Under-occupancy Penalty

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 28th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Will the Minister —[Interruption.] Mr Speaker, I apologise, but I have lost my voice and cannot shout.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman says that he has lost his voice, which saddens me. The least that we owe the hon. Gentleman is a degree of quietude so that we might detect what he has to say.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. On a point of fact, will the Minister and his officials by the end of today be able to supply me and all other Welsh MPs with a list of how many people who are in households where there are victims of domestic violence or disabled children will be affected if this decision is upheld? On a point of common decency, if he and his Ministers are unable to issue an apology today, if the decision is upheld, will he then apologise?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Wednesday 13th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, I call the Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Swansea bay tidal lagoon and the other potential lagoons that may result from it provide amazing opportunities for exports of intellectual property, technology and supply chains across south Wales. Will the Secretary of State at least commit to making it happen and doing it as soon as possible?

Food Banks

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Wednesday 17th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I know you have just come into the Chair, so I shall be brief. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was here at the start of the debate, but has chosen not to take part, while the Minister who I understand is to wind up the debate was not here for the opening remarks or interventions. Bearing in mind the importance of this debate, that seems disrespectful to me, as it will seem to others listening to the debate, not just us as parliamentarians. Will you give some guidance on the rules governing who should be here and when?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. I shall be corrected if I am wrong, but my understanding is that the Minister had another engagement of a ministerial and parliamentary character elsewhere on the estate—I think in Westminster Hall.

Point of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Wednesday 26th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I was pleased to give some short notice of this point of order on an issue that goes to the heart of Government transparency, accountability to Parliament and potential inappropriate lobbying of Ministers and a former chief executive of the Food Standards Agency. It relates to a potential announcement on campylobacter tomorrow and it is important that we have the information.

On 12 November I wrote to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Cabinet Office and the Secretary of State for Health, asking them to respond to these allegations so that the individual could be cleared of inappropriate lobbying, which would be a breach of his terms of conduct on leaving the FSA—and potentially a breach of the ministerial code as well. To her credit, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responded to me within seven days—on 19 November. The Cabinet Office, after follow-up letters, e-mails and telephone calls, is on the job and tells me it can respond by 8 December. I have received no response whatever from the Health Secretary or Department of Health.

I ask for your help and guidance on how to expedite the responses. It is a critical issue for the individual concerned and the conduct of Departments. Parliament and the public need to know the answer before any statement is made—possibly tomorrow.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. If I heard him correctly, he said that I had had some modest advance notice. I am sorry to inform him that I was not aware of his intended point of order and, therefore, I have not had an opportunity to reflect on its contents. I note that he ascribes considerable urgency to the matter. He is dextrous in his use of parliamentary devices and can no doubt repair to the Table Office to table further questions if he is dissatisfied.

Also, immediately to his left sits no less a figure than the shadow Leader of the House, who might think it appropriate to raise the matter at business questions tomorrow. If she has a miscellany of other matters to raise and does not wish to raise this issue, the hon. Gentleman might seek to catch my eye at business questions himself. Ministers from the Department of Health will certainly be conscious of the matter by now or very soon. The hon. Gentleman is fortunate also in that the Leader of the House is sitting resplendent on the Treasury Bench and will therefore be aware of his angst on this matter. We will leave it there for now.

Bill Presented

Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Secretary Theresa May, supported by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary Philip Hammond, Secretary Michael Fallon, Danny Alexander and James Brokenshire, presented a Bill to make provision in relation to terrorism; to make provision about retention of communications data, about information, authority to carry and security in relation to air, sea and rail transport and about reviews by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission against refusals to issue certificates of naturalisation; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time tomorrow, and to be printed (Bill 127) with explanatory notes (Bill 127-EN).

Select committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 3rd July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am most grateful to the hon. Lady for her comprehensive statement, and the House is obliged to her for providing Members with a helping hand through her graphic descriptions of what she had in mind. It is always useful, in my experience, to have a bit of information.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

There is much to be commended and debated in this welcome report, and I hope we will have the opportunity to do so in short order, not least the acknowledgement that:

“Food security is not simply about becoming more self-sufficient in food production.”

as well as the imperative for the UK to boost its productivity for domestic and export reasons.

