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Monday 9 July 2012

Volume 548 No. 28

HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT

PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Monday 9 July 2012

£5·00

© Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2012 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through The National Archives website at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/our-services/parliamentary-licence-information.htm Enquiries to The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; e-mail: [email protected]

HER MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT MEMBERS OF THE CABINET (FORMED BY THE RT HON. DAVID CAMERON, MP, MAY 2010)

DEPARTMENTS OF STATE AND MINISTERS PRIME MINISTER, FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY AND MINISTER FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE—The Rt Hon. David Cameron, MP DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL—The Rt Hon. Nick Clegg, MP FIRST SECRETARY OF STATE AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS—The Rt Hon. William Hague, MP CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER—The Rt Hon. George Osborne, MP LORD CHANCELLOR AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR JUSTICE—The Rt Hon. Kenneth Clarke, QC, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT AND MINISTER FOR WOMEN AND EQUALITIES—The Rt Hon. Theresa May, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE—The Rt Hon. Philip Hammond, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS—The Rt Hon. Vince Cable, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WORK AND PENSIONS—The Rt Hon. Iain Duncan Smith, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE—The Rt Hon. Edward Davey, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH—The Rt Hon. Andrew Lansley, CBE, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EDUCATION—The Rt Hon. Michael Gove, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT—The Rt Hon. Eric Pickles, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT—The Rt Hon. Justine Greening, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS—The Rt Hon. Caroline Spelman, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT—The Rt Hon. Andrew Mitchell, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND—The Rt Hon. Owen Paterson, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR SCOTLAND—The Rt Hon. Michael Moore, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WALES—The Rt Hon. Cheryl Gillan, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR CULTURE, OLYMPICS, MEDIA AND SPORT—The Rt Hon. Jeremy Hunt, MP CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY—The Rt Hon. Danny Alexander, MP LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS AND CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER—The Rt Hon. Lord Strathclyde MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO—The Rt Hon. Baroness Warsi DEPARTMENTS OF STATE AND MINISTERS Business, Innovation and Skills— SECRETARY OF STATE AND PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE—The Rt Hon. Vince Cable, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— The Rt Hon. David Willetts, MP (Minister for Universities and Science) John Hayes, MP (Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning) § Mark Prisk, MP The Rt Hon. Greg Clark, MP § Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint (Minister for Trade and Investment) PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Norman Lamb, MP Edward Vaizey, MP § Baroness Wilcox Cabinet Office— MINISTER FOR THE CABINET OFFICE AND PAYMASTER GENERAL—The Rt Hon. Francis Maude, MP MINISTER OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Oliver Letwin, MP PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES— Mark Harper, MP Nick Hurd, MP Communities and Local Government— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Eric Pickles, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— The Rt Hon. Greg Clark, MP § The Rt Hon. Grant Shapps, MP (Minister for Housing and Local Government) PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Andrew Stunell, OBE, MP Robert Neill, MP Baroness Hanham, CBE

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HER MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT—cont.

Culture, Media and Sport— SECRETARY OF STATE FOR CULTURE, OLYMPICS, MEDIA AND SPORT—The Rt Hon. Jeremy Hunt, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— John Penrose, MP Hugh Robertson, MP (Minister for Sport and the Olympics) Edward Vaizey, MP § Defence— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Philip Hammond, MP MINISTER OF STATE—Nick Harvey, MP (Minister for the Armed Forces) PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Gerald Howarth, MP The Rt Hon. Andrew Robathan, MP Peter Luff, MP Lord Astor of Hever, DL Duchy of Lancaster— LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS AND CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER—The Rt Hon. Lord Strathclyde Education— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Michael Gove, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— Sarah Teather, MP Nick Gibb, MP John Hayes, MP (Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning) § PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Tim Loughton, MP Lord Hill of Oareford Energy and Climate Change— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Edward Davey, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— Charles Hendry, MP Gregory Barker, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE—Lord Marland Environment, Food and Rural Affairs— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Caroline Spelman, MP MINISTER OF STATE— The Rt Hon. James Paice, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Richard Benyon, MP Lord Taylor of Holbeach, CBE Foreign and Commonwealth Office— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. William Hague, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— Jeremy Browne, MP The Rt Hon. David Lidington, MP (Minister for Europe) The Rt Hon. Lord Howell of Guildford PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Henry Bellingham, MP Alistair Burt, MP Government Equalities Office— MINISTER FOR WOMEN AND EQUALITIES—The Rt Hon. Theresa May, MP § MINISTER FOR EQUALITIES—Lynne Featherstone, MP § Health— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Andrew Lansley, CBE, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— Paul Burstow, MP Simon Burns, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Anne Milton, MP Earl Howe Home Office— SECRETARY OF STATE AND MINISTER FOR WOMEN AND EQUALITIES—The Rt Hon. Theresa May, MP § MINISTERS OF STATE— Damian Green, MP (Minister for Immigration) The Rt Hon. Nick Herbert, MP (Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice) § Lord Henley (Minister for Crime Prevention and Antisocial Behaviour Reduction) PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Lynne Featherstone, MP (Minister for Equalities) § James Brokenshire, MP

HER MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT—cont.

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International Development— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Andrew Mitchell, MP MINISTER OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Alan Duncan, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE—Stephen O’Brien, MP Justice— LORD CHANCELLOR AND SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Kenneth Clarke, QC, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— The Rt Hon. Lord McNally The Rt Hon. Nick Herbert, MP (Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice) § PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Crispin Blunt, MP Jonathan Djanogly, MP Law Officers— ATTORNEY-GENERAL—The Rt Hon. Dominic Grieve, QC, MP SOLICITOR-GENERAL—Edward Garnier, QC, MP ADVOCATE-GENERAL FOR SCOTLAND—The Rt Hon. Lord Wallace of Tankerness, QC Leader of the House of Commons— LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AND LORD PRIVY SEAL—The Rt Hon. Sir George Young, MP PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY—David Heath, CBE, MP Northern Ireland— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Owen Paterson, MP MINISTER OF STATE— The Rt Hon. Hugo Swire, MP Privy Council Office— DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

AND

LORD PRESIDENT OF

THE

COUNCIL—The Rt Hon. Nick Clegg, MP

Scotland Office— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Michael Moore, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. David Mundell, MP Transport— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Justine Greening, MP MINISTER OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Theresa Villiers, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Norman Baker, MP Mike Penning, MP Treasury— PRIME MINISTER, FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY AND MINISTER FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE—The Rt Hon. David Cameron, MP CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER—The Rt Hon. George Osborne, MP CHIEF SECRETARY—The Rt Hon. Danny Alexander, MP FINANCIAL SECRETARY—Mark Hoban, MP EXCHEQUER SECRETARY—David Gauke, MP ECONOMIC SECRETARY—Chloe Smith, MP COMMERCIAL SECRETARY—Lord Sassoon PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY—The Rt Hon. Patrick McLoughlin, MP LORDS COMMISSIONERS— Michael Fabricant, MP Angela Watkinson, MP Jeremy Wright, MP Brooks Newmark, MP James Duddridge, MP ASSISTANT WHIPS— Philip Dunne, MP Stephen Crabb, MP Robert Goodwill, MP Shailesh Vara, MP Bill Wiggin, MP Mark Hunter, MP Greg Hands, MP Jenny Willott, MP

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HER MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT—cont.

Wales Office— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Cheryl Gillan, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE—David Jones, MP Work and Pensions— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt Hon. Iain Duncan Smith, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— The Rt Hon. Chris Grayling, MP Steve Webb, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Maria Miller, MP Lord Freud Her Majesty’s Household— LORD CHAMBERLAIN—The Rt Hon. Earl Peel, GCVO, DL LORD STEWARD—The Earl of Dalhousie MASTER OF THE HORSE—Lord Vestey, KCVO TREASURER—The Rt Hon. John Randall, MP COMPTROLLER—The Rt Hon. Alistair Carmichael, MP VICE-CHAMBERLAIN—The Rt Hon. Mark Francois, MP CAPTAIN OF THE HONOURABLE CORPS OF GENTLEMEN-AT-ARMS—The Rt Hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns, DBE CAPTAIN OF THE QUEEN’S BODYGUARD OF THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD—Lord Newby, OBE BARONESSES IN WAITING—Baroness Garden of Frognal, Baroness Northover, Baroness Rawlings, Baroness Stowell, Baroness Verma LORDS IN WAITING—Earl Attlee, Lord De Mauley, TD, Lord Wallace of Saltaire

§ Members of the Government listed under more than one Department

SECOND CHURCH ESTATES COMMISSIONER, REPRESENTING CHURCH COMMISSIONERS—Sir Tony Baldry, MP

HOUSE OF COMMONS THE SPEAKER—The Rt Hon. John Bercow, MP CHAIRMAN OF WAYS AND MEANS—Lindsay Hoyle, MP FIRST DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF WAYS AND MEANS—Nigel Evans, MP SECOND DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF WAYS AND MEANS—The Rt Hon. Dawn Primarolo, MP PANEL OF CHAIRS Mr David Amess, MP, Hugh Bayley, MP, Mr Joe Benton, MP, Mr Clive Betts, MP, Mr Peter Bone, MP, Mr Graham Brady, MP, Annette Brooke, MP, Martin Caton, MP, Mr Christopher Chope, MP, Katy Clark, MP, Mr David Crausby, MP, Philip Davies, MP, Jim Dobbin, MP, Nadine Dorries, MP, Sir Roger Gale, MP, Mr James Gray, MP, Mr Mike Hancock, MP, Mr Dai Havard, MP, Mr Philip Hollobone, MP, Mr Jim Hood, MP, The Rt Hon. George Howarth, MP, Mr Edward Leigh, MP, Dr William McCrea, MP, Miss Anne McIntosh, MP, Mrs Anne Main, MP, Sir Alan Meale, MP, Sandra Osborne, MP, Albert Owen, MP, Mrs Linda Riordan, MP, John Robertson, MP, Andrew Rosindell, MP, Mr Lee Scott, MP, Jim Sheridan, MP, Mr Gary Streeter, MP, Mr Andrew Turner, MP, Mr Charles Walker, MP, Mr Mike Weir, MP, Hywel Williams, MP SECRETARY—Simon Patrick HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION The Rt Hon. The Speaker (Chairman), Sir Paul Beresford, MP, Mr Frank Doran, MP, Ms Angela Eagle, MP, MP, John Thurso, MP, The Rt Hon. Sir George Young, MP SECRETARY OF THE COMMISSION—Robert Twigger ASSISTANT SECRETARY—Joanna Dodd ADMINISTRATION ESTIMATE AUDIT COMMITTEE Alex Jablonowski (Chairman), Ms Angela Eagle, MP, The Rt Hon. Sir Alan Haselhurst, MP, John Thurso, MP, Stephen Brooker, Mark Clarke SECRETARY OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE—Gosia McBride LIAISON COMMITTEE The Rt Hon. Sir Alan Beith, MP (Chair), Mr Graham Allen, MP, The Rt Hon. James Arbuthnot, MP, Mr Adrian Bailey, MP, The Rt Hon. Kevin Barron, MP, Dame Anne Begg, MP, Mr Clive Betts, MP, The Rt Hon. Sir Malcolm Bruce, MP, Mr William Cash, MP, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, MP, Mr Ian Davidson, MP, David T C Davies, MP, The Rt Hon. Stephen Dorrell, MP, Mrs Louise Ellman, MP, Natascha Engel, MP, Dr Hywel Francis, MP, The Rt Hon. Sir Alan Haselhurst, MP, The Rt Hon. Margaret Hodge, MP, Mr Bernard Jenkin, MP, The Rt Hon. Greg Knight, MP, Miss Anne McIntosh, MP, Andrew Miller, MP, Mr George Mudie, MP, Richard Ottaway, MP, Mr Laurence Robertson, MP, Mr Graham Stuart, MP, Mr Robert Syms, MP, John Thurso, MP, Mr Andrew Tyrie, MP, The Rt Hon. Keith Vaz, MP, Joan Walley, MP, Mr John Whittingdale, MP, Mr Tim Yeo, MP CLERKS—Andrew Kennon, Philippa Helme MANAGEMENT BOARD Robert Rogers (Clerk of the House and Chief Executive), David Natzler (Clerk Assistant and Director General, Chamber and Committee Services), John Pullinger (Director General, Information Services), Andrew Walker (Director General, HR and Change), John Borley, CB (Director General, Facilities), Myfanwy Barrett (Director of Finance), Joan Miller (Director of Parliamentary ICT) (External Member), Alex Jablonowski (External Member), Barbara Scott (External Member) SECRETARY OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD—Matthew Hamlyn SPEAKER’S SECRETARY—Peter Barratt SPEAKER’S COUNSEL—Michael Carpenter SPEAKER’S CHAPLAIN—Rev. Rose Hudson-Wilkin PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONER FOR STANDARDS—John Lyon, CB PARLIAMENTARY SECURITY DIRECTOR—Peter Mason

9 July 2012

THE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES OFFICIAL REPORT IN THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FIFTY-FIFTH PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND [WHICH OPENED 18 MAY 2010]

SIXTY-FIRST YEAR OF THE REIGN OF

HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II SIXTH SERIES

VOLUME 548 FOURTH VOLUME OF SESSION 2012-2013

House of Commons

Seema Malhotra: Over the past two years overall crime has not fallen, whereas crime fell by more than 40% under Labour. Does the Home Secretary believe that the 20% cuts to the police are partly to blame, and will she now change course to a more proportionate cuts plan of 12% over this Parliament?

Monday 9 July 2012 The House met at half-past Two o’clock

Mrs May: The hon. Lady bases her question on a premise that I do not accept and which is not accepted by the Home Affairs Committee or, indeed, by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary, which in its report on “Policing in austerity” recently stated that

PRAYERS [MR SPEAKER in the Chair]

“there is no evidence of a correlation between the change in number of officers and the change in total recorded crime.”

Oral Answers to Questions HOME DEPARTMENT The Secretary of State was asked— British Crime Survey 1. Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op): What overall change in the level of crime has been identified by the British crime survey since May 2010. [115538]

17. Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab): What overall change in the level of crime has been identified by the British crime survey since May 2010. [115554]

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May): The crime survey shows that overall crime has remained broadly stable since May 2010. Police-recorded crime fell 3% in the year ending December 2011 compared with the previous 12 months, but as I have told the House previously, crime is still too high, and that is why we are making a number of reforms to policing to ensure that police are free to fight crime.

Barbara Keeley: Greater Manchester Chief Constable Peter Fahy says that crime reduction is achieved by neighbourhood policing and by the police strengthening their relationships with local people. The number of police officers on visible policing lines in Greater Manchester has fallen by 300 in the past two years, so what effect does the Secretary of State expect that to have on crime levels in the area? Mrs May: As I just pointed out to the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra), what we see is that there is no simple link—this is supported by HMIC and by the Home Affairs Committee—between officer numbers and crime figures. In Greater Manchester, police officer numbers have fallen by 4%, but overall crime has fallen by 6%. Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con): Will my right hon. Friend congratulate those police forces in England and Wales which have worked to contribute to a 5% reduction in household crime between the years ending December 2010 and December 2011, and also welcome the 8% reduction in such crime in Cheshire, my local constabulary area? Mrs May: I am very happy to join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to the work that the Cheshire constabulary has done to ensure a fall in overall crime which is above the national average. We congratulate all officers who have contributed to that.

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Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con): The latest figures for year-on-year crime in Leicestershire show a reduction of 4.3%, or 3,083 offences, over the year. Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Leicestershire constabulary on its excellent work in the face of a challenging spending settlement? Mrs May: I am very happy, again, to join my hon. Friend in congratulating police officers in Leicestershire on all their work in seeing that fall in crime. It is important; it matters to local communities; and it is clear that officers in Leicestershire and in many forces throughout the country are out there doing what we want them to do, which is to fight crime. Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op): In Nottinghamshire, we have seen over the past financial year the fifth largest increase in crime of any police force, yet we have had the fourth largest funding cut of any authority. Will the Home Secretary look again at the funding formula and, in particular, when she reviews the damping mechanism of those formulas, think carefully about the impact on Nottinghamshire? Police officers really do make a difference to crime. Mrs May: As Home Secretaries and Policing Ministers through the years have discovered, there are forces that benefit from damping and forces that do not. We committed to look at the damping mechanism in the last two years of the spending review period, but my right hon. Friend the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice has initiated that work already and is currently looking at the issue. Amber Rudd (Hastings and Rye) (Con): In a year of unprecedented operational demand, with the Olympics following Euro 2012 events, recorded crime in East Sussex is at its lowest in five years. Will the Home Secretary join me in congratulating East Sussex police force on its excellent work in reducing crime in the county and in my constituency? Mrs May: Yes, I am very happy to join my hon. Friend in doing so. There has been a fall in crime of 14.5% in Hastings borough, and that is a big tribute to the work of police officers in that part of East Sussex—and long may it continue. Deportations (Dangerous Foreign Nationals) 2. Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con): What plans she has to reduce the time taken to remove [115539] dangerous foreign nationals. The Minister for Immigration (Damian Green): We are working with the prisons, the courts and the police to overcome prisoner non-compliance in the removals process by establishing nationality and identity earlier; we are working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to increase the efficiency of the documentation process; and we are removing a significant number of prisoners much earlier in the process. Gavin Barwell: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. What prospects are there for removing foreign national offenders before they have completed their sentence so that the British taxpayer does not have to bear such a cost?

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Damian Green: My hon. Friend makes a very good point, which we are working on. Where sentence length allows, consideration of deportation is now started up to 18 months before the earliest point of removal. As a result, we are removing a significant number of prisoners much earlier in the process. About a third of foreign national offenders removed in 2011 were removed before the end of their sentence, which is up from just under 20% in 2008. Mr Ian Davidson (Glasgow South West) (Lab/Co-op): Do the figures for removal in these circumstances differ between the different nations and regions of the United Kingdom, and if so, why? Damian Green: There are not significant differences because these people are, by definition, foreign national offenders, so they do not come from any of the regions of the United Kingdom. Broadly speaking, how efficient we are relates to whether we have a concentration of foreign national prisoners in a prison where UK Border Agency officers can get at them early enough to make sure that all the schemes operate as efficiently as possible. Overseas Students 3. Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab): How many visas were issued to overseas students to study at UK universities in the 2011-12 academic year. [115540] The Minister for Immigration (Damian Green): Figures for the 2011-12 academic year are not yet available, but 206,176 tier 4 student visas were issued in the year to March 2012. This figure covers all students, including those attending university. Last week, Universities UK told the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee that universities are projecting an increase in international students coming to the UK, and UCAS applications from international students have risen by 10%. Hugh Bayley: We have some of the best universities in the world, and overseas students contribute £8 billion to our national economy and balance of trade. There has been lots of speculation over the weekend that the Government are about to change the migration figures so as to exclude overseas students. Will the Minister make a statement about the Government’s intentions, and will he think seriously about what can be done with the visa regime and the language requirements to encourage more genuine students to study at British universities? Damian Green: I will happily make a statement now. There are no plans at all to change the definition of immigration. A student who comes here for three years or more is as much of an immigrant as somebody who comes on a work visa for two years or more. There is an international definition of immigration which covers everyone who moves to another country for more than a year, so students who come here for more than a year are included in that definition. Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con): Will my hon. Friend reject any pressures to change the policy on students coming here in the light of the fact that the OECD estimates that a quarter of students subsequently

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stay on, 120,000 of them settle and 120,000 seek and are granted extensions of their stay while they are here, and there are some 150,000 outstanding illegal immigrants who came here on university visas? Damian Green: My right hon. Friend makes a number of powerful points. There is, of course, no cap on genuine students coming to study genuinely at genuine institutions, and some of our universities, which are indeed the best in the world, benefit hugely from that. Nevertheless, we have driven out a huge amount of abuse in the student visa system. More than 500 colleges that used to take foreign students can no longer do so because we put in a proper checking and accreditation regime. Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab): Many colleges’ licences have been cancelled for several reasons. Many students have been issued visas at the British high commissions in Delhi, Pakistan and other places. How many were refused entry at the airport when they arrived due to the cancellations of their colleges’ licences? Damian Green: I am afraid that I cannot give the figure off the top of my head, but I doubt whether most of them would have been refused entry at the airport. I would say to the hon. Gentleman, and indeed to prospective students, that because of the action that we have taken in driving out abuse it is very much less likely now than two years ago for any genuine student from overseas to arrive in Britain and find that they have registered with a bogus college. Removing these bogus colleges has an enormous benefit for the British taxpayer and the integrity of our immigration system, but it also helps genuine foreign students to know that from now on they will be coming to get a proper education in Britain. Mr Julian Brazier (Canterbury) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that while overseas students are vital for our universities, this has become an increasingly abused immigration route, and that the blanket removal of students from the statistics would drive a coach and horses through the excellent measures that he has introduced? Damian Green: I agree completely with the final point that my hon. Friend made. He was right about the abuse. I am happy to report to him and the House that, as of today, we are introducing more widespread interviewing of students to check their ability to benefit from a course here. We ran a pilot between December and February, and discovered that 17% of those who had been accepted on a course in this country should be refused because they could not even speak basic conversational English. There is always more abuse to drive out and we will continue to do so. Draft Communications Data Bill 4. Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD): What progress she has made on the draft Communications Data Bill; and if she will make a [115541] statement. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (James Brokenshire): We published the draft Communications Data Bill on 14 June. The draft Bill

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will now be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee of both Houses and a parallel inquiry by the Intelligence and Security Committee. The Joint Committee has begun its work and is due to report in November. Simon Hughes: I am grateful to the Minister for his answer. He will know that the draft Bill, particularly in clause 1, gives very wide powers to the Secretary of State by order. Will he tell us whether the Secretary of State has yet written those orders? In any event, will he give the undertaking that they will be published at the earliest available date? James Brokenshire: It is worth underlining that communications data are an essential tool in solving and prosecuting crime. It is important that that is not eroded by changing technologies, which is why we need the flexibility to respond to change. We are working closely with the Joint Committee. We are absolutely committed to the pre-legislative scrutiny and to ensuring that the Committee can conduct robust scrutiny of the Bill. Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD): The Minister said that he was working with the Joint Committee on which I serve. He will be aware that the Joint Committee has not been given sight of the order. Will he promise that we will have a chance to see it while we are carrying out the pre-legislative scrutiny? James Brokenshire: As my hon. Friend will know, scrutiny of the draft legislation is only just starting. I understand that the first sitting of the Joint Committee is due to take place this week. Officials from the Department will consider this matter and give evidence to the Committee. I will commit to keeping the issue under review as the legislative process develops, because we recognise the need to ensure that the Bill and the scrutiny that we will respond to are effective. We need to recognise that this is an important matter in ensuring that crimes continue to be prosecuted. Crime (Rural Areas) 5. George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con): What steps she is taking to help the police prevent crime in rural areas. [115542] The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice (Nick Herbert): The Government fully recognise the vulnerabilities of rural communities to particular crimes. The central grant to police forces continues to take into account the needs of rural areas. The election of police and crime commissioners will give rural communities a voice in determining local policing priorities. George Freeman: I thank the Minister for that answer. His is a strong voice in reassuring people that the Government take crime in rural areas seriously. Will he join me in welcoming the excellent work that Norfolk police authority has done to clamp down on crime in rural areas? Does he agree that the central tension that such rural authorities face is between centralising work to prevent hardened crime from taking hold in rural

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counties and decentralising to maintain a strong footprint? Does he agree that joint working, as between Norfolk and Suffolk, is important in targeting resources? Nick Herbert: I agree with my hon. Friend about the value of joint working and collaboration between forces, as is happening between Norfolk and Suffolk. That is a good example of how savings can be made. It is one reason why Norfolk has been able to increase the proportion of its officers who are on the front line, according to last week’s report by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary. Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab): Devon and Cornwall police made significant cuts in the run-up to 2010 and are now struggling under further and faster cuts from this Government. Policing rural areas, and indeed urban areas such as Plymouth, is proving to be difficult with the loss of manpower. Will the Minister look at how the area cost adjustment for Devon and Cornwall is reached, because we lose out to places such as Surrey? Nick Herbert: We do not believe that there are fundamental problems with the way in which grant is provided. We are looking at the issue of damping, as my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary mentioned earlier. The fundamental point is that Devon and Cornwall has not coped as well with the reduction in funds as similar forces that have continued to reduce crime. It is one of the three forces that HMIC said needed to look carefully at how they would make savings in future. Anna Soubry (Broxtowe) (Con): I know the Minister is busy, but will he meet the acting chief constable, soon to be chief constable, of Nottinghamshire, to see how he is working with Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, and particularly at how he is managing to police rural as well as urban areas in these difficult times? Nick Herbert: Yes, I would be happy to have such a meeting. I meet chief constables regularly and visit forces a lot, and I am sure that I will visit Nottinghamshire again in due course. Police forces up and down the country are showing that they are broadly coping well with the reductions in funding. They are making savings and continuing to reduce crime while protecting the front line. That was what HMIC’s report said last week. Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab): In the county of the hon. Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman), 162 police officers will be lost by 2015, yet if reports in the weekend press are to be believed, the Home Secretary is asking the Treasury for more money to invest not in officers to tackle rural or other crime but in the election of police and crime commissioners. Is that true, and does it not show once again that the Government’s priorities are wrong on this matter? Nick Herbert: I am absolutely astonished by the right hon. Gentleman’s question, since only last week he and I were in a Committee of this House debating how much money should be spent on promoting police and crime commissioner elections, and he called for an increase in resources and for us to spend more money on those elections. It is frankly astonishing that he should ask me the question that he just has.

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Immigration (Integration) 6. Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con): What steps she is taking under immigration rules to promote better [115543] integration. 16. Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con): What steps she is taking under immigration rules to promote better [115553] integration. The Minister for Immigration (Damian Green): Our immigration reforms will return migration to sustainable levels in the tens of thousands, reducing pressures on communities. Changes to family immigration rules will ensure that migrants are not a burden on the taxpayer but can speak English and pay their way, and a new “Life in the UK” test will have British history and culture at its heart. All of that will help ensure that migrants are better able to integrate in the UK. Richard Fuller: I welcome the Minister’s comments. The cornerstone of successful integration in Bedford and Kempston for generations has been a clear focus on hard work and strong family values. Will the Minister assure me that he will continue to promote those values, rather than the pattern of welfare dependency that has emerged in recent years? Damian Green: Absolutely. My hon. Friend makes an entirely valid point, because most immigrants come here to work and we should encourage them to do so. That is why our new “Life in the UK” test booklet will concentrate more on British history, British values and great people in British history and rather less than the previous Government’s version did on how to claim benefits. Sajid Javid: When my parents left their homeland in the 1960s to settle in the UK, they brought with them a deep respect and love for Britain. Sadly, too few migrants share that approach today. I therefore welcome the changes to the “Life in the UK” test that my hon. Friend has outlined. Does he agree that they will help to underline the importance of immigrants learning the English language? Damian Green: That is absolutely right. It is obvious that it is easier for someone to make a success of their life in a new country if they can speak the language properly. That is why we have increased the English requirements across the board for migrants who intend to settle here. That will help them not only to integrate better in the wider community but to make a success of their own lives. Opposition Members who campaign against the changes are letting down future generations of migrants to this country. Mr Nick Raynsford (Greenwich and Woolwich) (Lab): Does the Minister accept that a continuing huge backlog of unprocessed cases in the “legacy” category, along with arbitrary and at times unfair decisions against genuine and entirely meritorious applicants for visas to visit relatives in the UK, continues to make it very difficult to promote effective immigration among sections of ethnic minorities who believe that the rules are not being applied fairly?

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Damian Green: On legacy cases, the right hon. Gentleman is entirely right. In the middle of the last decade, half a million cases were famously discovered, and we are sorting that out. The asylum archive is now down by 24,000 from the high of 98,000 that it reached in 2011, so this Government, unlike the previous one, are getting to grips with the terrible problems that we inherited. We are increasingly successful in providing not just sustainable levels of immigration but a system in which people can— Mr Speaker: Order. I think we get the gist of the Minister’s point. Olympic Games (Security) 7. Gregg McClymont (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (Lab): What progress she has made on Olympic security preparations; and if she will make [115544] a statement. The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May): The Government and everyone involved are focused on delivering a safe, secure and successful games. We are confident in our planning and are leaving nothing to chance in our aim to deliver games that London, the UK and the whole world can enjoy. Gregg McClymont: The Olympics are only 18 days away, but we learned over the weekend that G4S still needs to fill 9,000 security positions. Without those staff, security will surely be compromised. Will the Home Secretary therefore confirm that she has signed off G4S’s recruitment schedule? Will she also give a personal assurance to the House that those 9,000 security staff can be recruited, vetted and trained in the next 18 days? Mrs May: As the hon. Gentleman may be aware, venue security is being delivered by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, G4S and the military. It is a huge operation to protect more than 100 different venues, and delivering it is a big challenge. The Home Office has put in place a number of assurance processes to ensure that we have effective and robust scrutiny of venue security planning. We have been testing our plans thoroughly and are confident that our partners will deliver a safe and secure games, but we are not complacent and will leave nothing to chance, so we will stay on the case. Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab): The Home Secretary has not answered the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Gregg McClymont). First, will she confirm that she personally signed off the G4S recruitment schedule? Secondly, will these 9,000 people be recruited, trained and in place, and will they have gone through the proper security vetting, by the opening of the Olympic games? Mrs May: The hon. Lady has missed one crucial point: the G4S contract is with LOCOG. The Home Office has a responsibility to test those plans and to provide assurance on them, which is exactly what it has been doing.

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Antisocial Behaviour 8. Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab): How many police forces in England and Wales wait until five separate households have complained about antisocial behaviour before responding. [115545]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Lynne Featherstone): Police forces and their local partners should respond to every complaint about antisocial behaviour, and most take the issue very seriously, but if repeated complaints have been ignored, our proposed community trigger will allow victims and communities to require agencies to take action. Tom Blenkinsop: In some areas, people have to make at least three separate complaints of antisocial behaviour before getting a response. Is that not a symptom of police numbers being cut by 15,000—they are being cut to 1974 levels in Cleveland—and the fact that police powers are being weakened by this Government? Lynne Featherstone: No, not at all. For a start, if the hon. Gentleman had read the HMIC report published last week, he would know that it makes it clear that front-line policing is being protected overall. He would also know that the service to the public has largely been maintained; the proportion of officers on the front line is increasing; the number of neighbourhood officers has gone up; crime is down; victim satisfaction is improving; and the response to emergency calls is being maintained. Michael Ellis (Northampton North) (Con): Northamptonshire police are an excellent constabulary and excellently run by Chief Constable Adrian Lee. It is doing great work fighting antisocial behaviour. Does my hon. Friend agree that police and crime commissioners will also do an awful lot to improve the fight against antisocial behaviour? Does she find it shocking that the Labour party does not support that? Lynne Featherstone: I do find it shocking, given that so many of the Labour ilk are standing for the position of PCCs. The job of PCCs is to listen to what people want in their local communities and to give communities the powers to require agencies to act. That is happening under this Government, but it never happened under the Labour Government. Policing 9. Mr David Ruffley (Bury St Edmunds) (Con): What steps she has taken to empower police officers to [115546] reduce crime. 19. Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con): What steps she has taken to empower police officers to reduce [115556] crime. The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice (Nick Herbert): The Government have swept away central targets and cut police red tape. Our package of policies to reduce bureaucracy is saving up to 4.5 million hours of police time a year, freeing officers to focus on their core mission, which is to cut crime.

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Mr Ruffley: My right hon. Friend will know that in 2010 less than 15% of a patrol officer’s time, on average, was spent on patrol. What specific measures has he taken, and will he take, to cut the red tape at the police station that is keeping too many officers off the beat? Nick Herbert: I mentioned the amount of officer time —the equivalent of more than 2,000 officers—that we have effectively released for front-line duties. For instance, we are returning charging decisions to the police, scrapping the national requirement for the stop-and-account form, reducing the burden of the stop-and-search procedures, employing new technology to ensure that police officers can give evidence from their police stations rather than having to go to court, and championing a simplified crime-recording process. I could go on, but the list is an impressive one and reflects our determination to free up officer time so that they can do the job we want them to do, which is to fight crime. Mr Speaker: There is plenty of scope there for an Adjournment debate, I think. Chris Skidmore: I have been working with Asda and Avon and Somerset police on setting up a police booth in Asda in Longwell Green to ensure an increased police presence in the area and to empower police officers to help reduce crime at little cost. Will the Minister welcome such innovative measures and encourage all forces to consider how to engage with local businesses that might be keen to fight crime? Nick Herbert: I welcome that initiative, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising it. It is a very good example of how police forces are using innovative means to maintain, or indeed increase, their presence in local communities. Setting up such booths in supermarkets can bring a large number of people into contact with the police—far more than might choose to visit a police station. Alun Michael (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op): I declare an interest as a candidate to be a police commissioner in south Wales. Does the Minister not accept that the best way of empowering police officers to reduce crime is to prevent reoffending? Instead of concentrating on bureaucratic requirements, such as having several reports before action can be taken, will he strengthen the use of antisocial behaviour orders, which have succeeded in preventing reoffending? Nick Herbert: The right hon. Gentleman will know that we are strengthening the powers available to the police with new tools to deal with antisocial behaviour. Police and crime commissioners will play a lead role in giving a voice to the people and will be under statutory duties to co-operate with other elements of the criminal justice system to ensure a focus on preventing crime and reducing reoffending. Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab): The Leicestershire force is losing more than 200 front-line police officers and more than 150 support staff. Will crime rise or fall in the city of Leicester as a result?

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Nick Herbert: Crime is falling in Leicestershire, which reflects the fact that, despite the challenge set for police forces in reducing their spending, they can do so while maintaining their front-line service and the service to the public, as the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone), made completely clear. The majority of forces continue to cut crime, showing that it can be done. [115562] Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West and 24. Abingdon) (Con): The Minister is aware that a deeply distressing child sexual exploitation case is currently being prosecuted in my constituency. What training and support are being offered to police forces to ensure that they can spot the signs of exploitation early and have the confidence to share and act on intelligence so that we can prevent these terrible crimes?

Nick Herbert: The Government’s progress report on tackling child sexual exploitation, published on 3 July by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Education, who has responsibility for children and families, makes it clear that the Association of Chief Police Officers and the National Policing Improvement Agency are taking forward proposals for the training of front-line police officers in tackling child sexual exploitation. ACPO intends to do further work in this area. Mr David Crausby (Bolton North East) (Lab): How will cutting a further 290 front-line Greater Manchester police officers in 2012-13 help what remains of our police force to cut crime? Nick Herbert: There has been a 6% fall in crime in Greater Manchester. That shows that the force is able to deal with the necessary spending reductions while continuing to reduce crime. That is a credit to the force, its leadership and its officers. The hon. Gentleman, in common with his Labour colleagues, continues to call for increases in public spending, which is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place. Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD): Will the Minister look at the role that an institute for policing excellence could play in pulling together evidence of best practice and ensuring that the police use what works and what is cost-effective in tackling crime? Nick Herbert: Yes. I am happy to reassure my right hon. Friend that we will be—indeed, we are—looking at that proposal. We are working constructively with the police to set up a professional body for policing, about which we will have more to say shortly. Tomorrow I shall be speaking in Cambridge about evidence-led policing, and about the importance of police forces developing links with academia, which includes the potential for faculties of policing. Metropolitan Police 10. Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab): What recent assessment she has made of the ability of the Metropolitan police to provide an effective service to [115547] the public between now and 2015.

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The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May): Last week Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary published “Policing in austerity: One year on”. The report showed that front-line policing is being protected, and that the vast majority of police forces are rising to the challenge. The report raised some important issues, including for the Metropolitan Police Service. I am confident that the Deputy Mayor for policing and crime, and the commissioner will deal with those issues firmly. Heidi Alexander: Speaking on “Newsnight” last week, the Policing Minister described the impending loss of 6,000 Metropolitan police officers as a relatively marginal reduction. Is the £232 million black hole in the Metropolitan police’s finances also marginal? What guarantee can the Home Secretary give me that my constituents in Lewisham will not have their safety and security put at risk as a result of this financial crisis? Mrs May: First, the hon. Lady makes a claim in her question about what my right hon. Friend the Policing Minister said, but he is absolutely clear that he did not say what she has said he did. Also, I challenge her use of the figure of 6,000 in relation to the Metropolitan police. I think she has used a figure that relates to certain officers across the whole country, rather than in the Metropolitan police. However, I can probably do no better than to quote Sir Denis O’Connor, who is currently Her Majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary. Commenting on what has been reported about the Metropolitan police, he said: “Are there some concerns? Yes. Should they be able to get on top of it? Yes.”

Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con): Technology is crucial in helping the Metropolitan police and other police forces to tackle crime. I know that the Home Office has not quite grasped yet the importance of DNA and CCTV in tackling crime, but may I commend to the Home Secretary the use of SmartWater, a great UK success story that helps the police to reduce crime? The company is based in London. May I suggest that she goes to visit, to see what a great job it can do in helping to reduce crime? Mrs May: I will not be tempted down the route that my hon. Friend is attempting to take me on some of the issues he referred to in his question—issues on which he has a different opinion from me. However, in answer to his question, we are very open and willing to look at any new technology that will help the police to do their job, which is to cut crime. I can assure him that either I or another Home Office Minister will be pleased to make the visit that he has requested. Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op): The Home Secretary’s decision to replace control orders with TPIMs— terrorism prevention and investigation measures—has put additional pressure on the Met’s resources. It now cannot keep dangerous terror suspects out of London, and this weekend it was revealed that a suspect who the Home Office itself says wishes to “re-engage in terrorism-related activities”

had been to the Olympic park site five times before being arrested. Can the Home Secretary guarantee that none of the other terror suspects currently being monitored

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has been near to the Olympic park, and will she say whether she regrets her decision to downgrade terror powers in the Olympic year? Mrs May: First, in relation to the case that the hon. Lady quoted, it is the case that on 27 June an individual known by the court initials CF was charged with breaching his TPIM notice. He is accused of travelling through the Olympic park area in Stratford, from which he is prohibited, on five occasions. However, the package of measures relating to TPIMs, including the requirement to wear a GPS tag, enables the police to respond and investigate any breach of a TPIM notice quickly and effectively. I cannot say more in detail about that case, because that would risk undermining the prosecution. However, TPIMs, which we have put in place, are a good tool and are being used effectively. The hon. Lady talks about the impact on the Metropolitan police, but she knows full well that extra funding has been provided to the Metropolitan police to cover any extra resources it needs. Crime (Local Communities) 11. Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con): What steps she has taken to empower local communities to tackle crime. [115548] 15. Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con): What steps she has taken to empower local communities [115552] to tackle crime. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Lynne Featherstone): The Government are radically reforming the approach to tackling crime, shifting accountability away from Whitehall and directly to communities. We have provided the public with greater information, invested in neighbourhood policing and police community support officers, and increased direct accountability through beat meetings. This year, the public will be empowered through the election of police and crime commissioners—a landmark reform of policing that will increase accountability at the local level. Angie Bray: Noisy neighbours and noise disturbance often blight the lives of those living in urban areas. What tools is the Home Office providing to help local communities to tackle this problem, particularly when police are unable to intervene? Lynne Featherstone: I am sure that all Members have people coming to their surgeries with noise complaints that have gone on for years uninvestigated. As part of the reforms set out in the recent White Paper on antisocial behaviour, we propose to introduce the community protection notice, which will give front-line professionals a single flexible power to deal quickly with any inconsiderate behaviour that is affecting a community’s quality of life. The notice will also give the police new powers to deal with antisocial noise. We are putting power into the hands of local communities with the new community trigger— Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): Too long. Lynne Featherstone: It may be too long for the hon. Gentleman, but it is a darn sight more important to the people who live in these communities and want to use the community triggers.

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Gavin Williamson: In Codsall, we have had to deal with a recent traumatic event when our scout hut was subjected to an arson attack following a period of antisocial activity in its vicinity. Does the Minister agree that the community triggers will go a long way towards empowering local communities such as those in Codsall to make sure that such things do not happen in the future?

Duncan Hames: That estimate of overall costs was £1.8 billion. When the last Government first introduced plans for identity cards, the Home Office estimated costs at between £1.3 billion and £3 billion. By the time the coalition Government wisely cancelled ID cards, that estimate had passed £5 billion. How can we have confidence that these proposals will not also prove to be a burden on industry and the taxpayer alike?

Lynne Featherstone: It is upsetting when, after a number of complaints, a situation ends in something like an arson attack on a scout hut. It is very upsetting for the local community. Many police forces, councils and social landlords are working hard to deal with antisocial behaviour, but there are cases where communities report this same problem over and over again, and nothing is done. My hon. Friend is exactly right: the community trigger will ensure that, if necessary, everyone has a clear and simple way of making sure that the authorities take a problem seriously before it escalates.

James Brokenshire: I agree with my hon. Friend that the ID card scheme was disproportionate and intrusive, and a waste of public expenditure. Our proposals for communications data are critical to support for essential day-to-day police operations. The alternatives—covert human intelligence sources, directed surveillance and undercover officers—are more expensive, more intrusive and less effective.

Mrs Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) (Lab): Guidance for door supervisors on the seizure of identification documents such as passports and driving licences from those suspected of using friends’ passports or driving licences to enter pubs and clubs was withdrawn some months ago, pending revision. There is no interim guidance, no date for new guidance, so how can we be assured that, without such guidance, these documents will not be unlawfully seized and destroyed or enter the criminal or terrorist underground? Lynne Featherstone: I will look into the issues that the hon. Lady raises, and I will reply to her by letter. Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab): Faced with the impossible pressures generated by a 20% cut to its budget, leading to 1,200 police officers going, the admirable west midlands police service has told the community of Quinton in Birmingham that the local police station can stay open, but only if they agree to man it. Is this the Home Secretary’s vision for the future: a new approach towards community policing that says to local communities, “Man your own police station”—and ultimately, I presume—“Arrest your own criminals”? Lynne Featherstone: I understand that there is a low footfall at that police station. However, community volunteers are a very good thing for police stations, and I can inform the hon. Gentleman that crime in his area is down by 7%. Draft Communications Data Bill 12. Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD): What assessment she has made of the likely key areas of expenditure in implementing the proposals contained in [115549] the draft Communications Data Bill. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (James Brokenshire): As I told the House some moments ago, the Government published the draft Communications Data Bill on 14 June. It was accompanied by an impact assessment, which estimated overall cost for the likely areas of expenditure.

John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab): What assessment has the Minister made of the potential ability of terrorists to find their way around the provisions of the Bill? James Brokenshire: The whole point of the Bill is that it provides flexibility. The key aspect of it is that it allows co-operation and collaboration with internet service providers to ensure that we respond to the changing nature of criminal operations. Criminals are changing their tactics, and the legislation needs to move with them. Deportations (Human Rights Legislation) 13. Mr Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con): What progress she has made on the matter of deportations and article 8 of the European convention on human rights; and if she will make a statement. [115550] The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May): The Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules that I laid before the House on 13 June has come into effect today. It introduces clear new rules to protect the public from foreign criminals who try to hide behind family life as a reason to stay here. In respect of the most serious offenders, only in exceptional cases will the public interest in deportation be outweighed by other factors. Mr Leigh: Notwithstanding the excellent work that my right hon. Friend has done, does she not agree that the only real solution to the problem is to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998? Given that it is our Liberal friends who are blocking such action, may I, in the privacy of the Chamber, suggest this course of action to her? Why do we not all vote against House of Lords reform tomorrow, and end the sad, unmourned life of the coalition? Then we can have a general election and a Conservative Government, and we can repeal this hopeless Act. Mrs May rose— Mr Speaker: I must remind the House that the question concerns deportations and article 8.

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Mrs May: I am not entirely sure where my hon. Friend was going in linking the House of Lords with deportations, but I do not share the opinion that he has expressed. Personally, I shall be voting in favour of House of Lords reform, as I have done previously. As for the Human Rights Act, I have made my views known publicly on a number of occasions. What the Government are doing, crucially, is taking action to ensure that we can set out the criteria for article 8 so that fewer foreign criminals will be able to call on it in order to stay in this country. Border Controls (Waiting Times) 14. Graeme Morrice (Livingston) (Lab): What recent assessment she has made of waiting times at UK [115551] borders. The Minister for Immigration (Damian Green): We will not compromise border security, but we always aim to keep disruption to a minimum by using our staff flexibly to meet demand. Our sampling of queues shows that the vast majority of passengers from the European economic area pass through immigration control quickly, but queue lengths have reached unacceptable levels on occasion, and we have introduced a range of measures to combat that. Graeme Morrice: Data from Heathrow’s terminal 4 show that non-EEA queues exceeded the Government’s target on 21 days out of 30 in June, while at terminal 5 the targets were breached on 18 days. This continued chaos comes at a time when the eyes of the world are on the United Kingdom, and when the increased tourism created by the Olympic games should be incredibly important to our economy. What are the Government doing to deal with this shambolic situation and get a grip on our borders? Damian Green: The times were unacceptable in April, and anything beyond the service level clearly remains unacceptable. For non-EEA passengers we met our targets 90% of the time in June, an increase from 75% in April. In response to those large passenger volumes, we increased the number of staff at Heathrow by more than 50% this weekend. We now have a new central control room to enable us to deploy people more quickly and efficiently, and we have mobile teams to fill the gaps more speedily than ever before. Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): I do not trust those statistics, to be honest. [Interruption.] I trust the Minister, but I do not trust the statistics. I went to Stansted last week, and I know that UK Border Agency staff start counting the people in the queue only when they arrive in the hall itself, which physically cannot take more than 20 minutes. They do not count the people who are waiting on the escalators, or the people in the corridor, or the people round two bends or over the bridge or all the way back to the aeroplanes. When will the Government publish proper statistics, involving proper, independent counting, which would show that they are failing in their primary duty? Damian Green: I am happy to reassure—and, hopefully, calm down—the hon. Gentleman. The figures I was citing were not border force or Home Office figures;

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they were BAA figures. BAA publishes the monthly figures every month on its website. Those June figures were figures from BAA, not the Government. I hope the hon. Gentleman trusts BAA to produce reliable figures. Topical Questions T1. [115563] David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con): If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities. The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May): The Olympic games opening ceremony is now just over two weeks away. The Olympic torch relay continues to inspire the nation, and I pay tribute to all involved, including the police officers who are providing such effective, yet discreet, security. Sadly, I will not be able to see the torch when it passes through my constituency tomorrow morning. The eyes of the world will be on us during what promises to be a real celebration of sport. I am confident that our police and security services will deliver a safe and secure games that the whole country—indeed, the whole world—can enjoy. David Tredinnick: I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that reply. Has she had a chance to look at Leicestershire constabulary’s proposals to change its force shift patterns? How will that improve the policing in Hinckley in my constituency and the surrounding area, and will other forces also be looking at changing their shift patterns? Mrs May: I thank my hon. Friend for raising the shift patterns issue, and I welcome the work that a number of police forces across the country, including Leicestershire, have taken forward, so that they can use their resources rather better to ensure they can prioritise front-line services to the public while making the necessary savings. I would expect my hon. Friend’s force to be prioritising front-line services in exactly that way in his constituency. Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab): The Home Secretary has to make sure that there is proper border security without long queues. In April, Ministers promised that all immigration desks at Heathrow would be fully staffed during peak periods over the summer. Instead, June BAA data show that in the early-morning peak at terminal 3, there were only seven staff and at least half the desks were closed, and queues reached almost two hours long as a result. There are only 18 days to go until the Olympics; why is it still such a mess? Mrs May: The right hon. Lady should have listened to the response that my hon. Friend the Minister for Immigration gave to the shadow Immigration Minister just now. Over recent months we have been increasing the number of staff who are available at Heathrow and elsewhere, including the number of contingency staff, in response to what were, when we looked at them in April, unacceptably long queues. The right hon. Lady refers specifically to the Olympics. Extra arrangements will be in place for the Olympics. That was always what was planned. They will come into play before the Olympics opening ceremony, and therefore before significant numbers of tourists arrive for the Olympics.

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Yvette Cooper: But BAA has said the queues over the last few days have been unacceptably long. Targets have been breached throughout June. There has been chaos again this morning. Olympics visitors are already starting to arrive. The rest of the country is working hard to show the world the best of British. All the right hon. Lady is doing is showing visitors how to queue. She has had years to plan this, but now she has got only two weeks to sort it out and make sure the Home Office does not embarrass everybody else. Mrs May: I repeat to the right hon. Lady that, under the plans for the contingency numbers during the Olympics, there will be an increase in the number of staff at the borders. We will be manning all desks at peak times during the Olympics. The numbers will be there to do that. It is important that we ensure that we are providing security and a good experience for people arriving at Heathrow, and I was very pleased when I was at Heathrow a couple of weeks ago to be able to welcome five members of the Chinese team and ensure that they were put through the games family member lane. [115567] Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con): With T5. long-distance crime and our resource allocation in mind, what are the Government doing to improve collaboration between forces, especially given the forthcoming police commissioners?

The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice (Nick Herbert): My hon. Friend is right that collaboration is important. That is the case in respect of not only back-office functions, but operational functions, particularly to deal with serious and organised crime. That is increasingly what forces are doing, as the inspectorate of constabulary confirmed last week, and we have placed forces under new statutory duties to consider that. T2. [115564] Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab): The Crown Prosecution Service is proposing to withdraw its staff from Athena House, the office it shares with the North Yorkshire police in York, where cases are processed for the courts. How many offices around the country are joint offices for prosecutors and police? Are the prosecutors being withdrawn from all those offices? What representations has the Minister made to the Law Officers? Nick Herbert: I have discussed this matter with the hon. Gentleman. We are increasingly moving to integrated working between the Crown Prosecution Service and police force teams, but the specific operational decisions and how these units are resourced are matters for local decision making. T6. [115568] Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con): Many of my constituents have raised with me, time and again, their concerns about immigration. Like me, they welcome the progress being made by the Government but are concerned about the abuse in the student immigration route. Given that 26% of students at private colleges were overstaying their visas compared with a figure of just 2% for universities, does the Minister agree that it is right for the Government to focus their reform on private colleges?

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Mrs May: I thank my hon. Friend for that question, and he will have heard my hon. Friend the Immigration Minister making exactly that point earlier this afternoon. We think it is absolutely right that we focus on having the brightest and the best coming to the UK, and that we root out the abuse that, sadly, was allowed to occur in the system for too long under the previous Government, so that students are genuinely coming here for an education. That is exactly what we are doing by ensuring that colleges that have abused the system are not able to bring people in. T3. [115565] Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab): The UK Border Agency recently produced information showing that children from Vietnam, China and Nigeria were significantly less likely to be recognised as trafficking victims by the national referral mechanism. Will the Minister take seriously the concerns raised with his Department by non-governmental organisations that this system is failing to protect those children adequately? The Minister for Immigration (Damian Green): I met the various anti-trafficking NGOs recently, as I am sure the hon. Lady knows, given her background in this sector. We are trying very hard to get better at recognising children who are genuine victims and not potential criminals, and there are now signs that our training of officers is having a good effect in this regard. T7. [115569] Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con): I recently visited the United States police hall of fame in Florida, which educates people and celebrates the work of the US police force, as well as provides a memorial to US police officers who have died in service. Building on the fantastic work of Michael Winner, does the Minister agree that having a UK police hall of fame would be very appropriate? Will the Home Office support setting one up? Nick Herbert: I am sure the whole House would agree that we should honour those police officers who lose their lives while doing their duty for their country. There is a police memorial at the national arboretum, which I visited this year for the Care Of Police Survivors service. There is also an annual national police memorial day service, which Ministers attend and which will take place on 30 September, and there are police bravery awards. It is right that we do a great deal to recognise police bravery, and I am happy to discuss this with my hon. Friend. T4. [115566] Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab): One of my constituents is currently living abroad with his Chinese wife, but they both want to return to the UK to look after his seriously ill mother. Unfortunately, due to the change of rules this month, he is not going to be able to make the income limit, even though his return would prevent his mother from going into care. Should we not be practising the Christian values of this country before preaching them to others? Damian Green: It is not immediately apparent to me how the new rules would affect that particular case, but if the hon. Lady wishes to write to me about it, I will take a personal interest in it.

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T8. [115570] Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD): Will the Immigration Minister look at the current practice whereby applications are sometimes turned down for technical reasons and are then resubmitted but may be out of time? We could, thus, save the Government loads of money and effort, and help applicants, who are often disadvantaged through no fault of their own.

have been put in place with private contractors and we are confident in the robustness of those measures.

Damian Green: I am very happy to do that for my right hon. Friend. Indeed, in many parts of the immigration system we are now able to process applications faster than ever before. That is particularly the case in the asylum system, where the worst delays used to happen and where we are now taking more than 50% of decisions within 30 days.

Damian Green: The minimum income requirement that comes into force today ensures that no one can any longer come to this country to get married and live off benefits from day one. I think that that will be widely welcomed.

T9. [115571] Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab): The Home Secretary will be familiar with the case of my constituent Nosratollah Tajik, who has been under arrest, tagged and subject to restrictive bail conditions for six years, pending extradition. For the majority of that time the Home Secretary has purportedly been considering medical reports. Will she now either make a full statement or meet me to discuss this very unsatisfactory situation? Mrs May: I recognise the case that the hon. Gentleman has raised and think that in the first instance I will write to him to set out our current position on that particular extradition. Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con): Does my right hon. Friend agree that in cases of drink-related antisocial behaviour in hospital A and E departments hospital staff should be given further powers to hit troublesome drinkers with sufficiently stiff fixed penalty notices to crack down on what is becoming an endemic problem? The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Lynne Featherstone): My hon. Friend raises the issue of A and E departments and the penalties therein. We have introduced a simplified system, going from 19 orders to six, and criminal behaviour orders provide criminal sanctions if needed and also put people on a better behaviour route. T10. [115572] Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab): The recent conviction of rioters from Nottingham was secured in part by forensic evidence recovered from the wicks of smashed petrol bombs, but the Forensic Science Service has been abolished, staff numbers have been slashed and local forensic services still face multi-million pound cuts. What assurance can the Secretary of State give my constituents that front-line forensic services will not be harmed by her Government’s cuts? The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (James Brokenshire): We had to address the problems with the Forensic Science Service, which was, sadly, making unsustainable losses. New arrangements

Mr David Ward (Bradford East) (LD): The median income in my constituency of Bradford East is £16,200, more than £2,000 below the income threshold to bring a spouse to the UK. How on earth does it help integration to deny people the right to a family life?

Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab): I think it is very important that Ministers visit Heathrow at peak times. I was there at seven o’clock this morning and was appalled to see people being held in corridors, a full immigration hall and that half the kiosks were not open. May we please start the additional measures for the Olympics immediately? Mrs May: Of course Ministers visit Heathrow and other ports at various times to see the operation of those ports in a variety of circumstances. At terminal 4 today, queues were in fact not over an hour long, as I understand the right hon. Gentleman has said that they were, staff were quickly redeployed and more than 80% of desks were open to process passengers as quickly as possible. That is what we have been doing by increasing the staff in recent days and in a week or so, the Olympic numbers will kick in, which will bring even more staff to Heathrow and ensure that people are processed properly and quickly. Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park) (Con): Will the Home Secretary please review her decision to approve the extradition of Richard O’Dwyer to the US, where he faces up to 10 years for an alleged breach of copyright rules, an offence, if it is one, that our own authorities did not think merited a prosecution? Mrs May: As my hon. Friend will know, that case is due to go to court later this year. The extradition decision has already been taken and, as he will know, I have decided to uphold it. Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles) (Lab): If, as the Home Secretary maintains, increased surveillance is as effective as the power to relocate terrorists, why was CF, a suspected serious terrorist, allowed to travel freely across the Olympic park five times before being arrested? Mrs May: The right hon. Lady should have listened carefully to the answer I gave earlier. The individual has not been allowed to travel across the Olympic park. I am not able to go into further details about the case, as it is before the courts and we do not wish to undermine the prosecution case, but I am confident in the TPIMs we have introduced and in the work of our police and security services.

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Points of Order 3.34 pm Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset) (Con): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Would you be willing to rule on the question of hybridity relating to the House of Lords Reform Bill, which we are about to consider on Second Reading? The Speaker has previously defined a hybrid Bill as “a public bill which affects a particular private interest in a manner different from the private interest of other persons or bodies of the same category or class”.

Clause 19 of the Bill treats some bishops of the Church of England in a different way from the class of bishops in the Church of England. I therefore wonder, Mr Speaker, as this matter is very important in relation to the Parliament Acts, whether you would consider referring it to the Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills to see whether the Bill is hybrid. Mr Speaker: I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for notice of his point of order. As he will know, and as, I think, he has just indicated that he knows, a hybrid Bill is a public Bill that affects a particular private interest in a manner different from the private interest of other persons or bodies of the same category or class. The key phrase here is “private interest”. The only interest of bishops affected by the Bill is that of being part of the legislature. That is a public interest, not a private one. Accordingly, no question of hybridity arises. I hope that that is helpful both to the hon. Gentleman and to the House, not to mention the bishops. Mrs Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) (Lab): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. In answer to my question during Home Office questions on the withdrawal of guidance to door supervisory staff at licensed premises, the UnderSecretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone), said that she would look into the issue and get back to me. I put parliamentary questions on the issue to the same Minister on 11 and 25 June, and received an answer from another Home Office Minister on 15 May. Can the House be assured that the issue will be seriously looked into and appropriate guidance issued in future, before guidance is withdrawn? Mr Speaker: I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order. It sounds to me as though she has had, thus far, an interesting but inconclusive exchange, but I know her and she has a terrier-like quality that is unsurpassed in any part of the House. I can advise her only to redouble her efforts—not to settle for what she regards as an unsatisfactory answer, but to pursue the matter vigorously—although for the time being not through a point of order, but perhaps outside the Chamber.

House of Lords Reform Bill [1ST ALLOCATED DAY] Second Reading 3.38 pm The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Nick Clegg): I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen to acquaint the House that Her Majesty, having been informed of the purport of the Bill, has consented to place her prerogative and interest, so far as they are affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill. Mr Speaker: I am extremely grateful, as will be the House, to the Deputy Prime Minister. Before we get the debate under way, I can inform the House that several dozen right hon. and hon. Members are today seeking to catch the eye of the Chair. The Deputy Speakers and I have compiled a list, very painstakingly. We are doing our best to accommodate as many colleagues as possible, but let me say at the outset that I ask colleagues please not—repeat, not—to come to the Chair inquiring whether and, if so, when they will be called to speak. Colleagues must display some patience. Just wait, attend to the debate and hope for the best. The Chair is trying to accommodate colleagues. To that end, in view of the level of interest, there will be a six-minute limit on Back-Bench contributions. The Deputy Prime Minister: I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. No one doubts the commitment and public service of many Members of the House of Lords, but dedicated individuals cannot compensate for flawed institutions. The Bill is about fixing a flawed institution, so let me begin by setting out why our upper Chamber is in need of these reforms—the three simple reasons why I hope Members will give it their full support. The first is that we—all of us here—believe in democracy. We believe that the people who make the laws should be chosen by the people who are subject to those laws. That principle was established in Britain after centuries of struggle and it is a principle that we still send our servicemen and women halfway across the world to defend, yet right now we are only one of only two countries in the world —the other being Lesotho—with an upper parliamentary chamber that is totally unelected and instead selects its members by birthright and patronage. Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con) rose— Mr Richard Shepherd (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con): Will the right hon. Gentleman give way? The Deputy Prime Minister: I should like to make a little progress. The House of Lords is an institution that offers its Members a job for life; an institution that serves the whole of the United Kingdom, yet draws around half its members from London and the south-east; an institution in which there are eight times as many people over 90 as there are people under 40; an institution that has no democratic mandate—none whatsoever—but that exercises real power. The House of Lords initiates Bills, it shapes legislation and, as Governments of all persuasions know,

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it can block Government proposals, too. These reforms seek to create a democratic House of Lords, matching power with legitimacy.

those who make the laws should be accountable to those who bear the laws, and there is no accountability in the process that he is introducing.

Mr Lilley: In his preamble to the draft Bill, the Deputy Prime Minister wrote:

The Deputy Prime Minister: In answer to the hon. Gentleman, I would say that there is neither accountability nor legitimacy in the status quo. These are jobs for life, which are entirely discharged without any reference to the British people. Surely, it is simply time to trust the British people.

“The House of Lords performs its work well”.

Is he saying that it works in practice, but not in theory? The Deputy Prime Minister: I think that it is both flawed in theory, because of its lack of democratic legitimacy, and flawed in practice, because the status quo is unsustainable, as I shall now explain. Several hon. Members rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I shall make a little progress before giving way again. Under our proposals, 80% of Members would be chosen at the ballot box, with elections taking place every five years, and the remaining 20% would be appointed by an independent statutory commission. There would be no more jobs for life—we propose single, non-renewable, limited terms of about 15 years—and our reforms would guarantee representation for every region of the United Kingdom. At the heart of the Bill is the vision of a House of Lords that is more modern, more representative and more legitimate—a Chamber fit for the 21st century. Mr Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Lab): A moment ago, the Deputy Prime Minister said that one of the functions of the House of Lords was to introduce legislation. Can he give us an example—of importance—of a Bill introduced in the other House that has affected this country but that did not have the Government’s permission to be introduced and seen through? Is not the Lords job different from ours? Our job is to initiate and pass legislation on the condition of the Government; the Lords job is to deliberate on that legislation. The Deputy Prime Minister: All legislation, whether it originates here or in the other place, of course requires the support of the Government of the day to make its way on to the statute book. The second reason that the reforms will lead to better laws—this may help to answer the right hon. Gentleman—is that the Bill is not just about who legislates, but about how we legislate. Right now in our political system, power is still over-concentrated in the Executive. Governments, quite simply, can be too powerful. During their political lifetime, many Members have seen landslide Administrations able to railroad whichever Bills they like through the Commons, and we have all heard colleagues complain about different Governments trying to ram Bills through the other place when they should have been trying to win the argument in both Houses. Despite its assertiveness, too often Governments believe they can disregard the Lords. Mr Shepherd: My intervention was prompted by the Deputy Prime Minister’s statement of the principle that those who make the law should be elected by those who bear it. Of course, the older and greater principle is that

Several hon. Members rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I shall make a little more progress, if I may. The Bill, by creating a more legitimate House of Lords, gives it more authority to hold Governments to account—a greater check on Executive power. That does not mean emboldening the Lords to the point that it threatens the Commons—I shall come on to those concerns shortly—but it does mean bolstering its role as a Chamber that scrutinises Government. It means forcing Governments to treat an elected upper Chamber with greater respect. The aim of the Bill, to quote the right hon. Member for Charnwood (Mr Dorrell), is to create a second Chamber “more independent of the executive, more able to exercise independent judgment”.

That will mean not only better laws, but fewer laws, restricting, again in the words of my right hon. Friend, “the torrent of half-baked legislation”

that Governments are capable of. Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire) (Con): I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. The Blair Government were defeated four times in the House of Commons and 460 times in the House of Lords. Does the right hon. Gentleman really believe that an elected House of political placemen will do a better job of opposing than does the current House of Lords? The Deputy Prime Minister: It will be able to discharge that considerable authority with greater legitimacy, and therefore it will be harder for the Executive to ignore the opinions of the House of Lords. I would have thought, if I may say so, that it was a long-standing Conservative principle that it is the people who should be in the driving seat and the Executive who should be kept on their toes. The third reason to support the Bill— Mrs Anne Main (St Albans) (Con): Will the right hon. Gentleman give way? The Deputy Prime Minister: I shall make some more progress. The third reason to support the Bill is simple practicality. The House of Lords cannot carry on on its current path. We need to reform the Lords to keep it functioning, and we need to do it soon. Several hon. Members rose—

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The Deputy Prime Minister: I will give way in a minute, if I may make this point. Right now, we have an upper Chamber that is everexpanding. That is one of the main consequences of the unfinished 1999 reforms. Very simply, after a general election, new Governments will always seek to reflect the balance of the vote in the Lords. But it is impossible to get rid of Members: the only way to leave is to die. So new Administrations inevitably have to make more appointments to get the balance right. [Interruption.] The current membership is 816. That will soon be over 1,000. Clearly, the status quo is unsustainable. [Interruption.] The House of Lords is already— Mr Speaker: Order. I apologise for interrupting the Deputy Prime Minister. There is a permanent cacophony in the Chamber and Members might think that it is some sort of laughing matter, but as far as a lot of people observing our proceedings are concerned, it is just discourteous. The right hon. Gentleman has a right both to speak and to be heard with reasonable decorum. That is what Members would want for themselves; that is what Members should extend to the right hon. Gentleman. The Deputy Prime Minister: The point that I was making, then I shall give way, is that the status quo is unsustainable. The House of Lords is already too big, and it will continue to grow bigger still under whichever Government, unless we do something about it. Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP): If, for whatever reason, the Deputy Prime Minister is unsuccessful in getting the White Paper through this afternoon—[HON. MEMBERS: “It is a Bill.”]—will he pledge today that he and other senior Liberal Democrats will not take their places in an unreformed House of Lords? The Deputy Prime Minister: I am making the case for the Government’s Bill. I am not going to make predictions about a vote tomorrow, which I firmly believe will be carried. The Bill reverses that trend. It gradually reduces the membership and caps it at 450, plus 12 bishops. Some people have said that the numbers could be dealt with much more easily, that we can slim the other place by disqualifying convicted criminals or allowing Members to resign. Several hon. Members rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I will give way shortly. The first solution would bring the total down by a handful, potentially; the second perhaps by none. Others have said, “Yes, cap the House at an appropriate limit, but make it fully appointed.” But how could we possibly justify dramatic reform of the Lords that did not introduce a democratic element? That would be unthinkable. It would be in direct contravention of each of the three main parties’ manifestos, flying in the face of our collective promise to renew our politics. The only way to get to grips with the numbers is fundamental democratic reform. That is what the Bill does.

