Business of the House

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Thursday 20th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

May I join the Leader and shadow Leader of the House in wishing you, Mr Speaker, and all the staff of the House, especially the Doorkeepers, a very merry Christmas?

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

And the staff of Hansard.

[Natascha Engel]

Yes, and the Hansard writers, of course; we must not forget them. I also wish a merry Christmas to all the Back Benchers who have been so supportive of the Backbench Business Committee, by making representations to us to hold what have proved to be some of the most excellent debates held in the House this year. I thank them for their continued support for, and use of, the Backbench Business Committee.

I seek clarification on a minor technical point about e-petitions. The House has now opened Westminster Hall on Monday afternoons for debates about e-petitions with 100,000 or more signatures. Are the slots exclusively for e-petitions generated from the Government website, or do they include any e-petitions that reach 100,000 signatures?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that matter and share his concern, and that of his constituents, about the financial situation the local hospice is in. As he says, it is a devolved matter, but I will of course talk with my hon. Friend about it. We might not be able to offer an immediate opportunity for debate, but I hope that we can discuss the hospice movement at an early date. From my point of view, I have listened on the issues relating to regulation and know that we do not have to impose additional regulation on the hospice movement. At the same time, in England the Government are supporting the hospice movement by conducting pilot projects for per-patient funding, which would make an enormous difference for hospices, and indeed those with life-limiting illnesses, because they would be able to choose the provider and location of their care and the resources the NHS and social services give to support them would be used directly to support the provider of their choice, including hospices.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

May we have a debate on the new Governor of the Bank of England’s financial package? We learn from today’s newspapers that on top of his salary of three times that of the Prime Minister’s, he will have to manage on a London accommodation allowance of a mere £250,000 a year. In that debate, would it be possible to ascertain whether, if that is used for a mortgage, any capital gain made on the property would be repayable to the taxpayer?

[Mr Lansley]

I do not know whether we have any immediate opportunity for such a debate. I recall that when the Chancellor of the Exchequer came here and made a statement announcing that appointment, it was welcomed right across the House, including by the hon. Gentleman’s Front Benchers. The truth of the matter, as the Chancellor clearly stated, is that if we want to get the very best person in the world for this job, we have to be prepared to put in place the contract to make that happen.