Why does the Committee feel it necessary, as its first recommendation, to urge the Government to

“identify Defra as the lead Department for food security”

given that that should be the Department’s raison d’être and a core part of its mission? Why is it necessary to highlight that, even though it is welcome?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Wednesday 14th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Huw Irranca-Davies.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

No. 4, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

No, the hon. Gentleman misses the point. His question has been grouped and his moment is now.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

I apologise, Mr Speaker. I misunderstood.

[Mr Speaker]

He was too busy looking at his iPhone. Let us hear his question.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

I am rightly reprimanded, Mr Speaker. I must pay attention.

On the basis that the head of European operations has made it clear that to threaten exit from the EU would be cutting off our nose to spite our face, and that 14,000 jobs in Ford Bridgend and in Dagenham would rely on our not leaving the EU, will the right hon. Gentleman say that he, as the Secretary of State for Wales responsible for protecting those jobs, is personally committed to keeping Wales within the UK and the European Union?

UN Syrian Refugees Programme

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Monday 20th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

[Interruption.]—I call Mr Huw Irranca-Davies.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I do not want the hon. Gentleman to think that I normally have to take a deep breath before I hear him speak. I am delighted to hear what he has to say, even though I do not yet know what it is. I am sure that he does, however; or at least, I hope so.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

I do not blame you for taking a deep breath before I speak, Mr Speaker. The purpose of these urgent questions is for the Minister, first, to outline what work the Government are doing and, secondly, to listen to the will of the House. May I urge him, once again, to listen to the voices in all parts of this House that are saying that it is not a binary choice between the excellent humanitarian aid the UK Government and UK people are currently gifting to the region, and receiving here in this country a few of the most vulnerable children? We should be doing both, and the Minister should listen to the voices from these Houses of Parliament.

European Union (Referendum) Bill

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Friday 22nd November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I hope it is a point of order.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

It is a genuine point of order, because I did not want the House to be inadvertently misled in any way. I simply want to put on record the fact that common fisheries negotiations were well advanced under the previous Labour Government. [Interruption.] I had to make the point.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman has made his point. It was not a point of order, as I rather feared it would not be.

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 5th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman both for the fact of his point of order and for notice of his intention to raise it with me. However, the issue he has raised, though of seminal importance, is not an issue of procedure with which the Chair can deal. The hon. Gentleman is drawing attention to what he believes to be, and what I think I can probably best describe as, an equivocation by The Guardian. That is a matter he must pursue by other means. I know that he has already led a well attended debate on the subject in Westminster Hall. He may well wish to try to continue that debate by other means. He is well aware of the location of the Table Office in the House, and he is a dextrous user of parliamentary procedure. We will leave it there for today.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I will keep it brief. The last time we had an opportunity to debate the badger culls linked to bovine tuberculosis was in an Opposition day debate on 5 October. In that debate, the evidence on which the House made its decisions included statements from the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in which he said:

“Evidence suggests that at least 70% of the badgers in the areas must be removed.”—[Official Report, 23 October 2012; Vol. 551, c. 836.]

I further quote:

“It would be wrong to go ahead if those on the ground cannot be confident”—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I recognise and respect the hon. Gentleman’s commitment to brevity but, unfortunately, his attempted point of order was not as brief as I would wish, especially as it was an attempted point of order rather than a genuine point of order. I would say to him, in so far as he is alerting me and the House to statements that he believes to have been in any way incorrect, erroneous or partial, that Ministers and all Members are responsible for the accuracy of their remarks in the Chamber. What we cannot have is the continuation of debate by the ruse of a bogus point of order. If I did not know the hon. Gentleman better, I would think that that was his game plan, but as I know him as well as I do, and know him to be a person of the highest moral probity, I feel sure that he had some other mission in mind. We will not continue the exchange now. He will deploy the resources of the Table Office to advance his purposes. We can leave it there for today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Monday 4th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Progress on the first question was desperately slow; we really need to pick up.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

2. What assessment he has made of the level of contracting by his Department with small and medium-sized enterprises; and if he will make a statement.

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 10th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. In a recent speech, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs referred to the 100,000 homes being connected every week to broadband by his Government. This is a big issue for rural communities in particular. That figure conflicts directly with the more accurate one—I believe—of 10,000 per week given by his colleague the Minister with responsibility for the broadband roll-out. Is there a way of correcting this on the record, so that the House is in no way inadvertently misled? There is a tenfold difference in the figures, and so many people are struggling to access broadband at the moment.

