First elected: 5th May 2005
Left House: 30th May 2024 (Dissolution)
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Philip Hollobone, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Philip Hollobone has not been granted any Urgent Questions
A Bill to amend the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 in relation to the permitted signatories of notices; and for connected purposes.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 13th March 2014 and was enacted into law.
To establish a Committee of Inquiry into the economic implications for the United Kingdom of membership of the European Union.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to prohibit the wearing of certain face coverings; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to provide for an annual Taxation Freedom Day to reflect the proportion of tax paid by individuals from their income; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to make motivation by misandry or misogyny an aggravating factor in criminal sentencing; to require police forces to record hate crimes motivated by misandry or misogyny; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to make provision about the integration of the duties and powers of civil enforcement officers and of traffic wardens with respect to the issuing of fixed penalty notices for additional offences; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to disqualify non-UK citizens from the European Union from entitlement to child benefit; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to make provision for the parents of young offenders to be legally responsible for their actions.
A Bill to make provision to allow smoking in a separate ventilated room in a private members’ club if a majority of the members of the club so decide.
A Bill to provide that a criminal reconvicted for an offence on a second or further occasion receives a longer sentence than for the first such offence.
A Bill to require school governing bodies and headteachers to make provision to keep schools open in adverse weather conditions.
A Bill to require the handover of residential roads built by developers to local highways authorities within certain time periods; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to require prisoners to serve in prison the full custodial sentence handed down by the court.
A Bill to make provision for the removal of provisions in planning regulations relating to Gypsies and Travellers.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to provide a system of national service for young persons; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to make provision for the amalgamation of the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Offices.
A Bill to make provision to exclude from the United Kingdom foreign nationals found guilty of a criminal offence committed in the United Kingdom.
A Bill to make provision for the Government to designate certain fishing grounds and territorial waters as sovereign territory of the United Kingdom outside the control of the Common Fisheries Policy.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to repeal the European Communities Act 1972 and related legislation; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to prohibit the use of affirmative and positive action in recruitment and appointment processes; to amend the Equality Act 2010 to remove the special provision for political parties in relation to the selection of candidates; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to allow for capital punishment for certain offences.
A Bill to make provision to decriminalise the non-payment of the BBC licence fee.
A Bill to facilitate the transfer of asylum seekers to the safe country nearest their country of origin.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to regulate the wearing of certain face coverings; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to require the Secretary of State to commission an independent audit of the economic costs and benefits of the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to repeal the European Communities Act 1972 and related legislation; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to provide immunity from prosecution or civil action for persons who apprehend or attempt to apprehend burglars; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to make provision for a mechanism to hold individuals to account for any criminal sanctions imposed upon young people for whom those individuals hold parental responsibility; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to reform sentencing provision to ensure that the length of a custodial sentence reflects the sentence of a court; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to set out certain principles in a United Kingdom Bill of Rights; to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. Bill to provide for the immediate return of asylum seekers to countries designated as safe; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to require the handover of residential roads built by developers to local highways authorities within certain time periods; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to provide a system of national service for young persons; and for connected purposes.
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to provide for the immediate repatriation of foreign nationals awarded a custodial sentence to serve detention in their country of origin; and for connected purposes.
Affordable Home Ownership Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Christopher Chope (Con)
Business of the House Commission Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Peter Bone (Ind)
We recognise that men and boys can be victims of these crimes and are committed to providing them with the support they need. In March 2022 we published our supporting male victims policy document, which contains commitments to strengthen our response to male victims. This financial year, we are also providing up to £200,000 funding to Respect to help run the Men’s Advice Line, who supported over 10,000 calls last financial year.
When the UK took on the role of organising COP26 less than 30% of the global economy was covered by Net Zero targets.
As a result of the work the UK did with partners, by the time we got to COP26 over 90% of the world's economy was covered by Net Zero targets.
There are still under-represented groups who are struggling to access Higher Education (HE), including white, working-class males.
Prior attainment is a key determinant of successful participation in HE. When we account for this, we see reductions in the gaps between the most and least advantaged groups.
That is why we are refocusing the entire access and participation regime to drive up standards throughout the system – and we are asking universities to take a more direct role in doing this.
