Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 25th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his first comments, which are widely shared across the House.

On the hon. Gentleman’s substantive point, I agree. I was recently looking, for example, at the Cabinet Office relocation plans for Peterborough, which were part of a much wider regeneration programme that will make a significant difference there. One of the key learnings from past attempts by previous Governments to relocate civil servants outside London is that one has to do it a way that builds a hub and spoke, so that there is a sustainable career and it sits within a wider regeneration, as in areas such as York. He makes an extremely important point, and it is a key part of the plans we are bringing forward.

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

I believe that Ministers have previously shown interest in suitable office space in my constituency to house Cabinet Office staff. Will the Minister provide an update on any plans to open civil service offices in Rutherglen and Hamilton West or the surrounding areas? He just mentioned areas of regeneration. That is an area that is being regenerated by Clyde Gateway.

[Steve Barclay]

A key component of the Places for Growth programme is that it is UK-wide. That is why, to take my Department, the Cabinet Office, we are having a second headquarters in Glasgow, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is committed to East Kilbride. It is a UK-wide programme, and that shows the values of working together across the United Kingdom.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Ellis]

It is up to this House to regulate its disciplinary affairs. Of course, this House has done so and, under your leadership, Mr Speaker, will no doubt continue to do so.

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

I have previously written to the Minister for Defence People and Veterans about the delay that one of my constituents has experienced while waiting for a decision on his military pension. Will the Minister please look into this case and ensure that my constituent does not wait any longer than the year that has already elapsed since his application?

[Leo Docherty]

I confirm to the hon. Lady that I will pursue that again today and will get her an answer urgently.

COP26

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Monday 15th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I call Margaret Ferrier.

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

I was not expecting that, Madam Deputy Speaker. First, I thank the COP26 President’s parliamentary team, who were there in Glasgow, for helping MPs to navigate their way around the event. A number of commitments were made on aviation at COP, acknowledging the need for change to be sustainable for the industry. I have raised many times the financial difficulties the industry faces at present. What will the Government do to support it in decarbonising and meeting jet zero without that becoming too great a financial burden?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady very much. We are supporting the campaign for jet zero; we want the UK to lead the world in making sure that planes can fly without using tonnes of kerosene, and there are many attractive technologies. It will not be easy, but we want the whole world to come together to fix this. We are setting an ambitious target of getting more sustainable aviation fuel into tanks by 2030, and going for electric planes for short haul.

G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think that our steel companies have done a great job in trying to reduce their carbon footprint. That is extremely hard for steel corporations, because they are one of the biggest emitters that we have. We must move towards zero-carbon steelmaking, while keeping a steelmaking industry in this country. The measures that the hon. Gentleman has described—such as the carbon border adjustment levy—are certainly worth considering.

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

The United Nations Secretary-General has said that it will be very difficult to secure the commitment needed for the 1.5° goal, and, in relation to new fossil fuel excavations, that

“we don’t need more oil and gas”.

Will the Prime Minister tell us what engagement his Government are having with the oil and gas industries to support them in their efforts to decarbonise sustainably?

[The Prime Minister]

We talk all the time to the oil and gas industry, which has a great and proud history in this country. I believe that the future for the industry—for hydrocarbons—is moving beyond the old combustion approach and towards the extraction of clean power. That is the direction in which we should be going.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 23rd September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Leo Docherty]

I have been reading the Select Committee’s report with great interest. The MOD is compiling its formal response, and I give my hon. Friend my personal assurance that we take these issues seriously across a whole range of considerations, including uniform and sanitary product provision. We are determined to get this right. We have opened up every single role across the military to women, but that will not be sufficient unless there is a culture of support.

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

Constituents have contacted me recently, and I wrote to the Office for Veterans’ Affairs about one of them on 3 August and am still awaiting a reply. What steps is the Office for Veterans’ Affairs specifically taking to make sure that veterans facing obstacles to accessing services are fully and appropriately supported?

[Leo Docherty]

If the hon. Lady would like to raise that case with me personally after this session, I will pursue it with urgency.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

Of course, the Government understand, and my right hon. Friend champions eloquently, the importance of the River Wye. We will do everything we can to support him with preserving it for future generations.

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

Q12. With fewer than 100 days until Christmas, many of our constituents will be choosing to shop for children’s toys online. There have, unfortunately, been incidents of young children swallowing small parts, such as batteries and magnets, that require invasive medical intervention. With rogue traders out there, how can consumers be satisfied that the toys they purchase via online marketplaces are safe, marked as age-appropriate and meet the required safety standards?

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Wednesday 21st July 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady very much and I thank the fire service for its outstanding response to the fire at Asmall Primary School. I am sorry for the disruption that children are experiencing. We cannot be complacent about fires at all, let alone fires in schools, and the Department for Education is consulting on guidance to improve fire safety in schools further. I encourage her to make representations in that consultation.

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

One of my constituents recently attempted to sell a house, only for the surveyor and estate agent to inform him that they require an external wall system certificate. However, under the current Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors guidance, an EWS1 form should not be expected for properties and buildings under 18 metres high, which includes my constituent’s property in Cambuslang. Will the Prime Minister clarify whether the UK Government intend to take any steps to ensure that lenders and others adhere to RICS guidance on EWS1 forms and will he meet me to discuss how I can assist my constituent?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady makes an extremely important point. That is why my right hon. Friend the Housing Secretary will make a statement to the House shortly. We must be clear that the risk from fire to life in homes is very, very low and leaseholders should not be trapped in their properties, unable to buy or sell, because their properties have been unfairly maligned in that way. Lenders and valuers should not be asking for EWS1 forms on buildings below 18 metres. The Housing Secretary will set out later more about how we propose to ensure that that does not happen.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Wednesday 7th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kemi Badenoch]

I should start by reiterating that the covid-19 vaccines are safe and there is no evidence that they affect fertility. I recognise that there is much information about the vaccines, as my hon. Friend describes. We are working with Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, the Chief Midwifery Officer in England, and others such as Media Medics, Dr Hazel Wallace and Dr Philippa Kaye, to encourage women to be vaccinated.

