Industrial Action

Debate between Grant Shapps and Laura Farris

Tuesday 10th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I want to pick up the hon. Lady on those figures, because the NHS itself says that it does not recognise those numbers. When we have a strike such as the one on Wednesday by ambulance workers, there is no way that she or anyone else in this House can realistically argue that people will somehow be better off without a national minimum safe level of service. That is what we will focus on, and that is why she and Opposition Members should support this Bill.

[Laura Farris (Newbury) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend was right to mention other European countries, but he could have added to that list South Africa, Argentina, Australia and Canada, all of which are members of the International Labour Organisation and have minimum service levels in essential services. In every single case, the ILO has reviewed the MSL and determined it to be a necessary and proportionate restriction of the article 11 right to strike. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the British people are entitled to exactly the same lawful protection and to have their basic needs met at times of industrial action in essential services?

[Grant Shapps]

It is worth reminding the House that my hon. Friend is an acknowledged expert in employment law. I am grateful for her thoughts and clarification that the International Labour Organisation says that the legislation is compatible with article 11. I have been able to sign off the European Court of Human Rights compatibility on this measure. As she rightly points out, it is not just friends and neighbours in Europe but around the world where strikes are, in many cases, banned—not what we are proposing—and minimum safety levels are in place. There is nothing illegitimate about what we are doing. It fits with the ILO, and who signs up to the ILO? The TUC and many other unions besides.

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse: Final Report

Debate between Grant Shapps and Laura Farris

Monday 24th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. One problem with tackling child sexual abuse is that it can happen in so many different settings and environments that it is difficult to have one central location always to deal with it. But what we can do is provide the services, expertise and some of the different initiatives I referred to in my comments to help bring that support. I absolutely agree with him and I am determined to do that, on behalf of all the children who have been abused and to prevent further abuse in future.

[Laura Farris (Newbury) (Con)]

I, too, pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) for establishing the inquiry, and to Professor Jay for her report. I know something about how difficult and painstaking the evidence-gathering exercise was, because I was a barrister on the inquiry for a year in 2017. From Dolphin Square to the Catholic Church, from young offenders institutes to residential schools, the findings of the inquiry reveal the extent of prolonged child abuse, often in places where children were meant to be kept safe. Repeatedly it was found that if they complained about it, they were accused of lying or were even blamed for it happening in the first place.

There are multiple lessons from the report, but I would like to ask my right hon. Friend about the specific findings in relation to sexual predators—paedophiles—who travel overseas to abuse children. The report finds that civil orders restricting foreign travel are often underused and ineffective, because they only prohibit travel to a named country, which means that the perpetrator can circumvent that restriction by taking a different route. Will he say what the Home Office is doing to tighten up the restrictions in that area specifically?

[Grant Shapps]

First, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for her work in 2017—these cannot have been easy pieces of legal work to do. She is right to say that it is never the fault of the victims and we need to make sure that the response from officialdom is never to disbelieve and never to blame the victim either. She raises an important point about the narrow scope of those civil orders. We will certainly be undertaking to look at those and how they could operate much more efficiently.

P&O Ferries

Debate between Grant Shapps and Laura Farris

Wednesday 30th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

The simple answer, in this case, is that we want to stop it ever getting that far and we will do that by forcing such employers to pay the minimum wage in the first place. I should clarify that we are not against the idea that sometimes, unfortunately, redundancies occur. We know that and we saw it in the pandemic. We are pleased that, after the pandemic, unemployment is as low or lower than before. We understand that business has to change, but it is unacceptable to deliberately set out to break the law when it comes to consultations, and that is what we are focusing on. These nine measures will ensure that we do not get there in the first place and that more punitive measures are in place.

[Laura Farris (Newbury) (Con)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on his excellent work and, particularly, the creative and robust approach that he has taken to closing the national minimum wage loophole, which makes this whole thing a complete waste of money for P&O. Can I press him further on what he said about future injunctive relief? Will he consider enlarging the powers of the High Court to order a mandatory 90-day consultation where there has been no consultation? It was apparent from Hebblethwaite’s appearance before the Select Committee that he saw that as a tick-box exercise rather than a meaningful engagement with the unions to try to minimise redundancies and mitigate the consequences that can—and often does—work.