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Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): I entirely agree with the Deputy Prime Minister that the people need to be part of the process and feel that Parliament belongs to them, so will he give them a vote on his proposals? The Deputy Prime Minister: I think that a referendum is not justified in this instance, for the following reasons: first, unlike other issues that are a source of great disagreement here, all three main parties are committed to delivering House of Lords reform, by way of their own manifestos, which they put to the British people at the last election, the one before that, and the one before that; secondly, it would be very expensive—£80 million—for something on which we are all supposed to agree; and thirdly, it would detract attention from the much more important referendum taking place in this Parliament: the referendum on the future of the United Kingdom. David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con): Has my right hon. Friend seen the Bill in the name of his right hon. Friend Lord Steel, the House of Lords (Cessation of Membership) Bill, which addresses the issue of overmembership in the other place and has widespread support there? The Deputy Prime Minister: Of course I have examined that Bill and discussed it with Lord Steel extensively. Any reasonable person who subjected it to any scrutiny would conclude that it would not deal with the practical issues to which I have alluded—the House of Lords getting bigger and bigger—because voluntary resignation or the kicking out of convicted criminals simply will not deal with the unsustainable trajectory of the size of the House of Lords. Several hon. Members rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I will make a little more headway, and then of course I will give way. Democracy, better laws and the urgent and practical need for reform are the three reasons why Members of this House should give the Bill their blessing and wish it a swift passage into law. Before addressing some of the concerns about the Government’s proposals, I would like to make the point that the Bill, although it has been introduced by the coalition Government, in many ways is not just the Government’s Bill. These reforms build on the work of our predecessors on both sides of the House. As with all the best examples of British constitutional reform, the proposals look to the future but are respectful of the past. Veterans of these debates will know that the coalition parties cannot claim full credit for the reforms presented here. If we go back to the White Paper produced by the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw) in 2008, the late Robin Cook’s “Breaking the Deadlock”, the House of Lords Act 1999, Lord Wakeham’s royal commission and everything that went before over the past 100 years, it is clear that these reforms have a long bloodline that includes all our parties and political traditions. Mrs Main: Does the Deputy Prime Minister not see that there is a degree of inconsistency between his view that we in this House are too powerful and therefore need neutering by the House of Lords and his voting to maintain the strengthening of the electorate and the

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boundary changes by keeping the number of Ministers yet reducing the number of Back-Bench Members of Parliament? The Deputy Prime Minister: One of the Bill’s intentions is absolutely not to neuter the House of Commons, but to work in partnership with the House of Commons in holding the Executive to account. I would have thought that Members on both sides of the House would celebrate and support anything that means that Parliament as a whole can hold the Executive more fully to account. Indeed, in 1910, when Government proposals to limit the power of the House of Lords were introduced, it was Winston Churchill who said: “I would like to see a Second Chamber which would be fair to all parties, and which would be properly subordinated to the House of Commons and harmoniously connected with the people.”

He ended by saying: “The time for words is past; the time for action has arrived.”— [Official Report, 31 March 1910; Vol. 15, c. 1572-83.]

More than 100 years later, I could not agree more. Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con): Many of us who have sympathy with the need to reform the other place are still deeply concerned about these proposals. Will the Deputy Prime Minister tell us what it was in his recent experiences that has suggested that the kind of democracy we need is one where politicians can say what the hell they like, stay for 15 years and never have to face the voters again? The Deputy Prime Minister: I think that it is preferable to their being there, making the laws of the land and never being put before the British people. I would hope that the hon. Gentleman, if he believes in House of Lords reform as strongly as the Labour party always has—it used to be a long and noble campaigning tradition for the party—will not only will the ends by backing Second Reading, but will the means by backing the programme motion. Several hon. Members rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: If I could just make some progress—[HON. MEMBERS: “Give way!”] Yes, of course I give way. Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con): I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend, but will he cease to quote Churchill on these matters, given that they relate to Churchill’s views on the House of Lords at a time of great conflict between the House of Commons and the House of Lords in the 1920s? As he grew up through his political life, he dropped those views and had great reverence and respect for the institution of the House of Lords—something that I suggest my right hon. Friend should have as well. The Deputy Prime Minister: Of course I will always refer to the views of Winston Churchill with a great deal of respect, but I point out only that he expressed those views in 1910, when of course he was a Liberal, not in the 1920s. I know that he changed his views later, and they are a matter of record.

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Margaret Beckett (Derby South) (Lab): Will the Deputy Prime Minister cease also to say that the Labour party has supported reform of the House of Lords since 1910? What we supported in 1910 was abolition. The Deputy Prime Minister: If the Labour party’s views have evolved over the past 100 years, which in this matter, if not in others, they may have, I hope none the less that the right hon. Lady will confirm that there was a clear manifesto commitment from the Labour party not only to support the principle of House of Lords reform, but to deliver it in practice. Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): Will the Deputy Prime Minister give way? The Deputy Prime Minister: I shall make a little more progress, if I may. In 2007, the Commons voted overwhelmingly for a mostly elected second Chamber. Each of the main parties stood on a platform of Lords reform at the last election, and since coming into Government the Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform, the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), and I have looked for every way to take it forward by consensus. We convened a cross-party Committee, which I chaired. We then published a White Paper and a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. Conor Burns (Bournemouth West) (Con) rose— Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con) rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I shall make a little more headway. A Joint Committee of both Houses spent nine months considering that White Paper and draft Bill, and I remain extremely grateful for the Joint Committee’s forensic and detailed analysis. We accepted more than half its recommendations and reshaped the Bill around its advice. This Bill is therefore the sincere result of long and shared endeavour. Its history belongs to us all: to Liberals, to Conservatives, to Labour and to all other parties in this House, as well as to the great political reformers and pragmatists of the past. Conor Burns: The Deputy Prime Minister is making an articulate case for a position to which he holds with great conviction, and I respect his integrity in that, but does he accept that many of us fear that by electing the second Chamber and giving it the greater legitimacy he talks about, we will end up creating a rival to this Chamber, rather than the revising Chamber that we all want The Deputy Prime Minister: I know that the hon. Gentleman holds his views, although different from mine, with great sincerity, and I respect him for that, but in a bicameral democratic system there is nothing unusual about having two Chambers, both of which are either fully elected or mainly elected, and in which there is a clear imbalance, an asymmetry—a hierarchy, if you like —in the relationship of one Chamber with the other.

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[The Deputy Prime Minister] I am sure that we can manage it here. The predictions that it would lead to gridlock and to rivalry between the two Chambers were made when reform took place in 1958 and in 1999. They did not materialise then; I really do not believe that they will this time, either. Chris Bryant: Will the Deputy Prime Minister give way? The Deputy Prime Minister: If I can make a little more progress, I will give way. Of course, this does not mean that every Member of this House agrees with every clause—[Laughter.] That is an understatement! There is no perfect blueprint for a modernised second Chamber. Even within each of the main parties, differing visions of reform can be found, and this Bill reflects a number of compromises that have been made to accommodate differences across the House. I say to Members of this House who have specific worries about particular aspects of this Bill that this is precisely what further scrutiny of the proposals, in both Houses, will be about. The concerns that remain fall into two main camps: the myths, which I will now seek to dispel; and the fears, which I hope to address. But before doing so, I give way to the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant). Chris Bryant: The Deputy Prime Minister knows that I support reform and have done for a very long time, but there are elements of the Bill that I do not like, such as the 15-year term and the fact that it is not clear enough about the respective powers of the two Houses. If the Government are going to end up Parliament-Acting the Bill because the Lords refuses to deal with it, it is all the more incumbent on us to get it right before we send it down the corridor. That is why I say to him, regretfully, that his programme does not fit the bill. The Deputy Prime Minister: I would be intrigued if the hon. Gentleman could tell me—if not now, afterwards —exactly how many days Labour Members want. The right hon. Member for Neath (Mr Hain) said today in The Guardian that the reason he is opposing the programme motion has nothing to do with scrutiny of the Bill: “Within the rest of the legislative programme are loads of right-wing bills which will damage people in Britain. So I don’t think it is any part of our responsibility to try and get those bills into statute.”

In other words, Labour’s ulterior motive appears to be to disrupt the rest of the Government’s business. That is not a legitimate way of dealing with a programme motion, which is a perfectly reasonable way for the Government to try to make progress on this important piece of legislation without disrupting all other parts of our business. Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con) rose— Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con) rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I will make a little more progress and then give way again.

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First, let me take the myths in turn. I have heard the accusation that the reforms will be too quick and too abrupt and that the Bill amounts to some frantic act of constitutional violence. The truth? These reforms would be implemented over about 15 years. New Members would be appointed or elected in three tranches over three elections. The political parties and groups would have maximum discretion over how to reduce their existing numbers. I have heard it said that the modernised Lords will cost the earth. The truth? Taken as a whole, and once completed, the Government’s reforms of Parliament will be broadly cost-neutral. Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab) rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I will give way later. The additional costs attached to running a reformed House of Lords—which, incidentally, are much more modest than some of the estimates doing the rounds—will be offset by the saving from reducing the number of MPs. Once all this is implemented, the real-terms cost of running Parliament is expected to be roughly the same as it is now; the only additional cost will be conducting the elections themselves. Mr Nuttall: How can the Deputy Prime Minister justify not holding a referendum on these proposals when a referendum was held on the alternative vote system, which, by any stretch of the imagination, was not as wide-ranging? The Deputy Prime Minister: The reason is that the electoral system that votes Members to this House is a matter on which there is profound disagreement between the parties, whereas the principle of House of Lords reform is something to which we have committed ourselves in all our party manifestos over a prolonged period. It is essential that we make a start by having the first 120 elected peers elected in 2015. If the hon. Gentleman or other Members of this place want further reassurance about the triggers that would then allow the second and third waves of election to take place, of course I, and the Government as a whole, will be prepared to engage with that. Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab) rose— Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab) rose— Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con) rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I will make a little more progress and then give way again. I have heard Lords reform presented as some kind of Liberal Democrat crusade. The truth, as I have said on a number of occasions, is that it made its way into all the party manifestos—in the case of the Labour party, as the right hon. Member for Neath has indicated, going all the way back to Keir Hardie’s 1911 manifesto. The final myth is this: I have heard it said that the House of Commons should not be concerning itself— Mrs Laing: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

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The Deputy Prime Minister: May I first deal with this important point? The hon. Lady has raised it with me personally on a number of occasions, so perhaps she would care to listen to my answer. The final myth is that the House of Commons should not be concerning itself with Lords reform at a time of economic difficulty. My answer is this: let’s get on with it—proper scrutiny, yes; years of foot-dragging, no. I do not remember this complaint being made when we legislated to create elected police commissioners, or when we were debating local government finance or legal aid reform. It is odd to suggest that Parliament cannot do more than one thing at a time. I certainly agree that jobs and growth are the priority, so let us not tie ourselves up in knots on Lords reform. We do not need to—all the parties are signed up to it. We should vote for the Bill and the programme motion so that we can scrutinise the Bill properly while still allowing ourselves to make progress on other Government priorities. Mrs Laing: I thank the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. It happens that he has just hit on the very point on which I agree with him entirely. We do have a duty to reform the House of Lords, even though we are doing other things at the same time. He is absolutely right about that, but what a pity that he does not accept Lord Steel’s Bill and get on with the necessary reform that everybody agrees with. If all three party manifestos gave no choice on House of Lords reform, is that not a good reason to put it to the people in a referendum, because in the election they had no chance to vote against it? The Deputy Prime Minister: Following that logic, the commitment to a referendum on House of Lords reform should have been included in the party manifestos. Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife) (Lab): It was in ours. The Deputy Prime Minister: I know, but it was not in the manifestos of two of the three main parties. The second point that I make to the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing), who was a distinguished member of the Joint Committee, is that although she and I do not agree on this matter, I hope she does agree that the Government listened meticulously to the conclusions of the Joint Committee, which supported the main tenets of the Bill on a cross-party basis and was chaired by a Member of the other place who was not from either of the coalition parties. That shows how consensual we have been in working up our ideas. I will move on from the myths that have abounded to some of the fears about the Bill, many of which, I accept, have been expressed in good faith. Broadly, there is a worry that we risk upsetting a delicate constitutional balance, creating a second Chamber that is too assertive and therefore a threat to this place, as was alluded to earlier. I am not surprised by that. It is part of a— Several hon. Members rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I will give way in a minute, if I may make progress on this point. I am not surprised by that fear because it is part of a normal and familiar pattern. Every time the other place has been reformed, questions over the primacy of the

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Commons have arisen, with predictions ranging from disaster to apocalypse. In 1999, some said that the new life peers would not accept the traditional conventions and would block manifesto Bills in which Governments legislate on their election promises, resulting in endless gridlock over Government priorities. As with all such predictions, that was completely wrong. The reformed House accepted that the conventions would continue and adjusted to its new status without overreaching its role as a junior partner, as it will again. Philip Davies: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way? The Deputy Prime Minister: I will just deal with the issue of primacy. Although questions of primacy are important and must be answered, we must remember that these fears are the routine reflexes to Lords reform. The Bill will not turn the other place into some kind of monster. It relates to size and composition only and contains no new powers for the other place. Philip Davies: If we may go back to myths for a second, one myth is that it is an important principle to the right hon. Gentleman that people who initiate legislation should be elected. If that is such an important principle, why does he not insist on elections for European Commissioners, who initiate far more legislation in this country than people in the House of Lords? The Deputy Prime Minister: As the hon. Gentleman knows, the European Commission has no right to adopt legislation. If he applied part of his well-renowned fervour against unelected bureaucrats in Brussels to unelected peers in the House of Lords, we would make a considerable progress. Ultimately, the primacy of the Commons will remain grounded in our conventions and absolutely guaranteed by our laws. Helen Jones: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way? The Deputy Prime Minister: If I may, I will make progress on the issue of primacy. To ensure that there is a rock-solid legal backstop, the Parliament Acts will remain. We have reaffirmed those Acts in the Bill to make that point crystal clear. The Government will still be based in the Commons, the appointed element of the new Chamber means that it will never be able to claim greater electoral legitimacy, and the Commons will, of course, continue to have sole responsibility for money Bills. Mr Tom Clarke: The Deputy Prime Minister has referred on a number of occasions to the Joint Committee on which I and other colleagues served. Does he think that it best served the purposes of reform when the Government declined, despite our encouragement, to give us any information about funding and refused us legal advice in the form of the Attorney-General? The Deputy Prime Minister: I pay tribute to the right hon. Gentleman for his work on the Joint Committee. As I hope he knows, we have published the costings of our proposals in full and in detail. Everyone can scrutinise them line by line. Of course, we were not in a position to

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[The Deputy Prime Minister] provide him with a line-by-line analysis of the costings at that stage because we were waiting to change the Bill in view of the conclusions of the Joint Committee. Without finalising the Bill, we could not finalise the analysis of the costs. Several hon. Members rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I will give way in a moment, but I want to make a couple of points. A separate but related fear is that opening up the Lords to election will politicise it, creating a Chamber of career politicians likely to rival MPs and robbing the Lords of its wisdom and expertise. Let us be clear about the current situation. The other place contains some extremely eminent individuals who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to Parliament, but it is hardly entirely dispassionate, an institution somehow untouched by party politics. More than 70% of its Members receive their peerage from party leaders—that is, more than two thirds of Members take a party Whip, and very few rebel. Members of the House of Lords are more likely to come from this place than from any other profession, with 189 being ex-MPs. In a reformed House, Members will see themselves and their role very differently from us here, not least because of their longer term and the means by which they elected. Mr Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con): If this reform goes through, 189 will be people who never managed to become MPs. The Deputy Prime Minister: What the hon. Gentleman misses is that the Bill will in fact make space in Parliament for a different kind of politician. [Interruption.] Let me explain. [Interruption.] Mr Speaker: Order. The right hon. Gentleman must be heard. All this noise just slows up the proceedings. A lot of Members—more than 80—want to speak today, and only a small proportion will do so. The Deputy Prime Minister: What we are doing is what the Joint Committee itself recommended. The Government not only accepted its recommendation that appointed Members should be able to combine membership with a role outside the House, but have extended that principle to elected Members. Several hon. Members rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: I am answering the hon. Member for Gainsborough (Mr Leigh). The Lords should be a place for people who are public spirited, have political and ideological affiliations and want to serve the country, but who also want to continue to lead a life outside politics. It should be for people who want or need to work and have neither the desire nor the inclination to be an MP. They will not be allowed to leave the Lords and immediately seek election to the Commons, so they will be encouraged to see their time in the House of Lords as their one real chance to make their mark.

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Rory Stewart (Penrith and The Border) (Con): The Deputy Prime Minister has spoken a great deal about the Joint Committee and his respect for it. Will he please think again about the central recommendation of both the Joint Committee and the alternative report, which is the necessity for a referendum? The Deputy Prime Minister: I will not repeat the reasons why I believe a referendum would be unjustified, expensive and a huge distraction from the most important referendum of all, which is on the future of the United Kingdom. However, I will repeat what I said in response to an earlier intervention. If the hon. Gentleman or other Members feel that they need some assurances after the first wave of peers have been elected, so that the second and third stages of reform are subject to some type of trigger, I will of course be prepared to consider that. The combination of elections by proportional representation, single terms and a specific duty on the appointments commission to consider diversity could encourage more women, more members of black and minority ethnic communities and more people with disabilities to serve. Several hon. Members rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: May I just make this point? I have been very generous, and I will take more interventions in a moment. Crucially, the list system will mean that the new membership will be properly representative of all parts of the United Kingdom. Right now, nearly half the Members of the House of Lords are drawn from London and the south-east, whereas only 5% come from the north-west and 2.6% from the north-east. Our proposals will correct that imbalance. Proportionately, the west midlands will see its representation more than double, and for the east midlands it will treble. The Bill has sewn into it the chance to create a richer, more diverse House drawn from many more walks of life. Stephen Gilbert (St Austell and Newquay) (LD): Does my right hon. Friend not think that people watching this debate will be bemused? Back in 2010, they voted for three parties that had House of Lords reform in their manifesto, yet Back Benchers in some of those parties are now trying to block it. It has been 101 years, and the people voted for it in 2010; let us get on with it. The Deputy Prime Minister: I agree with my hon. Friend that, given all the other major challenges that our country faces—particularly the economic and social ones—it is inexplicable to members of the British public that this Bill is the one thing on which opponents want to tie us up in knots for months if not years to come. Helen Jones: The Deputy Prime Minister has referred repeatedly to democratic accountability. Why, then, does he insist that the Lords should be elected by proportional representation when the voters of this country decisively rejected that in a referendum, which he now seeks to deny them? The Deputy Prime Minister: Both coalition parties agreed in the coalition agreement that elections to the House of Lords should take place on a proportional

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basis to ensure that we do not create a carbon copy of the Commons, and to ensure a proper balance of power, reflecting all the different parties and regions of the country in the House of Lords, so that it can play a different role to the Commons, as I am sure the hon. Lady agrees. Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green): Will the Deputy Prime Minister consider an amendment to the programme motion that I have tabled today? It would allow an extra three days’ debate, which would mean that the Committee of the whole House would be one of the longest on constitutional issues? That would allow us to debate the issues in depth, but it would also allow us to get on with the much needed reform of the other place, which is rotten and based on patronage and entitlement. The Deputy Prime Minister: I welcome the hon. Lady’s support, hoarsely delivered as it was—she has a cough. It is crucial to wait to hear from the official Opposition what their attitude is to the programme motion. Will they not accept any form of programme motion, or do they have suggestions of their own on the number of days required to deal with the legislation? The Government have been very generous already. Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con): The Deputy Prime Minister spoke earlier of the need to reform the other place to make it fit for the 21st century. Does he accept that science and technology are very much part of our future? Will he accept an amendment that would mean greater recognition of expert Cross-Bench expertise in engineering, science, technology, maths and medicine? In addition, I am very happy to explain the correct use of the term “lobotomy”. The Deputy Prime Minister: We can have precisely that debate and a multitude of others on the detail of the Bill as long as we make progress on Second Reading and the programme motion this week. As the hon. Lady may well know, the appointments commission envisaged in the Bill will be statutorily required to ensure proper diversity and representation of expertise in the 20% of non-elected peers in a reformed House of Lords. Several hon. Members rose— The Deputy Prime Minister: Many hon. Members want to make their views known, so I should like to conclude my remarks. I have been very generous in giving way and would now like to make progress. I shall conclude my speech as I began. There are three reasons to vote in favour of the Bill and its orderly passage: because we believe in democracy, for the sake of better laws, and because reform cannot be ducked. I welcome the reasoned and expert questions, arguments and concerns that I know many Members will raise. I also know that some will not be interested in rational discussion—those who would oppose Lords reform in whatever form, at whatever time and in whatever century, no matter what commitments their parties have made. This project has always been dogged by those who fear change. What encourages me is that it is being kept alive by those who champion democracy: the reformers and modernisers who believe simply that power belongs

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in the hands of the people. We have a chance to finish their work. This has been a 100-year long project. Let us now get it done. I commend the Bill to the House. 4.19 pm Sadiq Khan (Tooting) (Lab): I am pleased to be here to debate these important constitutional changes. I admit that while the country is stuck in a double-dip recession and millions are still out of work, this would not have been my priority if I were sitting on the Government Benches, but unfortunately we cannot set the Government’s priorities, and we are where we are. I am pleased to be here because, frankly, the Deputy Prime Minister’s Bill is a bit of a mess, and I am afraid that his speech did not help matters much either. As a supporter of House of Lords reform, I want to do what I can to ensure that reform comes about, but that it is the right reform and is supported by the people. The Bill has huge implications for how Parliament and our Government operate, so we need to get it right. The reforms will form the basis of a lasting settlement between Parliament and the British people, so we need time to get it right—something I shall speak to a little later. The Chamber has debated House of Lords reform many times, as anyone who reads the excellent House of Lords Library paper on the chronology of Lords reform will soon realise. It is 95 pages long—and that is only for the period 1997 to 2010. It does not include the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, the creation of life peerages in 1958 or other unsuccessful attempts at reform. The Labour party remains very much in favour of reforming the second Chamber and will support the Bill on Second Reading tomorrow night. Ever since I have been in my current role, I have emphasised our desire to seek a consensus on Lords reform, as did Labour Ministers when we were in government. The Deputy Prime Minister referred to cross-party talks and consensus. I attended the cross-party discussions that he chaired, but unfortunately they were curtailed before we had the chance to discuss all the issues. Our last meeting was in November 2010. When in government, we recognised that consensus building was crucial to the success of constitutional change, as well as the dangers of impermanence stemming from one Government imposing their will on our constitution, only to see their changes undone by the next Government. Our constitution deserves better than partisan self-serving change. Mike Crockart (Edinburgh West) (LD): I have a simple question. The right hon. Gentleman says he needs more time to look at the Bill and get it right. How much more time does he need? Sadiq Khan: I shall give the hon. Gentleman a simple answer: wait and hear! Rather than working with us on House of Lords reform, the Deputy Prime Minister has occasionally chosen to pursue a lofty, hectoring stance. I am afraid that his piety has done great harm to the cause of constitutional reform. Labour has decided to support the Bill on Second Reading in spite of his attitude, not because of it. Let me take this opportunity to lay to rest the myths spread about Labour’s record on House of Lords reform. The changes that Labour enacted to the second Chamber

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[Sadiq Khan] between 1997 and 2010 were unparalleled. No political party—certainly not in modern times—comes anywhere near our legacy. Just 15 years ago, in 1997, the second Chamber was still full of hereditary peers, so the government of the country was still determined by a group of people chosen by birth right. It was the politics of a previous century and a different time. After considerable debate, Labour pushed ahead with the removal of hereditary peers. Many here will remember the enormous objections in the other place and from Conservative Members. In fact, 13 of the current Cabinet voted against the Second Reading of the House of Lords Act 1999. And what did the Liberal Democrats do? Stephen Gilbert rose— Sadiq Khan: Perhaps the hon. Gentleman can tell me. Stephen Gilbert: Rather than the right hon. Gentleman asking me questions, I would like to ask him one. How will the Labour party vote on the programme motion? Sadiq Khan: I will answer the question myself. On the Third Reading of the Bill abolishing 90% of hereditary peers, the Lib Dems abstained. I know a reshuffle is due, but the hon. Gentleman should stop reading the Whips’ sheet and listen to the debate. The Lib Dems abstained. Subsequently, we introduced people’s peers and a proper appointments process, and we also sought to ensure that no single party would have a majority of Members in the second Chamber. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 resulted in a farreaching separation of powers, with senior Law Lords removed from the other place. The UK for the first time had its own dedicated Supreme Court, which is now firmly established on the other side of Parliament square. It is also worth reminding the House what happened on that occasion. Thirteen members of the current Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, supported a reasoned amendment declining to give that Bill a Second Reading in 2005. What did the Liberal Democrats do on Third Reading? Yes, they decisively abstained. We are therefore comfortable with our record in government on good constitutional reform.

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this has left us open to criticism by the Deputy Prime Minister—and, I hear, the Chancellor—for not doing enough during our years in government. The House of Lords Reform Bill was first published on 27 June. A draft Bill was published in May last year, which was largely castigated in this Chamber and the other place. Before the Bill’s publication, the Deputy Prime Minister set great store by the findings of the Joint Committee established to look into the draft Bill. Let me take this opportunity to thank all the members of the Joint Committee, who spent nine months on the report. The Joint Committee published its report on 23 April, with an alternative report published by 12 of its members. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con): The right hon. Gentleman’s manifesto at the last election stated: “To begin the task of building a new politics, we will let the British people decide on whether to make Parliament more democratic and accountable”

in a referendum. Is that still his party’s view? Sadiq Khan: It very much is. Unlike the hon. Gentleman’s coalition partners, we keep our promises. Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con): The right hon. Gentleman said that he required time to consider the Bill. How long does he require—10, 15, 20 or 25 days? Will he enlighten the House by saying how long he feels is necessary? Sadiq Khan: We are in favour of reform. I will come to the issue of timing in a moment. I note from his opening statement that the Deputy Prime Minister highlighted areas where the Bill had been amended as a result of the Joint Committee’s report, but he was less keen to highlight those where he has not taken on board the Joint Committee’s views. He knows as well as I do that he has cherry-picked from the Joint Committee’s report, while blindly ignoring its other key recommendations and concerns. Let me turn to the Bill itself. If I was being generous, I would have to say that the Bill as it stands is a bit of a mess.

Andrew Bridgen: The right hon. Gentleman talks about creating a consensus across the Chamber about Lords reform, but is not the truth that this Bill, if enacted, will not reform the House of Lords, but effectively abolish it? The House of Lords is a fine institution. It is not broken, so why do we need to fix it?

Mrs Laing: Having sat on the Joint Committee for eight months, I entirely agree with the right hon. Gentleman that the report was critical of the Government’s Bill. The alternative report—signed by 12 of the Joint Committee’s 25 members—was even more critical. The Committee agreed that eight months was not long enough to give proper scrutiny to the Bill, so how could 10 days be long enough for this House?

Sadiq Khan: The hon. Gentleman is right that the reforms, if carried through, will replace the House of Lords as we know it now. However, I will come to the semantics of the words “abolish”or “replace”in a moment. It is fair to say that Labour would have liked to go much further. On occasion we tried to achieve much more, but we were held back. Our decision to proceed only with cross-party consensus acted as a restraint on the pace of reform. Proposals floated by Labour ran into fierce opposition. Despite healthy general election majorities, Labour did not seek to impose our wholesale reforms on a divided House of Commons. It is ironic that

Sadiq Khan: I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. She reminds us that there are still a number of major deficiencies, which will need to be looked at in Committee, if the Bill is to be improved. Our support for giving the Bill a Second Reading should therefore not be taken as a blank cheque. We have many concerns—many of them major— about the content of the Bill, but I shall concentrate on three areas. The area of powers and conventions deserves our greatest attention. With all the focus on form, the Government have neglected function. On primacy, the

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Government have sought to rewrite the inadequate clause 2 of the draft Bill and dropped any reference to the conventions governing the relationship between the Houses. It remains to be seen whether this will deal satisfactorily with the issue; constitutional experts are no doubt poring over this as we speak. As the Bill will be debated on the Floor of the House, and as new clause 2 was not considered by the Joint Committee, there has been no pre-legislative scrutiny. We simply do not know whether the provision is adequate. Labour Members want to ensure that the Commons maintains its primacy even when a second Chamber becomes elected. It is impossible to predict what changes might develop in the culture of the House of Lords following reform, but it seems likely that elected Members will expect to play at least a fairly assertive role and that voters may share that view. When the European Parliament went from being an appointed to an elected body, it demanded more powers to reflect its democratic mandate. Why should elected Members of the second Chamber be bound by conventions that bind a Chamber of hereditary and appointed peers? The Bill effectively washes its hands of this issue. Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab): Will my right hon. Friend explain why it is good enough to have a referendum when we are electing a mayor in a city, yet not good enough to have one when we are changing the constitution? Sadiq Khan: I heard the Deputy Prime Minister desperately trying to answer that question, but on four or five occasions when such questions were put to him by his hon. Friends, he failed to answer them. Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab): Did my hon. Friend notice that in answering one of his colleagues earlier, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the coalition had decided on a change to the voting system in favour of proportional representation? Only a few months ago, however, the electorate rejected that, but the coalition is not prepared to accept the democratic will of the electorate. Sadiq Khan: It is worse than that. The Joint Committee did not even examine the type of voting system that is now being proposed. It was pulled out of a hat without any proper consideration. Although the Bill recognises that conventions— [Interruption.] Ministers on the Treasury Bench need to calm down. The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David Heath): Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that the semi-open list system was exactly the system that he personally asked for in the Joint Committee? Sadiq Khan: Will the hon. Gentleman confirm two things: first, that the Joint Committee stopped sitting in November 2010; and, secondly, that the Joint Committee of both Houses failed to consider this system? He decides not to respond. Mr Heath rose—

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Sadiq Khan: The Bill— Mr Heath: He wanted me to respond, Mr Speaker. Sadiq Khan: The Bill recognises that conventions may evolve, and assumes this will happen of its own accord during the transition phases. We believe that that is too passive and is a dangerous position. The obvious questions requiring clarification include the following. What is the position on the Salisbury-Addison convention about Bills and the prevention of manifesto commitments? What about the convention that the Lords does not usually object to secondary legislation? More than 1,000 pieces of secondary legislation go through Parliament each year; the Parliament Acts do not cover this. What about the convention that the Government should get their business through in reasonable time? The Parliament Acts still allow Bills to be delayed for 13 months. What is the position on the exchange of amendments between Houses? The Lords could force the Commons to concede on major changes or resort to the use of the Parliament Acts. I am not saying that those questions cannot be answered adequately; it is just that the Government appear not even to realise that these are live issues. They have their heads in the sand. Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con): The shadow Secretary of State is making a powerful speech. He refers to the Government’s Bill. Is it not a fact that there are 10 Ministers sitting on the Front Bench today, of whom only two are Conservative and eight are Liberal? Does that not show where the real support for this Bill comes from? Sadiq Khan: It is not for me to get involved in private family grief. It is simply not clear how any dispute about the use of powers or appropriate interpretation of conventions could be adjudicated or effectively enforced? We think the Bill will need to play a more active role in addressing powers and conventions, particularly if we are to placate the legitimate fears of colleagues on all sides and in both Chambers. Failure to do so risks storing up big problems for the future. Mrs Main: I should appreciate the right hon. Gentleman’s comments on the function of this apparent second House. Does he share my fear that when the majority of its Members are elected and a small proportion will be appointed, there will be a divided second House some of whose Members will have more power than others? When it comes to a tied vote, who will really win? Sadiq Khan: The hon. Lady raises one of the issues that need to be resolved. Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD): Will the right hon. Gentleman give way? Sadiq Khan: The hon. Gentleman has been very patient, so I will give way to him. Tim Farron: I am extremely grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his statesmanlike address. He seeks credit for the Labour party for reforming history, and he is right to do so. The last but one Labour Prime Minister, who introduced devolution in Scotland and Wales and

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[Tim Farron] a Northern Ireland Assembly, and, indeed, introduced proportional representation for European elections without a referendum, deserves enormous credit. Does the right hon. Gentleman feel comfortable about concentrating on the details now, and essentially asking for a prevaricators’ charter? Does he feel comfortable about being ranked as a pygmy alongside those giants of constitutional reform? Sadiq Khan: I am not sure whether I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point. He seems to be suggesting that we skip the details and rush the Bill through the House, and I am not sure that that is my idea of good government. Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op): Does my hon. Friend feel as uncomfortable as I do when listening to the Liberal Democrats lecturing people on referendum commitments in manifestos when they cannot even keep to their own commitments to their coalition colleagues, or on tuition fees? Sadiq Khan: I am always uncomfortable when listening to Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament. Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op): Will my right hon. Friend give way? Sadiq Khan: I will give way once more. Mr Sheerman: My right hon. Friend is making some very good points. I have been in the House for long enough to have voted for many of the progressive measures introduced by a Labour Government, but one of the things that worry the reformers on the Opposition Benches who want change in the upper House is the quality of the people who would end up there—and there is nothing in the Bill to assure us that the party machines will not control all the people who end up there. Sadiq Khan: My hon. Friend highlights one of the problems of a list system. That is one of the reasons why we are surprised that the Joint Committee, which sat for nine months, did not consider the type of system that is being imposed in the Bill. “I am a supporter of a fully elected House of Lords”.— [Official Report, 5 April 2011; Vol. 526, c. 879.]

Those are not my words—although I agree with them—but the words of the Deputy Prime Minister. However, his Bill proposes the establishment of an 80% elected Chamber. We are disappointed that it has not gone for a fully elected second Chamber. Even the Joint Committee was split, recognising that there was a case for that. Our position is that we want a fully elected second Chamber, and that was also the position taken in the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto. By allowing some Members still to be appointed, the Deputy Prime Minister is weakening his own arguments for having elected Members in the second Chamber. The Deputy Prime Minister’s pet phrase—although he did not use it today—is “Do not let the best be the enemy of the good”, but in proposing a hybrid Chamber he may be storing up problems for the future.

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The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr Mark Harper): I was a little confused by the right hon. Gentleman’s criticism of the open list system. One of the things that we did after listening to the Joint Committee was adopt an open list system, in the spirit of consensus, as it is exactly what the Labour party put in its manifesto. Sadiq Khan: The Minister is wrong to suggest that the Joint Committee had an opportunity to consider the system that he has now put in the Bill. It simply did not. I am willing to give way to the Minister again. Did the Joint Committee consider the type of voting system that is in the Bill? Well, the Minister has decided to remain in his seat, which is his prerogative. There are legitimate concerns about the possibility that this hybrid system will lead to tensions between the different types of Member, and that those who are elected and are full time will consider themselves more legitimate, and be treated as such, than those who are unelected and part time. There are also other concerns, which will no doubt be raised over the next two days. Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con): The right hon. Gentleman asked whether the Joint Committee had considered the issue of open lists. Obviously we did not consider the specific clauses that are now in the Bill, but if he reads our report he will see that there is a section referring to open lists, and a recommendation that states “In the Committee’s view, the voting system chosen should give voters the widest choice… of where to cast their preferences, whether that is within a single party or across candidates”.

We did consider the issue, and the right hon. Gentleman may wish to correct the record. Sadiq Khan: I thank the hon. Gentleman for helping me out by confirming that the clause was not considered by the Joint Committee. Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab): In answer to an intervention from the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart), the Deputy Prime Minister said there could be some kind of referendum or investigation after the election of the first tranche of peers. That shows that we need a more detailed investigation of the Bill, because the rules are changing as we go along. Sadiq Khan: It is worrying that the Deputy Prime Minister has today decided to pull a rabbit out of the hat by suggesting the idea of a referendum once we have some peers appointed or elected in the way that he wants. We also need to be clear that the model is not quite as simple as the 80:20 split that has been portrayed. The Bill permits the Prime Minister of the day to appoint eight additional Ministers to sit in the Chamber. That will mean that, once again, patronage will lead to a place in the second Chamber—so much for accountability and the end of patronage! Over the period of a Government, that could accumulate, and result in a fair number of partisan ex-Ministers with full voting rights being members of the legislature for 15-year terms by appointment via patronage. This, again, is against the advice of the Joint Committee.

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Dan Byles (North Warwickshire) (Con): The right hon. Gentleman has discussed the problem with having different types of peers in the new upper House, but nobody has yet discussed the new ministerial Members, who will, of course—[Interruption.] Well, not in terms of numbers. The fact is that the Bill will allow the Prime Minister of the day to impose an unlimited number of ministerial peers who are not appointed by the independent appointments system. Sadiq Khan: The draft Bill advocated the Prime Minister having the power to appoint Ministers, who would be members of the legislature for as long as they were Ministers. However, the Bill published last week says they can stay for 15 years, which is really quite remarkable. Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab): I thank my right hon. Friend for making public the historic levels of indecision on the Liberal Democrat Benches in respect of House of Lords reform. On the 15-years issue, the Deputy Prime Minister says this House contains career politicians. Surely, a 15-year job is a career. Sadiq Khan: My hon. Friend is absolutely right: 15 years non-renewable hardly leads to accountability. A key absence from the Bill is that there will be no referendum. The Government have opted to impose their proposals on the public, rather than trust the people with a vote on House of Lords reform. We think that is an error, and it runs contrary to the growing tradition that major constitutional change should be put to the people in a referendum. It is not only Labour that calls for a referendum. The Joint Committee also unanimously called for a referendum: “The Committee recommends that, in view of the significance of the constitutional change brought forward for an elected House of Lords, the Government should submit the decision to a referendum.”

This Bill is much weaker as a result of the Government refusing to include a referendum. We heard a number of defences of that position from the Deputy Prime Minister. He said a referendum was not needed because proposals to reform the House of Lords were in all three main parties’ manifestos. The manifestos said very different things, however. While Labour and the Lib Dems called for a wholly elected second Chamber—albeit Labour wanted a referendum as well—the Conservatives sought only to find consensus. It is not simply semantics to argue that the Conservatives never actually gave a commitment to reform the House of Lords; they gave a process commitment to seek dialogue to find common ground. Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD): Will the right hon. Gentleman give way? Sadiq Khan: I need to make some progress; I have been speaking for quite a while. What is the best way to build consensus and to get a second Chamber that has legitimacy and public confidence? One way would be through holding a referendum. That would give consensus, public confidence and greater legitimacy. Even if all three manifesto commitments had been identical, we would still push for a referendum. First, we would do so because it is in our manifesto. Secondly, as

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has been highlighted by a number of eminent commentators and colleagues from both sides of the Chamber, we would do so because someone who was opposed to reform of the House of Lords had no way of expressing that opinion at the last election. A referendum would allow a full and frank airing of views and allow voters the option to support, or oppose, the position. Duncan Hames: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way? Sadiq Khan: I want to make some progress. The fact is that, under these proposals, by 2015, let alone 2025, the way in which the Members of the other Chamber are elected and appointed will be totally different from how it is now. That is a radical change; it is not simply tinkering. If it were just tinkering, I am sure that the Deputy Prime Minister would not be quite so keen to champion the proposals as he is now. Moreover, Parliament has got into the habit—some would call it a convention, and a good one at that—of holding referendums on major constitutional change. When in government, Labour did so in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on devolution proposals, and in London on the creation of the mayoralty and the assembly. We also did so on giving further powers to the Welsh Assembly. We gave the people of the north-east of England a referendum to vote on regional government —a proposal they rejected. Even this Government have held a referendum on changing the voting system. People will not unreasonably think that the Deputy Prime Minister fears that his latest set of proposals will suffer the same fate as his electoral reform ideas. Referendums were also held in towns and cities up and down the country on proposals for elected mayors less than eight weeks ago. So if a referendum is good enough for Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, London, the north-east, Bristol, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Wakefield, and for the alternative vote system, it is certainly good enough for Lords reform—an issue of national significance. Time prevents me from dealing with the other areas where this Bill needs improvement, which include the length of the terms; whether those terms should be renewable; the cost of the second Chamber; the transitional arrangements; and the system of elections. There are more such issues, but time is running away. We have made it clear that we will be voting to give the Bill a Second Reading; we support the principle of reform of the House of Lords. As the Government have decided to introduce this Bill, our job is to respond. We will oppose where we think things are not right and we will support them when we think they are the right thing to do. As I have said, on this occasion we will be supporting the progress of this Bill, but the Committee stage will offer the opportunity for the House to shape the Bill into something much better. It is absolutely crucial—[Interruption.] I will answer the question that Ministers on the Treasury Bench have been chuntering about. It is crucial that the Bill is given sufficient time to be debated in detail. I know that the Chief Whip has now left, but attempts to shorten or stifle debate by the Government would be unhelpful. A fixed period of time for the Committee stage will not allow proper discussion of all 60 clauses and 11 schedules, and consideration of new clauses. Filibustering could

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[Sadiq Khan] render a full and frank debate impossible, which would be an utter travesty for a Bill of this importance. Let us consider the following: “when there are really important matters before the House…a big Bill when Members want to say what they need on behalf of their constituents, they are unable to do so because of some ridiculous programme motion that does not take into account the gravity or importance of the measure.”—[Official Report, 2 February 2009; Vol. 487, c. 638.]

They are not my words; they are the words of the Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. Sir Menzies Campbell (North East Fife) (LD): The right hon. Gentleman has not stinted from personal criticism of my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, so why is he declining to tell the House of Commons how many days he thinks are necessary for this Bill? If he and his party are so committed to the reform of the House of Lords, why is it, if they oppose the programme motion, that they will find themselves in the same Lobby as those opposed, root and branch, to any reform at all? Sadiq Khan: I think the right hon. and learned Gentleman is talking about his coalition partners. [Interruption.] Mr Speaker: Order. Liberal Democrat Members should not be yelling at the right hon. Gentleman. The right hon. and learned Member for North East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell) intervened and the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) is replying. The hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) is an aspiring statesman— Tim Farron indicated dissent. Mr Speaker: Well, perhaps he thinks he is a statesman already, and he should behave accordingly. Let us hear Mr Sadiq Khan. Sadiq Khan: I have already told the House what the Deputy Leader of the House thought a few months before he had the burdens of high office. Only two months before he became part of the Government and part of the Executive, he said that programme motions are “imposed by the Executive to prevent debate”.—[Official Report, 2 March 2010; Vol. 506, c. 819.]

Duncan Hames rose— Sadiq Khan: Let me refer to the manifesto on which the hon. Gentleman stood and won in 2010. In a section on the House of Commons entitled “Strengthen the House of Commons to increase accountability”,

it stated that Parliament would be given “control over its own agenda so that all bills leaving the Commons have been fully debated.”

Chris Bryant: I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way. One problem is that when we debate important pieces of legislation, we sometimes expect them to be corrected in the House of Lords and choose

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not to have votes in this Chamber as they take 15 minutes, losing us time for debate. Is it not therefore all the more important, particularly on clause 1, which contains nearly all the issues of composition, that we have as much time as it takes to get it absolutely right and to have as many votes as we need to get it right? Otherwise, there will be no prospect of the Bill ever coming into law because we will be unable to Parliament Act it. Sadiq Khan: On a number of occasions, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have said that they will use the Parliament Act to get the Bill through, which means that the second Chamber’s ability to revise and improve will have gone and the Bill must leave this Chamber in the best state possible. If debate is guillotined, that will not be possible. Margaret Beckett: My right hon. Friend has made a point in his effective speech of referring to the previous Government’s record on reforming and improving the House of Lords and of the Liberal Democrats’ failure to support us. Let me remind him that when we introduced the House of Lords Act 1999, if I recall correctly, we allowed four full days of debate on the Floor of the House on the five-clause Bill and we did not programme that discussion in any way because it was a constitutional matter. Sadiq Khan: I apologise for correcting my right hon. Friend, but in fact there were nine days of debate, not four, on the Floor of the House. She is absolutely right in all other respects. Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab): Does my right hon. Friend understand that if he is not prepared to say how long a programme motion should specify for debate, even in his wildest dreams, while saying that he wants reform of the second Chamber, people outside this Chamber might well feel that his position is contradictory? Will he therefore consider entering into proper negotiations should the programme motion fail tomorrow night, so that we ensure that everyone outside this place knows that the Labour party is still a party of reform of the second Chamber? Sadiq Khan: I thank the Chair of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee for his helpful words. It is important for us to ensure that we do that so that the public can see that we are genuine and because we believe in House of Lords reform. We do not want the Bill to get stuck in the House of Commons so we will enter into discussions, but the Government must talk to us. The Deputy Prime Minister has failed to talk to us on the substance of the Bill and what is really important is that the usual channels operate— Mr Heath rose— Sadiq Khan: I have already allowed the hon. Gentleman and others to intervene—[HON. MEMBERS: “Ah!”] Of course I will give way. Mr Heath: Let me make it absolutely plain: we have tried to speak to the Opposition at all times during the development of the Bill to find out how they long they want for the programming of it. They have declined to tell us and the right hon. Gentleman is declining to tell

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us today. That is why we cannot reach consensus; the Opposition do not want to tell us how long they want for the Bill, but simply want to vote against the programme motion. Sadiq Khan: It will be for others to draw what conclusions they want to from those crocodile tears. As the Leader of the House has returned to the Chamber, it is worth reminding ourselves of what the Conservatives believe about programme motions. He has said that “today I can announce that we will abolish the practice of automatically guillotining Government Bills and give Parliament back the time it needs to make real improvements to the law.”

The manifesto on which he stood—the Conservative manifesto, not the Liberal Democrats one—stated that they would allow “MPs the time to scrutinise law effectively”.

That is the point that we have been trying to make. Both coalition parties are clearly on the same page as Labour. The Bill before us today should be allowed to be fully debated and there should be no guillotining of debate by the Government. The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young): I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. It is indeed the case that since 2010 we have tried to develop a consensual approach to the programming of legislation and on many constitutional Bills against which his party has voted on Second Reading, they have agreed to the programme motion. That has happened because we have had a sensible dialogue. I very much regret that, on this Bill, it has not been possible to have that dialogue and reach agreement. Sadiq Khan: As somebody who was involved in the boundary changes Bill, I can say that that was not the case. Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab): The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 made a substantial parliamentary change in Wales. Due to the approach of the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives in the coalition, there was no discussion on the Floor of the House on the reduction from 40 seats to 30 for Wales. That is exactly what will happen if we have a programme motion for this Bill—we will be prevented from speaking out. Sadiq Khan: It is worth reminding the House what happened: MPs from Wales did not get a chance to discuss their seats, and nor did MPs from Devon and Cornwall, but the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr Turner) got his chance to discuss his seat. The Government are not only trying to deprive the public of their say in the matter by not giving them a referendum, but seeking to deprive the people’s representatives of the chance properly to scrutinise the Bill. For the avoidance of doubt, I repeat what my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition has made quite clear: we want House of Lords reform and we do not want the Bill stuck in the Commons, but we need the opportunity properly to scrutinise, amend and improve it. Accordingly, we will vote against the programme motion tomorrow night, and hope that Members on both sides of the House join us.

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Mrs Laing: Does the right hon. Gentleman acknowledge that this is not just any Bill? The Bill brings about fundamental change to Parliament. It is a serious constitutional measure and, by convention, the House does not usually put a timetable—a limit—on a Bill of such constitutional significance. Sadiq Khan: I heard Lib Dem Members chuntering while the hon. Lady, who sits on the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, sat on the Joint Committee and spoke for the Conservatives in opposition, made her important point. The next two days offer an opportunity for views from all sides to be expressed. On previous occasions when the Chamber has debated House of Lords reform, there has been no shortage of opinions from across the full spectrum, all sincerely held and all genuine. I am certain that this occasion will be no different. I understand that more than 115 MPs have already indicated that they want to speak in the debate over the next two days. I know that there are siren voices of concern in all parts of the Chamber. There are those who favour reform, but have concerns about the Bill, and those who favour the status quo. Let me end by saying that we can all agree that no one, except the Deputy Prime Minister, thinks that this is a perfect Bill. We will help the Government to give the Bill a Second Reading tomorrow night, but Government Back Benchers should vote with us on the programme motion so that we can all work together to achieve a better Bill. Several hon. Members rose— Mr Speaker: Order. The six-minute limit on Back-Bench speeches now applies. 4.57 pm Sir Malcolm Rifkind (Kensington) (Con): In the modern history of parliamentary reform, there have been a number of noble milestones: the extension of the franchise in the 19th century, and to women voters in the 20th; the Parliament Act 1911, which gave primacy to this Chamber; and the expulsion of hereditary Members from the House of Lords. Those were all radical measures, and they were welcome and serious. I very much regret to say that the Bill that the Deputy Prime Minister has introduced does not come into that category. The Bill is a puny measure. It is unwelcome and it will do far more harm than good to our constitutional structures and to the good government of this country. I say that because, essentially, two things will happen. First, the Bill will lead to the departure—the expulsion—of the vast majority of Cross Bencher and specialist Members of the upper House. We have been extremely well served by several hundred of our most distinguished citizens— industrialists, trade unionists, academics, diplomats, churchmen of many faiths, leading members of the armed forces—all of whom have carried out the task of revision, and only a small fraction of them can remain under these provisions. What are we to replace them by? Essentially, it will be a sham democratic Chamber, consisting overwhelmingly of Members who would rather be in this Chamber and who will be elected under a party list system that is an insult to the electorate.

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[Sir Malcolm Rifkind] I believe that this Bill needs to be opposed. I do not normally oppose measures introduced by the Government of whom I am one of the strongest supporters, but this Bill has to be opposed, because, essentially, what it is designed to do will damage the fabric of our government. I say that both to my hon. Friends who, like me, are perhaps willing to go along with an appointed House of Lords, and to other hon. Members who want a genuinely elected system that will continue to attract the brightest and the best to serve in the upper House. I was not impressed when my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned that Lesotho provided the only example of a House appointed like our own. He must be aware that, for example, Canada has an entirely appointed senate, and that the Federal Republic of Germany has an upper House which is not elected by the people but appointed by the states— Sir Robert Smith (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): There are no hereditaries in Germany. Sir Malcolm Rifkind: By all means, let us get rid of the hereditaries. That can be done extremely easily, by a very small Bill that would hardly be opposed by anyone. Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con): Is not the reason the Bill fails so miserably that it reflects an obsession with the form rather than the function of the other place? Sir Malcolm Rifkind: My hon. Friend is right and he brings me to my next point, which is that if the Deputy Prime Minister really believes in a democratic upper House, why is he not providing for one in the Bill? What he is providing is form, not substance. The very name of the revised Chamber will continue to be “the House of Lords”. Not a senate, it will be the House of Lords, even though every Lord will have been expelled from it over a period of years. When it comes to the proposed powers, the Deputy Prime Minister spends his time trying to reassure this House that the powers of the new elected, democratic Chamber will be—will have to be—exactly the same as those the appointed House has now. What possible justification is there for that, if he believes in an elected, democratic upper House? He is a Liberal Democrat; does he not remember the history of his own party? Does he not remember that the Parliament Act 1911 was passed because, until then, apart from on taxation matters, there was an equal right of veto in both Houses, and Asquith and his colleagues argued correctly that an unelected House could not have a veto on the business of Parliament? If the second Chamber is now to be elected, on what ground does he seek to justify his proposals—other than a desire to be all things to all people? That is the sad problem with the Liberal Democrats: they always wish to be all things to all people—to go for the middle way. I am reminded of a remark I once heard, which I thought was rather good: if Christopher Columbus had been a Liberal Democrat, he probably would have been content with discovering the mid-Atlantic. [Laughter.]

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What public interest will be served by the Bill in its current form? Does my right hon. Friend really believe that, compared with all these distinguished men and women from all over the country who serve in the House of Lords now, most of whom will not be able to continue to serve, a party list of candidates will result in more cerebral debate, more enlightened debate and more able contributions to the revision of legislation? Does he actually believe that and does he seriously want us to accept that, or does he recognise that that cannot, in fact, be the case? Jesse Norman: I am greatly appreciating, as, I am sure, are all Members, the brilliance of my right hon. and learned Friend’s speech. Does he share my view that, as for Members of the European Parliament, Assembly Members in Wales and Members of the Scottish Parliament, the process of election can only empower this group, so that they start to throw their weight around even more? Sir Malcolm Rifkind: Yes, but what worries me is the prospect of ending up with a party list system which, as we know from the experience of the European Parliament, has no legitimacy with the electorate, is not regarded as a way of electing people to represent their interests, and has been entirely discredited, regardless of the view one takes of the European Union as a whole. For that system of all systems to be chosen for the purpose of deciding membership of the upper House is totally incomprehensible to me, never mind entirely regrettable. I say specifically to the Deputy Prime Minister, because clearly it is his party that is behind the Bill, and perhaps the only party that would care much if the Bill never saw the light of day, that if he wants to eliminate the defect he rightly referred to of the continuing presence of hereditary peers in the House of Lords, that can be done very easily by means of a simple legislative measure. If the right hon. Gentleman wants to get rid of the extraordinary nonsense that we have almost 1,000 peers, that can be done by a compulsory retirement age. If he wants an opportunity to deal with the other anomalies in the House of Lords, he does not need to go down this road. The only argument for going down this road is if he believes in a democratic upper House which, by its very nature, will then share primacy with this House of Commons. Let him, if he wants that, admit that, rather than try to conceal that fact behind words that do not carry conviction. Mr Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP) rose— Sir Malcolm Rifkind: I take no pleasure in not being able to support the Government and the coalition, in which I am a very strong believer, but it would be unworthy of anyone to argue that a constitutional measure which will have a profound impact on the well-being of this country and of our political system should in any way be influenced by its impact, if it were to be defeated, on other legislative proposals. I have not voted against my party on a three-line Whip for a very long time. I last did so in the 1970s. I do not know what effect it will have this time on my future ministerial career. All I can say is that the last time I did it, in the 1970s, two years later Margaret Thatcher

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appointed me to her Government. So my right hon. and hon. Friends should be of good heart and vote as they believe, and that means voting against the Bill and against the programme motion. 5.6 pm Margaret Beckett (Derby South) (Lab): I regret to have to differ in this matter from my Front-Bench colleague, for whom I have the utmost respect, but in my years in the House I have never supported the establishment of a second House to second-guess this Chamber. I have voted for and would prefer the outright abolition of the second Chamber, if that is what it comes down to, but I have not voted and will not vote for an elected House. I have made that clear to my electorate on the rare occasions when they have shown any interest in the matter whenever I have stood for election—that whatever was said in my party’s manifesto, I would not be voting either for a change to the electoral system or for an elected upper House—and I have made that clear, I should add for the avoidance of doubt, in government as well as out, to a succession of Chief Whips. Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) (Con) rose— Margaret Beckett: I am very short of time. I completely agree that further reform is both necessary and desirable. It is time, for example, to terminate the arrangement for the remaining hereditary peers which was the price in 1999 for ending their complete control of the upper House, and I share the approval of Lord Steel’s recent Bill, which makes many sensible suggestions. I entirely understand why, looking at an upper House whose Members had their place on the basis of being the eldest in their families—not even the best qualified or most interested—people should conclude that reform was necessary and that election was the only way. However, that original hereditary House has been changing and evolving over many years, ever since the Conservative Government of the past introduced life peers. Nearly all those in today’s House are Members because of the contribution that they themselves have made in a variety of ways to the nation’s life, not because of the contribution, dubious or otherwise, of their ancestors. So gradually and with some reluctance, I have over the years come to recognise that there is some merit in an advisory and a revising Chamber with a membership of variety and experience, but my view that we do not want and we do not need a competitive Chamber remains unchanged. I recognise the argument that is put that we can somehow prevent that Chamber from being a competitor, but I do not believe a word of it. Not only is that my own long-standing view, but it was powerfully reinforced. My right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr Clarke) expressed dismay that the Government did not give the Joint Committee the services of the Attorney-General. A former AttorneyGeneral, as I think he was, the late Gareth Williams, a brilliant and distinguished lawyer, told us that if the second House were elected, it would be entitled to compete for power with this Chamber. He said, “You cannot confine, for example, decision making on finance or discussion of the Budget to the House of Commons if you have an elected upper House.”

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Two other matters lead me strongly to oppose the Bill. The first is the specific proposal for the elections. The Deputy Prime Minister has waxed lyrical about the fact that Members of the existing upper Chamber are there by reason of patronage, but that is also what a party list system is—everyone in this House knows that that is the reality—so he proposes replacing one patronage system with another. He also claims that the elections he proposes would convey accountability. As has already been said in the debate, people who are elected for a 15-year, non-renewable term do not need to be, and will not be, accountable to anyone. That brings me to my other major concern. The Liberal Democrats have been particularly vocal about the need for constitutional change, on behalf—they always say—of the people of this country, but they have shown a marked reluctance actually to consult the people of this country. In the coalition negotiations that preceded the formation of the Government, they tried to blackmail each of the major parties into giving them a change in the electoral system without a referendum, and now they are trying to get us to change this whole Parliament without giving the people a chance to express their view. I know that in opinion polling people will say, “Surely it is better to elect the upper House.” As we all know, it all depends on the question that is asked. If people were asked, “Do you want to set up a second Chamber of politicians with all the facilities that would be required, certainly at a cost of tens of millions of pounds, if not substantially more?” I suspect we might get a different answer. The Bill seeks to reshape this entire Parliament and, into the bargain, introduce a different electoral system for the upper House, and all without consulting the people. I shall not vote for it, and trying to force it through without a referendum is the most undemocratic thing about it. 5.11 pm John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): In 1970 I had the privilege of sitting on the steps of the throne in the other place to listen to my father’s maiden speech. In 1995, following what I thought was his untimely death, I had the opportunity to go there myself to make my own speech. In the intervening period I often sat on the steps of the throne, largely because doing so was free and, as a trainee in the Savoy company, I was able to spend afternoons on split shifts there. I listened, watched and learned a great deal about the House of Lords. I remember many great noble Lords making many great speeches, but I came to the view that, however wonderful it was, it was no way to run a legislature. When I arrived in this place, in my maiden speech I made it clear, as I had done in speeches in the other place, that I would seek to work for reform of the Lords and would not rest until it was an elected House. Therefore, I rise to support my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister’s Bill. When I made my maiden speech in this House, what I said on Lords reform was said more in hope than expectation, but let me tell him now that the expectation is high, because this is the right reform, at the right time and in the right context. I believe that for two fundamental reasons. First, in my view the House of Lords is broke. It does not actually work. An hon. Friend referred earlier to the number of Government amendments that the Lords voted against

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[John Thurso] in the last Parliament, but the crucial point is the number that survived scrutiny afterwards in this place. As we all know, when an amendment that is made in the other place arrives here we are told that the Lords have asked us to think again but, as they are not legitimate or elected, let us, the legitimate and elected House, strike it down. That is the critical fix that we need to make. Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con): If I understand the hon. Gentleman’s argument correctly, he is now saying that, because Members of the House of Lords are to be elected, when they turn something down and it comes to this House we will be more likely to give way to their views. If that is the case, surely he accepts that we are in fact giving up part of our powers? John Thurso: Let me come to that point in a moment, because it is a critical part of the argument. The second fundamental reason I believe that the House of Lords should be reformed is that for the past 50 years the Executive have gradually been pruning the powers of Parliament. For 50 years the ability in this House, and in Parliament as a whole, to hold the Government to account has been diminishing. For me, the Bill is primarily about the primacy of Parliament as a whole. It is not a zero-sum game. Increasing the legitimacy of the Lords will increase the legitimacy of Parliament as a whole. Rory Stewart: The hon. Gentleman is making a very interesting speech, but some people who support the Bill say that it will make the upper House stronger, some say that it will leave it the same, some say that the House of Lords is not broken, and the hon. Gentleman says that it is broken. Does he not agree that real constitutional reform requires a consistent vision of the problems—and of the objectives that one is trying to achieve? John Thurso: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. For my own part, I have been consistent in my views ever since I started to think through the matter seriously, and for me the key part is legitimacy, for so long as the other place— Alison Seabeck: Will the hon. Gentleman give way? John Thurso: No, I have given way twice, and that is it, so for the avoidance of doubt I will do so no more. The critical point is that the other place is not regarded as legitimate by us, by the media or by the public at large. If we had an appointed upper House that was regarded as legitimate, as indeed Canada does, that would be worth considering, but we do not. As long as there is no election, the upper House will not be considered legitimate, so we have to move towards election. We need to observe four key principles. First, we need to look at the role of the other place. It does its job up until the point at which what it has done leaves the other place and comes here, so I want the other place to be a place that continues to scrutinise and to advise. Secondly, we need to take the best of what exists. For example, the reason the House of Lords works well is that the Whip is lighter—some would even say, “consensual”

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—up to a certain point, because one cannot be thrown out. By seeking, therefore, to replicate that with long terms and no re-election, that same flavour will come through. Further to that point, and absolutely fundamentally, there should be no competing constituency interests. That is why PR and large constituencies are so important—so that those who are elected cannot claim to represent a county, a division or a town. That is absolutely vital. Thirdly, reform should be gradual: it should be brought in over a period to allow the customs and mores of the other place to survive the transition. The fourth point, which is also of prime importance, is that the upper House should not compete with the House of Commons as the place to form the Government. So I look to what is in the other place now, but the one thing that none of us should be able to support is the status quo. It clearly cannot be right in the 21st century to have half our legislature composed of the rump of the aristocracy, together with the great and the good who have benefited from whatever their parties might have chosen to prefer them with. It is extremely important that we look to an upper House that has legitimacy, has elections and replicates the good parts, but that does not replicate, or seek to replicate, the bad parts. I happily left the other place in 1999 to take my retirement from it, but when I did so I made a prediction to the colleagues whom I left behind, saying that the next stage of reform would not be nearly so easy. I did not for a moment believe that those who had kicked, screamed and gouged their way to party preferment, and had arrived in the other place after all that hard work, would be as happy as I was to leave. That, indeed, seems to be exactly where we are. I have friends in all parts of this House, not perhaps political friends but none the less friends, and I know how many of them would like to see the other place reformed, so I say to all reformers in this House: we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity; for God’s sake, let us take it. 5.19 pm Alan Johnson (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso), who has some experience of these things. This morning, Mr Speaker, I heard on the radio one of your most distinguished predecessors suggesting that this Bill was the end of civilisation as we know it. To me, it is a very small step on the road to a better civilisation that we might arrive at if we could get through some of the very tribal differences that we are expressing today. There are three questions to ask in this debate: first, should we reform the Lords; secondly, if we should reform the Lords, what should be the nature of the reform; and thirdly, should that reform be subject to a referendum of the British people? I came into this House in 1997 on the back of a very important Labour manifesto. We had been out of power for 18 years, and so important was that manifesto that we took the unprecedented step of putting it to every individual member of our party in a programme called “The Road to the Manifesto”. I think that my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett) was in charge of that process.

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As well as saying that we would get rid of hereditary peers, we said that that would be the beginning of “a process of reform to make the House of Lords more democratic and representative.”

