Infected Blood Inquiry

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd April 2024 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

I thank the hon. Lady for her questions. Respectfully, the amendment tabled by the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North was dependent on Royal Assent. I have tried to make it effective by putting an obligation on the set-up as soon as Royal Assent is granted, which will speed it up. I am working on operational matters around how such a body would work.

The hon. Lady asked me, as everyone does, about the Government’s substantive response on compensation more broadly. As I have indicated, I appointed the expert group in January to examine some of the issues in the recommendations, such as the need for redress for those living with chronic hepatitis B when that chronic infection definition did not exist. I have been seeking professional advice on the operationalisation of the recommendations. The conclusions of those deliberations, and the quantification and discernment of compensation, will be a matter for the Government when the final report has been published.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

Like others, I have cases that have been waiting decades for a resolution, and which were pursued by my predecessor. When will those affected be able to start applying for compensation?

[John Glen]

I refer my hon. Friend to my reply a few moments ago about the £100,000 payment to the estates of deceased infected persons. The ultimate compensation will depend on what is arranged through conversations across Whitehall as soon as possible after 20 May. We are making good progress, and I want to bring that forward as quickly as I can after 20 May. Given the will of the House and the letter signed by so many MPs, it is pretty clear that it is on the Government to deliver, and that is what I am seeking to do as quickly as I can.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Thursday 29th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Baker]

The hon. Lady shakes her head, but I just point out that the 31 January deadline for export health certificates passed by and there were not the problems that were forecast.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

10. How many applications have been made for HM armed forces veteran cards by military veterans living in Devon and Cornwall.

[The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs (Johnny Mercer)]

The Office for Veterans’ Affairs and the Ministry of Defence launched a new service in January to allow veterans to apply for their cards. Since then, 1,259 veterans have applied from Cornwall and 2,793 from Devon.

[Kevin Foster]

I thank the Minister, my fellow Devon MP, for his answer. It is very encouraging to have had positive feedback from veterans in Torbay about the simplicity of applying online, but one question comes to mind: what work is being done with local authorities that encounter veterans through services such as housing to encourage them to apply online or make an application if they have not done so?

[Johnny Mercer]

That is a good question and I cannot emphasise this point enough. Obviously, this is my responsibility as the veterans Minister, but it is also the nation’s duty to look after these people. We need local authorities to understand what is available to look after these people. We have armed forces champions in local authorities now and I want to see that role taken seriously. There are multiple pathways specifically for veterans through health, housing, employment and a number of other topics, but clearly it is incumbent on all of us in public life to understand what is available for veterans so that when we find one in need, they get the world-class help they deserve.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Wednesday 24th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[John Lamont]

I do not accept that analysis. For example, the UK has a world-leading ambition to deploy up to 50 GW of offshore wind by the year 2030, with up to 5 GW coming from offshore floating wind. Offshore wind provides secure, domestically generated electricity and will play a key role in decarbonising the UK power system by 2035, achieving net zero by 2050. I do not share the hon. Lady’s analysis of this Government’s focus in that area.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

Does the Minister share my frustration that, while his Department is working to support the Scottish economy, the SNP is hitting it with higher taxes and is not supporting vital sectors such as hospitality in the way that is happening in England?

[John Lamont]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Sadly the SNP’s sole focus seems to be independence referendums and making Scotland the part of the United Kingdom with the highest tax. I see that every day of the week in my constituency, as people find it increasingly difficult to justify remaining in Scotland when they are paying so much more tax compared with the rest of the UK while getting less good public services.

Infected Blood Inquiry: Government Response

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Monday 18th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

I recognise Sir Brian’s recommendations, and I have done what I can to move us to a place where we meet the expectations as quickly as possible in the new year. I said to the right hon. Lady when I met her and my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) that my officials were engaged in looking at the options for the delivery vehicle. I must now examine how that operates with the legislative vehicle, which has been amended by the House. I will do everything that I can to update the House as quickly as I can.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

I have some sympathy for the Minister, who I suspect might go slightly further in his comments if he had complete free rein at the Dispatch Box. I have experience of dealing with the Windrush compensation scheme, which similarly looked back decades at the impact on individuals, with records often incomplete and people having moved many times, and it brought home the complexity of this type of compensation scheme, even when it gets to work. What is his timeline for people to start dealing with these cases, because that will be the first step in getting compensation finally paid to people who, as we have touched on, we are losing literally every day?

[John Glen]

That is what the experts will do—the calibration of tariffs and allocation of compensation, as per the excellent work that has been done by the inquiries. This is urgent, and work will begin in the new year on that aspect. As I said, on the legislative vehicle to establish the necessary mechanisms, that process is under way as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Wednesday 6th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[David T. C. Davies]

The UK Government have already brought forward a mortgage charter to support anyone getting into difficulties. I hope that the hon. Lady agrees that the fact that the Government have delivered on their pledge to halve inflation over the past year will mean that everyone in Wales is better off; that the cut to national insurance will mean that everyone in Wales is better off; and that the increase in the living wage as well the Government’s commitment to ensuring that pensions and benefits are uprated in line with inflation will mean that everyone on low salaries is better off.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

4. What recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on the potential financial impact of proposals to implement a visitor levy for Wales on the tourism sector.