We are asking universities to raise standards in schools and colleges, offer flexible and skills-related courses, tackle drop-out rates, and support students throughout university and graduation into meaningful employment.
To increase aspiration and attainment a far greater focus needs to be placed on activities which benefit students, including summer schools, programmes of intervention in schools and targeted bursaries to assist with living costs.
An investment of up to £75 million has been announced to create a National Scholarship Scheme which will support high achieving disadvantaged students to reach their full potential.
I regularly engage with my Cabinet colleagues on equalities issues and I am due to do so shortly with my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Education to discuss the equalities issues in education.
The Government Equalities Office (GEO) informed the Prime Minister’s Office of my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State’s decision to appoint Lord Shinkwin as a general commissioner on the day before Lord Shinkwin’s appointment on 21 April 2017.
The appointment of a commissioner under Schedule 1 paragraph 2(3)(a) of the Equality Act 2006 who is or has been a disabled person does not require consultation with or consent from other parties. The GEO did not inform the then Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work, my hon. Friend for Portsmouth North, of the decision to appoint Lord Shinkwin.
The non-statutory roles and responsibilities of Board members of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), including the former ‘Disability Commissioner’ role are matters for the EHRC to decide. The GEO would not normally inform the Prime Minister’s Office of intended EHRC changes to these roles and responsibilities and did not do so in this case.
The Church of England’s ‘Open and Sustainable Churches’ programme operates through its ChurchCare website [http://www.churchcare.co.uk/churches/open-sustainable]. This programme offers advice and encouragement to churches on how to use imaginative and strategic ways to make their spaces available for purposes as well as worship. These could be community activities, cultural or even commercial events. There is no specific national policy about the use of churches for concerts, as this is usually left to the discretion of the Vicar and the Parochial Church Council.
Following a decision by the Parochial Church Council of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate the church will end its programme of offering hire space to musicians from 2018. In its place, the church will offer monthly Saturday evening concerts in partnership with external musical groups, including classical and choral music both sacred and secular, as well as Monday evening concerts and guest choirs at Evensong.
From 1 November, the Diocese of London will also launch a website that will provide easy access to hire space and booking options for musicians in London, as well as a tool to promote concerts and events.
The Church of England supports the Breathing Space campaign of The Children’s Society and StepChange. The Church has considerable experience of supporting people in financial difficulty and has for the last four years been actively promoting credit unions and financial education within its school and church networks.
Additionally, as part of the Just Finance Foundation, LifeSavers is a national, financial education programme for primary schools, equipping children with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to manage money well and prepare them for the opportunities and challenges that money brings in life.
It offers schools:
• Free and comprehensive sets of classroom and collective worship resources,
• CPD training in how to develop a whole school approach to financial education
• advice on setting up a school savings club
• ideas for engaging parents designed to give children a practical experience of handling money and ensure that positive messages about money are reinforced at home.
More information can be found here: https://justfinancefoundation.org.uk/act/lifesavers/
The Girlguiding’s Attitude Surveys provide an invaluable picture of the concerns and priorities of young women and the Government Equalities Office maintains an excellent relationship with the organisation. The 2015 survey demonstrates that many girls perceive barriers to reaching their full potential. The Government is encouraging girls to broaden their aspirations, educating young people about respectful relationships through the teen relationship abuse campaign, and equipping parents to talk confidently with their children about important issues through the Parentinfo website.
Electricity consumption in England was 293 TWh in 2005, 276 TWh in 2010, and 255 TWh in 2014. Figures for 2015 will be published in due course.
Data from “Electricity generation and supply figures for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, 2004 to 2014”, Energy Trends, December 2015, available at:
Figures on UK’s trade balance with the EU are given in Table 1 below, sourced from ONS’ Balance of Payments 2015Q1 publication.
UK trade balance with the EU | ||
2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
-£62.5bn | -£57.3bn | -£39.5bn |
Source: ONS Balance of Payments 2015Q1 |
Ensuring that hardworking families and businesses across the country have secure, affordable energy supplies they can rely on is our top priority.
We have worked with National Grid to put in place an effective plan which worked well last winter. National Grid has everything they need to manage the system this winter.