Ever since I have been in this place we have, very slowly but very surely, inched towards a consensus on this. That has happened because the quality of our parliamentary democracy must be diminished by a second Chamber that is wholly dependent on privilege or patronage for its membership. Only two countries in the world have a bigger second chamber than first chamber—Burkina Faso and Kazakhstan. Incidentally, I doubt whether they can match the fact that in our House of Lords 54% of Members come from London and the south-east, only a fifth are women, and there are more Members aged over 90 than under 40, which is why my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) once said that the it is a model of how to care for the elderly. Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen) (Con): Does the right hon. Gentleman think that the House of Lords as it currently stands is representative given that two thirds of its Members come from public schools? Alan Johnson: It is a shame that that was said by a Government Member, but the hon. Gentleman makes a fundamental point about why Labour Members have sought reform—originally abolition, but then reform—of the other place. To me, I am afraid, it represents institutionalised snobbery. I do not agree with Walter Bagehot’s comment that the cure for admiring the House of Lords is to go and look at it, but neither do I agree with the constant stream of self-regard that comes from those on the other side of Central Lobby about how it is the greatest, most expert revising chamber ever to be devised in the world. They have certainly been very expert at preserving the status quo. I am quite prepared to listen to and debate the very strong arguments for the status quo made by Members who, despite manifesto commitments, are perfectly entitled to come here and make that case. Incidentally, that is not the view of my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Margaret Beckett), who believes in a unicameral system. However, the consensus that we have been inching towards says that the status quo is indefensible in a modern, 21st century democracy, and that view is reflected in the proposals in the Bill. Mr MacNeil: Does the right hon. Gentleman ever feel that some of those voices arguing for the status quo are perhaps looking to their own jobs at some time in the future? Alan Johnson: The hon. Gentleman tried to intervene on the right hon. and learned Member for Kensington (Sir Malcolm Rifkind), and now he has got his intervention on the record. The first question is, “Do we need to reform the House of Lords?”, and the answer is, “Of course we do.” The second question is, “Are these the right reforms?” I think that they broadly are. I say that not because they are Clegg’s reforms, but because they are Cook’s reforms. One of my great heroes is the late, great Robin Cook. There was no greater parliamentarian and no greater defender of this place. As Leader of the House, he sent

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us through the voting Lobbies seven times. We voted against every option, from a fully elected to a fully appointed House of Lords. The option that nearly got through—it failed by only three votes—was an 80-20 split. Incidentally, the other place voted almost unanimously for a wholly appointed second Chamber. After that, Robin Cook worked with the current Foreign Secretary, the current Leader of the House, the current Lord Chancellor and another great Labour parliamentarian, Tony Wright, the former Member for Cannock Chase, to develop the argument with the “Breaking the Deadlock” proposals of 2005. Those proposals are very similar to this Bill, and to various other attempts, such as that of the Public Accounts Committee and the White Paper published by my right hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw) in 2008. The Labour Cabinet agreed to that paper, which incidentally involved a 50-50 split between elected and appointed Members. In the end, Labour proposed a 100% elected House in the 2010 manifesto. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) knows, because he was a member of the Cabinet at the time, we knew that we might have to concede an 80-20 split because anyone who is serious about pursuing House of Lords reform does not want to take on the disestablishment of the Church of England at the same time, because that is a recipe for permanent procrastination. “Breaking the Deadlock” said that there should be single terms covering three election periods, as did the royal commission under Wakeham in the late ’90s and as have various other documents. It said that Members would be elected by proportional representation, as did our election manifesto in 2010. The reason for that is to keep the primacy of the Commons. When a large proportion of the second Chamber is elected, we need to ensure that they do not seek ministerial office, that they are not after a career and that they will not be difficult with elected local MPs and seek to replace them. That is why everybody who has looked at this matter in any depth has come to the conclusion that there should be long, single terms with no further right to stand again. All of the current proposals are right. I should probably say that they are nearly right before I get into trouble with the Whips—there are obviously some improvements that can be made in Committee. However, to get a consensus and to take advantage of what is an unprecedented opportunity to do something about this issue, as the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross said, I believe that a referendum of the British people is needed. I ask those on the Treasury Bench to consider that. To have legitimacy, the proposals have to be approved by the public. We can then ensure that they are implemented in full. 5.27 pm Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con): It is a great pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson). Although I disagree with a lot of what he says, I have respect for the way in which he says it. I certainly agree with his last point about a referendum. There is wide agreement in this House and in the other place that we want reform of the second Chamber. Sadly, the Bill before us is standing in the way of

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[Mrs Eleanor Laing] measured, necessary reform. If only we had a small Bill that proposed to do what we all know needs to be done, we could get on with it. But we cannot, because the Bill is fundamentally flawed. It undermines democracy in three specific ways: first, it damages accountability; secondly, it has not been subject to proper consultation; and thirdly, it ignores the will of the people. First, a person who is elected for a 15-year, non-renewable term of office is accountable to nobody. Duncan Hames: How would the accountability of the Members of the House of Lords be achieved under the proposals that the hon. Lady would support? Mrs Laing: I do not know what proposals I would support for the House of Lords, because we have not had proper consultation or proper consideration of what ought to be done. I believe that we ought to have a constitutional convention to consider the reform of Parliament as a whole. Once we have done that properly, I will be happy to give the hon. Gentleman my answer. Worse still on the matter of accountability, a body of people who, having been elected, claim to have a democratic mandate, will behave as though they had one. There will be no stopping them. They will flex their democratic muscles and challenge this House of Commons. No matter what any Bill or any convention says, they will challenge the primacy of this House. Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con): When these people are elected to the House of Lords, or the House of senators, or the second Chamber, they will be elected by millions. They will therefore say, “Millions of our people have put me here, so I have a better democratic right than MPs to speak for them.” That will mean a challenge to this Chamber. Mrs Laing: Exactly. Not for the first time, my hon. Friend has got it absolutely spot on. Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that the challenge will be not just here in the Chamber but in every marginal constituency? That is what happens in Australia, where they have the system in question. The equivalent of a Liberal Democrat Senator in a Conservative seat becomes that area’s parliamentary representative, and so it is in every marginal constituency. Mrs Laing: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Joint Committee took evidence from the Australian Parliament, and Members ought to look at that evidence and pay heed to Australia before giving away our primacy. The most worrying thing of all is that as the primacy of the House of Commons is challenged, the unique link of accountability between the elector and his or her representative in Parliament—their Member of this House —will be undermined, so Parliament’s very accountability will be undermined as well. Quite apart from the fact that there is no reasonable question to which the right answer is 450 extra elected politicians, having a second House of Commons at the other end of the corridor will not increase the chances of holding the Government to account. It will do exactly

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the opposite. A clash between the two Houses and a squabble over when and whether the Parliament Acts could be used will lead to a challenge in the courts, and I for one do not want vital political issues to be decided not by Parliament but by the judiciary. Our electors expect us to take responsibility, and they expect the buck to stop with us, their MPs. We ought to fight to preserve that. I turn to the matter of consultation. The subject of Lords reform may have been talked about for 100 years, but we are not considering it in a proper, wider context. Reform of one part of Parliament is reform of Parliament as a whole, but we have been able to consider only the narrow proposals that the Deputy Prime Minister has put forward. I sat on the Joint Committee for eight months, and we recommended a constitutional convention so that the subject could be properly examined in context. The Government have ignored that recommendation, and now we face the possibility that we might not even be able to examine the Bill fully here in the House of Commons because of a narrow programme motion. At the same time, the Government are afraid of a referendum. They are afraid to ask the people. No constitutional convention, no referendum, no proper scrutiny in the House of Commons—that is not democracy. Mr MacNeil: May I do a cursory self-interest check? Will the hon. Lady rule herself out now of ever taking a seat in an unreformed second Chamber? Mrs Laing: No, I will not rule that out—not that I ever expect to be offered a seat, and certainly not by my hon. Friends on the Front Bench. I am probably not the most popular Smartie in the tube today, but I do not care about that: I am here to do my duty for democracy. The Bill ignores the will of the people. Only one year ago, we had an expensive nationwide referendum in which the people overwhelmingly rejected a proportional representation voting system. The Deputy Prime Minister now ignores the will of the people. PR for this House was rejected, so he says, “Let’s introduce it for the other place.” What contempt! What duplicity! Why does he do it? The answer to that non-rhetorical question is that a proportional election system will give the Liberal Democrats a permanent hold on the balance of power in the second Chamber. That is not democracy; it is blatant party political advantage. It is short term and small-minded, and I certainly cannot vote for it. There is very much more to say on this subject, and I hope the House votes to give all the time necessary for proper scrutiny of such fundamental parliamentary reform. Several hon. Members rose— Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans): Order. I remind hon. Members not to approach the Chair to find out when they will speak, as Mr Speaker has indicated. We will try to get in as many hon. Members as we can. 5.36 pm Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North) (Lab): The most fundamental principle of any democracy is that those who exercise political power over us must be elected by us, yet everywhere in the UK it is evident that the long march to extend the franchise has a long way to

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go. The most powerful and influential in our society are not directly elected—the media, the bankers and the civil service. Even the chief executive of our Government is not directly elected. We are still one of the few western democracies in which the people are not trusted to elect directly their Prime Minister—the top politician in the land. Our problem is not too much democracy, but not enough democracy. Elections are almost a guarantee of powerlessness. Anyone contaminated by contact with the ballot box is edged around by regulation, oversight and rules that dull our enterprise and inhibit our leadership. For example, locally elected councillors are bound by 1,500 Acts of Parliament, which render them as little more than agents of the centre. Elected Members of Parliament have a fleeting existence as an electoral college on general election night, but thereafter are laughably alleged to hold to account the very Executive that whips them to vote for them several times a day, every day, every week. Dan Byles: Presumably, therefore, the hon. Gentleman will be delighted that a large number of Government Members will show that we are more independent by not giving in to the Whips and by voting against the programme motion? Mr Allen: I very much hope that Government Members exercise their independence in pursuit of parliamentary sovereignty and a wider democracy rather than in pursuit of any special interest—I am sure that will happen. In all those areas, reform is a relatively simple matter, but the most centralised state of all western democracies is blocking the way—the sclerotic relic of an empire, with England as the last country to throw off its yoke. The regime is so suffocating and so clueless about the alternatives that some of our blood relatives in the nations of our kingdom feel driven to break free of it. There is an alternative, as there always has been, and as the best elements of the philosophies of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal parties have always known and for which they have always fought: the ballot box. No one, and above all hon. Members, needs to be afraid of the ballot box or of spreading electoral possibility. The ballot box is the weapon feared most not by those outside the House, but by Executive power, whether in the House or elsewhere. The vote can deliver devo-max not just for the nations of the UK, but for this Parliament and for locally elected councils, and above all for individuals in our country. Today, we will see whether this elected House, this poor, whipped, dwarf of a legislator, can reconnect with its historic mission to extend the franchise, or whether we decide to pull up the drawbridge so that none can share our meagre status. Can we outgrow this fairytale of parliamentary sovereignty and our self-delusion about the primacy of the first Chamber? The cold, harsh reality is that we have Executive sovereignty and the primacy of Government. That is what dominates British politics, not some fairyland where Members of Parliament dominate the political scenario. Mr Watts: As an ex-Whip, my hon. Friend will know that we have had more rebellions in the past 10 years than we had in years before that. Does that not prove the independence of the House of Commons?

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Mr Allen: My hon. Friend makes his point, but anyone looking objectively at this House would see two competing teams, one for the Government, the other against, and it is rare that there is rebellion or independence of mind, as he well knows. We should not fear the liberty and the improvement of the second Chamber. It might actually be the making of the freedom of the first Chamber. It might be one step on the road to having a free and independent legislature that would challenge the power of the Executive. Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab): I wouldn’t hold your breath. Mr Allen: My right hon. Friend, having been a strong member of a past Executive, knows where he is most powerful. Is he most powerful sitting on the Back Benches here, or was he most powerful when in Whitehall and commanding a Government Department? We could discuss how effective the scrutiny was that he went through. To have an un-elected Chamber with a say in passing laws over our citizens is a democratic abomination. It is not a deficit, an anachronism or a quaint ceremonial corner; it is an insult to every elector in the land. It is hobbling and repressive. It says to our citizens, “You are not capable or worthy of deciding your own future, of deciding who should run your country.” It says that this country is about deference and patronage, about a lack of self-confidence and belief, and about insiders and those who know better. It is about our past, not our future. It is an open wound in the body of our democracy and it must be healed. That wound can be healed only by introducing the elective principle to the second Chamber. That is what this generation of parliamentarians in both Houses can achieve over the next year, and it can be done without beheading those whose service in the second Chamber deserves our respect, not our abuse. For those of us who for 25 years or more have worked for reform, standing on the shoulders of a century of giants before us, these proposals are the most serious attempt yet to bring about a change in our democracy and bring it into the modern era. Their courage and ambition mock the flaccid indecision of recent years. Are the proposals perfect? No, of course not. Only the 650 different plans in the minds of each hon. Member are perfect, but that is why, theoretically at least, we have a parliamentary process. There is a— Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans): Order. 5.43 pm Mr Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West) (Con): I am delighted to follow the Chairman of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee. I share much of his analysis but arrive at the opposite conclusion. The Deputy Prime Minister builds his case on three broad themes. First, there is his claim about the manifesto commitments. It is clear, however, that the Conservative manifesto contained no commitment to legislate—the Prime Minister famously described it as a third-term issue. Regardless, however, I would urge my hon. Friends to think carefully about their responsibilities as Members of this House. We are not delegates sent here to nod through whatever our parties ask, but representatives sent here to exercise our judgment in the public interest.

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[Mr Graham Brady] I would also like to reflect on the case for a referendum. If it were true, as the Deputy Prime Minister said, that all the major parties promised the Bill at the general election, then contrary to the assertions of the Ministers, the public were presented with no choice at the general election, so the case for a referendum on such major constitutional change is compelling. Alison Seabeck: The hon. Gentleman is giving a thoughtful speech, as have other Members. If it is possible to have a referendum in a local authority—for instance, on something to do with council tax—surely it is absolutely right, on an issue as significant as this, that the British public should be offered the same choice. Mr Brady: The hon. Lady is absolutely right. The case is compelling. Ministers really cannot have it both ways. Much of what has been said about the Bill, however, concerns not party commitments but calculations of party advantage. We spend too much time here pursuing party advantage. To do so in changing our constitution would be not just wrong but contemptible. Let me turn to the other parts of the Deputy Prime Minister’s case—the points of principle on which I hope the House will judge any proposal to effect a massive change in our constitutional arrangements. These are whether reform is needed and the argument that there is an absolute principle that those who legislate for the people should be chosen by the people. There has been an effort to paint opposition to the Bill as reactionary opposition to any change. Nothing could be further from the truth. Few on either side of this House or in the other House would dispute the need for reform. The Lords is too big and it needs a route to retirement. It also needs a means of removing those found guilty of serious crimes. All this, as my hon. Friend the Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing) said, could be enacted with little dissent here or in the other place. However, desirable as reforming the Lords may be, I would contend that reforming the Lords without reforming this House would be to miss the point. The public are not stupid: they know where power is located in our Parliament. They know that it is in this House and not the other. People certainly dislike politicians who break promises or who seem interested more in seeking or holding on to office than in serving the public good, but this is seen as a failing in the House of Commons far more than in the House of Lords. People notice that this House is poor at holding the Government to account. They see that we make only a desultory effort at scrutinising legislation—although I trust that this Bill will be an exception. People see the damaging effects of patronage—against which Lord Ashdown railed in the weekend press—but they know that patronage is a greater impediment to the freedom of this House than it is to that of the Lords. We are agreed that the House of Lords needs reforming, but reforming the Lords while flunking the far more important task of strengthening the Commons would be profoundly mistaken. Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD): The hon. Gentleman will know that the coalition agreement is clear that we need to work to reform the

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effectiveness of this place, but is he clear that he appears to be proposing that we should end up with a second legislative Chamber that is slightly altered, but all of whose Members are appointed? Is that really justifiable in 2012? Mr Brady: The right hon. Gentleman should be patient. Let me turn to the most important pillar of the Deputy Prime Minister’s case: that those who legislate for the people should be chosen by the people. Many of the opponents of the Bill, on both sides of the House, reject that. They rightly point to the expertise of the upper House. They highlight the obvious truth that an elected or part-elected upper House would be more inclined to challenge the primacy of the House of Commons. I accept both assertions, but unlike many of my hon. Friends, I would support an elected upper House in spite of them. However, that is not what the Bill delivers. We do not have time today to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the United States constitution. There can certainly be gridlock between the Houses in the United States, but the legislation it produces is at least as effective as ours, and Congress is certainly far better able to hold the Executive to account than we are. However, is the Bill before us today one that would excite Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Paine? Is it a great clarion call for government of the people, by the people? It is not. Mrs Anne McGuire (Stirling) (Lab): Will the hon. Gentleman give way? Mr Brady: No, I cannot give way again. Let us look at the reality of the Bill and some of the reasons why it should be rejected by any true advocate of reform. Even if the Bill were enacted unamended and even if all the electoral cycles it envisages were allowed to take place and the reformed House foreshadowed by the Bill were implemented in full, we would have a bizarre and opaque arrangement—a House of indeterminate size, with an unknown number of Members appointed as Ministers by prime ministerial patronage; an appointments commission for the unelected Members responsible for vetting appointees for propriety, but not if they were appointed as Ministers; and a number of bishops, as has already been said. Instead of a simple, transparent democratic process, the Bill proposes an absurdly complex hybrid assembly: elections by not one but two different systems of proportional representation; and party lists to help to maintain the central powers of the political parties over who will sit in the newly constituted Chamber. Far from the high principle of an elected Chamber, we have a ridiculous fudge, justified by the Deputy Prime Minister as a gradual move towards a wholly elected Senate, although he, like the Prime Minister on previous occasions, has suggested with a nod and a wink that the second and third cycles may never happen, and that that will be open to this House or indeed to the public in a referendum to decide. As an advocate both of reforming the Lords and of introducing more democracy to our institutions, I shall oppose this appalling Bill because if those are its aims, I believe it will fail utterly to achieve them. The Bill fails to address the real problem in our democracy—a Commons that is so greatly dominated by the Government that it fails to perform its core functions of holding Ministers

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to account and of scrutinising legislation effectively. I urge the House to vote against a Bill that is complex where it should be simple, that preserves patronage instead of providing real democracy, and that yet again allows this House to avoid confronting the truth about its own shortcomings. 5.51 pm Mr Peter Hain (Neath) (Lab): Despite his eloquence, I disagree with most of what the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Brady) said. There are two issues that I wish to address from the outset. The first is the charge that now is not the right time. It never is the right time to introduce constitutional reform. That is the dreary, weary excuse that anti-reformers use over and over again. It was used about devolution and almost every other constitutional reform brought in by the last Labour Government whom I was proud to serve. What if great reformers over the years had decided that it was not the right time? What if Aneurin Bevan had said, “I have this really good idea for a national health service, but the country is broke and we are probably going to lose the next election, so it is not the right time”? What if the suffragettes had said, “We’d really like the right to vote, but there is so much else going on at the moment; let’s leave it to the men for a few more years”? Secondly, if any of us had been starting from scratch and designing a second Chamber for a new, modern democracy, it is inconceivable that any of us would have come up with the House of Lords in its present incarnation. Of course we would not have done so; the very idea is risible. The truth is the House of Lords is an anachronism, and we all know it. Yes, it performs a valuable scrutinising and revising role. Yes, it demonstrates a diligence often superior to that of the Commons. When I was a Minister appearing before a Lords Parliamentary Committee, the standard of questioning was often more stringent and, I regret to say, its members often better informed than those in the Commons. There is, however, absolutely no reason why that standard of performance could not be maintained, possibly even exceeded, by a democratic second Chamber with new blood and new expertise. This is not about a personnel change; it is about accountability and democracy. In any case, the fact that the House of Lords performs a valuable role is no reason to maintain it in its current constitutional form. It is a democratic farce, an arbitrary mixture of a majority deriving their place from patronage and a minority deriving it from titles inherited from a liaison with a royal, centuries ago. It is a hangover from pre-democracy days, a constitutional dinosaur. Labour has a proud record, going back to our first Labour leader, Keir Hardie, of demanding a democratic second Chamber. If we do not take this opportunity now, through this Bill, to ensure that we have a democratically constituted second Chamber, we will be throwing away that opportunity—if not for ever, certainly for this generation. It is a “now or maybe never” decision. We will try to amend the Bill. For instance, I am a supporter of the reformed democratic second Chamber having a “secondary” not a “primary” mandate. That principle, eloquently enunciated by Billy Bragg, will help to address the crucial issue of the primacy of the Commons. I am not in favour of electors having two

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votes—one for MPs, one for Lords—as there should be just one vote: for MPs. This House should continue to have the primary representative mandate from our constituents. Parliament should consist of MPs with legislative primacy by virtue of their primary mandate, with peers discharging their important revising, scrutinising role by virtue of their democratic but secondary mandate. That is an issue for Committee; for now, we have a duty to give the Bill a Second Reading. Oliver Heald: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Joint Committee, which examined at the draft Bill, suggested that the Government should have another look at forms of indirect election that preserve the supremacy of this House while still giving a democratic legitimacy to the other place? Does he agree that looking again at some of those ideas would be well worth while? Mr Hain: I do if the hon. Gentleman means by that the secondary mandate. I remind the House that the last time the Commons voted on a very similar proposition to that put forward by the Deputy Prime Minister—the one put by my right hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw) in March 2007—it voted decisively for an elected Chamber. A 100% elected Chamber was favoured by 337 votes to 224, and an 80% elected one by 305 votes to 267. Surely this House of Commons, with hundreds of younger MPs of a new generation, is not going to backtrack on that vote? With new MPs of a new generation, we should be increasing the majority for reform. One of our greatest parliamentarians, Robin Cook, told the House on 4 Feb 2003 that there was a real possibility of House of Lords reform becoming a parliamentary equivalent of “Waiting for Godot”: “it never arrives and some have become rather doubtful whether it even exists, but we sit around talking about it year after year.”—[Official Report, 4 February 2003; Vol. 399, c. 152.]

For the very first time, all three parties have a manifesto mandate for Lords reform. To betray that mandate would be to betray trust even more. This House has a once in a p political lifetime opportunity to bring down the curtain on what must rank as the longest political gridlock in the history of parliamentary democracy. It is high time we resolved this once and for all, and brought our democracy fully into the 21st century by an historic decision for a democratic second Chamber. Mike Gapes (Ilford South) (Lab/Co-op): In response to an earlier intervention, my right hon. Friend referred to indirect elections. Would it not be sensible, and would it not have been sensible over the last 10 years, to have seriously considered the alternative approach, as in India, of having an indirectly elected second Chamber with a small composition to reflect the regions and nations of this country rather than bring in a party-list PR model of regional election? Mr Hain: I am not sure that I agree with my hon. Friend. What I favour is different proportions of party votes given to MPs then going into a regional pool, as the Bill envisages in its proposal for second votes to determine the numbers of party representatives in the second Chamber, subject to the specified transitional arrangements. This closed list mechanism is not one used in European, Welsh or Scottish elections, which

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[Mr Hain] quite properly have open lists, but it is not appropriate, in my view, for elections in which voters elect primary legislators in Europe, Wales and Scotland. However, a new democratic second Chamber would be unique among our institutions because a direct mandate from voters would compromise the primacy of the Commons. That is my view. If I win that argument in Committee, so be it. I hope to do so, but I will still vote for the Bill because it is vital to get it out of the House of Commons in good order so that it goes to the House of Lords. That is essential. Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD): I think the right hon. Gentleman has talked a lot of sense, but does he not accept that if Opposition Members vote against the programme motion, it would seriously jeopardise Lords reform and our ability to get it through? Mr Hain: No, I do not. I am glad I took that intervention. I am a former business manager, as I used to be Leader of the House, and I say that if a Government with this majority want to get this Bill through, they will get it through—with or without a programme motion. When we were in government, and we introduced the system of programme motions, I cannot recall off hand— there might be examples, but they would have to be searched for—either Liberal Democrats or Conservatives ever voting for them. They consistently voted against our programme motions—for honourable Opposition reasons —and I when I was Leader of the House the current Leader consistently opposed my arguments for programme motions when we were introducing new Bills. It is the duty of the Opposition to seek proper scrutiny of the Bill, which the programme motion does not allow. It is not our duty to provide extra time for the right-wing Bills that occupied the rest of the Queen’s Speech. I shall vote enthusiastically for the Bill’s Second Reading, and will follow that up by supporting the Bill in principle at the end of its parliamentary stages. It is vital for it to leave the House of Commons and go to the House of Lords—and let battle then commence. 6 pm Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con): At the time when the right hon. Member for Neath (Mr Hain) was Leader of the House, I was the shadow Leader who opposed all the motions that he tabled. I do not remember agreeing with him very often, but I think that he said something important today when he talked of the secondary mandate system, the vital need to ensure that this place retains primacy, and the need for effective government. My concerns about the proposals in the Bill relate to the central provision allowing the election of senators, or representatives, for the regions. In future, instead of the simple constituency link that we have at present, with one parliamentary representative being elected for each area, there will be a number of senators. In marginal seats a parliamentary representative for the Conservatives may be elected to this House, and a parliamentary representative for the Liberal Democrats may be elected to the senate. I see that the hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert) is looking at me. In a three-way marginal such as the seat that he represents, there will be three surgeries every week.

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Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way as he chose to name me. Let me say that I am not sure it is a three-way marginal, although I suspect that my constituents would be delighted to hear more. Does the hon. Gentleman accept that what he has described is very similar to what happens now? There are extra representatives in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in the European Parliament and on councils. Giving the people a say in the composition of the other House merely means that they will be able to exercise some direct influence, which does not happen when Members are appointed through patronage. Oliver Heald: What is happening is the creation of a culture of the multi-Member constituency. An individual constituent will be able to choose whether to go to the Liberal Democrat, the Conservative or the Labour representative in Parliament, and I do not believe that that is good for our country. I believe that it is important for a Member of Parliament to represent all his constituents, and for the constituents to know where to go when they need help or want to raise an issue. That is good for them, and it is good for us. Anna Soubry (Broxtowe) (Con): Although I support the Bill, as a Member representing one of the most marginal seats in the House—my majority is 389—I think that my hon. Friend is making an extremely important point which must be considered. I can imagine how, had I been elected under the proposed system in the last election, my Labour or Liberal Democrat opponent would have sought to undermine my position by claiming that he or she had a mandate equal to mine. Oliver Heald: My hon. Friend is right to be concerned about that. The Joint Committee took evidence from Australian senators. The Australian system is similar to that proposed in the Bill. Senator Ursula Stephens from the governing Labour party told us: “I am allocated a number of seats that are not held by the Government in the lower House in my state. I look after those constituents who do not have a government representative. Those people might come to me about issues and legislation.”

Senator Lee Rhiannon from the Australian Greens said: “we have nine Senators and only one Member in the House of Representatives. The issue of working with constituents is very important for us and it takes up quite a bit of time.”

Senator Michael Ronaldson of the Opposition Liberal Party said: “I do not think that you can make the assumption that you will not be engaged in constituency-type work, particularly if the elected Lords in an area—as Senator Stephens said—come from the other party. If you are a Member of the non-ruling party, the Lords might find that they have more people knocking on their doors than they might otherwise have anticipated.”

When the Clerk of the House gave evidence, he spoke of the danger of “constituency case tourism”. We must try to avoid such constituency conflicts. Simon Hughes: I share my hon. Friend’s concern. That is a real issue, and I think it will have to be addressed if we proceed with the Bill. There are ways in which it could be dealt with: for example, it could be

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agreed that Ministers would deal only with Members of the House of Commons when it came to constituency casework. Oliver Heald: That issue is not addressed in the Bill. I mentioned the Clerk of the House a moment ago, and he has appeared on cue! The power of the people is in this House, not at the other end of the building. That is why, when we are arguing with the Lords about a Bill, they always give way eventually. When I was a Whip, I went down there and had discussions with them, as many other Members will have done. In the end, they say, “You are the elected House; you have your way.” I recall hardly any occasions during my time here when, in the end, they have not caved in, because we are the elected House. I believe in efficient and effective government. I think that it is something the Conservative party has stood for over the years. We have given this country more than 250 years of good government—or, at least, we have given a lot of it during that period. [Laughter.] I remember the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) saying “It must be healed.” I agree: it must be Heald. Following the proposed changes, we will struggle to have effective government. The Parliament Acts cannot be used on every occasion. It is a nuclear option. We rely on the Lords’ giving way, but the fact is that without conventions and arrangements between the Houses —some means of ensuring that we always prevail in the end—it will be more difficult to ensure that we have effective government in this country. When a party makes promises in its manifesto, it will not be able to deliver on them. When we experience a crisis, as we have recently, it will be difficult to introduce urgent measures with the necessary speed. Let me make a suggestion. It is in the Joint Committee report, the alternative report and in my pamphlet, which can be read on the website of the Society of Conservative Lawyers. Let us see whether we can avoid regional elections which provide a geographical power base, which would mean the people at the other end of the building representing a group of constituents from an area. Let us consider indirect election. There are various different models. My right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kensington (Sir Malcolm Rifkind) mentioned the German model, and the right hon. Member for Neath mentioned the secondary mandate model. There are ways of doing this. I support reform and I think that we should do it, but I do not agree with the Bill, and I believe that it needs to be looked at again. 6.8 pm Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles) (Lab): I was in two minds about applying to speak in the debate, and I remain deeply conflicted. That is partly because I honestly believe that taking an immense amount of time to debate the Bill is a distraction from some of the very real problems that face the country. With a million young people out of work, with families struggling to make ends meet and with one of the worst recessions that we have ever known, I feel that we would use the House’s time better not just in debating those subjects, but in debating action to tackle them.

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It also worries me, although I understand the reasons for it, that we have spent the last six months talking about Leveson and the public inquiry into the press—we have had six months of politicians talking about journalists —and now we are to have a further nine months of politicians talking about politicians. If anything is a bigger turn-off for the people of this country, I do not know what it is. Mr Leech: The right hon. Lady will have a perfect opportunity tomorrow evening to vote for the programme motion and thus ensure that there is not too much debate on the Bill. Hazel Blears: I can tell the hon. Gentleman that when I said that I was in two minds about the Bill, I meant that while one part of me says that it is a distraction, the other part says that it is one of the most cynical deceptions to be inflicted on the people of this country, for deeply partisan reasons. The people who are promoting this Bill, supposedly in the name of democracy, are using the language of high moral purpose, but, as the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing) said, the Bill is really motivated by partisan low politics designed for party advantage. I have therefore decided to vote against the programme motion, in order to give the Bill as much scrutiny as possible. I am sick and tired of the people promoting this Bill painting those of us who have genuine objections to it as reactionary—diehards, dinosaurs, opposed to reform. I say to them that nothing could be further from the truth. I am utterly opposed to privilege. The last time we voted on these issues I voted to abolish the House of Lords. If I had that option now, I would vote for it again. I believe we could have a unicameral system with much more pre-legislative scrutiny and experts involved. The primacy of this elected House of Commons to our constituents is the top priority for me. Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con): The Liberal Democrats currently hold the balance of power in this Chamber, and it has been suggested that if the programme motion is not passed tomorrow and if the Bill does not pass, Liberal Democrat Members will vote against the boundary changes. [Interruption.] I am glad to hear them saying that that is the case. Does the right hon. Lady agree that that illustrates what they would do if they were to hold the balance of power in the upper House? They would hold Parliament to ransom over every issue that suited them. Hazel Blears: As ever, the hon. Gentleman makes a point that goes to the heart of this debate. I have included comments in my speech about squalid partisan back-room deals. I have the utmost respect for my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson), and he made an excellent speech today. If he were still present in the Chamber, however, I would ask him this question: he is a proponent of democracy, but what is democratic about a 15-year term? The Chartists have a very proud history in my constituency of Salford, with 250,000 people demonstrating for universal suffrage. They wanted annual Parliaments. They have never achieved that, but 15-year terms are the antithesis of anything that could be called democratic.

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[Hazel Blears] What is democratic about regional party lists, too? There has been a lot of talk today about patronage, which is how people find their way into the House of Lords at present. Patronage under regional party lists would be many times worse than that. We should consider the situation in other countries. Some 90% of the Members of Parliament in Spain live within 50 miles of Madrid because they know their position is dependent on the patronage of a central party. Our Parliament is already too London-centric, but that would be exacerbated. Chris Huhne (Eastleigh) (LD) rose— Hazel Blears: I do not have time to give way. I believe that one of the biggest problems facing this country and our democracy is the growth of a political elite—a political class—and the consequent disaffection of voters. This year’s Hansard Society annual audit of political engagement makes very sad reading. It says: “The growing sense of indifference to politics highlighted in the last Audit report appears to have hardened into something more serious this year: the trends in indicators such as interest, knowledge, certainty to vote and satisfaction with the system of governing are downward, dramatically so in some instances”.

We have a problem in this House. In 1970, only 3% of MPs said they had come into Parliament through a political advisor or special advisor route. At the last election, that figure had risen to 25%. That constitutes a political elite. We must not for one moment think that if we have an elected second Chamber, we will get an influx of young, vibrant, democratic people from all walks of life. Some 40% of the Members of the US Senate are former politicians. Some 76% of Members of the Australian Senate have previously worked for political parties. They are staffers—they are people on the inside. How are we going to combat the problem of having a political elite if there is no place for independents? Mr Hain rose— Hazel Blears: I am sorry, but I have given way twice and I shall now press on. If we accept this dreadful proposal before us, may I make a couple of practical pleas? First, we must require candidates to live in the areas they represent—not to have an address of convenience there so that they can live in London and travel up every so often. We have done that with police commissioners, and we can do it with the second Chamber. Secondly, I want the second Chamber to take its work out across the country. If we simply have a replica of our Chamber, we will have no chance of combating political disaffection. The second Chamber could go out, take evidence, and have sessions out in the country. My noble Friend Lord Adonis has suggested that it be based at Salford quays. I am not necessarily making a plea for that today, but this is a serious point. If we have a second Chamber, we must change the way in which it works. We must make sure that, by analysing the functions, not the form, we end up with a Chamber that will not challenge the primacy of this House of Commons. I want to say a word about the politics. I believe the proposals in this Bill are a deceit. They are expressed in the language of high moral purpose, but they are really

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about pretty low politics. I believe they are a Trojan horse for the Liberal Democrats to sustain power and influence, and permanently hold the balance of power in the second Chamber. The Liberal Democrat party cannot win enough first votes, so it relies on back-room secretive squalid deals to get its own way: the Liberal Democrats get proportional representation on closed lists, and the Conservative party gets boundary changes with the windfall of possibly 20 extra seats. The alternative vote referendum showed what the British people really want. They want to elect a Government on a clear manifesto with clear policies, and for that Government to get on with governing the country. They do not want a party who got fewer MPs at the last election to end up having Cabinet Ministers who have no mandate to hold their post. I believe that what we have here is people posturing as democrats and masquerading as champions of the people. They say one thing, but they do another; that sounds familiar to me. This is about self-interest, and what is being done is untrustworthy and unworthy of this country. I certainly will not vote for this Bill as it stands. 6.16 pm Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con): It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears). I found that I could agree with much of her speech—although certainly not all of it. That is also my view of this Bill: it is not a perfect Bill, but neither do I think the House of Lords is perfect. That is why I am more than happy to vote for the Bill on Second Reading, but I would not be prepared to support it in its current form on Third Reading. I have mulled over the idea of a Committee of the whole House having 10 days to amend the Bill. Given all the other important work this Government also have to do, that may well be enough time for us to find consensus. Indeed, I am hearing a lot of agreement on some points. I think there is consensus that we must reduce the size of the second Chamber, for instance. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: My hon. Friend has obviously read the timetable motion as carefully as I have. Does she realise that it gives only two hours for Third Reading? As any votes will eat into that time, there may well not be a Third Reading vote on a Bill that is of such great constitutional importance. Harriett Baldwin: We could oppose Third Reading, therefore, if we felt we had not achieved consensus in this House. There is also consensus in this House that anyone who has been convicted of a serious crime should be kicked out. The cost of the second Chamber must be reduced, too. I am not convinced on this point; I will need quite a lot of convincing in respect of the Deputy Prime Minister’s earlier assertion that this proposal would be cost-neutral. Jesse Norman: The cost figures have reached their current level only by the entirely illegitimate manoeuvre of including costs—such as costs of the Commons associated with the Lords—that have not yet been recognised in legislation, let alone achieved, as well as by ignoring the £85.7 million cost of five-yearly elections.

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Harriett Baldwin: My hon. Friend makes some wise points, but it is unlikely that an elected Member of the second Chamber would be able to get by with only one member of staff, which is an assumption made in the costings. There are a number of questions about that issue, and I think we would all want the cost to be at least lower than it is now. Let me deal with the contentious areas, where there might be more disagreement across the Floor of the House. I am strongly in favour of the bishops continuing their constitutional role in the second Chamber. They play a valuable and important role, and reflect the fact that we have an official Church of England role in our constitution. Ian Lucas rose— Harriett Baldwin: I have given way twice, so unfortunately I do not have time to do so again. On the question of what voting system we use, I am aware that the coalition agreement said that we would use proportional representation and that it has some attractions. Some of the things we like about the second Chamber at the moment, such as the fact that some distinguished former Members of this House have been appointed to it, could be continued were we to carry on with that voting system. I would fight for Baroness Thatcher to be top of any list that the Conservative party would field, so from that point of view there are some merits in the PR system. However, it is clear that in many countries where PR has been used it is an extremely unsatisfactory system. Israel elects its “Commons” on the basis of PR, which often ends up giving the balance of power to undesirable elements. I would have a significant concern about that. I think we all agree that Cross Benchers play an extremely important role, and if I were to move in any direction from what is proposed, it would be to give an increased weight to them. However, I now wish to discuss something that has not been mentioned—the geographical problems of what is being proposed—and relate it to my private Member’s Bill in the last Session on the West Lothian question. In its current form, the Bill would clearly exacerbate problems with the West Lothian question. We have yet to see the report from the West Lothian commission, but I anticipate it in this Session of Parliament. A further look at how the upper House worked would clearly need to be taken because of the West Lothian question, so I throw out a proposal to colleagues: rather than have the much larger geographical constituencies proposed in the Bill, let us do away with the geographical link altogether and have national proportional weighting in the allocations in the upper House. Such an approach would completely sever the geographical link, which I know a lot of colleagues have expressed concerns about, and would solve the West Lothian question. Mr Gray rose— Harriett Baldwin: I have taken two interventions and have only a couple of minutes left. I want to allow many colleagues to contribute, so unfortunately I will not give way. I wish to conclude by saying that I hope we can use the 10 days available to move forward constructively with the things the House agrees on. I hope that in this

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Session our proposals will carry the majority of the House, so that we can look back on this opportunity to reform the House of Lords and say that we did not fall into the temptation to filibuster and talk out the Bill, but were able to leave behind, for future Parliaments, a more reformed second Chamber. 6.23 pm Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab): I think that this afternoon we have established that the calumny that if someone is against this Bill they are against reform and modernisation has been laid to rest. It is absolutely clear that someone can be in favour of a very different second Chamber based on a very different franchise and be vehemently against what the Government propose in this Bill. Secondly, I think that we have established that we genuinely need as much time as possible to debate this Bill. That has been shown by the variety of views expressed, including by those who are in favour of the Bill and will vote, at least in principle, for it tomorrow night. The views expressed this afternoon about the future of our constitution, the nature of our government, and the relationship between this Chamber and the second Chamber are so numerous that they demonstrate, if ever it needed demonstrating, that we need not only time to scrutinise the Bill properly, but the constitutional convention advocated by at least half the Joint Committee. We need that constitutional convention for this reason: this afternoon we have had demonstrated a number of substantial constitutional changes introduced over the past 15 years, many of which have proved to be successful, but the idea of one fundamental constitutional change taken in isolation demonstrates that we do not have joined-up thinking in this country about where our constitution is going. We have, as the Deputy Prime Minister himself demonstrated this afternoon, the real danger of the break-up of the United Kingdom and the vote on the future of Scotland. We have the McKay commission on existing devolution. We have propositions on a written Bill of Rights. We have, undoubtedly, in the future a new relationship between the United Kingdom, in whatever guise, and the European Union and the eurozone. We also have a range of minor constitutional changes that have already happened. In those circumstances, taking the future of the second Chamber out of the equation and dealing with it separately does not make sense. Furthermore, and fundamentally, we have also had demonstrated this afternoon the fact that certain individuals on both sides of this House—those on my side and among Liberal Democrats—do see our constitution in different terms. I have also learned this afternoon, although I really already knew this, that quite a lot of people do not understand the constitutions of other countries. I can only presume that those who have spoken—good Labour friends of mine—do understand what they are proposing when they suggest a system that would actually have the Executive outside Parliament rather than in it. My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) suggested that, and my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson) came close to suggesting it. The Liberal Democrats— through the development of proportional representation; through the break with the single-Member constituency; through the advocacy, as is in this Bill, of being able to

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[Mr David Blunkett] appoint Ministers who are not from or within Parliament, but who are from outside it and then do not have to be part of the Parliament; and through the criticism of the way in which the Government within Parliament do not allow for scrutiny—are demanding a debate, and it is one that we should have, about whether we should fundamentally change our constitution for the future. I am against that change; I believe that we should elect a Government. A clear mandate from the people for a Government is something people in this country have valued. We can do that only by the single-Member constituency, the electoral system we have and the Parliament to which we give primacy. Hazel Blears: Does my right hon. Friend agree that the issue of single terms of 15 years goes right to the heart of accountability and democracy? Mr Blunkett: That is at the heart of the criticism of this Bill. Once legitimacy is given to elected politicians without the accountability of their having to seek re-election and be re-elected, the very fundamentals of democracy are undermined. That is because, as I am on the record saying on the morning after the election, democracy is not simply about electing people; it is about being able to get rid of them. The admirable speech made at the Magna Carta lecture by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 15 June demonstrated that par excellence. Simon Hughes: Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that nothing in this Bill suggests that Governments would not be formed on the simple principle of needing to command a majority in the House of Commons? That is as it has been and as it is, and there is no proposal that it should not continue in that way. If that is the case, the threat, and the suggestion he makes, that electing people to the other place would change that is entirely unsupported by anything in the Bill. Mr Blunkett: I suggest that the right hon. Gentleman read the Bill, because it suggests, for the first time in our history, that Ministers can be appointed outwith the second Chamber but report to it. We have always had to appoint people to that Chamber, who have worked within it and have continued to be a part of it, if they were to be Ministers. The fundamental rub I foresee is that we will create mistrust in the electorate. We will say that we are going to replace people who are unaccountable and not legitimate, but then we will put up regional party lists—in the case of Yorkshire, the region covers 5 million people—and simply tell electors to tick the box on the list. People will turn on us, because that is a delusion. That is why we should vote against the Bill and against the programme motion. 6.30 pm Mr Richard Shepherd (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con): It is a great pleasure to follow the former Home Secretary, the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett), and to hear his views. Many interesting views have been expressed; clearly the House is well divided.

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A former colleague in this House, the right hon. Tony Benn, would remind us of the story of when Mr Gandhi came to England and was asked by British reporters what he thought of democracy in England and he replied that he thought it would be a jolly good idea. That shows our conceit about ourselves and elsewhere, as we are not entirely democratic. Tony Benn also used to point out that the Crown resides not at the end of the Mall, but in Downing street. This House is an appointed House, in one way. The occupant of the Chair might not be directly chosen by Her Majesty, but is approved by her. We have all sort of tangles in an ancient constitution and they are often difficult to reconcile, but my whole parliamentary career—although “career” is a rather grand word that might imply some sort of distinction—has been based on the quest for us to become a democratic nation in which everyone elected here speaks on behalf of someone. That is what causes me the difficulty with the Bill, and the Deputy Prime Minister did not answer my concern. I do not think that he feels democracy, and my disappointment is that, over the years, the Liberal Democrats have stood for democratic issues and have stood against guillotines—in fact, I voted many times with them—but since they went into coalition, that has all been tipped out. That is at the heart of my disillusionment about the intent of fine men who stand up and make bold promises. I genuinely believe that people should just read the Bill. It is unconscionable to say that someone must stand for election, an idea on which the Deputy Prime Minister has based his Bill, but can never be accountable. We are reverting to the aristocracy of the 19th century, who were all Members of the House of Lords but could conduct their business from the south of France. Indeed, as I look towards my own possible retirement, I think I probably should go to the Lords. I do not know whether I have 15 years left—[HON. MEMBERS: “Of course you have.”] No, I am not sure about that; we may be running out of time. It is an unconscionable idea, but how agreeable. Perhaps our bankers should all become Members of the House of Lords. They would not have to be here at all. There are many flaws in the Bill. However much I might believe in the necessity of the affirmation and consent, rather than the casually given acquiescence, of the people, I cannot support it. As for the very idea that we can put everything to a referendum, I tried and struggled to get a referendum on Maastricht, which was absolutely impossible, but we can have referendums on whether I tie my laces or on whether to have an elected mayor for wherever. That is the contradiction in this whole farrago. I say to my Liberal Democrat colleagues, those good souls sitting on the Benches in front of me who have been led to contradicting everything that they have stood for as long as I have been in this House, that they do not want elections to be held after people have been effectively shoo’d into the House of Lords. I cannot go for that. The constituencies are bigger than countries, so we will have 11 Members of Parliament, but who will they be representing? I do not know, and I do not think that it will work. The Liberal Democrats cannot trust the Government or the people on this one and they want to introduce a voting system that is alien to the British people and that

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has been repudiated comprehensively. This process makes the House look ridiculous. We have crises facing us and this guillotine motion—we are back to them, despite the Leader of the House’s attestation otherwise—must be defeated. I urge Members, however they feel, to allow the proposals to be debated properly. 6.35 pm Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton) (Lab): It is a pleasure and a privilege to follow the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Mr Shepherd). I shall be in the Lobby with him to vote against the programme motion and against the Bill, as it is a bad Bill. I am not one of those people who has great admiration for the House of Lords. I agree with Bagehot, who was quoted earlier, that one need only go along the corridor and look at it more often. It is not such a wonderful place, even though there are some excellent and extraordinarily capable people there. I believe in democracy and in improving our constitution, but the proposals do not do that at all. They diminish democracy in this country by setting up a counter-Chamber at the other end of the corridor. The problem, which has been mentioned in many excellent speeches, is that we have an over-mighty Executive and that this House has not kept as many powers as it should have done to itself over the years. I have not heard one speech from the people in favour of the proposal that told us how they would prevent power from being taken away from this Chamber if the Bill were passed. The Bill will not improve the accountability of the Executive but will set them free to do more of what they want to do while being less accountable. So, the first argument in favour of it, which is that it improves democracy, falls. The second supportive reason given by the Deputy Prime Minister was that all the other countries he could think of had an elected second Chamber, which, as right hon. and hon. Members have corrected him, turns out not to be 100% true. Even if it were true, virtually all the countries that have such a second Chamber have a written constitution to deal with precisely the matter covered by clause 2, which is primacy. With no written constitution and elections to the second House, we will lose the primacy of this House.

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clearly that they did not want to move from first past the post, even though it was not PR that was put to them. I must ask those who say that clause 2 will protect and provide security for the primacy of this House: how? There is only one legal basis for that primacy, and that is the Parliament Act, but we are not going to Parliament Act every Bill that comes through. All the other details such as the Salisbury convention and the convention on statutory instruments are just that— conventions. If I were elected to the other place, I would say, “The Salisbury convention no longer exists, because the basis of it was the fact that some people were elected and some were not.”If people in the other place are elected, they will have the right to say, “My electorate are as important as your electorate, and a great deal bigger, and I have been elected by millions of votes, so I will vote against what you in the House of Commons believe.” It will be impossible to prevent freely elected people from doing that, particularly when they will never be accountable for anything because they will never go back to the electorate, and I see nothing apart from the Parliament Acts to prevent the other House from challenging the primacy of this House. That takes us back to the point made by the right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) that the proposals will not affect the Government. Ministers may be appointed, but by blocking legislation they could do exactly what the Lib Dems are doing in this debate: blackmail whatever Government are in office so as to get their own way and get posts in the Government. Simon Hughes rose— Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle): Order. Before the right hon. Gentleman begins his intervention, I counsel him that those who persistently intervene may get dropped down the list. I hope that the House understands what will happen if there are continual interventions from the same Members.

Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab): Does my hon. Friend not also accept that right now one could argue that areas of this country, particularly Scotland, are over-governed as regards democracy?

Simon Hughes: I hope that the hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) accepts that, at the moment, at the other end of the building there is clearly no party with an overall majority. Indeed, everybody is in a minority. He is worried about having one period only for election and no need for re-election, but what would his alternative be that would end patronage and heredity in the second Chamber, if it is not something like this Bill?

Graham Stringer: I want to increase democracy where it is effective so that people feel that they are changing things, not being left behind and lost by politicians. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears) said, the idea behind the genesis of the Bill is not the improvement of democracy but the improvement of the prospects of the Liberal Democrats, who are frightened of the prospect of democracy and the electorate at the next general election. What they are trying to secure in the Bill is proportional representation in the other place so that they can be in government for ever, but I do not see my job as coming to this House to put the Lib Dems in government for ever. To achieve that, they obviously have to introduce a system of PR, but just over 12 months ago the electorate said quite

Graham Stringer: That is the easiest question I have ever been asked in this Chamber: I would abolish the other House, for the simple reason that, in the constitutional position that we are in, it is difficult to improve and democratise it without diminishing ourselves or having a written constitution. Policies and manifestos have been mentioned a number of times. On the day after the general election, it was my view that all the parties had lost. The advantage of our system is that the core parts of manifestos are voted for. If a party becomes the Government, it gets the rest of its manifesto because it put that manifesto before people, but when none of the parties has won and there are three differing commitments on House of Lords reform— incidentally, none of those commitments is embodied in

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[Graham Stringer] the Bill before us—it is difficult to understand how my Front Benchers or Front Benchers from other parties could say, “This Bill is legitimate to put before people and we have the will of the people behind us.” We simply do not have the will of the people behind us on those manifestos and the only answer—again, the Lib Dems are particularly frightened of the electorate—is to put the proposal to a referendum. 6.43 pm Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire) (Con): It is with a heavy heart that I speak to the Bill before the House. I am a reformer and I would welcome a well-crafted Lords reform Bill without election that reduced the size of the upper House, removed those who have committed serious criminal offences, improved the scrutiny of legislation, strengthened the appointments process, reduced political patronage, converted the hereditary peers to life peers, and separated the peerage as such from the legislature. Those measures would constitute a great reforming Bill and would, I suspect, pass through this House on a free vote. This Bill, however, is a hopeless mess. Members of the House can properly differ on the merits of the underlying issues. What they cannot differ on are the flaws in the Bill itself. It is deeply confused and, indeed, dangerous legislation. It will prevent real reform. It will reduce diversity and deep expertise in our political system. It would be a catastrophe for this country if the Bill were ever enacted. David Lloyd George famously referred to the House of Lords as Mr Balfour’s poodle, but if the Bill goes through we will have Mr Clegg’s lapdog—a Chamber full of elected party politicians. There has also been an important failure of due process. The Government originally worked hard to establish a consensus on the Bill, but without success. The Joint Committee sat for longer than any in recent memory. Because of its internal disagreements, it was forced to put more issues to the vote than any recent Committee. It even produced an unprecedented minority report, signed by six Privy Counsellors, but the views of the Joint Committee has barely been heeded by the Government. Its key recommendations were that an issue of this constitutional magnitude required a referendum and that the crucial clause governing the relationship between Lords and Commons should be entirely rethought. Those recommendations have been ignored or brushed aside. The result is that important matters have been introduced without any pre-legislative scrutiny. Those include a revised clause 2 on the relations between the Houses, and a party list voting system. Instead, the Government have treated the votes of a highly divided Committee as a consensus when they were nothing of the kind. The Government refused to allow the Committee to publish the costs of the draft Bill, and refused to schedule a debate on its report, as is normal practice. They have rushed to get the Bill into Parliament before the summer. Mr Gray: As evidence of the lack of consensus that my hon. Friend so well describes, has he ever attended any Second Reading debate in which every speech of any substance at all was against the principle behind the Bill?

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Jesse Norman: My hon. Friend makes a shrewd point very quickly and elegantly. The Bill is being pushed through the Commons by the Government—before the summer, on a whipped vote and with a guillotined debate—but the central question concerns the likely constitutional crisis that will arise from the Bill, which will transform the Lords into a Chamber competing with the Commons. The result will be gridlock, cronyism and a rise in special-interest politics. The US offers a useful cautionary tale. The American political system is manifestly struggling: beset by gridlock; vulnerable to powerful special interests, from the gun lobby to the American Association of Retired Persons; and its politicians elected by corporate lobbyists through political action committees, recently liberated by the Supreme Court from any spending constraints under the first amendment. The two Houses have repeatedly found it impossible to achieve consensus on important legislation. Pork-barrel has been replaced by stand-off. President Obama’s health care Bill is a classic example and it ended up in the Supreme Court. Mr Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) (Con): Is not my hon. Friend adverting to the fundamental conundrum at the heart of the Government’s presentation of the Bill? On the one hand, they are arguing for a more legitimate House; on the other, they are arguing that there will be no change in the relationship between the two Houses. It does not add up. Jesse Norman: My hon. Friend is exactly right. As my noble Friend Lord Forsyth put it, what would be the point of electing these people if not to give them more power? Exactly the same thing as has happened in the US will happen here. I refer my colleagues and Members across the House to Lord Pannick’s brilliant memorandum on the issue, which has been published this afternoon. Lord Pannick is widely regarded as one of the most excellent lawyers and advocates of his generation, and is specifically expert in the Parliament Acts. He is also precisely the kind of person who would never be willing to stand for election to a new Senate. In his words: “The Bill does not adequately address the central issue of constitutional concern: the fact that a House of Lords most of whose members will be elected will almost certainly be much more assertive than the unelected House of Lords and reluctant to give way.”

Lord Pannick states that the Parliament Acts “only relate to the end of the legislative process, and not the day-to-day conventions which (at present) result in the Lords giving way to the Commons. Indeed, the Parliament Acts do not apply at all to Bills introduced in the House of Lords or to subordinate legislation. The crucial question is this: should the Bill seek to regulate all these matters, or leave them to convention? If it leaves them to convention, then the result will be disputes between the two competing chambers. If it regulates these issues, then the result will be that relations between the chambers become justiciable in law, as they did over the Hunting Act, which went all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Mr Harper: The Joint Committee considered the question of putting powers in the Bill and clearly recommended that we should not go there; it would be dangerous and it would open up the Bill to interference by the courts. We listened to the Committee very carefully.

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Jesse Norman: I am grateful to the Minister for stating that he wishes to be impaled on the first horn of the dilemma: in the absence of regulation that would render the actions of the Houses justiciable, he wishes to impale himself on the horn of constant gridlock and competition between the two sides. Lord Pannick concludes that “the Government have, hitherto, failed to recognise the difficulty”—

failed to recognise the difficulty— “and the importance of the constitutional issue arising from a decision to elect 80% of the House of Lords.”

Members of the House of Commons, Lord Pannick is no partisan, no party politician. His is quiet but devastating criticism. Perhaps the Minister can enlighten us about what external advice the Government took when they reformulated clause 2. We now know which of the two options he proposes to take, so I need not ask him. He proposes not to allow the judges in, but to leave future disputes between the two Houses to the conventions —and a thoroughly unsatisfactory compromise that is. In politics, as in all else, timing is everything. That applies in particular to voting against one’s own Government for the first time, which is not something to be wasted on a small measure. Luckily, however, this Bill makes it very easy. There is a fundamental issue of constitutional principle at stake; the Bill is a hopeless mess; it is in no sense a piece of Conservative legislation; it lacks any genuine manifesto commitment; it proposes a new upper Chamber that will be less expert, less diverse and more expensive than the present one, let alone one after sensible reforms; and the issue is absolutely irrelevant to the overwhelming need to put out the fire in the economic engine room. I shall be voting against it and I would venture to suggest that the Bill is such that all MPs, Conservative or not, have a constitutional obligation to vote against it. Only thus can we rid our country of— Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle): Order. Hon. Members: Hear, hear! Mr Deputy Speaker: Order! 6.52 pm Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab): It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman), who, if the proposals are passed, would end up being represented by the same regional list of senators as myself in Dudley—although how anyone could represent effectively both a rural community such as Hereford and a former industrial centre such as the black country is something we might ponder during the course of this debate. I have always believed that the House of Lords should be reformed. It is clearly too big; it is indefensible that hereditary peers remain; and it is completely wrong that Members can fail to turn up for years and retain their membership, when they would be booted off a local authority if they failed to attend for six months. That said, however, there are major problems with the Government’s proposals. First, the lesson of Scottish and Welsh devolution is that constitutional reform cannot be undertaken piecemeal. Those changes, which I supported, resulted in imbalances between Scotland and Wales and England and its regions,

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which have still not been resolved. The lesson is that a comprehensive and coherent view is needed of the relationship between the individual and the state, and of what powers should be exercised at national, regional and community level, before constitutional reform is undertaken. Mr MacNeil: Are not the hysterics we are hearing in the House today reminiscent of the hysterics heard in 1979 about a Scottish Assembly, and in 1997 about a Scottish Parliament? There are hysterics only within these four walls, but when these things actually happen, the sky does not fall in. Ian Austin: As I said, I supported the proposals for devolution, but I think the previous Government made a mistake in not undertaking them as part of a far-reaching, comprehensive and coherent view about the arrangements for governing Britain as a whole. Reform of the House of Lords needs to be properly thought through as part of a wider package of constitutional reforms to deal with the regional and national imbalances that are the result of stalled devolution. For example, a renewed approach to regional government is needed. It is ironic that the Bill proposes that Members be elected from the English regions, which the Government have been doing all they can to abolish in all other respects. They claimed that the regions did not exist when they abolished the regional development agencies, regional spatial planning and all the rest. We have regional government in this country in the NHS, the police, planning, transport policy, housing and regeneration, but they are run by faceless civil servants in England, and by politicians in London, Scotland and Wales. I would prefer to have proper regional government and proper regional accountability for those powers and then to establish a revising second Chamber drawn from the regional assemblies. The Government are proposing far-reaching reforms, which have huge implications for the way the country is run, and are doing so without a referendum. We had to have referendums for voting systems, for Scottish and Welsh devolution, for a regional assembly in the north-east and for directly elected mayors in some quite small cities, but the people of Britain will have no say in huge changes to their Parliament. The central question is whether the House of Lords should be elected. I do not think it is possible to defend, as a point of principle, appointments and patronage. I am a democrat and I am in favour of devolving power to the people. That is one of the reasons I became interested in politics and got involved: I wanted to ensure that ordinary people have as much power as possible over the way the decisions that affect them in their daily lives are taken. Clearly, the current system is one of appointment, not election, but what we have to decide is whether the changes that the Government propose are appropriate and will do the job. First, whatever the Government say, having an elected House of Lords will inevitably change the relationship between the two Houses. That is bound to happen. The Bill promises that this House will retain primacy, but simply asserting that and ensuring that it happens in practice are very different. It is not credible to say that nothing will change, when it is inevitable that people who have been elected will claim a democratic mandate

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[Ian Austin] and assert their authority. Secondly, there is no question but that elected Members of the second House will claim democratic legitimacy in our constituencies. That is bound to happen. In this debate and during the detailed scrutiny of the Bill that follows it, I want to see how the Government and this House will deal with those huge questions. There are other issues we have to deal with. It is pretty clear that 400 new senators will bring huge additional costs. They will immediately demand the same level of resources, staff and offices and all the rest as we have, even though they will have no real constituency. Of those 400, the west midlands will have about 35 representatives elected from a regional list. Voters will have very little idea who they are voting for. I spent the weekend asking people in Dudley if they could name their MEPs. Michael Cashman and the other six west midlands MEPs do a good job, but the current system ensures that almost no one knows who their MEPs are. I take more than a passing interest in politics and I struggle to name all seven of them off the top of my head. What I do know is that the introduction of a regional list system for those elections has resulted, to our great shame, in Britain being represented in the European Parliament, for the first time, by people standing for a racist and fascist party. It is pretty clear to me that if we go ahead with a similar system for a second Chamber, all sorts of cranks and extremists will get elected. The idea of people being elected for a 15-year nonrenewable term is appalling. One of the reasons that politicians work hard, particularly in marginal constituencies, is that we have to answer for our views and actions at the ballot box. The proposed system, which prevents people from being held to account for their actions by seeking re-election, appears to be based on the most appalling elitist view that listening to the public and taking their views into account is a bad thing. Although I am in favour of democracy and elections, I shall be following this debate and the subsequent scrutiny of the Bill and amendments with great interest, to see whether the concerns I have expressed today can be dealt with. 6.59 pm Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con): I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate, although regretfully it is to express my opposition to the Bill. It is a pleasure to follow many of my hon. Friends who, despite their considerable loyalty to the Government, feel compelled to reject this piece of political vandalism. They have eloquently outlined the numerous faults in this ill-conceived Bill and I shall add briefly to their arguments. The Bill contains rushed, illogical and poorly constructed proposals which bring no discernible benefit to Parliament or to the nation. I am struck by the arrogance of the Bill’s proponents who, neglecting the relative brevity of their place in the long history of Parliament, seek to force through a Bill with unknown consequences for the future governance of this country. Constitutional change stands apart from other legislative Acts, and to seek to limit the time spent debating such significant and irreversible change is an insult to this Parliament, and could be seen

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as an attempt by the Bill’s proponents to force through what they must know to be at best unjustified, and at worst indefensible, change. Surely the supporters of the Bill have recognised the weaknesses of the arguments that they advance. They must acknowledge, for instance, as already mentioned on many occasions today, the fallacy of suggesting that senators elected for a single 15-year term, with no chance of re-election and no chance of entry to the Commons or of deselection, will be accountable to the electorate. Even hon. Members who passionately support the creation of a fully elected House of Lords must see that for the half-baked illogical muddle that it is, creating powerful and in reality unaccountable senators cloaked by the illusion of accountability. In the light of the Bill’s multiple flaws, one has to wonder what motivates support for this reform. It would be of little credit to hon. Members, for instance, if a Bill of such scale and magnitude were to pass simply as some grubby trade-off for boundary reform. I hope Members across the House will act not on short-term interests, but with a mind to the enduring consequences of reform, for I strongly doubt that in years to come the creation of an expensive, unaccountable and constitutionally unbalanced House of senators will be seen as much of a legacy for this Parliament, and it is certainly one with which I would not wish to have my name associated. I want to talk about what I believe would be lost if the Bill succeeds. I remember that one of the first events that I hosted in Parliament was as the newly elected Chair of the Navy group of the all-party group for the armed forces. Coming from a Navy family and a Navy constituency, I thought I was quite safe in my knowledge of the subject, until I realised that at that dinner I would be joined by three former Secretaries of State for Defence, two past Chiefs of the Defence Staff and a former First Sea Lord. I believe that 17 Lords previously held one or more of these roles and bring an incomparable level of knowledge and experience of our armed forces to the upper House. That pattern is replicated throughout the Lords, with experts from medicine, law, diplomacy, MI5 and MI6, charities, business, the arts and many other fields. They bring an unparalleled wealth of expertise and experience, and as the Mayor of London said, despite what might be described as their more mature exterior, they bring a depth of wisdom that allows them to see even the most minor flaws in the legislation which it is, after all, their job to scrutinise line by line. Conor Burns: My hon. Friend is making an incredibly powerful point about the difference between this place and the other place—that in the other place, in order to win the vote, one has to win the argument. That is not always the case in this Chamber. Caroline Dinenage: My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. After speaking to many Members of the House of Lords, I know that most would not dream of putting themselves forward for election. After, in many cases, a lifetime of experience, working their way to reach the very top of their chosen field, why would they submit themselves to what is, in effect, a popularity contest? They will not, and their experience and knowledge will be irrevocably lost.

