Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts
Tuesday 9th July 2019

(5 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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No, no, no, no, no, no. Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is not only not in Northamptonshire; it is not in England! It really is stretching the point. Oh, very well. If the hon. Gentleman wants to make a pertinent inquiry appertaining to Northamptonshire, in which no doubt he has the deepest interest, or relating to England, I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

Jamie Stone Portrait Jamie Stone
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You are very gracious, Mr Speaker. Benefits actually cover the whole UK and I represent the furthest-away constituency in the UK mainland. Delays in decision making are troublesome to say the very least. The problem as I see it is that the key decision makers are not actually based in Wick, where there are excellent staff, but much further south. Would it not be a good idea if we moved key decision makers closer to people in need?

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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That is a very cheeky piece of shoehorning.

Paul Maynard Portrait Paul Maynard
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I am presuming that the hon. Gentleman is encouraging me to have more tribunals in Wick, as opposed to decision makers. Since I have 3,000 employed in my own constituency making key decisions on personal independence payments, I do not think we should move to Wick. None the less, there is a lack of tribunals in his constituency. We will have to hear further information from him as to how we can improve accessibility there.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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In relation to the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone), the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) just chuntered from a sedentary position, “Yes, but he’s a nice guy.” Well, I think we can all agree about that.

Grahame Morris Portrait Grahame Morris (Easington) (Lab)
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3. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of health and safety for prison staff.

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David Gauke Portrait Mr Gauke
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I do agree with my hon. Friend, and I am interested by the insights into the Bottomley household. The fact that our current divorce laws introduce conflict at the point of divorce can make the break-up of relationships more confrontational than it needs to be in what are already difficult circumstances.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I believe that the hon. Gentleman has been married for 52 years.

Peter Bottomley Portrait Sir Peter Bottomley
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In sickness and in health.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I believe that to be so. [Interruption.]

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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And Lady Bottomley says so as well, as the hon. Gentleman pertinently observes from a sedentary position.

Patrick Grady Portrait Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)
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5. What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of sentences of less than three months in reducing reoffending.

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David Gauke Portrait Mr Gauke
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It is important that, where we have a benefit such as personal independence payments, we make an assessment as to whether those payments are going to the right people, and that, if there is an appeal against that, those appeals should be defended unless we believe that a mistake has been made. It is worth bearing in mind that, from memory, something like 4% of PIP assessments are overturned.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I call Dr Caroline Johnson.

Caroline Johnson Portrait Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)
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Oh—I thought that I had Topical Question 6, Mr Speaker.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Well, it is done on an alternating basis. [Interruption.] I am just helping the hon. Lady. One alternates between the two sides of the House, and although she has Topical Question 6, she is the first of the Government Back Benchers, so her time is now. During the period in which I have been helpfully prattling away, she will, I feel certain, have conceived of an absolutely brilliant question.

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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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“What does that mean?”, the hon. Gentleman chunters from a sedentary position. He is not in a minority of one in posing that question, but the Secretary of State’s reply was delphic.

Janet Daby Portrait Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)
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T7. Youth offending teams are struggling to provide their services for young people and the public as the result of year-on-year cuts to those services. This has meant highly complex case loads for staff, meaning that they can only respond through crisis intervention work. What are the Government going to do to help councils provide the sustained preventive interventions that are desperately needed in this sector?

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David Gauke Portrait Mr Gauke
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I thank my hon. Friend for those remarks. I believe it is very important to this country that we respect the independence of the judiciary, and the rule of law is at the heart of what we are about as a country. I can tell him that my speech is available on the gov.uk website—I hope that this announcement will not result in that website crashing, but I assure the House that it can be found there.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Well, that sounds an intoxicating read.

Alex Norris Portrait Alex Norris (Nottingham North) (Lab/Co-op)
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T9. I look forward to meeting the Prisons Minister next week to discuss HMP Nottingham. One of the major challenges at the jail is drugs. What is the latest update on the roll-out of body scanners at this prison and others?