[The Secretary of State for Wales (David T. C. Davies)]

The UK Government are investing in Wales and in the Welsh tourism industry, which has been evidenced most recently by the decision to allocate £500,000 to the Hay Festival—a project championed by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary. It is a pity that the Welsh Government are not taking the same view about the importance of the tourism industry and are introducing a tax that signals that Wales is closed for business.

[Kevin Foster]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his answer. It is no surprise that hitting tourists with a tax is likely to deter them from wanting to visit Wales, despite the natural beauty of places such as Snowdonia and the attractions of visiting locations such as Anglesey. Alongside highlighting the folly of this move from the Welsh Labour Government, will he ensure that anyone advocating for a tax on tourism anywhere else in the UK is reminded of the negative impact that it would have on our tourism sector?

[David T. C. Davies]

I can assure my hon. Friend that not only will I be reminding the Welsh Labour Government about the importance of supporting the tourism industry and the folly of introducing a tax, but my Conservative colleagues in the Senedd will also be making that point. I hope that the Welsh Labour Government will listen to them and also listen to the Wales Tourism Alliance, which has said that this tax will be a tax on jobs and a tax on an industry that employs one in 10 people in Wales.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Wednesday 15th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think that is an extremely naive and simplistic way of looking at the problem. The hon. Member failed to mention the fact that a proscribed terrorist organisation perpetrated an awful attack on over 1,000 individuals. Israel has every right to defend itself in those circumstances. People in that country would expect nothing less than for it to provide security for its citizens. Of course, alongside that, it must abide by international law. We will do everything we can, as I have said, to ensure that aid flows in and alleviates the suffering of the people in Gaza.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

Q11. Proposals for a new rail station at Edginswell have been looked forward to for a decade, but a final funding gap exists. Will some of the funds released by the decision to scrap further phases of HS2 be used to resolve that?

Pakistan: Evacuation of Afghans

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Wednesday 8th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer]

The policy of not using hotels is absolutely right and remains. In the summer, there was a huge effort to try to remove that barrier to settling into the United Kingdom and the policy remains. However, in extremis, that will not be a barrier to people coming to the UK where they are at risk of deportation. We are going to keep those people safe. As we speak, we are working up our policy on how to ensure that we integrate this cohort, much as we did in the summer. Discussions with different Departments are ongoing. When we have agreed the policy, I will come to the House to share it with everybody. I hope it will be along similar lines to previous policy, but it requires collective agreement. We will work hard and go around the houses to ensure that the Afghan families who are in Pakistan but entitled to be here are given every opportunity to settle in the UK. We have a good record on this and I am determined to keep that going.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

As the Minister will know, it was my pleasure to work on the removals around Operation Pitting with colleagues from the Ministry of Defence and the FCDO. I welcome the steps that the Minister has taken to finally move many of those people out of hotels. It is no secret that, back in late 2021, I expressed concerns about just putting people into hotels and hoping offers of accommodation would come forward. Anyone with any knowledge of housing supply knew that the size of the families involved meant that would take some time, so I congratulate him on what he did this summer. Will he reassure me that we are thinking through what would be suitable family accommodation for the people we are bringing into this country, and that we will not just be sticking people in hotels intended for businessmen to stay in for a couple of nights rather than for families to live in for months? What type of accommodation does he have in mind for this cohort?

[Johnny Mercer]

We will divide up the cohort. Some of the families are exceptionally large and not what we are used to in this country. To deal with that, the funding was designed specifically so that we could do really pioneering work, such as knocking through adjoining properties to create properties big enough for Afghan families. There is a challenge with large Afghan families, but they are not the majority of the cohort. We can accommodate the majority of the cohort in service family accommodation, but where we cannot do that I am hoping to design schemes that will allow us to use funding in a flexible manner, to ensure that these people are accommodated correctly, in line with the promises we have made to the people of Afghanistan.

Debate on the Address

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Tuesday 7th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers), and indeed to be called to speak on the King’s Speech. It is probably worth putting it into context: this is 13 years into a Tory Government, but there is a new Prime Minister, and we know that we are going to be facing a general election at some point over the next few months. Given those circumstances, where is the vision and where is the hope? They are sadly lacking from this King’s Speech.

We should remember that each and every one of us who has been sent to this House is here, individually and collectively, to show responsibility and leadership, and to do that at times of challenge both at home and abroad. I am glad that so many Members have made reference both to Ukraine and to the situation in the middle east. We should remember every single day the responsibility that we have to our friends in Ukraine. We should recognise the unity of purpose we have had across this House in relation to those who are in Ukraine, those who are fighting on the frontline and those who have given so much to defend their freedom and democracy. With everything else that is going on, we need to remain absolutely resolute in relation to the people in that country, and to recognise that, for however long it takes, we stand with President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine and that that illegal invasion has to be defeated. Putin can never win, and whether it is today, tomorrow or after the next election, that resolve to support Ukraine must remain.

Of course, much of the attention over the past few weeks has rightly been on the appalling events that unfolded in Israel on 7 October. It is right that each and every one of us in this House should call out that act of terrorism, that attack on the people of Israel that took place, and that slaughter of men, women and children. Yes, we call out Hamas as the terrorist organisation it is, and yes, Hamas must be destroyed—it must be defeated—but we also need to recognise that, sadly, what we have seen over the past few weeks is the inhumane slaughter not just of the Israelis, but of those who live in Gaza and are casualties of a war that is not of their making. We must remember the responsibility that we have, yes, to support Israel, but also, yes, to support those who desire peace on the Palestinian side.