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It is a great sadness to me that there seems to be a generation of MPs who have never worked in anything other than politics, yet who now presume to sweep aside people with decades of hard-earned experience in their chosen field, to replace them with party political favourites. As a Conservative and as a reformer, I acknowledge that the House of Lords is in need of change to cut down the size, to weed out the cheats and criminals, and to introduce a more independent process of selection, but all that can be done without recourse to this illconceived, unwelcome and damaging reform Bill. It is therefore with a heavy heart that I urge hon. Members to vote against the Government and to reject the Bill. 7.4 pm Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab): It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Gosport (Caroline Dinenage). I am in the rather curious position of supporting the coalition Bill, in contrast to the hon. Lady. I am in favour of reform of the House of Lords. The tide of time—[Interruption.] No, I am in favour of it now, which is why I will vote for its Second Reading. The tide of time is in favour of democracy and we need to accept that. Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset) (Con): Mr Deputy Speaker, considering the interest that all three of us have, I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman has told his father about his view? Tristram Hunt: I should declare an interest. My father sits in the House of Lords, as do the fathers of other Labour Members of Parliament. He, too, is in favour of reform of the House of Lords, and in favour of democracy in relation to it. The tide of time is in favour of democracy. Many in the Chamber might find that an uncomfortable reality, but we cannot go around the world preaching democracy to developing and other nations without having that in the second Chamber. I entirely accept that legislative wisdom comes in many forms, and I acknowledge the expertise in the unelected second Chamber, as the hon. Member for Gosport suggested. That is why I am in favour of an 80% elected, 20% appointed upper House. My perfect model would be 75% elected, 25% appointed because when one drills down into the absolute expertise in the upper House, one would probably get to about 25%. Rory Stewart: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that before it goes round preaching about democracy to the rest of the world, Britain should take the example of the rest of the world by not introducing major constitutional change without either a two-thirds vote or a referendum? Tristram Hunt: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and I wholly agree; I shall come on to that. I am in favour of the referendum, as the Labour party rightly proposes, on this major piece of constitutional change. I served on the Joint Committee, and a number of points emerged from our investigation. This is a serious, problematic reform, as the hon. Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman) suggested, throwing up detailed problems about the interrelationship between the Houses, the fundamental change to Parliament,

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the role of bishops and the established Church, and the dual mandate between the other place and this place. That is why we need proper, detailed investigation of the Bill. The programme motion will not allow for that. If the change is to last down the centuries, does it matter if we have another five, seven, eight, 10 or 15 days to look at it? If the Government are serious about major constitutional reform, they should allow us the time and space to consider it. There is also, as the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart) suggested, the need for a referendum. We are beginning to move towards different forms of democracy, and whether we like it or not in this place, referendums play an increasingly powerful part in that. So if, as has been noted, we have had referendums on city Mayors and on voting systems, and we are having the farce of elections for police commissioners in the depths of November, why do we not have a referendum on a major piece of legislative change which will affect the governance of the entire country? It is right that the people have a say on that, as my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) suggested. The Bill contains numerous problems. The 15-year term is very difficult to accept as a democrat. Personally, I am in favour of two 10-year terms, but that throws up equal problems in terms of electioneering. Dan Rogerson (North Cornwall) (LD): Could the hon. Gentleman point to the occasion on which there was a referendum on removing the hereditary peers from the House of Lords, which one might concede was a big constitutional change? Tristram Hunt: I think that removing the hereditary peers was so obvious a change that we did not need a referendum, but this is not an obvious change. There are major complexities, as we have just teased out, with regard to justiciability between the two Houses and composition. All sorts of questions need to be answered. I also agree with the change from 300 to 450 Members, because I think that the initial proposal for a wholly professionalised and salaried body of 300 was incorrect. However, if Ministers think that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority will simply allow them to decide who is paid what, it is clear that they have not looked at the evidence its representatives gave to the Joint Committee on the draft House of Lords Reform Bill. I think that Ministers will find that IPSA will take a great deal more control of what happens to Members of the other place than they believe. I am in favour of keeping the bishops and the established Church, and the appointment of Ministers seems exactly right. Chris Bryant: My hon. Friend is deliberately provoking me. Only this afternoon the Church of England decided that it cannot even decide when it will decide on whether to have women bishops. Surely we should at least say that the bishops are allowed to remain in the House of Lords only if there are to be women bishops. Tristram Hunt: That might be a successful way through the current difficulties in the Synod, so my hon. Friend should put that forward. There are of course an awful lot of reservations about the Bill. We have touched on the issue of justiciability between the Commons and the Lords, a point to which

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[Tristram Hunt] the hon. Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire also referred, and convention versus statute. It also seems to me that there is no reason why a democratically elected second Chamber will not intervene on Finance Bills. If they are elected by taxpayers, why should they not have their say on Finance Bills? We do not seem to have sorted out the conflict resolution procedures that will be needed between the Houses. The bigger problem relates to what happens in Scotland. If there is a vote in favour of an independent Scotland, the entire premise of this Bill will be undone, because the role of the House of Lords will have to take on a far more federal nature with regard to the interrelationship between the kingdoms of the Crown under the Crown in Parliament in the House of Lords, but perhaps the timeline will allow for all that. On a broader point, when there is major constitutional reform there is always fear of the unknown. The Second Reform Act was described as a leap in the dark, and Thomas Carlyle wrote lurid pamphlets about its consequences. Actually, it resulted in a strengthening of Parliament and of the democratic process. Britain did not fall apart, and the same was true of the Third Reform Act and votes for women. It comes down to whether we believe in the purifying effects of democracy. Do Members believe in what we on the Labour side used to call “the good old cause”, which goes right back to Lilburne, Rainsborough, Paine and all the rest? The Bill has many problems but, ultimately, if we believe in democracy we have to support it. 7.13 pm Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt). I listened carefully to the Deputy Prime Minister’s speech this afternoon—I listened dutifully and did not intervene. He seems to have become the Andy Murray of this House; he has gone from being a set up and at break point two years ago to being in deep trouble in the fourth set this afternoon. I suggest that part of the reason is that his arguments seem to centre on the point that we do not want to spend a huge amount of Government time on the Bill and just need to get on with it and get it through—we basically just need to agree with Nick. However, from what I have heard over the last few hours, very few of the Members who have spoken so far seem to agree with Nick, but there is still time and, of course, there is tomorrow. Many Members have said that the Government should not be spending time on this issue right now and that no one cares about Lords reform, but I do not entirely agree. Governments multi-task all the time, so the Bill takes its place alongside many others, and that is the choice of Ministers this time. I also do not think that it is fair to say that no one cares about Lords reform. The truth is that those who care about it do so passionately. I suspect that they come predominantly from one political tradition, but that does not make their views any less valid, and I certainly do not dismiss them. I have received a huge number of e-mails from constituents over the past few weeks putting both sides of the argument, and I do not dismiss any of their points. I agree with what so many Members have said today, but let me also state from the outset that I believe in the reform of Parliament, including the House of Lords.

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I stand by the manifesto commitment I stood on two years ago to work to build a consensus and deeply regret that we have been unable to do so. Mr Gray: My hon. Friend alleges that no consensus has been achieved, but surely the real feeling in this afternoon’s debate shows that there is a strong consensus that the Bill should be consigned to the dustbin of history? Steve Brine: Although it is tempting to agree with my hon. Friend, there is quite a long way to go on Second Reading, but I certainly feel that there are straws in the wind. I think that there is plenty we can do to reform the other place. My right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kensington (Sir Malcolm Rifkind) touched on a number of things we could do without abolishing the House of Lords or jamming up Parliament for months, if not years, with a clumsy Bill that seems to get worse the more times I read it. To be blunt, I think that we are approaching the whole business the wrong way round. Reform of Parliament should start with a simple question: what do we want this House and the other place to do? I think that we want a second Chamber that acts as a revising Chamber, largely free from the politics of the first Chamber and, ultimately, always subservient to it. In other words, purely with regard to the roles performed and the way we make the laws of this land, I think that we have it about right in the United Kingdom. We can argue until the cows come home, and no doubt until they go out again, about who should sit in this bicameral Parliament but, when it come to the system of checks and balances on the Government of the day, I think that most of the sensible people I represent would say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Let me turn to who sits in the upper House. What is proposed in the Bill is a host of senators—let us call them that for now—who would sit for an unrepeatable term of 15 years. From what I have heard so far this afternoon, that seems to be at the heart of the concerns right across this House. The record will show that I asked the Deputy Prime Minister in this House on 20 March whether he thought that “a 15-year senator who is unable to stand for re-election is more or less accountable than a current Member of the other place”.— [Official Report, 20 March 2012; Vol. 542, c. 639.]

I have to say that the answer I received was hardly convincing. The current Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Strathclyde, helped greatly when he told the BBC recently: “They’re not accountable… there will be no power of de-selection. Once they’re there, they’re there for 15 years.”

I accept that it is absolutely the case that under current rules, without the power of recall, Members of this House could leave the election night count, jump in a cab and go to Heathrow, take a flight direct to Barbados, sit on a deckchair on a white sandy beach for five years and that decision would catch up with them only if ultimately they sought re-election to this place at the next general election. I take that seriously. The point is that I am accountable to the people of Winchester only if or when I seek re-election to this place. A guaranteed job on £300 a day, with zero accountability—why on earth are we even considering creating such a gravy train? If it were not so serious, it would be funny.

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Ian Austin: Can the hon. Gentleman think of any job in Britain that is guaranteed for the next 15 years, because I cannot? Steve Brine: No, I cannot, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. Many of the constituents that he and I represent, in the public and private sectors, would give their eye teeth for a job with a 15-year guaranteed salary. I wonder what the public would think if they actually saw the other place in action and were exposed to its debates in the same way they are to debates in this House, at Prime Minister’s questions for instance. I think that they would be genuinely shocked to find the level of debate that their lordships pursue and the much reduced partisan nature of their proceedings. Bagehot has been quoted a few times today, but clearly he has not been in the House of Lords lately. The Bill, from my reading of it, would take all the worst element of this House, magnify them tenfold and place them at the other end of the building. The insane proposal to elect these senators to nine regions of the country by proportional representation would simply introduce a new breed of political animal to Parliament, one that owes everything to the party list that put them there. Of course they will act accordingly, and we would not blame them for doing so. Do right hon. and hon. Members really want to create a whole new raft of expensive, partisan and regionally roaming politicians? I read in the weekend papers—there was a lot in them—the comments of one Liberal Democrat peer, who said that his party has had to swallow some bitter pills, such as student fees and the NHS Bill, strangely, as a result of coalition, and that it was time the Conservatives did the same. That is one of the worst aspects of coalition, and I am a supporter of this coalition Government—and very much on the record as saying so. The horse-trading— the “you get, we get” mentality—that coalition fosters is a woeful way to carry on in any policy area, but when it comes to the constitution of our country it is just plain wrong and plain dangerous. That is what is very wrong with this debate. The Bill is a reckless piece of proposed legislation that Baroness Boothroyd, who has far more experience of this House and the other than I do, described on the radio as “an abuse of Parliament.” I do not think that she would use that term lightly. The Bill does not hang together intellectually. It is in part about coalition politics and, much more, about the internal politics of the Liberal Democrat party—and that is no reason to take a bulldozer to our constitution. In my bones I know that it is wrong, and the saddest thing of all is that it will probably set back sensible reform of the Lords for many years. I urge the Government to step back, even at this late hour, and the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister to look each other in the eye over the Cabinet table this evening and simply to ask themselves whether these proposals will leave our Parliament a better place if they go through. I suspect that in their hearts both know the answer to that question, and I ask them to ask it. I have never before voted against the coalition Government on a Government Bill, but with a very heavy heart, as others have said, I will do so tomorrow night.

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7.21 pm Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab): I was a member of the royal commission on the House of Lords, an all-party commission that, after many months of consideration and consulting a large number of witnesses throughout the United Kingdom, decided unanimously that “we could not recommend: a wholly or largely directly elected second chamber”.

In the years since then I have come upon no evidence to dissuade me from that view. This Bill is a botched mess that seems to have been drafted on the back of an envelope, and it is based not on principle, but on a series of deals between the two parties that comprise the Government. The principle, if one can grace it with such an epithet, behind the Bill is not how to secure the better governance of this great democracy, but how to gratify the whims of the Liberal Democrat party, which has been determined to distort our parliamentary system, first, through the alternative vote and, now, with this rubbish in an effort to wangle more Liberal Democrat Members of either House or both Houses. Significantly, what concerns the Liberal Democrats, to the extent of their threatening the stability of the Government, is not what concerns our constituents, such as jobs, the health service, schools, pensions, law and order, housing, but their own party self-interest. One issue that has always troubled me about even a part-elected second Chamber is the conflict between Members of such a Chamber and the rights of the House of Commons and its Members. This Bill is imprecise to the point of vacuity on the relationship between the House of Commons and the new Chamber that it seeks to create. What is clear, however, is the certainty of conflict and collision between Members of the House of Commons and Members of the second Chamber in the areas where their membership coincides. If a Member of the House of Commons and a Member of the revised second Chamber both take up the same individual case, or take up a position on the same issue, chaos could result, and the rights of the elected Member of the House of Commons could be eroded or undermined, particularly given the different lengths of membership of each body and the fact that Members of the second Chamber will be unaccountable because they cannot be re-elected. I was not thrilled with the proposals for a second Chamber in the 2010 Labour party election manifesto, but at least they started with a referendum to legitimise any subsequent action. That difference being so strong, I am bewildered by the decision of Labour Front Benchers to support the Bill’s Second Reading. In 42 years in this House I have voted only once against the Labour Whip, but I shall certainly disregard it tomorrow evening. Perhaps it will set a precedent. I shall vote against both the Second Reading and the programme motion. On whipping, let me say this to hon. Members in the Conservative party, although from what I have heard in this debate so far I do not believe that they need to be told it. I have a considerable personal regard for the Government Chief Whip, but on this issue he is not McLoughlin but Machiavelli. His job is to manipulate to get the result that he needs to deliver.

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[Sir Gerald Kaufman] If one picks up a newspaper or turns on the television, one encounters all kinds of lurid warnings and threats: “boundary changes may be in danger”; “the very future of the coalition may be at stake”. Boundary changes crop up every few years and will continue to do so. I have survived four sets so far, and perhaps I will survive the next as well. Governments come and Governments go, but the new Chamber proposed in this Bill will be irreversible. Once we have it, we will not be able to get rid of it. This nation’s parliamentary system of government has evolved over nine centuries to make the United Kingdom, for which under this Bill there will be different electoral systems in different countries, the greatest and most stable democracy in the world. There has been change, but it has been evolutionary change. A Liberal Government asserted the primacy of the House of Commons under the Parliament Acts more than a century ago; a Conservative Government created life peers and introduced women peers; and a Labour Government began the end of the hereditary system in the House of Lords. We, unlike other democracies, do not have a constitution, and that is because we do not need a constitution. The Queen in Parliament is all we need. Let us uphold British democracy tomorrow night. Let us vote no in both Divisions and be done with this pernicious threat to what has made the United Kingdom a great democracy. 7.26 pm Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): I regret that I will not be in the same Lobby tomorrow night as my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Brady), even though I agreed with much that he had to say today. I think that the primacy problem in this place has nothing whatever to do with the House of Lords or even the House of Commons. The real issue that lies at the heart of UK constitutional politics is the corrosive effect of the overweening primacy of the Executive. Anything, but anything that provides an effective counterweight to the oft unchallenged power of the Executive is, in my view, a good thing. I remain to this day staggered by the sheer gutlessness of this place, including of many Members who will vote against this Bill’s Second Reading and programme motion tomorrow night, because we waved through the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, and it was a terrible bit of legislation. That legislation cravenly supported a reduction in the size of this House, and it was promoted by the Deputy Prime Minister on the basis of a fatuous saving to the public purse of £10 million a year, which even in his own words has been overwhelmed by the additional amount of money that will be required for the new House of Lords. At the same time, we failed either to nail down any commensurate shrinking of the size or cost of the House of Lords, or to address the constitutional iniquity surrounding the absurdly inflated Scottish Parliament and Northern Irish and Welsh Assemblies. But I am a democrat, and since my maiden speech in this House I have supported, and will continue to support, a fully elected House of Lords. The case for

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the preservation of the “ancient traditions”, as many hon. Friends have assured me, of the upper House was conclusively lost in 1999. Once the vast bulk of the hereditaries had been removed, so too should all appointed Members have followed. Instead, today we have a bloated House of Lords, of which the Lords Winstons and Puttnams are assuredly the exception rather than the rule. Over the past 13 years the ranks of the upper House have been swelled by literally hundreds of party hacks and large-scale political donors, along with dubious-quality legislators given the nod on politically correct grounds. In the charming words of my Liberal Democrat opponent at the last election, ironically herself also the daughter of a life peer, I was too “male, pale and stale”. That may well be the case, but I was also elected, and in a democracy that matters. While I am happy to support the principle of electing the House of Lords both on Second Reading and in the vote on the programme motion, I believe that in many of its particulars the Bill is shoddy and poorly drafted. Mr Gray: If my hon. Friend is right in saying that the Bill is shoddy and ill drafted, how on earth can he support the programme motion, which should have allowed us the time to put that right? Mark Field: I will come to that at the end of my remarks, if I may. The Bill misses the opportunity to propose an elegant solution that might have resolved effectively the four main domestic constitutional uncertainties that have plagued our whole political arena for the past three decades. I hope that when it is in Committee and in the other place we might be able to make some progress in that regard. With a federal UK parliament and four elected national parliaments, we could have not only maintained the monarchy, strengthened the Union, and resolved questions over the legitimacy of an unreformed House of Lords, but given independent and equal representation to citizens in England as well as in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. As many Members have said, the British constitution has been one of the success stories of modern politics. It has kept this country together, united under a common Crown and a common Parliament, for over 300 years—not for us the coups, revolutions and counter-revolutions that have plagued many of our European partners over that period. So successful has it been that we Britons had perhaps stopped thinking about some of its great successes. Until 15 years ago, nobody in this House or beyond gave much thought to constitutional issues; we knew instinctively that we had a British constitution that worked well for the whole of these islands. I am afraid that that was destroyed in 1999 when we got rid of the traditional House of Lords, removing much of the genuinely independent hereditary element and created hundreds of new life peers. Shamefully, this process has continued even under the coalition Government, with some 120 new life peers being created. That is unacceptable. David Tredinnick: I hear what my hon. Friend is saying, but surely he must recognise that a lot of those who are made peers are experts in their own fields; it is not just a case of Lord Winston and one other.

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Mark Field: They are the exception that proves the rule. Just look at the 120 who were made peers; we could mention particular names. It is an entirely misjudged view that the House of Lords is full of expertise. Clearly there is expertise—I do not dispute that for one minute—but it is very much the exception rather than the rule. Louise Mensch (Corby) (Con): Will my hon. Friend give way? Mark Field: No. I want to make a little progress because others wish to speak. I think we all accept that the UK constitution has traditionally been full of anomalies. However, we also like the idea of fair play. As an MP for a seat in London, which is the capital of England and of the whole United Kingdom, I call on the Government to offer all the British people—English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish—a new settlement through this Bill that will be demonstrably equitable for everyone. I believe that we should move in the direction of creating an entirely new federal parliament so that we have four full national parliaments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, together with all the existing powers of the House of Commons. The federal UK parliament would deal with defence and foreign affairs, make treaties, and administer a cohesion fund for the poorer parts of the UK. [Interruption.] My hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch) says that it would be expensive. In fact, it would be anything but, because it would mean that there were fewer politicians as all English Members would be members of both the English and the UK parliaments. It would reduce the number of elected politicians, which would be a much better approach. In a sense, it would be a unicameral system. I was the only Conservative who voted for a unicameral system when we had that option. To me, what we have at the moment is the most undesirable outcome of all. I would sooner abolish that, put nothing in its place, have a unicameral system, and make the positive reforms that I hope we are going to make. Abolishing the House of Lords would mean that Parliament was unicameral, but that has not proved to be a problem in Edinburgh or in Cardiff over the past 12 years. All this and much more needs to be addressed in Committee, but, as my hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr Gray) said, voting down the programme motion would be tantamount to trying to wreck the Bill as a whole. As a believer in a democratised House of Lords, that is something that I am not prepared to do. 7.33 pm Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): I nearly fell off my chair earlier today because I had an e-mail from a constituent on Lords reform. I think that that is the first one that I have had in all my years, despite the fact that I have held forth about the subject on many occasions. Fortunately, I agreed with her, so 100% of my constituents are in agreement with me. I say to hon. Members who are opposed to the Bill that the current House of Lords is unsustainable. It has more than 800 Members, and the coalition agreement says that more should be appointed. At the rate that we are going, every member of the Liberal Democrat party will end up as a Member of the House of Lords. There

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are enormous problems with the numbers that we have at the moment, because appointment as the defining way of getting into the House of Lords leads to a heavy over-subscription of people from London and the southeast. Two hundred and seventy-three Members of the House of Lords come from London and the south-east, but just 38 come from the midlands and 74 from the north. It cannot possibly claim to be the representative House that it claimed to be seven centuries ago, when it had all the tenants-in-chief of the land available to advise the king. Jesse Norman: Any reduction in the size of the upper House can be achieved without election. The hon. Gentleman is arguing not for election, but for a reduction in the size of the House. Chris Bryant: I have only just started, to be fair. I wanted to start by saying that there are too many Members and, on top of that, too many who come from London and the south-east and too few who come from everywhere else. With a system of appointment, the people who do the appointing end up choosing people they already know, and that is why there is a heavy preponderance of people from London and the south-east. We also still have crooks, perjurers and arsonists up at the other end of the corridor. The hon. Gentleman will say, “Ah yes, but we can change all this through David Steel’s Bill,” but then we end up with a House of Lords that is solely appointed, and that is a House of patronage and power given to too few people, not to the people of the land. We have the ludicrous situation of by-elections for hereditary peers. I say to all those who are opposed to the alternative vote system that we already have that system; it is used to elect people to the House of Lords. It is ironic that the last person who was elected in July last year, in a by-election that was not much commented on in the national media, was Lord Ashton of Hyde. I have never met that gentleman, and I suspect that few of us in this House have, but he got to stand as a hereditary peer only because of his original predecessor who was made a peer. That Lord Ashton of Hyde had been a Member of this House. He tried to get elected for Hyde several times and never managed to do so; but none the less, when he went to the Lords, he called himself Lord Ashton of Hyde. He went there because he had vacated his seat in the Commons two months before the vote on the Parliament Act 1911 to try to make sure that it could get through down at the other end of the building. The system of having elected hereditaries in the Lords is completely bizarre, but it is even more bizarre to have the bishops of the Church of England there. There was an argument for that when we also had the bishops of Wales and Ireland, and some representation from Scotland, but it makes no sense for only one denomination representing one geographical area to be appointed to the House of Lords. I would move an amendment to get rid of all the bishops. To those who argue in favour of the House of Lords on the basis of expertise, I would say that sometimes expertise is also a vested interest. Just take the case of two members of the Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions, which is considering a very sensitive issue in politics. One of them is Lord Gold. Most Members have probably never heard of him, but he happens to be

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[Chris Bryant] a Conservative peer. He also happens to be a lawyer who specialises in litigation. Some people might say, “That’s great—he has expertise,” but I would say that he has a commercial interest in the legislation that he is advising on. Similarly, Lord Black of Brentwood, as the executive director of the Telegraph Group, has a direct financial and commercial interest in the legislation that is going through. That is why I say that, all too often, the commercial interests of people down at that end of the building turn it into a corrupt House. Laura Sandys (South Thanet) (Con) rose— Chris Bryant: I give way to the hon. Lady, because I know— Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle): Order. We are in danger of questioning the nature and duties of Members of the other House and of going over the line in doing so, and I am sure that we would not want to do that. Laura Sandys: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this is not just about financial interests but could be about vested interests such as those of the British Medical Association, the National Union of Teachers or other organisations? Might people who are in the other House as a result of the status quo and have vested interests in the status quo therefore resist more radical change that might be proposed by this House? Chris Bryant: I am grateful for the hon. Lady’s point, because it was a very good one. A large number of those who spoke in the House of Lords in the debates on the Health and Social Care Bill had a personal, commercial, financial interest in supporting it. I am not questioning any individual, Mr Deputy Speaker, but the system of having expertise in the other House that many people advocate. Often, someone arrives in the other House with a degree of expertise and ends up staying there for another 30 years, which means that their expertise becomes extremely out of date. Furthermore, someone may have phenomenal expertise in medicine, but absolutely no understanding of the armed forces, or vice versa. Appointing people to the House of Lords on the basis of expertise is, I believe, a mistake. I say to those who say that we need evolution, not revolution, that we have had two revolutions—one of them glorious and one of them perhaps inglorious. It was on the basis of those revolutions that many of the advances that we have had came about. We have had elected peers before. The 16 Scottish representative peers from 1707 to 1963 were elected at every general election. Similarly, the Irish peers were elected for life. We have had a mixed and evolving system. We introduced life peers. In 1963, we allowed women who had a peerage in their own right, suo jure, to sit in the House of Lords. I do not believe that this is the dramatic change that people claim; it is part of the evolution, not a revolution. There are problems with the Bill, the most important of which was referred to by the hon. Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman), who intervened on me but has now left the Chamber. It is the question of powers. I do not believe that the

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original version or the present version of clause 2 on the respective powers of the two Houses will meet the day. There is a third way. I do not want the courts to be able to decide on a row between this House and the other House. The best way to proceed would be to have a concordat between the two Houses that forms part of our Standing Orders, which requires that there can be no change in our House without the agreement of the House of Lords and no change in the House of Lords without the agreement of the House of Commons. Perhaps, as one hon. Member suggested earlier, that should rely on a two-thirds majority. I think that a 15-year term is far too long. Six or nine years might be better, but we can debate that. I will also support 100% election. I say to my Liberal Democrat—I hate to say this word—friends, that I have long campaigned on this matter and I think that there is more likelihood of getting the reform if we have a referendum and if we ensure that the Bill is debated properly, because we are going to have to use the Parliament Act. 7.42 pm Mr Charles Kennedy (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (LD): I will not follow immediately on from the tempting suggestion made by the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant), because I want to direct the bulk of my remarks to the parliamentary Labour party. I should begin by making my position clear because, as colleagues in my ranks and across the Floor of the House know, I have something of a reputation in this Parliament as a coalition sceptic, having not supported its formation. It is therefore with all the more enthusiasm that I am speaking strongly in favour of the coalition proposals, as outlined by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister this afternoon. One of the things that has driven me in politics over the decades is that when one comes into the British House of Commons in a third-party position—I have been part of the Social Democratic party, the Alliance and the Lib Dems—there is an overwhelming sense, which we are seeing in this debate, that the forces of small c conservatism within both the principal parties are ranged against one. Today, colleagues on both sides of the House have said, “Of course I am in favour of the principle of House of Lords reform.” To listen to their rhetoric or to read it in Hansard, one would think that they had been lying awake at night for years fretting about this issue. They go on to say, “But not this reform,” “Not at this time,” “Not in this way,” “Not for these reasons,” “Not because of that political context,” and so on. This debate is reminiscent of one of the first cross-party debates that took place when I was first elected in 1983, which was about televising the House of Commons. When I look at those, particularly from the House of Lords, who have been in the public prints over the weekend warning of the pestilence, plague and Niagara falls of misfortune that will descend upon our nation if we try to reform the House of Lords as outlined in today’s proposals, I recall, funnily enough, that many of the same voices, many of the same names and an awful lot of the same arguments were raised against the pernicious effect that televising the House of Commons would have. Had they lived in a different generation, those people would have had the same instincts and the

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same conservative gut reactions against votes for women. It goes on and on. That is why I make my plea to the Labour party in particular. I listened to the Labour leader on BBC Radio 4’s “World at One” at lunchtime today, speaking no doubt with sincerity. When he says that Labour will oppose the programme motion, while supporting the principle of reform, in the best-case scenario he is being breathtakingly naive in parliamentary terms and in the worst-case scenario he is displaying abject party political cynicism. I hope that it is not the latter, because I think a lot more of him than that. I say that because of my experience, some 20 years ago, of the Maastricht treaty. That is what this occasion reminds me of more than anything else. Labour held themselves together in opposition brilliantly under John Smith’s leadership. He had the rallying cry of the absence of the social chapter, which united Eurosceptics and Euro-enthusiasts in the Labour ranks. That kept the Labour party together and kept the heat on John Major’s Government. We found ourselves having to vote on many an occasion, in circumstances that were bitter, controversial and politically damaging in the short term, to enable the Maastricht business to proceed, because Labour was seeking to thwart it. We are in a similar position here. Mr Jenkin: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way? Mr Kennedy: I will give way in a moment, of course, because the hon. Gentleman is a fellow survivor of that era. The votes on Maastricht were a bad experience for the Conservative party because of its rebels. I fear that its rebels on this issue will find that they are stoking up an awful lot of trouble within their own parliamentary ranks later in this Parliament. The other message of that experience was that, no matter how much one tries to feed and placate the sceptics, they come back for more. They want more and more red meat, and eventually they end up devouring you. That will be the danger if the programme motion is not passed. Mr Jenkin: I am in danger of agreeing with one or two things that the right hon. Gentleman is saying. The Maastricht debates were a disaster for Parliament because of the way in which they were conducted. The solution then would have been to have a referendum, and the solution now is to have a referendum to avoid the kind of disaster that he is talking about. Mr Kennedy: We will see, assuming that we have the parliamentary progress that is required, what happens on that issue. I was a European spokesman for my party at the time of Maastricht and voted in favour of a referendum. Folk of my generation voted for a referendum, while people of David Steel’s generation voted against. If we have a vote on a referendum in the course of our proceedings, which I dare say we will, it will be interesting to see what happens. It might yet become a way of breaking the logjam—who knows? I am not going to declare on the issue yet because I want to get through 10 o’clock tomorrow night first. We will take it one step at a time. I was deeply disappointed by the opening contribution from the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) on behalf of the Labour party. If that represents the

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Front-Bench apotheosis of Labour enthusiasm for Lords reform, then God help us, whether we are debating the matter for 10 days and nights on the Floor of this House or for a longer period if the programme motion is defeated tomorrow evening. I can only assume—I am being charitable to him—that his speech on this occasion had to be a non-committal holding operation, while Labour weighs up the advantage, sees what happens tomorrow night and decides where to go from there. He showed studied ambiguity about what the Opposition would do if they were successful in thwarting the programme motion tomorrow night, and how much time they would insist upon for debate on the Floor of the House. The repeated delphic absence of a response to those questions spoke volumes. I plead with the Labour party: do not just play the Bill for narrow party advantage, play it for the historic opportunity that it is. 7.49 pm Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab): It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Mr Kennedy). I am sure he will accept that I do not agree with the entirety of his speech, but he made it in his usual moderate and thoughtful way. The right hon. Gentleman leads me to my first point. It is often said that the House of Commons is at its best when it is discussing huge constitutional issues. I tend to differ with that view. I believe that we are at our very worst, because we look inwards on ourselves and talk about the effect of a change on this or that party or on us as a political class, instead of facing outwards and considering what the wider public care about. I should start by stating my own position. Like the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mark Field) and several others, I am a unicameralist. There are examples both in the UK and abroad that show us how a unicameral legislative system can work effectively and efficiently. The upper Chamber, the House of Lords, is historically anachronistic. Several Members have gone into great detail about that, but we need only to read primitive children’s history books to understand why it is the case. Even in its current state, there is an anomaly: it contains hereditary peers alongside those who are appointed. That is not a satisfactory way to structure a legislature. I accept that, as has been said, there are Members of the House of Lords who bring to bear their knowledge and experience, which is often reflected in the quality of the debates that take place there. That in itself is not sufficient for it to continue in its present form, but it has to be said that that is the case. I have to accept that there is not a majority in this House that agrees with me about the abolition of the House of Lords. On the basis that turkeys never vote for Christmas, there most certainly would not be such a majority in the other place. Nevertheless, reform runs logically counter to the views of anybody who, like me, believes in abolition. It has been said repeatedly, not least by the Deputy Prime Minister, that all three parties—the two in the coalition and my own party—referred to reform of the House of Lords in their manifestos. That is true, but I doubt whether many right hon. and hon. Members put it in their election addresses. I can say with absolute certainty that it was not an issue that was discussed

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[Mr George Howarth] in Knowsley at the last general election, or any other. Nevertheless, it was in all three parties’ manifestos, and I believe that we need to make some progress on it. However, this Bill is not the way to do that. I will not go into great detail about all that is wrong with the Bill, because time forbids. However, the 15-year term offends any sense of accountability whatever. It is beyond my wildest imagination how anybody who is elected for a 15-year term, with a rule that they cannot stand again, can in any way be considered accountable. As we know from the European elections, the partly closed, partly open regional list system hardly sets the world on fire. The turnout that those elections manage to attract is pitiful, and in my region, the north-west, there is the unintended consequence that members of the British National party end up getting elected. I return to where I started. On such issues, we need not to look in on ourselves but to look out at what the wider public think. The only way that we can do justice to that aspiration, which I hope others share, is to have a referendum on the subject. If we are to change the second Chamber, we should do so on the basis that we have public support, not just the support of the political classes. I hope that at some point in the proceedings, if the Bill gets that far, we will have an opportunity to vote for an amendment stating that there should be a referendum on it. 7.55 pm Laura Sandys (South Thanet) (Con): It is a great pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Knowsley (Mr Howarth). The two Members who have excited me the most in this debate are my hon. Friends the Members for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Brady) and for Cities of London and Westminster (Mark Field). We need true, bicameral reform. Both parts of this Parliament need to look at themselves and ensure that we have a dynamic, active and reformed Parliament—one Parliament, two Chambers, which in my view should both be elected. I appreciate that the Bill is merely one step on the way and is not the answer to the big parliamentary deficit from which we suffer, but we have an opportunity to consider a new settlement between the public, Parliament and, most importantly, the Executive. Although many people might have heard a lot of conflict in the debate and a lot of difference between the Government’s position and that of other Members, over the past 10 months the process of public debate, the proceedings of the Joint Committee, on which I served, and other discussions have delivered, in a strange way, a significant amount of consensus. There is consensus about a reduction in numbers in the Lords, the end of patronage and the decoupling of titles. Those are all fundamental points about the anomaly at the heart of our constitution, and I think we can agree on them. The sticking point is whether we have a second Chamber that is elected or selected. In many people’s minds, the case for selection is that people without political bias would be appointed. Does that mean that membership of any political party would preclude someone from being put forward? What criteria would be used for the selection? As we have discussed

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before, we must consider whether people would represent vested interests and embed the status quo rather than offer a Parliament that can provide reform and take things forward. Are those people not a group of professionals who have benefited from the status quo and are part of the elite? Mr Gray: Does my hon. Friend agree that the most passionate and powerful opponents of what the Government are doing with regard to, for example, the reductions in the armed forces are the field marshals, generals and others in the House of Lords? They are the passionate opponents of the Government, not their supporters. Laura Sandys: Yes, but they have no vote on this matter, because it is one of financial restructuring. They can discuss it, but to be frank they do so more in the media than in Parliament. Formers members of the military, or of any institution, have every right to discuss Government proposals, but I am not sure they need the House of Lords to do that. We have an example of how selection can be negative. One of the previous chairmen of the House of Lords Appointments Commission said, “We don’t want hairdressers in the House of Lords.” I am very proud that we have a hairdresser in our House. Any selection process will not choose people who have not been to the right dinner party. Those who do not know the right people, or who have not networked and become well connected, or those who do not come from the south-east, will not be selected. Andrew Griffiths (Burton) (Con): How many hairdressers will be selected on a party list? Laura Sandys: Hon. Members come from many different backgrounds. Party associations select people from the parts of the country they are to represent. Our parties should not be demeaned—we should not say that they should not have that responsibility. In my case, the party has made an excellent choice. We have a fundamental problem. We have one Parliament, but two Chambers as important as each other. Our hybrid system—one elected Chamber and one appointed —makes a mockery of our democracy and hobbles Parliament’s overall legitimacy. In addition, it creates a problem for those resisting reform. If the House of Lords is only a revising, advisory, “think again”Chamber, it is very expensive. If it is a proper part of a bicameral legislature, as I believe it should be, it must be elected if we are to sustain a self-respecting democracy. Louise Mensch: Does my hon. Friend recognise that we recently had a referendum on changing the voting system for the Westminster Parliament, which the public overwhelmingly rejected? Is not the Bill an attempt to introduce that through the back door? Laura Sandys: I disagree. We will have two Chambers and two electoral systems, and two different outcomes. As a result, there will be strengths in both Chambers. They will complement each other and create much greater rigour when it comes to scrutiny and the legislative process.

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Back Benchers of all parties constantly complain about the diminishing power of Parliament. Many claim the Executive is too strong. How can the concentration of powers in the hands of three party leaders, who appoint hundreds of legislators to the Chamber next door, be anything other than extreme patronage gone out of control? It is unprecedented anywhere in the democratic world. Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con): Will my hon. Friend give way? Laura Sandys: I am afraid I will not—I am so sorry. Opponents of reform seem very concerned that the poor old Government will struggle to get their legislation through Parliament if there are two elected, functioning Houses, but the House of Commons is not the Government —it is separate. I would hope that two elected Houses of Parliament would not defeat any Government any more than they do in other bicameral systems in the world. However, it is no bad thing if a stronger Parliament deters the Government from passing ill-considered legislation. I am a good Conservative, and, in that way, the objective of getting the Government to do less better would also be achieved. We cannot blame our coalition partners for some of the philosophy behind the Bill. Localism and elected police commissioners are Conservative policies, not policies conjured up by the coalition. Trusting the public with decision making on schools and other public services is part of the Conservative DNA, so why should we deny the public the choice to vote for 50% of our Parliament? It is absolutely crucial that we Conservatives are seen to be giving power to the many and taking it away from the few. Perhaps not every aspect of the Bill is perfect—some of us might be looking for more radical reform—but it is a crucial step forward. It is an opportunity to say that we trust the people, and that we are taking away the appointments system from the Prime Minister and giving it to the electorate. 8.4 pm Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab): It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for South Thanet (Laura Sandys). I agree that reform and an elected House of Lords are essential. It is a basic principle of democracy that those who legislate for everybody else are voted for by the other citizens of the country. Whatever their positions on the Bill, hon. Members on both sides of the House agree that the House of Lords should complement and not duplicate the House of Commons in both its function and its make-up. Unfortunately, the Bill is weak on both counts. Clause 2 is inadequate in setting out the functions of the reformed House. I agree with the letter written by my right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) to the Deputy Prime Minister. We must see a new draft of clause 2 early in the passage of the Bill. We cannot be expected to agree to a measure if we do not know what the functions will be until some distant time in future, after the Bill has been to the Lords. Furthermore, the Bill reveals one of the weaknesses of our unwritten constitution. It would be helpful if Ministers considered not only how to preserve the primacy of the Commons but what special responsibilities

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the other House should have. At one point, giving the other House special responsibility for human rights was considered. On the make-up of the second House, many noble Lords are going around saying that the Lords is more reflective of the population than the Commons. That is not true. Only a fifth of Members of both Houses are women and 5% or fewer are from ethnic minorities. However, more than 96% of Members of the other House are over 50. The Government’s proposals in the Bill are extremely weak on that. The proposed 15-year terms are weak not just on accountability; they will add to that age bias. The objective is surely to widen involvement in our political institutions—[Interruption.] Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo): Order. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Lady. You have made your speech, Ms Sandys. Turning round and having a private conversation, along with many other Members, is not fair and does not show due respect to the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman). Given the importance that hon. Members have attached to this Bill, perhaps they can ensure they listen to the debate on it. Helen Goodman: Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am obviously so boring that other hon. Members cannot be bothered to listen—[HON. MEMBERS: “No!”] Our politics and our democracy are not exactly in a crisis, but confidence in them is beginning to look rather tattered round the edges. If we are to restore that confidence, we need both institutional reform and higher levels of participation. Today is an opportunity to discuss the institutional reform—we can talk about participation on another occasion. For many, the heyday of our popular democracy was the early 1950s, when voting participation under universal suffrage was at its highest, and when the two-party system seemed to provide a reasonable reflection of the choices for the country. However, in 1997, at the end of 20 years of Tory rule, the overwhelming sense one had was of anachronistic institutions that were completely unrepresentative of who we are and what we expect from our democracy. Institutional reforms redressed the balance between citizens and the state. They were significant and welcome, but they did not address some of the key failings. Why are so few Members of Parliament in either House women? Why is it right that the second Chamber should reserve places for Anglican bishops but none for other denominations and religions? Those are failings of the institutional arrangements, but they reflect a deeper failure: a failure to make sense of our new British identity. To tackle that malaise, we need institutions that provide equal rights within their arrangements. This is an extremely unusual country, because it is both a multinational state built over more than 500 years from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and a multi-ethnic country, which in the past 50 years has had a huge change in its constitution. Such significant cultural diversity can make the task of building inclusive citizenship seem huge, and we do it against a background of growing globalisation, which seems to be reducing the importance of the nation state. It is vital, however, if we are to get the levels of participation that we need.

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Andrew Griffiths: The hon. Lady makes some important statements about the need to ensure that the Chambers are representative, but does she not accept that the other place has the same representation of women, and a higher representation of disabled people and ethnic minorities? Helen Goodman: The differences between the numbers of ethnic minorities and people with disabilities are tiny compared with the great distortion of age. This Chamber represents people according to the communities in which they live. Once upon a time, the differences between living in Sheffield, which was a steel town, and Nottingham, where there were lots of lace factories, were significant, but increasingly the idea of communities based on economic differences defines only a part of people’s lives. With House of Lords reform, we have the opportunity to consider the other aspects of identity and the issues arising from them, which are often just as important—for some people, more important—as the communities in which they live. I propose that we look at House of Lords reform in an attempt to redress that imbalance. It is obviously a deep and complex problem requiring a lot of consideration. Tomorrow evening I will vote for Second Reading, so that we have a democratic second Chamber, but against the programme motion, so that we can unpick some of these very significant matters. 8.11 pm Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con): I thought that the speech by the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman) was magnificent, so she should not give any consideration to her concerns. I wholly support the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman), who captured the whole sense of what is wrong with the Bill. When one considers the great historical events that have shaped our British constitutional and political history—Magna Carta, the Reformation, the civil war, the Glorious Revolution, the Great Reform Act—it is easy to understand why a former distinguished Speaker, the great Baroness Boothroyd, on a programme on the wireless this morning, described the Bill as a constitutional outrage. On the same programme, the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), in an impertinent assertion—I am sorry he is not here to take his medicine—assured the world that Churchill would have voted for this proposal. First, that is not for him to say, given that he has absolutely no idea whether it would have been the case and, secondly, most historians would agree that it is highly unlikely that Churchill would ever have voted for an elected second Chamber, which he would rightly have perceived as a serious challenge to the House of Commons. Most people looking in on our proceedings would think it extraordinary that in a country where so few things work—I think of the Government’s dismal inability even to fix the immigration controls at Heathrow—we should be setting about wasting an inordinate amount of valuable Government time on proposals that are ill thought out and falsely conceived, as part of a deal to conciliate our coalition partners. The country faces global challenges. These are not peaceful, fertile times with the space to consider and reform at leisure one of the greatest and most important

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institutions of the land. Like all my colleagues, however, I accept that there are useful and important reforms that should be made to their lordships’ House without upsetting the constitutional applecart. I say to my own Front-Bench team that by pushing ahead with this foolish enterprise, they are diminishing the Government’s sense of urgency and purpose to put our country back in a better place. They are throwing away the chance to build on the British public’s clear and—in my lifetime— unique understanding that we live in an era of great austerity, that there are difficult and important decisions to take and that the Government should get on and take them, rather than worrying about undermining our constitution. The essential argument is that the creation of an elected second Chamber would inevitably transform relations between the two Chambers and would produce a House that would increasingly be in competition with the House of Commons. The evidence of the Clerk of the House in this regard should be studied most carefully by all those who intend to vote on these profoundly disappointing proposals. The House is going to vote potentially to enshrine in our national political life the recipe for a permanent constitutional crisis. Of course, the House of Lords needs reforming—it is too big and there are sensible measures that we could take—but I profoundly believe that an appointed House has very real merit. It can deliberately reflect the diversity of our country in a way that the House of Commons simply cannot. The present House of Lords has the same gender balance as us, an honourable and long-standing tradition of ethnic diversity and, incidentally, a considerable number of disabled Members. Most importantly, however, it contains a vast reservoir of talent and experience that complements a more youthful and aggressive House of Commons without ever being able to threaten it. The Bill will inevitably lead to the greater politicisation of the House of Lords, blur the harmonious and distinctive differences between the two Houses and remove the correctly unambiguous democratic mandate that the House of Commons rightly enjoys. The Bill will pile a constitutional crisis on top of an economic crisis that we all know will last for a long time. The Conservative party has honoured the obligation in our manifesto; that commitment has been discharged. It is now the duty of every Member to consider their position carefully before knowingly doing something to unpick that which we know works, however imperfectly. We should wait for better hours and better days, when we have the space and the time really to think this through. 8.17 pm Mr Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Lab): It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Nicholas Soames). I want to speak against both Second Reading and the timetable motion for the following reasons. We who are elected to this legislature have developed the habit of thinking that politics is about passing legislation—I am as guilty a party to that sin as anyone else—and although we all approach legislation with a good spirit and wishing to improve the public good, we often do not make a very good job of it. Prime Ministers and parties in government change, however, so we have a chance to undo the silliness of a previous House of Commons. We are talking about a different form of legislation, however, when we talk about changing the constitution.

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My time in the House has often been spent undoing the silliness of other politicians, but we cannot point to any example of a constitutional measure, passed by this House and—under threats—by the House of Lords, that has actually been changed. We will be changing the constitution for ever—there will be no going back—so it is beholden on us to be satisfied with the Bill on Second Reading and not to be beguiled by the Whips. The hon. Member for West Worcestershire (Harriett Baldwin), whom I respect, said, “If I don’t like it on Third Reading, I’ll strike it down.” It never works like that. Let me tell her that simple fact. We also need to lay charge against the Government because of what this Bill is about. The Deputy Prime Minister has an extraordinary view of democracy. He views democracy as being about voting. There are many nations in this world that vote, but which we would not regard as democracies. In this country we have crafted two great constitutional ideas through which we channel our ideas about political freedom. We value the idea that our institutions should be representative and that they should be responsible. The charge I make against the Government this evening when they reply to this debate—or when they care to reply—is this. To what extent does this reform strengthen representative government, and to what extent does it strengthen responsible government? Let me take the responsible side first. The idea that we will get more responsible government by electing people for 15 years without them ever having to stand to account again is a most extraordinary view. We are responsible in the sense that we stand on a mandate of our party—sometimes rather loosely, but we stand on it—and if we wish to continue our careers, we know that we have to face our electorate. The idea that electing people for 15 years will somehow strengthen the responsible side of our constitution is idiotic. Now let us face the other issue: whether our system will be more representative. The idea that a list system— prefaced by the word “open”—will give us a different composition from that of the House of Commons, as well as a better one, is equally naive. Those concerned will be people who the Whips have decided are safe. Constituency parties will elect huge lists of people without knowing who the hell they are and they will have little chance of imposing their views, as they try to when they select for single-Member seats. The reason I am going to vote against the timetable motion is that there are many other ideas that we could put forward to make the House of Lords both responsible and more representative. Since Nolan, we have swallowed the extraordinary view that we should not represent interests. It is totally novel and totally foreign to our constitution. The one place where we should have a view of representation coming forward is the Lords. I want days, if necessary, to discuss how we could make that Chamber—after it has, necessarily, the elements of Government and Opposition—a representative Chamber of the great interests: the great regions of this country; the different interests of men and women; the different interests of both sides of industry; different cultural and industrial interests; and even, perhaps, the interests of political parties. The idea is that, under a timetabled motion, we will be able to open up the debate where the Joint Committee left it and seriously consider, first, whether the Bill makes our constitution more responsible and, secondly, whether it makes it more representative. Anybody who

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thinks that the Bill will deliver either of those two simply because we will have an election system—one that will have even lower turnouts than for the European Parliament—needs their head tested. 8.23 pm John Stevenson (Carlisle) (Con): Britain has had a long tradition of gradually changing its constitutional arrangements, rather than going for an overnight revolution. It is a tradition that reflects the strength of our political establishment, but it is also a tradition that means that change generally happens slowly. It has taken us 101 years to reach this point in the House of Lords debate, but we now have a Bill before Parliament that is supported by the Government, along with commitments in the manifestos of the three main parties, to conclude the work that our predecessors began, with the Parliament Act 1911, in reforming the House of Lords. I appreciate that I am probably in a very small minority on the Government Benches; nevertheless, I welcome the Bill. I acknowledge and accept that it is a compromise, but in many respects that is inevitable. There are probably 650 views of what a reformed House of Lords should look like, but at some point we just have to allow for compromise. The Bill therefore reflects the many attempts over the last 20 years to reform the House of Lords—both from this place and the other place—and it addresses what are, for me, the two key issues of reform: the principle of democratic legitimacy and the issue of practicality. As a simple matter of principle, I believe it right and proper to reform the House of Lords. The present arrangements are, in my view, indefensible. Lords membership at present is based on piety, patronage and privilege. A country that calls itself a democracy in the 21st century should not have a key part of its political system based on such criteria. Jake Berry: I agree with my hon. Friend: his point about democracy is absolutely key to this debate. Does he agree that if we say that we are a democratic country, democracy cannot be partial? We have to reflect it through all our parliamentary institutions, including the House of Lords. John Stevenson: I agree with my hon. Friend. We elect parish councillors, local councillors, county councillors, mayors, MPs, MEPs, MSPs and Welsh Assembly Members, and in November we will elect our first police commissioners, but somehow we do not think it necessary to elect Members of the House of Lords. Angie Bray: But do we elect our judges or our generals? There are plenty of people in public life who are not elected, because the principle cannot be applied unilaterally across everything. John Stevenson: We are talking about our institutions where there is representation and where laws are made. To any rational person, the current arrangement is absurd. We live in a democracy and we, the British people, should be allowed to elect those who make our laws and govern us. Equally importantly, we should also be allowed the opportunity to put ourselves forward for such a role. As things stand, I have to be able to explain to my constituents that, when it comes to the House of Lords, although they live in a democracy and we can

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[John Stevenson] vote for and be councillors, MPs, mayors and so on, they cannot vote for some of the people who pass laws over them, nor do they have the opportunity to hold such offices themselves. That cannot be right. Mr Gray: Perhaps my hon. Friend will answer one simple question: is he, or is he not, a hereditary monarchist? John Stevenson: I do not believe that the monarchy is part of our constitution where effective—[HON. MEMBERS: “What?”] No, it is not involved in our effective day-to-day constitution, in terms of the laws that are passed, so when my hon. Friend talks about the monarchy as such, he is talking about a different concept. Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con): Will my hon. Friend explain to the House the difference between the day-to-day constitution and the bigger constitution that he is talking about? John Stevenson: It is an accepted part of our constitution that the monarch does not actually veto any of the laws passed by Parliament. As a Conservative, I believe that all those who make the law should be elected and that those who have the right to vote should also have the right to seek election, with the opportunity to make laws or govern. Louise Mensch: My hon. Friend is being very generous in giving way again. If he believes that people should be elected and should be accountable to the electorate, will he not reject a system whereby people are elected for a 15-year term, but never have to face the electorate ever again? John Stevenson: The most important part is that there is democratic legitimacy, whereby the people who make laws in this country are elected. I am aware of the arguments for the present arrangement that the other place is more varied in background and that it is a place of greater expertise. I do not accept this. The average age in the other place is 70. There are more in their 90s than there are under-40s, and around 44% have a political or local authority background. Undoubtedly, there is expertise in the other place, but it is not reactive to, or representative of, the electorate. As for the make-up of the other place, it is overwhelmingly geared towards the south of England. Where is the representation of Scotland, Wales or the north of England? Representative it is not. We need to ensure proper regional representation so that the views of all parts of the country are heard in the second Chamber. As to the principles of a functioning Parliament, let us not delude ourselves that the present arrangements are satisfactory for us in this place. Arguably, because of the current arrangements for the House of Lords, we have weakened our own Chamber as an instrument of legislature. Jim Dowd (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab): The hon. Gentleman is being astonishingly generous with his time. I am following his arguments closely, but would he say that because we do not elect our second Chamber, this country is not a fully functioning democracy?

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John Stevenson: I would accept that argument, as I believe all parts of our constitution should be elected. I ask how many amendments the Government accept from Opposition Front-Bench or Back-Bench Members, or even from Government Back-Bench Members. In the other place, amendments are often considered and accepted even when they are similar to those proposed and rejected in this place. It is time that this Chamber asserted itself more, and I believe that House of Lords reform will help to achieve that. There are concerns that this Chamber would be diminished as a result of reform and that a more assertive House of Lords with an electoral mandate would threaten this place. My view is that Parliament as a whole would be more assertive as a result of these reforms, and it is the Executive who should be concerned about an empowered legislature. In a country that is overly centralised and dominated by a powerful Executive, that would be no bad thing. On the issue of practicality, as I alluded to earlier, the Bill is one of compromise. Specific aspects of it will undoubtedly be debated in great detail and there will be further opportunities in Committee to do that and to amend the Bill. This Second Reading is very much about the general thrust of the Bill, however, so I would like to touch on a few points. The powers of the House of Lords will largely remain unchanged. The Lords will still have the power to introduce and amend legislation; what will undoubtedly change will be the conventions of Parliament. The conventions have been changing continually for decades, however, and will continue to do so. As I said at the outset, constitutional change develops slowly in this country. Even if this Bill becomes an Act, it will be another 12 to 15 years before it is implemented fully. There is no doubt that, over time, the other place will become more assertive towards the Executive and, indeed, this Chamber, but that is not necessarily a bad thing for our democracy. I believe we will end up with less but better legislation. The terms of the Lords would be limited to 15 years, elected in thirds at the same time as the general election. This means a peerage will no longer be a lifetime gift, but the terms will be lengthy enough to ensure that a long-term view is taken. I believe that that is correct—and certainly better than the average 26-year tenure of a present peer. The fact remains that the House of Lords is over-filled, under-representative and under-mandated. This Bill will provide a 100-year overview solution to these problems. Let us strengthen Parliament, not the Executive. Let us improve, not weaken our democracy. Let us pass this Bill, ending 100 years of debate and, in 2025, on the conclusion of these reforms, we will be able to reflect on a more vibrant, assertive Parliament of which our country can be proud. 8.32 pm Jim Dowd (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab): I shall break with the traditions of this Chamber by being brief and by trying not to repeat what others have already said. One of the earliest speakers supporting the Bill today said something like, “If you are a democrat, you have to vote for this Bill”. That embodies the attitude and the arrogance of some of those who are seeking to advance this Bill. I believe that it is possible to be a democrat and disagree with people. That is entirely the nature and essence of this Chamber and

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everything it stands for. It says on the cover that this is the House of Lords Reform Bill, but I prefer to call it “a horse designed by a Committee that failed to produce a camel Bill”. It has been cobbled together for a variety of different and often conflicting reasons and then presented before us as a fait accompli. I take the oldest of old Labour positions on the House of Lords. My party believed for the overwhelming majority of the 20th century that the place should be abolished. However, I understand that we cannot do that on our own. A similar Bill was tested in the previous Parliament and there was no majority then; I suggest that the majority has subsequently decreased still further in this Parliament. This reform has to be coupled with the whole question of Parliament and its purposes. We cannot take one part of our democratic institutions and take it in isolation. That is why so many attempts to reform the House of Lords have run into the sand—because we have taken just one element of Parliament and tried to pursue reforming it on its own. Let us consider some of the changes introduced over the last 15 years or so that have had significant effects. Devolution to what we call the nations—Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—is one example. That has happened, but I still think the English question has not been resolved and will need to be addressed in some detail in the not-too-distant future. To be perfectly frank—I do not wish to be parochial—I think that doing that would be a far better use of this House’s time now than would pursuing this pipedream that has been put before us. We have seen the advent of draft Bills and we have seen the development of programme motions, about which I shall say more in a moment. Of course, at the time of their introduction by a Labour Government, the Conservatives and Liberals fought it tooth and nail, telling us how awful and what a denial of democracy it was, but we knew—I was in the Government Whips Office then—that as soon as they had the chance to use them, they would use them, and use them mercilessly. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell) seems shocked by such a proposition. I realise that he is one of the few members of the Liberal Democratic party who occasionally tell the truth, although normally by accident rather than design, but I assure him that that was what happened. I hear from the Leader of the House that public reading stages of Bills are likely to be introduced, whatever they may be. A wide range of change is taking place, and we need to deal with the elements of it together. Trying to isolate one part, whether it be the House of Lords or anything else, will virtually ensure that progress cannot be made. The other bit of arrogance on the part of the proponents of the Bill is their saying, “We have been arguing about this for 100 years, and therefore you must accept this answer. You cannot question it. If you are genuine about reform, you must agree with me.” That is not the way in which a democracy works. I say, “If you are genuine about reform, you must convince me, and convince me without the use of a programme motion.” That attitude demonstrates the hubris with which the Bill is being pushed by its advocates, and the disdain that they have both for this place and for the people. Having had their fingers burnt to a crisp over the AV referendum, they have adopted another strategy: “As we cannot trust the people to give us the right answer,

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we are not going to bloody ask them. We are going to tell them what is good for them. That is how we will rebuild trust in Parliament.” I do not think it is. Hon. Members: Hear, hear. Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD): They are cheering you, Jim. Jim Dowd: So I should hope. It woke you up, anyway. To say what the proponents of the Bill are saying is rather like saying, “We are all in favour of improving public health, so when some charlatan comes up with a quack remedy involving blood-letting and leeches, we should all go along with it.” Well, I am not going to go along with it, and I am not going to go along with my Front-Bench team on this occasion. Under the Labour Government, I voted against them just once. I do not offer that as any particular threat—certainly not the silly threat that some so-called Liberal adviser came up with, equating the issue of boundaries with the Bill—but I will tell Opposition Front Benchers this. I voted against the last Labour Government once, on the Bill that became the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, and on the one occasion when I voted against them, they lost. This is a serious matter. We should not just tolerate the lowest common denominator; we should reform Parliament—reform all of it. That is how we will regain the trust of the British people. 8.37 pm David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con): Thank you for calling me, Mr Deputy Speaker. I much enjoyed the contribution of the hon. Member for Lewisham West and Penge (Jim Dowd). I too am a party loyalist, but there is one small difference between us: in my 25 years in the House, I have never voted against my party’s main business. I am proud of that record, and to illustrate the importance of loyalty, I should like to share with the House an exchange of letters between the person whom I used to call “my right hon. Friend the Member for Finchley”—in other words, Mrs Thatcher, as she then was—and my party association chairman, who had the temerity to write to her, on 5 April 1990, complaining about the community charge. On 18 April she wrote back, very commendably, saying: “I entirely agree with you that splits within the Party only damage ourselves. It is essential that all”—

the word “all” is underlined— “members of the Party should direct their fire at the real enemy: the Socialists. To do otherwise is… to assist our opponents.”

This is not just a Government Bill; it is a fundamental constitutional Bill. I have underlined the first three words in the next sentence of my speech three times: “I am against an elected Lords.” We have not heard much in this debate about the great history of building up the House of Commons through the 1832 and 1869 Great Reform Bills, although the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Nicholas Soames) did talk about that. We cannot have it both ways. We either have an appointed other place over which the Commons has influence, or we have an elected other place, which will,

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[David Tredinnick] in the end, compete with us. My hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr Gray), who served in the Army as I did, knows about mission creep. We are going to have Lords creep. The new versions of the Lords will come a-leaping. They will want more power. That is very worrying. The list system is the worst possible system. How can any of us stand up and talk with a straight face about getting rid of patronage and bringing in a list system? Opposition Members have spoken eloquently about the evils of that, but when we couple it with the absurd proposition of an elected House with 15-year terms, we see that this entire proposal presents an opportunity to get elected and then go and live in the south of France. Those elected would never need to come back, because they will never stand for election again. This is a recipe for lazy peers. Why should anybody want to turn up for that length of time? There is no accountability either. Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD): The average term of office in the current House of Lords is 26 years. David Tredinnick: Well, I am grateful for that intervention. There is another Bill that solves about half of these problems. I mentioned it in an earlier intervention. It is Lord Steel’s Bill. He is a Liberal Lord, and his Bill give peers the opportunity to retire if they want, which will reduce the numbers. If they do not turn up, they get disqualified. On the criminals issue, the bad guys would be disqualified, too. That Bill therefore deals with at least a third of the problems with this Bill. I say to those who are dissatisfied with the way in which we get our peers that I personally do not object to former senior politicians going to the Lords, as I think they make an important contribution. If the regional balance is wrong, we do not have to turn the Lords upside down; we could have regional commissions, perhaps, or a debate about allocating peers. As for the insulting notion that the experts in the Lords are not important, anyone who has attended a debate on health issues in which peers such as Lord Winston or Lord Walton participated will have listened in awe—and the same applies to those with military experience, as has been said. Listening to a Lords debate can be an awesome experience. We are being told that because Lords reform was in the parties’ manifestos, this Bill has to go through, but we barely touched on the issue in our manifesto. It merely said that we must find some form of consensus. The Steel Bill presents the ideal way to achieve consensus, and therefore to get us out of this corner. Many years ago, I served on the Anglo-Irish parliamentary forum. I remember talking, in County Tipperary or somewhere else, to Irish Members who suffered two-Member constituencies. Did they like it? They hated it, because they were always campaigning against each other through the whole term. Nothing got done and constituency interests were not paramount. Let me say a few words about the veiled threat from my new-found Liberal hon. Friends, who occupy what used to be our other Front Bench before it was taken over by them. I forget after which election that happened, but perhaps we will get that Bench back at some point

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in the future. I say to them, “Please don’t threaten us over the boundary changes that we need. We gave you the AV referendum and it was a straight fight.” Finally, we must think about the new constituencies— with seven Members and larger than a country, as a colleague put it. Do we really want to superimpose that in our areas? I do not think so. We already have MEPs covering similarly vast areas. As a party loyalist, I hate doing this—I really do—but I cannot support this Bill. I do not think it is in our national interest or Parliament’s interests, and it is certainly not in my party’s interests. 8.44 pm Mrs Anne McGuire (Stirling) (Lab): I have listened with great interest to the number of speeches in which we have been told about the expertise in the other place, how wonderful their lordships are and so on. I wonder why, then, when the results of their deliberations in the other place come down here, we rarely accept anything that they say. I think of the most recent example of the Welfare Reform Bill. There was a great deal of expertise over there and nobody in this House, or very few—certainly among those on the Government Benches—listened to them. I would have thought that the Liberal Democrats would have been able to come up with a better Bill than this; after all, they have been thinking about it for 101 years. I feel as though I am at a seminar about the Parliament Act. We are talking about an increase in accountability, but in order, apparently, to assuage criticism from those who would argue that the House of Lords should be a forum for the expertise that I have mentioned, which we rarely actually accept in this House, we have before us a proposal to appoint 20% of the new Chamber. This morning, I received the document I am holding, “Lords reform: a guide for MPs”, to which some distinguished colleagues have contributed. As well as a hybrid Chamber and a new electoral system—many other colleagues have mentioned this—we have before us, in this supporting document, the statement that “members elected in large, multi-member regional constituencies would be able to take a more strategic view of the needs of a whole part of the country. They would not be expected or resourced to take up a litany of individual cases on behalf of constituents”.

I come from Scotland, where we have regional MSPs. I can see my colleagues from Wales nodding in agreement with what they anticipate I am about to say. The reality is that if a politician is shown an electorate, they will react like a politician. They will not say, “Sorry, I cannot deal with that, because I have been elected for 15 years and I am not going to be re-elected.” Of course they will be politicians, and that is what they will do. I have been in this place for 15 years, which is a long, long time in politics. Many of the people who came in with me are no longer here. I say to those Government Members who think they will still be here in 15 years: in your dreams. I am not talking about your dreams, Madam Deputy Speaker, because I know that you do not dream about the Government Benches. The Deputy Prime Minister made great play of the new House of Lords, new Senate, or whatever on earth we are going to call it, having greater regional and national representation. He obviously has not looked at or seen the implications of what Lord Strathclyde has

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said about the way in which it is expected these that new Senators or Members of the House of Lords will operate; as the Joint Committee also said, the new situation should allow individuals to “maintain relevant professional expertise”. The Government have also said that the “appointed members and elected members should be able to vary their level of participation…so that they can maintain outside occupations”.

So I say to the House: how on earth is an elected Member of the House of Lords from Newcastle, from Scotland or from north of the inner circle of London going to be able to maintain another job and still attend the House of Lords? It is utter nonsense. Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP): Does the right hon. Lady share my concern, and that of many in this House, that the number of representatives from Northern Ireland is to total three in each period of the legislative change? Does she agree that the history and culture of Northern Ireland, and the sense of self that its people have, is not represented totally in the reform put forward by the coalition? Mrs McGuire: The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. I do not think that the current House of Lords accurately reflects the diversity of the United Kingdom. Although we think that there are Scots everywhere, there are probably fewer Scots in the House of Lords than there ought to be given the percentage of the population—[Interruption.] That is probably so in the House of Lords. Let me make one or two points which I do not think have been adequately covered. My right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson) makes a very valid point about bishops in the House of Lords. The issue is controversial but, frankly, I do not agree that removing bishops from the House of Lords means that we are automatically talking about the disestablishment of the Church of England. If the establishment of the Church of England depends on 12 bishops sitting in the House of Lords, it is in a worse state than the Archbishop of Canterbury thinks that it is. There has been a bit of a myth put around for most of the day that the Labour party has always been interested in changing the House of Lords. It has been highlighted that many of our policies related more to abolition than to reform, but the reality is that we have always been more interested in the powers of the House of Lords than in its composition. We have not had any discussion about the powers today. If we change the form of election to the other Chamber, we will change unalterably the balance of the relationship between this House and a second Chamber. We cannot move away from that and no matter how often the Government mention the Parliament Act, it just will not wash. We cannot have a modern constitution for the 21st century based on the relationships in the 1911 Act and we must be far more realistic about the implications of the proposals. I will vote in favour of Second Reading tomorrow, because I believe in the reform of the House of Lords and this is the only game in town at the moment, but I will also vote against the programme motion on the grounds that perhaps, as the discussion and conversation

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goes on this House, the Government will have the time to reflect and will knock some sense into the head of the Deputy Prime Minister. 8.51 pm Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con): I congratulate the right hon. Member for Stirling (Mrs McGuire) on a terrific speech. It is an honour to follow her. I had rather hoped this day would not come, as this is the first time that a Government Bill has presented me with a dilemma. House of Lords reform is not a dilemma for my constituents and, in fact, it simply is not of any interest to them whatsoever, judging by the number of communications I have received. There are far more pressing issues facing my constituents during these difficult times and I very much get the impression that they think we should be focusing on those rather than what they see as a distant and rather arcane constitutional matter. House of Lords reform has not been raised with me on the doorsteps in Ealing and Acton either before or since the election two years ago, but the Government have chosen to make it a priority and we must therefore spend time on it. It needs thorough consideration, however, because its impact would have major consequences. The first of those consequences is cost. The proposal for an elected House of Lords would not only impose yet another tier of elected politicians, creating a sixth elected tier in London, but be an added cost for which taxpayers will have to pay. As night follows day and as with all elected politicians, the costs will soon start to escalate. I should know. As one of the first Greater London authority members, I remember how Londoners were promised that the new GLA would cost them just a few pence a week, but by the time we had employed personal assistants and researchers for every member, as well as a chief of staff and a press officer for each group, with an expanding secretariat to serve them, up, up, up went the cost. We all know that the costs for the proposed elected House of Lords are already expected to be considerably more than the current costs over each five-year period. The second consequence would be on accountability. Does the Bill provide for a more accountable and less remote second Chamber? Does it indeed provide for an elected second Chamber that ticks all the boxes for those who want an elected second Chamber? My answer to both questions is no. It proposes a party list system for candidate selection attached to large regional areas. That, to me at least, is appointment by another name. Those who are favourites with the party bosses will go higher on the list—we all know that—and representing a huge nominal region will hardly bring them closer to us either. Then there is the bizarre idea that Members of the House of Lords should serve a 15-year term, and no returns. That means that they could not be rejected at the ballot box for doing a lousy 15-year job, which is surely a measure for mediocrity. Meanwhile, we will be losing a huge range of expertise covering so many different fields—law, medicine, military matters, health, charities, education. I could easily go on. Many of those experts are not natural politicians and they would not wish to seek election.

