Business of the House

Nusrat Ghani Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Lucy Powell)]

I shall. The business for the week commencing 24 March includes:

Monday 24 March—Second Reading of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Tuesday 25 March—If necessary, consideration of Lords amendments, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Non-domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Great British Energy Bill, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, followed by motion to approve the draft National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2025.

Wednesday 26 March—My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will make her spring statement, followed by remaining stages of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

Thursday 27 March—General debate on St Patrick’s day and Northern Irish affairs, followed by general debate on the 10th anniversary of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The subjects for these debates were determined by the Backbench Business Committee.

Friday 28 March—Private Members’ Bills.

The provisional business for the week commencing 31 March includes:

Monday 31 March—If necessary, consideration of Lords amendments, followed by remaining stages of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill [Lords].

Tuesday 1 April—Second Reading of the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords].

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the shadow Leader of the House.

[Jesse Norman]

Thank you very much indeed, Madam Deputy Speaker. I hope that you and the House will excuse me if I start on a very personal note.

Almost exactly 24 hours ago, my father, Torquil Norman, died at the age of 91. He was an extraordinary man. He flew Seafires and Sea Furies during his national service in the Fleet Air Arm. He created Polly Pocket, a toy that has brought unbelievable joy to many young people around the House and around the world. He rebuilt the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm in London, not just as an incredible performing arts centre, but as a creative centre for young people from whatever background to be able to find their way into jobs.

The reason I mention that now is that my father stood for values that bear a wider consideration in this House and in our own lives—values of positivity and creativity. He always said that the secret to success in the toy business was to have a mental age of seven and an eye for detail. He had incredible energy but also amazing resilience and focus on the long term. “Turn up at the finishing line” was one of his maxims. Even in his 80s, he was building and creating a new enterprise to develop flat-pack trucks, if you can imagine such a thing, Madam Deputy Speaker, that could be sold to countries around the world at low cost, supporting businesses and people.

I think the whole House would agree with me that we need these values today. At a time of difficulty, stagnation and international conflict, we need these values of creativity, ambition, drive, respect for others and, above all, capability —a focus not just on the head, but on the hand and the heart as well. That is something I feel very strongly about. We are trying to build a new specialist technical engineering college in Hereford, precisely to bring those different aspects of the human personality together in the service of better jobs and better possibilities.

I also think that it encourages us all, as a House and as a Parliament, to ask the right questions and to support long-term solutions, even when those questions and solutions may not be ones that we are ideologically or politically drawn to. We are in a world where welfare costs are rising higher than anyone could have wanted; civil service effectiveness is perhaps not as great as we would like; productivity in the NHS is not what we would all want, for whatever reasons that may be, over a very long period; and we need a rapid boost to our defence and security. Those are crucial questions that we, as a House, will need to continue to develop and discuss over the next few years.

I want to ask the Leader of the House whether we and other Members of the Modernisation Committee cannot expand our thinking about those long-term issues and try to push for more scope for co-operation between the parties on them, more consultation and debate on key legislation before it is brought to the House, and more ways to develop closer personal engagement between Members, so that we can build respect and co-operation across the House for the longer term. One of my father’s maxims—you will have discovered that he had many—was, “The secret to success is to take a large bite and then chew it.” I think that we could perhaps do that more as a House and as a country.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Before the Leader of the House responds, I wish to put on the record my condolences to the right hon. Gentleman, and my love and prayers. He and I spent some time together in a Department. He was a top gentleman to work with, and his father will have been very proud.

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the shadow Leader of the House for that tribute to his father, Torquil Norman. I did not know him, but he sounds like a wonderful father—someone who invented children’s toys but also who had great wisdom and gave him great advice. We in this House should all live by those values of positivity, creativity and resilience that the right hon. Gentleman so fondly shared with us. I send him and his family my very best wishes, as I am sure the whole House does, as he comes to terms with that in the coming days.

I want to congratulate Newcastle United—I would not normally, but they did win their first silverware in 70 years. It is also great to see that the Tour de France in 2027 will start in Edinburgh and make its way through England and Wales.

As international events yet again dominate, I am sure we all look with horror at the unfolding situation in Gaza in particular, with aid being withheld and the killing continuing. As the Foreign Secretary will set out to the House shortly, we want to see an urgent resumption of the ceasefire and the long-term peace talks continuing.

