Gaza: Humanitarian Situation

Debate between Leo Docherty and Ruth Jones

Monday 4th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Leo Docherty]

I do not accept the right hon. Gentleman’s description of it being “wholly indiscriminate”, but of course I take seriously his comment about 57 journalists having been killed. That is tragic, but I take issue with his characterisation of it being “wholly indiscriminate”. Of course we make representations to Israel to constrain and focus its operations, and we will continue to do so.

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

Like so many Members, I again received hundreds of emails this weekend from my constituents who are appalled and horrified at the continuing killing of innocent Palestinian men, women and children. They want the killing to stop, so will the Minister condemn the acts of violence and extremism by Israeli settlers in the west bank and call on the Israeli authorities to prevent settler violence, to ensure accountability for perpetrators and to condemn extremist rhetoric?

[Leo Docherty]

This Government are on record—I said it in my statement—in condemning settler violence in the west bank, but we must be very clear that this military operation is under way in Gaza because of the terrorist atrocity carried out by Hamas on 7 October. That is the terrible and tragic truth.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Leo Docherty and Ruth Jones

Monday 13th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

11. What assessment he has made of the impact of the rise in the cost of living on armed forces personnel living in Newport West constituency.

[The Minister for Defence People and Veterans (Leo Docherty)]

Armed forces personnel, like everyone else, are not immune to the international inflationary pressures and cost of living pressures, and I am therefore very pleased to announce that the Defence Secretary has chosen to freeze the daily food charge for our armed forces personnel. We are also limiting the increase in accommodation charges to 1%, ensuring that the council tax rebate reaches those in military accommodation, and increasing the availability of free wraparound childcare at the start of the new academic year.

[Leo Docherty]

In terms of measuring the contentment of those serving, the reality that I see day in, day out is that armed forces personnel are content with their pay and conditions. They are also content because of the remarkable job security they have in the armed forces, the subsidised accommodation, and the remarkable and unique non-contributory pension. That is all thanks to the £24 billion uplift made available by the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary.

[Ruth Jones]

As we commemorate 40 years since the Falklands conflict, I pay tribute to the brave soldiers who did their duty there, such as Lance Sergeant Alan Dalgleish, who lived in Newport West. But I am afraid, sadly, that the Government’s approach to the welfare and livelihoods of armed forces personnel and veterans such as Lance Sergeant Dalgleish is lacking in both compassion and practical support. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the impact that the Tory cost of living crisis is having on forces personnel living in Newport West?

[Leo Docherty]

I do not recognise that characterisation, but of course I join the hon. Lady in solemn and compassionate commendation of the veterans of the Falklands liberation. The Defence Secretary will speak more about that. On her question, I ask her to recognise the work we have done specifically in Wales. I hope that she, like me, is very pleased to see the independent Wales Veterans Commissioner in place, and that she will work with him to improve the lives of veterans in Wales.

Environment Bill (Eleventh sitting)

Debate between Leo Docherty and Ruth Jones

Thursday 5th November 2020 Public Bill Committees

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

I rise to support the amendment. It is all very well having environmental law, but we must take account of international law as well. As we have heard in previous debates, air quality has no boundaries as such. We must also take account of the fact that international law will impact on the way we manage recycling, waste and so on. I therefore stand in support of the amendment.

[Leo Docherty]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for tabling the amendment, as it gives me the opportunity to clarify the OEP’s remit. The intention of the amendment is to include international environmental law within the remit of the OEP’s monitoring function only where it is relevant to the UK. However, the relevant international environmental law already falls within the remit of the OEP in three ways.

First, any domestic legislation that implements an international convention and meets the definition of environmental law—for example, the conservation of habitats and species regulations implementing the Bern convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats, and the EU habitats and birds directives—would already be in the scope of the OEP. Secondly, the OEP will be able to scrutinise our international environmental commitments where they are included in the environmental improvement plan, for example our commitments to the UN convention on biological diversity. Finally, the Secretary of State may ask the OEP’s advice when fulfilling the duty, under clause 20, to report on significant developments in international environmental protection legislation.

I hope that reassures the hon. Gentleman that the OEP has already been given a role in holding the Government to account for our international environmental commitments. I therefore hope that he will withdraw the amendment.

