Oral Answers to Questions

Grahame Morris Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paterson]

I wholeheartedly concur with my hon. Friend’s comments about the real difficulties faced in Malmesbury, which was visited by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State.

The first meeting I had outside the office was with the ABI in September, and we have been working closely in recent weeks. We are involved in detailed negotiations, as the statement of principles was always going to come to an end in 2013. We want to achieve a better system of insurance that is as comprehensive as possible, provides affordability, and is not a huge burden on the taxpayer. Those detailed negotiations are continuing. The ball is in the ABI’s court and we look forward to hearing from it shortly.

[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

13. The floods in the past few weeks have highlighted the importance of affordable home insurance for home owners in constituencies such as Easington, Wansbeck, and across the north-east and the whole country. We were promised a deal on flood insurance by July this year. We heard from the Prime Minister that Oliver Letwin is in charge of the negotiations. Will the Secretary of State tell us why this policy has been so badly delayed? Will he clarify the position to the House?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman was referring to the right hon. Member for West Dorset (Mr Letwin).

[Grahame M. Morris]

I apologise.

[Mr Paterson]

I remind the hon. Gentleman that the statement of principles was always going to run out in 2013. That was confirmed in 2008, and we inherited absolutely nothing from his Government. We have been working closely with the ABI. We are in detailed negotiations and I totally agree with him that we want to achieve a system that is affordable and as comprehensive as possible, and which is not a burden on the taxpayer. We are working towards that. These are detailed negotiations, but I cannot conduct them in public or on the Floor of the House of Commons.

Flooding

Grahame Morris Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paterson]

That is why we are putting this huge sum of money into flood defence schemes and encouraging partnerships with local government and, on the ground, with individuals and farmers, such as the one my hon. Friend cites, working with local drainage boards and councils to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach.

[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

I would like to thank the Secretary of State for not blaming Opposition Members for the weather and join him in paying tribute to the emergency services, especially the fire and rescue services in the north-east, particularly in Durham and Teesside, who have been doing such a terrific job. Does he share my concern that in areas such as my constituency we are gradually losing resilience due to cuts in front-line fire and rescue budgets at a time when floods are becoming an increasingly common phenomenon?

Oral Answers to Questions

Grahame Morris Excerpts

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paice]

I hesitate to challenge my hon. Friend, but that waste stopped four or five years ago. We no longer have set-aside. The worry now is the Commission’s proposal effectively to reintroduce a 7% set-aside as part of the ecological focus areas that the Commissioner proposes. We do not believe that that is the right way forward. We have to produce more food, but we must do so sustainably. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said earlier, we are sorry that the proposals, so far, do not meet that challenge.

[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

T5. May I draw the Minister’s attention to early-day motion 2273 in my name, which has attracted more than 60 signatures from Members of all sides of the House and calls for the implementation of mandatory CCTV in UK slaughterhouses? It is disturbing that around 90% of cases of animal cruelty in UK slaughterhouses do not result in a successful prosecution. Will the Minister consider introducing a pilot scheme to trial such an approach?

[Mr Paice]

Animal Aid believes that around 70% of slaughterhouses already have CCTV. Regarding the recent, quite proper, furore over cruelty to pigs at what was then called Cheale Meats, it is important to point out that CCTV cameras were there—albeit perhaps pointed in the wrong direction—so they are not the final panacea that some people believe them to be. Nevertheless, we are considering them as part of a wider-ranging package to ensure that there is no cruelty to animals in those last few moments of their lives.

Oral Answers to Questions

Grahame Morris Excerpts

Thursday 24th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

17. What estimate she has made of her Department’s expenditure on flood defences in 2010-11.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mrs Caroline Spelman)]

DEFRA’s estimate of its expenditure in 2010 to 2011 on flood and coastal erosion risk management is currently £664 million. This does not include local authority expenditure, estimated at £87 million, which is funded by Government through the formula grant.

[Grahame M. Morris]

In welcoming the new ministerial team to the Front Bench, may I point out that on 23 March last year the right hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert), the then shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said that it was

“essential that the Government takes a strong lead and implements the key recommendations from the Pitt review”

on flood defences? This was at a time when Labour was committed to protecting flood defence expenditure, which is very important in the north-east—in Morpeth and Carlisle—in view of the recent floods. Will cuts to her Department mean that key recommendations from the Pitt review will not now be implemented?

[Mrs Spelman]

I can give the hon. Gentleman an absolute assurance, because the coalition agreement states our commitment to taking forward the findings of the Pitt review on the 2007 floods. We are considering how best to put this into effect, against the difficult spending background, and as he will have heard earlier from my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, this year, because the Environment Agency was ahead of the game with the amount of flood defences it had provided, there is no question of this important front-line service being compromised. In the spending review we will of course give priority to flood defences.