Universities: Freedom of Speech

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Thursday 10th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Damian Hinds]

This evening, a Member of this House was due to speak at an event at Cambridge University. That event will not go ahead as planned because of safety concerns. It is absolutely not for us to question operational decision making, but it absolutely is for us to question this Government about legislation and the effects—direct, indirect and chilling—of the decisions they have made since coming to office.

Last year, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act became law. In the end, having attracted cross-party support after extensive working with students and academics, it passed all its stages in Parliament and received Royal Assent. That Act is about protecting free speech on campus, including for visiting speakers, and it is about academic freedom to challenge conventional wisdom and put forward unpopular and controversial opinions. However, in July this year, the new Secretary of State decided—without any parliamentary debate—not to commence that Act.

The Minister speaks about a wide range of stakeholders. Some 600 academics, including seven Nobel prize laureates, have written to the Secretary of State in support of the legislation. Does the Secretary of State really think that those academics would support that legislation if it was, as the Government put it, a Tory hate charter? Will she now agree to meet those academics, and will she please now do the right thing and commence the legislation that Parliament has passed?

VAT: Independent Schools

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I remind Members to look towards the Chair when they are speaking, or what they say will not be picked up by the mics; I then struggle to hear them. I know that the Minister was struggling as well. If Members keep the chatter down, it will help us both.

[Damian Hinds]

My right hon. Friend is of course correct about the economic contribution that schools make locally and the large numbers of people they employ. That point was also made by NASUWT, which is worried about teachers being inadvertently pushed out of the profession if redundancies are made mid-way through the school year.

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[Damian Hinds]

I will take one more intervention before making progress, so as not to try your patience too much, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

It is not that my patience is being tested, but I do worry when shadow Secretaries of States cover a subject at length. I understand, but we need to get on, because lots of Back Benchers are desperate to get in. In fact, we have a very eager Opposition Whip coming in now.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Monday 29th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

I always value opportunities to speak to colleagues and counterparts in the devolved Administrations. I believe that we will have another opportunity relatively soon to speak to the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues in Northern Ireland, and I have no doubt that that will be one thing that we will wish to talk about.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the SNP spokesperson.

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Hinds]

The hon. Lady is right to call out the wickedness of Islamophobia. There have been Islamophobic incidents in schools as well, and Tell MAMA is an important resource in that regard. We will not tolerate anti-Muslim hatred in any form and we will seek to stamp it out whenever and wheresoever it occurs.

[Mr Speaker]

Ms Anum Qaisar is not here to ask the next question, but will the Minister give an answer so that I can bring in the Opposition Front Bencher?

[Ms Anum Qaisar (Airdrie and Shotts) (SNP)]

9. What recent discussions she has had with her counterparts in the devolved Administrations on the potential merits of providing additional financial support to school pupils in the context of increases in the cost of living.

[The Minister for Schools (Damian Hinds)]

Ministers normally meet colleagues from the devolved Governments, as we were just discussing a moment ago. The Education Ministers Council was due to be hosted by the Scottish Government in late 2023, but, although we have been watching our doormats, no invitation has arrived. The UK Government are providing £108 billion over 2022-23 to 2024-25 to help with the cost of living.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

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[The Minister for Schools (Damian Hinds)]

We expect that schools will follow the guidance, because it is guidance to help them carry out their existing statutory duties, including safeguarding. If they did not take those guidelines into account when delivering those duties, they would be at risk of breach.

[Mr Speaker]

We now come to the SNP spokesperson.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Monday 29th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

The hon. Gentleman is entirely correct. It is important to consider the role of mental health in primary as well as secondary school. We put mental health education on the curriculum through relationships, sex and health education, and we are investing in the mental health support teams that I mentioned, as well as the training grants. Of course, some schools do the transition from primary to secondary very well. It can be an unsettling time for children, but also an exciting one, and it is important that we maximise those benefits. There is a lot of good practice out there.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Scottish National party spokesperson.

