Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 14th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

The Government boast, as they have done just now, about their investment in new body scanners to detect drugs on everyone entering a prison each day, yet a damning report in The Times found that the body scanners at HMP Bedford were not even staffed. What is the point in spending £100 million on scanners if they are not even used?

Parc Prison

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Monday 13th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Chris Elmore) for submitting this urgent question, and the Minister for the constructive way in which he has replied. This is the second time in a week that Ministers have had to come to this Chamber because of the crisis in one or more of our prisons.

I wish to start by saying that we are all thinking of those who have died at HMP Parc, their family and friends, and the governor and her staff. I appreciate that, as this matter is currently under investigation, we are limited in what we can say today, but it is important none the less that we give voice to this crisis.

It was shocking that the prisons ombudsman had to warn prisoners at HMP Parc to throw away drugs immediately due to the severe risk that those particular ones posed to public health. I hope that the Minister can outline what specific steps are being taken—in fact he has already done so—to remove drugs and ensure that we do not have further unnecessary and tragic deaths. He has promised action, but we do not want this to be yet another bout of activity that happens after the fact and does not last.

Drugs featured in the decision by the chief inspector of prisons to issue an urgent notification concerning Wandsworth prison last week. He went on to address the chronic lack of national leadership—from the HMPPS to the Ministry of Justice. We are looking at a national failure of leadership across our prison estate. Drugs are fuelling the violence that we see in our prisons. We are witnessing a crisis across the prison estate—a crisis of 14 years of Conservative rule.

In the spirit of today’s question, I thank the Minister for his commitment, but ask him whether the action plan that he has just outlined will continue once HMP Parc sinks from the headlines.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 20th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call shadow Minister Ruth Cadbury.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

We need to tackle the revolving door of reoffending in our justice system, yet the reoffending rate, as a proportion of those leaving prison, continues to rise. Whatever the Secretary of State may say, I have heard time and again that the lack of secure housing, adequate and appropriate healthcare, education, job training and job support means that prisoners are being left to fail after they are released. It is the victims of crime who suffer when ex-prisoners reoffend. Can the Secretary of State announce when the Government expect the reoffending rate to go down?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 1st February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Ruth Cadbury.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Hounslow Borough is plagued by fly-tipping. Despite the council using all the powers it can to address the problem, spending large amounts of money to do so, and having a good rate of recycling, fly-tipping continues. What is the Government’s timetable for responding to the Public Accounts Committee report on the Government’s programme for waste reforms?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 23rd January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Cadbury]

I recently met two constituents with experience of invasive lobular breast cancer. Invasive lobular carcinoma is the second most common form of breast cancer, but it is not generally picked up by mammograms, and it behaves differently from other breast cancers. However, lobular breast cancer has been understudied and underfunded, and it urgently needs research funding. Will the Secretary of State tell the House what specific actions her Government are taking to address those gaps? Will she also reply to the Lobular Moon Shot Project, to which she—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. This is topical questions.

[Mr Speaker]

Order.

[Ruth Cadbury]

I am waiting for the reply.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 9th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

The latest figures show that the reoffending rate among those leaving prison has increased. That is partly because prison is failing to rehabilitate—which is no surprise, given how overcrowded, understaffed and dangerously unsafe many prisons are. In one case, after heavy rain, prison officers were having to wade through raw sewage while prisoners remained locked in their cells. Does the Minister accept that the appalling state of our prisons is not only failing to reduce crime, but breeding it?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 21st November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

In response to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner), the Secretary of State said that he had recruited 1,000 additional probation officers, but in fact that recruitment campaign has resulted in 76 fewer probation officers between March last year and March this year. Owing to the excessive workload, staff are leaving in droves. The proposed new presumption in favour of extended sentences and the extension of electronic monitoring will simply offload more pressure from prisons on to the probation service, will it not? What are the Government doing to address these issues of excessive workload and the loss of probation staff?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 12th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Let me welcome the shadow Minister to her post.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

In July, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation reported that it had found that far too many potential victims of domestic violence are at risk from those on probation due to wide-ranging systemic failures in the service. Furthermore, the chief inspector of the probation service said that things have deteriorated since the 2018 report into the probation service. Is the Minister not concerned that, once again, after 13 years of Conservative rule, things are continuing to get worse for victims of domestic violence?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 29th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Clearly, it is vital that British businesses that want to export can access the benefits of trade deals. However, the Government admitted to me in a written answer that they have not modelled the benefits of the CPTPP for our hard-pressed manufacturing businesses, so will the Minister tell me how many UK manufacturers will benefit from the rules of origin requirements under the CPTPP?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 9th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

After failing to get a trade deal with the United States, the Government have resorted to signing non-binding agreements with separate US states. The Minister’s answer to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Greg Smith) on the different sectors was interesting, but the Government have refused to confirm what economic benefits these agreements will bring to the UK economy. I give the Minister another chance: will he tell me what value in pounds and pence these agreements will bring to our economy?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 15th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Surely it is vital that the Government support British businesses, but even senior Conservatives have admitted that the Government have failed on that front. As it is nearly Christmas, I thought we would indulge in a game of “guess who?”. Does the Minister know if the Secretary of State knows which one of her colleagues called the UK’s trade deals “one-sided”? Was it: the former Environment Secretary; the former exports Minister; or her boss, the Prime Minister?

