Harvey’s Law

John Hemming Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2015 Westminster Hall

[Derek Twigg]

I absolutely will. It has been a team effort, and many of the people concerned are here today listening to the debate. Their energy and drive brought us to where we are today. My hon. Friend makes a very important point.

[John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD)]

I join the hon. Gentleman in congratulating all the campaigners who raised this issue, which is very important to pet lovers. For most of my life, I have had a pet. Sadly, two of them got run over close to our house, and we found them not very well or dead. However, it would have been much worse if we had not known what had happened. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it would not be difficult for the highways authorities in local government or the Highways Agency to do what we are asking? It is regrettable that the Highways Agency’s procedures are being changed.

[Derek Twigg]

I agree. I am sorry for the hon. Gentleman’s loss of two pets, which is difficult for any family. His point is well made, and it is why we are here today. We want the procedures of the Highways Agency to be changed back, and we want some legislation to ensure that they will not change again. I will come to that point later.

I will give two more examples, which will put into perspective the tragedy that people face. The first is Shiver’s story. Shiver bolted away from his owner during a thunderstorm and was killed on the M60. Shiver was chipped and was wearing an identification tag. His owners contacted the Highways Agency daily for information, but they were constantly told that no dogs had been retrieved from the highways. They continued to search for him for 19 days. They persisted, and a temporary staff member of the Highways Agency confirmed that Shiver was in cold storage. His owners were given two hours to collect his body before he was cremated. They rushed to the depot and were made to go through two freezers full of dead dogs to retrieve Shiver’s body. Shiver was in a plastic bag with an identification tag still attached. He also had a cannula in his leg, indicating that he had been with a vet.

The second example is Jester’s story. Jester went missing while out on a walk with his owner in 2005, and he was killed on the A1. As no procedure was in place, no one scanned Jester for a chip or took details from the tag he was wearing. No one alerted other authorities or logged the incident, so Jester’s owner was not notified of his fate. Jester’s body was removed and sent straight to a rendering plant. His flesh was stripped to make fuel for energy plants and his bones were crushed to make garden compound. His owner’s desperation for closure was so powerful that she collected blood from the A1 and sent it and a toy belonging to Jester to California for a DNA test. The test confirmed that it was indeed Jester who had been killed on the road that day. Distraught by the way Jester had been treated, Nikki campaigned tirelessly until the Highways Agency agreed to introduce area management memo 67/05, to which I will return. That procedure is set out in chapter 7.17 of the Highways Agency’s network management manual. As I said, those are terrible stories.

Cycling

John Hemming Excerpts

Monday 2nd September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Dr Huppert]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and for the support that PACTS, along with many other organisations, has given to our report. I think that more training should be made available. It should not be compulsory, but we want to encourage people to feel comfortable. There is a lot more we can do to deal with HGVs.

[John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD)]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. I have cycled in the UK and in Holland. Does my hon. Friend share my concern about meaningless bits of paint on pavements and trees in the middle of cycle routes, and does he agree that what we really need are segregated cycle paths?

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. I can see the hon. Gentleman is in free wheel, but I am going to put on the brake. We said 10 to 15 minutes, so I am sure Dr Huppert will have finished in a couple of minutes.

West Coast Main Line

John Hemming Excerpts

Monday 17th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Mark Pawsey]

I will come on to the First bid, including questions that other hon. Members and I have put to it about the accuracy of its bid and where its bid stands. I am not sure that making comparisons with other Departments in this debate is helpful, Mr Bone. We need to ensure that the Government get the maximum value for money for every item of expenditure.

[John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD)]

As a Birmingham MP I use that train, although, to make a declaration of interest, I came down on the Chiltern line. Does my hon. Friend agree that consideration should be given to whether closing down one competitor may reduce the competitive nature of tendering in future and increase aggregate costs?

[Mark Pawsey]

I am about to talk about my own business experience in tendering. Clearly, the more tenderers available in the tender process, the greater the competition and the better chance of getting the best deal.

The First bid is worth more. I have run a business and, on occasions, have missed out on a contract, so I understand Virgin’s concern. In my business, from time to time we lost contracts, which was particularly frustrating when we were confident in a bid and had given exceptional customer service in recent years. It is appropriate and shrewd business for Virgin to encourage their satisfied customers to make representation through the petition. That activity has stimulated this debate.