[Mr Speaker]

It is extraordinarily public spirited of the hon. Gentleman to seek to help me with the arithmetic in case I was not able to manage it for myself, but I am deeply obliged to him for his point of order. What I would say to him in response is that all Members of the House, including Ministers, are responsible for the content of their answers and other statements to the House. If a Minister has made an error inadvertently—I think the hon. Gentleman acknowledges that it would be inadvertent—it is up to the Minister to correct the record. The hon. Gentleman has effectively drawn the matter to the attention of the Minister by raising it in the Chamber and it will be in the Official Report. I think that the hon. Gentleman knows that that is the effect of what he has done. We will leave it there for the time being, but I know that he will be keeping an eye on the matter.

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 9th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I welcome the Minister’s statement, and I think I understood—it might have been my hearing—that she made an offer to look beyond the 47 cases raised by the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance. I was not clear, however, to whom any further cases should be referred. Perhaps, while the Minister is still in the Chamber, you can guide us on how we might get that clarification.

[Mr Speaker]

The failure of the hon. Gentleman to hear what was said does not, in itself, constitute a point of order. However, as the Minister is still here and looks happy to come back to the Dispatch Box to clarify the matter, he might be released from his ignorance before very long.

Rail Franchising

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Questions from 34 Back Benchers were answered by the Secretary of State in 25 minutes of exclusively Back-Bench time, which is an impressive record. Might I suggest that rather than sending his ministerial colleagues an Easter egg, the Secretary of State should send a DVD of the statement and the exchanges on it, which will be a great example for them to follow in the future?

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order—

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I apologise for standing pre-emptively earlier on. I was so excited by the number of statements and was wondering where the missing one was. Ash dieback is the biggest tree disease to hit this country since Dutch elm, and it has spread to 427 sites around the UK. We welcome today’s publication of the Chalara management plan, but it is available only on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website. The Government have briefed the press about the publication of the plan but have not informed the House about it, despite undertaking to present it to the House. I ask for your advice once again, Mr Speaker, on how the House can hold the Executive to account when they fail to deliver on what they have promised, which on this occasion was to bring the Chalara management plan that deals with ash dieback to the House for its consideration? Instead, it is only out there for the press and on the DEFRA website.

[Mr Speaker]

I am sorry to learn of what the hon. Gentleman has described in his point of order. What I would say to him is twofold. First, the Deputy Leader of the House is present on the Treasury Bench and will have heard the point that he has made. Secondly, there will be an opportunity in the upcoming general debate before the Adjournment for Members to raise this matter if they so wish. No other obvious remedies are available today, but if the hon. Gentleman wishes to have recourse to the Order Paper via the Table Office, I feel sure that he will do so.

Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill [Lords]

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 26th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am slightly concerned that the hon. Gentleman has been diverted from the path of virtue on which he embarked some minutes ago. He was talking specifically about his new clauses, but he has since taken a series of interventions that, in a sense, have caused the debate to elide into a Second Reading consideration of the merits or otherwise of adjudicators and so on. I know that he will want to return to the terms of his new clauses, on which, of course, he can expand at such length as he sees fit, as I am sure he will. I call Mr Philip Davies.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Just before that, I call Mr Huw Irranca-Davies on a point of order.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. It might be of some help to the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) and to you, as Speaker, to be aware that the new clauses refer specifically to the groceries supply code, but many of the elements that he is introducing into his speech have no connection with the groceries supply code. The companies to which he refers might supply supermarkets, but they do not fall within the remit of the groceries supply code.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I am sure he is seeking to be helpful, but I thought I had myself made the point perfectly adequately that the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) would wish to return to the terms of his new clauses, which are themselves entirely orderly.

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 24th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. At Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs orals earlier today, the shadow Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Wakefield (Mary Creagh), raised serious and valid concerns over the possibility of horsemeat treated with a substance called bute—phenylbutazone, a potentially carcinogenic substance—entering the human food chain. Those concerns have been raised by the Government’s own independent veterinary advisers as well. The Minister seemed unaware of the issue and did not respond to these valid concerns. Could you, through your good offices, in concert with the efforts that we will make, try to ensure that the Minister or the Secretary of State appears here on Monday, or at the very earliest opportunity, to give an oral statement and answer questions on this vital issue of concern to human health?