National Grid have secured 2.55GW of flexible generation in reserve for use this winter. With this in place, National Grid forecast a margin of 5.1% for this winter, which will ensure a high level of energy security even in the toughest system conditions.
The Prime Minister announced on 1 July that we will be carrying out an independent review of self-employment to shine a light on the contribution that self-employed people make to the UK economy and make recommendations on how they can be better supported. This will build on existing work to support all small businesses, including through the Enterprise Bill where we will target regulators’ actions as part of our commitment to cut a further £10 billion of red tape for the benefit of businesses, and establish a Small Business Conciliation Service to help resolve disputes.
All businesses can get free support and advice through our Business Support Helpline and 25 local growth hubs across England. From November 2013 to November 2014, Northamptonshire growth hub figures indicate that 56% of the people they supported were self-employed.
The generating capacity of wind turbines in Northamptonshire at the end of May 2015 was 91MW for operational turbines and 34.9MW for turbines with planning consent awaiting construction.
Source: Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD), May 2015 extract:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/renewable-energy-planning-database-monthly-extract
Please note: the REPD captures projects entering planning that are 1MW or larger. Therefore, there may be additional onshore wind turbines not captured by the figures given above where these are smaller than 1MW.
The Electoral Commission gathers detailed electoral data including information on turnout at most major set of elections. However, it does not analyse reasons for variable turnout across the country.
There is other research available, particularly the British Election Study for UK Parliamentary general elections, which does look at the reason for different turnout in different areas.
According to the Labour Force Survey, women are most over-represented (80%+) in the childcare and nursing/caring professions, as well as in hairdressing and secretarial occupations. Men are most over-represented (90%+) in construction, engineering, electrical trades and transport.
Changing these patterns needs to start in childhood and the Government is working hard to ensure that boys and girls are able to consider a broad range of career opportunities, unhindered by out dated stereotypes. For example, the Government supports the Your Life campaign, which aims to double the proportion of undergraduate engineering and technology degrees taken by women to 30% by 2030. It also asks employers to take action to recruit and retain female talent.
To help make sure young people are able to consider the widest possible range of jobs the Government is setting up a new careers and enterprise company to support greater engagement between employers, and schools and colleges. Chaired by Christine Hodgson (Chair of Capgemini UK) it will be independent of government and will ensure young people get the inspiration and guidance they need to leave school or college ready to succeed in working life.
The Government is very supportive of the Weekley-Warkton bypass, which will support the delivery of 5,000 new homes in Kettering East. The Government will look at ways to provide support for this project to accelerate the development. Any financial support will be confirmed following on-going discussion of funding options with local partners.
Given the interest of the House of Lords in this matter the Commission has welcomed the proposal from the Clerks of both Houses that we should establish a Joint Committee following the general election. This would enable both Houses to make an informed decision on the basis of a report from that Joint Committee. As far as this House is concerned the Commission would expect a decision of this significance to be taken on the floor of the House following full consultation.
There are currently no petroleum licences in effect in any part of Northamptonshire. We launched a new round of onshore licensing last year and received applications in October. I cannot comment on the nature of the bids or the locations for which plans might be being considered while DECC’s assessment of the applications continues. However we are aiming to be in a position to announce licence offers shortly.
There are more women-led businesses than ever before. In 2013 990,000 SMEs were either run by women or by a team that was over 50% female, an increase of nearly 140,000 since 2010. But we know more needs to be done, which is why we are working with other Government Departments to increase the number of women who start and grow their own businesses.
We have, for example, recently created a new ‘Women in Enterprise’ web page http://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/women-in-enterprise/ with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and as part of our Great Business campaign are specifically targeting female entrepreneurs so they are aware of what Government and other organisations have to offer. We have also provided £1.6m to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to encourage more women in rural areas to start and grow their own businesses and have provided £1m to fund the Women in Broadband Challenge Fund to support women to move their businesses online.
Women are also benefiting from the full range of business support available from government, including Start-Up Loans where 37% of lending has gone to women.
