Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Arkless and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 23rd March 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for his kind invitation. In Budget after Budget, we have seen this Government supporting the pub industry, which is such an important part of our economy and particularly of rural communities. I can make an announcement today that, subject to the usual conditions, we will be extending pub opening hours on 10 and 11 June this year, to mark Her Majesty the Queen’s 90th birthday. I am sure that that will be welcomed across the House.

[Richard Arkless (Dumfries and Galloway) (SNP)]

Q11. If I compare my constituency with the Prime Minister’s and the Chancellor’s, I find that I have four times the number of youths unemployed, more than double the disabled claimant count and an average weekly wage that is 20% less. Are those the reasons why the Prime Minister and the Chancellor never understood and never had the compassion to realise, as everybody else did, that the disabled cuts were so obviously wrong? I give the Prime Minister one more opportunity: will he apologise to my constituents, who have been scared witless over the past week?

[The Prime Minister]

Obviously, there remain challenges in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, but the claimant count is down by 16% in the past year alone, the claimant count has fallen by 50% since 2010, and the youth claimant count that he specifically mentioned has fallen by 12% in the past year. That has been delivered because we have a strong economy, businesses want to invest in our country, we are supporting apprenticeships, and we are making sure that that growth is delivering for people. In just two weeks’ time, the national living wage will come in, giving the poorest people in our country a £900 a year pay rise, and that will be tax-free because we are lifting the tax threshold in our country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Arkless and Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton

Wednesday 24th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Let me thank my hon. Friend for his question. He is right that children and young people’s mental health is a priority for the Government. I think we can all agree across this House that for many years this area has not had adequate attention or adequate investment. I would highlight in particular the problems of psychosis, sometimes caused by drug use. I would also raise the huge problem of eating disorders; we are seeing a rapid increase in the number of people suffering. We have gone a long way in increasing the number of talking therapies. Something like 740,000 more people are accessing those therapies than when the Government came into office. We recognise that there is more to be done and that is why we are investing £1.4 billion in system-wide transformation across child and adolescent mental health services.

[Richard Arkless (Dumfries and Galloway) (SNP)]

Q10. Last week, Scottish Power refused to attend an evidence session with the all-party parliamentary group on Scottish Power cashback mis-selling, where crucial new evidence was uncovered. As a former consumer litigator, I am utterly convinced that more than 2,000 of my constituents and more than 500,000 people in the UK are owed cashback from Scottish Power. Given that this is potentially a scandal of huge proportions, will the Prime Minister agree to meet me and the cross-party group to discuss how we can ensure that these ordinary hard-working people receive the cashback they were promised from Scottish Power?

[The Prime Minister]

I am glad the hon. Gentleman has raised this. It has been raised on previous occasions by my hon. Friend the Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) and I know the cross-party group has done some very useful work. My understanding is that any alleged wrongdoing should be fully investigated. Ofgem can impose fines if it finds companies have breached their licence. I am very happy to arrange for a meeting between him and other members of the all-party group with the relevant Ministers in the Department of Energy and Climate Change, so that we can try to get this fixed.