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Hinds]

We await the Scottish Government’s full programme, but I will say that, in recognition of the benefits of free school meals and targeting them where they can have most effect, one in every three pupils in England are now eligible for free school meals, compared with one in six when Labour was in Government.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the SNP spokesperson.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Monday 11th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

I have seen the website that the hon. Member mentions. Its calculations are based on some very speculative assumptions, and the conclusions that it reaches should therefore be treated with great caution. Next year, County Durham will receive over £391 million based on current pupil numbers, which is an extra £7.8 million for schools.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Hinds]

I can confirm that there are 27,000 more teachers and 60,000 more teaching assistants in our schools compared with 2010. We have the most talented generation of teachers ever, and we continue to focus on a strong recruitment and retention strategy, so that we continue to get the best talent to teach our children.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Scottish National party spokesperson.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

Order. These are topical questions.

[Damian Hinds]

It sounds like there are important details to get to grips with, so I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman.

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[Mr Speaker]

Can you just help me to get through? Members have not got in yet and I really do want to help everybody.

[Damian Hinds]

I join my hon. Friend in thanking and paying tribute to all the staff, children and families at Bramhall High Street. She is a great advocate for them. Schools and colleges will be offered either capital grants to fund refurbishment or permanently remove RAAC, or rebuilding projects where they are needed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Tuesday 12th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman who I know takes a very close interest in these matters, and rightly so. I commit to working in partnership with unions and other representative bodies and others to make sure that we have the right support for this service. Let me reassure him that recruitment to the probation service has been very encouraging over the past three years and we have managed to exceed our stretching recruitment targets.

[Mr Speaker]

Let me welcome the shadow Minister to her post.

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[Damian Hinds]

We were talking about employment on release, but what the hon. Gentleman raises is incredibly important. I have visited Wormwood Scrubs. Rates of self-harm are unacceptably high. They vary by place. In the women’s estate, we have a particular issue with self-harm. We are working closely with the national health service, which provides mental health support in prisons. I am absolutely determined that we bring down levels of self-harm.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the new shadow Minister.

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Hinds]

We continue to upgrade the prison estate. As I say, we are investing in 20,000 new places—the biggest expansion in the secure estate since the Victorian era. At the same time, we have been taking out some of our most overcrowded and unsuitable prisons. In the last financial year, we took out 1,900 places, and we are investing £168 million in custodial maintenance for 2023-24 and 2024-25.

The hon. Lady mentioned reoffending. There is no good level of reoffending but zero, but I am pleased to be able to report good progress on reoffending, which has been coming down as a result of more ex-offenders getting into employment, fewer of them being homeless and more being able to get suitable, good treatment for addiction.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Justice Committee.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Tuesday 21st February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

We are, in fact, introducing more variety of employment in prisons, but I want to see that go even further. One of the advantages of urban vertical farming is the fact that, for obvious reasons, it takes up less space than traditional farming. There are, of course, limits to what can be grown in that way, but the hon. Lady has made an interesting point that we shall no doubt have an opportunity to discuss further.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

--- Later in debate ---

[Katherine Fletcher]

The MOJ plans to almost double the number of prisoners on the site of HMP Garth and HMP Wymott, but those plans are hamstrung by an almost complete lack of public transport improvement or roads infrastructure improvement. Does the Minister acknowledge the deep concerns about these plans in Ulnes Walton, Croston and Leyland, and will he withdraw them, think again, and stop the third prison?

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Damian Hinds)]

I acknowledge what my hon. Friend says about the concerns that people have. She could not be faulted for the strength and consistency with which she has campaigned on behalf of her constituents on these matters, and particularly the transport infrastructure that she mentions. She knows this, because there are already two prisons there, but a new prison delivers hundreds of construction jobs locally, hundreds of ongoing jobs and a whole range of roles and careers, with a very significant boost to the local economy.

[Mr Speaker]

It affects all constituencies around it as well, Minister.