We must recognise that for far too long many of us right across this Chamber have been calling for a two-state solution. To get to that prize, where Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace together, yes, we must ensure that those who are held hostage by Hamas are returned to their families and loved ones, but we must also recognise that we cannot have the slaughter of innocent civilians—the children who have given their life. All of us across these islands, and across the western world, have a responsibility to ensure that the case for a humanitarian solution to protect innocent lives must be at the forefront of our minds.

The international situation must be front and centre, but we must also think about the circumstances that all our people face across these islands. The right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) went through some of the major geopolitical events that have taken place over the past 25 to 30 years. One event that has not been reflected on today, but that had a huge influence on us, was the financial crisis of 2008. Rightly, we had the quantitative easing programme that has been reflected on by many Members, but the biggest mistake made in the United Kingdom was the disconnect between monetary and fiscal policy. In particular, the poor have paid the price for the failures of financial markets, and the austerity that we have lived with in the period since then. We must reflect on the fact that the decade that has passed is the first decade in 200 years in which people have become poorer in real terms and real wages have declined.

When we think about the pressures on our public services today, we rightly talk about the debt that we have, and a desire to get that down. We heard in the King’s Speech about the desire for economic growth. I welcome that. Of course we must deliver sustainable economic growth, but I say to colleagues on the Government Benches, where are the plans? Where are the concrete plans to drive investment into the economy, to drive up productivity and living standards, to make people wealthier, and to deliver the tax receipts that allow us to invest in our public services? Frankly, there is no detail; there is nothing of any substance. That has to be seen in context of the fact that on a relative basis in the world, the UK has been going backwards. Let us not forget that the UK is no longer a major manufacturing economy. It is a trading economy, and that fact, together with the damage that was done to us by Brexit and the removal of our largest trading partner, is something we should reflect on.

I want to give the Government some credit, perhaps unusually—I see some friends on the Government Benches smiling at me—because there are certain things that the Government are good at. They are very good at soundbites: long-term economic plan, northern powerhouse, levelling up, get Brexit done. We can go through those, and others—

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

Better together.

[Ian Blackford]

Better together—don’t start me on that one. I heard High Speed 2 mentioned as well. To be serious for a second, those slogans have been rolled out in election campaigns, and they have seduced people perhaps to vote for the Conservatives and put them into power. But as we would say in certain parts of Scotland, it’s all fur coat and nae knickers. The result is that these 200 years have come to an end with a fall in real living standards. There is an absence of confidence in the economy to drive investment, and that is before we get to the cost of living crisis. We need investment, we need growth, and we need it for a purpose. We need to show the people of this country that we can get through this economic crisis.

I asked the Government where the plan is, and I want to refer to some of the work that the SNP Westminster group has done over the past year. We have published two papers, and I commend them both to colleagues. One is “The Economic Opportunity for Scotland from Renewable Energy and Green Technology”, and the other is the “Roadmap for a Scottish Green Industrial Strategy”. We have done the hard work in terms of where opportunities for growth, prosperity and jobs will come from. We have heard a lot today about oil and gas, but the Government must be careful about the signalling that is taking place. Whether they like it or not, we have to get to net zero, whether we are talking about Scotland’s aspiration of 2045, or Westminster and 2050. We need to drive that investment in green energy to come to this country.

In response to the King’s Speech, the Institute for Public Policy Research said:

“By far the best way to improve energy security, cut bills and support workers is through investing more into renewables. New oil and gas fields would only cut fossil fuel imports by 2-4%. Alternatively, faster renewable rollout would cut them by 12-17% respectively.”

That is the reality. We either recognise the importance of driving faster to deliver that green energy revolution, and doing so will give us an industrial advantage, or we face the wrong way by prioritising oil and gas, which will not fundamentally make a difference to us or anyone else. Let me just expand on that because in the report that I referred to, which was published last year, we considered the green energy output of Scotland at that point, which was 12 GW. Based on what we know from plans that already exist—there is no fantasy and I challenge anybody to refute the numbers we have published—in Scotland alone we can increase our green energy output to 80 GW by 2050, a fivefold increase.

When we start to think about that, we start to think about all sorts of things. How do we create grid connectivity? Some reference was made to that in the King’s Speech, which I welcome. Where is the plan to ensure that we develop the grid capacity we need to deliver that green energy? For goodness’ sake, let us think about—and let us be honest about—some of the mistakes we have made in the past. We never benefited to the fullest extent from the opportunities for the supply chain in oil and gas, and we certainly have not done that with the first generation of green energy. This is not just about plans on paper to increase green energy production; it is about how we ensure that we benefit from that. How do we ensure that we have the planning and consent, and that the energy revolution, whether onshore, offshore, wind, tidal, solar, or pump storage, actually happens?

I commend my colleagues in the Scottish Government, because just a few weeks ago it was announced that Sumitomo would be building a cable manufacturing facility in the highlands. Reference was made earlier to the opportunity of tidal. We lead the world in tidal energy, but the UK Government have not got behind that to the fullest extent, and are not thinking about the fact that we could deliver 15% of our energy from tidal. This is not just about delivering 15% of our energy; we can deliver the investment, deliver the jobs, and have turbine manufacturing. Where is the industrial strategy? Where is the joined up thinking that will lead to the creation of jobs? Those things are in our report. I know some reference was made to jobs in oil and gas. Yes, we need a proper transition and to support the workers in the oil and gas industry today, but in that Skilling report we highlight the potential of delivering up to 325,000 jobs. That is the prize, but where is the ambition? Where is the potential? Where is the hope? How do we drive up living standards?

