Tata Group Gigafactory Investment

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 20th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Ms Ghani]

As a result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and high energy prices, we introduced substantial programmes to give energy-intensive firms the support that they needed. The next phase of that is the energy supercharger, which—as the hon. Lady will know—the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero has been talking about. We know that energy prices will fall in the near future, and that there will be a change in the mix of energy costs.

Tata came to the UK not only because it is, obviously, the best place in which to build a gigafactory and has a fantastic skillset, but because we could offer competitive energy prices. We have had conversations about that with a number of firms and investors. When energy prices were high and we were dealing with energy-intensive industries, we made sure that we provided the necessary support to protect those firms and their employees.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

I thank the Minister for her statement, and welcome Tata’s investment. The Adam Smith Institute has said that securing sustainable foreign direct investment is fantastic, but that the UK should also be introducing supply-side reforms so that we can continue to champion carbon reduction on a global scale. In the light of that, what steps are Ministers taking to introduce supply-side reforms?

[Ms Ghani]

I am working with most industry representatives to establish what we can do about the supply side, not just through reforms but by giving them the assurance, accessibility and resilience that they need to get their products into the country and continue manufacturing, whether in the chemical or the aviation sector. We are working closely with industry, and I hope to present a supply-side input strategy by the autumn.

Afghan Resettlement Update

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Tuesday 18th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer]

If that individual is eligible under ARAP or ACRS and is approved, the hon. Gentleman should write to me about the case, and I will look into it. The status of these individuals is determined by the Home Office, so that is a question for that Department, but I am more than happy to look into individual cases. As I have said a number of times, this is an extraordinarily complex situation; he alluded to what happened at Kabul airfield two years ago. We are determined to ensure that those we owe a duty to are brought back to this country, and I urge him to write to me about that case today.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

I thank the Minister for his statement. The British Red Cross is delivering information sessions to Afghan refugees on life in the UK, digital safety, and protection and women’s healthcare. What steps are Ministers taking to ensure that they, too, provide Afghan refugees with the tools they require for successful assimilation in the UK?

[Johnny Mercer]

There has been a huge amount of work to make sure that Afghans have absolutely everything at their disposal in order to integrate into the United Kingdom, including funding that is flexible enough to, for example, knock through houses that are built together but not sized for the bigger families that we see in this cohort; English courses and training; replicating the qualifications they had in Afghanistan; and trying to get them into the NHS. There is a wealth of opportunity out there for Afghan families in the United Kingdom today. We must present that alongside a compassionate but firm outlook that hotels are not the place for Afghan families to reside in the long term. That is why we have put so much money and effort into this. We are determined to see through our commitments to this cohort and we will get there in the end.

NATO Summit

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 13th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. I was pleased to be the first western leader to call to congratulate President Erdoğan on his recent election victory. I also spoke to him last Friday and spent time with him over the past couple of days.

The hon. Gentleman is right about the role Turkey plays in the alliance, and indeed about the closeness of our partnership and friendship with Turkey, which we are looking to find ways to strengthen and deepen, whether economically, on defence or on illegal migration. The President and I had a very good conversation and agreed to do more in all those areas. He shares my ambition for a closer, deeper and stronger relationship.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

In a statement, NATO’s Secretary-General welcomed the new partnership programme with Japan and criticised China’s military advancements. What assessment has the Prime Minister made of China’s response to the statement? Does he have concerns about the vague threat that any action threatening Beijing’s rights will be met with a resolute response?

[The Prime Minister]

It is crystal clear that NATO is a defensive alliance. It is right that we in the UK, and indeed other NATO countries, strengthen our partnerships with nations in the Indo-Pacific. They were invited to this NATO summit because our security is indivisible—we have seen that—and the values we all share are ones that we believe to be universally true. That is why we will strengthen our personal relationships with Japan. The recent Hiroshima accords are crystal clear on that, and Japan said that it views the United Kingdom as its closest European ally. We are strengthening not just our economic relationship but, critically, our defence relationship with Japan, which is a partner, alongside Italy, in building the next generation of our fighter aircraft.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Wednesday 12th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Maria Caulfield]

