Business of the House

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Thursday 6th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

Of course, my hon. Friend understands that I take very seriously my responsibility to represent both the Government in this House and the House as a whole, including within the councils of Government. From my point of view, in my recent experience I do not see any mischief—in the sense that there have been issues on which it was thought appropriate for the House to be recalled when Ministers did not take a suitable initiative—but I will keep this under review.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

This morning the Government issued an important statement about the public voice in relation to onshore wind farms. Three times this morning you have called me, Mr Speaker, and I have asked a similar question about how the statement will affect Wales. I have not received a satisfactory answer. I have been left in a position of deep frustration, and I am sure the people of Wales feel the same. Will my right hon. Friend ensure that we have an early statement clarifying the position, so that people in Wales will know that applications for developments over 50 MW, which are not devolved, will be subject to today’s new guidelines?

[Mr Lansley]

I completely understand my hon. Friend’s concern about this, and his desire to secure proper answers. If I may, I will talk to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales to see how we might expedite a response.

Business of the House

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Thursday 9th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady can of course ask about those issues during the debate on the Queen’s Speech, but as I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone), the immigration Bill will be published later in the Session.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

During yesterday’s excellent Gracious Speech, reference was made to a Bill to make changes to the electoral arrangements in Wales. Given that changes to electoral arrangements in devolved regions are hugely important right across the United Kingdom, will my right hon. Friend ensure that, despite the full legislative programme this Session, adequate time is provided for all Members to make a contribution to the debate about changes to Welsh arrangements?

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend rightly refers to the reference in the Queen’s Speech to a draft Wales Bill. I am grateful for his question, because it gives me the opportunity to make it clear that more than half of the 17 Bills referred to in my written ministerial statement this morning are the subject, either in whole or in part, of pre-legislative scrutiny. That will ensure, I hope, that the issue that he quite properly raises—about the important debate on electoral and constitutional legislation—will be fully scrutinised this Session before the Bill is introduced.

Business of the House

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Thursday 25th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I fear I do not think it will be possible for the Secretary of State to be here today to make a statement or answer an urgent question on that. I also recall that we had exchanges on this issue at business questions, and it has been the subject of meetings that have taken place, in particular with the permanent secretary at the Department for Education, who explained why the move was necessary to help secure the administration cost savings—and I must say that my right hon. Friend the Education Secretary has been exemplary in securing administration cost savings in his Department.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

The National Assembly for Wales has now resolved to take forward the Welsh Government’s proposal to introduce presumed consent into the organ donation system. Will my right hon. Friend ensure that the view of the Department of Health at Westminster is made clear through a written statement on the consideration that has been given to the impact that change will have on the increasingly successful organ donation system in the rest of the United Kingdom?

[Mr Lansley]

As my hon. Friend will be aware, my personal view is that the decision the Welsh Assembly Government are proceeding with is not the right one. From the Government’s point of view, I know that the Department of Health provided evidence in the consultation that illustrated that consequences and difficulties would flow to the organ donation system in England as a consequence of the proposed changes in Wales. If I may, in pursuance of this request I will ask my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary when and how he intends to follow through on those issues and on the concerns expressed at an earlier stage.

Business of the House

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Thursday 18th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

As far as I could see, the House was happy when I published a calendar for the year ahead last October. Most of the issues the hon. Gentleman raises are a simple consequence of that calendar. In so far as they are not, they appear to be the consequence of his engaging in speculation about the date of Prorogation. The date of Prorogation, of course, has not been set.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

Sheep farmers in upland areas of Britain have suffered unprecedented disaster as a result of recent snowfalls. Today’s written statement by the Minister with responsibility for agriculture, my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr Heath), is welcome, and I have just learned that I have secured an Adjournment debate on this matter next Tuesday. Will the Leader of the House encourage hon. Members who want to represent the people who are suffering in their communities to attend that debate, where their contributions will be very welcome?

[Mr Lansley]

Many people across the country, including those who live far from the upland areas where sheep farming is pursued, will none the less have felt distressed about what happened to hill farmers and their sheep. I declare an interest, as my sister-in-law is responsible for sheep farming in a part of north Wales. Many people living in my hon. Friend’s part of north Wales have been particularly hard hit, and I am glad that my hon. Friend the agriculture Minister was able to announce details of additional support today. I hope Members will support my hon. Friend’s Adjournment debate next week. This would demonstrate not only that practical support will be available to those affected, but that a great deal of shared feeling exists about the circumstances that have hit these people so hard.

Business of the House

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I cannot promise an immediate debate, but I reassure my hon. Friend that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and UK Border Force published their latest strategy to tackle tobacco smuggling in April 2011, building on success already achieved in tackling tobacco fraud. Since the launch of the first tobacco anti-fraud strategy more than a decade ago, the illicit market for cigarettes has reduced from 21% to 9%, and from 61% to 38% for hand-rolling tobacco.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

Yesterday’s Budget was very good news for Wales and added more than £100 million to the Welsh Assembly budget— £161 million for capital investment. Will my right hon. Friend arrange an opportunity for the House to consider the impact on Wales of investment decisions in England by the UK Government? Cross-border investment is hugely important to my Montgomeryshire constituents as well as to the efficient operation of devolution.

[Mr Lansley]

I cannot promise an immediate debate, but I hope that opportunities will continue to manifest themselves for us to debate those important cross-border issues. Some decisions that have been made—for example, on the electrification of the rail line in south Wales to Cardiff and Swansea—are tremendously important for economic recovery in Wales. If the Welsh Assembly Government have any resources available, it might be an opportunity to reconsider what seems to be the completely misplaced priority of cutting the NHS budget by 8% in real terms in Wales, with all the damaging consequences illustrated in Wales itself.