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

What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential effect of the reduction in official development assistance on gender equality in the developing world.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Wendy Morton) [V]]

Tackling gender inequality is a core part of the Government’s mission. The integrated review confirms our commitment to tackling the discrimination, violence and inequality that hold women back. Girls’ education is one of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s seven key priorities for ODA spending, and this year we will invest £430 million in girls’ education, helping to achieve the global target to get 40 million girls into education.

We continue to demonstrate the UK’s leadership in reducing gender-based violence. At the recent Generation Equality Forum, we launched the £67.5 million What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale programme, which is the first global effort systematically to scale up proven violence-prevention approaches worldwide.

[Margaret Ferrier [V]]

The Gender Equality Advisory Council recently recommended to G7 leaders that they renew their commitment to the 0.7% of GNI target for overseas development assistance and urged them to ring-fence any funding for gender equality projects. Will the Minister assure us that she has assessed the effect on such projects of the recent cut of ODA to 0.5% of GNI, and that she is working with Cabinet colleagues to mitigate that harm?

[Wendy Morton]

It is important to recognise that the UK will still spend more than £10 billion on ODA in 2021, and we will return to spending 0.7% as soon as the fiscal situation allows. On impacts and equality assessments, I assure the hon. Lady that officials considered any impacts on women and girls, the most marginalised and vulnerable, people with disabilities and people from other protected groups when they developed their advice to Ministers as part of our decision-making process.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Wednesday 16th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Nobody, least of all my hon. Friend or I, wants to see covid restrictions last forever, nor do I think that they are going to last forever. As I made clear earlier this week, I think we can have a high degree of confidence that our vaccination programme will work. I think that we need to give it a little more time, as I have explained, to save many thousands more lives by vaccinating millions more people. That is what we want to do.

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

My constituent Ross has been invited to sit his driving theory test in Oban, 100 miles away from his home in Hamilton. His test has already been cancelled twice, first in November last year and then in February 2021. This September, Ross is starting a university course in paramedic science with a view to becoming a qualified paramedic in the Scottish Ambulance Service with placements across Scotland. Being able to drive is crucial. Will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss the delays in the scheduling of Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency theory tests, and the impracticality of the locations being offered?

[The Prime Minister]

I am aware of the problem, and we are doing what we can to accelerate the number of driving instructors and testers to allow young people such as the gentleman that she mentions to get their driving test done, and enable them to fulfil their ambitions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 25th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

What steps he is taking to support manufacturers subject to non-tariff barriers to trade with the EU.

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

What steps the Government are taking to simplify export procedures to the EU for UK manufacturers.

[The Paymaster General (Penny Mordaunt)]

Our trade and co-operation agreement with the EU provides for 100% tariff-free and quota-free access to each other’s markets—the first trade agreement in the world to do so. We are working closely with business, including manufacturing, to minimise any potential disruption.

--- Later in debate ---

[Penny Mordaunt]

I have had a very large number of discussions with the Welsh Government, and also with officials there, with regard to a whole raft of issues related to our leaving the EU, and I will continue to do so in my new role.

[Margaret Ferrier [V]]

The Road Haulage Association has highlighted that UK exports to the EU will not recover until summer at the earliest due to a shortage of customs agents. The industry estimates that we need 30,000 customs agents for the whole of the UK, and we are presently well short of that target. Will the Minister delineate what steps are currently being taken to meet that target?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The original assumptions that were made about numbers of people that we would need either in customs or of vets, for example, were overestimated, because having looked at it we now have a much clearer understanding of what is actually required. We have obviously, through securing this agreement, been able to mitigate a lot of those things. A great deal of these things are, as I say, about people not understanding how things should be implemented, so a large part of our work is about ensuring that businesses, agents and others understand how these processes need to be operating. With the problems that genuinely remain, we now have a framework in place where we can work through those things.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Wednesday 24th March 2021 Commons Chamber

The Minister for Women and Equalities was asked—

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

What assessment she has made of the ability of same-sex couples to access insemination services in the UK.

[The Minister for Care (Helen Whately) [V]]

Regulation of fertility treatment services is UK-wide, but policy is devolved. In England, decisions about local fertility services are determined by clinical commissioning groups, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, which include provision for same-sex female couples.

[Margaret Ferrier [V]]

At present, Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority guidance largely prohibits supplying sperm for insemination at home. Same-sex couples who are trying to get pregnant have few options via the NHS other than to access insemination services from a registered UK clinic. That means that couples who live further away from such clinics face further costs in their aspiration to start a family. Will the Minister, working with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the HFEA, explore ways in which this issue could be mitigated?

[Helen Whately]

On the question about the delivery of sperm to residential addresses, that can be done across the UK, but the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority advises against it because the origin of the sample and whether it is undamaged cannot be guaranteed. Undergoing treatment at a licensed UK clinic provides the donor and the patient with legal certainty about their parental status and their future responsibilities, but I am very happy to take up the hon. Lady’s question further with the Minister for Innovation, as this sits in his portfolio.