Treasury and something that we will be highlighting as part of a wider range of economic issues that the Chancellor recognises he needs to address.