There is more I could say, but I recognise that others wish to speak so I will stop here. We have a choice in Scotland of two futures. The United Kingdom is in long-term relative decline. I am saddened that when I look at my country, the country of Scotland, our relative population in the United Kingdom has declined every decade since 1850, and I want to change that. The only way we will change that record is if we drive investment into the Scottish economy. What an opportunity we have with green energy. So I say to the people of Scotland that there is a choice. We can stay where we are, or we can recognise that if we want to drive up our economy and productivity, and create better paid jobs and the resources to invest in our public services, then come with us. Ultimately, Scotland’s future will be as an independent country and away from this place. There is not a single mention of Scotland in the King’s Speech, and people in Scotland need to reflect on that.

--- Later in debate ---

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty). As he will know, his is a part of the world that I know well, coming from the western part of the city, and having contested his seat back in the 2010 general election. I fought Cardiff South and Penarth, and Cardiff South and Penarth won! I was interested by the hon. Gentleman’s final remarks about the Greek Orthodox Church: my late maternal grandmother was married to a Greek so she knew that Church pretty well, and it was very nice to hear the hon. Gentleman mention it.

Let me begin by saying how much I agreed with the assessment of the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford) of the devastatingly sad situation in the middle east, and also with what was said by the hon. Member for Llanelli (Dame Nia Griffith) about the vital importance of maintaining domestic steel production. If we learned anything from the mad international scramble for personal protective equipment during the covid pandemic, it was the need for domestic production of materials that are often vital but are susceptible to fragilities in international supply chains. A country that cannot produce its own steel is not, I would suggest, an independent country in industrial terms. I should add that my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling)—along with others, including the hon. Member for Cardiff North (Anna McMorrin)—made some good points about forestry.

The hon. Member for Sunderland Central (Julie Elliott) made a telling observation about the sad moment it would have been for the Sovereign, who was delivering the King’s Speech only because his late mother the Queen had passed away. However, it is a pleasure for me to speak following the first Gracious Speech delivered by a male sovereign for 71 years. I always think that the key phrase in the Gracious Speech is

“Other measures will be laid before you.”

It is that great catch-all which means “Something on which we could not quite get agreement before it went to print can now be looked at.” It also means that people have suddenly said, “Well, we thought we did not have time to do this, but we find that we have”, and it means that when legislation is needed, opportunities can be addressed.

I would issue a caution about assessing a governmental programme, even at such a late stage in a Parliament, purely on the basis of the number of Bills involved. We are obsessed with quantity, deeming success to lie in having passed hundreds of Bills and thousands of statutory instruments, but we rarely think about quality. We rarely pause to ask ourselves whether stuff is on the statute book in any event but we are not drawing on it; we are always thinking that every problem is a new problem which requires new legislation.

Having said that, however, and without wishing to shoot my own argument down in flames if I go any further, I should emphasise that I was encouraged by what was said by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister during the final session of Prime Minister’s Questions before Prorogation, when I raised with him the need to continue the process of review and reform of the funding formulae for a number of key service delivery agencies—the Environment Agency, policing, local government and education—in the context of rural areas. We inherited funding formulae devised by the Labour party, which were tilted principally towards the urban and metropolitan at the expense of the rural. I am not advocating a system in which Peter must pay Paul, but we need greater equity, and an understanding of the difficulties of delivering rural services, in the formulae that are deployed in the making of funding decisions. Progress has been made, particularly in education and certainly in respect of the rural sparsity fund, but I am hopeful that within those “other measures”—that great catch-all—we may well see more changes.

Anyone who has read as well as listened to the Gracious Speech, as I am sure many of us will have done, may have been struck by what I thought was the most important sentence in it:

“That is why my Government’s priority is to make the difficult but necessary long-term decisions to change this country for the better.”

What could be more Conservative, more traditionally Tory, than that? Taking difficult decisions, not for party advantage but in the national interest: that is a golden thread that runs through my strand of “one nation” moderate conservatism, and I applaud it warmly while also cautioning Labour Members, all of whose speeches have indicated a preference for party interests rather than public service. They say, “Let us have a general election now, because all this will change after it”, as if that would help to solve any problems in the short to medium term. We on this side of the House will continue to govern in the national interest, taking those long-term and difficult decisions.

I have little or no doubt that North Dorset residents will welcome the proposals for education, and will be interested in seeing the details of the advanced British standard, which will merge technical and academic routes into a single qualification. My area has excellent high schools—my three daughters attend one of them—but we are continually trying to motivate our young to access the excellent local colleges in Weymouth, Salisbury and Yeovil and grasp the opportunities that they present, while also saying to parents that apprenticeships and non-academic education are important as well. It is long overdue, but His Majesty’s Government are right to assess the utility of some degree courses. I do not wish to reduce education to a utilitarian equation, but a lot of people are spending a lot of money on a lot of degree courses that will never recoup the expenditure, and I think we are right to look at that in order to secure a better future for our young people.

