Business of the House
Will Forster Excerpts(2 weeks, 3 days ago)
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Sir Alan Campbell
My hon. Friend raises a very concerning matter. We stand for unity, not division. Racism or any other form of discrimination has absolutely no place in our society. There is a real political choice at these local elections. Pride in Britain and our communities up and down the country stand united against those who would exploit division for their own ends. Where political parties are aware of this situation, they should have the courage to stand up to individuals and they should, even at this late stage in the process of local elections, distance themselves from them.
Mr Will Forster (Woking) (LD)
A wife of a civil servant in my constituency gave up work to look after her husband when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. She found herself in severe financial difficulties after significant delays in the processing of her husband’s civil service pension. He sadly died last year and she only started receiving support a couple of weeks ago. As this is not an isolated case, will the Leader of the House please guarantee a debate in Government time, so that MPs can scrutinise the mess that is civil service pensions?
Sir Alan Campbell
I am genuinely very sorry to hear of the constituency case the hon. Gentleman raises. If he will let me have details—I know it has been resolved to some extent—I will make the Minister aware of them. We are busy trying to get on and resolve the situation, but I am sure that when the time is appropriate we will want to return to this issue, debate what has happened and learn lessons from it.
Business of the House
Will Forster Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Lucy Powell
My hon. Friend is right to highlight the importance of single-sex spaces and counselling when it comes to tackling violence against women and girls and dealing with the aftermath of that. She will know that the Supreme Court ruling over Easter gave greater clarity on these matters for service providers, such as those in her constituency, and she might want to raise the great work that they do at the next Women and Equalities questions on 7 May.
Mr Will Forster (Woking) (LD)
The former chief executive of Woking borough council, Ray Morgan OBE, has been identified in a public interest report as the chief architect in bankrupting my council, leaving it with debts of £2 billion. Does the Leader of the House agree that the very least the Government could do is remove his OBE for services to local government, and will she agree to hold a debate in this House so that we can discuss Government policy on removing honours when wrongdoing has been committed?
Lucy Powell
I am really sorry to hear about the hon. Gentleman’s case. He may be aware that there is a special committee—it is not a Government committee—that looks at where there is a strong case for nominations to be removed. I urge him to contact that committee, and I will write to him with the details. He is absolutely right to say that we need to make sure that people are held accountable for their actions. Where they have received nominations, that is something that we should consider.
Business of the House
Will Forster Excerpts(1 year, 2 months ago)
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Lucy Powell
My hon. Friend is absolutely right: the way our water industry has been run over recent years is absolutely shocking, with shareholder dividends being paid out over and above infrastructure spending and addressing discharges and other things in our waterways. It is absolutely shocking, which is why this Government have brought in the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which is about to receive Royal Assent and will stop erroneous bonuses. We have established a new Independent Water Commission, and there are further reforms coming, but I will ensure that the House is kept fully up to date.
Mr Will Forster (Woking) (LD)
The main road through my constituency of Woking has been closed for the fourth time in short succession following cladding falling off a hotel. Cladding fell off it during construction, and has fallen off it since it opened. The developer, Sir Robert McAlpine, is responsible and seems to be in no rush to fix this problem. Will the Leader of the House please agree to hold a debate on the responsibility of developers? If companies prove that they cannot deliver, they should lose the right to work for the public sector.
Lucy Powell
The hon. Gentleman will know that the cladding scandal is a shocking embarrassment for our country, and we still have some way to go in putting that right. The Government set out a remediation action plan just before Christmas—that is on top of the Building Safety Act 2022, which was passed under the previous Government—but we absolutely need to be able to hold freeholders and developers to account when they put dangerous cladding on buildings and refuse to replace it.