Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Maynard Excerpts

Wednesday 18th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I am pleased that the hon. Gentleman is setting out just a small number of the many health programmes that the Department has under way. One of the key things I have done over the past year has been to strengthen our programme management and increase the focus on getting results for the Department. I can assure him that there is a heavy focus on achieving all the goals that we set ourselves. We set out the results very clearly when we came into government, because we felt that there was not a clear enough focus on impact under the last Government.

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

3. What work her Department is undertaking in support of governance, the rule of law and building stable economic institutions.

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Justine Greening)]

My Department supports governance and the rule of law by supporting democratic governance, tackling corruption, increasing tax revenues, improving security and justice for all and strengthening civil society. My Department helps to build stable economic institutions by reducing barriers to doing business and supporting property rights.

[Paul Maynard]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Will she say a little more about how she is working through the Commonwealth on sub-Saharan Africa and particularly Nigeria to promote those aims?

[Justine Greening]

We are doing a significant amount of work in Commonwealth countries and indeed through the Commonwealth. In recent weeks, of course, we have seen some challenges to stability in northern Nigeria, and most of our work in the country is focused on the north. We are one of the few donors delivering education—in the long term, of course, one of the best ways of achieving stability.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Maynard Excerpts

Wednesday 13th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Let me say to the hon. Gentleman that I will pay all of the taxes that I am meant to. [Interruption.] Let me just point out one small point. I had a letter this week which I thought people might enjoy. It is from Ed who lives in Camden. It says this: “I am a millionaire. I live in a house worth £2 million which I got through a combination of inheritance and property speculation. I am worried that if I sell my house and buy another one, I will have to pay the 7% stamp duty that the wicked Tories have introduced. Under Labour, we talked about fairness but we never made the rich pay more. What should a champagne socialist like me do?”

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

Q14. I know that the Prime Minister recently visited the ACE Centre in Oxford, and I am sure that he shares my view that it does a fantastic job helping young and disabled people to communicate more effectively using technical aids. What guarantees can he give that augmentative and assistive communication aids will be made available to more young people than is currently the case, so that everyone who could benefit from them is able to do so?

[The Prime Minister]

I am really grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. The ACE centre, which was previously in Oxford and is now located in my constituency, has done incredible work for people with disabilities over many years. It is making the most of the extraordinary changes in technology. When I visited it recently, we looked at a whole raft of ways in which we could make sure that the NHS is making these things available to more people, and I am very committed to working with my hon. Friend and the ACE centre to make sure that that happens.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Maynard Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd May 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course, I am happy to meet leaders of Birmingham city council, as I meet leaders of councils up and down the country. What is important is focusing on what needs to be done in Birmingham to drive economic growth and to make sure that we provide good services, but I very much hope that the new council will match the record of the old council in providing value for money.

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

Q7. Child neglect is a sad fact in all our constituencies, and in Blackpool we await the sentencing of two parents who pleaded guilty this week to keeping their 10-year-old son in demeaning circumstances in a coal bunker. At the same time, the charity Action for Children has highlighted the fact that the law on child neglect dates from 1933 and no longer corresponds to the demands of modern parenting. Does the Prime Minister not agree that it is time to ask the Law Commission to look at this law once again?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right to raise that completely shocking case, and for anyone trying to understand how a parent could treat that child that way, it is just completely unfathomable. I will obviously look at what he says about the Law Commission and modernising the law, but in dealing with such appalling cases of child neglect and with families that have completely broken down, we have so many agencies currently working on this, including, crucially, social workers, and the most important thing is to have a real system of passing on information and passing on concerns rapidly—and then acting on them. Just passing another law will not make up for the common sense and action that we require our agencies to deliver.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Maynard Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr O'Brien]

The clear answer is that the £2.9 billion of international climate finance announced in the spending review is being met out of a rising overseas development assistance budget and will continue to account for less than 10% of ODA, as indeed was set by the previous Government.

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

Will the Minister join me in congratulating students at St Mary’s college in my constituency who have been campaigning with the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development to lobby for greater Government aid to developing nations to help to mitigate climate change? Will he assure the House, however, that any money that goes to those developing nations will be subject to robust oversight to make sure that it is spent properly and accountably?

[Mr O'Brien]

I am pleased to join in congratulating my hon. Friend’s local college on its efforts and support. I can assure him that at all times the expenditure made in relation to these and other development issues is being subjected to the new transparency and accountability programmes and rules that we are introducing. That is live as we speak, so he can assure his college that that is in place.