A key theme in the speech was security, and it was defined in a number of key areas. It is perfectly sensible to focus on national energy security, just as it is perfectly sensible to support the production of domestic steel, as we have heard. It is bonkers to be reliant on foreign energy production and products when we can produce them here, with not only employment and tax benefits but environmental benefits: if we are to use these products, it is much better to reduce the number of miles for which they have to travel, and also to monitor our very high standards, as deployed by the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and, of course, others.

I shall be particularly interested, as will many people in North Dorset, to see the details of the reform of grid connections. The problem of grid capacity and access to it is clearly hampering economic growth, as I know only too well from the situation in my part of Dorset and, indeed, throughout the county. I think I am correct in saying that there is still not a single business park in the county of Dorset that could be developed to its full potential, not through lack of interest on the part of potential employers but merely because there would not be enough electricity to serve those employers’ needs. That, one would have thought, is a fairly basic issue: just as access to clean water or to sewerage is important, access to electricity is key to growing businesses and creating jobs.

There was a huge amount of emphasis in the Gracious Speech on physical security as we usually define it—our armed forces and security sources—in an ever-changing and increasingly dangerous world. The first duty of the state, as we know, is to keep her people safe, and that, I think, will be at the heart of any legislation that the Government introduce. As for financial security, the light appears to be at the end of the tunnel, but we are not at the end of the tunnel yet—we are not out of the woods—so we must try to deliver as much financial security as possible for individuals, families and businesses through calm, competent, rational common-sense Treasury and Government decisions.

I think that those who are saying that the King’s Speech should have been much more full of Bills, and far more exciting and all the rest of it, miss the point. I think the electorate are broadly exhausted and actually just want to see a few things being done supremely well, rather than lots of headline-chasers being done incredibly badly. They just want a sensible Tory Government, and I know that my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Chancellor will deliver that in spades.

My right hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg) was right to reference the benefits of free trade to the world’s poorest and to our UK exporters. I agree with him on that, but I usually disagree with him on the issue of the race to the bottom with regard to standards and regulation. I do not detect a huge appetite in the House for a de minimis approach to regulation, particularly—I say this as one who represents a rural and farming constituency—with regard to agricultural standards. When my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister assumed that important office last year, he made it clear that parity of standards and regulation—the level playing field on which I tabled amendments to the Agriculture Bill, as did the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee—for our farmers on animal welfare, the use of chemicals and the like would be absolutely front and centre in future negotiations of free trade agreements, and I support that.

I speak as a Welshman who represents an English constituency and who chairs the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee—confused, Mr Deputy Speaker? You will be; I sometimes am. We are the Conservative and Unionist party and it does not take a great constitutional expert to realise that some of the threads and fabrics of the rich tapestry of our United Kingdom are under great stress and strain. We have seen it in the phenomenon of the rise of Scottish nationalism; my native Wales is starting to see a little bit more of it, and we have a nationalist First Minister designate in Northern Ireland.

I always make the point, and I hope that the Government will make it during this legislative year, that to be a Unionist, you do not have to be uniform. The strength of our Union is in the differences of the four nations that make up our kingdom: cultural, historical, political, linguistic in some areas, and musical—the whole kit and caboodle. But what unites us and makes us stronger, as was clearly demonstrated in our united response to the horrors of Ukraine and the middle east, are our shared values: freedom of speech; the rule of law; an independent judiciary; the ability of our military and overseas aid workers to do good in some of the most difficult and challenging parts of the globe; and the soft power reach of our language, the BBC, our armed forces and our diplomatic corps. All these things are drawn from the riches of the four quarters of this kingdom. We should never, ever lose sight of that fact and we should never dodge the opportunity to stress that across the four parts of the United Kingdom.

[Kevin Foster]

My hon. Friend is rightly passionate about the need to strengthen the Union, which was referenced in the King’s Speech. Does he agree that that has to be one of the founding principles of this Government as they take this legislative agenda forward?

[Simon Hoare]

I do agree, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention.

As a parent I hugely welcome the renewed focus on vaping and its dangers. I do not think it is readily understood by parents, by teachers or indeed by teenagers themselves. In Gillingham in my constituency, we have two vape shops that are far too close to the high school for comfort. We can understand where the marketing goes. Which of us has not lost a loved one or family member to a smoking-related disease? I am sure that there will be some who argue about libertarian principles and the infringement of civil liberties in response to the Government’s proposals, but when we know that a product can do such enormous harm and that it has such huge costs to public health and to the taxpayer, what Government would not act to improve public health? This will be the equivalent of the Clean Air Act 1956, and I welcome it and give it my full support.

This is an exciting King’s Speech. There is plenty in it and it will keep us busy. There is lots to do and I look forward to it playing an important part in showing that my party is alive and kicking, full of ideas, committed to our country and able to govern us, both this year and in the future.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell). She will probably not be surprised to hear that I do not agree with many of her remarks, but she always speaks with a focus on people and on the constituents she serves and represents.

In preparing for today’s debate, I, like many other Members, reflected on this historic moment. This is the first King’s Speech in my lifetime and in the lifetime of probably everyone in the Chamber. When Her late Majesty took the throne in the early 1950s, Britain was a very different place. We were still emerging from world war two and, had I talked about the web, people would have assumed that I was talking about a problem with spiders.