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Mr Frank Field: If we had the time, we could discuss alternatives such as the big interests being represented. Let us consider those interests. All the organisations that the hon. Lady has mentioned had the franchise and elected their leadership long before we had universal franchise for parliamentary elections. Angie Bray: That is an extremely interesting point, but all those things need much more consultation than they are getting at the moment. I want to comment finally on the future governance of this country. That may not seem to be a big issue right now, but one day it will be—when a newly elected House of Lords decides that primacy should no longer be hogged by this House. After all, Members of the Lords would be elected too and should be given their due recognition. At that point lies gridlock, when the two Houses come to different views on legislation, just as happens on occasion in the United States. At that point, too, lies a terrible car crash. The House of Lords would no longer be a revising Chamber with a clear view of its role in the parliamentary process; it would be a House ready to assert its newly acquired status as an alternative elected House and would demand an equal role. As things are, people know that they vote for their Government via electing their MPs. Instead of clarity, the proposed changes would simply create confusion. I am not against any reform. Every institution needs to be refreshed and reformed from time to time, as does the House of Lords. Even now, there are entirely sensible, reasonable and practical reforms on the table, thanks to the Liberal Democrat Lord Steel, which would reduce numbers, enforce proper attendance and ensure that those who fell foul of the law were excluded. They would answer many of the problems that we all agree exist in the House of Lords, so why are we intent on taking the place completely apart, even as the constitutional arrangements continue to work? This is very difficult for me. I have always supported the Government, on every vote, and I continue to be proud of their many achievements. I also want to put on record my admiration for the work of my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, who is doing brilliant work in the Cabinet Office on behalf of the taxpayer. I have very much enjoyed being part of his team. It is very disappointing that the other half of the Cabinet Office is in charge of this legislation. The Bill has the feel of back-of-the-fag-packet legislation, got up in a hurry to meet a timetable. I cannot stop myself thinking that we are being asked to support the dismantling of a crucial part of our constitution for a short-term political fix. I simply cannot do that. 8.58 pm Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/ Co-op): It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak briefly in the debate. I note the number of Members who are still seeking to catch your eye, Madam Deputy Speaker, and who will no doubt be seeking to do so tomorrow. A six-minute limit underlines the importance that many of us attach to the Bill and the fact that there is genuine concern about the time that we will be able to spend discussing some of these important issues.

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As it happens, my views are probably not as strong as some of those expressed today by eminent and experienced Members on both sides of the House, and on both sides of the debate on the other side of the House. I perhaps find myself slightly in sympathy with my right hon. Friend the Member for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears) and the hon. Member for Ealing Central and Acton (Angie Bray), wondering how much the Bill is a distraction from more important issues. It is certainly not something that has been raised particularly by my constituents at surgeries or on the doorstep in recent times. Anna Soubry: Does the hon. Gentleman not agree with me, though, from his experience on the doorstep, that a lot of people are disaffected and cynical about politics, and does he not think that one of the reasons for that is that we have an unelected House of Lords? Tom Greatrex: I think there are many more fundamental reasons why people are disappointed in politics. Before coming to the Chamber this afternoon—I have been here since the debate started—I checked and found that two constituents have contacted me about House of Lords reform and implored me to support it. At the end of the letter—they are identical—it says: “All I ask is for you to do one simple thing; keep to your manifesto commitment and vote in favour of reforming the House of Lords.”

I do not know whether other hon. Members have received that letter. One was sent to me by a Liberal Democrat councillor—well, he was a Liberal Democrat councillor; he lost his seat in my ward earlier this year and was replaced by the excellent Labour candidate—and I presume that the other was from the other Liberal Democrat in Cambuslang. So we know that there are some people for whom this is a big issue. In view of the lack of time, I shall not draw the House’s attention too much to the idea of being urged to keep one’s manifesto commitments by Liberal Democrats, given their recent past. However, the lack of demonstrable public interest does not mean that House of Lords reform is not important. It is important, and the consequences of the Bill and their impact on the governance of the country as a whole are such that it is important that we ensure that two things happen: first, that the Bill is properly scrutinised and, secondly, that public support is tested in a referendum, just as many significant constitutional changes have been in recent years. Given that Bill will have an impact on the relationship between the two Houses of Parliament, that referendum is fundamentally important. A range of concerns about the Bill need to be properly discussed in Committee. Many hon. Members have expressed real concern about the 15-year term, the list system and, in particular, the inadequacy of clause 2, which deals with the relationship between the two Houses. The hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso) was admirably naive to suggest that there would not be some sort of mission creep from the Lords. As others who have experience of regional list MSPs will know, it does not matter what is set out in the code; behaviour is something quite different. I wish to air two issues that have not been touched on much so far. The first is regional representation. The proponents of the Bill have made much of the idea that it will enable real and effective regional representation

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within the second Chamber. Those who spend a lot more time considering these matters than I do know that that is a widely accepted role for second Chambers in other countries. Schedule 2 to the Bill sets out the formula for the allocation of the elected peers: in each of the three elections, Scotland gets 10, Wales gets six, Northern Ireland three, and England 101. Thus, after the first set of elections, the combined strength of Scotland and Northern Ireland plus four of the Welsh representatives would be needed to outweigh the south-east of England. That formula is based on population share and, in that sense, it is perfectly understandable, but it does not mean that the reformed House will represent the regional balance, as some have suggested. In the United States, California gets no more senators than Wyoming, even though its population is 66 times larger—that is pure regionalism. Germany has a different structure, with a minimum number of sets and then an additional number, according to population share, up to a maximum. As the constitution unit notes, Germany is one of the few countries without pressure to change its second chamber. If the proposals in the Bill are to be held up as a model of regional representation, those issues need to be looked at. Secondly, part 4 of the Bill contains the clauses dealing with the number of bishops in the second Chamber. Over time, their number will be reduced. I think the bishops in the House of Lords bring a different perspective. I am a great admirer of the Archbishop of York, whose experience in Uganda brings something different to debates. It seems that the remaining bishops are to be among the 20% of Members of the new House who are appointed. Why, though, do we not get rid of all the bishops, as some have advocated, or if they are to be appointed Members, why do we not ensure representation from other faiths? There are Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Baptists, members of the Free Church and many others, and those are just Christians. Should we not ensure that Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and others are properly reflected among the Members appointed to the new Chamber? Could we not make space for a Catholic Cardinal or the Chief Rabbi? I raise those two issues because they are issues that many people will not see as being of primary importance as the debate goes forward, but they are two important aspects of the composition of the second Chamber that could be the casualty of the programme motion. Jim Dowd: I follow what my hon. Friend says, but are not international comparisons dangerous? The only other legislature in the world that allows clerics, by dint of their role, to be Members is Iran. Does he think that is a good model to follow? Tom Greatrex: I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. The point that I am making is that these are issues that people will seek to discuss during the Committee stage that are not of primary importance. They may be secondary to other issues that have been raised during the debate today and it is imperative that there is proper time to consider all those issues. One of my frustrations since entering the House is that on a much smaller constitutional Bill that was taken on the Floor of the House, the Scotland Bill, there were a

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number of issues that we never discussed because we ran out of time. We cannot allow that to happen with this Bill so it is imperative that we have enough time. People will ask how many days that means. It means that it takes as long as it takes to deal with all the issues to get the Bill in the best possible form before it proceeds to the Lords. Following on from my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham West and Penge (Jim Dowd), the Government would do well to stop using the line that we have been talking about the subject for 100 years. We have not been talking about this Bill for 100 years. There are big issues in the Bill that we need to get right. We need enough time to get them right if the Bill is to have any chance of taking us forward. 9.6 pm Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con): Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your patience and generosity. I had to sprint across to St Thomas’s, where my wife is having a scan. We are expecting our third child. The supporters of the Bill would have the country believe that those who are opposed to it are opponents of democracy itself. Today I stand to refute that ugly caricature. No one in the House is more committed to British democracy than I. My family immigrated to Britain from an Iraq where democracy was spoken of only behind closed doors, late at night, among trusted friends. Compared to the brutal realities of Saddam’s rule, democracy was an abstract dream. Yet here in Britain there was a constitutional order which made democracy real, concrete, embedded in the very fabric of our national life. Here was a judiciary—unelected, I grant you—which interpreted the law in the interests of the public, not of the ruling party. Here was a Queen—again, unelected— whose impregnable position as Head of State made sure that no politician could ever wield supreme power. And here also was the oldest and greatest of Parliaments, an elected House of Commons to embody the will of the people, and an appointed House of Lords to stand as a check against the tyranny of the majority. Jesse Norman: Does my hon. Friend share my view that it is in the balance of these extraordinary institutions and in their distinctive history that so much of the genius of our history has been located? Nadhim Zahawi: That is exactly right. I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. This is exactly the constitution that I believe in and this is the constitution that I will defend. This is not, as my hon. Friend the Minister with responsibility for political and constitutional reform has said, some “silly game”. If recent events in the Arab world have shown us anything, it is that democracy is not just about holding elections. It is also about building institutions which ensure that the whole of society is represented, regardless of who is in power. The question that we should ask ourselves today is whether British society will be better represented by 360 more career politicians accountable to no one but their party. I am not complacent about the state of our democracy. I know that Parliament currently faces a crisis of legitimacy in the eyes of the country, but the cause of that crisis

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[Nadhim Zahawi] is not the other place. No. It is that deeply damaging sense that politicians here, in this House, are out of touch. Mr Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that reforming the other place will not solve the problems of reforming this place? This House needs to be more effective in holding the Executive to account. Making changes down the road, with who knows what outcome, is not the answer. We must reform this House and ensure that the other House serves by revising our legislation, rather than undermining the democratic supremacy of this House. Nadhim Zahawi: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the reasons why we in this place are perceived to be out of touch is that people feel that we put the interests of party before those of our country, that we care more about securing a party political legacy than about growth capital for our businesses or good local schools for our children. The public want a Parliament that legislates well and in the national interest, and they want MPs who are on their side and up to the job. They do not want to see, and certainly do not want to pay for, more politicians and more party patronage. I have conducted new scientific polling that shows that 60% of the public are opposed to spending more money on politicians and elections, yet that is what the Bill offers them. If we are really to fix Parliament, we must give it the tools to legislate better. Let us strengthen the role of Select Committees and give more time for Back-Bench business. Let us not solve the problem of a broken legislature by making it harder to legislate. Let us not inflame the deep mistrust of party politics by bringing in a system that hands more power over to the party machine. I am a loyal critic of the other place. The White Paper states that it performs its role of scrutiny and revision with “distinction”, yet I know that there is much that we could do to improve it. We could reduce the number of peers, abolish prime ministerial patronage, remove the final hereditary peers and increase the professional expertise that already makes such a great contribution to the quality of parliamentary debate. I have argued, and will continue to argue, for all this and more, but subverting the primacy of the Commons is not the answer to reform. The Government know that it would be impossible to write into law the conventions governing the relationship between the Lords and Commons. As a result, the only protection against legislative gridlock between the two Houses would be the good faith of the new senators. We would have to require 360 career politicians to promise not to use their new democratic mandate to oppose the will of the Commons. If one day in the future this House is legislating on military action or an emergency Budget, for example—situations in which time is of the essence—we would run the risk of a costly delay as our new senators discover the power and publicity that this mandate conferred. Of course, we could always use the Parliament Acts to ram a Bill through this new House of senators, but that hardly seems to signify a new era of democratic accountability to me. Indeed, how ironic that the supporters of a Bill for reforming our democracy are refusing to take their argument to the country.

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The claim that the choice was put to the public at the general election does not hold up either. Where was the choice when all the main parties offered it in their manifestos? The polling overwhelmingly shows that an elected House of Lords is not a priority. Does it stretch belief that voting intentions may have been dictated largely by what our parties were promising to do on the economy and public services, rather than on constitutional reform? A referendum would ensure that the public have all the facts before making their choice known. In the same polling I quoted earlier, even Liberal Democrat support for these proposals fell to just 29% once the costs of elections were factored in. I know that many colleagues will have been urged to express their concerns on Third Reading, but those suggesting that approach are being disingenuous at best. Unless a referendum clause is added now, there is no guarantee that it will be added later and, with a combination of the Parliament Acts being used and Opposition Members saying that they will support the Bill on Second and Third Reading, there is little chance that a Back-Bench amendment would be successful. The only way that the views of hon. Members would be heard and debated properly is if we vote against the programme motion and, in the absence of a referendum clause, vote against the Bill’s Second Reading. Anything else is merely a protest vote, not one that will make a difference. 9.15 pm Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab): The House of Lords has more than 800 Members, and that is far too many; it has Members who are there simply because of who their fathers were; and, in this Parliament it has had so many Liberal Democrats from Wales appointed to it that it sometimes seems there is none left to populate the Assembly. The House of Lords therefore needs reform, and for that reason I will vote to support the Bill’s Second Reading tomorrow. If there is no reform with this Bill, there will be no reform in this Parliament. I will vote against the Government’s programme motion, however, because the time that it allocates is wholly inadequate. This Bill is so important to all aspects of our parliamentary system that it must be considered in its entirety, and all Members who have views that they want to express should be permitted to do so. I specifically asked the Whips to maintain strong opposition to any programme motion for this Bill primarily because of the Government’s appalling behaviour in respect of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011. By their deeds shall ye know them. I spent a great deal of time in this Chamber waiting to speak on the aspects of that legislation which affected our constitution, and on the relationship between Wales and the United Kingdom, but, in the words of the great Diana Ross, “I’m still waiting”, and I have no doubt that if this programme motion is passed I will have no opportunity to make my views known on the profound inadequacies of this Bill. My fundamental view is that it makes no sense to undertake such a profound review of the second Chamber without taking into account the massive constitutional change of devolution. It is high time that we approached constitutional reform in a holistic way. Every change to a part of our constitution affects the whole, and we currently have more inquiries and commissions on different

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aspects of our constitution than I can ever recall. We should scrap the lot and undertake a single constitutional review, looking at the procedures of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the devolved authorities, with the aim of arriving at a single, settled constitution. If there is one lesson to be learned from devolution, it is that it opens a Pandora’s box of proposals to change the powers of the body it has created: the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the London Assembly all pressed to change their powers immediately upon being provided with them. I have no doubt that any change to the second Chamber will lead to exactly the same process, unless it is accompanied by a constitution defining its powers. That is a massive flaw in the Bill. Mr MacNeil: The hon. Gentleman says that the Scottish Parliament looked for a change of powers immediately upon its creation, but that is not true. In its first eight years it was run by an unambitious Labour-Liberal Democrat Government and did not look for any change to its powers. It is only now, with an ambitious Scottish National party Government looking for further powers, that that is happening. Ian Lucas: That statement is simply untrue. There was further devolution to the Scottish Parliament and to the National Assembly for Wales, and it happened throughout the course of devolution’s development in the United Kingdom. There are further flaws in the Bill which we need to discuss. Creating separate types of Member of the second Chamber is wrong: having elected Members, appointed Members and bishops will create confusion and undermine the democratic principle. Having bishops as Members is wrong, too. Giving precedence to Church of England clerics is an extraordinary thing to do, and it is even more inexplicable on this very day, when the Church of England has decided not to appoint women bishops. Is not having such a clause in the Bill a breach of the European convention on human rights? Will the Minister give a specific response on that point? As my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex) said, little consideration has been given to the proportion of elected Members allocated to each part of the United Kingdom. It appears to have been done on a purely mathematical basis that takes no account of the different nations within the UK. That point was well made by Dr Paul Behrens of the university of Leicester, who refers to the very different approaches taken in the United States and German constitutions. The use of the 15-year term that many Members have mentioned is appalling, and I am amazed that it has survived from the draft Bill. I have not spoken to anyone who supports it, and I was astonished to hear one or two Members do so even though they are in a tiny minority. It is a recipe for the creation of isolated, narcissistic Members of a second Chamber who will have no connection whatever to the real world. Those are just a few of my concerns on the specifics of the Bill; I have many more and I am sure that more will occur to me as we discuss the matter. I have no doubt that further issues will arise when the Bill is considered in detail, because it is a bad, bad Bill—badly

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drafted, badly drawn and based on a compromise that is not working. My concern is that proper consideration will not take place because of the inadequacy of the time that is allocated. The result will be a very bad Bill going to the Lords, where it will no doubt be scrutinised at greater length, and the reputation of the House of Commons will be diminished still further. Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD) rose— Ian Lucas: I give way to the right hon. Gentleman, who has recently joined the debate; it is a shame that he was not here earlier. Sir Alan Beith: I was here for the earlier part of the debate as well. The hon. Gentleman has declared that he is in favour of reform. He cannot be so naive as not to realise that if there is no timetable, those whose objective is not to have any reform along these lines will talk and talk to try to drive the Bill out. Is he going to suggest a better timetable to those on his Front Bench? Ian Lucas: It is quite something to be patronised by the right hon. Gentleman. I understand the position on parliamentary procedure. I also understand that the Liberal Democrats suppressed my right to have my say about my constituency on behalf of my constituents when the Minister stood at the Dispatch Box and denied the people of Wales the opportunity to discuss a fundamental constitutional reform. I therefore know that I cannot rely on him or his colleagues to allow me to speak on behalf of my constituents. The only way I will secure enough time so to do is to vote against the programme motion, as I certainly will on the basis of the appalling behaviour of Members on the Liberal Democrat Benches. 9.22 pm Dan Byles (North Warwickshire) (Con): It is an honour and a privilege to speak in a debate of such fundamental importance. We have heard some truly fascinating speeches from Members on both sides of the House. I personally take the view that the weight of argument is firmly on the side of those who do not support the Bill, but we have heard some interesting speeches across the board. It is a particular honour to sit next to my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Central and Acton (Angie Bray), who made what must have been a particularly difficult speech. The economy is struggling, the eurozone is tanking, the banks are in crisis, and Syria is burning. Our constituents must be blinking in bewilderment at the time, effort and political energy being expended— Mr MacNeil: Has the hon. Gentleman made many speeches in this House on those subjects, or is he just here to talk about House of Lords reform? Dan Byles: If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I am here today to speak about this extremely important issue, but I speak regularly in this Chamber about key events and intervene in others. I am not one of those Members who chalks up short speeches on

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[Dan Byles] TheyWorkForYou and then judges themselves by the number of speeches they have made rather than their quality. As I said, our constituents are blinking in bewilderment at the amount of time we are spending discussing this issue, but discuss it we must—[Interruption.] Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo): Mr MacNeil, I have had enough. You keep interrupting everybody. This debate has been going on all day. I ask you to sit there quietly and stop trying to disrupt other people’s speeches. Dan Byles: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Discuss this issue we must. Most Conservative Members are of the view that we would rather not, but if we have to it must be discussed fully and properly. This is a fundamental and irreversible constitutional change. It is not normal Government business. The idea that such a change should be rammed through with the routine whipping and programming is unthinkable. The Bill is not about democracy. Too many people who support it seem to think that simply using the word “democracy” shuts down the debate. That is not the case. I was a soldier for nine years. I took the Queen’s commission and served Her Majesty. I was taught at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the Royal Military College at Shrivenham to uphold and preserve democracy and the rule of law, which I do. I challenge anybody in this Chamber to tell me that I do not support democracy. That I support it does not mean that I must support the Bill. My hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Mr Shepherd) described eloquently our complex and ancient constitution. The right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) made a passionate speech on the nature of the upper House and its specific and unique role in our constitution, which does not automatically require that its Members be elected. I was rather hoping that I would be called to speak immediately after him, because I would have been tempted to say, “What he said,” and sit down. My hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (John Stevenson) ran through a list of other parts of our system that are elected. Interestingly, I have the same list in my speech in order to make the opposite point. My constituents already have the opportunity to elect every level of government. They elect parish councillors, borough councillors, county councillors, Members of Parliament and MEPs. They elect their Government when they elect their MP. That is our system. If we move, in an ill-thought-out way, to a system in which they also elect, in a manner of speaking—I am not a fan of this system of proportional representation—Members of the other place, which House will form the Government? That system will result in confusion and chaos. This change is being imposed. There is no suggestion that it will go to the people in a referendum, unlike the question of whether the people of Coventry want an elected mayor, as numerous colleagues have pointed out. Apparently, this fundamental change to the constitution of our country is not suitable for a referendum. The people who want to impose this fundamental change

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should at least come to the House to explain what the upper Chamber is supposed to do, what it is about the current system that is failing to achieve that end and how the proposals will achieve that end better. It seems to me that the Bill fails in what it sets out to achieve. It will not make the upper House more accountable. I will not repeat the arguments involving the party list system and the 15-year terms, but the new Members will not be accountable. The Bill will not end the Prime Minister’s right of patronage. Ministerial Members will be appointed by the Prime Minister, not by an independent appointments commission, and he will be able to appoint as many of them as he wants. As long as fewer than eight of them are serving as Ministers at the time, he can appoint more. He can appoint eight on day one. If they all resign on day two, he can appoint eight more. He can do that every day. The power of parliamentary patronage is therefore still there. That means that it will not be an 80% elected Chamber. If each Prime Minister appoints only eight ministerial Members in each Parliament and they stay for three Parliaments, it will be a 74% elected Chamber. Let us call it what it is. And that is ignoring the Lords Spiritual. Jesse Norman: Has my hon. Friend raised that topic with the Ministers who are responsible for constitutional affairs? I would be very interested to hear what the answer was. Dan Byles: My hon. Friend is being naughty, because he knows that I have. He knows that there was some confusion in the Ministers’ office about how many times the Prime Minister could appoint eight ministerial Members. At one point, it was suggested that they could appoint only eight per Parliament. However, a constitutional expert in the upper House, whom I shall not name because I have not asked his permission, assures me that as the Bill is written, there is no limit on the number of ministerial Members who can be appointed. The scope for constitutional deadlock that the Bill will bring about has been described at great length and with eloquence. Those who want us to give the other place what they see as more democratic legitimacy cannot run away from the fact that it will want to use and exert that legitimacy. I am pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister is back in his place, because I would like to pick up on one of his points, if he is listening. He is not. He was naughty in his opening speech when he discussed the potential costs of the reform, because he included the costs of reducing the size of this place. The House will know that that was in entirely separate legislation that will be on the statute book regardless of whether this Bill is accepted. That reduction should form the baseline from which the costs of the Bill are judged. I stood on a manifesto commitment to seek consensus on House of Lords reform. It is quite clear that that consensus has not been reached. When the Joint Committee, in an unprecedented move, issued a minority report signed by almost half its members urging that a constitutional convention be set up, because this matter was too important to be left to grubby political horsetrading, people should have sat up and take notice. That is why I cannot support the Bill and certainly cannot support the programme motion.

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9.30 pm Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab): Today’s debate has been passionate and knowledgeable, and it will stand as a fine example of the House at its best. We have heard numerous excellent contributions from right hon. and hon. Members, and we have heard a range of differing views from all parts of the House— some were in favour of the Bill and some against, but most speakers acknowledged that in the name of parliamentary democracy the proposals in it needed to feel the heat of Members’ thorough scrutiny. Labour Members can be proud of an unmatched record on reform, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) made clear at the beginning of the debate. We have introduced many of the changes in the relationship between this House and the House of Lords, and we are proud to be the party of reform. The House of Lords Act 1999 finally removed the hereditary principle from membership of the second Chamber. Interestingly, the decision elicited this response from the then Leader of the Opposition, the current Foreign Secretary, “let me make it clear…that we believe it is wrong to embark on fundamental change to the Parliament of this country without any idea where that will lead.”—[Official Report, 2 December 1998; Vol. 321, c. 876.]

It would be interesting to know whether the Foreign Secretary feels the same about the Deputy Prime Minister’s desire to curb parliamentary scrutiny of the Bill. My feeling is that he just might. The result of the 1999 Act was that, overnight, the size of the other place was reduced from more than 1,300 to just 669. In 2006 we created the post of elected Lord Speaker, separated the judiciary from the Lords by establishing the Supreme Court and created people’s peers—all steps that strengthened our democracy. It is also important to remember that in 2003 and 2007 Labour initiated votes on whether there should be a fully or partly elected second Chamber. Although the 2003 votes were inconclusive, the 2007 votes favoured a 100% elected second Chamber. The Opposition recognise that vote and believe that the job of Lords reform will not be complete until we have a 100% elected second Chamber. We committed to that in our last manifesto, and we stand by that commitment. The Deputy Prime Minister agreed with that policy just over a year ago, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting said earlier. I wonder what made him abandon yet another apparently strong belief. Page 88 of the Liberal Democrats’ 2010 manifesto stated that they would: “Replace the House of Lords with a fully-elected second chamber with considerably fewer members than the current House.”

Despite all that, the Deputy Prime Minister has made proposals for only an 80% elected House—then again, we all know how much the Deputy Prime Minister’s manifesto promises are worth. Leaving that to one side, it should be clear to all Members that the Bill deserves the fullest possible scrutiny, precisely because of issues such as I have mentioned. The Joint Committee was split, and it is clear that a rigorous debate is required before the issue is settled in statute. The House’s task, therefore, is to ensure that the Bill is fit for the long term, fit to endure in our democracy and fit to last a great deal longer than the legacy of its main architect.

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Many hon. Members have referred to the primacy of the Commons, including, to mention just a few, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Margaret Beckett), the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing) and my hon. Friend the Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer). It is now 101 years since the Parliament Act 1911, a measure that the House laid before Parliament to curb the powers of the other place. We should consider how emboldened an elected second Chamber might be if it disagrees with the Commons. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting said, clause 2 reasserts the powers of the Parliament Acts, but it is silent on the future power and roles of a reformed Chamber, and relies on the evolution of conventions for the maintenance of Commons primacy. An elected second Chamber could evolve to challenge the conventions. Rigorous debate informed by constitutional expertise is required on Commons primacy. As the Foreign Secretary has said in the past, it is important to know and to try to establish where such measures lead. The Opposition believe that such a major constitutional change should be put before the British people in a referendum—another hot topic in the debate. The idea was supported by numerous Members, including my hon. Friends the Members for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex) and for Dudley North (Ian Austin), and my right hon. Friends the Members for Knowsley (Mr Howarth) and for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson). The last of those made it clear to the House, in his usual straightforward and blunt style, that he is a strong supporter of the reforms, but he also made it very clear that he supports a referendum. If cities can have referendums to decide whether they want a mayor, surely it is right to trust the British people on such a major change to our democracy. One must be careful that referendums do not undermine the representative nature of our democracy, but there is a strong case for the mechanism when major constitutional change is proposed. Duncan Hames: The hon. Lady is keen to tell us that the Labour party supports Lords reform and wants a referendum. Will it therefore campaign for a yes vote to deliver House of Lords reform in such a referendum? Angela Smith: That depends entirely on what the Bill looks like when it is presented to the British people. Hon. Members who have sat through the past seven hours of the debate will realise that the vast majority of Members of the House want the Bill debated thoroughly and amended to make it fit to put before the British people. The Joint Committee agreed unanimously on that point. It remains a mystery to Opposition Members that the party that was so keen to hold a referendum on the alternative vote system is so shy of supporting a referendum to determine the essence of our democracy and our parliamentary institutions. What on earth are they afraid of ? Mr Jenkin: I remind the hon. Lady that the Liberal Democrats were not keen to have a referendum on the AV system; it was forced on them by circumstance. Angela Smith: The hon. Gentleman makes a good point.

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[Angela Smith] The Bill clearly needs improvement if it is to work effectively to strengthen our democracy and our law-making processes. It needs to be informed by rigorous debate and further consideration of constitutional expertise. It needs scrutinising not only in relation to the issues I have already referred to, but in relation to the size of the proposed Chamber, which was mentioned by a large proportion of the Members who contributed to the debate; the proposed length of terms of representation; the transition period; and the voting system for the election of its Members. The Bill currently recommends a semi-open list system, as opposed to the single transferable vote proposed in the draft Bill. Today, however, we have witnessed a lack of clarity about what the numerous variations of proportional representation mean, so once again the need for thorough debate has been firmly underlined. The Bill proposes the biggest constitutional change our country has seen since the Parliament Act 1911, which is why we need to take care over its progress—we need to get it right. It would damage our democracy if the House were to force through the Bill without adequate debate and scrutiny—an argument that has asserted itself at every twist and turn of this debate. It was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas), my right hon. Friend the Member for Stirling (Mrs McGuire), my hon. Friends the Members for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) and for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt), my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field), my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham West and Penge (Jim Dowd) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett)—to mention just a few. My right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough pointed out that a range of views are present in this debate. The fact of those views absolutely makes the case for a period of thorough scrutiny. I would particularly mention the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Nicholas Soames), who pointed out rightly that Members need to read carefully the comments of the Clerk of the House about the reforms, particularly in relation to Commons primacy. That is a really important point. Members need to acquaint themselves with those comments and concerns before making up their minds about the Bill on Third Reading. Moreover, it would help the Bill if the Commons arrived at a consensus on the way forward by hammering out agreed positions via a process of debate and amendment. The Opposition welcome reform of the House of Lords, and want to secure its progress and conduct the process constructively. My concluding words are therefore directed at the Deputy Prime Minister, who was asked in a letter sent to him last week by a Member of the other place to show a little more respect for our ermine-clad colleagues: “If the future of one of the key parts of our British Constitution is to be debated in a responsible way, it is surely important that deliberate factual errors and insulting insinuations should not be part of the debate.”

The House is familiar with the cavalier manner that the Deputy Prime Minister deploys when making his arguments, and we are well accustomed to his tendency to exaggerate to make an argument, but today’s debate

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has underlined the point made by the other place. For the most part, this debate has been good humoured and civilised. He should respond by curbing his excesses and working with colleagues, not against them. Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con): The right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) was brilliantly opaque in his view of Labour’s plans for timetabling. Will the hon. Lady be a littler clearer about Labour’s plans for Third Reading? Does she propose to support Third Reading, oppose it or abstain? Angela Smith: The House needs to decide what are the important principles in the Bill. It needs proper discussion, and we have made it clear that we will work with the Government to ensure that progress is made, but we do not believe it appropriate to pre-programme the timetable. We have been absolutely clear on that. Many colleagues today have had to curtail their comments because of the time pressures, and it is clear that the appetite for further debate is strong. We support the Second Reading of this far-from-perfect Bill but believe that today’s debate has put it firmly on the record that the House does not wish to give the Bill a swift passage into law, as the Deputy Prime Minister suggested earlier. Rather, it wants thoroughly to scrutinise and improve the Bill and make it fit for presentation to the electorate in a referendum. I, with the rest of the House, look forward to tomorrow’s debate. 9.44 pm The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David Heath): I do not think that any self-imposed injunction on personal and disparaging comments could have been breached quite so promptly as it was by the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Angela Smith) just then, with her reference to my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister. Nevertheless, this has been a good debate, in which 36 Back Benchers have had the opportunity to speak so far—and of course, it is only half-time. There has been good support for the Bill—some qualified and some wholehearted—and it has been expressed by many. We have heard good speeches from my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso), my right hon. Friend the Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Mr Kennedy), the right hon. Member for Neath (Mr Hain), and the hon. Members for Nottingham North (Mr Allen), for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt), for Cities of London and Westminster (Mark Field), for Rhondda (Chris Bryant), for South Thanet (Laura Sandys), for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman) and for Carlisle (John Stevenson). Let me single out for special comment the exceptional speech by the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson), who made the important point that what we have before us builds on what the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw) started and what Robin Cook produced in conversation with other parties, which is the bedrock of the consensus—which I hope we can still reach—on reform of the House of Lords. There have also been speeches against the Bill. I am afraid that some have erected straw men so as to knock them down, mentioning things that have simply never been suggested by the Government, but which hon.

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Members nevertheless felt the need to speak against. However, some speeches were well argued. I would like to single out the hon. Members for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Brady), for Mid Sussex (Nicholas Soames) and for Ealing Central and Acton (Angie Bray), who I know will have had difficulty making the comments she did today. We can disagree with people but still respect the arguments they put forward. Of course I do not agree with them in opposing the legislation, but I respect the way they put their arguments. Some Members are simply against an elected House. I respect that, although of course I do not agree with them. It is not what their respective parties put before the electorate—it is not what they said in their manifestos— but it is frankly a pointless endeavour trying to bash round the head someone who is committed to unicameralism, such as the right hon. Members for Derby South (Margaret Beckett) or for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears), or the hon. Members for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) or for Lewisham West and Penge (Jim Dowd). Someone who believes that there should be no second House will not support proposals for reform. I understand that: it is a perfectly proper argument. Many others appear to think—this is a view shared by many appointed peers—that any system that appointed such exemplars of legislative acuity and perfection as themselves must be an exceedingly good system indeed. I do not necessarily share that view. I have great respect for the quality of much of the work of the present House of Lords—and, indeed, for the quality of many individual peers. However, that is not a sufficient argument for a system that, I believe, is simply not sustainable. Many Members—particularly, I have to say, those sitting on the Government Benches—are those whom I remember railing against the prospect of a House of cronies when we last debated this subject, but they seem content with the idea of a fully appointed House. It is not a view I share. Mr Jenkin: I remember the hon. Gentleman railing against Governments who impose timetables and guillotines when he was in opposition, so how can he now come to this House and guillotine a constitutional measure—which would have been unthinkable under Winston Churchill, incidentally—which is not going to be subject to a referendum and may be Parliament Acted, so that when it is being scrutinised by the other place, he will have no option but to propose that the same damaged and inadequate Bill go back to the other House, as he tries to force it through? Mr Heath: I will return to the issue of the programme motion in just a moment, but let me deal first with the rather familiar arguments that have been marshalled. There are those who say that they are for reform, but not yet. They say it is too precipitate and that there has been insufficient scrutiny. This process has been about as precipitate as the reckless progress of a particularly arthritic slug. We have had what I would describe as pre-legislative scrutiny on this for 101 years. This is not a quick process. Mr Graham Stuart: Following up the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich and North Essex (Mr Jenkin), will the hon. Gentleman please

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answer on the issue of the guillotine? Why, when he was always against it in principle before, is he now in favour of it? Mr Heath: I said that I would come on to the programme motion in a moment. Sadiq Khan: Do it now. Mr Heath: The right hon. Gentleman says “Do it now.” I asked him dozens of times how long he had waited for this Bill, and he never replied. Not once, so he can pipe down! Others argue that they want reform, but not now, as there are and always will be other priorities. They are absolutely right that economic issues must be pre-eminent. That is the reason for this coalition Government, but it does not stop the House doing other things, and it never has. It did not prevent this House from passing one of the most important pieces of legislation on social policy we have ever had—the Education Act 1944—in the middle of a world war. I simply do not believe that this House cannot address more than one issue at a time. A variety of Members said that they want reform, but not this reform. Some have argued that it is a mixture of proposals and not the unadulterated product of a single party’s programme. That is true, but these are the same people who also argue that we have failed to listen to others and that we have failed to reach consensus. We have tried to find common ground between the parties, and that is what is before us today. Mr George Howarth: Will the Deputy Leader of the House tell us when, during the course of that 101 years that he mentioned, the notion of a 15-year term first came about? Mr Heath: The right hon. Gentleman may not have noticed that we have had 14 months discussing these proposals, including by a Joint Committee of both Houses that looked at these proposals. We have had detailed scrutiny of this Bill, and we will continue to do so. Mrs Laing rose— Mr Heath: I will give way to the hon. Lady in a few moments. We also heard the proposals, from the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing) and others, that we should be going for Lord Steel’s Bill. Lord Steel has put forward some small and valuable proposals, but if anyone honestly believes that those small incremental changes that would put right the legislative incapacity of the previous Government actually address the fundamental constitutional issues about the House of Lords, I have to say that they are fundamentally wrong. Mrs Laing: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for noting that the Joint Committee produced a report. Why has it never been debated in this House? Mr Heath: It might be because we were anticipating 14 days of debate on this measure. The fact that the Government acceded to the majority of the recommendations of the Joint Committee shows that the Government have been prepared to listen.

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[Mr Heath] Some have criticised the voting system, particularly this semi-open list. I made the point in an earlier intervention that that was something that the Labour party asked for. Of course, it asks for something and then it votes against it later, but that is par for the course; we expect that. To those who believe that a list with a voting constituency of millions is not better than a closed list with a voting capacity of one—the Prime Minister of the day, putting forward his or her nominations to the upper House—I have to say that I simply do not accept that argument. Hazel Blears: Can the Deputy Leader of the House honestly say from the Dispatch Box today that this Bill is genuinely about increasing democracy rather than simply a device to sustain his party as the one holding the balance of power in a second Chamber? Mr Heath: The right hon. Lady will have to make up her mind. Either the right hon. Lady believes that we are not going to win any seats in the next election, in which case we will not have any seats in the House of Lords under this system—although we would under an appointment system—or the reverse. She cannot have it both ways. I am afraid that there is a slight logical inconsistency in her argument. The issue of ministerial appointments was raised, and I am happy for us to examine that in Committee. The right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett) inveighed against the practice of bringing people in from outside, giving them ministerial posts and putting them in the upper House. I wonder whether he ever had that conversation with Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool, or with any of the other GOATs who were brought in by the last Government. Mr Blunkett: The point that I was attempting to make—obviously not successfully—was that those Ministers were brought in as, and remained, Members of Parliament. The Government’s proposals do not allow that. They impose a system which will mean that, for the first time in our constitutional history, Ministers will not be part of and embedded in our Parliament. Mr Heath: The right hon. Gentleman may not have studied the Bill assiduously enough. It is true that that those Ministers will not be there for life: the right hon. Gentleman is right about that. Under the present system they are there for life even when they have clearly outlived their ministerial usefulness. We heard arguments in favour of secondary election, and I think that that is a perfectly valid debate for us to have in Committee. We also heard arguments about primacy. The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) made what I considered to be a very sensible suggestion about the possibility of a concordat. I thank him for that: it is something that we need to debate. The hon. Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman) asked which legal expert the Government had consulted on clause 2. It was Lord Pannick, who I believe the hon. Gentleman thinks is a very good lawyer indeed. Jesse Norman: Will the hon. Gentleman give way? Mr Heath: Very briefly.

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Jesse Norman: In that case, can the hon. Gentleman explain why the same Lord Pannick has been so devastating in his criticisms that were published this afternoon? Mr Heath: I do not believe that he has, but that is an argument to which we can return in Committee. The hon. Member for Winchester (Steve Brine) compared the Deputy Prime Minister with Andy Murray. I think that, if anything, he is more like Jonny Marray, in that he is a champion doubles partner, and on that basis the coalition has been succeeding. Let me now deal with what I think is one of the most important issues on which we shall have to reach a conclusion tomorrow. There are those, predominantly in the official Opposition, who will vote for the end but not for the means, namely the programme motion. I have long argued, as has my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House, that programme motions should, wherever possible, be arranged by agreement. They should be for the convenience of the House: they should enable debate, not restrict it. That is the way in which we have managed things in this Parliament so far. I repeatedly asked the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) how much more time he wanted. He has 10 days for the Committee stage in addition to the two days for Second Reading and the two days for Report, 14 days in all. I asked him repeatedly how many more days he wanted, but answer came there none. The Opposition cannot say how many days they want, because they decided to vote against the programme motion before it had been published or even suggested. I believe that 14 days out of a total of 88—only 88 days are available to the Government for legislative business during a whole year—are sufficient. If the right hon. Gentleman has a proposal, let him come up with it; but if, as I suspect, he has no proposal whatsoever other than a determination to oppose, he is doing his own argument a great disservice. Chris Bryant: The hon. Gentleman just said that his fundamental principle was that a programme motion should be allowed only when it was for the convenience of the House. If he has not learned from today’s debate that this programme motion is not for the convenience of the House, should he not withdraw it? Mr Heath: I think that that remains to be seen, but if we are still on clause 1 after 12 days, the House will not have done the Bill justice in its scrutiny. I have no doubt that the tomorrow’s debate will be argued just as keenly as today’s. I think, and the Government think, that this measure is long overdue, and the polls show that the British public want it. It puts into effect the modest proposition that those who make our laws should be elected by our people, and I commend it to the House. Mr Speaker: I am sure that we are very grateful to the Deputy Leader of the House. I was sorry that he ended his remarks. We were enjoying them and thinking that they would continue until 10 pm, but they did not. Ordered, That the debate be now adjourned.—(James Duddridge.) Debate to be resumed tomorrow.

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BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 15), That, at this day’s sitting, proceedings on the Motion in the name of Sir George Young relating to Business of the House (11 July) may be proceeded with, though opposed, until any hour, and Standing Order No. 41A (Deferred divisions) shall not apply.— (James Duddridge.)

Question agreed to.

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Business of the House (11 July) Debate resumed. Question (5 July) again proposed, That at the sitting on Wednesday 11 July— (1) the Speaker shall put the Questions necessary to dispose of proceedings on the Motions relating to Sittings of the House and September Sittings not later than two hours after the commencement of proceedings on the first Motion; such Questions shall include the Questions on any Amendments selected by the Speaker which may then be moved; the Questions may be put after the moment of interruption; and Standing Order No. 41A (Deferred divisions) shall not apply; and (2) notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order No. 20 (Time for taking private business), the Private Business set down by the Chairman of Ways and Means shall be entered upon at the conclusion of the backbench business on that day, and may then be proceeded with, though opposed, for three hours, after which the Speaker shall interrupt the business; the business may be entered upon after the moment of interruption; and Standing Order No. 41A (Deferred divisions) shall not apply.—(James Duddridge.)

Mr Speaker: As Mr Chope was speaking when the debate was adjourned, I feel sure he will want to continue his sentence where he left it off. 10 pm Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con): Listening to the Deputy Leader of the House took me back some 24 years to the time when I was on the Front Bench having to do a similar job—winding up the first day of a two-day debate—although in my case it was on the community charge legislation. I am delighted that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House is turning around, because he was a participant in that debate, and was very much against the community charge. I remember how difficult it was to argue from the Front Bench, given the atmosphere in the House. A lot of Government Members, including my right hon. Friend, were against the community charge, as well as Opposition Members of course. I therefore sympathise enormously with what the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr Heath) has had to do in the last few minutes. He should take the message that I should have taken on that occasion: when he can see that everything is loaded against him, it is better to call it a day now and abandon the Bill rather than persist with it. Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that the lesson that we all learned at that time was that the Government should sometimes listen carefully to the advice of their close friends? Mr Chope: I could not agree more with my right hon. Friend. His speech today made the case that the Government should think again, withdraw the Bill and make a fresh start. The business before us relates to our discussions on Wednesday, and I want to make sure that Members who might wish to debate Wednesday’s business on the sitting hours of the House recognise that if they support this motion, they will be limiting the time for discussion to two hours. If they want to do that, that is fine, but I think it is right and proper that Members should have the opportunity to consider whether they wish to limit that debate to two hours.

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[Mr Chope] My other point is that it has been a long-standing tradition and convention in this House that a specific period of time is set aside for the consideration of private business: three hours, between 4 pm and 7 pm on a Wednesday or between 7 pm and 10 pm on a Tuesday. Nowadays, however, the Government almost invariably seek to introduce a motion undermining that principle. The consequence is that Members are left in doubt as to what the order of business will be and, if they are concerned about private business, whether they will have their special three-hour slot allocated to them, or whether it will be interfered with by the business managers. There are some important principles at stake, therefore. What I am saying is: when it comes to discussing these issues on Wednesday why can we not say that between 4 pm and 7 pm, if it takes that long, we should be able to discuss the private business, as set down under Standing Order No. 20? Why do we need to say that the business of the House starting with the September sittings motion and followed by the debate on VAT on ambulance services should be able to force the private business much later on in the agenda, perhaps until 11 pm or later? The consequence of that is that some hon. Members will stay behind because they are told that, although it is private business, it is very important and the Government want them to be here. They feel that they have to hang on in there late because the Government have told them to do so. The Government then blame me or somebody else; they say, “The reason you are staying late is because the hon. Member for Christchurch has required that you should stay late by talking this business long.” All I am saying is that we have a three-hour slot on Wednesday, so can we not keep that for private business? Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con): My hon. Friend is being very unfair to the Government. The suggestion that this Government would try to whip private business is absolutely outrageous; they would not require Members to stay behind. Mr Chope: Of course my hon. Friend is right to say that ultimately it is for hon. Members to decide whether they are willing to be whipped by the Government into supporting or opposing private business and whether we should allow some things in this House—private business—to be decided by Members on an individual basis, using their own judgment. So be it. I can recall strongly opposing a private Bill that would have resulted in a substantial destruction of the amenities and environment in Southampton. I was grateful that a lot of then Government Members, including the then Home Secretary, supported me in the Lobby against the Bill; he wondered afterwards what he had been voting for, but I explained that it was in a really good cause. I admit that there are precedents, but why should we want to oppose having a proper discussion of why we should be carrying on with certain private legislation that has been hanging around in this House for not just one or two years, but for two Sessions or more—for two Parliaments or more? I believe that one of the motions we will be debating on Wednesday goes back to 2007, when it was first introduced in the House.

I need elaborate my remarks no further. All I need to say is that, having raised this debate, it is right and proper that the Deputy Leader of the House should try to make a better job of responding to this debate than he did to the previous one. 10.8 pm The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David Heath): I cannot imagine why any right hon. or hon. Member of this House should ever have formed the impression that they were here beyond 10 pm purely because the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope) wanted to speak. That is an outrageous suggestion and I would certainly not put it from this Dispatch Box. This business motion is before us purely at the request of the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee and the Chair of the Procedure Committee. They asked the Government whether we could arrange business, none of which is Government business, to accommodate the House’s wish to have the opportunity to debate very important matters, given the change in the arrangements that was made to accommodate the debate on the inquiry into bankers last week. Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab): The Chairman of the Backbench Business Committee did indeed make strong representations to the Government about the Back-Bench business that was lost last Thursday because of the Government’s business on the inquiry into banking, and asked them to ensure that that business was reinstated. Having heard what the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope) said about the sittings motions and the private business, I would like clarification that the air ambulance debate selected by the Backbench Business Committee, which has support from many Members on both sides of the House, will get the two hours that the Government intended. Mr Heath: The answer, very simply, is that it will if the motion is agreed to. The motion provides for the Procedure Committee’s reports to be debated properly; for the hon. Gentleman’s motion, which I know is of interest to many Members and those outside this House, to be debated properly; and for three hours to be given over to opposed private business. There is no detriment to the House whatsoever in acceding to the requests made to us and I am happy to assist. Question put and agreed to.

Business without Debate DELEGATED LEGISLATION Mr Speaker: With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 3 to 6 together. Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6), EDUCATION That the draft Further Education Institutions and 16 to 19 Academies (Specification and Disposal of Articles) Regulations 2012, which were laid before this House on 24 May, be approved.

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CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS

Dangerous Driving

That the draft Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2012, which was laid before this House on 14 May, be approved. That the draft Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Controlled Activity and Prescribed Criteria) Regulations 2012, which were laid before this House on 14 May, be approved.

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—(James Duddridge.)

COAST PROTECTION That the draft Designation of Features (Appeals) (England) Regulations 2012, which were laid before this House on 11 June, be approved.—(James Duddridge.)

Question agreed to. REGULATORY REFORM Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 18(1)(A)), CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS That the draft Legislative Reform (Annual Review of Local Authorities) Order 2012, which was laid before this House on 10 May, be approved.—(James Duddridge.)

Question agreed to. DELEGATED LEGISLATION Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6), LOCAL GOVERNMENT That the draft Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2012, which were laid before this House on 12 June, be approved.—(James Duddridge.)

Question agreed to. EUROPEAN UNION DOCUMENTS Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 119(11), HOME AFFAIRS FUNDS FOR 2014-20 That this House takes note of European Union Documents No. 17289/11, relating to a draft Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Asylum and Migration Fund, No. 17287/11, relating to a draft Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing, as part of the Internal Security Fund, the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management and No. 17285/11, a draft Regulation laying down general provisions on the Asylum and Migration Fund and on the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management; and supports the Government’s aim of encouraging flexibility and reducing waste and bureaucracy in the management of these Funds.—(James Duddridge.)

Question agreed to.

10.11 pm Mrs Anne McGuire (Stirling) (Lab): I am grateful for the opportunity to raise my concerns about the lack of current road traffic measures to address the incidence of fatalities and serious injuries caused by foreign drivers driving on the wrong side of the road in the UK. The UK, as we all know, is one of the few remaining areas within the EU and internationally whose drivers drive on the left-hand side of the road. The sparse statistics available on such road traffic accidents would suggest that more attention needs to be paid to such tragic accidents and that steps need to be taken to reduce or even prevent them. On 11 September 2010, Andrew Alexander McLean, a 22-year-old, was returning home from his work in the Scottish borders when a car driven by a French driver approached him on the wrong side of the road at the crest of a hill. Andrew saw the oncoming vehicle and steered for the verge, but, sadly, as the French driver was on the wrong side of the road he too steered for the verge straight into Andrew, who was killed instantly. Although, as we can imagine, this is still a very sensitive matter for Andrew’s family, they have asked me to raise the matter through this debate in the hope that it will be given more prominence. The French driver, a 23-year-old schoolteacher, was driving in the UK for the first time in his left-hand drive Peugeot 307 when the accident happened, and the subsequent court case in Selkirk heard that the accident was caused “by a moment’s inattention resulting from the accused’s inexperience of driving in the UK”.

The accused’s defence lawyer claimed there were no aggravating factors in the build-up to the accident such as speeding or lack of rest. He momentarily suffered a lapse in concentration and responded by acting instinctively, moving to the right-hand side of the road, which was the right side for him but was sadly the wrong side of the road in Scotland. Even given those mitigating circumstances, Andrew’s family feels that the court’s sentence was lenient, although I appreciate that that is not an issue for tonight’s discussion. Such accidents are a tragedy for the victim and in many cases the perpetrator. Often forgotten are the families of the victim, and I was initially alerted to this case by Andrew’s grandmother, Mrs Billett, who is a constituent living in Stirling. I have been specifically asked to highlight the case by Andrew’s family, including his father, as they wish to see the Government take steps to investigate ways to prevent foreign drivers from driving on the wrong side of the road. I want to put a series of points to the Minister, perhaps with a view to investigating such road deaths and helping to reduce their number. I am aware, as he will be, that the Scottish Government have some devolved responsibility for road issues, such as accidents on Scottish roads, and I understand that they have published a policy framework, “Go Safe on Scotland’s Roads it’s Everyone’s Responsibility”, which covers the period up to 2020. Chapter 7 of that document refers to a Scottish Government report of 2001, stating that although “tourist activity does not significantly boost road accident numbers in the rural… areas of Scotland”

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[Mrs Anne McGuire] such accidents do occur and most often “involved driving on the wrong side, turning, and crossing the centre line”,

while 20% of collisions caused by cross-border drivers occurred when the driver was on the wrong side of the road. As far as I can ascertain, the policy of the Scottish Government in relation to foreign drivers on Scottish roads is the publication of a tourist information guide for foreign drivers, which includes a “keep left” sticker available in four languages. I am not sure whether a similar minimum warning is given at ports in other parts of the UK. In certain areas, there are warning signs to “keep left”. An issue allied to the circumstances surrounding Andrew’s death is the number of foreign truck drivers involved in road accidents in the UK. A press report of February 2012 suggested that one in every 31 motorway accidents in the UK was the fault of lorry drivers from abroad. It was also alleged that on the M25 the figure could be as high as one accident in three. While that might not be directly the result of foreign truck drivers driving on the wrong side of the road, I believe that there is little information held by the Department for Transport either to rebut or to substantiate such assertions. I recently met the Association of British Insurers, which produced a report, “European Drivers: Crossing Borders Safely”, in November 2007. The report stated that drivers from elsewhere in Europe were involved in more than 18,000 recorded accidents in the UK. In 2005, UK drivers caused more than 5,000 reported collisions on continental European roads. The ABI believes that the UK Government are underestimating the risks that cross-border drivers pose and that they “should establish an accurate and consistent picture of crossborder driving in the UK, in order to measure the risk that this represents and therefore take proportionate action”.

In addition, the ABI proposes a series of easy measures that could be implemented in the interim. In November 2011, in a written parliamentary question to the Department for Transport, I asked: “how many fatal vehicle accidents have occurred where a visitor to the UK driving on the wrong side of the road was a contributory factor in the last 10 years.”

The Minister kindly provided me with a written response, which detailed in a table the “reported fatal road accidents which had ‘inexperience of driving on the left’ as a contributory factor, in Great Britain for the period 2005-10. However, it is not known how many drivers involved in such accidents were visitors to Great Britain, or if they were driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the accident.”

The table for that five-year period stated that there had been 55 such fatal accidents—a figure that I suspect grossly underestimates the scale of the problem if full reporting were in place and non-fatal serious accident statistics were included. However, the Minister also advised that while “contributory factors to road accidents has been collected since 1 January 2005”

such contributory factors “are reported only for injury road accidents where a police officer attended the scene and reported at least one contributory factor. These factors are largely subjective, reflecting the attending officer’s

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opinion at the time of reporting. It is recognised that subsequent enquires could lead to the reporting officer changing his/her opinion.”—[Official Report, 29 November 2011; Vol. 536, c. 892W.]

It would appear, therefore, that full statistics are not available for foreign drivers driving on the wrong side of the road and being involved in fatal or serious accidents. Since his tragic death, Andrew McLean’s family have been campaigning for Government measures that would reduce or prevent similar fatalities in the future. They have spent considerable time researching possible options, and they have advised me that some devices could be fitted to foreign cars being driven on UK roads. One such device, Lanesafe, is produced by a Scottish company, although I understand that other types of equipment are available. The manufacturers of Lanesafe have suggested that annually 8 million vehicles travel between the UK and Europe and vice versa, and more than 80% of drivers admit to momentarily, at some point, driving on the wrong side of the road. I am not sure whether those figures can be substantiated, but if they are accurate, I would contend that this subject requires much greater consideration by the Minister and his Department. Andrew’s father strongly believes that devices such as Lanesafe, which would alert drivers when they are driving on the wrong side of the road, ought to be made compulsory for all foreign drivers. He is also totally convinced that, if such a device had been fitted to the car that caused his son’s death, his son would be alive today. Despite all the representations that he and the family have made, they feel frustrated that they cannot get anyone in the Government to listen to their suggestions on the implementation, fitting, checking and policing of the devices that he has identified. I am therefore delighted to have had the opportunity to discuss them this evening. Andrew’s family realise that his death is but one of numerous accidents involving young drivers, and they are keen to ensure that the wider issue is given greater prominence. The family have been energetic fundraisers for Brake, the national road safety charity. I hope that the Minister recognises that there is a problem involving foreign drivers driving on the wrong side of UK roads. Without accurate and up-to-date statistics, the Government cannot say with certainty that the problem is not serious. I ask him to begin the process of ascertaining the facts, so that we can make a judgment on what action is needed. Andrew Alexander McLean’s family have made the case for action, and in Andrew’s memory as well as that of others killed and seriously injured on our roads by drivers driving on the wrong side of the road, I trust that the Government will look seriously at the options available. I certainly hope that they take into account the fact that, both in Europe and in the UK, many young people now drive cars that are not fitted to drive on the “right” side of the road in that country. I look forward to the Minister’s response. I hope that he will give some comfort to Andrew McLean’s family by assuring me that he will consider anything that will enhance safety on our roads, not least for our young people. 10.23 pm The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mike Penning): It is an honour and a privilege to respond on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government to the debate introduced by the right hon. Member for Stirling (Mrs McGuire) on such a serious subject.

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I do not know whether the right hon. Lady knows this, but in a previous incarnation I was a firefighter. All too often, I was called to road traffic incidents—they were called something slightly different in those days, but I am more politically correct now. It is heartbreaking for families to lose a loved one, and my thoughts and prayers are with Andrew’s family. Let me say at the outset that I hope that we can arrange a meeting with the family, because our time this evening is quite short and what we can discuss is limited. I passionately believe that, in many cases, what families bring to the road safety debate is a lot more than the “professionals” bring. It is important that families feel involved. I think it is a shame that we have not debated the matter before. I fully respect the right hon. Lady’s point about how limited the statistics are; I am all too aware of that. When I answered her parliamentary question, I tried desperately to open it up as much as possible. She will recall how long that answer was. I was disappointed that the statistics that I gave did not tell the whole story. For instance, the deaths per year figure could have included a driver from another country in Europe or anywhere in the world, inexperienced at driving on the left, who was driving a right-hand drive hire vehicle on UK roads. We are looking into whether we can make the statistics clearer. As the right hon. Lady suggested, the police have to form an opinion on whether that was a contributing factor. In Andrew’s case it obviously was. I feel for the family when a court makes a decision that does not feel to them or to us like natural justice. I know that we are not allowed to go into the court’s decision, although we have powers as Members of Parliament to appeal against leniency in some cases, and very good lawyers sometimes get results from the courts. We need to make sure that the legislation on the statute book fits the circumstances. The title of the debate covers a broad spectrum, but as we were preparing for it I guessed that the right hon. Lady would raise a very serious issue. I thank her for the fact that her office contacted mine earlier today to give us an indication of what she would be speaking about this evening. On dangerous driving offences, we are tightening up. In a serious case resulting in death, such as the one the right hon. Lady spoke about, there is in my opinion only one charge that could have been brought, but that is entirely up to the police and the Crown Prosecution Service in England or the Procurator Fiscal Service in Scotland. Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP): I congratulate the right hon. Lady on bringing the matter to the House today. I spoke to the Minister earlier. With reference to the information and the statistics that the right hon. Lady asked for, will that include the relationship that Northern Ireland has with the Republic of Ireland and the relevant statistics? When it come to pursuing those who were involved in accidents and who flee the country, how will the Government deal with that? Mike Penning: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. He indicated to me earlier that he would intervene. There are reciprocal agreements between the Republic and not only Northern Ireland but the rest of the United Kingdom. Interestingly, the Commission is looking at those reciprocal agreements to see whether

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they are fit and proper. I think the agreements work well between the Republic and the Province and the rest of the UK. We have very good relationships so prosecutions do take place. In the case of an offence as serious as the one described, it would not matter where the driver came from. They would be arrested on the spot if the police thought that they were responsible for committing an offence, and they would be prosecuted through the courts, as is right and proper. I accept that there is an issue with minor offences, though not so much with commercial vehicles because of the system whereby we hold a deposit. If the vehicle is overweight or the driver has worked more hours than he should, we take a deposit so that they do not pay the fine. There is much more of a problem with cars. We have to be slightly careful that we do not damage our tourism industry. We want people to come to this country, drive responsibly and enjoy the wonderful countryside of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. I have seen what the devolved Parliament in Scotland has put out. The difficulty arises at port. We cannot in any way delay someone at port under the existing agreements. In the case of some of the heavy goods vehicles that come into our ports, which we know have a track record of not being as roadworthy as they should be, I would like to detain them before they get on to UK roads. We are working with the Commission on the problem, but at present we have to let the vehicles get on to the road before we can stop them, which seems a somewhat perverse way of dealing with the problem. There are things that we can do. The right hon. Lady referred to Lanesafe. Technology is moving on enormously. I recently drove a mid-range vehicle at the manufacturer’s test track—I must not advertise the company, but it is well known in the UK. It had lane awareness, so as I started to drift from the lane it pulled me back, although it is possible to override that. It had distance awareness, in case I got too close to the vehicle in front. More frighteningly, for those of us with daughters who drive, it had independent parking, so I was able to take my hands off the steering wheel and the car parked itself. I am not being sexist about my daughters’ driving abilities, but both my girls have had great difficulty with lateral parking—they will not mind my saying that. That is not one of the most expensive cars, a dream car or a concept car; it is a mid-range vehicle available in showrooms today. That sort of technology is becoming available and car manufacturers are producing products such as Lanesafe, which the right hon. Lady mentioned. We would have to be very careful, because the Commission would come down on me like a ton of bricks if I in any way discriminated against another member of the European economic area who has a free right of travel here. In other words, I would have to make that available across the board, so the compulsion part would be quite difficult. The right hon. Lady said that she had had a meeting with the Association of British Insurers. I have many such meetings. I must be honest and admit that this was not at the top of its list when it raised the matter with me. There are many other things it is concerned about, particularly the cost of insurance for young people and how we can make that transparent, but we must ensure that any ideas out there are listened to and that we work on an evidence base and ensure that our roads, which are some of the safest in the world, continue to be so.

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[Mike Penning] We are very conscious of the concerns that the right hon. Lady raised about HGVs and overseas drivers, not least because they come here with their belly tanks full of diesel and compete with our hauliers. Even with the existing cabotage rules it is difficult for our hauliers to compete, so we are going to introduce lorry road user charging in this Parliament so that there is a better balance in the legislation and our truckers can compete with foreign hauliers. However, the figures on actual incidents are very interesting. Only about 5% of the whole haulage industry is affected by overseas hauliers, and that is at the top end of the range, with the larger 44-tonners. The right hon. Lady is absolutely right that they are disproportionately represented in accidents, but not necessarily the most serious ones, which is the point I think she was making. The word “incident” is there for everyone to see. Some are reported and some are not. We are trying to ensure that foreign haulage vehicles are as rigidly maintained and as safe as our vehicles. The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency does an excellent job of enforcement in this regard. Only recently I was on a motorway with VOSA staff when a foreignregistered 45-tonne truck went under a bridge that we had a monitor on. The electronic monitor showed that two of its axels were overweight, so the technology is simply outstanding. We pulled the vehicle over and got it to follow us back on to the weigh bridge. We identified that it was not only over its cabotage but over its hours, so we tend to pick up other things as well. What we must ensure is that exactly the same rules apply to our hauliers as apply to others. The right hon. Lady touched on a really important point about gathering evidence. We gather unbelievable amounts of data from the police, VOSA, DVLA, ports, the Highways Agency and the courts, but do we make sure that we gather the data that we really need and are not just form-filling for the sake of it? Do we focus on exactly what we require so that, for instance, we can get a better answer to the parliamentary question she asked me? The answer is that we try. I think I am right in saying that the police fill in more than enough forms—I was on patrol with the police in my constituency on

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Friday night, and the amount of form-filling was mindboggling—so we do not want them to fill in more forms; we want the forms to be as accurate as possible to give the information we require but not to be too opinionated. The evidence is absolutely crucial. The right hon. Lady says that the figures are often skewed because the police officer may think, at the time of the incident, that something was a contributory factor, but later, after looking at the evidence, that it probably was not. We are trying to take the issue very seriously. The right hon. Lady was part of, and had a ministerial role in, the previous Administration, and such work is difficult, but that does not mean we should not do it. I am conscious that we need to do everything that we can to ensure that our roads continue to be some of the safest in the world, and that when we have visitors to this country, whether for pleasure or for business, we give them as much assistance as possible to ensure that they know what their obligations are on our roads. We have reciprocal agreements with some countries, and I think we could develop that much more to ensure that prosecutions take place. In the case of serious offences, prosecutions do take place because the person is arrested there and then and often their bail conditions make it difficult for them to leave the country before they return to court. The one thing that we must do, however, is to listen to the families—both the families who want, for understandable reasons, to walk away when a loved one has been lost or seriously injured, and the families who want to campaign and to make things better so that such incidents do not happen to others. I have done that with many families, by bringing them in to work with the Department, and we have actually funded some of their campaigns, rather than just those of larger organisations. If we can do that, we can make our roads much safer, we can have fewer terrible incidents such as the one involving Andrew, and we can protect our tourism industry and allow, as we have to under EU rules, free movement, which is what we would all expect. Question put and agreed to. 10.36 pm House adjourned.

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Written Ministerial Statements Monday 9 July 2012 TREASURY Decommissioning Relief Deeds: Tax Certainty in the UK Continental Shelf The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Miss Chloe Smith): At Budget 2012, the Government announced a package of measures on oil and gas taxation to support investment. This package included the introduction of legislation in 2013 giving the Government statutory authority to sign contracts with companies operating in the UK and UK continental shelf (UKCS), to provide assurance on the tax relief they will receive when decommissioning assets. The Government recognise that, at present, a lack of certainty over how much tax relief companies expect to be able to claim in respect of their future decommissioning costs is making it difficult for oil and gas assets to change hands, limiting the funds available for new ventures and deterring incremental investment. HM Treasury is today publishing the following document: “Decommissioning Relief Deeds: Increasing tax certainty for oil and gas investment in the UK continental shelf ”. This consultation document seeks views on the Government’s proposals to provide certainty on decommissioning relief through decommissioning relief deeds. It is proposed that these deeds will provide eligible companies with certainty that, if they do not achieve a specified level of relief under the tax code when they decommission their assets, they will (subject to certain conditions) be entitled to claim a shortfall payment from the Government. This contractual approach is intended to facilitate further investment and production in the UKCS and is therefore expected to have a positive impact on the Exchequer. The initial consultation period will last for 12 weeks, closing on 1 October 2012. A copy of the consultation will be made available from the HM Treasury website: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk. ECOFIN The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne): The Economic and Financial Affairs Council will be held in Brussels on 10 July 2012. Ministers will discuss the following items: Economic governance—two pack Ministers will hold an orientation debate on the “two pack” of economic governance proposals, to discuss the European Parliament’s position. This will inform the first working-level trialogue meeting with the European Parliament on 11 July.

