Oral Answers to Questions

Victoria Prentis Excerpts

Thursday 25th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Hammond]

I commend the hon. Lady’s work on the all-party parliamentary group on domestic violence and abuse. She will know that the Department produced a domestic abuse resource for health professionals that advises them on how best to support adults and young people over 16 who are experiencing domestic abuse, and that training is available now.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the publication of a definition of domestic abuse will help frontline staff to identify victims?

[Stephen Hammond]

My hon. Friend is right. The definition, which also includes factors such as mental health and economic issues, will make things much clearer for frontline staff and help them to understand and look for incidents of domestic violence and abuse.

Oral Answers to Questions

Victoria Prentis Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Douglas Chapman (Dunfermline and West Fife) (SNP)]

1. What recent estimate she has made of the uptake of shared parental leave.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

12. What steps the Government are taking to increase the uptake of shared parental leave.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

13. What recent estimate she has made of the uptake of shared parental leave.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kelly Tolhurst]

In reality, we are looking for a wider culture change. Other countries that implemented such schemes decades ago are still working to increase take-up of shared parental leave. We are committed to looking at what the barriers are, and at why people are not taking up such schemes. When we have that evidence base, we will tweak our policies to ensure that more people are able to take up those schemes.

[Victoria Prentis]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

It is very good of the hon. Member for Banbury to drop in on us, and we welcome her to the Chamber. I hope that she has fully recovered her breath, after what must have been an arduous excursion from wherever she was to the Chamber, and that she is now ready to deliver her question, which we await with bated breath.

[Victoria Prentis]

I cannot thank you enough for calling me, Mr Speaker, because this is a very important issue. Will my hon. Friend update the House on the progress of the research programme announced in September 2018 on gender equality in the workplace, and particularly on parental responsibilities? I know it is an evidence-based research programme, and we are all awaiting its results.

[Kelly Tolhurst]

The research programme into the workplace and gender equality will invest £1.1 million in academic research over two years. So far that programme has commissioned an evidence-based review of family-friendly policies and women’s progression, as well as considering how parents share caring for their children, and what motivates employers to improve their offer of shared parental leave. That programme will be based on evidence and advice from employers regarding how we can improve those family-friendly policies.

Oral Answers to Questions

Victoria Prentis Excerpts

Thursday 20th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Atkins]

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady, who has done so much work on the specific issue of youth violence, including her work on the commission. She knows, following last week’s very good debate, that the Government are absolutely committed to treating serious violence as a public health issue, but we are very much committed also to ensuring that domestic abuse within the serious violence sphere is tackled in hospitals and GP surgeries, because often the NHS is the touchstone that victims of domestic abuse can use to seek help when they find that they are in a place to be able to do so.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

8. I am concerned about the long-term effect on children of domestic abuse in the family home. Is tackling this part of the Government strategy?

[Victoria Atkins]

Very much so, and we know that domestic abuse has a devastating impact on children and young people. Home should be a place of safety; it should not be a place of fear and violence. We have launched an £8 million fund to support children affected by domestic abuse and services that can help in that. We have also provided money to roll out an amazing project called Operation Encompass, so that there is a person in every school whom the police can contact before the school day starts, to inform the school if a child has witnessed a domestic abuse incident the previous night so that child is treated in a gentle and comforting way during the school day, having witnessed some trauma at home.

Oral Answers to Questions

Victoria Prentis Excerpts

Thursday 15th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

We are conducting a joint trade and investment review with China as part of looking ahead to deepen that relationship. Under the UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission, we lobby for increased market access sector by sector. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his comments; it is not the highest publicity aspect of the Department for International Trade, but opening up a sector worth quarter of a billion pounds to Northern Ireland is a big achievement.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

Last year, British exports to China grew by 28%. What assessment has the Secretary of State made of how that trajectory will rise over the next few years?

[Dr Fox]

We know from a number of consumer surveys that about 60% of Chinese consumers say that they would pay a higher price for produce just because it is made in the United Kingdom. We are associated with the quality end of the global market, which is the rising market in China, and I expect our exports there to continue to grow apace.

Oral Answers to Questions

Victoria Prentis Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

The WTO and the rules-based system is under attack, it has to be said, today. If the WTO did not exist we would have to invent it. There is a need for a rules-based system, otherwise we would have a free-for-all. The alternative to a rules-based system is a deals-based system, which might be fine for some of the biggest economies but would not help many of the smaller developing economies. It is our moral duty to ensure that there is fair play across trade.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

5. What steps his Department is taking to increase the level of foreign direct investment into the UK.

[The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (Dr Liam Fox)]

To ensure that we continue to be a global leader in attracting foreign direct investment, the Department for International Trade has launched a new FDI strategy that will deliver new ways to target support for those projects that create the most value for investors and national wealth. I am pleased to say that 2016-17 was a record year for FDI projects landing in the UK, showing that the fundamentals of the UK economy are strong.

[Victoria Prentis]

Will my right hon. Friend tell me why, in his assessment, investors choose to invest in the UK?

[Dr Fox]

We regularly ask our investors why they put money in the UK and the answers are very similar. They say that the British legal system provides certainty and predictability. We have a skilled workforce. We have a good, predictable regulatory system and a low-taxation economy. We speak English. We have some of the best universities and some of the best access to tech, and we are in a good time zone for global trading. None of those, incidentally, depends on our membership of the European Union.