Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pat Glass and Lord Lansley

Thursday 20th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

4. What steps he is taking to encourage Ministers to make announcements to the House before their release to the media.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

The ministerial code is clear: when Parliament is in session the most important announcements of Government policy should be made in the first instance to Parliament. I regularly remind my colleagues of this.

[Pat Glass]

The Chancellor came to the House this week and announced a Budget that had been largely pre-announced through a series of press releases. I hear this complaint all the time in the House and the usual playground response is, “Well, the Labour Government did it.” May I remind the Minister that, whatever happened in the past, this practice is wrong? What is he going to do about it?

[Mr Lansley]

I think the hon. Lady may have prepared her supplementary question before the Budget took place. The Chancellor stood at the Dispatch Box yesterday and announced some of the most important reforms to pensions in nearly 100 years, and benefits for savers. As far as I am aware, there was not even speculation on what he was going to do before he announced those measures. She should know that under the terms of the Macpherson report, which the Treasury adhere to, we are clear on not providing advance information on tax and fiscal measures. That was adhered to in the Budget.

Business of the House

Debate between Pat Glass and Lord Lansley

Thursday 16th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I am scurrying to answer. I was just wondering whether there were any traps in my hon. Friend’s question.

My hon. Friend will recall that when we came into office, under the previous Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme no school construction had started. It is the experience of many Members that considerable reductions in costs and an acceleration in process have been achieved under this Government through the new Priority School Building programme. The Secretary of State recently announced that 260,000 schools places had already been created under this Government, and additional substantial funding has been announced that I think takes the funding over this four-year period to about two and a half to three times what it was under the previous Government. All that is positive news. We want to ensure that plans put in place are cost-effective and achieved in as timely a fashion as possible, and I know that that is the intention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

Members on both sides of the House have long had concerns about the badger cull, the Government’s case for its efficiency and effectiveness, and its very morality. We now find out that their case is based on largely dodgy statistics. May we have a debate in Government time on this issue, which is so important to our constituents?

[Mr Lansley]

I do not think that the hon. Lady should get too carried away until the statisticians have quantified the error. One should not characterise the situation as she did and certainly should not exaggerate. The Government have been assiduous in bringing this issue back for the House to consider, and I know that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will continue to do so.

Business of the House

Debate between Pat Glass and Lord Lansley

Thursday 19th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I would be delighted if we had such an opportunity early in the new year. I cannot promise it immediately, but I hope that it will arise. My hon. Friend is quite right. The most recently published data show that in the east midlands, for example, the number of people unemployed has fallen by some 6,000. In many regions there have been similar substantial decreases in unemployment, which is very encouraging, and at the same time vacancies continue at a record level.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

A constituent of mine contacted me this week to tell me that his daughter, an agency worker at the passport office in Durham, will be made redundant in the new year when her job and others will be transferred to India. It is a tragedy not only for her, but for the region, as every job in the north-east is precious. May we have a debate on the scandal of Government and Government agency jobs being transferred overseas?

[Mr Lansley]

I will of course, because of the personal circumstances of the hon. Lady’s constituent, raise that with Home Office Ministers and ask them to respond to her directly. If she has any additional information, I would be happy to include it in the query. On the general point, it is encouraging that the most recent data show a reduction in unemployment in the north-east.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pat Glass and Lord Lansley

Thursday 7th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

2. What recent assessment he has made of the performance of each Government Department in answering written parliamentary questions.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

My office collates departmental performance information for ordinary and named day parliamentary questions, which I submit for each Session to the Procedure Committee. I provided data on the last Session to that Committee in July, and those are available on the parliamentary website.

[Pat Glass]

Will the Leader of the House confirm that the Department for Education remains the most poorly performing Department and is getting worse, and will he say what is being done about it?

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady will be aware from information on the parliamentary website of the relative position of Departments, including the Department for Education. The Procedure Committee held evidence-taking sessions with the Secretary of State and the permanent secretary, and the Chair of the Procedure Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker), has written to that Department. The context of that correspondence was that performance was poor but had improved in recent weeks. I stress that over the past Session, more Departments have increased their performance in responding to written questions than have deteriorated. It was possible, however, for the Department with the largest number of such questions—the Department of Health—to achieve a 99% response rate.

Business of the House

Debate between Pat Glass and Lord Lansley

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Members of this House are happy to send Christmas cards to their constituents and others at their own expense. I do not see why councillors should not do the same.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

Yesterday, the Secretary of State for Education came to the Select Committee on Education to answer questions on his plans to replace GCSEs. However, he did not answer questions. I do not mean that he avoided them, evaded them or gave non-answers—he point blank refused to answer questions from the Conservative Chair of the Committee and other Members. Given that the parliamentary role of the Education Committee is to scrutinise the Department for Education, is that not contempt of Parliament, and can we have a statement?