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[Ruth Jones]

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in support of the amendment. We are well aware that the terms “public authority” and “public body” are often used interchangeably, which can lead to a lack of clarity. We are concerned that “public authority” could be interpreted as meaning a smaller category of public bodies. Public bodies are sometimes, for the avoidance of doubt, explicitly listed in legislation as being encompassed by the term authority. For example, section 28G of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 clarifies that authorities include

“any other public body of any description.”

This clarification is helpful for those reading only part of the Bill; it means that they do not need to read the whole Bill to understand a clause. It is important that we clarify what we mean by the term, so we welcome the amendment.

[Leo Docherty]

I thank hon. Members for their contributions. I agree that it is of great importance that the OEP should be able to hold public authorities to account, and that all parties should have certainty about its remit. I assure hon. Members, however, that the provisions in the Bill are sufficient to ensure both those things.

Regarding amendment 117, we have deliberately taken a broad approach to defining a public authority as

“a person carrying out any function of a public nature”,

subject to a number of specific exclusions. The same approach is used in a number of other Acts, including the Human Rights Act 1998 and, more recently, the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. It is, therefore, an approach with which the courts are familiar.

The existing definition already covers UK Ministers and Government Departments, local authorities, arm’s length bodies such as the Environment Agency, and all other bodies that carry out public functions. It is therefore unnecessary to list specific types of public authority in the Bill, as they are already captured. Furthermore, by including the term “public body” without defining it further, this amendment would introduce a lack of clarity about who and what is covered by this particular new element of the definition.

I reassure the hon. Member for Edinburgh North and Leith that the Bill respects the devolution settlements, including the Scotland Act 1998. Scottish Ministers, the Scottish Parliament and any person carrying out devolved functions have been excluded from the remit of the OEP. The public authorities listed in amendment 191 are, therefore, already excluded from the remit of the OEP, to the extent that they are carrying out devolved functions, so it is not necessary to list them as excluded bodies for the purposes of clause 28. I support her intention of avoiding overlaps with the equivalent Scottish governance body, Environmental Standards Scotland. That is why we have appropriately sought to limit the OEP’s remit to reserved matters, while avoiding any devolved matters that would appropriately be dealt with by that body.

In conclusion, I hope that Members are reassured that the definition is fit for purpose. It both avoids overlaps with bodies carrying out devolved functions, and ensures that the OEP has oversight over all relevant public authorities. As such, I politely ask the hon. Member for Southampton, Test, to withdraw the amendment.

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[Ruth Jones]

I rise in speak in favour of the amendment. My hon. Friend has made an eloquent point about the steps so far. We seem to be teetering on a cliff edge. We have got as far as accepting that there is an issue, the problem has been highlighted and solutions have even been suggested, but the wording of the clause does not give us an actual solution. The public authority must rectify the failure, but that is not enshrined in law. We all know that if we want something to be done, it must be enshrined in law. “Put it in the Bill,” is our usual cry.

Some of us—those who have worked in health, for instance—well remember that Crown immunity used to be given to NHS buildings. Problems and solutions were identified, but there was never any enforcement because of Crown immunity. I am sure that the Government do not want that to happen with such an important Bill, and that is why we have tabled the amendment.

[Leo Docherty]

It is, of course, important that the OEP’s enforcement framework is robust. However, we do not consider that binding notices would be an effective or appropriate means of achieving that. Decision notices are an important part of the OEP’s enforcement framework. They allow the OEP to set out the nature of a failure and recommend the remedial steps that a public authority should take in response. If the public authority chooses not to follow the recommended remedial steps—for example, because it believes that it is correctly applying the law for which it is responsible—the OEP can refer the matter for an environmental review. We would expect the OEP’s decision notice to form part of its evidence submission in an environmental review, and for this evidence to be given appropriate consideration as the view of an independent body. This will be the most effective way for the OEP to address cases of non-compliance.

Furthermore, the provision for binding notices through this amendment would be inappropriate for three key reasons. First, if the amendment were accepted, the OEP would effectively be able to superimpose its own decisions in place of those made by the relevant authorities appointed or elected for this purpose. Secondly, current protections for third party rights in the environmental review process would be lost. That could be damaging for businesses and cause extremely unhelpful uncertainty. Thirdly, without provision for an appeals mechanism, the public authority would have no right to challenge the OEP’s judgments, other than making an application for judicial review. The enforcement framework set out in the Bill will ensure that cases are resolved as quickly as possible, with powers to overturn decisions resting with the courts, as is appropriate. I therefore ask the shadow Minister to withdraw the amendment.