Most adults smoked in the 1950s. Walking around this building, we can still see ashtrays all over the place. It was very much the done thing, with tobacco advertising common. In this Session, we will discuss a Bill that means future generations may never lawfully buy a cigarette. This could be a major step forward. There are details to be heard on exactly how it will work—the right hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) spoke about shopkeepers in 20 or 30 years’ time having to work out whether someone is 47 or 48—but the aspiration of having a smoke-free Britain is certainly worth while.

We have already heard some allusions to the changes on vaping, which are similarly welcome. There are businesses in Torbay selling e-cigarettes that are clearly targeted at adults. Their building looks more like a bar, and the packaging is reflective of the types of products that we would generally expect to be aimed at the over-18s.

My granddaughter Emily summed up brilliantly the problem with how the law currently regulates vaping. She made the point that, if this product is about stopping adults smoking—about transitioning from smoking cigarettes to being a non-smoker—what adult looking to give up smoking would walk into a corner shop and look for a product with a gummy bear flavour, in a bright green packet and with a cartoon character on the front? What adult is going to do that? The target of that product is obvious, and it is not the over-18s.

Some of the current issues with vaping exactly match some of the issues we saw with how tobacco was marketed to reach new smokers. For example, cheap disposable vapes replicate the ability to buy smaller packs of cigarettes, or even individual cigarettes, in the distant past. It is absolutely right that we are looking to crack down on this, while keeping a genuine choice for those who are looking to give up smoking, and who need assistance to do so.

A number of Bills are welcome. Many Members have reflected on the potential for a Bill on leasehold to tackle many of the problems in that area. There are a number of properties in Torbay where people are looking to retire but still want to own their own property and so will look to buy an apartment or a flat on leasehold. Many are well managed and have fair charges, but there are instances where that is not the case.

When I was in the Department for Communities and Local Government, as it was called then, we had a call for evidence a few years back and all sorts of issues emerged—we heard about everything. We heard about windows work that an independent contractor would have charged about £3,000 for, but the freeholder had selected a relative to deliver it at a charge of £20,000 or £30,000. My right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) spoke about houses that should have been sold as freehold being instead sold as leasehold. My hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart) referred to communal areas that have a surprisingly high specification and cost to maintain them, with it all being charged to the leaseholders. That is not a genuine way of maintaining an estate, but a way of ripping people off.

I also welcome the media Bill. The section 40 provisions it proposes to repeal from the Crime and Courts Act 2013 were created in another era. The Leveson inquiry looked at the problems of the press of the past; the print media does not occupy the position today that it did even five or eight years ago. Sales of papers are declining and very few of us go to our letterbox in the morning to read the latest headlines rather than open up our phone, pad or laptop. Therefore, targeting the print media specifically in the way that was suggested some years ago is no longer fair or relevant, so that repeal proposal is welcome.

Tomorrow night, I shall be with members of the Torquay United supporters trust, who lobbied heavily for the implementation of the recommendations of the fan-led review. It is good to hear that the Bill on football governance will be coming through. We can all think of the various examples of badly managed clubs and problems leading to grounds, sometimes historic ones, potentially being sold. In some cases, clubs have ended up playing somewhere completely different. In the disastrous period when Sisu owned Coventry City football club, it ended up playing up in Birmingham and, at another time, it played in Northampton. That all exposes the utterly useless system of football regulation that currently exists and how a change is long overdue.

In the past couple of months, I have not just been reading the many campaign emails we get in the run-up to a King’s Speech, but directly asking residents across Torquay and Paignton, especially new voters turning 18, what issues they wanted to see addressed in the King’s Speech. Hundreds replied and I am grateful to them for doing so. The top six issues were crime, immigration, the environment, housing, planning and animal welfare—crime, immigration and housing were clearly ahead of the pack.

On crime, it is vital to see justice being done and it is completely wrong that a person convicted of a heinous crime can hide away in a prison cell when their sentence is being handed down in court. I therefore welcome the move to legislate to give judges the power to bring those convicted of the worst crimes up to the courtroom to face their judgment. It is absolutely right that that is taken forward. I also welcome the moves on whole-life sentences for the most heinous of offenders. Again, this will build the public’s confidence that those who commit appalling crimes will not only receive the punishment they deserve, but will have to face judgment when it is given.

Looking at this area more widely, I hope that this Session also gives us more opportunities to consider how we ensure that people feel safe in their communities, especially in our town centres. We all know the challenges that they are facing following economic changes and the way in which online shopping during the pandemic accelerated the shift away from physical retail. I urge the Government to think about how we can go further in working with local councils and community groups on this. It will require enforcement work, such as dealing with antisocial behaviour connected with drinking and drug taking on the streets. However, we must also consider how to join that up with support in terms of housing, mental health and breaking cycles of addiction—problems that often drive the antisocial behaviour we see.

This time last week, I was with Father Neil Knox of Paignton parish church to see how it has become a hub to ensure that people going through the dark tunnel of addiction or exploitation can see a light at the end of it. Sadly, that work has seen the church and its clergy being targeted by some of the darker forces in our community, who see it as a threat to their trade and position. I know that the local police are responding and I hope that the Home Office will assist with additional funding in response to a bid that has been made.

Immigration was referred to in the King’s Speech, and there are two clear parts to that debate. First, on illegal migration, a lot will depend on the Supreme Court ruling on the Rwanda plan, which will break the business model of the people smugglers if it can be taken forward. It is encouraging to see that many of the plans that my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove) and I drew up while in the Home Office are being implemented, including Greek-style accommodation centres and key parts of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, such as the reform of age assessment.