[Mr Speaker]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his attempted point of order. I know that he would not seek to draw me into a matter of contention, because that would be a wrong thing for him to do, and he would not knowingly do any such thing, I feel sure. What I would say to him is this: first, he has made his point; and secondly, the Leader of the House and the Deputy Leader of the House are present in the Chamber and will have heard his concerns. It is of course up to a Minister to decide whether he or she wishes to volunteer a statement, although the hon. Gentleman, who is an experienced Member of the House and a shadow Minister, will be aware that there are means by which Members can seek to engage Ministers in matters of interest to them and more widely.

Point of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 20th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am sorry that I will be a little unseasonal in my point of order, but it is in response to the Government.

Last night, at around 5 o’clock, an amendment was tabled to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill in the other place with the purpose of abolishing the Agricultural Wages Board in England and Wales. The results of a consultation, which were only put on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website yesterday evening, show that the majority of people oppose the abolition of the AWB, and it is also against the express wishes of the Welsh Government, who have said that they do not want it abolished. The abolition would affect thousands of agricultural workers and, on the Government’s own figures, would take more than £240 million out of the rural economy. Have you had any request from Ministers to make a statement to Members in this House?

[Mr Speaker]

I have received no such request. I am sorry if the otherwise jovial spirits of the hon. Gentleman in the approach to Christmas have been undermined or disturbed, but from the vantage point of the Chair nothing disorderly has occurred. I have a sense that this is a matter to which the House will return in due course. If there are no further points of order, we will move on.

bill presented

Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Mr Secretary Duncan Smith, supported by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, Danny Alexander, Mr Oliver Letwin, Steve Webb, Michael Fallon and Sajid Javid, presented a Bill to make provision relating to the up-rating of certain social security benefits and tax credits.

Bill read the First Time; to be read a Second time Monday 7 January 2013, and to be printed (Bill 116) with explanatory notes (Bill 116-EN).

European Council

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Monday 17th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I fear that the Annunciator is rather over-excited. I can assume only that it has not yet become accustomed, as I have not, to the spectacle of the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) using an iPad in the Chamber. It is quite a remarkable state of affairs on which he is, of course, to be congratulated.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

I ask the Prime Minister: on actual, tangible economic growth, how is it going?

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Monday 19th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think I am right in saying that there was a written ministerial statement on the matter. I do not think that any erroneous statement has been made, but the hon. Gentleman, who is a former Minister himself, will know that Ministers are always responsible for the statements that they make to the House.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I hope that the hon. Gentleman’s point of order is on an entirely unrelated matter, and I believe it to be so.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

Indeed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As a Member of Parliament in this place, I sometimes get tired of the endless sniping and backbiting, and being surrounded by rats and snakes and even cockroaches, so I have given up viewing “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!”. However, I have now received a letter from a constituent of another hon. Member, which begins:

“May I apologise for writing to you rather than my own constituency MP, but living in Mid Bedfordshire I do not seem to have an MP at the moment.”

What advice can you offer, Mr. Speaker? Or perhaps the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Nadine Dorries) has left a forwarding address in the jungle with you.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. My advice to him is that he should begin by contacting Members representing constituencies neighbouring Mid Bedfordshire to ascertain whether any of them feels able to provide assistance.

If there are no further points of order, will Members wishing to take their seats please come to the Table?

Point of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Ash dieback disease is a major national disaster of huge proportions, and of direct and immediate interest to every hon. Member of this House. It is therefore disappointing to learn that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has written a detailed letter updating hon. Members on this environmental emergency, but that the letter has been exclusively distributed by the Government Whips’ admin unit to Government—governing party—MPs only.

As you are guardian of the rights of this House, Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance on the appropriateness of a Secretary of State, in a moment of great national emergency, seeking to use the functions and resources of the private office exclusively to brief only his own party colleagues. Surely every hon. Member of this House is equal in their standing and equal in their need to hold the Executive to account.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. If Ministers acting as Ministers with the support of the civil service are making information available to hon. and right hon. Members of this House, they should without question do so equally. That requirement does not of course apply to political parties making information available to Members of the House. I hope that that distinction is clear and intelligible to the House. I cannot have a debate with the hon. Gentleman about it and there is no requirement to do so, but if he is seeking genuine clarification—his brow is furrowed in such a way as to suggest that that is so—I shall briefly indulge him.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I do not intend to detain the House any longer than I need to. Further to that point of order, the letter is signed not by a party political unit but by the Secretary of State in name as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. If I were to share the letter with you, Mr Speaker, perhaps you could offer some clear advice on whether it falls within the remit of the civil service or party politicking.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his follow-up point of order. I have not had sight of the letter and I am happy to look at it, but I do not think that I need now to add to anything that I have said.