Prison Capacity

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Wednesday 30th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

The Government make no apologies for all we are doing to keep dangerous criminals off the street, and I make no apologies for the programme to recruit 20,000 more police officers, or for tougher sentences for the most serious crimes. It is good to report that reoffending rates are down, although of course there is further to go. It is good that prosecutions are up by 7% over the last year, and convictions up by 10%, but still, as ever, there is further to go. Our No.1 priority, as the public rightly expect, is to keep our country safe.

At no point in the past five years have fewer than 1,000 cells been available across the entire prison estate, so we have not run out of prison places. This statement does not reflect a failure to plan ahead. We have absolutely been planning ahead, and we have stuck to our expansion programme and brought forward capital works. There has been a highly unusual acute short-term surge, with increases of more than 700, and more than 800 in the last two months. This is the first time ever that we have seen that sort of increase for two consecutive months. We have a number of capacity increase options, but they are not available in that short a timeframe.

Using the established protocol with the police allows us to manage the surge while continuing to deliver that ambitious expansion. I say it is an established protocol, and the hon. Lady will recognise Operation Safeguard because it was used extensively by the previous Government before 2010. It was last used in October to December 2006, and again between January 2007 and October 2008. On this occasion we are enacting a temporary use of Operation Safeguard to manage short-term pressures, precisely to ensure that we do not run out of places. Meanwhile we are investing record amounts in prison maintenance to ensure that prisons remain safe and decent while complying with modern fire safety standards. We continue with our expansion by 20,000 places, which is the biggest growth since Victorian times.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Justice Committee.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Thursday 27th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

12. What steps his Department is taking to reduce public sector fraud.

[Mr Speaker]

Who wants it? Come on!

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Monday 20th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

No, I do not see a danger to journalistic freedoms. Indeed, the Government are taking stringent steps to ensure, for example, that in the Online Safety Bill journalistic rights and freedoms are absolutely to the fore, because of the vital and irreplaceable role that a free and sometimes boisterous media plays in underpinning and challenging us in our democracy.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Monday 25th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

I can confirm to the hon. Lady that we are making constant improvements to Action Fraud through the City of London police, and are also investing in a wholly new Action Fraud system for 2024. In the meantime, I encourage her constituent and all our constituents to report fraud. One particularly striking statistic is that more than 76,000 scams have been automatically taken down as a direct result of our constituents forwarding scam emails to the suspicious email reporting service.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister, Naz Shah.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Monday 18th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Security and Borders (Damian Hinds)]

Unexplained wealth orders are a very important tool and, yes, we are absolutely making sure the resources are there to support their use.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Neale Hanvey—not here.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Monday 27th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

UC smooths the transition into work and it smooths progression in work. Since it became the default benefit for newly unemployed people, we have had month after month after month of positive employment news. Is it not bizarre that Opposition Members want to scrap that system and return to the Labour system that saw millions of people either trapped in the 16-hour economy or shut out of work altogether?

[Mr Speaker]

Obviously this is all tied in with Hartlepool.

Tax Credits

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Damian Hinds

Tuesday 15th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

Time is short, so I am going to make some more progress.

For too long in this country—[Interruption.]

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

That is not a point of order.

[Damian Hinds]

For too long, low pay has been addressed in this country not by genuine reform and driving productivity, but by subsidising it through the tax credit system. In the decade to 2010, tax credit expenditure more than trebled in real terms. The changes introduced in this order will build on the last Parliament’s reforms and return real-terms tax credit spending to its 2007-08 levels—a decade into the Labour party’s tenure in government. It is not a stand-alone measure, but part of what my right hon. Friend the Chancellor called a “new contract” with working Britain. It says to businesses, “You will have to pay higher wages, but you will get lower business taxes and a stable economy”; it says to people, “You can get higher pay and lower tax, but with less benefit top-up”; and it says to the country, “We are going to spend less and live within our means”. These regulations are an important part of that, and I commend them to the House.