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The first proposal concerns strengthening surveillance of budgetary policies in euro area member states. It would require euro area countries to present their draft budgets at the same time each year and give the Commission the right to assess and, if necessary, issue an opinion on them. The second proposal concerns strengthening economic and fiscal surveillance of euro area countries facing or threatened with serious financial instability. It aims to ensure that the surveillance of member states under a financial assistance programme, or facing a serious threat of financial instability, is robust, follows clear procedures and is embedded in EU law. The UK broadly welcomes these proposals, which will be an important part of governance reforms. The proposals will help improve fiscal stability in the euro area, which is in the UK’s national interest. The euro area must put in place governance arrangements to create confidence for the future and ensure fiscal responsibility. (possible agenda item.) Revised capital requirements rules (CRD4) The presidency may update Ministers on the latest trialogue negotiations, following the general approach agreed by Ministers at 15 May ECOFIN. The UK continues to support the full implementation of Basel III and for member states to have sufficient flexibility to increase minimum standards in order to protect financial stability in their jurisdiction. Proposal for Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive This item was deferred from the 22 June ECOFIN. The Commission will present its new proposals for a directive, following which Ministers may then have an initial exchange of views. The directive will require member states to ensure that their national supervisory and resolution authorities have a set of common tools and powers which will enable them to avert, and where necessary manage, the failure of a financial institution. The proposal seeks to prevent the systemic damage caused by the disorderly failure of such institutions, limiting public sector exposure and preventing wider economic damage. Presentation of the Cyprus Presidency Work Programme The new presidency will set out their work programme for the next six months. Ministers will have an exchange of views on Cyprus’ work programme. Follow-up to the European Council on 28-29 June 2012 Ministers will discuss the follow-up to the European Council, which considered a paper by the four presidents (of the Council, Eurogroup, ECB and Commission), “Towards a Genuine Economic and Monetary Union” and agreed a “Compact for Growth and Jobs”. Contributions to the European Council Meeting on 28/29 June 2012—European Semester The presidency will ask Ministers to adopt Council recommendations on national reform programmes and stability or convergence programmes. The recommendations were endorsed at June European Council. The UK supports the European semester process and the country specific recommendations.

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EDUCATION Children’s Commissioner for England The Minister of State, Department for Education (Sarah Teather): Following John Dunford’s independent review of the role of the Children’s Commissioner, I informed the House that the Government had accepted in principle all of his recommendations and said that we would consult on the legislative changes needed to implement them. Having taken account of the responses to the consultation, I am today laying draft legislation before the House for pre-legislative scrutiny. The Government aim to make the UK the most child-friendly country in Europe. Children are generally more vulnerable than adults and do not have the same opportunities to make their views known or to raise concerns about the impact of new policies or legislation. It is therefore important that they have a strong advocate to represent their interests, particularly when they are in vulnerable situations. John Dunford’s independent review concluded that there was a continuing need for a Children’s Commissioner, who could act as a champion for children and young people—ensuring that their voices were heard and that new policies and legislation were designed in a way that took account of their rights. However, he said that the current legislative framework had prevented the Commissioner from fulfilling that role effectively, and that changes were needed to ensure that the Commissioner would, in future, have greater impact on children and young people’s lives. The draft legislation laid before the House today would create a new role for the Children’s Commissioner, focused on promoting and protecting the rights of children, in line with the articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Government are a committed signatory. In order to carry out the role effectively, the Children’s Commissioner would have powers to: carry out investigations; carry out assessments of the impact of new policies and legislation on children’s rights; undertake research; monitor the effectiveness of complaints and advocacy services for children and young people; access places where children are cared for or accommodated away from home, so that their concerns can be heard; request the information needed to carry out full and robust investigations; require those to whom recommendations are made to set out how they intend to respond.

The draft legislation would make the Children’s Commissioner more independent from Government and more directly accountable to Parliament, in particular through an annual report to Parliament that will allow for more effective scrutiny of the impact that the Children’s Commissioner’s activities have had on the promotion and protection of children’s rights. The draft legislation also includes measures designed to make the Commissioner’s business planning processes more transparent, by making it a requirement for the Commissioner to consult on his or her future priorities and to appoint an advisory board. In line with John Dunford’s recommendations, the draft legislation would also result in the functions of the children’s rights director in Ofsted being incorporated

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within the remit of the Children’s Commissioner, but with safeguards to ensure that the current levels of support provided to this vulnerable group of children were not diluted. Under the draft legislation, the Children’s Commissioner for England would retain responsibility for non-devolved matters, but would be able to delegate his or her powers of investigation to the Children’s Commissioners in the devolved Administrations. The Children’s Commissioner for England would also be required to consult the Children’s Commissioners in the devolved Administrations before conducting an investigation on a non-devolved matter within their jurisdictions or across the UK. Copies of the draft legislation will be placed in the House Libraries. ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS Flooding The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mrs Caroline Spelman): Following my written ministerial statement to the House on 3 July 2012, Official Report, column 48WS concerning the flooding events in the midlands and north-east of England on 28 June, I would like to provide a further update on the significant flooding events that have taken place over this weekend on 6 to 8 July in England following further periods of extremely high rainfall. I would also like to acknowledge the tragic events which have taken place in the Krasnodar region of Russia over the weekend and to express our sympathies for the communities and individuals involved. During Friday and Saturday there was heavy and persistent rainfall across England and Wales, which on top of the already saturated ground has caused serious flooding in some areas and disruption to many more. There were widespread local impacts including to property, transport networks, sporting and cultural events, and agricultural land. I can confirm that on the latest count a total of 391 properties were flooded across England from rivers and surface water flooding. One hundred and forty-seven properties flooded in the south-west; two-thirds of which were flooded due to rivers overflowing their banks and the rest from surface water. Eighty properties were flooded in the midlands and a further 86 in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the north. Nationally it is estimated that about 3,000 properties have been protected from flooding over this weekend as a result of flood defences in place. The Met Office and the Environment Agency have been providing flood and weather warnings and over 200 flood warnings and alerts were sent to communities at risk of flooding across the country, including three warnings of severe river flooding. Following the wettest June since records began across England and Wales, the rainfall in July falling in East Devon was over 100 mm—three times the rain normally expected for the whole of July—and across the south Pennines over 60 mm of rain fell which is 75% of the rain expected for the whole month. These rainfall figures demonstrate how severe and unusual the conditions have been but despite this we are determined to carry on improving our resilience to deal with this type of weather in the future.

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On Sunday I visited the town of Ottery St Mary in the south-west and saw for myself the damage and disruption to people’s lives that this flooding has caused. I would like to thank the local authorities and other agencies in the area for their efforts to protect lives and properties in Ottery and other affected communities and now to help them begin to clear up. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is activating the Bellwin scheme of emergency financial assistance to help local authorities with their immediate costs associated with protecting life and property in their areas. Exceptionally, the scheme will reimburse local authorities for 100% of their eligible costs above threshold. This is in recognition of the particular circumstances around these floods and will give the affected local authorities assurance that such costs will be reimbursed. Government officials will also be discussing the recovery arrangements with local authorities in the areas affected. The Government recognise the importance which flood insurance plays in these circumstances and are working closely with the insurance industry to secure the future availability and affordability of flood insurance following the expiry of the statement of principles next year. I am pleased to be able to report that the situation in the south-west and other parts of England worst hit by the floods continues to slowly improve. There are no longer any severe flood warnings in force. I would like once again to take the opportunity to praise the excellent response from our front-line emergency services, local authorities and the diligent work by Met Office and Environment Agency staff in the Flood Forecasting Centre. With the forecast indicating continuing unsettled weather, we will all need to remain alert to the risk of further flooding in the coming weeks. It is my intention to hold a technical briefing for flood affected constituencies in the early part of next week to enable MPs to be made aware of the full range of tools at their disposal to help their constituents. FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE P5 Conference of Nuclear Disarmament The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Alistair Burt): I would like to update the House on the outcomes of the Washington conference of the five nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) recognised nuclear weapon states (P5) on nuclear disarmament, which took place 27-29 June. This was the third such conference at senior official level. It followed conferences in the UK (September 2009) and Paris (June 2011), which brought together policy officials, military staff and nuclear scientists from all five nuclear weapons states. The conference was an important part of the international dialogue on nuclear disarmament demonstrating a shared determination to make progress on the commitments set out in the 2010 NPT action plan. The P5 issued the following statement after the meeting: “The five nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) nuclear-weapon states, or “P5”, met in Washington on June 27-29, 2012, in the wake of the 2009 London and 2011 Paris P5 conferences to review progress towards fulfilling the commitments made at the 2010 NPT review conference, and to continue discussions on

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issues related to all three pillars of the NPT—non-proliferation, the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and disarmament, including confidence-building, transparency, and verification experiences. The P5 reaffirmed their commitment to the shared goal of nuclear disarmament and emphasized the importance of working together in implementing the 2010 NPT review conference action plan. The P5 reviewed significant developments in the context of the NPT since the 2011 Paris P5 conference. In particular, the P5 reviewed the outcome of the 2012 preparatory committee for the 2015 NPT review conference, continued their discussion of how to report on their relevant activities, and shared views, across all three pillars of the NPT, on objectives for the 2013 preparatory committee and the intersessional period. The 2012 PrepCom outcome included issuance of a P5 statement comprehensively addressing issues in all three pillars (NPT/CONF.2015/PC.I/12). The P5 continued their previous discussions on the issues of transparency, mutual confidence, and verification, and considered proposals for a standard reporting form. The P5 recognise the importance of establishing a firm foundation for mutual confidence and further disarmament efforts, and the P5 will continue their discussions in multiple ways within the P5, with a view to reporting to the 2014 PrepCom, consistent with their commitments under actions 5, 20, and 21 of the 2010 RevCon final document. Participants received a briefing from the United States on US activities at the Nevada National Security Site. This was offered with a view to demonstrate ideas for additional approaches to transparency. Another unilateral measure was a tour of the US Nuclear Risk Reduction Center located at the US Department of State, where the P5 representatives have observed how the United States maintains a communications center to simultaneously implement notification regimes, including under the new strategic arms reduction treaty (New START), Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCOC), and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Vienna document. The P5 agreed on the work plan for a P5 working group led by China, assigned to develop a glossary of definitions for key nuclear terms that will increase P5 mutual understanding and facilitate further P5 discussions on nuclear matters. The P5 again shared information on their respective bilateral and multilateral experiences in verification, including information on the P5 expert level meeting hosted by the UK in April, at which the UK shared the outcomes and lessons from the UK/Norway Initiative disarmament verification research project. The P5 heard presentations on lessons learned from New START treaty implementation, were given an overview of US/UK verification work, and agreed to consider attending a follow-up P5 briefing on this work to be hosted by the United States. As a further follow-up to the 2010 NPT review conference, the P5 shared their views on how to discourage abuse of the NPT withdrawal provision (Article X), and how to respond to notifications made consistent with the provisions of that article. The discussion included modalities under which NPT states party could respond collectively and individually to a notification of withdrawal, including through arrangements regarding the disposition of equipment and materials acquired or derived under safeguards during NPT membership. The P5 agreed that states remain responsible under international law for violations of the treaty committed prior to withdrawal. The P5 underlined the fundamental importance of an effective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system in preventing nuclear proliferation and facilitating co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The P5 discussed concrete proposals for strengthening IAEA safeguards, including through promoting the universal adoption of the additional protocol; and the reinforcement of the IAEA’s resources and capabilities for effective safeguards implementation, including verification of declarations by states. The P5 reiterated their commitment to promote and ensure the swift entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and its universalisation. The P5 reviewed progress in developing the CTBT’s verification regime in all its aspects and efforts towards entry into force. Ways to enhance the momentum

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for completing the verification regime, including the on-site inspection component, were explored. The P5 called upon all states to uphold their national moratoria on nuclear weapons test explosions or any other nuclear explosion, and to refrain from acts that would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty pending its entry into force. The moratoria, though important, are not substitutes for legally binding obligations under the CTBT. The P5 discussed ways to advance a mutual goal of achieving a legally binding, verifiable international ban on the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons. The P5 reiterated their support for the immediate start of negotiations on a treaty encompassing such a ban in the conference on disarmament (CD), building on CD/1864, and exchanged perspectives on ways to break the current impasse in the CD, including by continuing their efforts with other relevant partners to promote such negotiations within the CD. The P5 remain concerned about serious challenges to the non-proliferation regime and in this connection, recalled their joint statement of May 3 at the preparatory committee of the NPT. An exchange of views on how to support a successful conference in 2012 on a middle east zone free of weapons of mass destruction was continued. The P5 agreed to continue to meet at all appropriate levels on nuclear issues to further promote dialogue and mutual confidence. The P5 will follow on their discussions and hold a fourth P5 conference in the context of the next NPT preparatory committee”.

HOME DEPARTMENT Access to Elected Office for Disabled People The Minister for Equalities (Lynne Featherstone): The Government are today launching a £2.6 million fund to support disabled people who wish to stand for elected office. This proposal forms part of the Government’s strategy to provide support for disabled people—the access to elected office strategy. Following public consultation, the strategy has been developed by the Home Office, working with the Cabinet Office and the Department for Work and Pensions. Disabled people are under-represented in public life, as the Speaker’s conference report and the parliamentary debate on 12 January recognised. Following public consultation, the Government last year published proposals to provide extra support for disabled people who wish to stand for elected office. The fund we are launching today will support disabled people with some of the additional costs that a disabled person may face in standing for elections, compared to a non-disabled person. This will not, however, replace existing obligations for parties, which is why I have published guidance for political parties on their legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010, particularly on the reasonable adjustments they should make for disabled people. The fund will be open until March 2014 and will be available to support disabled people seeking elected positions in the following polls, including byelections: Police and Crime Commissioners; English local and English mayoral; Greater London Authority; and UK Parliament. The impact of the fund and the strategy overall will be evaluated to inform any decision about any further support beyond the current spending period. We will also continue to work with colleagues in the devolved Administrations to share our learning from this strategy.

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The fund will be complemented by an introductory online training course on standing for elections, launched today. It will be of interest to anyone without previous experience who wishes to stand for elections but is aimed particularly at disabled people. It includes contributions from disabled politicians and others to encourage disabled people to stand for elected office. As I have already announced to the Speaker in my letter of 16 March, I am also pleased to say that, as part of the access to elected office’s commitment to provide support to disabled people, I am funding up to three additional placements specifically for disabled people as part of the Speaker’s parliamentary placement scheme. Further details of all these initiatives can be found on the Home Office website at: http://homeoffice.gov.uk/ equalities/equality-public-political/. Student Visas The Minister for Immigration (Damian Green): My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is today laying before the House a statement of changes in the immigration rules. The changes support the introduction of a new targeted interview programme by the UK Border Agency, to ensure students seeking to abuse the immigration system are identified and refused a visa for the UK. The UK Border Agency plans to interview between 10,000 and 14,000 student visa applicants over the coming year. The first change makes provision for an entry clearance officer to be satisfied that an applicant is a genuine student before granting entry clearance under tier 4 of the points-based system. The second change makes provision for an entry clearance officer to refuse to issue entry clearance where the applicant fails to attend an interview without providing a reasonable explanation. Both changes will be effective from 30 July 2012. From December 2011 to the end of February 2012 the UK Border Agency ran an interviewing pilot. The pilot assessed the effectiveness of interviewing more student visa applicants. It also considered the requirement for and potential impact of a new power to refuse entry clearance on grounds of genuineness. Over 2,300 visa applicants from 47 countries were interviewed. Seventeen per cent of those interviewed were refused a visa under existing powers. Entry clearance officers indicated they could have refused up to 32% of the remainder on grounds of genuineness. The full evaluation report of the pilot is being published today, and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House. Since 2011 the Government have overhauled the student visa system to tackle abuse while continuing to attract and retain the brightest and best students who will help drive growth in the economy. It has introduced a range of measures to tighten controls on institutions sponsoring international students, remove the entitlements that provided false incentives to those motivated by work not study, and ensure only those with the most to offer remain in the UK at the end of their course. Over 450 colleges have now lost their right to bring international students to the UK, and the number of student visas issued in the year to March 2012 fell by 21%. While these changes have significantly strengthened the student visa regime, the pilot study identified some residual abuse. The findings indicate that targeted overseas interviews, supported by new powers of refusal, are useful

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additional tools to support entry clearance officers to identify and tackle it. These risk-based controls will be used alongside the wide range of other checks already operated by the UK Border Agency. These measures do not alter the duty on tier 4 sponsors to satisfy themselves that an applicant is able and intends to follow the course of study. They are designed to protect reputable providers that have made offers to students in good faith, and would otherwise risk UK Border Agency compliance action. Providers often undertake recruitment activity remotely, through agents. Interviewing will provide an additional layer of scrutiny, where needed, to help safeguard institutions. Interviews also will provide applicants with every opportunity to demonstrate how they meet the genuine student rule. Students from low-risk countries who already benefit from a streamlined visa application process will be exempt from the genuineness test. Further details on the application of these provisions will be set out in UK Border Agency guidance.

JUSTICE Justice and Security Bill The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Kenneth Clarke): Today I have laid before Parliament the Government’s response to the House of Lords Select Committee on the constitution’s report on the Justice and Security Bill, which was published on 15 June. We have sought to respond promptly in order to help inform the upcoming debates on the Bill.

TRANSPORT Personal Independence Payment and Blue Badge Eligibility The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker): I am today publishing a consultation document on personal independence payment and eligibility for a blue badge. The consultation period closes on Tuesday 2 October 2012.

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The coalition Government are taking forward important reforms to the welfare system. One of these reforms will involve changes to disability living allowance and will affect eligibility for a disabled person’s parking permit or blue badge. About a third of all badges are currently issued to people who receive the higher rate of the mobility component of disability living allowance. My Department is therefore consulting on the options we have for dealing with the impact of the changes. The consultation covers arrangements for England only. I am committed to ensuring that the blue badge scheme continues to be focused on those people who will benefit most from the parking concessions that it offers, and that it is sustainable in the future. The Government have identified three main options for responding to the implementation of personal independence payments. The three main options are: Option 1—no legislative link between eligibility for a blue badge and eligibility to personal independence payment; Option 2—establishing a legislative link between blue badge eligibility and the enhanced mobility component of personal independence payment; Option 3—establishing a legislative link between blue badge eligibility and those who score eight points or more within the “Moving Around” activity within personal independence payment. This assesses a person’s physical ability to get around.

The Government’s preferred option is option 3 as it would mean that eligibility for a blue badge would be most similar to the current scheme and the potential impacts of this option are minimal. We will, however, consider this in light of views and comments sent in as part of the consultation. The Government are also asking for other suggestions for other practical and sustainable solutions. The consultation concludes on 2 October 2012. Personal independence payments will be introduced for new claimants aged between 16 and 64 from April 2013 onwards. It will begin to replace disability living allowance for existing recipients aged between 16 and 64 from October 2013 onwards. Any consequential changes to the blue badge scheme will also be phased in and will affect existing badge holders when an existing badge expires and they need to apply for a new one. A copy of the consultation document has been placed in the Library of the House.

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(2) what estimate he has made of the cost of installing filters to allow reception of digital terrestrial television (DTT) following the adoption of 4G mobile technology in (a) all DTT households, (b) DTT households with amplifiers fitted and (b) multiple dwelling units;

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(3) if he will make it his policy to finance the cost of filters where necessary for second television sets to continue to receive digital terrestrial television following [115388] the adoption of 4G mobile technology.

WALES Cardiff Airport Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions she has had with Ministers in the Welsh Assembly Government on plans for the future of Cardiff Airport; and if she will make a statement. [115424]

Mrs Gillan: Cardiff airport has the potential to play an important part in improving the business environment in Wales and contributing to the Welsh and UK economy. I recently met with Cardiff airport to discuss their future plans. I have had discussions with the First Minister who has now established a task force to look at the future of the airport and the Welsh Government Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science has indicated that she wants to see Cardiff airport at the heart of the Aerospace Enterprise Zone around St Athan.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT Broadband: Kent Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent progress has been made on the delivery of superfast broadband [115334] to North Kent. Mr Vaizey: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has approved all local broadband plans covering the South East of England, including the plan covering North Kent. The Broadband Delivery Framework has been signed by BT and Fujitsu and local projects teams are working with BDUK to prepare for procurement. North Kent has been allocated £9.87 million for the delivery of superfast broadband. The first projects to use the framework have commenced their procurements and Kent will be amongst the next group of projects to commence procurement in September.

Mr Vaizey [holding answer 5 July 2012]: As set out in the Government’s announcement of 21 February, every home that needs one will be provided with a filter free of charge. Owners of properties with communal distribution systems will be provided with the filter appropriate to such equipment, free of charge. Ofcom estimate that approximately 20,000 multi dwelling buildings could be affected. Ofcom estimate that the typical cost for a fitting a filter for a communal aerial installation would be around £220, although it could be significantly lower, and that there are an average of 16 dwellings served by each system. For multi-dwelling units similar to a single household property the costs would be similar to those for single occupancy buildings. It is normally the responsibility of each landlord to maintain any TV signal distribution system in the property, and this should extend to the fitting of any filter that is required. In general, we are not proposing to fund the fitting-of filters in these cases. The one in four homes with residents deemed to be “vulnerable”—that is they meet the eligibility criteria that have been used for the Switchover Help Scheme—will be entitled to. installation of the filter, if needed, free of charge, The cost of fitting these filters should be much less than for an antenna installation. Charges may vary from installer to installer but typically could be as low as £50 + VAT. All these costs will be met from the £180 million funding to be provided by the mobile network operators. Support specifically for second and subsequent sets will not be provided. This is consistent with the approach we took in TV switchover where help was provided (to those eligible) for one set only. All homes living in the geographical area where they are predicted to experience interference to TV reception will be sent one filter with clear instructions for installation. This includes the 60% of homes whose primary viewing is on satellite or cable platforms who will be able to use the filter on a secondary set connected to an aerial. The funding provision of £180 million is based on Ofcom estimates of the size of the expected problem and includes a significant margin. A breakdown of how Ofcom arrived at this figure is contained within their recent consultation on coexistence between new services in the 800 MHz band and digital terrestrial television.

Mobile Phones Public Expenditure Mr Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (1) if he will make it his policy to finance the installation costs for filters to allow reception of digital terrestrial television following the adoption of 4G mobile technology in (a) households with amplifiers fitted and (b) multiple dwelling units; [115386]

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport with reference to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 23 April 2012 at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, (1) what progress his Department has made on identifying a proportion of its resource budget than can be re-prioritised; what steps

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he has taken to identify such funds; and which parts of his Department’s resource budget he has identified as [115751] suitable for re-prioritisation; (2) what discussions he has had with his Department’s agencies and the non-departmental bodies for which he is responsible on the contribution they will make to identifying resource budget for possible re-prioritisation; [115752]

(3) when he will make public the areas of his Department’s resource budget he has identified for possible re-prioritisation; and when he plans to report to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on [115753] the outcome of this exercise. John Penrose: The Department is working with the Treasury to agree contingency plans, as set out in the Government’s framework for strengthening and improving spending control http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/ improving_spending_control.pdf

As is normal for Government spending, the details of any contingency plans will only be published if it is decided to put them into practice, at which stage they will be announced in Parliament by the Chancellor or other Ministers in the usual way. UK Fashion and Textile Association Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he last met representatives [116047] of the UK Fashion and Textile Association. Mr Vaizey: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport has not met the UK Fashion and Textiles Association (UKFT). However, the Secretary of State, alongside the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, chairs the Creative Industries Council whose members include the British Fashion Council (BFC), and a member of the UKFT. The Government is keen to support the fashion industry and encourages initiatives, such as NewGen, which helps to promote the younger generation of designers coming out of the colleges. The BFC’s Value of Fashion report highlights the significant contribution the fashion industry makes to the UK economy and confirms British fashion’s status as one of our most important creative industries. The Department looks forward to continuing to work with UKFT, the BFC and others to further support this valuable industry. DEFENCE Aircraft Carriers Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which parts of the Queen Elizabeth Aircraft [111567] Carrier project have yet to be fully costed. Peter Luff: The final target cost for the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers that was developed in 2010 was based on STOVL-configured ships, and encompassed all known elements of the programme at that time, although following the 10 May 2012 decision to end Carrier Variant conversion investigations and revert to a STOVL-based carrier programme, we are now formally re-baselining the programme.

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Parliamentary Armed Forces Scheme Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answers of 20 June 2012, Official Report, column 877W and 2 July 2012, on Parliamentary Armed Forces Scheme, what (a) letters, (b) e-mails and (c) other correspondence the Minister of State for the Armed Forces has had with Col (Rtd) Terry Scriven on the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme; and if he will place copies of any such correspondence in the Library. [115451] Mr Robathan [holding answer 5 July 2012]: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 2 July 2012, Official Report, column 471W. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) holds no records of any letters, e-mails or other correspondence that MOD Ministers have had with Col (Rtd) Terry Scriven on the subject of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme. Public Expenditure Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what adjustments were made by the Treasury to (a) his Department’s financial envelope and (b) the allocation to major budget headings in his Department’s budget as a result of the three month study into planning [115442] round 11. Mr Philip Hammond [holding answer 5 July 2012]: The three-month exercise made no changes to the Ministry of Defence’s Budget as set out in the 2010 spending review. However, the Treasury did agree that, for planning purposes, the MOD could assume a 1% above real terms annual increase in spending on equipment and equipment support for the period from 2015 to 2020. This assumption was reflected in the allocation of funds to major budget headings during the annual budget setting process, the outcome of which I announced on 14 May 2012. Submarines Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department has sought a commercial partner to advise on the submarine enterprise performance [114424] programme. Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is not seeking a commercial partner to advise on the Submarine Enterprise Performance Programme (SEPP). The MOD is, however, seeking a commercial partner to augment the current resources in programme and project support functions within the submarine operating centre in the Defence Equipment and Support organisation. This is to improve skills and processes, to reduce overall risk to the submarine programme and to gain better value for money. The enabling arrangement will be available for use by programmes within the submarine operating centre; this may include the SEPP, should the need arise in the future.

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(2) how many child care places are financed by child [115273] care tax credits;

Trident Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) direct and (b) indirect civilian jobs in (i) Scotland and (ii) the rest of the UK rely [113406] upon the Trident programme. Mr Philip Hammond [holding answer 26 June 2012]: It is not Government policy to compile statistics related to defence spend on equipment or employment in UK regions. However, I am able to provide a broad indication of the extent of employment throughout the UK, which is reliant on the Trident programme by outlining the key locations concerned. I can confirm that some 6,300 defence jobs are based at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde. This base comprises the naval base at Faslane and the Royal Naval Armaments Depot (RNAD) at Coulport. The naval base is the home to a range of Royal Navy ships and submarines including the Vanguard class submarines which carry the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent. RNAD Coulport is responsible for the storage, processing, maintenance and issue of the Trident weapon system. As well as a high proportion of Ministry of Defence civilian and Royal Navy personnel, the jobs at the naval base include contractors from Babcock, Lockheed Martin UK and Rolls-Royce. Also in Scotland, the work undertaken by Rolls-Royce in respect of nuclear reactors at the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment, Dounreay, also supports the Trident programme and other nuclear-powered submarines. For the rest of the UK, four key suppliers directly support the delivery of the Trident programme. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) managed and operated by AWE Management Limited is based in Aldermaston and Burghfield; BAE Systems MaritimeSubmarines at Barrow-in-Furness; Babcock at Devonport; and Rolls-Royce at Raynesway, Derby. The ability of these key areas, both in Scotland and the rest of the UK, to deliver their programmes depends heavily on an extensive network of sub-contractors who are working indirectly in support of the Trident programme.

TREASURY Business: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Lisa Nandy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on mandatory greenhouse gas reporting for companies. [115926]

Mr Gauke: Treasury Ministers, including the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), regularly meet with Ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, covering a range of topics.

Mr Byrne: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the likely total spend on childcare tax credits in each year up to 2015. [115274] Mr Gauke: The most recent information on the average help with child care costs for tax credit recipients is available in Table 4.4 of the HMRC snapshot publication ‘Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics April 2012’: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtcquarterly-stats.htm

At the beginning of April 2012, the average amount received for child care by families benefiting from the child care element was £58.25 per week. The total number of child care places financed by the child care element of working tax credit is not available. However, Table 4.4 of ‘Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics April 2012’ reports the total number of families benefiting from the child care element. As of the beginning of April 2012, 454,900 families were benefiting from the child care element. Table 1, as follows, shows forecast spend on the child care element of tax credits in each financial year for the rest of this Parliament. Table 1: Forecasted child care expenditure £ million 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

1,490 1,560 1,650

Finance Act 2008 Mike Freer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue (a) is due and (b) has been collected under the provisions of section 58 of the Finance Act [115639] 2008. Mr Gauke: UK residents are taxable on their worldwide income wherever it arises—including situations where it arises by way of foreign partnerships. Section 58 of Finance Act 2008 was enacted to help put that beyond doubt. As section 58 retrospectively clarified existing legislation, its introduction had no affect on any taxpayers’ tax position. Gift Aid Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what steps the Government is taking to make it easier for small charities to collect gift aid from [115971] text donations; (2) what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the collection of gift aid on charitable donations made (a) as text donations via mobile telephones and [115972] (b) using other new technologies is easier.

Child Care Tax Credit Mr Byrne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the average family claim for child care tax credits was in the latest period for which figures are [115272] available;

Mr Gauke: The Government is keen to make Gift Aid as easy and as accessible as possible to donors and charities. Gift Aid is already available on text donations and on other forms of digital giving such as via ATMs, subject to the right infrastructure being in place.

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HM Revenue and Customs has been discussing with charity representatives how the sector might set up a Gift Aid database for participating donors and charities to use to streamline the making of a Gift Aid declaration to each charity they support. Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps the Government is taking to help small charities to quickly and easily claim gift aid which they are due other than through the provisions contained in the Small Charitable Donations Bill. [116043]

Mr Gauke: The Government is keen to make it as easy as possible for all charities to claim Gift Aid. In 2011 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) introduced a new Gift Aid repayment claim form which is completed on a computer and contains a number of automated checks, to help prevent common errors that delay repayments. That has lead to HMRC processing over 95% of Gift Aid claims within 15 working days, an improvement of nearly 10% over the last year. The new form was the first step to introducing a new online system in 2013 that will enable charities to claim Gift Aid repayments online. The online system will enable HMRC to make repayments more quickly and efficiently. HM Revenue and Customs has also been discussing with charity representatives how the sector might set up a Gift Aid database for participating donors and charities to use, to eliminate the need for donors to make a Gift Aid declaration to each charity they support. Income Tax Matthew Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much the income tax payments have changed for someone earning £26,000 from 2010-11 to 2012-13; and how much income tax someone earning £26,000 a year will pay in 2012-13 and 2013-14 [115394] compared to 2009-10. Mr Gauke: Income tax due for an individual earning £26,000 for tax year 2009-10 to 2013-14 is shown in the following table. The table assumes that the individual is aged under 65 or born after 5 April 1948 for 2013-14, has no other income assessable for tax and that, other than the personal allowance, no other allowances, deductions or reliefs are due. Total income tax (£) 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14

3,905 3,905 3,705 3,579 3,359

LIBOR Chris Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether the British Banking Association’s review of LIBOR was discussed by his Department’s officials at [115920] their meeting of 5 March 2012; (2) who attended the meeting where Treasury officials discussed LIBOR on 5 March 2012. [115928]

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Mr Hoban: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings and discussions with a wide variety of authorities as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions. National Infrastructure Plan Gordon Banks: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) in which financial years he plans that support from UK pension funds will be allocated to the [115827] National Infrastructure Plan; (2) what the value is of the support committed to the National Infrastructure Plan from UK pension funds; [115828]

(3) what progress he has made in securing pension funds agreement to finance the Government’s National [115829] Infrastructure Plan. Danny Alexander: The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) and the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) are currently in the process of raising development and investment capital, with the aim of launching a pension investment platform in early 2013 to invest in UK infrastructure projects. NAPF and the PPF have publicly stated that they expect the platform initially to raise £2 billion of pension fund investment to deploy in appropriate UK infrastructure. Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad Chris Bryant: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on which occasions his parliamentary private secretary has travelled overseas with him or on his behalf since [115344] May 2010. Mr Gauke: The parliamentary private secretary of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), has not travelled overseas with him or on his behalf since May 2010. Social Impact Bonds Nadine Dorries: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department plans to have discussions with the Department for Communities and Local Government on the possibility of public funding of social impact [115816] bonds. Danny Alexander: £5 million has been set aside for a new social impact bond to help London’s persistent rough sleepers off the streets and into secure homes. This was announced on 7 March and approved by HM Treasury and the Department for Communities and Local Government prior to this announcement. Tax Avoidance Matthew Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was raised for the public purse by all measures taken to reduce tax avoidance measures [115393] from May 2010 to June 2012. Mr Gauke: Anti-avoidance measures announced by the Government in its 2010, 2011 and 2012 Budgets were forecast to yield over £6 billion.

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In addition to raising funds for the public purse many anti-avoidance measures serve to protect revenue by blocking or deterring avoidance which would otherwise reduce payments into the public purse. Taxation Mr Meacher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what amendments HM Revenue and Customs have made of the level of (a) tax avoidance, (b) tax evasion and (c) uncollected tax liabilities in each of the last 10 [115391] years. Mr Gauke: The breakdown of the tax gap by behaviour has not been produced for the last 10 years. The most recent estimate of the net tax gap is published in Measuring Tax Gaps 2011: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/mtg-2011.pdf

This estimated that the net tax lost by all taxpayers across all taxes in 2009-10 due to (a) avoidance was around £5 billion, (b) evasion was around £4 billion, and (c) non-payment was £4 billion. Taxation: Multinational Companies Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether proposed changes to controlled foreign companies rules in the Finance Bill will mean developing countries may lose more revenue to tax [115472] havens; (2) what steps his Department intends to take in response to recommendations of the IMF, OECD, UN and World Bank that an impact assessment be carried out on how developing countries will be affected by the Controlled Foreign Companies rules in the Finance [115473] Bill. Mr Gauke: The Government has not undertaken an assessment of the effect on developing countries of the proposed changes to the CFC rules as these rules are designed to protect the UK Exchequer by preventing artificial diversion of UK profits. The IMF, OECD, UN and World Bank have not specifically recommended an impact assessment of the changes to the CFC rules. Such an assessment would need to focus primarily on the nature of tax regimes in developing countries and the interactions of multinational companies with those tax systems, making it an assessment not of our tax rules, but of the tax rules of those other countries. The Government does not think that such an assessment would be feasible. The strengthening of tax administration in developing countries is a key issue in tax and development and the Government is committed to supporting developing countries access sustainable sources of revenue.

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Mr Gauke [holding answer 5 July 2012]: The intention of the bidding conditions set out by the International Olympic Committee is that taxation should not be a consideration in any bid to host an Olympic and Paralympic games. The UK has not gone beyond the commitments required to meet these conditions. Welfare Tax Credits Mr Byrne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) two, (b) three, (c) four, (d) five and (e) six year olds are members of families in receipt of tax [115275] credits. Mr Gauke: The information requested is given in the following table. Estimated number of children in families in receipt of tax credits, as of 1 April 2012 Age Number (Thousand) Two years old Three years old Four years old Five years old Six years old

546.4 541.7 536.8 516.8 504.8

PRIME MINISTER Russia Chris Bryant: To ask the Prime Minister (1) pursuant to the answer from the Secretary of State for Justice of 11 June 2012, Official Report, columns 360-1W, on Russia, (1) whether he authorised the travel of the hon. Member for Wyre and Preston North to Russia; and on [115355] what date any such authorisation was given; (2) what was exceptional about the hon. Member for Wyre and Preston North’s visit to Russia that merited [115356] taxpayer funding; (3) what the cost of the hon. Member for Wyre and [115357] Preston North’s visit to Russia was; (4) whether he has authorised any other parliamentary private secretaries to travel overseas on an official visit since May 2010. [115358] The Prime Minister: The hon. Member for Wyre and Preston North (Mr Wallace) paid his own travel expenses. This case and any others are authorised in line with paragraph 3.11 of the Ministerial Code.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Human Trafficking

Taxation: Olympic Games 2012 Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer of 5 December 2011, Official Report, column 72W, on taxation: Olympic games 2012, if he will give details of the certain tax arrangements that the International Olympic Committee required for all bids for the 2012 games; whether the UK bid went beyond the certain tax arrangements [115453] required; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Bone: To ask the Attorney-General what steps he has taken with regard to the Crown Prosecution Service report on the review of human trafficking legislation. [115963]

The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is not reviewing the law on human trafficking. However, the CPS has contributed to the Government’s report on the review of human trafficking legislation

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which was published on 22 June 2012. This review of legislation was a commitment set out in the Government’s Human Trafficking Strategy published in July 2011. The report on the review of human trafficking legislation is now available on the Home Office website. The review identified three areas where legislation in England and Wales could be strengthened and new legislation is already being introduced in two of these areas. To comply with the EU Directive on Trafficking in Human Beings, amendments to current human trafficking offences are included in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. The third area identified relates to the unduly lenient sentence mechanism. Steps are being taken to ensure that in all human trafficking offences

Department

April 2009-March 2010

Written Answers

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the Law Officers’ can consider referring the case for an increase in sentence where it appears that the sentence was unduly lenient. Lost Working Days Mr Ruffley: To ask the Attorney-General what the average number of working days lost per person was in (a) the Law Officers’ Departments and (b) each agency of the Law Officers’ Departments in each of the [115291] last three years. The Solicitor-General: The information requested is contained in the following table:

Working days lost April 2010-March 2011

April 2011-March 2012

CPS 9.0 8.9 8.5 1 7.8 2.7 3.1 AGO 1 HMCPSI 7.8 14.7 4.7 TSol 6.6 5.8 6.6 SFO 9.7 11.2 8.7 1 Prior to 1 April 2010 Tsol calculated sickness absence as a combined figure for the combination of TSol, AGO and HMCPSI—this reflected the requirements of the annual accounts at that time (the AGO/HMCPSI combined figure for 2009-10 is an estimate and has been calculated from this data).

Offences Against Children

estimate he has made of the number of such cases; and if he will make a statement. [115830]

Paul Goggins: To ask the Attorney-General how many cases involving the alleged sexual abuse of a child under the age of 16 have been dismissed by the Crown courts in England as a result of no evidence being [115918] offered in each year since 1990.

The Solicitor-General: The Attorney-General, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve), and I have regular discussions with the Director of Public Prosecutions on a wide range of criminal matters, including cases where there may have been a miscarriage of justice due to the involvement of undercover police officers. Details regarding the Drax case were announced in a press release on Tuesday, 3 July 2012, which can be found at:

The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of cases involving alleged sexual abuse of a child under the age of 16, which were dismissed by the Crown courts in England as a result of no evidence being offered. Such data could not be obtained locally or nationally without incurring a disproportionate cost. Police: Surveillance Caroline Lucas: To ask the Attorney-General what recent discussions he has had with the Director of Public Prosecutions on the number of cases where there may have been a miscarriage of justice due to the involvement of undercover police officers; what

2009-10 Number

http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/press_releases/dpp_invites_ defence_ to_appeal_convictions_of_drax_power_station_protestors/

Prosecutions: Northamptonshire Mr Hollobone: To ask the Attorney-General how many successful prosecutions have been secured by the Crown Prosecution Service in Northamptonshire in each of the last three years; and what proportion such successful prosecutions represent of the total [115961] prosecutions started in each such year. The Solicitor-General: The information regarding successful prosecutions brought by the Crown Prosecution Service in Northamptonshire is as follows:

Northamptonshire—Prosecutions 2009-12 2010-11 Percentage Number Percentage

2011-12 Number

Percentage

Convictions

8,895

86.9

8.847

85.6

7,281

85.3

Unsuccessful

1,345

13.1

1,486

14.4

1,255

14.7

Total

10,240

2009-10 Number Convictions Unsuccessful

846,221 136,511

10,333

8,536

England and Wales—Prosecutions 2009-12 2010-11 Percentage Number Percentage 86.1 13.9

820,597 137,284

85.7 14.3

2011-12 Number 769,252 125,539

Percentage 86.0 14.0

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England and Wales—Prosecutions 2009-12 2010-11 Percentage Number Percentage

982,732

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Written Answers

2011-12 Number

957,881

Percentage

894,791

Belarus

increase in criminal activity in the north Sinai area, Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice currently advises against all but essential travel to Sinai north of the Suez-Taba road.

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Belarussian authorities on the arrest [116094] of journalist Andrzey Poczobut.

Heather Wheeler: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of arms smuggling in the Sinai Peninsula.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE

[115700]

Mr Lidington: The arrest of Andrzey Poczobut for alleged “libel against the president” is yet another example of the crackdown on the independent media in Belarus. The Government has made no direct representations to the Belarusian authorities about his arrest, but officials will do so at the next opportunity. The EU raised his case in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Permanent Council on 5 July. The UK continues to maintain the pressure on Belarus to release and rehabilitate all political prisoners. We strongly supported the 5 July resolution at the UN Human Rights Council, which established a Special Rapporteur on Belarus. The Rapporteur will be a valuable source of independent reporting on events in the country, and will help keep the spotlight on the situation there.

Alistair Burt: We are aware of reports of arms smuggling in and through the Sinai Peninsula and are monitoring the situation carefully. We regularly raise our concerns about the security situation in the Sinai with the Egyptian authorities. European Union: Legislative Competence Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his timetable is for his Department’s work to review the EU’s [115875] existing competences. Mr Lidington: Extensive preparatory work is progressing and an announcement will be made to Parliament at the appropriate time.

Colombia Israel Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will raise with the Colombian Government threats that have been made against the life of Carlos Lozano from Colombians for [115162] Peace. Mr Jeremy Browne: Any threat against Dr Lozano’s life is unacceptable. Our embassy in Bogota met with Dr Lozano recently, and continues to monitor his case closely. During Dr Lozano’s recent trip to the UK, he met with senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials to discuss the situation in Colombia. The Colombian Government has assured us that providing protection for human rights defenders is an absolute priority for them. Officials at our embassy in Bogota will raise the case of Dr Lozano with the Colombian Government. The British Government continues to raise the protection of human rights defenders regularly with the Colombian Government. I discussed human rights with President Santos, Foreign Minister Holguín and Vice President Garzón during my visit to Colombia in March 2012. Egypt Heather Wheeler: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in the Sinai [115698] Peninsula. Alistair Burt: The British Government remains concerned about the security situation in the Sinai and we regularly raise this with the Egyptian authorities. Due to a significant

Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Israeli Government on its water supply policies in the Jordan valley. [115593] Alistair Burt: The British Government has had detailed discussions with both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities on the issue of water supply policies in the Jordan valley, including on the significant difference between the water allocated for use by Palestinians and Israeli settlers. In addition to lobbying at political level, the UK is funding a project working with Palestinians and Israelis to help improve co-operation on water issues to the benefit of both parties. Water is one of the issues expected to be addressed in final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The UK continues to urge both parties to enter into direct talks to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Middle East Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the recent increase of rocket fire into [115430] Israel from Gaza. Alistair Burt: We understand between 17 to 23 June, over 150 rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel, with 10 Israeli civilians being injured. Israel responded with several air strikes killing 10 Palestinians. This was the worst escalation of violence since the beginning of March this year, when 134 rockets were fired from Gaza.

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We condemn indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel and have urged all sides to exercise restraint and prevent civilian casualties and loss of life. Mr Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support he is providing for the renewal of direct peace talks between [115605] Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Alistair Burt: The UK continues to make regular high level representations to the Government of Israel and to the Palestinians on the urgency of making progress towards a two-state solution. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), made this clear in his discussions with the Israeli Foreign Minister on 22 May and with Palestinian President Abbas on 6 July. The UK also provides practical and technical support, including to the office of the Quartet Representative, to reinforce the prospects for peace. Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the Palestinian Authority’s adherence to their Road Map commitment to end incitement against [115678] Israel. Alistair Burt: The British Government opposes the advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence in all circumstances. In response to allegations of anti-Israeli incitement on Palestinian state television, officials from the British Consulate General in Jerusalem have raised concerns with the Head of the News Department at Palestine TV who stressed that they have strict instructions from the highest Palestinian authorities to prevent the broadcasting of any material that promotes incitement or hatred. We are not aware of any other credible recent evidence of anti-Israeli incitement by the Palestinian Authority. The Road Map stipulates that a tri-partite committee would look at incidents of incitement, to which any party can appeal. Russia Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made to Russia on the jailing of [115916] members of the punk band Pussy Riot. Mr Lidington: We are extremely concerned about the continued detention of three members of the band Pussy Riot, who have been held in pre-trial detention for almost four months. The severity of the Russian authorities’ response—detention on the serious criminal charge of hooliganism—appears to be disproportionate to the manner in which they expressed their political beliefs. Amnesty International has classified the members of Pussy Riot as “Prisoners of Conscience”. The Government has repeatedly expressed its serious concern to the Russian Government over attempts to limit freedom of assembly. We will continue to call on the Russian Government to protect the right to legitimate protest and will raise this case at our UK-Russia Bilateral Human Rights Dialogue on 13 July.

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Syria Richard Drax: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he is making any preparations for any part of the armed forces to be deployed to Syria. [113385] Mr Philip Hammond: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. The Ministry of Defence has submitted military nominations to fill a key appointment in the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS). As at 25 June, the Syrian authorities have yet to grant visas for either of the nominated individuals. Without visa authorisation UK nominees are unable to deploy. Visits Abroad Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which countries he is planning to visit in the next 12 months. [115710] Mr Lidington: For security reasons we do not make public the advance travel plans of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague).

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS Farms: Crops Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the profitability for farmers [115494] of catch crops. Mr Paice: DEFRA has not made any specific assessment of the profitability for farmers of catch crops. These crops tend to be grown as forage crops, often substituting for grazing or silage. Their contribution to farm profitability, while being taken into account where appropriate, has not been separately assessed—the output in terms of livestock production will be within livestock sales and value change, while the costs incurred in growing them, e.g. seed, fertiliser etc, are normally subsumed within farm costs. Farms: Water Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what advice her Department has provided to farmers on the (a) [115476] effective and (b) reduced use of water. Richard Benyon: I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 19 April 2012, Official Report, column 495W, which described the assistance, including advice, being provided to farmers who operate in areas of drought. In the longer term, the Department has funded over 20 research projects on the sustainable (effective and reduced) use of water in agriculture to the value of over £6 million in the last six years. Most of these projects have a knowledge transfer component generating advisory outputs, such as the DEFRA Water Audit toolkit available on the UK Irrigation Association website.

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The Department has provided advice on the cross compliance aspects of water abstraction for many years. The Department’s new Farming Advice Service now provides advice on climate change adaptation and has begun developing and delivering advice on water management in both livestock and crops. The Environment Agency has published advice on the reduced and effective use of water in agriculture on their website, in their ‘Waterwise’ leaflets, and via direct advice to farmers, including construction of storage reservoirs, rainwater harvesting, formation of water abstraction groups, irrigation and rotational planning, adoption of new (e.g. irrigation) technology. Natural England, through the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme, offers training and advice to farmers within 65 priority catchments on a range of activities relating to water use on farm, including reducing volumes of dirty water and utilising rainwater. This includes advice and grants towards rainwater harvesting goods such as storage tanks, first flush rainwater diverters and downpipe filters, yard works for clean and dirty water separation, roofing for slurry and silage stores and pesticide wash down areas. Training and advice is also offered on best practice management of water runoff from land to reduce the risk of diffuse pollution from agriculture. Fisheries: Dee Estuary Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what representations her Department has received from (a) Natural England, (b) the Sea Fisheries Liaison Group and (c) other groups on any increased Welsh use of the Dee estuary arising from the review of the Management Plan for the River Dee and increased powers from the [115286] Welsh Government; (2) if she will make it her policy that an applicant should state whether they are a self-employed fisherman on an application for a new Dee estuary cockle fishery [115287] licence; (3) if she will make it her policy that both full and temporary licences for Dee estuary cockle fishing should [115288] be non-transferable; (4) under what conditions the Environment Agency would award a Dee estuary cockle fishery temporary [115289] licence; (5) whether she has taken steps to ensure an equal distribution of Dee estuary cockle fishery licences on the English and Welsh sides of the River Dee. [115290] Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency is responsible for the management of the Dee cockle fishery. The fishery is currently regulated by the Dee Regulating Order 2008 (granted to the Environment Agency under the Sea Fisheries (Shellfish) Act 1967), and the fishery managed as set out in the associated Management Plan. It is my understanding that, as set out in the Management Plan for the fishery, the licences under the Order are non-transferable and that any decision to issue temporary licences is made on the basis of annual cockle stock surveys. New licences are allocated to those on a waiting list; when the Environment Agency compiled this list evidence of commercial fishing activity was a requirement. The Environment Agency does not restrict licences based on geographical location.

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I have received no recent representations on either a review of the Management Plan or the increased powers of the Welsh Government. Floods: Crops Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the potential for legal challenges by farmers against the Environment Agency for the effect of recent flooding on crops. [115475] Richard Benyon: DEFRA has made no specific assessment of the potential for legal challenge by farmers against the Environment Agency due to the effects of recent flooding on crops. Floods: West Midlands Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether her Department plans to compensate or provide relief to those affected by recent flooding in the West Midlands. [115112]

Richard Benyon [holding answer 5 July 2012]: It has been the policy of consecutive Governments not to compensate for damages from extreme weather events, not least because it would be unfair to those who purchased insurance. Taxpayers’ money is best spent on long term solutions that reduce the risk from flooding in the first place. A Bellwin scheme may be activated where an emergency or disaster occurs and local authorities incur expenditure taking action to safeguard life or property. The scheme is administered by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Food: Prices Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has any further plans to review the recent evidence on the drivers of food prices after the publication of the report on the 2007/08 Agricultural Price Spikes: Causes and [115967] Policy Implications. Mr Paice: The Government continues to look at the potential drivers behind the prices of agricultural commodities and food. During the price spike in 2007-08, the drivers included fundamental changes in supply and demand; the run-down of agricultural stocks; export restrictions imposed by states in response to the shortages; and market uncertainty about the status of supplies. We will continue to research other areas where the results of activity are less certain, such as biofuels policies and market speculation. The Government also actively monitors food prices and the drivers behind changes in commodity prices. Research into this area has shown that the key drivers behind changes in food prices are global agricultural commodity prices, exchange rates, and fluctuating oil prices. We are also active on the world stage, working with G20 partners to improve market information through the Agricultural Market Information System and working

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to discourage inappropriate reactions to market events, such as the use of export bans, through the Rapid Response Forum.

Written Answers

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For the periods 2009-10 and 2010-11 the information requested is not held centrally and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs.

Government Procurement Card Livestock: Exports Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many procurement card holders in her Department were (a) paid off-payroll, (b) employed on a part-time basis and (c) employed as a non-permanent employee in (i) 2009-10, [113337] (ii) 2010-11 and (iii) 2011-12. Richard Benyon: Core DEFRA’s policy is that only its own employees (i.e. those on payroll) who are working in core DEFRA at the time and not on loan elsewhere may use one of its Government Procurement Cards. For the period 2011-12, 739 full-time and 67 part-time employees of core DEFRA held Government Procurement Cards.

2012 (to date)

No. of animals for slaughter

Pigs Sheep and Goats

6 40

422 14,606

Cattle

91

12,535

Pigs Sheep and Goats

0 10

0 3,098

1

148

Cattle 1 2

Mr Paice: Prior to 2009, individual Animal Health offices had responsibility for tracking exports. Therefore, data prior to 2009 is not held centrally. The data for 2010 is limited as the introduction of a centralised team within Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories was gradual. The centralised data available is set out in the following table:

No. of consignments for slaughter

Animals 2011

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much livestock was exported for slaughter outside of the UK in each of the last five years. [114341]

Total no. of animals 1

27,563 1 — 1



2

3,246 2 — 2



Indicates a brace. Indicates a brace.

Rain Forests

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment,FoodandRuralAffairswhattheGovernment’s policy is on the continuing destruction of the rainforests.

Housing: Construction

[115798]

Richard Benyon [holding answer 6 July 2012]: Tackling illegal logging and deforestation is a priority for the coalition Government, and we are in the process of implementing two EU Regulations to tackle the trade in illegal timber. The EU Timber Regulation, which enters into force on 3 March 2013, will require operators first placing timber and timber products on the EU market to exercise due diligence to ensure that this timber has been legally harvested. The Regulation also includes a prohibition on the first placing of illegal timber on the EU market. This approach is complemented by the EU FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) Regulation, under which countries can sign a voluntary partnership agreement with the EU to ensure that timber and timber products from those countries has come from legally harvested sources. Six countries have signed agreements with the EU and are developing their legality assurance systems to ensure compliance with the Agreements. The Government has also set up an International Climate Fund (ICF) to help developing countries tackle climate change and reduce poverty. Protecting the world’s forests is a priority theme of the ICF, accounting for around 20% of the total funds (£2.9 billion) from 2011 to 2015.

Mr Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) owner-occupied, (b) housing association, (c) privately rented and (d) local authority houses have been built in [115392] each of the last 15 years. Grant Shapps: Statistics on house building are published on the Department for Communities and Local Government website at the following link. These figures include completions in England for each of the last 15 years, and include a breakdown into house building by private enterprise, housing associations and local authorities. It is not possible to measure how many of these are built for owner-occupation or private rental. http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/ housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/housebuilding/

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES Homosexuality: Marriage Karl McCartney: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities if she will take steps to ensure that the views of all sections of society, including those who have not responded to her consultation on same-sex marriage are taken into account during policy development. [115720]

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Lynne Featherstone [holding answer 6 July 2012]: The Government consultation on enabling same-sex couples to have a civil marriage ceremony closed on 14 June 2012. We are currently considering all the responses and will publish a Government response by the end of the year. I am aware that there are a wide range of opinions on this subject and therefore every effort has been made to ensure that people, across all views, had the opportunity to respond to the consultation. Both Ministers and officials widely encouraged both individual responses and those from organisations that would represent many more people. The Government will be taking into account all responses received during this time, via correspondence, email, or the online consultation form.

NORTHERN IRELAND Bank Services Ms Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the provisions of customer compensation for (a) bank fines and (b) third-party fines incurred as a result of the recent bank system errors within (i) Royal Bank of Scotland, (ii) NatWest and (iii) Ulster Bank; and if he will make a statement. [115730]

Mr Paterson: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire) to the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) on 4 July 2012, Official Report, column 901, and to the replies I have subsequently given to the hon. Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker) on 5 July 2012, Official Report, column, 736W, and 6 July 2012, Official Report, column 859W. The Chairman of RBS has given us assurances that Ulster Bank will treat their customers properly and fairly and that they will be compensated fully for financial loss. HM Treasury and the FSA are carefully monitoring the situation, as am I, and we remain in close contact with RBS. Since the problems in Ulster Bank arose I have discussed the matter with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable) and the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, my hon. Friend the Member for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Gauke). My right hon. Friend the Minister of State has also had regular discussions with the Chairman of RBS, Sir Philip Hampton, and the Chief Executive of RBS, Stephen Hester, and the Exchequer Secretary during this period. During his latest telephone call with Stephen Hester this morning, the Minister of State was assured that further progress had been made and that Ulster Bank are hopeful that all outstanding problems will be resolved later this week. It is important the Bank continues to make all efforts to ensure this happens. We have also discussed the issue with HM Revenue & Customs who have assured us that they will treat sympathetically and considerately any taxpayers who are charged a penalty or surcharge for late payment as a

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result of the problems at Ulster Bank and will put matters right if those customers get in touch with HMRC. We shall continue to monitor the situation until the problems at Ulster Bank are resolved.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE Electricity Generation Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he plans to announce the recommendations of his Electricity Demand Reduction Project before the summer recess. [115817] Charles Hendry: In the July 2011 White Paper, “Planning our electric future: a White Paper for secure, affordable and low-carbon electricity”, DECC committed to undertake an assessment by summer 2012 to determine whether DECC should take further steps to improve the support and incentives for the efficient use of electricity. This assessment is nearing completion and will be published shortly. Electricity: Scotland Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the total cost to the public purse was of the Hydro-Benefit Replacement Scheme in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011 and [115323] (e) 2012 to date. Gregory Barker: The cost of the Hydro-Benefit Replacement Scheme is recovered through charges on the licensed electricity supply companies across Great Britain. The following table sets out the total amount recovered (or to be recovered) for each financial year as supplied by National Grid. Financial year 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

Total amount recovered (£ million) 46.505 48.672 48.059 50.361 52.985

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the total cost to the public purse was of the Common Tariff Obligation in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011 and (e) 2012 to [115324] date. Gregory Barker: The Common Tariff Obligation prohibits licensed electricity suppliers from discriminating among comparable domestic customers in charges on the basis of their location in the North of Scotland and as such imposes no cost on the public purse. Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of consumers in Scotland who have participated in the (a) Common Tariff Obligation and (b) Hydro-Benefit Replacement Scheme in (i) 2008, (ii) 2009, (iii) 2010, (iv) 2011 and (v) 2012 to date. [115325]

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Gregory Barker: All consumers in the Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution area benefit from both the Common Tariff Obligation and the Hydro Benefit Replacement Scheme. Set out in the following table is the number of consumers (both domestic and industrial/commercial) served by Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution as supplied by the company. Number of consumers 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

709,201 721,019 729,290 740,768 745,907

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the total average saving per year for consumers in Scotland through the Common Tariff Obligation in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010, (d) 2011 and (e) 2012 to [115326] date. Gregory Barker: The Common Tariff Obligation prohibits licensed electricity suppliers from discriminating among comparable domestic customers in charges on the basis of their location. It is not possible to estimate what each consumer’s annual electricity bill would have been in the absence of the Common Tariff Obligation. Energy: Prices Mr Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much money energy companies have spent on assisting low income households and low [114797] income areas in each of the last five years. Gregory Barker: Energy companies are required to assist low income households through the delivery of energy efficiency measures under the Community Energy Saving Programme and at least 15% of their carbon emissions reduction target obligations. We do not currently have powers to require suppliers to disclose how much they spend under these schemes. Estimates of the overall cost to companies in meeting their obligations are set out in the relevant impact assessments. We have powers that will enable us to obtain better information about costs under the new energy company obligation. The amount that suppliers have spent over the past five years on providing assistance with energy bills to low income and to vulnerable households is set out in the following table. This information has been sourced from Ofgem’s reports on suppliers’ social spending for April 2007 to March 2011. The estimate of suppliers’ spending on the first year of the Warm Home Discount scheme is based on the impact assessment for the scheme and will be confirmed following Ofgem’s end of year audits of suppliers’ spending on the scheme. £ million

Financial year and scheme details April 2011 to March 2012 (first year of the Warm Home Discount Scheme)

Total spend by suppliers on energy price support 1

250

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£ million Total spend by suppliers on energy price support

Financial year and scheme details

April 2010 to March 2011 (third year of the voluntary agreement—agreed spend was £150 million April 2009 to March 2010 (second year of the voluntary agreement—agreed spend was £125 million April 2008 to March 2009 (first year of the voluntary agreement—agreed spend was £100 million April 2007 to March 2008 1 Estimate—subject to confirmation by Ofgem following end of audits.

178 l53 157 57 year

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to provide assistance to care homes in meeting energy [115611] costs. Gregory Barker [holding answer 6 July 2012]: The Department has no such plans. However, care homes, like all British homes and businesses, will have the opportunity to take up energy efficiency measures to help them manage their fuel bills under the Government’s new Green Deal. Environment Protection: Employment Laura Sandys: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people were employed in the (a) environmental and (b) renewable [115942] energy sector in May (i) 2010 and (ii) 2012. Gregory Barker: DECC has not made any assessment of the number of people employed in the (a) environmental and (b) renewable energy sector in May (i) 2010 and (ii) 2012. Over the 2011 to 2012 financial year, the Office for Renewable Energy Deployment (ORED) collated industry announcements totalling £6.9 billion confirmed and planned investments in the renewable energy sector, with the potential support of over 20,800 jobs. Green Deal Scheme Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the oral answer of 20 March 2012, Official Report, column 602W, to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree, what the cost to the public purse will be of the Green Deal in (a) 2012, [115049] (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015. Gregory Barker: Budgets for the Green Deal are as follows: Green Deal cost (£ million) 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

30.4 25.9 19.5

Budgets beyond 2012-13 are indicative only. The above table does not include the £200 million for a launch incentives scheme which is allocated across 2012-13 and 2013-14.

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Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if his Department will assess the energy saving performance of window film and [115589] consider it for inclusion in the Green Deal. Gregory Barker: Window film is not currently eligible for Green Deal finance, but could potentially be included if a quantified and verified energy saving estimate is modelled in the assessment tools RdSAP or SBEM. This is necessary because the assessment tools generate the savings estimate on which the Green Deal finance quote is based. The route industry can use to include measures in the assessment tools is through a process called Appendix Q. Details can be found on the Building Research Establishment’s website.

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much income local authorities have generated from the sale of renewable electricity, the total proportion of electricity in England generated by local authority-owned renewables or the number of renewable electricity generation projects commissioned by local authorities. Renewable generation is currently supported through the Renewables Obligation (RO), with Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) incentivising small-scale generation. Both schemes are administered by Ofgem. Information on registered installations receiving support under the two schemes is available from the Ofgem Renewables and CHP Register and Ofgem’s Central FITs Register. Both can be accessed through the following link: https://www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk

Renewable Energy: West Midlands Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what representations he has received on enabling the fitting of window film to be [115590] included within the Green Deal. Gregory Barker: We have received a number of representations about window film being included in the Green Deal. Window film is not currently eligible for Green Deal finance, but could potentially be included if a quantified and verified energy saving estimate is modelled in the assessment tools RdSAP or SBEM. This is necessary because the assessment tools generate the savings estimate on which the Green Deal finance quote is based. The route industry can use to include measures in the assessment tools is through a process called Appendix Q. Details can be found on the Building Research Establishment’s website. Nuclear Power Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when his Department last met (a) Citigroup, (b) KPMG and (c) PricewaterhouseCoopers to discuss the strike price for [115481] nuclear power. Charles Hendry: The Department regularly meets a range of external stakeholders and financial institutions to discuss a number of issues relating to electricity market reform, but has not met Citigroup, KPMG, or PricewaterhouseCoopers specifically to discuss the strike price for nuclear power. Renewable Energy

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps the Government is taking to stimulate the manufacturing of renewable [115317] energy technology in the West Midlands. Gregory Barker [holding answer 5 July 2012]: Recent steps taken by the Government to stimulate the manufacturing of renewable energy technology across England include encouraging businesses in the sector to apply for grants and/or loans from the new £125 million Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) and £l billion Regional Growth Fund (RGF) Round Three. Businesses in the West Midlands are eligible to submit bids for the AMSCI or RGF as appropriate. In addition, renewable energy companies across the UK can apply for innovation funding and support. This includes the Second Call for proposals for the Offshore Wind Component Technologies Development and Demonstration Scheme and support under the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund. Full details of the available innovation funding and support can be found on DECC’s website at: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/funding/funding_ops/ innovation/innovation.aspx

Based on recent announcements, we are aware of £51 million investment in the renewable energy sector in the West Midlands over the 2011-12 financial year with the support of 150 jobs. Warm Home Discount Scheme Laura Sandys: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people he estimates will receive the Warm Homes Discount in 2012-13. [115881]

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much renewable electricity has been sold to the grid (a) in total and (b) by each local authority in England and Wales since August 2010; how much income local authorities have generated from the sale of renewable electricity in the last 12 months; what the total proportion is of electricity in England generated by local authority-owned renewables; how many new renewable electricity generation projects have been commissioned by local authorities since August [115576] 2010; and if he will make a statement. [R] Gregory Barker: DECC does not maintain records of how much renewable electricity has been sold to the grid by local authorities in England and Wales, how

Gregory Barker: Around 2 million households will receive support under the Warm Home Discount scheme in 2012-13. This is expected to include around 1 million of the poorest pensioners. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Afghanistan Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) whether the UK plans to allocate new funds to address violence against women and girls at the upcoming Tokyo conference on Afghanistan; [115301]

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(2) what budget commitment the Government is planning to make to help tackle violence against women and girls as part of its contribution at the upcoming Tokyo meeting on development in Afghanistan; [115302] (3) how the Government plans to ensure that violence against women is addressed at the upcoming Tokyo [115303] meeting on development in Afghanistan. Mr Andrew Mitchell: The international community must make long-term development commitments at Tokyo to secure Afghanistan’s future. Once the level of international finance and the Government of Afghanistan’s reform commitments have been agreed, the UK, along with our Afghan and international partners, will review how resources can best be prioritised for the good of the Afghan people. Last weekend, I announced that the UK will maintain its current funding levels of £178 million per year for the next five years. The UK is already working closely with the Afghan Government and Afghan Civil Society to secure progress on women’s rights, by educating girls, by helping 8,000 of the poorest women into jobs and working with groups dedicated to protecting women. I met women’s groups last weekend in Lashkar Gar in Afghanistan and will be meeting with Afghan women civil society representatives in the margins of the Tokyo conference to hear first hand how the UK can best support women’s rights in the years ahead. Developing Countries: Biofuels Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he has made to the EU Foreign Affairs Council on the effect of biofuels on sustainable development in developing countries. [115915]

Mr O’Brien: The Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), has not made any direct representations to the EU Foreign Affairs Council on the impact of biofuels on sustainable development in developing countries. It was not on the agenda at the last EU Foreign Affairs Council. The UK must, in law, comply with the EU renewable energy directive (RED) which contains a target for the UK to source 15% of its overall energy, and 10% of energy used in transport, from renewable sources by 2020. The European Commission must monitor and report every two years on the impact of biofuel policy and increased demand for biofuel on social sustainability. Reports must address issues of land use rights, and must also state whether the production of raw material for biofuel for use in the EU complies with conventions of the International Labour Organisation. If necessary, the Commission must propose corrective action. Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad

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Public Expenditure John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development with reference to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 23 April 2012 at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, (1) what progress his Department has made on identifying a proportion of its resource budget that can be re-prioritised; what steps he has taken to identify such funds; and which parts of his Department’s resource budget he has identified as suitable for re-prioritisation; [115736] (2) what discussions he has had with his Department’s agencies and the non-departmental bodies for which he is responsible on the contribution they will make to identifying resource budget for possible re-prioritisation; [115737]

(3) when he will make public the areas of his Department’s resource budget he has identified for possible re-prioritisation; and when he plans to report to the International Development Select Committee on [115738] the outcome of this exercise. Mr Duncan: DFID is working with the Treasury to agree contingency plans as set out in the Improving Spending Control document. This can be found at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/ improving_spending_control.pdf

Plans and options for re-prioritisation will not be published. They should be ″live″ plans that are reassessed and updated on an ongoing basis. South Sudan Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether plans to build teacher training centres in South Sudan will still go ahead in the [115696] original timeframe. Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK Government is committed to enabling two million children (793,000 girls) to attend primary education and print and distribute 9.4 million textbooks in South Sudan by 2015. Current programmes include increasing access to primary and secondary education through the construction of 33 primary schools and four secondary schools in four states of South. Sudan. Over 1,100 teachers have been trained under the Basic Services Fund while 9,000 out-of-school children have been provided with quality primary education through the Global Poverty Action Fund. Achieving the planned results will be much more challenging given the consequences of the loss of South Sudan’s oil revenues. One consequence of the financial crisis in South Sudan is that we have deferred some infrastructure projects in favour of higher priority and humanitarian and essential service delivery activities. The County Education Centres (CEC) project is one example. It remains part of DFID’s longer term plans.

