Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Monday 20th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

My hon. Friend raises a good and important point about Christmas. I reassure her that we will be looking carefully at the need for migrant labour in that sector, too, but, above all, we will want to rely on the evidence, which is why the report from the Migration Advisory Committee is going to be so important.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Member for Taunton Deane (Rebecca Pow) rightly refers to fruit farms, and it therefore seems apposite for me to call Joanna Cherry.

[Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. May I add my good wishes to Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, on my behalf and that of my SNP colleagues, on the occasion of their 70th wedding anniversary?

Data analysis submitted to the MAC by the Scottish Government shows that in Scotland EU nationals who work in Scotland contribute an average of £34,400 each per annum to gross domestic product—that is more than £4.4 billion a year. Does the Home Secretary agree that that evidence shows that Brexit is putting a vital contribution to Scotland’s economy at risk?

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[Mr Speaker]

I call Mr Christopher Chope—no, sorry, I will come to the hon. Gentleman. My anticipation got ahead of me.

[Dan Carden]

It is completely wrong to say that we do not have indefinite detention. If someone is locked up and not given a timeframe for when they will be released, that is indefinite detention. Will the Minister not take on recommendations from Her Majesty’s inspectorate of prisons, the all-party parliamentary inquiry on detention, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Amnesty International and the Labour party for a statutory requirement of 28 days before release?

[Brandon Lewis]

Detention is an important part of our process and of enabling returns, but we must be clear: to be lawful in this country, detention never lasts longer than is reasonably necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was authorised, which is to return somebody. That is the policy that we run.

[Mr Speaker]

After the dress rehearsal, we can have the real performance. I call Mr Christopher Chope.

[Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that there are too many people in detention centres who should have already been deported? They should have been deported before the expiry of their prison sentences. Why is that not happening?

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[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend has just highlighted what many of us are very clear about, which is that students play a hugely important part in our national economy. They are huge contributors and have a great contribution to make when they leave university, when that is done in the appropriate format. We would encourage more people to come and study in this country at the excellent institutions we have right across the country.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Christine Jardine.

[Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

The shadow Home Secretary was seeking to come in. I do beg the right hon. Lady’s pardon—we must hear from her. We will hold the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) in suspense, but not for long.

[Ms Abbott]

The Minister will be aware that the Financial Times reported on 8 November that an ally of the Home Secretary is in favour of removing international students from the Government’s migration targets. Some people suspect that the unnamed ally may, in fact, be the Home Secretary herself. Whether or not that is the case, the Minister has conceded that international students make an enormous contribution not just to academia but to the economies of our university towns. Will the Government listen to voices on both sides of the House and remove international students from the migration target?

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[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)]

13. What recent steps she has taken to reduce the level of knife crime.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Minister.

[Hon. Members]

Hear, hear!

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[Victoria Atkins]

That is a matter on which I hope we can work across the House, because knife crime, sadly, affects most of our constituencies. In terms of actions that the Government are taking, at a national level we are supporting the police with Operation Sceptre, which has had a great deal of success. There is also an emphasis on local police forces doing their bit—knowing the terrain and the local population, as they do, and using intelligence-led targeting to make sure that we get the people who are carrying the knives.

[Mr Speaker]

We are running late, but the voice of Amber Valley must be heard.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

14. Whether she plans to introduce a new police funding formula in the next 12 months.

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[Sarah Jones (Croydon Central) (Lab)]

T3. I welcome the new Minister, the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins), to her role, which covers knife crime and serious youth violence. I warmly invite her to come to the all-party group on knife crime, which I chair.Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, told the Home Affairs Committee that she has to find £400 million of savings over the next two years, despite the Mayor of London using the maximum precept that he is allowed. This means 10% fewer police officers in London, less prevention, less early intervention and less serious crime investigation at a time when violent crime and knife crime are rising. Will the Minister pass this on to the Treasury and ask for more police funds in the Budget?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Some of these inquiries are very good, but there is an emerging tendency for colleagues to have a script prepared that—forgive me—is rather too long for topical questions. It may be exceptionally good and delivered with brilliance in every case, but it is too long and takes too much time. For future reference, please may I ask colleagues to curb this tendency, because you are crowding out other colleagues who may also wish to take part?

[Mr Hurd]

As a London MP, I assure the hon. Lady that I am very interested in the Met police having the resources they need. To my eyes, they do in the sense that the level of resources and number of police officers per head are—for good reason—far and away above those anywhere else in the country. I do not recognise her figure of £400 million, because no decisions have been made yet about the funding settlement for 2018-19. As I have already said, that announcement will be made shortly.

[Mr Wallace]

My hon. Friend makes a valid point about the threat that these people pose. That is why the Government will where possible—where we have the evidence—prosecute, as we have prosecuted them in the past, people who go to fight, no matter whom they fight with, if they commit an offence overseas. We also use things such as temporary exclusion orders, deprivations of citizenship and terrorism prevention and investigation measures as ways to make sure we mitigate the threat.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Mohammad—[Interruption.] It is very good of the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Bambos Charalambous) to drop in on us. We are deeply obliged to him. I call Mohammad Yasin.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

T4. Research from Women for Refugee Women shows that women who have survived rape, female genital mutilation and other forms of gendered violence are still routinely detained in defiance of the guidance on the management of adults at risk. Will the Minister urgently assess why the guidance is failing these vulnerable women?

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

A Member cannot ask two questions in substantives or two questions in topicals. A Member can try to do one in each, but attempting to do a bit more than that is possibly biting off more than one can chew—or wanting more bites of the cherry.

[Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab)]

Last month in this House, the Home Secretary told me that some papers would be withheld from the Cyril Smith inquiry for reasons of national security. This week, the Prime Minister has written to me to say:

“We are clear that the work of the security services will not prevent information being shared with other such inquiries.”

Will the Home Secretary confirm, for the survivors of Cyril Smith who have waited for justice for decades, that she was wrong and that the Prime Minister is right?

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[Mr Speaker]

Any chance of a single sentence inquiry?

[Alex Norris (Nottingham North) (Lab/Co-op)]

Eighteen months since the Modern Slavery Act 2015 came into force, the power to injunct offending companies is yet to be used. Will Ministers say when they will start to use it?

[Amber Rudd]

I am proud of the Government’s work on the Modern Slavery Act and the fact that we are a world leader in delivering on it. We will always ensure that we protect people who have been victims of modern slavery. If the hon. Gentleman wants to write to me about his particular concern, I would be happy to address it.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman has set a very good example, below which others would not want to fall.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

I understand the Home Secretary met a constituent of mine at a Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance event on 26 July. She assured her that she would monitor her case and not go away and forget about the conversation. Will the Home Secretary have a fresh look at the case, because my constituent has been waiting for three years for a decision on her asylum claim and wants to get on with her life?

[Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Surely a Kingston and Surbiton knight of the realm must be capable of brevity. I call Sir Edward Davey.

[Sir Edward Davey]

I will try, Mr Speaker.

Has the Home Secretary read last month’s statistical bulletin on crime figures in England and Wales, which looks at the problem of the difference between recorded crime and the outcomes of the crime survey? If not, will she read it and send me her comments?

[Amber Rudd]

I think I have been given an essay question here. I have read the bulletin and am aware of the issues it raises—the fact that recorded crime is on the rise; that this does not necessarily mean that actual crime is; and that there are disparities within the figures depending on the types of crime. I think that that partly answers the right hon. Gentleman’s question, but perhaps we could discuss it at a later date.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to colleagues for their co-operation and good humour.