We need to remember that there is a second part to the debate on migration: legal migration. I am talking about those who come here on a visa, when we have chosen to give them the chance to come to our country. I hope that this Session will provide opportunities to reflect on how we use our legal migration system and the rules it operates under. We should welcome those who come to fill vital roles and bring valuable skills, but we must balance that with the impact on our domestic labour market and the importance of ensuring that employers invest in UK training and offer the rewarding packages workers deserve to attract them into an industry, rather than see immigration, or lobbying for changes on immigration, as a handy opportunity to avoid doing that.

In particular, I want the Government to reflect on the recommendations of the Migration Advisory Committee review of the shortage occupation list. One of the last things I did as Immigration Minister was to commission that review to look at how the list works. We should abolish the 20% salary discount for jobs on the list and update the salary thresholds, which are becoming increasingly out of date, given the changes in the labour market since they were set at the advent of the points-based system. I suspect that my right hon. Friend the Minister for Immigration would be very keen to announce some of those items from the Dispatch Box, so I urge other colleagues in government to think carefully about why that might be.

Turning to the environment, as a coastal MP I want a move to bring in primary legislation to ratify the global ocean treaty. As those on the Treasury Bench will be aware, once 60 countries ratify it, the treaty will come into force. It will then be possible to create a network of global ocean sanctuaries that are off limits to harmful industrial activity such as oil drilling, industrial fishing and deep sea mining. I hope that we will get the chance to discuss primary legislation on this subject, and I cannot imagine that it will be particularly controversial when we do.

Another area that needs careful consideration is housing and its intrinsic link to planning. The way our current system works is ripe for reform. The most dramatic example of the need for change is that we have long housing need waiting lists while empty and derelict buildings sit in our town centres. This is not about pitching the old classic of “developers versus communities” and “greenfield versus homes”; there is a real need to look at how our system works. Hospitality businesses that are seeking to modify their premises to incorporate items such as a slightly expanded spa encounter either a “no” or a requirement to go through a lengthy planning process. Worse, a potential brand-new language school for Paignton was lost in a row over a bike rack and bin storage. The existing permission for an office, if used, would have far more impact on the surrounding properties.

I am not advocating a return to the type of sweeping planning powers we gave councils in the 1940s to enable post-war rebuilding, but I urge the Government to have another look at the indication councils gave only last year that they were keen to have more flexibility on planning in key regeneration areas. Although there were some scare stories, these areas were far more likely to be a derelict 1960s concrete jungle than a precious nature spot.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I know you have to be completely neutral when you are in the Chair, but some of my next remarks about animal welfare are inspired by a Member for a Kent constituency who I regularly meet when I am in the Tea Room. Animal welfare is close to the hearts of many constituents and I welcome the Government’s dramatic change in approach to animal welfare issues since May 2015, particularly under the leadership of Boris Johnson, who was keen to push forward on those issues.

I am disappointed we did not take the opportunity to pass the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill in the last Session, but we have seen good achievements during the last Parliament, such as the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 and the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021, which saw the maximum penalty increase from six months to five years, along with the extension and updating of the Ivory Act 2018, which now covers five additional species. There was also some excellent cross-party work on private Members’ Bills, such as the Shark Fins Act 2023.

It is welcome that the Government will introduce a Bill about animal welfare and live exports. With the freedoms produced by Brexit, it is time to outlaw long and unnecessary journeys simply for fattening and slaughter. However, time must also be found for key changes in areas such as pet theft and zoo regulation, which were in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, along with the promised ban on hunting trophies, which was frustrated by a small number in the Lords, despite the strong support it received in this Chamber. Clearly, those issues could be overcome by a Government Bill.

In conclusion, the King’s Speech included several welcome items, which I look forward to us debating in due course. Today is a day when we look to the future, but also a day when we reflect on a 70-year period of distinguished public service, which meant many of us today have still described it as the Queen’s Speech.

Infected Blood Inquiry

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Thursday 22nd June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) and the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson) on securing this debate. As a member of the Backbench Business Committee, I was delighted to agree to their application for it.

The background to this debate is well known, but it deserves to be on the record again. In the 1970s and 1980s, about 5,000 people with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders were infected with HIV and hepatitis viruses through the use of contaminated clotting factors. Some of those people unintentionally went on to infect their partners, often because, as has been said, they were simply not aware of the infection they had. Since those times, more than 3,000 people have died, and fewer than 250 of the 1,250 people infected with HIV are still alive. It has to be remembered that they are alive only because of advances in the treatment of that condition, which were simply not available at the time of their original infection. In addition, many people who did not have a bleeding disorder were infected with hepatitis C as a result of blood transfusions during that period. The best estimates we have—of course they are estimates, given that these things were not particularly well recorded—suggest that about 27,000 were infected with hepatitis C. About 10% of them were still alive and seeking justice as of 2019.

It is safe to say that justice has not been speedy or quick for those affected by this scandal. Decades have been spent campaigning for justice, and now it is often being done by a son or daughter, as the length of time that has passed means that the fight is being passed on to a new generation.