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on which occasions his parliamentary private secretary has travelled overseas [115348] with him or on his behalf since May 2010.

Academies: Complaints

Mr Andrew Mitchell: There have been no occasions when my parliamentary private secretary has travelled overseas with me or on my behalf since May 2010.

Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many complaints (a) his Department and (b) the Education Funding Agency have received

EDUCATION

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against free schools and academies with regard to provision for children with special educational needs [111388] and disabilities. Tim Loughton: The Department (a) in the past 12 months has not received any complaints against free schools and academies with regard to provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities. The Department manages the determination of disputes between academies and local authorities about the naming of an academy in a child’s statement of SEN. In the same period of time the Department has dealt with 16 cases which have been referred either by an academy or by a local authority. (b) Since 1 April 2012, the Education Funding Agency has received three pieces of correspondence that relate to complaints about academies with regard to provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities, but these are out of the scope of its published complaints procedures. Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many complaints against academies and free schools are being examined by (a) his Department [111391] and (b) the Education Funding Agency. Tim Loughton: At present the (a) Department does not hold this data centrally, and (b) the Education Funding Agency is currently processing 13 complaints about academies under its published procedures, and 10 complaints about the administration of Independent Appeals Panels for admission to academies. In the future the Department will be providing this information to the Education Select Committee in an annual report. Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many complaints against academies and free schools have been processed by (a) his Department and (b) the Education Funding Agency and its predecessor. [111392]

Tim Loughton: At present the (a) Department does not hold this data centrally, and (b) the Education Funding Agency, and its predecessor the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA), had systems in place to record overall volumes of correspondence about complaints but not numbers of cases it was investigating under its published procedures. An exception to this was complaints about administration of Independent Appeals Panels for admission to academies. YPLA considered 118 cases, up to March 2012, through a separate published process. In the future the Department will be providing this information to the Education Select Committee in an annual report. Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether (a) the Education Funding Agency or its predecessor and (b) other organisations and individuals have sought clarification from his Department on their role in handling complaints against free schools and [111410] academies. Tim Loughton: The (a) Education Funding Agency (EFA) has assumed the Young People’s Learning Agency’s responsibility for ensuring that academies comply with

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their funding agreements. Neither organisation sought clarification from the Department about its role in handling complaints about academies. No organisation, other than the Education Funding Agency or the Department for Education, has a role in handling complaints against free schools or academies. (b) The Special Educational Consortium has sought clarification from the Department on the role of the EFA in handling complaints against free schools and academies. Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance he has issued to the Education Funding Agency or its predecessor on its role in handling complaints against free schools and academies. [111411] Mr Gibb: Free schools and academies should have their own complaints procedures. The Education Funding Agency (EFA) will handle complaints made about free schools and academies where they fail to follow these procedures. If the EFA finds that a free school or academy did not deal with a complaint appropriately it will request that the complaint is reconsidered. The EFA will also look at complaints where an academy has failed to comply with a duty imposed on it under its funding agreement. If it is satisfied that an academy is in breach of the funding agreement, and that the breach cannot be addressed informally, then it can seek to enforce compliance through the courts. Education Funding Agency: Complaints Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many complaints he has received on the complaints procedures of the Education Funding [111387] Agency and its predecessor. Tim Loughton: Since 2010-11 the Department received one complaint about the complaints procedure of the Education Funding Agency and its predecessor. Education Maintenance Allowance Mr Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the effect of the withdrawal of the education maintenance allowance on the number of 16 to 19-year-olds entering further education in (a) Coventry, (b) Coventry North East constituency, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England. [115823]

Mr Gibb: Underlying trends in participation in further education can be influenced by a range of factors; including the effects of changes to the economy, both at a national and local level; the availability and types of courses on offer locally; and the support provided by local services. It is not possible to disaggregate the impact of changes made to financial support from these other factors in the short term. The Department has commissioned an independent evaluation of the 16 to19 Bursary Fund (which replaced education maintenance allowance from the beginning of the current academic year). The evaluation will consider the perceived and actual impact of the new scheme on

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participation and attainment for students in specific groups. It will investigate differences and impacts at a national and regional level (including for the midlands), but not at a constituency level.

(c) a sixth-form college; and what proportion of the total number of students studying at each such institution [116046] this represents.

Education: Warrington

Mr Gibb: Tables 1 and 2 shows estimates for the number and percentage of 16 to 18-year-olds who were entitled to free school meals (FSM) in year 11 who studied in (a) further education colleges, (b) a school sixth form and (c) a sixth-form college in Warrington local authority and Warrington North constituency in the 2010/11 academic year.

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many 16 to 18-year-olds in (a) Warrington and (b) Warrington North constituency who were entitled to a free school meal in year 11 are studying in (a) further education colleges, (b) a school sixth form and

Table 1: 16 to 18-year-olds who studied in school sixth form/sixth-form college/FE college in Warrington local authority in 2010/11 by FSM status at age 15 Number of students aged 16 to 18 FE colleges Eligible for FSM

Total

Total 390

Full-time education

210

50

125

5



5

10

215

50

135

400

Full-time education

1,120

1,335

2,060

4,510

Part-time education

65



25

90

1,185

1,335

2,085

4,605

Total

Unknown FSM status

Sixth-form college

Part-time education Total

Not eligible for FSM

School sixth form

Full-time education

55

25

60

140

Part-time education

20



5

25

Total

75

25

65

165

Full-time education

1,385

1,410

2,250

5,045

Part-time education

90



35

125

1,475

1,410

2,285

5,170

School sixth form

Sixth-form college

Total

Total

Percentage of students aged 16 to 18 FE colleges Eligible for FSM

Full-time education

15

4

6

8

Part-time education

4



17

8

15

4

6

8

Total

Not eligible for FSM

Unknown FSM status

Full-time education

81

94

92

89

Part-time education

72



74

73

Total

80

94

91

89

Full-time education

4

2

3

3

Part-time education

23



9

19

5

2

3

3

Total

Total

Full-time education

100

100

100

100

Part-time education

100



100

100

Total

100

100

100

100

Table 2: 16 to 18-year-olds who studied in school sixth form/sixth-form college/FE college in Warrington North constituency in 2010/11 by FSM status at age 15 Number of students aged 16 to 18 FE colleges Eligible for FSM

Sixth-form college

Total 240

Full-time education

210

25



Part-time education

5





5

215

25



240

Full-time education

1,120

320



1,440

Part-time education

65





65

Total

Not eligible for FSM

School sixth form

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Table 2: 16 to 18-year-olds who studied in school sixth form/sixth-form college/FE college in Warrington North constituency in 2010/11 by FSM status at age 15 Number of students aged 16 to 18

Total

Unknown FSM status

Total

FE colleges

School sixth form

Sixth-form college

Total

1,185

320



1,505

Full-time education

55

5



60

Part-time education

20





20

Total

75

5



85

Full-time education

1,385

355



1,740

Part-time education

90





90

1,475

355



1,830

School sixth form

Sixth-form college

Total 14

Total

Percentage of students aged 16 to 18 FE colleges Eligible for FSM

Full-time education

15

8



Part-time education

4





4

15

8



13

Total

Not eligible for FSM

Unknown FSM status

Full-time education

81

90



83

Part-time education

72





72

Total

80

90



82

Full-time education

4

2



4

Part-time education

23





23

5

2



5

Total

Total

Full-time education

100

100



100

Part-time education

100





100

Total

100

100



100

Notes: 1. Data are rounded to the nearest five students. The components of each table may not sum to the total due to independent rounding 2. FSM status is recorded for students in state schools at academic age 15. 3. School sixth forms includes special schools with a designated sixth form.

Free School Meals: Bassetlaw

Table 1: 16 to 18-year-olds who studied in sixth form/FE colleges in Bassetlaw in 2010/11 by FSM status at age 15

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many 16 to 18-year-olds who were entitled to free school meals in Year 11 are studying in a general further education or sixth form college in Bassetlaw. [114885] Mr Gibb: Table 1 shows estimates for the numbers of 16 to 18-year-olds who were entitled to free school meals (FSM) in year 11 who studied in a general further education or sixth form college in Bassetlaw local authority in the 2010/11 academic year. Table 1: 16 to 18-year-olds who studied in sixth form/FE colleges in Bassetlaw in 2010/11 by FSM status at age 15 Number

Part-time education Total

Full-time education

50

Part-time education

30

Total

80

Total Full-time education

965

Part-time education

265

Total

1,230

Notes: 1. Data are rounded to the nearest five students. The components of each table may not sum to the total due to independent rounding. 2. FSM status is recorded for students in state schools at academic age 15.

160 35 195

Not eligible for FSM at 15 Full-time education

Unknown FSM status at 15

Further Education: Wentworth

Eligible for FSM at 15 Full-time education

Number

755

Part-time education

205

Total

955

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many 16 to 18-year-olds who were entitled to a free meal in Year 11 are now studying in a general further education or sixth form college in Wentworth and Dearne [115765] constituency. Mr Gibb: Table 1 shows estimates for the numbers of 16 to 18-year-olds who were entitled to free school

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meals (FSM) in year 11 who studied in a general further education or sixth form college in the Wentworth and Dearne constituency in the 2010/11 academic year. Table 1: 16 to 18-year-olds who studied in sixth form/FE colleges in the Wentworth and Dearne constituency, in 2010/11 by FSM status at age 15 Number Eligible for FSM at 15 Full-time education

45

Total

280

Not eligible for FSM at 15 Full-time education

990

Part-time education

185

Total

GCSE Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of Key Stage 4 students took (a) only GCSEs, (b) GCSEs and other qualifications and (c) no qualifications in each of [114315] the last five years. Mr Gibb: The information requested is given in the following table: Number and percentage of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 who have attempted only GCSEs, GCSE and equivalent or no qualifications; year: 2006/07 to 2010/ 111, Coverage: England Pupils who have attempted GCSE qualifications only2,3

Pupils who have attempted GCSE and equivalent qualifications4

Pupils who have. achieved no qualifications5

No. of pupils

% of pupils

No. of pupils

% of pupils

No. of pupils

% of pupils

2006/07

322,830

49.3

646,451

98.7

8,695

1.3

2007/08

247,994

38.0

646,969

99.1

6,114

0.9

2008/09

175,190

27.6

629,470

99.2

5,026

0.8

2009/10

130,976

20.5

632,429

98.9

6,834

1.1

96,618

15.4

624,220

99.4

3,525

0.6

1,170

Unknown FSM status at 15 Full-time education

45

Part-time education

10

Total

50

Total Full-time education

1,270

Part-time education

235

Total

1,505

Notes: 1. Data are rounded to the nearest five students. The components of each table may not sum to the total due to independent rounding. 2. FSM status is recorded for students in state schools at academic age 15.

GCE A-level Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of pupils who (a) were and (b) were not receiving free school meals in their last year of compulsory secondary school (i) entered at least one A level, (ii) achieved three or more A-levels and (iii) achieved three or more grade As [116023] at A level. Mr Gibb: The information requested by free school meal eligibility (eligible for and claiming free school meals) is provided in the following table. Information on whether or not a pupil is receiving free schools meals is not available. Number and percentage of pupils1 entering at least one A level2 in 2010/11 and those achieving three or more A levels (at grades A*-E) and three or more A*-A grades, by free school meal eligibility3 Pupils eligible for free school meals

All other pupils

No.

No.

%

All pupils

%

No.

%

13,447

52.1 211,791

68.2 225,238

67.0

Of those pupils entering at least one A level, those achieving three or more A*-E grades

8,459

62.9 162,609

76.8 171,068

75.9

Of those pupils entering at least one A level, those achieving three or more A*-A grades

546

10.6

10.2

1

4.1

22,353

22,899

Pupils aged 16-18 at the start of the 2010/11 academic year attending maintained schools (including Academies and CTCs) and FE sector colleges. Includes GCE/Applied GCE A Levels and Double Awards. 3 Pupils eligible for free school meals at the end of year 11. Source: National Pupil Database (final data) 2

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240

Part-time education

Entering at least one level2

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2010/ 116 1

Includes attempts and achievements by these pupils in previous academic years. 2 Includes full GCSEs, short course GCSEs, double award and vocational GCSEs. 3 From 2010, also includes accredited iGCSEs. 4 Includes pupils entered for any qualification included in the Secondary School Performance Tables. 5 Only pupils who have achieved vocational qualifications are included in our data. For GCSEs, all pupils who are entered are included. 6 Figures-for 2010/11 are revised, all other figures are final.

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the potential effect on further education rates of his proposed changes to the GCSE system in (a) Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, (b) Tower Hamlets and (c) nationally. [115648]

Mr Gibb: We are considering options for the long term reform of Key Stage 4 examinations and will set out our proposals shortly. Those proposals will look to address the failure of the current GCSE system to support the further education prospects of those who currently achieve lower grades. The evidence for that failure is clear. The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) showed that 17% of young people who had not achieved a C grade at GCSE spent at least 12 months not in education, employment or training (NEET), in the 21 months after compulsory schooling ended1, compared to 2% of those with five to seven GCSEs at A*-C. In 2008, 16% of students obtained the lower GCSE grades (E, F and G) in English and 22% in maths by age 16; only 10% of them continued to study these GCSEs after the age of 16 and only 2% achieved a C grade or above by 19. In presenting our reforms, we will be looking to ensure that our qualifications will support every student with a good foundation for progression to further education. 1 September 2006 to May 2008: LSYPE tracked outcomes for a sample of young people who were in year 11 in the academic year 2005/06.

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HM Chief Inspector of Schools: Correspondence Mr Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what expectation he has of the time taken by the chief inspector of schools to reply to correspondence from hon. Members; and if he will make a statement. [115203] Mr Gibb [holding answer 4 July 2012]: As a nonministerial Government Department, Ofsted is responsible for its own correspondence handling arrangements. The Cabinet Office publishes an annual report detailing departmental performance in the handling of Members’ correspondence and the 2011 report showed that Ofsted replied to 90% of letters from parliamentarians within the target of 15 working days. Lost Working Days Mr Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average number of working days lost per person was in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies in each of the last three years. [115667]

Tim Loughton: The information for the Department is shown in the following table: Average working days lost per person Department for Education Executive agencies EFA STA TA NCSL June 2009 to May 2010 June 2010 to May 2011 June 2011 to May 2012

6.6









5.7









5.4

4.4

3

4.5

6

The Department has four executive agencies: the Standards and Testing Agency, the Teaching Agency, the National College, and the Education Funding Agency. The Standards and Testing Agency opened on 1 October 2011; the other three agencies began operating on 1 April 2012.

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The Department is not planning to make any changes to the Key Stage 1 assessment levels ahead of introducing a new National Curriculum. Pupil Exclusions Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress he has made on producing a nationwide league table of secondary school fixed period and permanent exclusions; and what progress he has made on those exclusions being shown by (a) ethnicity and (b) socio-economic background. [115186] Mr Gibb: The Government are considering the case for publishing school-level exclusion data. The Government are addressing the disproportionately high exclusion rates of pupils from certain ethnic groups and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds by creating the right incentives for schools to work with these pupils in order to prevent exclusion. This includes trialling a new system of exclusion in 11 local authorities that places greater responsibility on schools for the education that excluded pupils receive, as well as allowing schools to access funding for early intervention with pupils at risk of exclusion. The independent evaluation of this system will look in detail at the outcomes for pupils in groups that are especially vulnerable to exclusion, including pupils from ethnic groups with high rates of exclusion and those who are eligible for free school meals. The Government have also revised statutory exclusion guidance to clarify schools’ legal duty not to discriminate against a particular group of pupils through their use of exclusion and to highlight the importance of identifying and addressing any additional needs of pupils from groups who are vulnerable to exclusion. Schools are held to account for their use of exclusion through the inspection process. The rates and patterns of exclusion are part of the evidence that Ofsted inspectors take into account when coming to a judgment on a school’s behaviour and safety. This assessment specifically includes consideration of whether any particular groups of pupils have been disproportionately excluded. Pupil Exclusions: Greater London

Primary Education Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for what reason primary school reporting of pupils’ levels identifies sub-levels at Level 2 but not Level 1 or Level 3; and if he will make a statement. [115922]

Mr Gibb: The Department started to collect Key Stage 1 statutory teacher assessment results in 1992. In the first few years of this collection around 80% of pupils were assessed at level 2. Sub levels were introduced in 1997 to differentiate the attainment of this large group of pupils. Key Stage 1 tests and tasks inform the statutory teacher assessment judgment. Level 1 and Level 3 tests are designed to assess whole levels of attainment, but Level 2 tasks and tests do differentiate between the three sub-levels. This helps the teachers to assess their pupils accurately.

Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many exclusions there have been in (a) Greater London and (b) the London borough of [115187] Hackney in each of the last 10 years. Mr Gibb: Exclusions data for 2005/06 to 2009/10 are shown in the tables. To provide data prior to 2005/06 would incur disproportionate cost. The latest data on exclusions were published in the ‘Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England 2009/10’ Statistical First Release on 28 July 2011 at: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001016/ index.shtml

Data for 2010/11 will be published in the ‘Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England 2010/11’ Statistical First Release on 25 July 2012 at: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001080/ index.shtml

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Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools1,2,3: Number and percentage of permanent exclusions4 by type of school, Hackney local authority and London. 2005/06 to 2009/10 (estimates) London Maintained primary1

State-funded secondary1,2

Special3

Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools1,2,3

No. of permanent exclusions7

% of the school population6

No. of permanent exclusions7

% of the school population6

No. of permanent exclusions7

% of the school population6

No. of permanent exclusions7

% of the school population6

2005/06

150

0.02

1,440

0.33

30

0.29

1,620

0.15

2006/07

120

0.02

1,270

0.29

30

0.22

1,420

0.13

2007/08

160

0.03

1,260

0.29

20

0.17

1,440

0.13

2008/09

90

0.01

1,080

0.24

20

0.15

1,190

0.11

2009/10

80

0.01

990

0.22

10

0.12

1,080

0.10

Hackney Maintained primary1

State-funded secondary1,2

Special3 No. of permanent exclusions

Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools1,2,3

No. of permanent exclusions

% of the school population6

No. of permanent exclusions

% of the school population6

2005/06

7

0.04

25

0.34

0

30

0.13

2006/07

0

0.00

20

0.27

8



8



20

0.08

8



8

% of the school population6

0

No. of permanent exclusions7

% of the school population6

2007/08

8



8



26

0.34



30

0.13

2008/09

8



8



5

0.11

0

0

10

0.04

2009/10

8



8



23

0.27

0

0

30

0.10

1

Includes middle schools as deemed. 2 Includes city technology colleges and academes (including all-through academes). 3 Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. 4 Figures are as confirmed by local authorities as part of a data checking exercise. 5 Includes local authorities in inner and outer London. 6 The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount of) pupils (excluding dually registered pupils) in each year. 7 London numbers and totals for all school types have been rounded to the nearest10. There may be discrepancies between totals and the sum of constituent parts. 8 Data have been suppressed to protect confidentiality Source: School Census Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools1,2,3 number and percentage of fixed period exclusions by type of school, Hackney local authority and London. 2005/06 to 2009/10 London4 Maintained primary1 No. of fixed period exclusions5 2005/067

State-funded secondary1,2

Special3

% of the school population6

No. of fixed period exclusions5

% of the school population6

No. of fixed period exclusions5

Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools1,2,3 % of the school population6

No. of fixed period exclusions5

% of the school population6

n/a

n/a

40,210

9.16

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

2006/07

6,880

1.10

44,000

9.99

2,900

24.88

53,780

4.98

2007/08

6,410

1.02

39,590

8.95

2,560

22.31

48,560

4.49

2008/09

5,560

0.88

39,530

8.85

2,280

19.52

47,380

4.34

2009/10

5,210

0.81

37,500

8.31

2,140

18.09

44,850

4.05

Hackney Maintained primary1 No. of fixed period exclusions

State-funded secondary1,2

Special3

% of the school population6

No. of fixed period exclusions

% of the school population6

No. of fixed period exclusions

Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools1,2,3 % of the school population6

No. of fixed period exclusions5

% of the school population6

2005/067

n/a

n/a

887

11.97

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

2006/07

334

1.87

884

11.97

31

10.10

1,250

4.88

2007/08

356

2.01

853

11.08

50

17.61

1,260

4.91

2008/09

334

1.88

990

12.27

46

16.20

1,370

5.25

2009/10

386

2.14

1,383

16.17

42

14.84

1,810

6.73

n/a = not available—no exclusions collected for schools of this type. 1 Includes middle schools as deemed. 2 Includes city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies}, 3 Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. 4 Includes local authorities in inner and outer London. 5 London numbers and totals for all school types have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between totals and the sum of constituent parts. 6 The number of fixed period exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of pupils (excluding dually registered pupils) in each year. 7 For the 2005/06 school year, information on fixed period exclusions from secondary schools, CTCs and academies was collected for the first time via the School Census (the Termly Exclusions Survey has bean discontinued). From2006/07, the coverage was extended to include primary and special schools. Source: School Census

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Pupils: Disadvantaged Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils have attracted payment of the pupil premium in (a) Bromsgrove constituency and [115270] (b) Worcestershire since its inception. Sarah Teather: The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011. Pupil Premium funding is provided to schools which have on roll pupils known to be eligible for free school meals (the deprivation premium); children in care who have been continuously looked after for at least six months (the looked after child premium); and children whose parents are serving in the armed forces (the service child premium). In the 2011-12 financial year 1,170 pupils in Bromsgrove were eligible for either the deprivation premium or service child premium. It is not possible to identify, at constituency level, the number of pupils recorded as being in care or recorded in the alternative provision census. The number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium in 2012-13 has not yet been confirmed but the provisional estimate is that 1,820 pupils will be eligible for the deprivation premium or the service child premium in Bromsgrove. This estimate is based on January 2011 school census data and data for pupils eligible for FSM since 2006. It reflects the decision to extend eligibility for the deprivation premium to those eligible for FSM in the previous six years. In the 2011-12 financial year, 9,820 pupils were eligible for the pupil premium in Worcestershire. The provisional estimate on the same basis as that for Bromsgrove for the 2012-13 financial year is that 13,660 pupils in Worcestershire will be eligible for the pupil premium. These figures include pupils eligible for the deprivation premium, the service child premium and the looked after child premium. The actual number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium in the 2012-13 financial year will be confirmed shortly. Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which schools in Bromsgrove constituency have received funding from the pupil premium. [115271] Sarah Teather: The pupil premium was introduced in April 2011. Pupil premium funding is provided to schools which have on roll pupils known to be eligible for free school meals (the deprivation premium); children in care who have been continuously looked after for at least six months (the looked after child premium); and children whose parents are serving in the armed forces (the service child premium). In Bromsgrove the following 39 schools received the deprivation premium in the 2011-12 financial year. It is not possible to identify which schools received the service child premium or looked after child premium. Alvechurch C of E Middle School Aston Fields Middle School Beaconside Primary and Nursery School Belbroughton C of E Primary School and Nursery Beoley First School Blackwell First School

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Catshill First School Catshill Middle School Chadsgrove School Charford First School Clent Parochial Primary School Crown Meadow First School & Nursery Dodford First School Fairfield First School Finstall First School Hagley Catholic High School Hagley Primary School Haybridge High School and Sixth Form Hollywood, the Coppice Primary School Holywell Primary and Nursery School Hunters Hill Technology College Lickey End First School Lickey Hills Primary School Meadows First School Millfields First School North Bromsgrove High School Parkside Middle School Rigby Hall Day Special School Romsley St Kenelm’s C of E Primary School Sidemoor First School South Bromsgrove Community High School St Andrew’s C of E First School St John’s C of E Foundation Middle School St Peter’s Catholic First School Stoke Prior First School Tardebigge C of E First School Waseley Hills High School and Sixth Form Centre Woodrush Community High School Wythall, Meadow Green Primary

The number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium in 2012-13 has not yet been confirmed. School Milk Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the potential effects on staff in each educational setting of the Department of Health’s consultation on the Next Steps for Nursery Milk. [115735]

Sarah Teather [holding answer 6 July 2012]: The Department of Health has discussed the proposals set out in the Next Steps for Nursery Milk consultation with the Department. One of the purposes of the consultation is to explore three different options for reforming the operation of the scheme, looking at where it could be made more efficient and improving its value for money, while ensuring that all children under five attending a child care setting for more than two hours a day continue to be entitled to receive free milk. To explore these issues fully the Department of Health will, in parallel with the public consultation, be asking all child care providers currently registered with the scheme to complete a simple survey about how the scheme works for them now and how potential changes might affect them and the children they care for. The results of this survey will inform further detailed development of the options.

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of changes in pupil numbers. They will also reflect the impact of some local authorities redistributing mainstreamed grants in financial year 2011-12.

Schools: Finance Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many and what proportion of schools had (a) lower, (b) equal and (c) higher total revenue in the 2011-12 academic year than in the 2010-11 academic [107062] year; (2) for how many and what proportion of schools pupil premium allocation was (a) less than, (b) equal to and (c) more than the reduction in their core budgets.

The higher proportion of secondary schools seeing decreases in revenue funding compared to primary is in part a reflection of the lower level of FSM registration, and therefore pupil premium, in secondary schools compared to primary schools. Extending eligibility for the premium in 2012-13 to those eligible for FSM at any point in the last six years will address this differential.

[107061]

There is also a minimum funding guarantee in place which will ensure that no school will receive a reduction in its budget of more than 1.5% per pupil. The pupil premium is entirely in addition to this.

Mr Gibb: The following tables set out the changes in funding between 2010-11 and 2011-12 financial years. Most of the changes set out in these tables are a result Number and percentage of schools experiencing the following changes between financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12:

Number of primary schools

Percentage of primary schools

Number of secondary schools

Percentage of secondary schools

10,071

60.6

1,241

45.9

0

0.0

0

0.0

6,551

39.4

1,461

54.1

16,622

100.0

2,702

100.0

Number of primary schools

Percentage of primary schools

Number of secondary schools

Percentage of secondary schools

4,691

71.6

1,165

79.7

0

0.0

0

0.0

1,860

28.4

296

20.3

6,551

100.0

1,461

100.0

An increase in revenue funding before pupil premium added Equal revenue funding before pupil premium added A decrease in revenue funding before pupil premium added Total schools Of schools that saw a decrease in their revenue funding before the pupil premium is added, the number and percentage experiencing the following changes in 2011-12: A pupil premium allocation less than their revenue funding reduction A pupil premium allocation equal to their revenue funding reduction A pupil premium allocation more than their revenue funding reduction Total schools:

The data above is taken from section 251 budget returns for 2010-11 and 2011-12 (all budget share and pupil premium data), and the 2010-11 consistent financial reporting (CFR) data (2010-11 grants data). It compares 2010-11 budget share plus grants to 2011-12 budget share and pupil premium data. (Since grants were separate in 2010-11 but mainstreamed into school budgets in 201112, they must be included in 2010-11 to get a meaningful comparison. This analysis uses CFR lines 104, 105, 114 and 115 as an indication of schools’ grants income in 2010-11.) This analysis covers all maintained primary and secondary schools (including those middle deemed in both phases) which are present on all of the three data sources, and open throughout both FY 2010-11 and FY 2011-12. It includes sixth form and early years funding. Figures given are changes in absolute funding, unadjusted for pupil number changes.

Teachers: Pay

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of teachers in (a) academies and (b) maintained schools received an allowance in addition to their basic salary in each of the last three years; and what the average size of such [114132] allowances was.

Mr Gibb: The following table provides the number and percentage of regular qualified teachers in local authority maintained schools and Academies recorded as receiving an additional allowance and the average amount of those allowances. Comparable figures are not available for earlier years.

Qualified regular1 teachers in local authority maintained schools and academies receiving additional allowances2; November 2010 and 2011, England Local authority maintained schools

November 2010

Academies

Teachers

Percentage

Allowance

Teachers

Percentage

Allowance

148,730

33

4,340

7,350

35

5,160

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Qualified regular1 teachers in local authority maintained schools and academies receiving additional allowances2; November 2010 and 2011, England Local authority maintained schools Academies Teachers Percentage Allowance Teachers Percentage Allowance November 2011 127,360 32 4,060 33,810 42 5,060 1 Teachers with a contract of 28 days or more. 2 Includes teachers receiving teaching and learning responsibility payments, special educational needs allowances, recruitment and retention incentives and benefits or any other one-off allowances. GTC fee allowances are excluded. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Source : School Workforce Census

Further information about the proportion of teachers receiving an allowance by type of school and allowance is available in table 7a of the School Workforce in England Statistical First Release, November 2011 which is available at the following link: http://www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/ allstatistics/a00205723/school-workforce-in-englandprovisional-nov-2011

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS Business: Greater London Mr Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford, (b) the London borough of Bexley and (c) Greater London are owned solely by [115877] women. Mr Prisk: There is no information available on the number of businesses owned solely by women. However, we can estimate the number of majority women-led businesses and the number of self-employed women. The BIS Small Business Survey asks about the gender composition of the management team of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). From this we estimate there were 115,000 majority women-led SMEs in London at the start of 2011. No comparable information is available for either Bexleyheath and Crayford or the London borough of Bexley due to the small sample size of the survey. The estimated number of self-employed women in the London borough of Bexley and the Greater London region is provided in the following table. Table 1: Number of self-employed women aged 16 to 64 years Estimated number of self-employed Area women aged 16 to 64 years 1 — Bexleyheath and Crayford London borough of Bexley 3,000 Greater London 175,500 1 Not available, due to small sample size. Source: Annual Population Survey, Office for National Statistics (October 2010 to September 2011).

Cooperatives: Greater London Mr Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many employee-owned companies are registered in (a) the London borough of [115878] Bexley and (b) Greater London.

Mr Prisk: While the Office for National Statistics holds information on the number of companies in these areas (on the Inter-departmental Business Register), they do not have the information to determine how many of the shareholders of these companies are employees. Credit Cards George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with lenders on the level of interest charged on credit cards. [114113]

Norman Lamb: None recently. Consumer credit regulation is designed to support people’s access to credit, ensure fair treatment for consumers from lenders and provide safeguards to protect vulnerable people, particularly those at risk of falling into financial difficulty. As set out in our November 2011 response to the consumer credit and personal insolvency review, the Government see no case for intervening on interest rates on credit and store cards—the evidence shows that to do so would do more harm than good, potentially cutting off some consumers from an important source of mainstream credit. Other measures, such as the five rights for credit and store card users, which took effect at the end of 2010, have already delivered tangible benefits to consumers. These rights include: Right to repay: consumers’ repayments will always be put against the highest rate debt first. Right to reject: consumers will be given more time to reject increases in their interest rate or their credit limit. Right to information: consumers at risk of financial difficulties will be given guidance on the consequences of paying back too little; and all consumers will be given clear information on increases in their interest rate or their credit limit including the right to reject.

In addition, consumers who are at risk of financial difficulties are protected through a ban on increases in their credit limit as well as the ban on increases in their interest rate, and card companies have been working with debt advice agencies to agree new ways they will provide targeted support to consumers at risk to help improve their situation before they are in too deep. English Language: Education Mr Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) which institutions (a) he and (b) his officials met in each quarter of the last 12 months to discuss a strategy on the future shape and content for English for speakers of other languages qualifications in the UK; and on what dates such [116117] meetings took place;

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(2) with which English for speakers of other languages qualifications providers (a) he and (b) his officials met in the last (i) three and (ii) six months to discuss a strategy on the future shape and content for [116118] ESOL qualifications in the UK. Mr Hayes: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), and I meet regularly with representatives from the further education sector to discuss a wide range of issues, including those relating to English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills met with the chair and CEO of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) in mid-June 2012. The subject of ESOL was briefly touched upon. Officials in BIS are currently working closely with Ofqual and the Skills Funding Agency who are ensuring that the views of key stakeholders such as ESOL awarding organisations, further education colleges and training organisations are being gathered and considered in developing a strategy on the future shape and content for ESOL qualifications in the UK for 2013/14 and beyond. Higher Education: Scholarships Mr Gyimah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students will participate in the National Scholarship Programme in [115907] 2012-13. Mr Willetts: The National Scholarship Programme is designed to help people of all ages whose family income is no greater than £25,000 per annum. Higher education institutions set their own criteria for determining entitlement to an award from among this broad group of people. Institutions will offer a range of support from a menu which includes tuition fee waivers or discounts, subsidised accommodation and other institutional support, and a cash bursary of up to £1,000. All institutions that intend to charge more than the basic rate for tuition from 2012 are required to participate in the programme and contribute match funding which they will use either to increase the number of awards available, or the value of an award. Universities are responsible for advertising their criteria and making the awards. In the first year, the Government will contribute £50 million towards the NSP with the minimum level for an award set at £3,000 for each eligible full-time student. That would mean around 17,000 students would benefit. Of course the actual number is likely to be larger than this when institutions’ match funding is taken into account as well as awards made to students studying part-time. By 2014/15 when the programme is fully operational, the Government’s contribution to the National Scholarship Programme will be three times higher and, with match funding, up to 100,000 students a year could be supported. We have said that we intend to listen carefully to feedback we receive and look at the data that can tell us how effective the programme is, so that we can learn lessons and make changes as necessary. We have reconvened the expert group that helped us with the initial design to advise us on how best to proceed.

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Mr Gyimah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much will be spent on (a) bursaries, (b) fee waivers, (c) discounted student accommodation, (d) free foundation years and (e) other measures under the National Scholarship Programme in 2012-13. [115908] Mr Willetts: The National Scholarship Programme (NSP) is designed to help people of all ages whose family income is no greater than £25,000 per annum. Higher education institutions set their own criteria, based on their own priorities, for determining entitlement to an award from among this broad group of people. Institutions will offer a range of support from a menu which includes tuition fee waivers or discounts, subsidised accommodation and other institutional support, and a cash bursary of up to £1,000. The minimum level for an award is set at £3,000 for each eligible full-time student. Part-time students studying to a minimum intensity of 25% receive a pro-rata award. Universities and colleges can use their match funding to either increase the number of awards available, or the value of an award. Higher education institutions and further education colleges with access agreements provided the Office for Fair Access (OFA) with estimates of how much they expect to spend in each of these areas under the NSP. The breakdown was published by the OFA in December 2011 and is given in the following table. No data is available yet for institutions without access agreements who have taken up the option of participating in the programme. Estimated expenditure under National Scholarship Programme in 2012-13 £ million Fee waivers 52.9 Subsidised accommodation 19.6 Bursaries and scholarships 17.7 Free foundation years 1.0 7.7 NSP choice/institutional funds not yet allocated1 Total 99.0 1 Some institutions are offering a choice of financial support to students under the National Scholarship Programme. In addition, a small number are still in the process of finalising their financial support arrangements under the NSP.

Mr Gyimah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much will be distributed to students to each higher education institution under the National Scholarship Programme in 2012-13. [115909] Mr Willetts: In 2012-13, the Government will contribute £50 million towards the National Scholarship Programme with the minimum level for an award set at £3,000 for each eligible full-time student. Part-time students studying to a minimum intensity of 25% receive a pro-rata award. The Higher Education Funding Council for England publishes the allocation for each institution from the Government’s contribution to the National Scholarship Programme. This information can be found at: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/whatwedo/wp/ currentworktowidenparticipation/ nationalscholarshipprogramme/

In addition, universities and colleges will match fund the Government’s contribution either to increase the number of awards available, or the value of an award.

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Mr Gyimah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the average amount paid to students from the National Scholarship Programme in 2012-13. [115910] Mr Willetts: The Government has made no estimate of the average value of an award. The National Scholarship Programme (NSP) is designed to benefit students whose family income is no greater than £25,000 per annum. Higher education institutions set their own criteria for determining entitlement to an award from among this broad group of people. In the first year, the Government will contribute £50 million towards the NSP with the minimum level for an award set at £3,000 for each eligible full-time student. Part-time students studying to a minimum intensity of 25% receive a pro-rata award. Universities and colleges can use their match funding to either increase the number of awards available, or the value of an award. The Government has no information on the number of awards likely to be made by each participating institution. The Higher Education Funding Council for England informs us that this information is likely to be available early next year. Mr Gyimah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students at each higher education institution will participate in the National Scholarship Programme in 2012-13. [115911] Mr Willetts: The Government has no information on the likely number of students who will receive an award from the National Scholarship Programme (NSP) at each participating institution. The Higher Education Funding Council for England informs us that this information is likely to be available early next year. The NSP will benefit eligible students from low income families entering higher education from autumn 2012. It is for higher education institutions to set their own criteria, according to their own priorities, for determining entitlement to an award. Each eligible full-time student who meets the institution’s criteria will receive a minimum level of award set at £3,000. Eligible part-time students, studying to a minimum intensity of 25%, receive a pro-rata award. In the first year, the Government will contribute £50 million towards the NSP. That would mean around 17,000 full-time students would benefit. By 2014/15 when the programme is fully operational, the Government’s contribution to the NSP will be three times higher and, with match funding, up to 100,000 students a year could be supported. Regional Development Agencies: Pay Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) retention payments and (b) bonuses were given to staff at each regional development agency in each of the last three years; and [116089] what the cost was in each case. Mr Prisk: The number of retention payments and total cost at each regional development agency in the last three years to 30 June 2012 is shown in the following table:

Agency

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Number of retention payments

Total value of retention payments (£000)

Advantage West Midlands

18

726

East of England Development Agency

16

632

East Midlands Development Agency

15

614

North West Regional Development Agency

14

733

One North East

15

721

South East Regional Development Agency

9

343

South West Regional Development Agency

20

886

Yorkshire Forward

17

656

0

0

London Development Agency

The bonuses paid to senior directors in 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12 are set out in the agencies’ annual reports and accounts for those years. Following closure of the agencies BIS has received records from each but it would be disproportionately expensive to establish the number of bonuses, if any, paid to junior staff in that period. At the East of England Development Agency, two separate ex gratia payments of £500 each were paid to almost all members of staff (barring Executive Directors) during 2011/12. These payments totalled £51,000; the individual payments were made on 31 August and 30 December 2011 and were paid to a total of 66 staff, although not all staff received both payments. These payments were outside the agency’s pay remit and not approved by BIS. They were deemed “irregular”expenditure and the agency’s 2011/12 accounts have received a qualified audit opinion from the Comptroller and Auditor General as a result.

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on what date remuneration payments to each board member of each regional development agency (RDA) will cease; and how much will be paid to RDA board members in each month in 2012. [116090]

Mr Prisk: Remuneration payments to RDA board members ceased on the abolition of the RDAs and the end of June 2012. The remuneration reports in the recently published RDA accounts for the financial year 2011/12, available at: http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/economic-development/ regional-support/rda-reports-accounts

show the serving board members and their remuneration. The board members serving from January 2012 received 1/12th of their annual remuneration shown in these accounts in each of the months from January to June 2012. In addition, the chairs of SEEDA and EEDA were due contractual compensation of £15,000 to 20,000 and £25,000 to 30,000 respectively in June 2012. These figures are subject to audit and will be confirmed in RDA accounts for the period to 30 June 2012 which are expected to be laid before Parliament later this year.

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Teachers: Languages Mr Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effects on the recruitment and retention of English teachers resulting from the time taken to bring forward a strategy on the future design and content of English for speakers of other languages qualifications. [115526]

Mr Hayes: English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Adult Basic Skills Certificates at Entry, Level 1 and Level 2 remain in place for 2012/13. This Department is currently considering the future shape and content for ESOL qualifications for 2013/14 and beyond. This includes the intention to consult with key stakeholders including associations who represent ESOL teachers.

WORK AND PENSIONS Atos Healthcare Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the Atos Healthcare average clearance (a) target and (b) performance against that target in (i) 2008, (ii) 2009, (iii) 2010, (iv) 2011 and (v) 2012 to date. [116052] Chris Grayling: The contracted service level with Atos Healthcare for ESA claims is to clear medical assessments within an actual average clearance target (AACT) of 35 working days. The Atos Healthcare average clearance against the target for each contractual year is as follows: Number of days September 2008 to August 2009 September 2009 to August 2010 September 2010 to August 2011 September 2011 to May 2012 (latest period figures are available)

43.2 33.1 34.6 61.3

Following the Department’s acceptance of Professor Harrington’s recommendations, the introduction of the Personal Summary Statement (PSS) had a major affect on the AACT for WCA clearance. In the past year, there has been considerable financial investment in training health care professionals to deliver the Harrington recommendations. However, the intense training period for the introduction of the PSS had an impact upon the head of work. Atos Healthcare’s ability to deliver a service within the AACT was also impacted by the service volumes for this period which were significantly above departmental forecasts; in addition Atos had recruitment demands/ challenges. These issues collectively resulted in an increase in the AACT. DWP and Atos Healthcare are now working very closely to improve capacity and productivity through the DWP Executive Management Board. Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brighton Pavilion of 2 July 2012, Official Report, column 426W, on Atos, what financial remedies are available; if he will publish a note of each occasion on

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which these remedies have been sought; and what the value was of the money received by his Department from Atos through such financial remedies in (i) 2009, (ii) 2010, (iii) 2011 and (iv) 2012 to date. [116053] Chris Grayling: There are a range of financial remedies available within the contract to address service level failure, however this is a matter between the Department of Work and Pensions and its supplier Atos Healthcare. Financial remedies may or may not be imposed depending on the reason for failure. This is however commercial in confidence between the DWP and its supplier as is the total cost of the financial remedies levied. Disposable Income Mr Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the level of disposable household income of (a) pensioners and (b) families with children in (i) Coventry, (ii) Coventry north-east constituency, (iii) the west midlands and (iv) [115821] England in each of the last five years. Steve Webb: Estimates on disposable income are published in the Households Below Average Income series. The latest year of data which are available is for 2010-11. The smallest geographical breakdown available is at Government office region level. Therefore, information is not available for (i) the city of Coventry or (ii) Coventry North East constituency, but is available for (iii) the west midlands Government office region and (iv) England. Three-year averages are used to report regional statistics as single-year estimates are subject to volatility. Table 1 shows the median equivalised household income of pensioners in the west midlands and England in 2010-11. Table 2 shows the median equivalised household income of families with children in the west midlands and England for the same year. Results both Before Housing Costs and After Housing Costs have been provided. Measures for pensioners are generally on an After Housing Costs basis. This is because pensioners are far more likely to own their homes outright and so receive value from housing, without having to pay for rent or mortgage payments out of their current income. Measures for children are generally on a Before Housing Costs basis. The targets set out in the Child Poverty Act, the broader set of income measures in the Child Poverty Strategy and international comparisons are calculated this way. When considering the living standards of children, measures After Housing Costs can underestimate the true standard of living as a family may make a choice to spend more on rent or a mortgage to attain a higher standard of accommodation. Table 1: Median equivalised household income of pensioners in the west midlands and England, Before and After Housing Costs in 2010-11 prices £ per week West midlands Three year period 2006-07 to 2008-09

England

BHC

AHC

BHC AHC

362

353

362

351

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Table 1: Median equivalised household income of pensioners in the west midlands and England, Before and After Housing Costs in 2010-11 prices £ per week West midlands Three year period

England

BHC

AHC

BHC AHC

2007-08 to 2009-10

368

360

373

359

2008-09 to 2010-11

367

353

378

359

Table 2: Median equivalised household income of families with children in the west midlands and England, Before and After Housing Costs in 2010-11 prices £ per week West midlands Three year period

England

BHC

AHC

BHC

AHC

2006-07 to 2008-09

364

308

399

329

2007-08 to 2009-10

364

305

401

329

2008-09 to 2010-11

360

300

399

325

Notes: 1. These statistics are based on the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series, sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). This uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified OECD equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 2. Net disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. This includes earnings from employment and self-employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. Income tax payments, national insurance contributions, council tax/ domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes. 3. Figures have been presented on a Before Housing Cost and an After Housing Cost basis. For Before Housing Costs, housing costs (such as rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, buildings insurance payments and ground rent and service charges) are not deducted from income, while for After Housing Costs they are. 4. Incomes are presented in 2010-11 prices and have been rounded to the nearest pound. 5. We use Households Below Average Income data to provide estimates of average incomes. However, the sample size of this survey is not sufficient to provide estimates for small areas such as those requested. 6. Analysis has been carried out based on equivalised household incomes. This takes an adult couple with no children as the reference point. For example, the process of equivalisation would adjust the income of a single pensioner upwards, so that we can use income to directly compare their standard of living with a working-age couple without children. 7. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 8. The reference period for HBAI figures is the financial year.

Employment and Support Allowance Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 21 March 2012, Official Report, column 706W, on Atos Healthcare, on how many occasions a Jobcentre Plus decision-maker did not follow the advice of an Atos-approved healthcare professional when making a decision on the eligibility for employment and support allowance in each month since May 2010; and what proportion of the total number of decisions made in each month these figures [115255] represent. Chris Grayling: The information provided in the answer of 21 March 2012 is consistent with the January 2012 Official Statistics release. Table 2a in this publication provides the total number of initial assessments and their final outcomes by month. By comparing the totals for each month with those figures originally provided in the previous answer, it is possible to calculate the proportion of all outcomes where the Atos recommendation differs from the Decision Maker’s decision.

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The relevant figures can be found in Table 2a in the spreadsheet at the following link: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/esa_wca/ esa_wca_24012012_tables.xls

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 19 March 2012, Official Report, column 492W, on employment and support allowance (ESA), how many people ceased receiving ESA as a result of the Welfare [115283] Reform Act 2012. Chris Grayling: The information requested is not available. Please note that the most recent national statistics for the ESA/IB client group is for November 2011 and the latest working-age ESA/IB early estimate is for April 2012. The latest information on early estimates can be found at the following link: http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=early_ests

Employment Schemes Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 599W, on the Work programme, if he will place in the Library the most recent indicative volumes for claimants entering the Work programme in each of the next four years; what the reasons are for any changes since he last published the forecasts; and if he will make a statement. [115969] Chris Grayling: The Work programme attachment profiles were placed in the House of Commons Library on 5 July 2012—Dep. 2012-1134. The Department has committed to reviewing profiles on a six-monthly basis in response to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasting cycle. Changes to the OBR forecasts have a direct knock-on impact on the forecasts of benefit on-flows, off-flows and durations. Work programme volumes can therefore be subject to both upward and downward revision over time depending on the prevailing economic forecasts. Employment Schemes: Pay Mr Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the amount of money companies (a) nationally and (b) in Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill constituency have saved as a result of not paying the minimum wage to people participating in the Work Programme. [115492] Chris Grayling: Work experience undertaken as part of the Work Programme does not fulfil a role which would otherwise be advertised as a job vacancy. No estimate of savings has therefore been made and would clearly be inappropriate given the aims of work experience, which is designed to help participants by enhancing their employment prospects and developing skills and disciplines associated with a normal working environment. Employment Schemes: Scotland Mr Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many constituents from Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill have participated in [115493] the Work Programme since its inception.

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Chris Grayling: Statistics on how many constituents from Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill have participated in the Work Programme since its inception are available on the Department’s website at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=tabtool

Guidance for users is available at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf

Housing Benefit: Scotland Mr Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people aged under 26 years were in receipt of housing benefit in Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill constituency in each year from [114886] 2007 to 2011. Steve Webb: Information is not readily available for housing benefit recipients aged under 25 at parliamentary constituency level, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. Housing Benefit: Young People Mr Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the total annual expenditure on housing benefit for people under the age of 25 in each of the next four financial years. [115265] Steve Webb: The information is not available. Jobseeker’s Allowance: Graduates Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people who graduated in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011 who are currently claiming jobseekers’ [115335] allowance. Chris Grayling: The information requested is not available. Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list any occasions since May 2010 on which his Parliamentary Private Secretary has travelled overseas with him or on his behalf. [115354] Chris Grayling: There has been no such occasion on which his Parliamentary Private Secretary has travelled overseas with him or on his behalf. Pensioners: Poverty Mr Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the number of pensioners living in poverty in (a) Coventry, (b) Coventry North East constituency, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years; and what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle pensioner poverty. [115970]

Steve Webb: Estimates of pensioner poverty are published in the Households Below Average Income series. The most commonly used measure of pensioner poverty relates to those people with income below 60% of contemporary median income, after housing costs. This is often referred to as relative poverty.

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The smallest geographical breakdown available for the overall numbers in poverty is at Government office region level. Therefore, information is not available for (a) the city of Coventry or (b) Coventry North East constituency, but is available for (c) the West Midlands Government Office Region and (d) England. Three-year averages are used to report regional statistics as single-year estimates are subject to volatility. The latest year of data which are available is 2010-11. The following table shows the number of pensioners living in households in the west midlands and England with income below 60% of contemporary median income, after housing costs, for three-year periods spanning 2006-07 to 2010-11, which is the latest year for which data are available. Number of pensioners in the west midlands and England in relative low income, after housing costs Number of pensioners living with income below 60% of contemporary median, Three year period after housing costs (million) West midlands England 2006-07 to 2008-09 0.2 1.7 2007-08 to 2009-10 0.2 1.6 2008-09 to 2010-11 0.2 1.5 Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). This uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified OECD equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 2. Longer time series and before housing costs data on pensioners is available within chapter 6 of the Households Below Average Income report at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=hbai_arc 3. Net disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. This includes earnings from employment and self-employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. Income tax, payments, national insurance contributions, council tax/domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes. 4. Figures have been presented on an after housing cost basis. For after housing costs, housing costs are deducted from income. 5. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 6. The reference period for HBAI figures is the financial year. 7. Numbers of pensioners have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand pensioners.

The Government wants all pensioners to have a decent and secure income in retirement. We have restored the earnings link for the basic state pension and given a triple guarantee that the basic state pension will increase by the highest of the growth in average earnings, price increases (as measured by the consumer prices index) or 2.5%. As a result, we estimate that an average person retiring in 2012-13 will receive £15,000 more in basic state pension income over their retirement than under the old prices link. We are protecting support for older people such as: winter fuel payments; free bus passes; free television licences for those aged 75 and over; free eye tests; and free NHS prescription charges.

We have permanently increased the cold weather payment from £8.50 to £25.

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The Government is also introducing automatic enrolment into workplace pensions. Starting from 2012 all employers beginning with the largest will be required to enrol all workers eligible for automatic enrolment into a qualifying workplace pension scheme and make a minimum contribution. This is a central element of our strategy to reinvigorate private pension saving and aims to harness inertia and bring about a change in peoples’ behaviour in saving for retirement. We expect this to lead to between five million and eight million people newly saving or saving more in all forms of workplace pension schemes. Along with our proposals for reform to the state pension, this is a key element in our strategy to prevent pensioner poverty from arising for future generations. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced in his Budget, on 21 March 2012, that the Government will reform the state pensions system to introduce a single tier pension for future pensioners. These reforms will usher in a simpler and fairer system that reduces the need for means testing and rewards saving. The Government will publish further information about the proposed reforms in a White Paper later in the year. Pensions: Females Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to promote the importance of adequate pensions saving to women; [115425] and if he will make a statement. Steve Webb: Automatic enrolment will help millions of workers save for their retirement. We estimate 3-4 million women will be eligible, with 2-3 million newly saving or saving more. To support automatic enrolment, we are running an awareness campaign with supporting information that emphasises the importance of saving for retirement and outlines the benefits of saving in a workplace pension. This targets women via the use of appropriate media channels and by working in partnership with trusted brands. We have also confirmed that we will introduce a simpler, single tier pension for future pensioners set above the basic level of the means test to better support saving for retirement. A flat-rate single tier pension will deliver improved state pensions for groups such as women and the self employed. Further detail will be provided in a White Paper later this year. Public Expenditure John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 23 April 2012 at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, what progress his Department has made on identifying a proportion of its resource budget that can be re-prioritised; what steps he has taken to identify such funds; and which parts of his Department’s resource budget he has identified as suitable for [115129] re-prioritisation. Chris Grayling: The Department is working with the Treasury to agree contingency plans as set out in “Improving spending control”, available at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/ improving_spending_control.pdf

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Plans and options for reprioritisation will not be published. They should be “live” plans that are reassessed and updated on an ongoing basis. John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 23 April 2012 at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, what discussions he has had with his Department’s agencies and the nondepartmental bodies for which he is responsible on the contribution they will make to identifying resource [115130] budget for possible re-prioritisation. Chris Grayling: The Department is working with the Treasury to agree contingency plans as set out in “Improving spending control”, available at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/ improving_spending_control.pdf

Plans and options for reprioritisation will not be published. They should be “live” plans that are reassessed and updated on an ongoing basis. John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 23 April 2012 at the Institute for Fiscal Studies; when he will make public the areas of his Department’s resource budget he has identified for possible re-prioritisation; and when he plans to report to the Work and Pension Select Committee on the [115150] outcome of this exercise. Chris Grayling: The Department is working with the Treasury to agree contingency plans as set out in “Improving Spending Control”, http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/ improving_spending_control_pdf

Scotland Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of his Department’s total spending in Scotland in the latest [115413] period for which figures are available. Chris Grayling: The total amount spent by the Department in Scotland on benefits in 2010-11 was £13.1 billion. This compares to £139.8 billion in the rest of Great Britain and £152.9 billion in Great Britain overall. This equates to £2,620 per person in Scotland. This compares to £2,521 in the rest of Great Britain and £2,529 in Great Britain overall. Spending per head (capita) in Scotland is 3.9% above spending per head for the rest of Great Britain. Social Security Benefits: Gwent Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Islwyn constituency will be eligible for fewer benefits after the introduction [115706] of the benefit cap in April 2013. Chris Grayling: The information is not available for Islwyn constituency.

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Social Security Benefits: Scotland Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the total number of people in receipt of each benefit in [115412] Scotland. Chris Grayling: Statistics on the total number of people in receipt of each benefit in Scotland are available on the Department’s website at http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=tabtool

Guidance for users is available at http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf

Staff: Scotland Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people employed by his Department in [115410] Scotland. Chris Grayling: On 31 March 2012, the Department for Work and Pensions employed 10,344 people (9,294 full-time equivalent staff) in Scotland. Universal Credit Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he plans to take to ensure that one-off bonus and overtime payments are not assumed in the calculation of universal credit to be regular salary payments for the following months until [115968] the end of the tax year. Chris Grayling: Unlike the current system, we want to avoid complicated rules regarding averaging and attribution wherever possible. For these reasons, earnings will usually be based on the actual amounts received in an assessment period. Earnings taken into account will be net of tax and national insurance when determining the level of universal credit award. We will also deduct 100% of contributions to occupational and personal pensions. Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2012, Official Report, columns 473-44W, on universal credit, how much of his 2013-14 budget he plans to spend on (a) additional benefit spending, (b) additional benefit administration, (c) IT development and implementation, (d) communications, (e) staff training, (f) programme management, (g) transitional protection, (h) additional child care support, (i) implementation [116048] planning and (j) other items. Chris Grayling: Based on current plans the universal credit programme is forecasting potential expenditure of up to £0.6 billion in 2013-14. IT, development and implementation costs have been forecast as £401 million. As detailed policy design is still in development it is not possible to provide a further breakdown of this estimate at this stage. Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 13 June

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2012, Official Report, columns 473-74W, on universal credit, how much of his 2014-15 budget he plans to spend on (a) additional benefit spending, (b) additional benefit administration, (c) IT development and implementation, (d) communications, (e) staff training, (f) programme management, (g) transitional protection, (h) additional childcare support, (i) implementation planning and (j) other items. [116049] Chris Grayling: Based on current plans the universal credit programme is forecasting potential expenditure of up to £1.0 billion in 2014-15. IT, developmental and implementation costs have been forecast as £317 million. As detailed policy design is still in development it is not possible to provide a further breakdown of this estimate at this stage. Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2012, Official Report, columns 473-74W, on universal credit, how much of his 2012-13 budget he plans to spend on (a) IT development and implementation, (b) communications, (c) staff training, (d) programme management, (e) implementation planning and (f) [116050] other items. Chris Grayling: The following table provides forecast expenditure for the full year 2012-13, based on current plans/estimates. These forecasts are subject to monthly review and will be updated as commercial arrangements are finalised. Full year forecast up to end March 2013 Expenditure type

£ million

IT Development Costs 242.34 Staff 70.11 Travel 1.51 Accommodation and Estates 0.03 Office Services and expenses 0.03 Consultancy and Professional 2.76 services General Office expenses 18.38 IS/IT Application Development 51.58 Resource Postage and Courier 0.02 Non cash depreciation 3.69 Total 390.44 Notes: 1. IT expenditure is predominantly related to the ongoing design/ build and test of the UC core solution and dependant system changes. 2. Staff costs reflect both staff directly and indirectly engaged in preparing for the implementation and delivery of universal credit ahead of the pathfinder from April 2013.

Work Capability Assessment Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 14 May 2012, Official Report, column 227W, on work capability assessment independent review, if he will publish correspondence between his Department and Professor Malcolm Harrington in relation to his stepping down from the role of independent reviewer of the work [115091] capability assessment.

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Chris Grayling: Professor Harrington was commissioned to undertake a third and final review of the Work Capability Assessment in November 2011. This was with the expectation that he would publish his final report before the end of 2012. There is no correspondence between the Department and Professor Harrington regarding him “stepping down from the role of independent reviewer of the work capability assessment.” The Government’s response to Professor Harrington’s second independent review http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/wca-review-2011-response.pdf

made it clear that 2012 would be his third and final review. We are extremely grateful to Professor Harrington for the work he has done to date, and look forward to receiving his third review. Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2012, Official Report, column 226W, on work capability assessment, to which (a) benefit delivery centres and (b) Atos Healthcare centres Professor Malcolm Harrington made unannounced visits in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011. [115106]

Chris Grayling: During 2010-11, Professor Malcolm Harrington made two unannounced visits to benefit centres at Gloucester and Merthyr Tydfil as outlined in his Second Independent Review (pp. 24-25). During 2010, Professor Harrington made unannounced visits to Atos Medical Assessment Centres (MACs) in Balham and Bristol. I can confirm that he made no unannounced visits to Atos MACs during 2011. Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 14 May 2012, Official Report, column 227W, on work capability assessment, when a successor to Professor Malcolm Harrington will be appointed; what the selection criteria will be for appointing a replacement to Professor Harrington; whether the replacement of Professor Harrington will be appointed by the Secretary of State; whether the post being vacated by Professor Harrington will be publicly advertised; and what the job specification will be for the role being [115107] vacated by Professor Harrington. Chris Grayling: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is aiming to appoint a successor to Professor Malcolm Harrington to undertake the fourth independent review of the Work Capability Assessment before the fourth review commences in 2013. The Department is currently considering its options for the recruitment of Professor Harrington’s successor and their terms of reference. Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 20 February 2012, Official Report, columns 654-55W, on employment and support allowance: work capability assessment, what the average time taken for an employment and support allowance applicant was between completing the ESA 50 questionnaire and the work capability [115256] assessment in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012.

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Chris Grayling: As reported in the previous answer of 20 February 2012, Official Report, columns 654-55W, the changes introduced on the recommendation of Professor Harrington, although improving the overall process, have had the impact of increasing the time taken to complete face to face medical assessments. Considerable time and effort has gone into training Atos Healthcare professionals to deliver the changes introduced. There are continuing large volumes of cases going through the medical assessment journey. DWP and Atos Healthcare are working very closely to reduce the length of the WCA process by improving capacity and productivity. Average time for WCA customer journey (from time of receipt of ESA 50 to clearance by Atos Healthcare): 2011 (July to December only—following the reduction from 11 to seven Government offices by region)—53.2 working days.

Information for 2011 up to and including June was previously provided in the answer of 20 February 2012, Official Report, columns 654-55W. 2012 (January to May inclusive)—64.4 working days.

The data supplied are derived from unpublished management information which was collated for internal departmental use only. The data supplied have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics standard and are subject to change. They should therefore be treated with caution. The average time has been calculated using the Atos Healthcare management information relating to the average time to undertake a work capability assessment as reported against their average actual clearance target of 35 days. The average time is officially calculated using the number of working days between a claimant completing the ESA questionnaire and their work capability assessment and measured at a regional level rather than nationally and reported monthly—so in effect the figures provided above are an average of an average of an average. The measurement of the time undertaken to complete the customer journey through to the assessment is heavily reliant on the date which the claimant returns their questionnaire. A significant number of claimants return their questionnaires after 25 days. Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 20 February 2012, Official Report, column 666W, on work capability assessment, how many people waited longer than 13 weeks for a work capability assessment in (a) [115257] 2011 and (b) 2012. Chris Grayling: Information on assessments in December 2011 and in 2012 to date is not available. Information on assessments between January and November 2011 has not previously been published as official statistics. We will consider whether to include these statistics in part of an upcoming statistics release in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 1 March 2012, Official Report, column 426W, on work capability assessment, how many people have been waiting longer than 13 weeks for a work capability assessment since [115259] completing the ESA 50 questionnaire.