[Mr Lansley]

As I understand it, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State was perfectly happy to answer questions on matters for which he is responsible. He was not willing to answer questions relating to the views of Ofqual, as it is an independent regulator. I think that is perfectly fair.

Business of the House

Debate between Pat Glass and Lord Lansley

Thursday 8th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Quality and access are at the heart of what patients are looking for from the NHS. Happily, there has been considerable progress on both quality and access under this Government. It is interesting to note the latest figures. The number of patients waiting beyond 18 weeks for treatment was 209,411 at the time of the last election. That has been reduced to 144,650. The number of patients waiting for more than a year for treatment was 18,458 at the time of the last election. That has been reduced to 2,052.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

May we have a debate on participation in higher education, which has fallen by up to 30% in parts of my region? The Institute for Fiscal Studies published a report this week which shows that the gap in participation in higher education between the richest and the poorest students narrowed under the previous Government. We are in danger of losing those gains significantly.

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady will have to forgive me, but I was not here for the whole of Business, Innovation and Skills questions, when she may have had the opportunity to raise that issue with Ministers in the Department. In any case, we are looking for participation in higher education to be supported. The changes in higher education are focused on delivering the best quality teaching and the best quality research.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pat Glass and Lord Lansley

Tuesday 7th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady seems to have forgotten that we were very clear at the time of the election that we would establish the cancer drugs fund not least on the basis that under this Government, the NHS would not have to pay the additional employer’s national insurance contributions that it otherwise would. The money available for the NHS is being used for the benefit of patients, and it represents additional resources.

I might also remind the hon. Lady that before the election, her party was not committed to protecting the NHS budget. The Leader of the Opposition was completely wrong today when he said that Labour was going to protect NHS spending, as we did. That is not true. Actually, it was committed to only 95% of NHS funding, which was that for the PCTs. It was going to cut the rest, and centrally funded budgets such as the cancer drugs fund are precisely what would have disappeared.

The hon. Lady asked about diagnostic tests. The figures show that a year ago, the average waiting time was 1.7 weeks, whereas the latest figure is 1.8 weeks.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

12. What recent assessment he has made of the ability of all NHS hospital trusts to become foundation trusts by 2014.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pat Glass and Lord Lansley

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I understand exactly my hon. Friend’s point. The increase in liabilities was, in part, an expression of the change in the discount rate rather than necessarily an increase in the number of cases coming through. It is a worrying figure and costs the NHS not far short of £1 billion a year through contributions to the clinical negligence scheme for trusts. My noble Friend Lord Young, in the course of his review of health and safety and other issues, made recommendations on dealing with conditional fee arrangements and clinical negligence. It set out that we would consider, for example, how we implement NHS redress arrangements, including whether there should be a fact-finding phase before any question of legal intervention. We will do that and report back to the House.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

T7. My local hospital, Shotley Bridge hospital in Consett, has faced a degree of certainty over its future in recent years. However, with the demise of the local PCT, which owns the hospital and the land, uncertainty has returned. Is the Minister prepared to meet me and a delegation from the hospital to consider the future?

[Mr Lansley]

I am sure that I or one of my hon. Friends will be happy to meet the hon. Lady. I do not know why she thinks that the abolition of the PCT will make that change. We have yet to set out how PCT assets will be dealt with when they are abolished. She must talk to her local GPs as I know that GPs in Durham have come together in a consortium and they will be well placed to give precisely the kind of assurance about the security of services in the future that she is looking for.

Public Health White Paper

Debate between Pat Glass and Lord Lansley

Tuesday 30th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend will not have to wait long for announcements from hon. Friends of mine in the Government.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

Is not part of the problem the way in which Departments continue to operate in silos, so the Secretary of State for Education can cut the school sports initiatives with no impact on educational outcomes, but massive impacts on health? The Department of Health can consistently underfund children’s health services such as speech therapy and mental health, with very little impact on the Minister’s Department but massive impact on education outcomes. Is the statement not just evidence of more silo working?

[Mr Lansley]

That is all complete nonsense. On sport and activity in schools, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education is supporting schools and mainstreaming funding for sport and physical activity into school budgets; my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport is working to support competitive sport and the sport Olympics; and I am working to stimulate physical activity through Change4Life school sports clubs, increasingly in the primary sector as well as in the secondary sector. We are working on all that together and it is entirely complementary.