Covid-19: PPE Procurement

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 24th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

The Minister says that lessons will be learned about Government procurement from this PPE scandal. Will he look at the contracts that the Home Office has for accommodating and feeding asylum seekers, which are ripping off the hotels and the food suppliers, causing asylum seekers to live in malnutrition and squalor? These contracts have many of the same characteristics—vast profits and executive salaries, and an opaque network of subcontractors run by people who may not pass fit-and-proper tests—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think the hon. Lady is stretching things a bit too far. [Interruption.] I know it is lessons learned, but it is too clever and not clever enough. We will leave it at that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Monday 14th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

In Hounslow there are more than 3,500 asylum seekers waiting for a determination on their applications in, at the last count, 12 interim or contingency hotels. They have been waiting not weeks, not months, but even years. They are existing in accommodation and eating food unfit for animals, and Clearspring Ready Homes and a network of unaccountable subcontractors are skimming off vast profits and ripping off the accommodation providers, the vulnerable asylum seekers and, of course, the taxpayer. As the Home Secretary admits, the Home Office has a challenge here, so why will she not contract with local authorities that have expertise in procuring accommodation and that will ensure the basic standards that the hon. Member for Bosworth (Dr Evans) is concerned about, and ensure safeguarding as well—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. That is an important point but I have to get other Members in as well. We cannot have speeches; we must have short questions. I think the Home Secretary has got the drift of this one.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 3rd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister, Ruth Cadbury.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

On behalf of His Majesty’s Opposition, I welcome the Secretary of State to her position on her first outing. The Government have committed to reaching net zero by 2050, but they continue to approve new licences for oil and gas projects. Projects approved before August 2023 could be protected from being stopped under a revised energy charter treaty. We know that other countries have been sued under the treaty when they tried to close down fossil fuel projects under their net zero commitments. How would the Government prevent that from happening in the UK under a revised energy charter treaty?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 21st July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister, Ruth Cadbury.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

From swerving eight invitations to attend the International Trade Committee to avoiding bringing a debate with a vote to this Chamber before ratification, we have seen a truly shameless attempt from the Department for International Trade to dodge to any form of scrutiny of the trade deal with Australia. With the UK now negotiating membership of the CPTPP, I have a simple question: will the Minister promise that this House will be granted a full and timely debate before any deal is ratified—yes or no?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am asking this question on behalf of my hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli (Dame Nia Griffith), who is away on parliamentary business.

There is a concern among businesses that unlike its predecessor, the trade access programme, the current trade show programme will support a company only if it is exhibiting for the first time or venturing into new markets. We all know that marketing for export requires repeated efforts. There is evidence that there is now a drop in the number of UK exhibitors in some sectors, just when the Government are struggling to stimulate growth in the UK economy. Will the Minister now listen to businesses hoping to export, make the scheme more generous and widen the access criteria to allow businesses to benefit from the support by attending more than once?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 16th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call shadow Minister Ruth Cadbury.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. May I start by endorsing your comments about our colleague, my friend, Jo Cox? She is still very much missed and always will be.

It is vital that we support green industries in the UK, especially those that are exporting products around the world, yet the investor state dispute settlements threaten green industries and renewable energy projects. Many of these provisions are in the energy charter treaty, which lets fossil fuel companies sue Governments who are trying to decarbonise, such as the Netherlands. Will the Government therefore support efforts to remove in full these protections for fossil fuel companies in the energy charter treaty?

Points of Order

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 22nd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving me notice of the point of order. There is no formal procedural requirement for the House to have access to the information that he mentions before its consideration of Lords amendments today, but if Ministers undertake to provide information, they should do so.

I have no powers to compel the Government to provide the information sought by the hon. Member, but I always encourage Ministers to provide as much relevant material to the House as possible. He has put his point on the record and it will have been heard by Ministers. I encourage them to consider whether they can give more information to the House even at this late stage. I do hope that they will listen.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. On 2 March, I tabled a named day question to the Home Office about Ukraine. It raised a policy question about visas and was relevant to my constituent and, no doubt, the constituents of many other hon. Members. It was due for an answer on 8 March. My staff chased it up twice last week but I have still had no answer. What else can we do to ensure that we get timely answers to our questions through the appropriate procedures of the House?

[Mr Speaker]

First, I thank the hon. Member for giving me notice of the point of order. It is important that Members receive timely answers to questions, especially named day questions—it is in the nature of the named day question that it tells Ministers when they should be answered. The hon. Member’s point is on the record, and it will no doubt be drawn to the attention of the Leader of the House, who I am sure will pursue this matter. I know the previous Leader of the House was very concerned when the Government were letting down Members of this House by not answering those questions on time—or within what we would say was the right time—which is in the nature of named day questions.

The hon. Member may also consider whether she wants to draw this to the attention of the Procedure Committee, which monitors the performance of the Government in timely responses to questions. I have to say that we seem to be going backwards again. We were doing really well, so I appeal to all Departments to treat Members with respect, because in the end they are answerable to the constituents who are asking the questions of them. Please, let us get our act together within the Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Wednesday 12th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Q5. This is a different topic to that raised by my right hon. and learned Friend, the Leader of the Opposition, but it is related. Last week at Prime Minister’s questions, the Prime Minister was asked whether his previous claims about inflation were unfounded. In his reply he told the House that he had said “no such thing”. Within minutes the inevitable happened, and people were watching videos on social media, saying exactly that. Would the Prime Minister like to take this opportunity to correct the record and apologise for misleading the House on that matter?

[Mr Speaker]

That would be inadvertently misleading the House.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 6th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I will chase it up for you, Secretary of State.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

The minor reforms made as a result of the collapse of the Football Index by the Secretary of State’s Department are thin gruel for my constituents who lost thousands through that scam. What are the Government doing to ensure that both the Gambling Commission and the Financial Conduct Authority are fit for purpose, and that my constituents get the justice that they deserve after the collapse of that scam, the Football Index?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Wednesday 15th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Q11. Transport for London faces serious financial difficulties solely due to the pandemic causing a collapse in fares income. Emergency covid funding to TfL expires the day after tomorrow. Prior to the pandemic, the Mayor of London spent four years improving TfL’s finances after—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There will be a nightmare in a moment. Can I just say that we want to get through the questions? I was hoping to get some extra people in, and you are not helping me do so. Come on in, Ruth Cadbury.

HGV Driver Shortages

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Monday 13th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Ruth Cadbury.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy—[Hon. Members: “Ooh!”] I mean thank you, Mr Speaker.

As the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman), the Chair of the Select Committee, so ably said, this problem has long been predicted. However, the current and short-term solutions that the Secretary of State is introducing include extending driver hours, loosening the rules on pulling trailers and having a fast track into HGV driving. Will the Secretary of State release the impact assessments on the safety implications of those and the other changes, which raise extreme concerns for road users?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

1. What recent estimate he has made of the number of people subject to the loan charge who have been declared bankrupt.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Minister.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Jesse Norman)]

Good morning to you, Mr Speaker. It is great to be in a Chamber that is 100% full strength after so many months. If I may make a personal note without undue deference, Mr Speaker, I will say that I thoroughly appreciated your remarks about standards within the Chamber.

To date, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has not initiated insolvency proceedings against any taxpayer for a loan charge debt. No estimate can be provided for the number of people who have fallen into debt or who have been declared bankrupt and are subject to the loan charge because, where debts arise, HMRC is not always the only creditor. Some individuals are declared bankrupt as a result of a non-HMRC debt and some may choose to enter insolvency themselves based on their overall financial position.

Business of the House

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 8th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

May I congratulate the next Member, who ran a virtual marathon and raised over £1,000 for charity?

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

This House will be more covid-safe now that Mr Speaker has required us to wear face masks in shared spaces on the parliamentary estate, but on days when there are votes, the 500-plus of us who are not self-isolating for health or public health reasons are required to be here to vote, crowding into corridors and halls of this building and putting ourselves and staff at additional risk, particularly as so many Members do not seem to respect the Government’s rule on spacing. The Leader of the House keeps saying that we should continue with business as normal, but covid means that all workplaces have had to compromise and adapt. What level of infection here or in the country will it take for the Government to let us return to online voting in this place?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ruth Cadbury and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Will the Secretary of State get off the platform? We want to get through the list.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab) [V]]

The Minister said that he welcomed the Government’s appointment of Tony Abbott as a trade adviser, but on Sky this morning, Kay Burley reminded the Health Secretary that the appointee is a misogynist and homo- phobe, which the International Trade Secretary’s colleague appeared to confirm by saying, “But he’s also an expert on trade.” Could the International Trade Secretary not find an expert for the role who demonstrates positive British values and, by the way, is not a climate change denier?