Business of the House

Karen Bradley Excerpts

Thursday 16th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

He is. He has supported Queen’s Park Rangers for a very long time, and welcomes its recent promotion.

I understand that during the exchange at Question Time, the Minister for Sport and the Olympics, my hon. Friend the Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Hugh Robertson) was very supportive indeed of the hon. Gentleman’s proposition. I hope that it will be pursued further in Westminster Hall, and I will ask my hon. Friend whether he can add to what he said earlier.

[Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

Many of my constituents have contacted me because they are concerned about the disruptive effect that industrial action by teachers will have on their children’s education. May we have a debate on that important issue?

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern, which I am sure is shared by many Members on both sides of the House. I think it regrettable that two teachers’ unions have decided to take industrial action at a time when the Government are still negotiating with them about the future of pensions. That will be bad news for the children, and bad news for parents who go out to work.

Responsibility for contingency planning rests with individual employers, and at this stage the Government have no plans to change the legislation, but I will bring my hon. Friend’s concern to the attention of the Secretary of State for Education, and will see whether there is any further action that he can take.

Business of the House

Karen Bradley Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health made it crystal clear in yesterday’s debate that under the Bill before the House, there is no change in EU competition law.

[Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

The Leader of the House has referred to how thinly occupied the Opposition Benches were during yesterday’s debate on the NHS. Will he tell the House what pressure he can put on the Opposition to hold another debate on this important topic, so that we can discuss thoroughly the idea—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Again, that is not an appropriate matter for business questions. I appreciate that new Members are getting to grips with these things, and generally extremely well, but I am afraid that that question is not orderly and we will have to leave it there.

Business of the House

Karen Bradley Excerpts

Thursday 16th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

We would all like to extend our condolences to the family who were involved in that tragic incident. Time for a debate could be made either by the Backbench Business Committee or on the Adjournment. However, I will contact my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Justice on the specific issue of the level of fines and ask him to write to the hon. Gentleman.

[Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House issue a statement on his evaluation of September sittings and say whether it is the Government’s intention to continue the practice in future years?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her question. I would be interested to hear the views of the House on this matter, but my own view is that the past two weeks have been an unqualified success for the House. We have had four Second Reading debates on important Bills. We have also had an important debate on Afghanistan and we are about to have another on the strategic defence review. We have had three oral statements from the Government, five urgent questions and more than 60 Select Committee meetings. This opportunity for the House to hold the Government to account in what would otherwise have been a very long summer recess is a welcome improvement on what happened during the last Parliament.