I thank my hon. Friend for his hard work in this space as chair of the all-party group on issues affecting men and boys. He knows—this is with my health hat on—of the work that we are doing to improve lung cancer outcomes for men, and about the suicide prevention strategy that will be coming forward; we know that middle-aged men are at particular risk. I reassure him that the Equality Hub has responsibility for both men and women to ensure equality for all, and I will speak to the Minister for Women and Equalities so that we can be clearer about how that work impacts on men.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

Current legislation requires all public facilities to have sanitary bins in female and gender-neutral toilets. However, as highlighted by the Boys Need Bins campaign, hygiene bins need to be provided in men’s toilets. What steps is the Minister taking to introduce legislation that addresses that issue?

[Maria Caulfield]

I reassure the hon. Lady that work is going on in that space. My ministerial colleagues from the Department for Work and Pensions are looking at this, and will be updating the House shortly.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 11th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was just going to say that the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw (Marion Fellows) should know that that kind of defence strength would simply not be possible in an independent Scotland.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

In response to the National Infrastructure Commission and the Climate Change Committee stating that the Government must take steps to ensure our key infrastructure is resilient to the effects of climate change, what steps is the Minister taking with Cabinet colleagues to fast-track national adaptation planning?

[Oliver Dowden]

Our efforts in that area are led by relevant Government Departments. Through the Cabinet Office, I chair the Cabinet Committee on net zero and energy security, which is designed specifically to co-ordinate all the different areas of Government to deliver on our national and international commitments.

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[Oliver Dowden]

All these things point to the reason why we needed to have the test in the first place, which was to iron out these issues. In more rural areas, there are problems with signal, particularly with signal penetrating older houses. The answer is to extend the roll-out of mobile technology further, and the Government have very good plans for that.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

Data from 2022 has identified that serving military personnel and military veterans have a high prevalence of mental health disorders, with depression and alcohol misuse among the most prevalent. What steps are Ministers taking to ensure that those personnel have access to the tailored mental health support they require?

[Johnny Mercer]

The data tells us that people are less likely to have a mental health condition if they served in the military, but of course we take every case seriously. Mental health provision for both those who are serving and veterans has completely changed in this country. Op Courage is the UK’s first dedicated mental health care pathway for veterans, with £22 million a year and 19,000 referrals in its first year, which shows the huge unmet need that the Government are now meeting. The message is always the same: “Come forward, help is available, people do care and you can get better.”

International Trade and Geopolitics

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 20th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

China’s growing assertiveness on the international stage is rightly cause for concern, and the CPTPP is an example of where the Government need to be cautious. If China is successful in joining, it could block Taiwan’s application in the face of growing tensions between the two. Does the hon. Gentleman believe that the UK Government should formally acknowledge Taiwan’s sovereignty?

[Darren Jones]

I thank the hon. Lady for giving that suggestion to those on the Treasury Bench, and perhaps the Minister can answer when she responds to the debate.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 16th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin]

I agree with my hon. Friend that it is essential that we get value for money from the investments we make in our people. There is a role for well-paid people to deliver important projects for the people of this country, but I assure him that any payments above £150,000—that covers the entire remuneration package, not just the salary—must be not only justified by the relevant Department, but personally signed off by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who takes a very close interest in such matters.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

Ministers have lifted the cap on consultancy spending for Government Departments at a time when many members of the public are struggling to pay bills or put food on the table. Uncapping the spend on consultancy fees, rather than investing in building and nurturing internal civil service talent, may be short-sighted. Will the Minister reinstate the cap and instead focus on the internal development of skills?

[Jeremy Quin]

There is a difference between a cap and a control, and it is up to Departments to ensure that they are getting value for money in what they spend. Cutting bureaucracy and cutting exercises that take up a lot of civil service time but that are not productive is a good thing. There is a role for consultancy, alongside growing and nurturing the resources inside the service. It is important that we always get value for money, but that is best generated by having a Department that is laser-focused on value for money in what it is spending and on why it is spending it.

