Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Nia Griffith

Wednesday 5th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend will be pleased to know that I toughened up our policy in precisely that way several months ago. We do, therefore, take that stance and have been lobbying others. Unlike the Opposition, we do not want to see aid going to countries that do not need it or will misspend it. For example, under Labour Britain gave £83 million to China in 2007-08, the very year that China spent £20 billion hosting the Olympics.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

T3. While £600 million of UK aid is being channelled through the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition—[Interruption.] What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that the new alliance does not bully countries such as Ghana into passing legislation that is designed to restrict local farmers’ ability to save and exchange locally produced seed, making them dependent on a few big suppliers and decreasing biodiversity?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Nia Griffith

Wednesday 22nd January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

This is an area on which my hon. Friend rightly spends a lot of time. Much of DFID’s work focuses on early-years health, including maternal health and antenatal and postnatal health education. Furthermore, our G8 focused on nutrition, which is particularly important in ensuring that babies grow up healthy.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

2. What assessment she has made of the extent to which the amount of food, medical supplies and fuel that is entering Gaza meets the needs of the population.

Rail Investment

Debate between Justine Greening and Nia Griffith

Monday 16th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I was concerned. This is obviously an important announcement, and I can understand why people would be keen to make it. I e-mailed and wrote to all Departments to emphasise to them when the announcement was embargoed until, so of course it was disappointing to see some of it leak out earlier.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

I thank the Secretary of State for her close working with the Welsh Government and for listening to the lobbying from south-west Wales, ably led by my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea West (Geraint Davies). I also thank her for the comments that she has just made about looking further west. Will she give special consideration to starting the project to Swansea in time for the Dylan Thomas centenary year in 2014?

[Justine Greening]

I believe that may be something of a stretch, but we will wait to see what the industry says about how quickly it can deliver the plan and develop the proposals. There is a lot of work to be done, but the most important thing is that we have signalled that it is going ahead. I appreciate the support of the hon. Lady and her colleagues, and I have to say that I have had a huge amount of lobbying by Government MPs from Wales as well. Together, they have made a real difference by getting across the case for investment.

M5 Motorway Accident

Debate between Justine Greening and Nia Griffith

Monday 7th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I thank my hon. Friend for those comments. It is important that we look across the road network to ensure that roads are maintained safely. As I have said, it is important that we wait for the police to go through their investigation into this particular incident, which could take some weeks, before we can draw conclusions on any actions that need to be taken.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

This tragic accident is a salutary reminder to every single one of us just how easy it is to go from cruising along a motorway to ending up in a pile-up. Although I would not make any comment on the initial causes—it is not appropriate for any of us to do so—and although I hear what the Secretary of State says on the complexity of the speed issue, will she remember that faster speeds mean longer stopping distances and greater impacts on collision, and will she abandon plans to raise the speed limit on the motorways?

[Justine Greening]

As I have said, it is far too early to jump to conclusions about the possible cause or causes of the accident, but I can reassure the hon. Lady that I take road safety incredibly seriously, so I shall, of course, always ensure that I am happy that the measures that we introduce are appropriate.