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 27th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I will try to emulate that example. On 1 March, in response to questions about attacks by dangerous dogs, the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs made an explicit and welcome promise at the Dispatch Box:

“If a Minister stands at the Dispatch Box and says that something will happen very shortly, it means precisely that. It certainly means before the House rises for Easter.”—[Official Report, 1 March 2012; Vol. 541, c. 415.]

That deadline expires today, 27 March, yet there is silence from the Department and the Government, nearly two years after the consultation ended. Nearly 100 people are treated in hospital every week. Kennelling costs are now spiralling out of control, and people in all parts of the House are rightly sickened by attacks by aggressive and uncontrolled dogs. Our sympathies go out to the five police officers from Newham who were injured in the latest attack. Dog bite incidents in the UK have risen by 79% in London and 43% nationally in recent years, according to figures from the Kennel Club. Have you received any late indication, Mr Speaker, of the Government’s intention to make a statement today? Do you have any powers, as Speaker and defender of the rights of this House, to summon the Minister to explain why the Government have broken their promise again?

[Mr Speaker]

The answer to both the hon. Gentleman’s inquiries is no, but he has placed his concerns on the record.

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Wednesday 7th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I will take one or two more points of order, then I really must respond.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. This afternoon, in the Welsh Assembly, Labour’s Minister, Leighton Andrews, who is not responsible for this policy, will be standing, will be making an oral statement and will be open to questions from democratically elected Members of that Assembly. Yet here, in this place, we have the disgrace of a Minister who sneaks out a written statement. I am unable to question that Minister on the 47 loyal staff in Bridgend. My hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) is unable to question her about the 74 staff in Porth, who also serve my constituency, or about the nine other factories throughout Wales which are threatened.

That is a disgrace, and I genuinely seek your guidance, Mr Speaker, because on a day when we have just spent, quite rightly, some time on an Humble Address to Her Majesty, an institution as venerable as Remploy—with people as loyal as its workers—has not received the courtesy of being addressed within this place. I know that you are a guardian of this House. I hope that you can help us.

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 13th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I was not sure how the matter related to the authority of the Chair, but he has raised his concern about conduct outside the Chamber and placed his concern on the record. He will know that membership of the Government, at whatever level, is—perhaps I should say thankfully—not a matter for me.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I apologise for not giving you notice of my point of order, but in the past few minutes I have given a transcript to the Clerks so that they can give you suitable advice.

A very welcome improvement in the transparency of Government and Parliament has been the publication on departmental websites of the officially recorded meetings that Ministers have with organisations and individuals from the business, public and third sectors. That helps to give the public a feel for who has the ear of Ministers, for good or bad. While it is not a substitute for a proper overhaul of access through lobbyists, and neither does it preclude less official access, as we have seen in recent months, it has helped to some extent with transparency for the public and also for parliamentarians in this House.

Having turned my attention to the recent meetings of such groups and individuals over the past year or so, I am surprised to see a very wide divergence in approach between Departments. Some produce a rolling, live, updated register of meetings with Ministers; some produce a list retrospectively every three or six months; and some run for up to a year before being updated. Indeed, the No. 10 Downing street website has only this week updated its list of meetings, which had not been updated since March 2011. That is surely unconnected with the written parliamentary question that I tabled on 12 December.

Could you give any guidance, Mr Speaker, for Members about the frequency and timeliness of information on meetings with Ministers, as we need to know not only who has been meeting Ministers but to know that information in a timely manner, so that it is of use to us and to our constituents?

[Mr Speaker]

The short answer is no. I am an enthusiast for timeliness where Government replies to parliamentary questions are concerned; that is a legitimate preoccupation of the Chair. Timeliness in this context is not a matter for the Chair at all. However, Ministers will have heard the hon. Gentleman’s point. I am sure that he will be gratified that both the Leader of the House and the Deputy Leader of the House are on the Front Bench. I hope that that is helpful to him.

Bill Presented

Passive Flue Gas Systems (Strategy)

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Martin Caton, supported by Mr Don Foster, Heidi Alexander, Caroline Lucas, Lorely Burt, Kelvin Hopkins, Bob Russell and Joan Ruddock presented a Bill to require the Secretary of State to prepare and publish a strategy for the promotion of passive flue gas heat recovery systems; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 20 January, and to be printed (Bill 261).

