Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Henry Smith

Wednesday 17th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

The provision of water and sanitation is central. It is vital for health. It is also vital in schools, for ensuring that girls remain in school, and it is vital for tackling any kind of water-borne disease. So good investment in water, which DFID prioritises, needs to be one of the three fundamental pillars of development, along with education and health.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

T4.   What assistance is being provided to the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are seeking to cope with Haitian migrants making a hazardous sea crossing and settling in that British overseas territory?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Henry Smith

Tuesday 13th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

3. What progress his Department has made on recruiting 2,500 prison officers.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Rory Stewart)]

I am delighted to say that we have been very successful and are well ahead of schedule. Instead of simply 2,500 extra prison officers, we have 3,653 more than we had in 2016, and job offers have gone out to a further 2,000 potential prison officers.

[Henry Smith]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that answer and welcome those additional prison officers. What protective equipment is being provided to prison officers to keep them and the prison population safer?

[Rory Stewart]

The use of body-worn cameras and CCTV cameras, which we have rolled out, makes it much easier to monitor what is happening in prisons. For extreme situations, we are rolling out the ability to use pepper spray. The key will be not the protective equipment but having in place the right support and training for prison officers, to make sure that their behaviour to a prisoner is appropriate, both to challenge and to reform. That involves investing in our senior staff to provide that model.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Henry Smith

Tuesday 21st November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

The situation in Kashmir is still tragic, as it has been for many decades. The position of the British Government remains that this is an issue to be resolved between the Governments of India and Pakistan, but we continue to champion issues relating to human rights abuse with both Governments whenever they occur, and we will continue to monitor the situation extremely carefully.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

T9. We have a lot to thank the Kurdish administration for, such as protecting minorities and its fight against Daesh in recent years. Will my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary speak to his counterparts in Baghdad to stop the intransigence of the federal Iraqi Government towards the aspirations of the Kurdish people for independence?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Henry Smith

Wednesday 22nd February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

The British Government currently provide support to Ukraine in two ways. First, we provide support directly to the Ukrainian Government and governance programmes. Secondly, through the International Committee of the Red Cross and People in Need, which is a Czech organisation, we provide humanitarian assistance. We must be clear that this conflict in Ukraine was caused and is sustained by Russian aggression.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.