Business of the House

John Bercow Excerpts

Thursday 20th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. As usual, a very large number of hon. and right hon. Members are seeking to catch my eye. As colleagues will know, my normal practice is to call everybody on these occasions, but there are exceptions. Today, there is a statement on community pharmacy to follow, and there are two very heavily subscribed debates to take place under the auspices of the Backbench Business Committee. Therefore, it may not be possible to call everyone today, but if I am to have any chance of doing so, there is a premium upon brevity, which will be brilliantly exemplified by Mr Philip Davies.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

May we have a statement urgently from the Government about the farce of allowing the child refugees into the country? The Home Office has admitted that two thirds of successful applicants as child refugees are actually adults. Today, Jack Straw has said that we need to do better on age checks, as the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne), did when he was the Immigration Minister. That is a serious concern to many of our constituents. May we have an urgent statement on what the Government are going to do to make sure that the child refugees are actually children?

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

What is now required, in each case, is a short question without preamble and a characteristically pithy reply from the Front Bench.

[Amanda Milling (Cannock Chase) (Con)]

Last week, Briggs Equipment celebrated its 10th anniversary. To mark this occasion, it held an event where I got to meet 14 new apprentices. Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Briggs on its anniversary and wish the new apprentices the best of luck with their new careers; and may we have a statement on the Government’s 3 million apprenticeship target?

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[Mr Lidington]

If my hon. Friend will let me have some of the details upon which he has based his question, I will draw them to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education, who has responsibility for the Government Equalities Office.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. What is needed now are questions in single short sentences. If those are forthcoming they will be heard; if not, they will not be.

[Nick Thomas-Symonds (Torfaen) (Lab)]

I associate myself with the remarks made about Aberfan and about my late friend and colleague Jo Cox.

On Saturday I will be attending the Remission Possible ball in honour of my young, inspirational constituent Emily Clark, who sadly died from cancer earlier this year. May we have a debate on the particular needs of young cancer patients when they suffer that terrible disease?

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[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do not want a speech read out, I want a one-sentence question.

[Gavin Newlands]

May we have a debate on the UK Government’s detention policy, which results in the UK detaining more people than anywhere else in Europe?

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[Mr Lidington]

All this was debated yesterday, when we had a debate on the House of Lords. I do not think I have anything further to add to what my hon. Friends said on that occasion.

[Mr Speaker]

I thank the House for its co-operation.