Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Wednesday 14th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

As the hon. Gentleman makes clear, these settlements are illegal and the Foreign Secretary has made that absolutely clear to his opposite numbers, as did I when I visited Israel, the west bank and Gaza just before Christmas. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May we have some order in the Chamber? There are far too many noisy private conversations when we are discussing the plight of the poorest people on the face of the planet.

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

T2. What is my right hon. Friend doing to ensure that British funds provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency are not abused in a way that undermines the middle east peace process?

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[Mr Mitchell]

The Foreign Secretary has set out clearly the need to resolve some disputes which affect the land space of Puntland and Somaliland, but that the issue of the future of Somaliland is a matter for Somaliland, Somalia and the surrounding countries. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May we have a bit of order so that the House can hear Mr Graham Allen?

[Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab)]

T5. Will the Secretary of State commit not only to work on further food and shelter developments for the people who need them throughout the globe, but to look at the social and emotional development of the children and families of those suffering areas, and to learn from some of the early intervention techniques being pioneered in this country?

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[Mr Mitchell]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The whole of the international development budget now focuses on outputs and outcomes, buying results, with the added extra that we now have an independent watchdog that can assure taxpayers that the money is really well spent.

[Mr Speaker]

Last, but never least, Sir Gerald Kaufman.

[Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

In thanking the right hon. Gentleman for the way he dedicates himself to alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people and congratulating him on the trouble he takes to go there and see for himself, may I ask him, with regard to textbooks for Palestinian children and children in Gaza, whether it would be valuable if there were schools in which they could study, in view of the large number of schools destroyed by the Israelis and their refusal to allow building materials in to rebuild them?

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[Hon. Members]

Answer!

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We must hear the response from the Deputy Prime Minister.

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

Indeed. The right hon. and learned Lady’s own party manifesto said that

“to safeguard the NHS in tougher fiscal times, we need sustained reform.”

The Labour party was right then and is wrong now. What happened?

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[Hon. Members]

What?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I said a moment ago that the Deputy Prime Minister’s response must be heard. The question from the deputy leader of the Labour party will be heard. That is the be-all and end-all of it.

[Ms Harman]

The Bill is still a top-down reorganisation, it is still going to cost the NHS a fortune, and it is still going to lead to fragmentation and privatisation. It is clear that the Deputy Prime Minister will not stand up for the NHS—the only thing he stands up for is when the Prime Minister walks into the room.

[Ms Harman]

We will compare what our Government did—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Some Members who are perhaps not initiated in the proceedings of Prime Minister’s Questions are yelling “Answer!” I remind the House that in these matters the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister does the answering; that is the situation.

[Ms Harman]

We will compare what our Government did on the NHS with what the Deputy Prime Minister’s Government are doing any day. He says that the problem with the Bill is that doctors and nurses just do not understand it, but the problem is that they do. However, even at this late stage it is within his power to stop the Bill. Next Monday, the Bill reaches its final stage in the House of Lords. There are 90 Lib Dem peers, and their votes will decide whether the Bill becomes law. Will he instruct Shirley Williams and his peers to vote to stop the Bill?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

The right hon. and learned Lady has invited me to make a comparison. Let me make three comparisons. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I say it again: the Deputy Prime Minister’s response must be heard, and that is all there is to it.

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[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As the hon. Lady’s party acknowledges, the police need to make savings. The key thing is not what the total number is, but where the police—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do not know what hon. Members have had for breakfast, but I want no part of it. The Deputy Prime Minister’s answers must be heard.

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

The key thing is whether police officers are properly deployed. Over the past decade, far too many police officers have been tied up in knots, filling out paperwork in the back office, rather than being out in our communities and on the streets where they belong.

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[Hon. Members]

More!

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Let us hear the answer.

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

We had to wait a while for the hon. Gentleman to get going, but it was great when he did. I think we are soon going to celebrate, if that is the right verb, 42 years of his presence in this House, and I am delighted to see that in all that time he has not mellowed one bit.