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[Johnny Mercer]

The hon. Gentleman is referring to the veterans mobility fund. He is absolutely right: none of these individuals with these catastrophic injuries should be contributing anything to their specialist mobility equipment. That is why, yesterday, we managed to reinstate the veterans mobility fund, and I pay tribute to Ben and his family for their campaigning on that issue. It is an important piece of work, and we will make sure we see it through.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

Figures show that 50% of female spouses of serving personnel aged 30 to 49 experience loneliness, in contrast to 27% of women of the same age in the general population. What steps are Ministers taking to ensure that adequate emotional support services are available to the spouses and families of serving personnel?

[Johnny Mercer]

That is a question for the Minister for support personnel, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison), but I know that he would mention all the work that has gone into groups such as Recruit for Spouses, and all the work that those groups do. There is a massive unmet skillset in that space that we should take advantage of; there are some brilliant skills there, and I know the Ministry of Defence is working hard on that at this time.

Civil Service Pay

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Tuesday 7th March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Beth Winter (Cynon Valley) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the civil service pay remit and the future of pay negotiations.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard, in this extremely important debate. This is my second Westminster Hall debate on public sector pay and the threat of industrial action as a result of the Government’s decisions in recent months. As we approach Budget day, I want to use the debate to drill down into one area of public sector pay: the civil service.

The civil service employs around half a million people across the UK, ranging from Whitehall mandarins to work coaches in the Department for Work and Pensions and prison officers in the Ministry of Justice. Those people carry out absolutely vital services, and I believe that the long-term trajectory of pay settlements in the civil service exposes the Government’s intentions and the Conservative approach more generally. The civil service pay remit is a political imposition by the Government on the incomes of hundreds of thousands of employees, and the effect of the past 13 years of civil service pay remit decisions has been to create a crisis in civil service pay. What we are witnessing is clearly an intentional and systematic downgrading of the remuneration of work in the civil service. Without doubt, it is part of a Conservative agenda to shrink the state, shrink the share of the economy allocated to public spending, and shrink the share of the economy that rewards labour costs.

The UK civil service has had the lowest pay increases in the public sector since the election of the coalition Government. Analysis of the reduction in civil service pay suggests that salaries have fallen by between 12% and a staggering 23% in real terms at each grade of the civil service since 2010. The Public and Commercial Services Union has said that this year’s pay remit means that members are missing out on at least £2,800 this year, and research by the Prospect trade union has revealed that since 2010-11 a civil servant on a median wage has lost around £10,500, which is staggering.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing the debate. Some 49.7%, or nearly half, of civil servants earn less than £30,000. Many are struggling with the impact of rising inflation and living costs, and rising travel costs to reach work. Does she share my concern that the continued undervaluing of the civil service will lead to officials leaving and a worrying potential exodus of experience and expertise?

[Beth Winter]

I thank the hon. Member for her contribution, and I will come on to recruitment and retention later.

There have been pay freezes and pay caps over the last 13 years. The situation has worsened in the past 12 months because of high rates of inflation and the lower allowance in the civil service compared with other public sector settlements. Civil servants had a paltry 2% pay rise imposed on them in the past year, which is more than 10% below the retail price index at its peak and almost 10% below the consumer prices index.

Civil servants, teachers and nurses have all suffered under the Conservatives’ low-pay agenda, and have all received a completely unacceptable and avoidable real-terms pay cut. The extent of the Conservative Government’s low-pay agenda is laid bare by the high number of civil service staff in receipt of the minimum wage. It is an absolute travesty that over a quarter of DWP staff are paid so little that the national living wage floor increase this April will push their salaries up. It is worth noting that when many Departments contract work, they insist that people get paid at least the real living wage as determined by the Living Wage Foundation, yet the civil service itself point blank refuses to guarantee to pay civil servants at least the real living wage.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer]

I thank my hon. Friend for his continued advocacy for a cause that I know is dear to his heart. The Office for Veterans’ Affairs is all about blending third sector and statutory provision. Veterans do not care where their care comes from as long as it is professional and evidence based and they have that community. It is our responsibility, through the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, to ensure they have that care, but it will often be delivered by different groups across the country. As my hon. Friend highlights, there are some wonderful groups up in Burnley doing that, and I would be more than delighted to visit him and talk about how we can support them better.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

Can the Minister provide an update on the work undertaken by the Defence and Security Accelerator on behalf of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs on veteran health innovation? What progress has been made to support mental health in the community?

