Business of the House

Stephen Kinnock Excerpts

Thursday 7th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for all his work on this important service for his constituents, which will bring massive benefits to the area. I can absolutely confirm that we are committed to ensuring that the service is stood up. I understand that work is still required to assess what infrastructure changes are needed at the stations involved and that further operational readiness activities need to take place before direct services can be introduced. I will ensure that the Rail Minister has heard what my hon. Friend has said today and that he contacts him to give him assurances.

[Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)]

It has been reported that taxpayers have had to pick up a £15,000 bill due to the actions of the right hon. Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan), who is rapidly becoming known as “the Member for Chipping In”. Could the Leader of the House confirm that amount of £15,000? Does she think it fair that taxpayers should be footing the bill for the disgracefully bad judgment and behaviour of her colleague?

[Penny Mordaunt]

As an experienced parliamentarian, the hon. Gentleman will know that each Department will have a permanent secretary and monitoring officer to ensure that any such payments are correct, proper and justified. The propriety and ethics team at the Cabinet Office also oversees such things. Not having been directly involved in the matter myself, I am pretty confident that what has happened is perfectly correct. What the hon. Gentleman is getting at is whether it is right. I point him to what that particular Secretary of State has done herself in other circumstances. She very much understands that taxpayers’ money is involved and has taken action in the past to turn down things that she was entitled to because she felt that it was morally wrong to take them.

Private Members’ Bills: Money Resolutions

Stephen Kinnock Excerpts

Monday 21st May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

My hon. Friend explains the situation very clearly, and he is quite right. Our constituents would not expect us to initiate a new boundary review before we finished the existing one.

The Government have a constitutional duty to initiate financial resolutions in this place, and we are accountable to the people of the United Kingdom for the financial impact of such resolutions. Progressing with this private Member’s Bill might place a financial burden on taxpayers of an additional £8 million.

[Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)]

The Leader of the House talks about a constitutional duty. Does she not think that the Government have a constitutional duty to the 2.1 million people who are not on the electoral register and are therefore not included in this review, and a constitutional duty to do right by the private Member’s Bill of my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Gorton (Afzal Khan)?

[Andrea Leadsom]

Once the boundary commissions’ review has been completed, the Government will of course consider the recommendations very carefully, but that review is not yet completed so we must allow it to continue to its completion.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Kinnock Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2016 Commons Chamber

The Leader of the House was asked—

[Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)]

1. What steps he is taking to engage and involve more members of the public in the day-to-day business of Parliament.

[The Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (Dr Thérèse Coffey)]

The Government are committed to promoting public awareness of Parliament. Much has been achieved in this area in recent years, and this important work must continue. The Government particularly welcome the new e-petitions site, which has increased public engagement with Parliament since it was set up in July. The site collected 7 million signatures in its first six months, and to date 135 petitions have received a Government response and 19 petitions have been debated in Westminster Hall.

[Stephen Kinnock]

I thank the hon. Lady for her response. One way in which we can ensure that more people engage in politics is by reaching them at a young age, and I therefore welcome the increase in school visits to this place under your speakership, Mr Speaker. What assessment has the Deputy Leader of the House made of the effectiveness of schools visiting Parliament and of the education centre in getting young people interested and involved in politics? In addition, has she given staff their bonuses for now having to try to explain the Government’s incomprehensible English votes for English laws process?

[Dr Coffey]

I visited the education centre for the first time earlier this week to speak to children from Sandlings primary school in my constituency. It is a really impressive facility and I am sure that Mr Speaker is rightly proud of it. The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point about our effectiveness at getting children from around the United Kingdom to come here, and as a constituency MP I have written to the Administration Committee to ask it to look at the effectiveness of that programme.

Business of the House

Stephen Kinnock Excerpts

Thursday 4th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I have listened carefully to my hon. Friend. The process is clearly a new development as part of the Act designed to ensure that local communities have as strong a say as possible over the future development of their areas. I will ensure that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is made aware of my hon. Friend’s comments, and I hope he will take advantage of the Adjournment debate system to bring forward a debate as soon as he can.

[Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)]

Parc Slip open-cast mine in my constituency has been closed for several years and is a dreadful scar on the landscape. Will the Leader of the House make time for a much-needed debate on the fate of open-cast mines across the country?

[Chris Grayling]

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to the House. I know that he might have to do some additional campaigning elsewhere in the next few weeks—having just finished one election, his family has another one to fight.

I am aware of the legacy of coal mining, including open-cast mining, in the area the hon. Gentleman represents. In a recent visit to the valleys, I was impressed with how the hills were returning to nature in many places, but he makes an important point about the impact of open-cast mining, and I hope that he will take advantage of the many opportunities available to him to bring a Minister to the House or raise a question directly with Ministers at Question Time to ensure that this issue is firmly on the agenda.