School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill

Debate between Vicky Ford and Roger Gale

3rd reading
Friday 17th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Ford]

With the leave of the House, I again thank everybody who has taken part during the passage of this Bill. I may have been a little modest. This is a very short Bill—it is only a couple of pages long—but the guidance that it will make statutory is enormously detailed and wide-ranging. That is why making that guidance statutory was the No. 1 recommendation of the Education Select Committee, and the No. 1 ask from the Children’s Commissioner and many others.

I remember the Opposition day debate to which the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra) referred. I remember asking the shadow Schools Minister, the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell), whether she would support my Bill on that day, and she declined to do so. We have introduced this legislation in the form of a private Member’s Bill; in order to do so, I had to join the back of the queue, because my name did not come up in the ballot. I remind colleagues that not just one but four Labour Members were in the top five of the ballot for private Members’ Bills. If the Labour party really wanted to do something great for our children, it would have taken the Bill through this route itself. Labour Members say that they have a plan for our children, but we can see that they have not. Otherwise, they would have delivered this Bill themselves.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Roger Gale)]

Congratulations to the right hon. Lady.

Repurposing Russian Assets to Rebuild Ukraine

Debate between Vicky Ford and Roger Gale

Tuesday 27th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

Order. I am nothing if not even-handed. I said to the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Alex Sobel) that it is not appropriate to come into the Chamber at the end of a debate and then intervene, and that applies to the right hon. Lady as well.

Afghanistan Humanitarian Crisis: UK Response

Debate between Vicky Ford and Roger Gale

Wednesday 9th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Ford]

It is extremely important, when we talk about such a tragic situation, that we get the facts right about what the UK Government are doing on behalf of the British people. We have announced and already spent more than £176 million of aid, which is supporting more than 60 hospitals, providing health services to more than 300,000 people, ensuring that more than 4 million people are getting emergency food assistance and providing 6.1 million people with emergency health, water and protection. That is what the UK is already doing, and the money is going out week by week, month by month. As promised, by the end of this financial year, at the end of March, our aid will have reached £286 million.

We also announced £97 million in January. As I said last time I was at the Dispatch Box on this subject, it is incredibly important that we work with partners across the world and support the UN, which has announced the largest ever appeal. That is why we are working with it and supporting its donor-led conference.

We are also working to unlock the money at the World Bank. It is a complex issue that involves bringing different people together, but we are leading on that. We have also led on unlocking the money that is getting to the people who need it, because of the exemption we helped to introduce on sanctions.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on dragging the focus of this House away from the playground and back to the real and terrible world.

I am wearing the emblem of the genocide in Srebrenica. What we are witnessing in Afghanistan is virtually genocide by starvation. We cannot, in a civilised world, allow this to continue. Will my hon. Friend please work with the Ministry of Defence to see how we can practically provide not simply hard cash but food, tents, clothes and the things people really need, not in March but now?

[Vicky Ford]

That is an extremely important point, because we are working, as much as we can, to get aid through to the people who need it. We are working through a lot of different organisations, including the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund, the World Food Programme, the International Organisation for Migration, the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which is also funding local partners.

My colleague Lord Ahmad, the Minister with responsibility for south Asia and the UN, has also met senior Afghan women in this country to help shape the policy and the programme by making sure we hear their feedback. Our policies and programmes are also being informed by Afghan leaders, including Shukria Barakzai, Fawzia Koofi and Hasina Safi. That includes supporting local agencies on the ground, especially those focused on women and girls. Lord Ahmad met them very recently, too.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vicky Ford and Roger Gale

Tuesday 30th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Ford]

We see a concerning pattern of Russian behaviour. The aim is to hamper Euro-Atlantic integration in the region. The UK’s approach is clearly set out in the integrated review. The UK takes the threat from the Russian state extremely seriously and we will continue to call out Russian aggression.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

It is clear that the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has worsened considerably as a result of the separationist ambitions of Republika Srpska, which is backed by the Russian Federation. Can my hon. Friend the Minister tell me what discussions the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has had with the new High Representative and what steps we are taking as a nation to try to stabilise the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina?