Oral Answers to Questions

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

Thursday 17th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Johnny Mercer]

I am afraid that there were a number of inaccuracies in the hon. Member’s question. It is not my Department, and we are not the only country in the world that has this view. Only this summer, I met the chairman of the veterans group concerned and asked Veterans UK—this is separate from the medallic recognition scheme—to revisit and redesign the support available to our nuclear test veterans. I understand the disappointment at this decision. It is not within my gift. My job is to make sure these people are looked after properly. I am confident we are doing that. Again, I am happy to meet campaign groups to see what more we can do.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden) (Con)]

What steps he is taking to increase the proportion of civil service jobs based outside London.

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

What steps he is taking to increase the proportion of civil service jobs based outside London.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Julia Lopez) [V]]

We want to make the administration of government much less Whitehall-centric and more reflective of the country as a whole. The Government are committed to an ambition to relocate 22,000 civil service roles out of the capital and into the regions and nations of the UK by the end of this decade. Our Places for Growth programme envisages a series of hub locations, with additional aligned offices within travelling distance of those hubs, and we hope this will deliver on our levelling-up ambitions.

[Saqib Bhatti [V]]

Does my hon. Friend agree with me that the west midlands is the perfect place to welcome a Government Department, and will she pay tribute to the Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, who has been working with Cabinet Office Minister Lord Agnew to make sure that we can take advantage of the economic investment and employment opportunities that relocation would bring to the west midlands?

[Julia Lopez]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He has a fantastic record of championing employment and investment in his region from his time with the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and with the launch this month of his business forum. It is great to see him working hand in glove with the West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street, and I am very confident that, when we are ready to make the announcements on Places for Growth, the west midlands will benefit from this very exciting agenda.

Oral Answers to Questions

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

Wednesday 9th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I must, again, strongly disagree with what the hon. Gentleman says. Everybody on this side of the House is proud not just of the living wage but of record increases in the living wage, of above inflation pay rises across the board and, of course, of what we have done to support nurses and the NHS with record investment. I do not think anybody who looks at the investment this Government have made in the public sector could doubt our commitment. We will continue to do that, but what we want to see is our economy recovering and our strong and dynamic private sector, which the hon. Gentleman disparages, enabling the country to forge forward as it should.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden) (Con)]

  It has been almost 12 months since I and many of my colleagues were elected to this House for the first time, and it was a great privilege to deliver my maiden speech on Second Reading of the Environment Bill and be on the Bill Committee for this landmark piece of legislation. Does my right hon. Friend agree that protecting the environment is not only a moral duty but presents an economic opportunity, including the creation of jobs for my constituents in Meriden?

Covid-19 Update

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I really appreciate what mosques around the country have done to make themselves covid secure, and what has been done in Bradford and elsewhere. I know how frustrating it is for places of worship that we have had to take these steps. All I can say is that we need to take them together as a country to get the R down and to get the virus down. We will continue to ensure that people get the support they need in the way that I outlined earlier.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement: 2020 has been desperately difficult for the whole country, and I know that he is committed to ending these new measures by 2 December. Many of my constituents are worried about what will happen afterwards, so can he commit to doing everything he can to ensure that we will have some sort of normal Christmas and at least have measures in place so that households will be able to mix by 25 December?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, and I am conscious that we have Diwali, Hanukkah and many religious celebrations coming up in December. I do want people to have as normal a Christmas as possible, and that is why I think it is very important that the whole country comes together to follow these measures. I am sure that if we do, we can get the R down in the way that I have described, and people will have as normal a Christmas as possible.

Covid-19 Update

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

With respect to the right hon. Gentleman, we are not back to where we were in March, because the R is not at those levels and we are not going back to a national lockdown of the kind we saw in March. What we are doing is taking a series of carefully modulated local and national measures designed together to get the R down, keep education going and keep the economy moving.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden) (Con)]

My constituents in Meriden have worked really hard to comply with the guidelines, and I am sure they will adapt to the new tier system to protect the NHS and keep the rate of infection low. Because they have worked so hard, will the Prime Minister commit to working to review things and get them out of tier 2 as soon as possible? They have been doing their part, and they deserve it.

[The Prime Minister]

Yes. I am aware of the feelings in the midlands and, indeed, around the country. I can tell the people of Meriden that we want to get them out of any kind of restrictions as fast as we possibly can.

Oral Answers to Questions

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is right in the sense that of course the Government are going to come forward with further measures. I do not think that it would be sensible simply to extend the current existing furlough scheme in its present form beyond the end of October, but we will do everything we can to support businesses and to support those in jobs and, indeed, the self-employed, as the hon. Gentleman rightly says.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden) (Con)]

  My constituents in Meriden understand the need for more housing, but the majority of Meriden is green-belt land. Across Meriden—in places such as Balsall Common, Dorridge, Knowle, Dickens Heath, Hockley Heath, Catherine-de-Barnes and Hampton-in-Arden—residents are quite rightly concerned about the pressures on the green belt. Can the Prime Minister confirm that his Government are a brownfield first Government, and can he also confirm that he will do everything he can to protect our precious green belt?

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly can. It was a former Labour Planning Minister who said, “The Green Belt is a Labour achievement, and we intend to build on it.” That is what he said. The Government’s approach is entirely different. Our planning reform will not change. That is what the Opposition want to do. We will not change existing policy to protect the green belt, and our housing targets, which are very ambitious, will focus, as my hon. Friend rightly says, on brownfield.

Covid-19

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It is essential that we have the most powerful possible public health organisation in this country. The Joint Biosecurity Centre now needs to come together with Public Health England to deliver what I believe will be a better service for this country. In fact, the change to which the hon. Lady refers does not happen until next year, but we are getting it under way now.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden) (Con)]

I know that the Prime Minister is a true libertarian and must have agonised over today’s decision and those taken over recent months. My constituents in Meriden are concerned about a second national lockdown, with schools closing and businesses shutting down. Does my right hon. Friend agree that individual responsibility is more important today than it has ever been? Will he confirm that he will do everything he can to avoid a second full national lockdown?

[The Prime Minister]

The whole objective today is to avoid that second national lockdown—nobody wants to see that. My hon. Friend is right to point the finger at us: we can do this together if we take responsibility for the way we behave, the way we enforce the rules and the way we act in public places. That is how we will get the R down collectively and defeat the virus.

United Kingdom Internal Market Bill

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons & Money resolution & Money resolution: House of Commons & Programme motion & Programme motion: House of Commons
Monday 14th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden) (Con)]

I will not spend what precious minutes I have talking about what the people voted for in December, because, frankly, the mandate given to us by the British people should already be reverberating around the Chamber. The mandate was clear: we were expected to leave the European Union. Certainly, as a member of the Conservative and Unionist party, I have an obligation to do everything that I can to protect the integrity of the Union.

I do not think that we can ignore the context of this Bill. We are in the midst of a negotiation. In fact, we are quite near the end of it; we are almost there. It is a negotiation that both parties entered into in good faith and it was a reciprocal obligation. Clearly, the European Union is not acting in good faith, and, naturally, it will do everything in its own interests. Why would it not? It will want to do everything that it can to make it harder for us to do a deal, but threatening the integrity of our Union is not negotiation in good faith and it goes just too far.

Too often, I hear that the EU is some noble entity—as is so often argued not only in many parts of the Chamber, but across the country—but it is one that has no objection to overturning the mandate of the people when it does not get what it wants. It has a track record that is anything but noble, but that is not us. This Bill protects the Union and also says that Northern Ireland is part of our Union and is not a negotiating football. Our job is to strengthen the hands of our negotiating team. This Bill is a plan B, but it is a plan B that says we will not be bullied. It is a plan B that says that this is one mandate that the European Union cannot ignore.

Oral Answers to Questions

Saqib Bhatti Excerpts

Thursday 27th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Angela Richardson (Guildford) (Con)]

7. What plans he has to support small and medium-sized businesses in bidding for Government contracts.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden) (Con)]

13. What plans he has to support small and medium-sized businesses in bidding for Government contracts.

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

17. What plans he has to support small and medium-sized businesses in bidding for Government contracts.

--- Later in debate ---

[Penny Mordaunt]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the work that she is doing for all the businesses in Guildford. We have committed to removing barriers to small businesses in our commercial arrangements, and have already removed the complex pre-qualification questionnaires that people used to have to fill out for even low-value contracts. We will continue to look at other ways that we can ensure that SMEs have maximum opportunity to bid for work.

[Saqib Bhatti]

I welcome the Minister’s comments. Does she recognise the role that business support organisations play—such as the Institute of Directors, the Federation of Small Businesses, the British Chambers of Commerce and local enterprise partnerships, which lead on the growth hubs—in helping to bridge the knowledge gap for SMEs that have to deal with such difficult processes?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for the opportunity to pay tribute to those business organisations, and it is great to see him in this place, with all his expertise in this area. Those organisations play a critical role, and we must listen to what they are saying and look at ways to increase the opportunities for all their members. We want to improve our communications and relationships with those organisations.