In the spirit of the right hon. Gentleman’s contribution, I want to put on the record my thanks to him for the cross-party work that he and I do across the House, not just through the Modernisation Committee but on the House of Commons Commission, chaired by Mr Speaker, and the many other boards that we have to sit on for many hours indeed. He makes a really important point, and it is one of the reasons why I wanted to establish the Modernisation Committee. I could have come into this position as Leader of the House and just laid down motions—which I do on many days—to change the rules of the House, but that is not how I want to work.

I take very seriously my role as Leader of the House, and as such I represent the whole House and want to bring the House together. I want to hear from smaller parties and to work cross-party. I believe that in this place we work best when we work together cross-party, on Select Committees and on issues that unite us. Many of those issues are raised regularly with me in Business questions, and I join the right hon. Gentleman in saying that we could definitely do more to tackle the big issues that this country faces, whether that is our defence and security, the welfare reform that is needed, jobs of the future or social care—that might be raised with me again today. Long may that continue, and we should strive to do more of it.

[Lucy Powell]

I join my hon. Friend in again congratulating Newcastle United, as well as the work that is being done in her constituency to create sports facilities for grassroots football, rugby and other sports. She is absolutely right; those things are vital for our communities and young people. That is why we are reviewing the school curriculum and putting more money into local government. It is also why we are introducing a football regulator Bill to ensure that grassroots football is protected across the country.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lucy Powell]

I am sorry to hear about the case my hon. Friend raises. She is right that our trade union representatives do an important job in our workplaces, providing a link between employer and employees, and ensuring that people have the standards and rights that they are entitled to at work, and that they are working in healthy and safe environments. I will ensure that the case she raises is looked into. We are taking steps to ensure that academy chains are held to account in the same way as local councils.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I note that the Leader of the House did not announce whether time on Thursday 3 April would be allocated for debates determined by the Backbench Business Committee. If we are given that date, we will have a statement from the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on children in temporary accommodation, followed by debates on the impact of digital platforms on UK democracy and on access to sport and physical education in school.

If we are offered time on Tuesday 8 April, the last day before the recess, we will have a debate on the reward of a posthumous Victoria Cross to Blair Mayne—and I advise the Leader of the House never to cross Jim Shannon. There will then follow a debate on matters to be raised before the Easter Adjournment.

In Westminster Hall, next Tuesday there will be a debate on the retrospective accountability of the construction industry, which is vital. Next Thursday there will be a debate on the prevention of drugs deaths and a debate on the first anniversary of the Hughes report on valproate and pelvic mesh, which has been raised at business questions many times. On Tuesday 1 April there will be a debate on eating disorder awareness. On Thursday 3 April there will be a debate on waste incinerators, followed by a debate on Government support for Thames Water. On Tuesday 8 April, the day before the Easter recess, there will be debate on the persecution of Christians.

In addition, it would be much appreciated if we could be advised of the dates for the estimates day debates in May. Unfortunately, House business seems to completely disrupt the meetings that we are meant to have, but I sent a letter to the Leader of the House about potential opportunities for 90-minute general debates when Government business is likely to finish early.

Last week I hosted a meeting in this place of Rotary International representatives on the eradication of polio across the world. We heard from Dr Hamid Jafari from Amman, Gulcheen Aqil from Pakistan and Aziz Memon from Pakistan, as well as Dr Sir Emeka Offor from Nigeria. We have invested millions of pounds in trying to eradicate polio across the world. Unfortunately, the new International Development Minister was not able to attend because of short notice of the change of Ministers, and we understand that. We also know that there is a reduction in overseas aid, which I make no comment on. However, we want to see a statement from the International Development Minister on which programmes will be preserved and which ones will be cancelled. At the moment, there are only two countries in the world—Afghanistan and Pakistan—where polio is still rife. If we cut those programmes, the risk is that polio would rear its head again across the world and all the money we have invested would be wasted. Can we have a statement next week on that particularly important subject?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Mr Blackman, you are the last person I should be chiding for using a Member’s name, not their constituency, in the Chamber.

[Lucy Powell]

Obviously I would never cross the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon)—of course not. His criticism or praise is very important to me.

As ever, the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) outlined some really important debates that the Backbench Business Committee is facilitating. I will look very kindly on Thursday 3 April and on the Tuesday before the recess in the usual way, and I hope that our meetings can be rearranged very soon.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising the issue of the eradication of polio and for all his great leadership and work on this issue over many years. It is an issue close to my heart: my mum had polio as a youngster, and she suffers from the consequences of that even today. The Government strongly support global efforts to eradicate polio. As he will know, decisions on the future of the overseas development aid budget are subject to the spending review, but I will absolutely ensure that his powerful and strong representation has been heard as part of those conversations.