[Mr Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford) (Con)]

I am here this afternoon on behalf of several constituents, but particularly Mr Adam Fleming, who has been adversely affected by this issue and, understandably, feels very passionately about it. May I make a simple plea to the Minister, through my hon. Friend? This has gone on for so many years and a compassionate Government would surely do everything they could to accelerate the payment of compensation. Does he agree with me and many others that now, really, enough is enough?

[Kevin Foster]

I am only too happy to agree with my right hon. Friend about that. Some of my oldest outstanding cases—I am sure this is the same for him—ones that I inherited from my predecessor, who had been pursuing them for 18 years before my election, relate to victims of this scandal. It is time to bring this matter forward and to give them the justice for which they have waited so long and that they so totally deserve. Sadly, as I mentioned, in many cases it will now be a son or daughter, or the next generation, who is waiting, given the time that has elapsed since the original infection, the inevitable passage of time and the conditions concerned turning into fatal outcomes.

The establishment of the infected blood inquiry in 2017 gave hope that the long wait for justice was finally nearing an end. Although it is making progress, it is worth noting that more than 500 people affected by the scandal are estimated to have died since the inquiry began, in addition to the thousands we have already lost. Therefore, I have no problem in agreeing with my right hon. Friend that there is no time to waste in delivering compensation to surviving victims and others affected.

On 5 April, the infected blood inquiry published its report on compensation and redress. The key recommendation is that a compensation scheme should be set up now and begin work this year. The inquiry chair has said:

“The scheme need not await the final report to begin work, since this second interim report fully covers the inquiry's recommendations on financial redress”.

The report makes several recommendations, including that each affected and infected person should be able to make a claim in their own right; and, given the passage of time, that people should be able to make claims on behalf of the estates of people who have died. Simply the passage of time should not be allowed to reduce the liability for this scandal.

[Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con)]

My friend Steve Dymond died in 2018, and his wife, Su, had had to help him through a very difficult time for 30 or 40 years. He had been infected by blood products and had hepatitis C. I just feel it is time that Su had her compensation.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kevin Foster]

I could not agree more, and the recommendations are welcome. Many who have waited decades for justice are, understandably, keen to see them quickly accepted. There is no need for the Government to delay in accepting the recommendations from the inquiry and beginning to implement them now. Last summer, the Government moved quickly to accept and implement the recommendations in the inquiry’s first interim report on compensation. They should now do the same for the full and final recommendations on compensation and redress.

Simply stating an acceptance of the recommendations for compensation may end up being the easiest part of that process; actually delivering a compensation scheme will bring many challenges. It will involve looking back over decades to identify the impact on a person and on their family, often including long periods when the person was not aware of the infection and the impact it was then having on them. Inevitably, therefore, they will not have kept receipts or evidence of that impact. We must also be realistic about the sad reality that many involved in their care and affairs in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s will have almost certainly have passed on in the decades since. That means that their oral or written evidence cannot now be adduced to assist in a claim. Delivering justice in the face of these challenges, to those who have now waited decades for it, will not be easy.

The right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North and I know from our dealings with things such as the Windrush compensation scheme, which is having to do a similar task and in some cases is looking back over decades to see the impact on an individual, that these are complex cases. They are not easy. It is not simple to go back over someone’s life, see the impact, put it together and then come to a compensation award. We need to find people with the skills required to help deliver justice in a timely way, and that will not be simple.

That means that the Government should be appointing a chair to lead this body, in consultation with infected and affected people and their representatives. I urge the Minister not to wait in doing that. Candidates for such roles cannot be simply taken off a shelf when we decide to do something; they need to be identified and brought on board so that they fully understand the role and can quickly get under way. As soon as it has a chair, the body should start recruiting panels to review applications, build processes for reviewing claims, ensure it is ready to contact eligible people and allow people not covered by the current support schemes to register for this one. It must also ensure the active and relevant involvement of infected and affected people in its work and processes.

Crucially, an independent appeals and review process will also need to be created. Just describing the process makes it clear that it will take some time to establish, with potentially thousands of cases to consider, and so we need to start now. This cannot simply be announced and then start work the next day, which is why it is becoming all the more urgent that the practical reality of delivering this compensation scheme is engaged with.

The contaminated blood scandal is a tragedy that simply should not have happened. It has seen thousands of people lose their lives, with many facing prejudice as well, given the ill-informed attitudes to the conditions they had. Often they did not find out what had happened to them until many years afterwards. The scandal affected not just them but their whole family, many of whom are now on to the second generation fighting for justice. The final report of the inquiry will be a landmark moment, one that has been awaited for decades. Yet what I say to the Minister is: please do not wait to act where you can, and do so by quickly accepting the April recommendations and coming back to the House with a clear plan as to how you are going to deliver them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Wednesday 7th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

The Government and I have never been convinced by the case for a universal basic income. We are not alone in that; it is also the position of Paul Johnson at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. I think a much better solution is to create more jobs, which this Government have done, and to cut taxes on working people, which is what this Government have done. That is the route to prosperity for people up and down the country.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

Q7. Revitalising Oldway, regenerating our town centres and helping Torbay’s high-tech sector to grow will deliver levelling up for Torbay. What expectations does the Deputy Prime Minister have of the new levelling-up partnership in focusing Government effort and resources on doing that?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As I am sure my hon. Friend knows, levelling-up partnerships are committed to work hand in hand with 20 places across England in most need of that levelling up. They are backed by £400 million of investment, and I know that he will make the case most robustly for funding for his constituency.