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman was doing nicely until he approached the conclusion of his remarks. There are two real points here. First, a Member who is planning to denounce the conduct or impugn the integrity of another Member should notify that Member in advance. Secondly, the issue to which the hon. Gentleman refers is properly the property of the Select Committee, which, I understand, has indeed deliberated upon it. The hon. Gentleman has used his point of order to offer his own admonishment of the hon. Member who he thinks has misbehaved. I do not think that further action by me at this time is required, but the hon. Gentleman has correctly put on record the fact that the Select Committee has had a discussion about the matter. If the hon. Gentleman will understand, I think it is perfectly reasonable now that we leave it there.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. You will know that very often a generic issue arises out of the very specific, and I wish to raise a generic issue and seek your guidance. The guidance I seek is on the necessity for accuracy in facts that are used in debates. Very often the interpretation of facts will differ, but facts are very important. Yesterday, in the course of a debate, a number of Labour local authorities were derided for, in the words of the hon. Member—I said the point is generic, so I will not name the individual—their “appalling and terrible” record on recycling. My own local authority was mentioned in the list, with a 33% rate of recycling. That was inaccurate; the actual rate is 51%. I request guidance from you, Mr Speaker, and possibly from “Erskine May”, on the need for accuracy, or alternatively, the need for Members to return to the House to correct the record, because I suspect that the other Labour local authorities named also have admirable recycling records and would want Hansard to reflect that accurately.

[Mr Speaker]

There are two simple points in response to the hon. Gentleman’s point of order. First, all Members take responsibility for, and are responsible for, the content of the statements that they make in the House. Secondly, it is of course desirable that facts adduced are indeed facts, but I know that the hon. Gentleman, who is a very experienced Member, will understand when I say that if there were to be complete agreement as to the particular facts on any issue, let alone all issues, I have a feeling we would be witnessing the end of the House of Commons—and that isn’t going to happen.

If the appetite of Members for raising points of order—actual or contrived—has now been exhausted, we can proceed to the main business.

Environmental Protection and Green Growth

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Wednesday 26th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On naked cucumbers? [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There is so much chuntering going on that I cannot hear about these naked cucumbers through all the noise.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 11th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We must now move on.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

The country watched in amazement yesterday afternoon and evening as, one by one, apologists for the Secretary of State for Defence explained that the ministerial code was not written in stone. Indeed, it is not; it is written in black and white, so why are the coalition Government trying to rewrite at least the spirit of the ministerial code, if not the letter?

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Monday 13th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Last Thursday, a written statement on the fast-track solar photovoltaic review was quietly laid before the House. By Thursday evening we had been given the response. Gaynor Hartnell of the Renewable Energy Association said:

“The handling of this whole affair has been poor”.

Dave Sowden said:

“This is bad news for…worthwhile projects—schools, communities, public buildings.”

Friends of the Earth said:

“This consultation—

after which nothing changed—

“has been an utter farce—Ministers have completely ignored warnings from community groups”.

To make things worse, by Saturday there was an announcement in the Daily Mail that “Ministers plan an abrupt change of policy to rescue solar power jobs.” It was reported that the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker) had said:

“I am a big fan of solar energy. I believe it can have an important role in breaking the stranglehold of the Big Six energy companies.”

Out of respect to this House, which I know you hold most dear, Mr Speaker, and the necessity for policy announcements to be made in this Chamber, have you had a request for the Minister responsible for solar energy to appear before this House to explain, first, the review that never was, and secondly, the policy review change mooted over the weekend?

[Mr Speaker]

I have not.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 24th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Order. Let me just make it clear that when I say “Order”, the hon. Gentleman resumes his seat. It is as simple and unmistakable as that.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I can understand why the Minister is getting so agitated. I have only one more thing to add. Does he at least agree with this eminent expert on the importance of projects of up to 5 GW, who says:

“The idea behind it is to allow the inclusion of non-commercial scale projects, such as those that will be installed by homeowners, small businesses, local authorities, community groups, farmers and others. That would help out hospitals and schools that want to facilitate greater use of renewables and ensure low emissions as part of our 2020 targets.”—[Official Report, 18 November 2008; Vol. 483, c. 144.]

Those are the words of the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the hon. Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry), then the shadow Minister. Why is he wrong on this as well, and why is the Minister of State the fount of all knowledge?