Business of the House

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Thursday 7th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend knows that the NHS staff survey this year shows an increased proportion of members of staff who feel they know how to raise issues, but unfortunately no corresponding increase—in fact, a very slight reduction—in the number who fear that their position might be prejudiced if they do so, although the majority still feel that they can and would raise these issues. As he knows, we have to arrive at a position where all staff feel entirely confident and empowered to raise any issues affecting the safety of patients and if necessary—although it should not be necessary—to blow the whistle if they are not being listened to.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

In responding to a debate in Westminster Hall yesterday, the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker), made clear his view that consideration of planning approval for onshore wind farms should take place at the same time as planning approval for essential associated infrastructure. In mid-Wales, however, a planning inspector appointed by the Minister has taken exactly the opposite view. May we have a statement outlining the Government’s position?

[Mr Lansley]

I will ask the Minister of State to respond to my hon. Friend on that issue and, if there is any question of more general application, to report to the House.

Business of the House

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Thursday 28th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I do not recognise the point that the hon. Gentleman is making. This Government are pursuing issues relating to constitutional reform. We have reformed Parliament in the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, we have changed the arrangements in this House and we are taking forward measures relating to the recall of MPs. As a Conservative, I always like the need for constitutional reform to be proven by evidence, and that is how we are proceeding.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

Council-provided services in Montgomeryshire are under threat of devastation because of the legal costs of defending decisions, arrived at democratically, to refuse planning permission for wind farms. The foreign-owned energy leviathans that are taking those actions seem to have unlimited access to subsidies to pay for their costs. May we have a statement on the Government’s position on this matter, to determine how democracy might be retained in Montgomeryshire?

[Mr Lansley]

I recall that my hon. Friend and I have discussed the issue previously at business questions and I will, of course, go back to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. We want to make sure that there is a kind of equality of arms before the law so that people feel that they are not inhibited from getting access to planning opportunities or planning decisions simply because of the deep pockets of those seeking planning approval.

Business of the House

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Thursday 31st January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Gentleman has made an important point, which I completely understand. The length of time that it took for the FSA to undertake its investigation, and its explanation of the difficulties of investigating individual cases, demonstrate the scale of the problem in relation to any individual policy, but today’s report indicates the need for the sector across the board to try not to deepen the harm done to companies, in terms of the policies that they have taken up and also in terms of where they stand at present. I will consult my colleagues on possible opportunities for a debate, but it might also be possible to arrange one by means of an application to the Backbench Business Committee.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

My local planning authority, Powys county council, is a small, hard-pressed rural authority which is currently having to divert £2.8 million of its funds to defend its rejection of wind farm applications in a public inquiry, while developers have access to unlimited moneys which are demanded from consumers. This is a David versus Goliath position. May we have an urgent debate on the way in which appeals are funded? That would give us an opportunity to demonstrate that the Government are not entirely on the side of Goliath.

[Mr Lansley]

I hope that my hon. Friend will forgive me when I say that I did not listen to all the questions to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and his fellow Ministers, which I think may have touched on the issues that he has raised. I will of course discuss those issues with them, but it must be said that there often seems to be a disparity between the resources available to those making planning applications and those available to the—sometimes small—local authorities that respond to them.

Business of the House

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Thursday 17th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I will say two things. First, I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is wrong. The Prime Minister will speak tomorrow in the Netherlands as Prime Minister. [Interruption.] The position is very clear—he will speak as Prime Minister and if, during the course of that speech, he refers to the Conservative manifesto or beyond the next election, he will, of course, be referring beyond the scope of the coalition agreement. That is quite usual—there is nothing unusual about it at all.

I do not have the figures in front of me, but if the hon. Gentleman wants to have a debate about the cost of ministerial travel in this Parliament relative to its cost in the previous Parliament, we would be very happy to have it.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

I have raised in previous business questions the potential negative impact on the organ donation system in England of plans by the Welsh Government to change the system in Wales to one based on presumed consent. Yesterday I received a copy of a letter to the Welsh Government from the UK’s foremost expert on the issue, pointing out that the consultation process adopted by the Welsh Government was fundamentally flawed. Will my right hon. Friend arrange an early opportunity for MPs to discuss this crucial issue before damage is done and it is too late?

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. These issues do not relate solely to Wales; they also relate to England, because they have direct implications for the organ donation system in England. I made that clear to the Welsh Assembly Government when I was Secretary of State for Health and I know that my right hon. Friend the Welsh Secretary will have done so, too. I do not know what opportunities there may be for a debate on the matter in this House or, indeed, in the Welsh Grand Committee, but I will certainly discuss it with my colleagues.

Business of the House

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Thursday 10th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

That is an important example for others to follow. In Cambridgeshire, I might say, we are also seeing resources being focused on the front line and an increase in police numbers. It is important to achieve that. There are good examples, and I hope that we can find opportunities when they can be set out for others to follow.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

In a week when a hugely welcome new renal dialysis unit opened in Welshpool, on the Welsh side of the England-Wales border, and it was announced that Shrewsbury prison, on the English side, was to close, may I ask my right hon. Friend to programme a general debate on the implications for provision of public services that straddle the border, in the light of the advent of devolution?

[Mr Lansley]

I am interested in what my hon. Friend says. On health services, in particular, I know about the sensitive border issues when it comes to accessing services between the two countries, and that needs to be got right. I will raise that matter with my hon. Friends to see whether there is an opportunity for a discussion. Otherwise, of course, it could be considered by the Welsh Grand Committee. I would just say that it is important that we get the financing right, and I encourage the Welsh Assembly Government to work with the Department of Health to set that financing, so that patients can exercise real choice over where they go, either side of the border, in order to access the best services.