[Johnny Mercer]

This year we established Op Courage and Op Fortitude, and we are looking at designing a clear, physical healthcare pathway for veterans. We are building pillars of support across the United Kingdom. We have put £5 million into a health innovation fund. A lot of individuals came back from Afghanistan and Iraq with injuries that would have been unsurvivable 10 or 15 years ago, with a level of complexity that we had not dealt with before. We are putting money into understanding the science behind that to ensure they have prosthetics for the rest of their lives, not just the next two or three years. There is a commitment from the nation under the armed forces covenant to special care for those who are seriously injured. I am more than happy to meet the hon. Member and talk her through some of the other work we are doing.

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[Johnny Mercer]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his work on homelessness. There should be no homeless veterans in this country. Provision is generally available but, under Op Fortitude, we have procured £8.5 million-worth of services to deal with instances in which it is not. This will be a clear, dedicated pathway for those who are at risk of homelessness, providing wraparound support in supported housing. We are going to end veterans homelessness this year, and I look forward to briefing my hon. Friend on how we are going to do it.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

The Institute for Government has suggested that publishing more policy advice from officials, publicly, would improve transparency, ministerial engagement and analysis. What assessment have Ministers made of that recommendation, and will it be implemented?

[Jeremy Quin]

Every Minister relies on good and honest advice from our officials, and we are blessed with just that. It is up to Ministers to determine how that policy is then prosecuted, and to stand up to represent and defend it, and I believe that we need to preserve the privacy between the advice received and the decisions made by the Government. We as Ministers are responsible. I am grateful for the advice I receive, and I do not expect civil servants to defend it. I have to take the decision and I have to defend the advice, and I would rather stick to that position when it comes to how we are accountable to this place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Wednesday 25th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mims Davies]

My right hon. Friend will be pleased to know that the first meeting of the Departments driving the Act is due to take place in mid-February. It is vital that the 20 Departments listed in the schedule deliver the commitments. The advisory board will be the first dual-language board advising His Majesty’s Government, which demonstrates our commitment to the deaf community. It will form the vital guidance on the Act, and it will rightly look at BSL for major public broadcasts, which many of our constituents want to see and have asked for.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

What discussions has the Minister had with her colleagues in the Government Communication Service about ensuring that BSL interpretation is provided for Government announcements and media events, and about the importance of not relying on written documents as an adjustment for deaf people?

[Mims Davies]

I thank the hon. Lady for her interest. The British Sign Language advisory board is being established to advise the Government on that implementation. Among the people giving advice will be BSL signers, and the majority of the members will be deaf BSL users who have lived experience and want Government communications to be accessible. I am proud that the Department for Work and Pensions has accessible jobcentres, and the same is needed for major Government announcements.

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The Prime Minister was asked—

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 25 January.

[The Prime Minister (Rishi Sunak)]

Can I start by wishing everyone a happy Burns night, especially those celebrating in Scotland?

As we prepare to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, I am sure the whole House will join me in paying tribute to the extraordinary courage of Britain’s holocaust survivors, including 94-year-old Arek Hersh, who is here with us today. This Government will legislate to build a holocaust memorial and learning centre next to Parliament so that the testimonies of survivors such as Arek will be heard at the heart of our democracy by every generation to come.

This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

[Margaret Ferrier]

Shockingly, one in six women in the UK has experienced economic abuse. This is not just about money, but about restricting access to other resources such as food, housing or work. It is a lesser known aspect of coercive control that affects my constituents, the Prime Minister’s constituents and those of every Member across the House. What plans does the Prime Minister have to review in detail the way that Government Departments and policies can be exploited by abusers, and to ensure that those loopholes can be closed?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady raises an important point. Let me assure her that the Government are committed to tackling violence against women and girls. That is why we passed the landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021, introducing new offences such as coercion and coercive control, stalking and others. We will continue to do everything we can to ensure women and girls feel as safe as they deserve and rightly should be.