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Tuesday 8th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Today the Government have published their draft carbon plan, which we all welcome. There is a commitment in the plan to reviewing feed-in tariffs for microgeneration in 2012-13, as originally set out by the previous Government. However, in just the past few weeks the Government have announced that a fast-track review of those solar feed-in tariffs is to take place by this July. Thousands of jobs in this country are dependent on the certainty and clarity of knowing what will happen with the feed-in tariff review and when it will happen. Today’s document is co-signed not only by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, but by the deputy leader of the coalition and the Prime Minister himself. Have you had a request, Mr Speaker, for any Government spokesman or the Prime Minister to come and clarify whether the review will take place now or in 2012-13, so that we can end the uncertainty that is jeopardising thousands upon thousands of jobs?

[Mr Speaker]

The short answer to the question is that sadly I have not. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice of his intention to raise this matter; however, it does not constitute a point of order on which I can rule. There will be—and I think he knows there will be—other opportunities to pursue the matter in other ways, and I have a suspicion that he will use them.

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Monday 6th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Yes.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek clarification for my constituent, Mrs Amanda Matthews, and myself. As the House knows, the whole House is on a three-month holiday through the summer, so it came as a great surprise that the Treasury received a letter from me on 4 August. I must have been working. The Treasury, however, must have been on holiday because there was no reply to that letter, or to the letters of 21 September, 13 October or 3 November. May I seek your guidance as to whether there has been some change in the Whitehall directive about answering MPs’ correspondence on behalf of their constituents? I am pleased to say that in the past two days I have received the answer, only four months after I sent the original letter.

[Mr Speaker]

That is not a matter for the Chair. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice of his intended and what I will describe as attempted point of order. I appreciate his frustration at not receiving a satisfactory reply, although he says that he has now received one. He has made his point and it will have been heard on the Treasury Bench. For wider application, he might want to consult the Table Office about other ways of pursuing these matters in the event of receiving no reply or replies that he regards as excessively tardy.

Prayers

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Friday 19th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. May I ask whether you have had a request from any Minister of Her Majesty’s Government to attend this House to give clarification on the rather crass and insensitive statements of the enterprise adviser to the Government that we have never had it so good, and thereby to enable us to see whether the adviser retains Her Majesty’s Government’s confidence after making those statements? If not, perhaps, through your good offices, can I extend an open invitation to Lord Young to attend my constituency to deliver his address to an open public meeting?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his attempted point of order. The short answer is that I have received no such notification of an intention by a Minister to come to the House; and when the hon. Gentleman asks if he can issue an open invitation to the enterprise adviser, the short answer is that, as he knows, he has just done so.

Points of Order

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Thursday 22nd July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

First, I think that I am right in saying that the hon. Gentleman is referring to the hon. Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker). Secondly, I have no responsibility for Swedish Ministers, Swedish schools, Swedish policies or Swedish newspapers.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am genuinely sorry to have to bring this point of order to your attention and to seek your clarification and guidance. I had hoped to receive clarification from the Leader of the House earlier, but did not do so. It is a fundamental point, not about individuals or personalities but about the procedures of this place. As a shadow Minister, when I step up to the Dispatch box I speak for the shadow ministerial team and I speak collectively. I did the same as a Minister when I spoke with the authority of Government and I had a responsibility to speak on behalf of the Government.

It seems this week that we have had several situations in which statements that have been made have not been prefaced with the phrase “I speak in a personal capacity”, but spoken as the Deputy Prime Minister or other Minister. Can you provide guidance on that point, for both the shadow Cabinet and the Government? Alternatively, can you show us how we can trust that statements made at the prestigious and honoured position at the Dispatch Box are Government statements, not individual views? If we wanted to give our individual views, we could go on “Thought for the Day” on Radio 4.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. Ministers speak from the Dispatch Box as Ministers, not as individuals or on behalf of parties. Ministers are responsible for what they say, and I must assume that they speak in the House on behalf of the Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and John Bercow

Wednesday 23rd June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

May I add my congratulations to the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan) and her ministerial colleague on their elevation to the Government Front Bench, but will she confirm that the previous Secretary of State sat on as many as a dozen Cabinet Committees and his ministerial colleague sat on up to a dozen as well, and in the light of that—and of the delay in the referendum date, as well as the appointment of a lovable rogue whom I like very much indeed but is an arch devo-sceptic as Chairman of the Select Committee on Welsh Affairs, and the attack on Welsh MPs—will she tell us why this is not telling the Welsh that they—

[Mr Speaker]

Put in the question mark! I call the Secretary of State.