The House of Commons Commission initially committed itself to a reduction in the Administration Resource Estimate in December 2009. The following year this was restated as an intention to reduce the Estimate to £210 million by 2014/15 from a baseline of £231 million for 2010/11.(a) Taking forecast inflation into account, this represented a reduction of 17% in real terms. In December 2013 the Commission agreed an Administration Estimate for 2014/15 of £201.3 million – allowing for transfers between Estimates and other adjustments, this was £2 million below the target set in 2010.
The Finance and Services Committee will, on Tuesday 28 October, be publishing its first report of the session, entitled House of Commons Financial Plan 2015–16 to 2018–19, including draft Estimates for 2015–16 (HC 757), which provides further detail. I shall be approaching the Backbench Business Committee to request a debate on the report before the Committee gives its advice on the 2015/16 Estimate to the Commission in December. This would give all hon. Members a chance to discuss and contribute to the financial plan.
Note: (a) In December 2009 the Commission agreed an Estimate for 2010/11 of £258 million. However, having taken account of the transfer of staff to IPSA and various accounting adjustments, this was reduced to £231 million. Agreement of an initial, in-year savings package by the Commission in June 2010 meant that it actually laid an Estimate for 2010/11 of £219 million.
I am pleased to say that Northamptonshire LEP has secured £67.3 million and the South East Midlands LEP £79.3 million from the Local Growth Fund. As part of these deals we have agreed that the Department for Transport will work with local partners to develop the detailed business case and design work for the proposed junction 10a on the A14 at Kettering. This will help ensure local partners can put forward a strong business case for funding.
The support secured through the Growth Deals is in addition to the £15m which the Communities Secretary announced last week to enable the delivery of 1750 new homes in East Kettering.
On 18 March there were some 14,700 Palace of Westminster passes in issue. During 2013, 523 passes were reported lost or stolen.
When a pass is reported lost or stolen it is deactivated immediately.
I agree that we should do everything we can to protect our emergency workers. I hope that the Honourable Member will be pleased to know that between 2019 and 2020 the numbers of prosecutions for these offences increased by 27.2% in the East Midlands CPS Area and by 25.1% overall across England and Wales.
The CPS has considered the types of data it collates and has determined that it would not be appropriate to create a new dataset which overlaps with the information already collected and published by the Home Office. CPS collects data for operational purposes; the Home Office however report the National Statistics which are the official figures reported to Parliament.
Recent figures published by the Home Office report that last year, 84 people were tried following charges brought by the CPS for terrorism-related offences, resulting in 76 convictions. The remaining 8 were found not guilty.
The CPS does not collate or publish data on categories of offender such as foreign terrorist fighters. However, latest figures from the Home Office for all types of terrorism cases (which includes Foreign Terrorist Fighters) show that last year 84 people were tried following charges brought by the CPS for terrorism-related offences, resulting in 76 convictions. The remaining 8 were found not guilty.
The Sentencing Council has issued a definitive guideline on the sentencing of sexual offences. Racial aggravation increases an offender’s culpability under the guideline and therefore the starting point and sentence range for the court to consider.
Prosecutors should assist the Court as necessary during the sentencing process, including drawing the Court’s attention to any relevant sentencing guidelines and the aggravating and mitigating features of the case.
Ultimately, sentencing is a matter for the court. Racial aggravation makes an offence more serious and the court has a duty to take this into account when it sentences a defendant.
As of the end January 2016, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had successfully prosecuted and convicted 38 individuals in 27 cases where the allegations were considered to be related to the conflict in Syria.
The CPS does not hold central records for the number of people prosecuted in relation to Daesh.
The Crown Prosecution Service issued Legal Guidance on the new offence of Forced Marriage in June 2014. The Legal Guidance applies nationally and all prosecutors in the CPS, including those based in Northamptonshire, will refer to it when reviewing forced marriage cases. The CPS is also developing a new e-learning module on forced marriage for all prosecutors and expects to launch the module in July 2014, in addition to developing a joint training package with the police which will be delivered across all of the 13 CPS Areas this year.
Data on Civil Service headquarters occupancy is published weekly on Gov.uk. The data is split out by individual departments. The data can be access at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-headquarters-occupancy-data
The recently published statistics taken from the above source show that the number of civil servants working from offices is increasing across Whitehall. Many departments have seen occupancy rates rise to pre pandemic levels for several months now. The Government believes colleagues learn, develop and collaborate together best in an office setting.