It is estimated that 2,000 service users from my constituency are among those who signed the petition. I have received many letters and e-mails from constituents asking me to participate in this debate and drawing attention to the substantial improvements in service that they have experienced over the years. I am happy to do that. There are, of course, those who have not had such a good experience and I have in front of me an e-mail from one of those.

In addition to the increase in revenue to the Government, FirstGroup’s offer contains other positives. My hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart) drew hon. Members’ attention to the additional seats and services that would be made available. I can, perhaps, support my hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Mr Jones), because I met the managing director of FirstGroup only last week and he told me that he hoped that additional services might be available between Rugby and London early in the morning, and that access from Rugby to the north-west might be improved through Nuneaton, using Nuneaton as a hub station for the north-west. Innovation and proposals are coming from FirstGroup that were not available through Virgin.

The issue distils down to whether First has got its sums wrong. Did it get something about the maths wrong when preparing its bid—something that it did not take into account? I put that to First’s managing director last week and suggested that, if there were anything about his tender that in the clear light of day—in the light of discussions or ideas coming from Virgin and Opposition Members—he is not sure about, right now, before the new contract is awarded, First has the opportunity to withdraw. It might choose to say, “Yes, there are some points that people have drawn to our attention. We did not quite get our maths right. Our projections in the back end are just a little bit ambitious.” There is a window of opportunity for it to say, “Yes, we got it wrong,” and to leave. It does not wish to take that opportunity.

I have looked the managing director of First in the eye and asked “Are you able to deliver what’s proposed?”, and I am confident that he understands the significance of what he has done. Ultimately, he is part of a management team responsible to shareholders within FirstGroup. If First has got anything about the tender wrong, it needs to be called to account through the courts and be held to the commitment that it has made. It happens in plenty of other businesses; I do not see why that should not happen in this instance.

The delays in the process are unfortunate. Certainly, there is no benefit to anybody, whether the companies, the staff or rail users, if there is a short-term nationalisation, such as has been suggested if First is not able to receive its contract before the judicial process is concluded.

I advise the Minister to please get on with the process. I call on Virgin to withdraw its application for a judicial review. A decision has been taken. Let us get on with it and ensure that we get the right service for rail users in our constituencies.

High Speed Rail

John Hemming Excerpts

Monday 20th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

It is important for the hon. Gentleman to note that the benefit is incremental. Once we have high speed to Birmingham, that will shorten journeys to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and once we have high speed to north of Manchester, that will shorten them still further. We are committed to discussions with the Scottish Government, but that would be a third phase to the project—we have to get to Manchester and Leeds first. The appropriate time to start discussing that third phase will be when we start the detailed design work on the second phase.

[John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD)]

Can we support High Speed 2 as a movement toward sustainability and welcome the Government’s communication with people? I refer particularly to the extension to HS 1, which allows the modal shift from airlines to railway usage. Will the Secretary of State consider supporting the way in which the A45 is to be moved to within Birmingham international airport so that the runway extension is in place for when High Speed 2 comes through?

[Mr Hammond]

The hon. Gentleman has thrown a slightly separate question at me there, but I can confirm that I have had discussions with Birmingham airport, and indeed the NEC, and they are strong supporters of the project. Like many others, they see it as opening up huge opportunities for them.

Birmingham airport will be about 30 to 35 minutes’ travel from London Heathrow on the high speed rail link. That is less time than it currently takes, with a fair wind, to get from terminal 4 to terminal 5 at Heathrow. The opportunities are quite significant.

Severe Winter Weather

John Hemming Excerpts

Monday 20th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his statement and commitment to consider when “just in time” becomes “just too late”. I ask him to remind the Opposition that salt is not a panacea and that when temperatures fall below minus 5°C, there is little that can be done. That should be recognised. One of the legacies left to this Government by the Opposition is insufficient gas storage. Not only that, but it was not completely full at the start of winter. Furthermore, gas has been exported when taken out of storage. Will he commit to talking to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change about this issue? I am particularly concerned that we are not maintaining storage when we could.

[Mr Hammond]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is aware of the issue that my hon. Friend raises. Historically, the UK has had lower gas storage capability than many of our continental neighbours, but it is an issue that my right hon. Friend intends to address as soon as possible.