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Halifax (Ms Lynch) on Thursday 7 September 2017 to written question 6973.
I am very pleased to report that around 2,500 young people in Kettering have participated in NCS over the past three years. The NCS Trust does not collect data at a constituency level. Therefore, the figures below are for the local authority area of Northamptonshire:
2013 – 542 participants
2014 – 1,032 participants
2015 – 1,103 participants
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
During the pandemic, the Government delivered an unprecedented package of support for business. In total, over £22.6 billion was provided to businesses via Local Authorities throughout England, for Business Grant Support.
In the constituency of Kettering, over 5,000 covid-19 business grants were issued, amounting to £24.6 million.
North Northamptonshire Council has delivered £29.9 million to local businesses through covid-19 business grant schemes since its formation in 2021.
I am pleased that 89 percent of premises in the Kettering constituency and 85 percent of premises in North Northamptonshire can access gigabit-capable broadband. To improve this further, we have launched a £52 million procurement as part of Project Gigabit, to deliver gigabit-capable connections to rural premises across Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes. We aim to award a contract to the successful supplier by the end of this year. In April, we published a 10-point action plan to improve rural connectivity. We are already delivering on that plan through the appointment of Simon Fell MP as Rural Connectivity Champion.
Improving access to finance is the mission of the Government-owned British Business Bank, which addresses gaps in the finance market through guarantees, debt and equity finance. The bank is currently supporting around £5.2 billion of finance to almost 75,000 businesses across the United Kingdom, including through British Patient Capital, a £2.5bn fund for long-term equity investment.
From March 2012 to July 2018, the Start-Up Loans initiative delivered more than 57,000 loans across all parts of the UK, lending a total of £436 million and contributing to the creation of more than 56,600 jobs. Over the same period, 49 start-up loans with a total value of £366,644 were awarded to entrepreneurs in Kettering.
Access to invoice finance is an issue for many small businesses, because of terms in commercial contracts that prohibit or restrict them from assigning the value of their invoices. I have recently introduced regulations to ensure that any such contractual restrictions entered into after 31 December 2018, with certain exceptions, would have no effect and could be disregarded by small businesses and finance providers. This new measure is expected to provide a long-term boost to the UK economy worth almost £1billion.
All pensioners receive £100 to £300 Winter Fuel Payments and around 1.3 million low income pensioners receive the Warm Home Discount - a £140 rebate off their bills each winter.
Additionally, the recent cold weather triggered payments of £25 for qualifying households.
I will be shortly consulting on how to best focus the £640mm of ECO funding onto low income households - which is intended to include elderly people living in fuel poverty.
The Price Cap Bill will protect 11m households with 5m households already protected by the Ofgem safeguard tariff.
Small and medium-sized businesses across England can access support through GOV.UK and the Business Support Helpline. Over the last three years, Government has also supported and invested in the creation of 38 Growth Hubs (one in each Local Enterprise Partnership area), providing businesses across England with tailored advice and support. To date, Growth Hubs have engaged and supported over 570,000 businesses, and helped 11,391 individuals to start a business.
Velocity Growth Hub serves businesses in the South East Midlands and operates a sub-Growth Hub for businesses based in Northamptonshire. Since 2013, the Northamptonshire Growth Hub has engaged with 4,982 businesses and helped 308 individuals to start a business, with Velocity (including Northamptonshire) having engaged a total of 87,655 businesses and helped 476 individuals to start a business since launch in 2014.
British Business Bank programmes are currently supporting almost £4 billion of finance to over 60,000 smaller businesses across the UK which includes over 51,500 Start-Up Loans worth over £366 million. Since the launch of the British Business Bank in November 2014, its programmes have facilitated over £78m to businesses in Northamptonshire. This includes 393 Start-up Loans at a value of over £2.5m. Of this figure, over £250k is supporting loans to businesses in the constituency of Kettering.
Through our Industrial Strategy, we will continue to back small and medium-sized business to grow and create jobs by providing an environment in which they can thrive.
*All British Business Bank data is current as at end of Jun 2017 except for the Start-Up Loans programme which is as at end of Oct 2017