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Chris Grayling: There are currently 20,759 ESA initial referrals open and awaiting an assessment that are in excess of 13 weeks from the date that the questionnaire was returned. Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have lodged an appeal to a work capability assessment decision but [115260] have yet to receive a hearing. Chris Grayling: The requested information is not available. Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 20 February 2012, Official Report, column 667W, on work capability assessment: Parkinson’s disease, how many people with (a) Parkinson’s disease, (b) multiple sclerosis, (c) cancer and (d) dementia have had a work [115261] capability assessment since October 2008. Chris Grayling: In September 2011, the Department published the outcomes of work capability assessments, after the effect of appeals, broken down by medical condition. The table can be found at the following link:

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Chris Grayling: Information on assessments in December 2011 and in 2012 to date is not available. Information on assessments between January and November 2011 has not previously been published as official statistics. We will consider whether to include these statistics in part of an upcoming statistics release in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Work Capability Assessment: Appeals Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 12 October 2011, Official Report, column 439W, on work capability assessment: appeals, what the cost to his Department was of appeals made to the work capability assessment in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date. [115254]

Chris Grayling: The cost to the Department for Work Capability Assessment Appeals in financial year 2010-11 was £12,076,455. The cost to the Department for Work Capability Assessment Appeals in financial year 2011-12 was £15,410,571.

http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2011/ 110906_wcaresultsbycondition_clean.xls

JUSTICE Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2012, Official Report, column 226W, on work capability assessment, what the outcome has been of the monthly monitoring of the targets set for Atos as part of the overall employment and support allowance customer journey of 91 days and performance. [115282] Chris Grayling: The performance targets used to monitor the Atos Healthcare performance are set out in Schedule 5 (Service Levels) of the Medical Services contract. An edited copy of the document (DEP2010—1704) is available in the House of Lords library and can be accessed from the following link: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/businesspapers/commons/deposited-papers/?max=100&page=3&y= 2010&house=2&sort=1&sortasc=False#toggle-1704

The official statistics on ‘Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessments’ can be accessed on the DWP website from the following link: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/ index.php?page=esa_wca

The DWP contractual agreement with Atos Healthcare contains performance service levels (including customer service targets) which contain financial remedies where there is service level failure, based on pre estimate of loss to the Department. The contractual performance of Atos Healthcare is monitored closely by DWP. The imposition of financial remedies is a matter between the Department for Work and Pensions and its supplier Atos Healthcare and as such is commercial in confidence. Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 20 February 2012, Official Report, column 655W, on employment and support allowance: work capability assessment, what the average time of the work capability assessment customer journey was in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date. [115366]

Children: Abuse Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward legislative proposals to change the sentencing options for criminal neglect of children to ensure that what happens to neglectful [115649] parents is in the best interests of the child. Mr Blunt: The Government has no plans to bring forward legislation in relation to sentencing for child neglect. The courts have the full range of sentencing options available to them when sentencing for child neglect and will take into account the best interests of the child when determining the appropriate sentence. The sentencing guideline. “Overarching Principles: Assaults on children and Cruelty to a child”, makes clear that the court must strike a balance between the need to reflect the serious view which society takes of the illtreatment of very young children and the need to protect those children, and also the pressures upon immature and inadequate parents attempting to cope with the problems of infancy. In deciding the appropriate sentence in each case, the judge or magistrate must consider the seriousness of the offence and have regard to the purposes of sentencing, which include rehabilitation as well as punishment and public protection. In considering whether a custodial sentence is appropriate, any adverse effects that the sentence could have on the victim are taken into account, including all available information concerning the future care of the child, particularly if the offender is the sole or primary carer of the victim or other dependants. HM Courts and Tribunals Service Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many complaints were received by HM Courts and Tribunal Service concerning waiting times for appeals tribunals in the latest period for [115469] which figures are available;

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(2) what the average waiting time for an appeal tribunal hearing in HM Courts and Tribunal Service was in the latest period for which figures are available;

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the Tribunal Service to deal with appeals to the work capability assessment in each month in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date. [115318]

[115470]

(3) what steps HM Courts and Tribunal Service intend to take to tackle backlogs in appeals tribunals. [115471]

Mr Djanogly: These questions have been interpreted as relating to the First-tier Tribunal—Social Security and Child Support (SSCS). A unified administrative complaints procedure for Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) was launched in October 2011. HMCTS has received 88 complaints concerning waiting times for the SSCS Tribunal in the period October 2011 to March 2012, the latest date for which information is available (this data is taken from management information). Over the same period HMCTS disposed of 214,200 SSCS appeals. In the period January to March 2012 (the most recent period for which statistics have been published) the average waiting time for an SSCS Tribunal hearing was 23.2 weeks, down from 23.9 weeks in the period July to September 2011. HMCTS has continued to respond strongly to the significant increase in appeal cases received by the SSCS Tribunal. It is working hard to increase the capacity of the SSCS Tribunal and reduce waiting times. It has implemented a range of measures which include recruiting more judges and medical panel members; increasing administrative resources and streamlining processes; securing additional hearing venues across the country; increasing the number of cases listed in each Tribunal session; running double shifts in its largest processing centre; running Saturday sittings in some of the busiest venues; reviewing all information for appellants to ensure that it is as clear and comprehensive as possible, and setting up a customer contact centre to deal with telephone inquiries. All of this is having a positive effect. The total number of disposals has increased significantly from 279,000 in 2009-10 to 380,000 in 2010-11 and 433,600 appeals in 2011-12, with the capacity for half a million disposals in 2012-13. Perhaps most notably, the Tribunal disposed of more appeals than it received in every month between January 2011 and February 2012 (14 consecutive months) and the caseload outstanding fell by 25% in 2011-12 to reach 145,000 on 31 March 2012. The average waiting time has stabilised nationally, and is beginning to fall across many venues. Work is ongoing to increase the Tribunal’s capacity further, including the recruitment of additional judges and medical members; review and continuous improvement of administrative processes both internally and between HMCTS and the Department for Work and Pensions; including implementation of Section 102 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 which creates the opportunity for additional improvements to business processes.

Mr Djanogly: Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions decisions on entitlement to employment and support allowance (ESA) (decisions in which the work capability assessment is a key factor) rather than appeals against work capability assessment decisions themselves. It is not possible to identify how many staff deal specifically with ESA appeals. The following table shows the number of administrative staff employed in relation to the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal as at the end of each month between January 2011 and May 2012, (the latest date for which figures have been published). The tribunal hears appeals on a range of benefits, of which ESA is one. Of the 988 staff in post as at 31 May 2012, 807 were permanent staff and 181 staff were on fixed term contracts. Social Security and Child Support Tribunal staff numbers January 2011-May 2012 Number of Staff1 January 2011

958

February 2011

958

March 2011

984

April 2011

1,013

May 2011

1,029

June 2011

1,030

July 2011

1,045

August 2011

1,061

September 2011

1,074

October 2011

1,019

November 2011

1,014

December 2011

1,010

January 2012

1,002

February 2012 March 2012

996 1,010

April 2012

996

May 2012

988

1 The data are taken from management information. The figures quoted refer to the total number of people employed and includes those who work part-time or on a full-time basis and on temporary or fixed-term contacts. Some of the staff included may work in multi-jurisdiction a I centres dealing with other work as well as social security and child support appeals.

The Social Security and Child Support Tribunal disposed of 433,600 appeals in 2011-12. This is a 14% increase when compared to 2010-11 (380,200).

Work Capability Assessment: Appeals

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 13 December 2011, Official Report, column 724W, on Tribunals Service: work capability assessment, which tribunal centres (a) currently operate a six-day week to hear appeals against the work capability assessment (WCA), (b) are planning to operate a six-day week to hear appeals against the WCA, (c) currently operate a seven-day week to hear appeals against the WCA and (d) are planning to operate a six-day week to hear appeals against the [115319] WCA.

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 31 January 2012, Official Report, column 624W, on work capability assessments, appeals, how many staff were employed by

Mr Djanogly: Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions decisions on entitlement to employment and support allowance (ESA) (decisions in

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which the work capability assessment is a key factor) rather than appeals against work capability assessment decisions themselves. HMCTS has continued to respond strongly to the significant increase in appeal cases received by the First-tier Tribunal—Social Security and Child Support (SSCS). It is working hard to increase the capacity of the SSCS Tribunal and reduce waiting times. The SSCS Tribunal disposed of 433,600 appeals in 2011-12. This is a 14% increase in output when compared to 2010-11 (380,200) and 56% more than 2009-10 (279,300). All SSCS hearing venues hear appeals on the range of benefit types, including ESA. Saturday sittings are used on a flexible basis in a number of hearing venues to meet particular increases in demand for hearings. Appellants are asked whether they are willing to attend a hearing on a Saturday before their case is listed and the hearing will proceed exactly as it would on a weekday. The following hearing venues are currently running Saturday sittings: Sutton, Bexleyheath, London (Fox Court), Cardiff, Leeds, Enfield, Basildon, Bedford and Derby. The Newcastle and Darlington hearing venues will run sittings on Saturdays from July 2012. Saturday sittings have previously been held in Wrexham, Langstone, Plymouth, Dundee, Hamilton, Wolverhampton, Leicester, Nottingham and Liverpool. There are currently no sittings held on a Sunday and there are no current plans to extend sittings to seven days a week.

TRANSPORT Air Traffic Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what powers she has to make air traffic [115582] distribution rules at UK airports. Mrs Villiers: The application of air traffic distribution rules (TDRs) is governed by European law. Article 19 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 on common rules for the operation of air services in the Community states that: ″A Member State, after consultation with interested parties including the air carriers and airports concerned, may regulate, without discrimination among destinations inside the Community or on grounds of nationality or identity of air carriers, the distribution of air traffic between airports satisfying the following conditions: the airports serve the same city or conurbation; the airports are served by adequate transport infrastructure [...]; the airports are linked to one another and to the city or conurbation they serve by frequent, reliable and efficient public transport services; and the airports offer necessary services to air carriers, and do not unduly prejudice their commercial opportunities. Any decision to regulate the distribution of air traffic between the airports concerned shall respect the principles of proportionality and transparency, and shall be based on objective criteria.″

Under Article 21 (1008/2008), all TDRs must be approved by the Commission before implementation. Following submission of TDR proposals to the Commission, they have six months to determine whether the TDRs proposed are compatible with EU law.

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Section 31 of the Airports Act 1986 provides the Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), with powers to introduce TDRs relating to airports on the UK, provided that they comply with EU law. Prior to the introduction of such TDRs, the Secretary of State must consult the CAA who in turn must consult the aviation industry. Aviation: EU Action Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the proposed new EU regulation on the allocation of slots at EU airports would require airlines to include in their published accounts the market value of the slots that they hold. [115655] Mrs Villiers: The European Commission’s proposal to recast the EU regulation on the common rules for the allocation of slots at EU airports does not include such a requirement. BMI Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what discussions she has had with the (a) Civil Aviation Authority and (b) Office of Fair Trading on the sale of British Midland International; and who she (i) met and (ii) spoke to on each such occasion; [110758] (2) what discussions she has had with the European Commissioner for (a) Transport and (b) competition in the last six months on the sale of British Midland [110759] International; (3) what discussions she has had with (a) International Airlines Group, (b) British Airways, (c) Virgin Atlantic and (d) Lufthansa on the sale of British Midland International; and who she (i) met and (ii) spoke to on [110760] each such occasion; (4) what discussions her officials have had on the sale of British Midland International; and who they (a) met and (b) spoke to on each such occasion; [110761] (5) what discussions she has had on the sale of British Midland International; and who she (a) met and (b) spoke to on each such occasion. [110762] Mrs Villiers: The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), has not had any discussions with the Civil Aviation Authority, the Office of Fair Trading, International Airline Group, or Lufthansa regarding the sale of British Midland International. The Secretary of State had formal introductory meetings with the chief executives of Virgin Atlantic Airways and British Airways on 30 January and 1 February respectively, during which the proposed sale of BMI was briefly mentioned. In addition the Secretary of State spoke to the chief executive of British Airways several times in March to gain a factual appreciation of developments regarding the sale of BMI. The Secretary of State had two telephone conversations with the European Competition Commissioner on 27 and 28 March, to make him aware of the UK Government’s concerns about the implications of BMI becoming insolvent.

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Department for Transport officials took part in a telephone call with European Commission competition authority officials, at their request, in February to provide the Commission with factual information about bilateral air services agreements covering certain routes, as part of the Commission’s evidence-gathering for its consideration of the proposed sale of BMI. Department for Transport officials have had various meetings and discussions with British Airways, International Airlines Group and Virgin Atlantic, both before and after the sale of BMI, at which the sale of BMI and its implications were discussed. Department for Transport officials also had telephone discussions with Office of Fair Trading officials during February 2012 to confirm details of the latter’s process for referring the proposed sale to the European Commission competition authority. Cable Cars Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions she has had with the Mayor of London on plans for further cable cars to be built [115333] over the Thames. Mrs Villiers: The Department for Transport has had no discussions with the Mayor on plans for further cable cars to be built over the Thames. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Mr Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of proposed closures of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency offices on rural areas. [115810]

Mike Penning: An impact assessment has been completed which considers the effect of the proposed closures. Under the DVLA’s new “Front Office Counter Services” contract, services will be provided by between 4,000 and 6,000 local outlets and will offer more localised face to face services in comparison to the current 39 local offices. This will benefit motorists in rural areas who will no longer have to travel as far to transact with the DVLA. The plans will also ensure that more DVLA services will be delivered electronically or by telephone, allowing motorists to transact with the DVLA at their convenience. Mr Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she plans to announce the timetable for Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency office closures. [115811] Mike Penning: The timetable outlining the proposed closure of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency local office closure was announced on 4 July and was included in the outline business case. The proposed timetable for closure is as follows: 31 October 2013—Aberdeen, Bournemouth, Brighton, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Edinburgh, Ipswich, Lincoln, Norwich, Oxford, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, Stockton, Swansea. 30 November 2012—Bangor, Beverley, Chester, Dundee, Exeter, Inverness, Maidstone, Peterborough, Sidcup, Theale, Truro, Worcester. 31 December 2013—Birmingham, Borehamwood, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Northampton, Portsmouth, Preston, Wimbledon.

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The work of the regional enforcement centres, which are co-located with 10 local offices, will be centralised at the DVLA’s headquarters in Swansea by 31 March 2013. Staffing levels will be kept under review throughout the transition period and the viability of each office will be reviewed on a regular basis. As a result, the closure plan may be subject to change. Driving Under Influence: Drugs Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she plans to hold a public consultation on the findings of the Expert Panel on Drug Driving; and if [116108] she will make a statement. Mike Penning: Yes I do plan to hold a consultation about the findings on the expert panel. Indeed there is a requirement in the clause for the new specific drug driving offence for there to be consultation about which controlled drugs would be specified in the new offence and what the specified limits for them would be. The regulations specifying controlled drugs and limits for the new offence would be subject to the affirmative procedure. Driving: Licensing Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Government (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to ensure compliance with European Commission Directives 2009/113/EC and 2006/126/EC regarding eyesight requirements for licensing group 1 and group 2 drivers; and whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals [116001] to ensure such compliance. Mike Penning: Following a public consultation on the European Commission’s proposals to amend the eyesight standards, legislative changes are now being introduced. These changes will be introduced as soon as the parliamentary process allows and we hope to have then in place by early autumn. In the meantime administrative arrangements have been put in place to ensure that all driving licence applicants meet the minimum acuity standards required by the directives. Fuels: Rural Areas Ian Paisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what steps she is taking to mitigate the effect of filling station closures on the availability of fuel for people in rural areas; [110158] (2) if she will take steps to help people living in rural areas which are up to 30 miles away from the nearest forecourt or petrol station to have easier access to fuel; [110159]

(3) if she will take steps to subsidise fuel costs for those on low incomes in rural areas. [110161] Mike Penning: My ministerial colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published in March a summary of actions taken by the Government on ‘The Cost of Fuel in Rural Areas’, including availability, which is available on DEFRA’s website: http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb13741-fuel-costrural.pdf

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Since then the Government has announced that the planned 3p rise in August 2012 will be postponed. In addition, the Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), have jointly written to the fuel retail industry inviting them to bring forward proposals on transparent pricing. Motor Vehicles: Insurance George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment she has made of geographical inequalities in the cost of car insurance; and what steps she is taking to address such inequalities. [115268]

Mike Penning: The Department for Transport has not made a recent assessment of the geographical inequalities in the cost of motor insurance. Insurers use their claims experience to assess risk and while location is a factor, other factors such as the driver’s age and driving record will also influence premiums. The Government is determined to tackle the rising cost of motor insurance. On 2 May 2012 the Secretary of State hosted a cross Government summit with the insurance industry on measures to reduce the rising of cost of premiums.

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(2) what discussions she has had with her Department’s agencies and the non-departmental bodies for which she is responsible on the contribution they will make to identifying resource budget for possible re-prioritisation; [115142]

(3) when she will make public the areas of her Department’s resource budget she has identified for possible re-prioritisation; and when she plans to report to the Transport Select Committee on the outcome of [115148] this exercise. Norman Baker: The Department is working with the Treasury to agree contingency plans as set out in “Improving Spending Control” http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/ improving_spending_control.pdf

Plans and options for reprioritisation will not be published. They should be ″live″ plans that are reassessed and updated on an on-going basis. Railways John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what (a) statutory and (b) non-statutory requirements exist for public consultation in respect of (i) ticket offices, (ii) timetable changes, (iii) service levels, (iv) line closures, (v) station closures, (vi) staffing levels, (vii) safety and (viii) enhancements on the [113705] railways.

Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will list any occasions since May 2010 on which her parliamentary private secretary has travelled overseas [115351] with her or on her behalf. Norman Baker: To the best of my knowledge, there have been no such occasions. Pedestrian Crossings: Schools David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it is her policy that there has to be a fatality before road crossing measures are implemented [115757] outside schools. Norman Baker: No. It is for individual local highway authorities to determine whether or not a pedestrian crossing is necessary, taking into account local factors which they are best placed to judge. The Department for Transport provides guidance on assessing the need for pedestrian crossings and for their design, through Local Transport Notes 1/95 and 2/95. Public Expenditure John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 23 April 2012 at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, (1) what progress her Department has made on identifying a proportion of its resource budget that can be re-prioritised; what steps she has taken to identify such funds; and which parts of her Department’s resource budget she has identified as suitable for re-prioritisation; [115141]

Mrs Villiers [holding answer 26 June 2012]: The information is as follows: (a) For ticket offices, consultation requirements are non-statutory and are set out in the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA). These requirements cover proposals on ticket office opening hours falling into the “major changes” category defined in the TSA. The TSA is owned and maintained by the Association of Train Operating Companies, and is available from its website at http://www.atoc.org/about-atoc/rail-settlement-plan/ governance There are no public consultation requirements in respect of proposals that fall into the category of “minor changes”. (b) Franchised passenger operators are required by their franchise contracts to consult on the details of timetable changes according to specified time scales—usually four weeks. (c) Franchise agreements provide that the Secretary of State for Transport may stipulate any reasonable procedural arrangements and timescales with regard to train operator proposals to permanently amend the service specification. Generally, the Secretary of State has required franchised train operators to comply with the Government’s adopted Code of Practice on consultations, whereby a minimum 12 week consultation period should be undertaken by the promoting body with appropriate stakeholders. These include Passenger Focus, London TravelWatch and local authorities with responsibility for transport (usually county councils, metropolitan boroughs or unitary authorities). (d) As regards changes to service levels which involve the ceasing of all passenger services on a line, line closures, and station closures, statutory requirements for consultation are set out by statute in schedule 7 of the Railways Act 2005 which is available from the Government website. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/14/pdfs/ ukpga_20050014_en.pdf (e) There are no statutory or non-statutory consultation requirements in relation to the staffing of rail stations, other than those referred to above for ticket offices, and those contained in the general law on employment.

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(f) The Office of Rail Regulation is responsible for safety issues in the rail industry. (g) The Government sets out its requirements for rail outputs and enhancements in its High Level Output Specification (HLOS) which covers a five year regulatory control period. The HLOS is accompanied by a statement of Funds Available to the rail industry to deliver those requirements. The choice of schemes needed to deliver those requirements is made as part of an industry process, overseen by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). The ORR carries out a number of focussed consultations around its proposed approach, funding structures and the outputs to be delivered. Its process and arrangements for consultation can be found at www.rail-reg.gov.uk (h) Enhancements to the rail network which involve changes to the contractual arrangements for station and/or track access under section 22 of the Railway Act 1993 require consultation with all relevant industry bodies, any relevant Passenger Transport Executive(s), relevant devolved bodies, as well as Passenger Focus and (where appropriate) London TravelWatch. (i) Rail enhancements which require planning permission are subject to the consultation requirements contained in general planning law.

Roads: Accidents Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many cyclists were (a) killed and (b) injured on the roads in each police force area in [115890] each of the last 10 years; (2) how many pedestrians were (a) killed and (b) injured in road accidents in each police force area in [115891] each of the last 10 years. Mike Penning: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House. Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many pedestrians were (a) killed and (b) injured in collisions with cyclists in each police [115892] force area in each of the last 10 years; (2) how many cyclists were (a) killed and (b) injured in collisions with pedestrians in each police force area [115893] in each of the last 10 years. Mike Penning: The information requested has been placed in the Library of the House. Figures for cyclists who were injured or killed after a road collision involving a pedestrian are included only for cases where the pedestrian was also injured in the accident. It is not possible to identify pedestrian involvement in collisions where only the cyclist was injured. Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many cyclists were (a) killed and (b) injured contravening red lights in each police force [115894] area in each of the last 10 years; (2) how many pedestrians have been (a) killed and (b) injured by cyclists contravening red lights in each police force area in each of the last 10 years. [115895] Mike Penning: The information requested is not held centrally by the Department. Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of people killed (a) by cars and (b) in road accidents between 2010 and 2011. [115950]

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Mike Penning: The number of people killed as a result of a collision involving a car rose by 7% in Great Britain, from 1,117 in 2010 to 1,196 in 2011. Numbers of people killed in a road accident rose by 3% in Great Britain, from 1,850 in 2010 to 1,901 in 2011. Since 2003, deaths in road accidents have fallen steadily, and 2010 saw the highest ever fall (17%) in a single year. Despite the increase in fatalities in 2011 the annual total is below that of 2009, and is indeed the second lowest figure since the end of the First World War. There are a number of factors that may have contributed to the year-on-year increase in road fatalities from 2010 to 2011. However, there is evidence that extreme winter weather conditions tend to reduce the number of road fatalities, as there is much less traffic than usual and those motorists who do venture out tend to drive more slowly and cautiously. In this context it is particularly notable that there were two separate periods of sustained snow and ice across many areas of Great Britain during 2010 (one at the beginning of the year, one at the end), but no such periods on a comparable scale during 2011. This yearon-year difference would be expected to lead to a higher number of fatalities in the winter months of 2011 than in the winter months of 2010, holding all other factors equal. The statistics bear this out: during the four winter months of 2011 (January, February, November and December) there were 81 more road fatalities than in the same months of 2010. During the remaining eight months of the year (March to October inclusive), which were not affected by extreme winter weather, there were 30 fewer fatalities in 2011 than in 2010. Tonnage Tax John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the number of (a) onboard, (b) port-based and (c) other onshore jobs which have been created in the domestic maritime sector as a result of the introduction of the tonnage tax [115933] in each year since 2000-01. [R] Mike Penning: No such estimate has been made. The availability of tonnage tax as an optional taxation regime for shipping companies is helping to maintain the competitiveness of the UK maritime sector, which is essential to job creation. John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) UK and (b) non-UK seafarers were employed on vessels in the tonnage tax scheme in each year since 2002-03; and what estimate she has made of the likely number in each such category in [115934] 2011-12. [R] Mike Penning: The number of seafarers employed, as reported to us by companies and groups for each tonnage tax training commitment year, are shown in the following table.

2002-03 2003-04 2004-05

UK

Non-UK

5,191 3,866 4,891

6,506 6,867 8,617

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2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12

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UK

Non-UK

4,473 5,028 5,432 5,574 4,607 4,931 4,596

10,314 11,492 12,742 13,166 12,268 13,587 15,031

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many journeys by vessels in the tonnage tax were (a) between UK ports, (b) one port voyages, (c) to the UK from an international port and (d) from the UK to an international port in each year [115935] since the scheme’s inception; [R] (2) what proportion of the UK’s (a) imports and (b) exports in each year since 2000-01 were undertaken [115936] by vessels in the tonnage tax. [R] Mike Penning: The Department does not hold this information. Written Questions: Government Responses Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she plans to answer question 111043 tabled by the hon. Member for South Northamptonshire [115974] on 8 June 2012 for answer on 13 June 2012. Justine Greening: I will respond before the summer recess.

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organisations play an important role alongside the police and their local partners. The Home Office looks to highlight examples where collaboration is working well, and from November police and crime commissioners will be able to fund voluntary organisations directly to tackle local priorities. Cleveland Police 21. Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the cost of the current investigation into Cleveland police. [115558]

Nick Herbert: The costs of the investigation for 2011-12 were £1.6 million. I have approved the payment of a special grant to Cleveland police to cover this cost. The provisional estimate of the investigation costs for 2012-13 is £2.2 million. Deportations (Human Rights Legislation) 23. Stuart Andrew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to ensure that foreign criminals are not able to use human [115560] rights legislation to avoid removal. Mrs May: The Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules that I laid before the House on 13 June has come into effect today. This introduces clear new rules to protect the public from foreign criminals who try to hide behind family life as a reason to stay here. For the most serious offenders, only in exceptional cases will the public interest in deportation be outweighed by other factors.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Anti-social Behaviour

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many anti-social behaviour orders on application have been issued in (a) England and Wales, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) Ashfield [115359] constituency in the last three years; (2) how many anti-social behaviour orders on conviction have been issued in (a) England and Wales, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) Ashfield constituency in [115360] the last three years.

18. Mr Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she has taken to empower local communities to tackle alcohol-related [115555] anti-social behaviour. Lynne Featherstone: Together, the Government’s alcohol strategy, published in March, and the White Paper on antisocial behaviour that was laid before Parliament in May, will provide communities with powerful new tools to tackle alcohol-related antisocial behaviour. 22. Chris White: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to promote collaboration between voluntary organisations and the police to tackle anti-social behaviour. [115559] James Brokenshire: Antisocial behaviour is a problem that needs a local solution, and in many areas voluntary

James Brokenshire: The number of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued in England and Wales, and in the Nottinghamshire criminal justice system (CJS) area, on application and following conviction in 2009 and 2010 (the latest year for which data is currently available), are shown in the following table. Data collated centrally by the Ministry of Justice on the number of ASBOs issued are not available at parliamentary constituency level. ASBO data for 2011 are planned for publication in October 2012.

Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued at all courts, as reported to the Ministry of Justice1 by the Court Service, made on application2 and issued following conviction3, in the Nottinghamshire criminal justice system (CJS) area and England and Wales, 2009-10 2009 Area

Nottinghamshire

2010

On application

On conviction

On application

On conviction

15

29

10

31

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Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued at all courts, as reported to the Ministry of Justice1 by the Court Service, made on application2 and issued following conviction3, in the Nottinghamshire criminal justice system (CJS) area and England and Wales, 2009-10 2009 Area England and Wales

2010

On application

On conviction

On application

On conviction

698

973

696

968

1

Prior to the creation of the Ministry of Justice on 9 May 2007, the number of ASBOs issued were reported to Home Office by the Court Service. 2 Comprises ASBOs issued on application by magistrates courts acting in their civil capacity and county courts, which became available on 1 April 1999. 3 Comprises ASBOs made following conviction for a relevant criminal offence at the Crown court and at magistrates courts (acting in their criminal capacity), which the Police Reform Act 2002 made available from 2 December 2002. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Prepared by Justice Statistics Analytical Services within the Ministry of Justice.

Antisocial Behaviour: Alcoholic Drinks

Crime Reduction

Mrs Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to tackle [115561] alcohol-related anti-social behaviour.

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she has taken to empower police officers to reduce crime. [115562]

James Brokenshire: Through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act, the Government has already given significant powers to local communities to tackle alcohol-related antisocial behaviour. We have set out further proposals to tackle the harms caused by alcohol misuse in the Government’s Alcohol Strategy, which was published on 23 March 2012. The White Paper on antisocial behaviour, laid before Parliament in May, set out further proposals to give communities the power to ensure that action is taken to deal with persistent antisocial behaviour.

Nick Herbert: This Government has swept away central targets and cut police red tape. The Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) has announced a package of policies to cut bureaucracy, saving up to 4.5 million police hours a year to get officers back on the streets and focus on their core mission: to cut crime.

British Nationality: Assessments Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the statement of 11 June 2012, Official Report, column 48, on family migration, whether applicants who successfully meet the English language requirements and pass the Life in the UK test prior to 9 July 2012, but who experience delays on the part of the awarding organisations with the issuing of the necessary certification, will be admitted under the rules in place prior to 9 July 2012 if the certification is [115007] not received until after that date. Damian Green: Applicants for limited leave to enter or remain in the UK as a spouse or partner must provide evidence that they have attained the relevant language qualification. If there is a delay in receiving a certificate UK Border Agency may be able to accept a transcript from the exam board. However, if it cannot be established that the person has met the relevant requirement, the application cannot be granted. Applications received on or after 9 July will be dealt with under the new family migration rules described in the statement of 11 June. Changes to the Life in the UK Test, which is required for those seeking indefinite leave to remain in the UK, will not take place until later this year. From October 2013, applicants for indefinite leave will be required to pass the revised Life in the UK test and obtain an intermediate level speaking and listening qualification in English (i.e. at level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).

Databases: Telecommunications Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2012, Official Report, column 865W, on databases: telecommunications, what the names are of all the telecommunication companies and representative trade associations who have been involved in discussions with the cross-Government Communication Capabilities Development programme since its inception. [114769] James Brokenshire [holding answer 2 July 2012]: We have had discussions with the following trade associations: the Internet Service Providers Association, the Internet Telephony Service Providers Association and the London Internet Exchange. Effective engagement with industry is central to the CCD programme; we have regular discussions with a number of companies. Revealing exactly which companies have been involved in discussions can reveal and compromise the operational capabilities that we develop in partnership with the industry. In order to maintain our ability to protect the public, we do not disclose the companies we are in discussion with. Deportation Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who had their visas revoked and were scheduled for deportation in each of the last five years have not been deported. [115515]

Damian Green: The data requested are not held in a format compatible with National Statistics protocols, or produced as part of the UK Border Agency’s standard reports.

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The Home Office publishes immigration statistics on a quarterly and annual basis, a copy of which can be found in the Library of the House. The latest published statistics on removals can also be found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-researchstatistics/research-statistics/immigration-asylum-research/ immigration-q1-2012/

Detention Centres Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department uses a risk-based assessment in respect of detention at immigration removal centres; and if she will publish any assessment [115489] criteria used. Damian Green: Decisions to detain are taken on an individual basis in the light of all relevant circumstances known. The factors which should be considered and the guidance available to assist UK Border Agency officers in reaching these decisions are published in Chapter 55 of the Enforcement Instructions and Guidance, available at: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/ policyandlaw/enforcement/detentionandremovals/ chapter55.pdf ?view=Binary

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if her Department will set a maximum period for detention at immigration removal [115490] centres. Damian Green: There are no plans to set a maximum period for detention at immigration removal centres. Drugs: Misuse Mr David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what recent representations she has received on the legal high Benzo Fury (6-APB); [115296]

(2) what advice she has received from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on the legal high [115297] Benzo Fury (6-APB); (3) whether she plans to use the powers contained in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2012 to ban the legal high Benzo Fury (6-APB). [115298]

James Brokenshire: ’Benzo Fury’ is a brand name product currently advertised as a “legal high” in the UK. In those ’Benzo Fury’ products analysed under the Home Office Forensic Early Warning System (FEWS) a number of Class B controlled drugs have been identified as well as 5-(2-aminopropyl)benzofuran (5-APB) and 6-(2-aminopropyl)benzofuran (6-APB). We are monitoring ’Benzo Fury’ and its contents through our early warning systems. The national drug awareness service website, FRANK, has been updated to include information on 5-APB and 6-APB. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is reviewing 5-APB and 6-APB and considering the available evidence on the harms of these drugs. Any legislative response from the Government would be informed by the ACMD’s expert advice.

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Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent research her Department has conducted on the potential benefits of drug consumption rooms. [115307] James Brokenshire: The Home Office has not undertaken any research on drug consumption rooms. The Department of Health is the lead Department for research in this area. Entry Clearances Mr Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many transit visas were issued in each [115656] of the last three years. Damian Green [holding answer 6 July 2012]: In 2009, 2010 and 2011 there were, respectively, 32,302, 28,955 and 26,935 transit entry clearance visas issued. Data relating to transit entry clearance visas issued are published in table “be.04.” of the quarterly Home Office statistical release “Immigration Statistics”. A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics January-December 2011 is available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Science, research and statistics web pages at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/researchstatistics/migration/migration-statistics1/

Europol Mr Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions the UK has (a) informed and (b) been informed by the Europol Security Coordinator of a data breach under Article 3(2) of EU Council Decision 2009/968/JHA in each year since 2010; and what action resulted from those breaches. [115384] James Brokenshire [holding answer 5 July 2012]: Since 2010 the UK has not: (a) informed the Europol Security Coordinator or other party of a data breach under Article 3(2) of EU Council Decision 2009/968/JHA. (b) been informed by the Europol Security Coordinator or other party of a data breach under Article 3(2) of EU Council Decision 2009/968/JHA.

Extradition Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what studies her Department has undertaken of the differing legal systems of states to which the UK can extradite people through the [112125] European Arrest Warrant since 2003. Damian Green: The UK has not conducted any such studies. It has participated in a peer evaluation of member states’ implementation of the European Arrest Warrant, and this Government commissioned a comprehensive, independent review of the operation of the UK’s extradition arrangements, including the European Arrest Warrant, which included consideration of the standards applicable across member states’ criminal justice systems. The Government will respond to the review shortly.

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Illegal Immigrants Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is [115514] taking to tackle illegal immigration. Damian Green: The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is taking steps to tackle illegal immigration. These include significantly tightening the work, study and family migration routes and bringing in reforms to break the link between temporary and permanent migration. In parallel, the UKBA is taking action against those entering sham marriages, those who use false sponsors as a means of entering and staying in the UK and those who otherwise abuse the asylum route to the detriment of those in need of protection. UKBA crime teams are working with other law enforcement agencies here and abroad to tackle organised immigration crime. The UKBA must do more to find and remove those with no right to be in the United Kingdom, it is taking action to strengthen contact management with migrants whose leave has expired and to improve the system of tracing absconders. Greater emphasis is being placed on promoting voluntary removals which has helped to increase the numbers taking up assisted voluntary return. Anyone found living or working here illegally remains liable to be detained and removed. Immigration Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations she has received on her immigration policy; and if she will [115503] make a statement. Damian Green: Over the past two years, the Government has consulted on a series of major reforms to the immigration system. It has published four consultation documents covering work and study routes, settlement rules and family migration. Together these generated approximately 52,000 responses. The Department continues to receive significant volumes of correspondence on immigration issues from members of the public, MPs, peers and others. The Government’s policy is to reduce net migration back to the levels of the 1990s—to the tens of thousands not hundreds of thousands, and restore public confidence in the system. The reforms we have made lay the foundations for a more selective immigration system that meets the needs of the UK. Mr Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when her Department plans to respond to the 2010 application by a constituent of the right hon. Member for Oldham West and Royton, Amina Begum, for a reconsideration of her case to remain in the UK under human rights considerations; for what reasons she was informed that a decision would be made within approximately 12 weeks; and what the [116051] reason is for the time taken. Damian Green: The UK Border Agency apologises for the delay in considering the further submissions made by Ms Begum, to which it had aimed to respond within 12 weeks. I can confirm that a decision has been made to grant Ms Begum and her dependants three

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years discretionary leave. The UK Border Agency will write to both the right hon. Member and Ms Begum confirming the decision. Immigration Controls Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons the Immigration Rules prevent a non EEA spouse of a British citizen from settling in the UK with their British children whilst the British citizen is working overseas. [116044] Damian Green: When a person is applying for indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom as a non-EEA spouse of a British citizen, they need to give evidence of their intention to live permanently in the UK. If the British citizen is not present and settled in the UK at the time of the application, it would be more difficult for them to show this intention. The fact that the British citizen in question works overseas is not a barrier in itself to settlement in the UK. Licensed Premises: Security Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 25 June 2012, Official Report, column 34W, on licensed premises security, whether the guidance will be published before the House rises for its summer recess; and if she will [115662] make a statement. Lynne Featherstone: As I stated in response to the hon. Lady’s previous question, on 25 June 2012, Official Report, columns 33- 34W, the revised guidance will be published shortly. I have nothing further to add to that answer. Misuse of Drugs Ministerial Group Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) which Ministers sit on the InterMinisterial Group on Drugs; and how many times each Minister has attended the Group since May 2010; [114622]

(2) how many times the Inter-Ministerial Group on Drugs has met since 2010; how many times drug prevention has been discussed by the Group since 2010; how many times the Group has discussed drug education in schools; and whether the Group has discussed the closure of the [114623] drugs education forum. James Brokenshire: Ministerial membership of the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) on Drugs is defined by its Terms of Reference: Home Office; Department for Education; Department for Health; Ministry of Justice; Department for Work and Pensions; Department for Communities and Local Government; Cabinet Office; and HM Treasury

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Ministerial attendance varies according to the agenda of the meeting and their availability. Other Ministers or senior officials and advisers may attend subject to the agenda. The IMG on Drugs has met 15 times since May 2010. Prevention and education forms a key part of the drug strategy as part of the reducing demand theme. The IMG regularly discusses progress at its meetings on each of the themes of the strategy. Ministers have not discussed the closure of the Drug Education Forum. Offences Against Children: British Nationals Abroad Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans her Department has to expand the capability and capacity of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre to investigate cases of abuse of children overseas by British sex offenders. [112811]

Lynne Featherstone: The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) works with a network of organisations in areas such as south-east Asia to protect children. The International Child Protection Network (ICPN) brings together law enforcement agencies, NGOs and the private sector to increase the capacity and capability available to tackle the threat posed by British nationals to children in those countries. As a result of becoming part of the National Crime Agency (NCA), CEOP will have access to the full range of operational tools at the disposal of the NCA to prevent harm to children in the UK and abroad and disrupt the activities of paedophiles. Passports: Scotland Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of people registered at an address in Scotland have a UK passport. [115483]

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This includes discussing the proposed changes relating to pay and pensions with police officer staff associations at the Police Negotiating Board. Schengen Agreement Mr Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment her Department has (a) made and (b) published (1) on the potential benefits to the UK of involvement in aspects of the Schengen system; [115320] (2) of the value of UK use of the Schengen [115820] Information System. James Brokenshire [holding answer 5 July 2012]: The UK partially participates in the Schengen acquis, with the primary purpose of connecting in due course, to the second generation of the Schengen Information System (SIS II). The UK also participates in Schengen activities where drug and arms trafficking are involved. There are no plans for the UK to join those elements of Schengen pertaining to border controls. SIS II has been recognised by successive Governments as being important to the UK, as it will provide UK law enforcement agencies with real-time access to the EU’s most comprehensive law enforcement database via the UK’s Police National Computer. The National Policing Improvement Agency public facing website currently outlines the high level overview of SIS II: http://www.npia.police.uk/en/9619.htm

Measures directly related to the UK’s involvement in the Schengen acquis are on the list of 133 notified to Parliament on 21 December 2011 as part of the decision to be made on whether we accept European Court of Justice jurisdiction for pre-Lisbon police and criminal justice measures in 2014. These measures will be reviewed accordingly. Sexual Offences: Victim Support Schemes

Damian Green: The Identity and Passport Service does not collate data on the basis of the geographical location of passport applications. Police: Job Satisfaction Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if she will make an assessment of the effect on police morale of (a) changes in police budgets, (b) annual pay freezes for police and (c) [112992] police pension reforms; (2) what recent assessment she has made of the effect of changes in police budgets on the morale of police [113013] forces in England and Wales. Nick Herbert [holding answer 21 June 2012]: The Government has no choice but to deal with the deficit. Reductions in Government funding to the police over the spending review period are challenging but manageable. There is no question that the police will still have the resources to do their important work. I understand that police officers are concerned about the potential changes to their pay and conditions and changes to police budgets. I, along with other Ministers and officials, maintain regular contact with police forces and officers to monitor the impact of these reforms.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 27 June 2012, Official Report, columns 260-61W, on sexual offences: victim support schemes, for what reasons the commissioning of a sexual assault referral in North Yorkshire has been [115184] delayed; and if she will make a statement. Lynne Featherstone: The commissioning of the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in North Yorkshire is a joint collaboration between North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust and North Yorkshire police. The commissioning of this SARC is a local issue, so I am unable to comment as to why a delay has occurred. However, I understand from the police that a joint management board has now been set up to oversee the development of the SARC which is expected to open in early 2013. Theft: Metals Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of metal thefts in (a) England, (b) Lancashire and (c) Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency [115429] in the last 12 months.

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James Brokenshire: The information requested is not held centrally. A new recording classification for metal theft offences reported to the police commenced on 1 April 2012 which will, for the first time, provide accurate information on the number of offences and where they have been committed.

(2) whether the outcome of the Care Quality Commission’s investigation into abortion clinics will be [115529] published; (3) what progress the Care Quality Commission has made on its investigation of abortion practices that are [115531] not compliant with the law.

Work Permits: Overseas Students

Anne Milton: The Care Quality Commission publishes a report following every inspection of a provider of a regulated activity that it carries out. These reports are available on the Commission’s website. Reports of the recent inspections of providers of termination of pregnancy services are currently being finalised and will be published in due course.

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for work permits by Romanian and Bulgarian students were completed within three months in each of the last [115427] five years. Damian Green: The data requested is not held in a format compatible with National Statistics protocols, or produced as part of the UK Border Agency’s standard reports. However the UK Border Agency publishes immigration statistics in relation to Romanian and Bulgarian work permit applications on a quarterly and annual basis, a copy of which can be found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-researchstatistics/research-statistics/immigration-asylum-research/ immigration-tabs-q1-2012/eea-q1-2012-tabs?view=Binary

HEALTH Abortion Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent discussions he has had on the reasons for geographical variations in the stage of pregnancy at which women are seeking abortions with (a) the Secretary of State for Health and (b) the Minister for Women and Equalities; what steps he is taking to ensure that police use existing powers to protect women from intimidation and harassment at abortion clinics; and if [115368] he will make a statement; (2) if he will assess the extent to which anti-abortion protests outside clinics are having an effect on the stage of pregnancy at which women are seeking abortions (a) in Brighton and Hove, (b) in Reading, (c) in Stratford and (d) nationally; and if he will make a [115369] statement. Anne Milton: We are aware of reports of protests outside abortion clinics over the past few months. However, we are not aware of any evidence that these protests are contributing to geographical variations in women seeking abortions, or the stage at which they seek an abortion. Variations in early access to abortion services can be influenced by a number of factors. If clinics have concerns about protests, they should contact their local police force for advice and support. In addition, every national health service body has a local security management specialist, which can be called upon for assistance, details of which are available through the local primary care trust. Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when the Care Quality Commission’s investigation into abortion clinics is due to be completed; [115528]

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps he is taking to ensure that all women requesting abortions are seen by two doctors; [115530] (2) what steps he plans to take to ensure that all abortions performed are compliant with the law; and if [115532] he will make a statement. Anne Milton: The Abortion Act 1967 requires that two registered medical practitioners must certify that they are of the opinion, formed in good faith, that at least one and the same ground for abortion exists taking account all the particular circumstances of the individual case. There is no requirement that both doctors must see and examine the woman. The Department has contacted three police forces, the General Medical Council and the Care Quality Commission about reports of gender selective abortion and about the pre-signing of HSA1 forms. Investigations and reviews are currently under way and the results will inform what steps may need to be taken to ensure that termination of pregnancy services are compliant with the law. Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to conduct research into high levels of alcohol consumption at [116039] home amongst (a) men and (b) women. Anne Milton: The Office for National Statistics, “Opinions Survey Report No 42 Drinking: adults’ behaviour and knowledge in 2009”includes a section on the “circumstances in which people drank last week.” The Department has also commissioned research into publishing estimates of alcohol consumption based on a daily drinking diary as part of the 2011 Health Survey for England. The diary will provide information about where respondents say they drank on each day in the week of the survey. The results are expected to be published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre towards the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013. Atos Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 18 June 2012, Official Report, column 786W, on Atos, what the total value per year was of each contract between his Department and Atos in (a) 2009, (b) 2010, (c) 2011 and (d) 2012. [115285]

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Mr Simon Burns: The IMS3 contract was awarded in January 2012. The total estimated spend with Atos relating to this contract for the financial year (FY) 2012-13 is £15.9 million. The Choose and Book contract with Atos incurred the following costs from 2009-12, split by FY, as follows: £ million 2009-10 33.0 2010-11 36.7 2011-12 21.0 2012-13 (to 30 June 2012) 7.3 Notes: 1. FY 2009-10 and 2010-11 are actual costs. 2. FY 2011-12 are actual costs, but they are subject to final audit approval. 3. FY 2012-13 are actual costs up until 30 June 2012 which are also subject to final audit approval.

Cancer Mr Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership Study is progressing [115519] as quickly as possible. Paul Burstow: The International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP) is a unique and innovative international partnership of clinicians, academics and policymakers, seeking to understand how and why cancer survival varies between different countries and jurisdictions. The ICBP is chaired by England’s National Clinical Director for Cancer, Professor Sir Michael Richards. The Department funded the first ICBP research module, Module 1, in order to develop and establish the partnership as quickly as possible. Other modules are co-funded by other members of the ICBP. Results on Module 2, ‘Population awareness and beliefs’, as well as further papers on Module 1, are currently being submitted for peer review. Further work on other modules is under way. While this is being progressed as quickly as possible, the need for academic rigour, the complexity of the work and the challenges associated with working across international boundaries means that it takes time to deliver the planned programme.

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It is the extent of the individual’s assessed primary health care needs, and the care required to meet those needs, rather than the diagnosis, that determine eligibility. Diabetes Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to consult on the companion document on diabetes that will be published alongside the long-term conditions outcomes strategy. [115924] Paul Burstow: The first meeting of the Diabetes Advisory Group, was held on the 21 June. This is a task and finish group which will oversee the production of the diabetes companion document. This group includes expert members in their field, patient representatives and members of relevant voluntary sector organisations, including Diabetes UK. This group is consulting with the Department, and across Government Departments in the development of this document, which is expected to be published alongside the Long Term Conditions Outcome Strategy towards the end of this year. Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the cardiovascular disease outcomes strategy will include outcomes for people with diabetes; [115925] and if he will make a statement. Paul Burstow: The primary focus of the outcomes strategy will be on conditions causing or resulting from “atheromatous” disease of the arteries, but a range of other conditions will also be included, such as arrhythmias and heart failure. It will consider the inter-relationship between different conditions, including diabetes, and the growing challenge of multiple morbidities. There are estimated to be 3.1 million people with diabetes in the United Kingdom and they are at two to four times greater risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than people without diabetes. Since it accounts for a significant proportion of the CVD burden, the outcomes strategy will therefore cover diabetes as a key risk factor for CVD, rather than its detailed management. Dialysis Machines

Continuing Care Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many patients diagnosed with (a) Parkinson’s disease and (b) dementia are eligible for long-term care funding; and how many such patients claim for it;

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to ensure that ancillary services for renal dialysis patients will be commissioned as part of specialist renal services in order to avoid the [115919] risk of fragmentation.

[115818]

(2) whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of Parkinson’s disease and dementia patients who have funded their own care since 2004. [115906]

Paul Burstow: This information is not collected centrally. Anyone assessed as having a certain level of care needs may receive national health service continuing health care. Eligibility is decided after an assessment has been made by a multidisciplinary team using the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-Funded Nursing Care. The eligibility criteria for NHS continuing health care are not disease specific.

Mr Simon Burns: No final decisions have been taken on which services will be directly commissioned by the NHS Commissioning Board and which will be commissioned by Clinical Commissioning Groups. Work is in hand to determine the list of services that the board will commission and the results of this work are due later in the summer. Drugs: Misuse Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has conducted on the potential benefits of drug consumption rooms. [115306]

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Anne Milton: The Department has not commissioned any research into drug consumption rooms. As the possession of controlled drugs without a licence is illegal, the provision and use of consumption rooms for illicit drugs would be a criminal offence. The aims of the Government’s drug strategy are to promote recovery from dependence and to reduce illicit and other harmful drug use. Drugs: Pregnancy Sir Robert Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the NHS holds a specific list of drugs know to pass through the placenta; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential [115331] advantages of keeping such a list. Mr Simon Burns: It is now widely accepted that most medicines can pass through the placenta to some degree1. Medicines should only be prescribed in pregnancy if the expected benefit to the mother is considered greater than the risk to the foetus and all medicines should be avoided if possible during the first trimester. The British National Formulary provides prescribers, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals with independent and up-to-date information about the use of medicines. Where relevant, information is provided on the use of specific medicines in pregnancy. Information is also available from UK Medicines Information www.ukmi.nhs.uk

and through the UK Teratology Information Service www.uktis.org

commissioned by the Health Protection Agency. 1

Syme et al. Drug transfer and metabolism by the human placenta. Clinical Pharmacokinetics. 2004; 43(8): 487-514.

Drugs: Prisons Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of prisoners entered each prison with [115365] an addiction to drugs in 2011-12. Paul Burstow: Information is collected by the Department in respect of the total number of prisoners receiving clinical interventions for drug dependence in prisons in England and Wales and within each prison in 2010-11, the most recent year for which data are available. Data are not yet available for 2011-12. In 2010-11, a total of 30,459 detoxification drug treatments were provided to male and female prisoners of all ages and a total of 30,650 extended prescribing maintenance treatments were provided. Data in respect of each prison have been placed in the Library. Drugs: Safety Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps his Department takes when notified of pharmaceutical companies contravening the rules [115308] contained in legislation on medical safety; (2) what records he requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to keep of reported adverse reaction to [115309] their drugs.

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Mr Simon Burns: Pharmaceutical companies have a statutory obligation to report adverse reactions and any information which may influence the evaluation of benefits and risks for medicinal products marketed in the United Kingdom, to the UK regulatory body, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Criminal penalties (fines and incarceration) exist for breaches of these obligations in UK legislation. MHRA conducts a programme of statutory pharmacovigilance inspections of UK marketing authorisation holders in order to examine compliance with the safety reporting requirements and in order to ensure that action is taken to address non-compliance. MHRA evaluates all notifications of breaches of medicines legislation which are made to the agency and, where appropriate, investigations are conducted. When serious non-compliance with the safety reporting requirements for medicinal products is identified (through regular risk-based inspection or other means), MHRA can employ a range of options to address the findings. These include repeat inspections to assess whether appropriate corrective and preventative actions have been implemented; the issuing of warning letters; action through marketing authorisations and new marketing authorisation applications when considered appropriate (e.g. suspension of authorisations); referral for criminal prosecution in the UK (if offences have been committed); and referral to the European Medicines Agency for action to be taken under the European Union infringement regulation for medicinal products authorised via the central EU process, which may result in a marketing authorisation holder being fined. UK Statutory Instrument 3144:1994 (as amended) states: “The holder of a marketing authorization shall maintain a record of reports of which he is aware of suspected adverse reactions in accordance with the relevant Community provisions which shall be open to inspection by a person authorised by the licensing authority, who may take copies of the record and, if the licensing authority so directs, the authorization holder shall furnish the licensing authority with a copy of any such reports of which he has a record or of which he is or subsequently becomes aware.”

Current Community legislation (EU Directive 2001/ 83/EC) requires marketing, authorisation holders to maintain detailed records of all suspected adverse reactions of which the company becomes aware and to report suspected serious adverse reactions to relevant competent authorities (to MHRA in the UK).

Drugs: Young Offenders Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of young offenders were addicted to drugs on arrival at each young offenders institute in [115300] England and Wales in 2011-12. Paul Burstow: This information is not available as requested and data are available only in respect of young male offenders. In 2010-11, the most recent year for which data are available, 347 young male offenders were provided with clinical intervention for drug dependence in young offender institutes. Data are not currently available for 2011-12.

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Data are not held centrally on young female offenders with drug addiction. Female young offenders are detained in women’s prisons and data about prisoner drug addiction do not identify whether or not an inmate is a young offender. Health and Wellbeing Boards

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who will be able to review and scrutinise the decisions and actions of health and wellbeing boards, and make reports and recommendations to the authority or its executive. As such, the Secretary of State for Health will not have any national intervention powers in relation to health and wellbeing boards. Health Services: Greater London

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what powers he has to intervene in the event that a health and wellbeing board consistently underperforms. [115923]

Paul Burstow: Health and wellbeing boards will be established as local committees of local authorities and as such it is not for central Government to monitor their performance. The boards will work with local communities to agree local priorities for action to improve both health and care services and the health and wellbeing of local people through joint health and wellbeing strategies (JHWSs). JHWSs should include clear outcome measures which health and wellbeing boards can use to demonstrate whether they have been successful in tackling these priorities and against which local people can hold health and wellbeing boards to account. The involvement of local councillors, and local Healthwatch on health and wellbeing boards, will support this transparency and accountability to local people. Health and wellbeing boards will also be subject to overview and scrutiny committees of the local authority

Mr Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS trusts in Greater London employed consultants in each of the last five years; and how much was spent by each trust. [115400] Mr Simon Burns: Information regarding expenditure on consultancy services by national. health service trusts within the London strategic health authority (SHA) area for the years 2007-08 to 2010-11 is contained in the tables. Expenditure on consultancy services by NHS bodies was first collected in the audited summarisation schedules in 2007-08, therefore data for 2006-07 is not separately identifiable. Owing to changes in the organisational structure of the NHS over the period requested, a separate table has been provided for each year. The Department does not collect data from NHS foundation trusts. Where an NHS trust obtains foundation trust status part way through any year, the data provided is only for the part of the year the organisation operated as an NHS trust.

Expenditure on consultancy services by NHS Trusts within London SHA for the years 2007-08 to 2010-11 Table 1: 2007-08 spend on consultancy services by NHS Trusts in London SHA economy area Organisation

Operating expenses: consultancy services (£000)

Barking, Havering And Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust

1,896

Barnet And Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust

1,545

Barnet, Enfield And Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust Barts And The London NHS Trust Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust Camden And Islington NHS Foundation Trust Central And North West London MH NHS Foundation Trust Ealing Hospital NHS Trust East London NHS Foundation Trust

283 1,656 362 , 1,716 42 251 0

Epsom And St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

1,670

Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust

1,664

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

4,709

Kingston Hospital NHS Trust

1,198

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust

1,519

Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust Newham University Hospital NHS Trust

715 669

North East London Mental Health NHS Trust

1,144

North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust

1,161

North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

509

Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust

673

Queen Mary’s Sidcup NHS Trust

345

Royal Brampton And Harefield NHS Trust

438

Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

2,088

South West London And St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust

2,392

St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust

2,053

The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust

912

The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust

1,740

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust

565

West London Mental Health NHS Trust

403

West Middlesex University NHS Trust Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust

288 1,521

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Expenditure on consultancy services by NHS Trusts within London SHA for the years 2007-08 to 2010-11 Table 1: 2007-08 spend on consultancy services by NHS Trusts in London SHA economy area Organisation

Operating expenses: consultancy services (£000)

Whittington Hospital NHS Trust

1,461

Source: 2007-08 NHS Trusts Audited Summarisation Schedules Table 2: 2008-09 spend on consultancy services by NHS Trusts in London SHA economy area Organisation

Operating expenses: consultancy services (£000)

Barking, Havering And Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

2,820

Barnet And Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust

996

Barnet, Enfield And Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust

490

Barts And The London NHS Trust

8,484

Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust

1,185

Ealing Hospital NHS Trust

633

Epsom And St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

2,817

Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust

1,745

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

1,678

Kingston Hospital NHS Trust

1,481

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust

1,155

Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust

711

Newham University Hospital NHS Trust

2,186

North East London NHS Foundation Trust

174

North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust

537

North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

686

Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust

1,012

Queen Mary’s Sidcup NHS Trust

740

Royal Brompton And Harefield NHS Trust

990

Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

5,461

South West London And St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust

2,102

St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust

3,655

The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust

1,121

The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust

2,232

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust

551

West London Mental Health NHS Trust

263

West Middlesex University NHS Trust

234

Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust

2,148

Whittington Hospital NHS Trust

917

Source: 2008-09 NHS Trusts Audited Summarisation Schedules Table 3: 2009-10 spend on consultancy services by NHS Trusts In London SHA economy area Organisation

Operating expenses: consultancy services (£000)

Barking, Havering And Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

2,468

Barnet And Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust

1,474

Barnet, Enfield And Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust Barts And The London NHS Trust Ealing Hospital NHS Trust

1,007 11,335 186

Epsom And St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

1,960

Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust

1,587

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

4,517

Kingston Hospital NHS Trust

1,505

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust

1,022

Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust Newham University Hospital NHS Trust

734 1,486

North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust

673

North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

688

Royal Brompton And Harefield NHS Foundation Trust

9

Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

5,029

South London Healthcare NHS Trust

2,923

South West London And St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust

1,905

St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust

3,429

The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust

841

The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust

1,706

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust West London Mental Health NHS Trust West Middlesex University NHS Trust

696 1,381 258

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Table 3: 2009-10 spend on consultancy services by NHS Trusts In London SHA economy area Organisation

Operating expenses: consultancy services (£000)

Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust

1,989

Whittington Hospital NHS Trust

1,371

Source: 2009-10 NHS Trusts Audited Summarisation Schedules Table 4: 2010-11 spend on consultancy services by NHS Trusts in London SHA economy area Organisation

Operating expenses: consultancy services (£000)

Barking Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust

1,546

Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust

1,095

Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust

1,007

Baits and the London NHS Trust

5,451

Ealing Hospital NHS Trust

230

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

915

Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children NHS Trust

1401

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

6,135

Kingston Hospital NHS Trust

800

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust

2471

Croydon Health Services NHS Trust

734

Newham University Hospital NHS Trust

2,769

North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust

658

North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

549

Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

3,653

South London Healthcare NHS Trust

2,015

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust

2,006

St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust

2,177

The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust

179

The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust

2,404

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust

1,429

West London Mental Health NHS Trust

365

West Middlesex University NHS Trust

428

Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust

1,835

Whittington Hospital NHS Trust

1,017

Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust

2,202

Source: 2010-11 NHS Trusts Audited Summarisation Schedules

Mr Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which NHS trusts sold land in Greater London in each of the last five years; and what the value was of each [115401] sale. Mr Simon Burns: The information requested is not collected. National health service organisations locally decide on how their estate is used, including the disposal of land. Kidneys: Diseases Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will create a national specialised service for the treatment of atypical haemolytic-uraemic syndrome. [114110]

Mr Simon Burns: The Advisory Group for National Specialised Services met recently to consider whether there should be a nationally commissioned service for the treatment of atypical haemolytic-uraemic syndrome. Ministers have yet to receive their recommendation. Mental Illness: Children Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2012, Official Report, column 802W, on mental illness: children, how many and what proportion of children aged five to 16 suffered from clinically recognisable mental disorder in each of [115783] the last 30 years.

Paul Burstow: This information is not collected centrally. However, two surveys were carried out by the Office for National Statistics. In 1999, the Office for National Statistics carried out a survey on behalf of the Department, the Scottish Health Executive and the National Assembly for Wales. The results, published in ‘Mental health of children and adolescents in Great Britain’ (ONS 2000), stated that 9.5% of five to 15-year-olds had a clinically recognisable mental disorder. The report included a review of previous research. This noted that epidemiological surveys in Great Britain which have focused on psychiatric morbidity among children have concentrated on specific disorders, particular age ranges, and comprehensive studies in particular localities. In 2004, the Office for National Statistics carried out a survey on behalf of the Department and the Scottish Executive. The results, published in ‘Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain, 2004’ (ONS 2005), stated that 9.6% of five to 16-year-olds had a clinically recognisable mental disorder.

NHS: Public Opinion Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the consideration which should be given to (a) public views of any proposed

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reconfiguration in the NHS and (b) any differences of opinion amongst clinicians before final decisions on [116045] reconfiguration are made. Mr Simon Burns: The Government’s policy is that reconfigurations of health services must be able to demonstrate evidence against the Secretary of State for Health’s four tests. The tests set out that reconfiguration proposals should have: support from clinical commissioners; strengthened public and patient engagement; clarity on the clinical evidence base; and support for patient choice. Effective local engagement should ensure that services continually improve, based on the feedback of local communities. It is important that proposals are locally-led, developed by clinicians and are based on a thorough assessment of clinical need and the evidence for change. It is for clinical commissioners, working in partnership with clinicians in the provider sector, to agree on the case for change. The National Clinical Advisory Team supports this process by providing an independent external clinical review to assure the case for any reconfiguration. Nutrition Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2012, Official Report, columns 807-8W, on nutrition, what proportion of the population consume more than the average recommended level of trans fats; and what effect this has on (a) [115789] mental and (b) physical health. Anne Milton: The Department recommends that trans fatty acids should contribute no more than 2% of food energy intake. The most recent data from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey found that two participants out of over 2,000 (0.1%) had an intake of trans fatty acids above the recommendation. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), who advise the Department, reviewed the evidence of the health effects of trans fatty acids in 2007. SACN concluded that there is evidence that trans fatty acids may increase the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and recommended that average dietary intakes of trans fatty acids should not exceed 2% of food energy. SACN concluded that the evidence relating intakes of trans fatty acids to risk of diseases other than CHD, including neurological development in children and cognitive decline, is limited and therefore insufficient for any conclusions to be drawn. Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2012, Official Report, column 543W, on food: safety, what assessment he has made of the effects of eating five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day on rates of (a) [115793] cancer and (b) heart disease. Anne Milton: The Government’s “5 a Day” recommendation is based on epidemiological evidence indicating an association with consumption of more than 400 grams a day of fruit and vegetables (not including potatoes) with reduced risk of certain diet related chronic diseases. People who consume high levels of fruit and vegetables compared with low consumers

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tend to have lower risk of coronary heart disease, lower risk of some cancers, better bowel health and better micronutrient status. It is difficult to attribute direct effect of the consumption on fruit and vegetables on rates of cancer and heart disease, however the national health service plan (2000) estimates that eating at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day could reduce the risk of deaths from chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer by up to 20%. Pharmacy Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) for what reason patients who collect prescriptions from a pharmacy can use the New Medicines Service but patients who collect prescriptions from the dispensary of a dispensing practice cannot; [115403] (2) what plans his Department has to extend the New Medicines Service to dispensing practices. [115404] Mr Simon Burns: The New Medicine Service (NMS) was negotiated as part of the community pharmacy contractual framework. It is designed to provide support to patients to maximise the benefits from their medicines and is based on research showing that early intervention by a pharmacist can help to improve patients’ adherence to their medicines and reduce the use of national health service resources. Dispensing doctors, who are authorised or required to provide dispensing services to specific patients, may already participate in the Dispensing Services Quality Scheme (DSQS), as set out in the General Medical Services Statement of Financial Entitlement. The DSQS applies only to doctors who dispense, not pharmacies, and sets out the minimum requirements for review of use of medicines with patients, which are intended to optimise the impact of treatment for each individual patient. There are currently no plans to extend the NMS to dispensing doctors. Public Health England Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what accountability processes he has put in place to ensure that (a) Public Health England delivers the outcomes required of it and (b) the performance of [115917] health and well-being Boards is measured. Anne Milton: Public Health England (PHE) will be an executive agency of the Department of Health for operational independence, but will nevertheless be subject to the usual requirements of public and parliamentary accountability of a Department of state. A framework agreement between PHE and the Department will set out roles and responsibilities. There will be a separate line of accountability from the chief executive of PHE to the Secretary of State for Health, as well as a direct reporting to the Permanent Secretary. In addition, an advisory board with a non-executive majority will provide independent advice and challenge to support the running and development of PHE. PHE will have to deliver against objectives in its business plan, to be measured against the Public Health Outcomes Framework, and report annually.

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Health and well-being boards will be established as local committees of local authorities and as such it is not for central Government to monitor their performance. The boards will work with local communities to agree local priorities for action to improve both health and care services, and the health and well-being of local people through Joint Health and Well-being Strategies (JHWSs). JHWSs should include clear outcome measures by which health and well-being boards can use to demonstrate whether they have been successful in tackling these priorities, against which local people can hold health and well-being boards to account. The involvement of local councillors, and local Healthwatch on health and well-being boards, will support this transparency and accountability to local people. Health and well-being boards will also be subject to overview and scrutiny committees of the local authority who will be able to review and scrutinise the decisions and actions of health and well-being boards, and make reports and recommendations to the authority or its executive. School Milk Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many settings claiming for the cost of milk through the nursery milk scheme claimed more than (a) 60 pence per pint, (b) 70 pence per pint, (c) 80 pence per pint and (d) 90 pence per pint in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will [115599] make a statement. Anne Milton: The following table provides figures for the number of child care settings claiming for the free nursery milk at a cost ranging from 60p to 90p per pint in the month of June 2012: Cost claimed by the child care settings in providing free nursery milk in the month of June 2012 More than 60p per pint More than 70p per pint More than 80p per pint More than 90p per pint

Number of child care settings 2,980 23,098 1,140 8,962

The Department is currently consulting on a range of options for reforming the operation of the Nursery Milk Scheme, looking at making it more efficient—as well as improving its value for money, while ensuring that all children under five attending a childcare setting for more than two hours a day continue to be entitled to receive free milk.

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Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his consultation on the next steps for nursery milk, whether the estimate of 40 per cent uptake of the scheme is based on the whole population under the age of five or only those in settings for more than two hours a day. [115601] Anne Milton: The estimate of 40% uptake of the Nursery Milk Scheme is based on the whole population of children under five years of age. It is not based on the number of children attending settings for more than two hours a day. Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have received milk through the Nursery Milk Scheme in each of the last five years. [115653]

Anne Milton: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Gordon Henderson), on 4 July 2012, Official Report, column 666W. Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of children under the age of five has received free milk through the nursery milk scheme in [115670] each of the last five years. Anne Milton: The Department is unable to provide information on the number of individual children, and hence the proportion of children under five, who have received free milk through the Nursery Milk Scheme in each of the last five years, as this information is not held centrally. Based on the total number of portions (1/3 pint) supplied each year, if we assume that children attend for at least two hours, five days per week for 36 weeks per year, 271,246,523 portions (reimbursed in 2011-12) translates to around 1.5 million children, which represents roughly 40% of the total number of under-fives. Of course, more individual children may attend for fewer days per week, meaning that the proportion of under-fives receiving free milk under the scheme may be higher. Surgery Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the number of surgical clinics cancelled in each year from [116009] 2002. Mr Simon Burns: The Department does not collect information on the number of cancelled surgical clinics. Thalidomide

Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children under the age of five who receive milk through the nursery milk scheme have this milk [115600] supplied by intermediaries. Anne Milton: Some child care providers use intermediaries or agents to arrange the supply of milk in the Nursery Milk Scheme. At present 32,821 child care settings use such agents. The Department does not hold information centrally on the number of individual children who receive free nursery milk. However in 2011-12, there were 121,139,059 portions of milk (each a third of a pint) supplied through agents, which represents 44.7% of the total milk reimbursed under the scheme.

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much the NHS spent on thalidomide derivative products in the treatment of cancer between 2009 and 2011; [115277] (2) which companies supply thalidomide derivative [115278] products to the NHS. Paul Burstow: The only thalidomide derivative licensed in the United Kingdom for the treatment of cancer is lenalidomide, which is used in the national health service in England for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Information on its use in primary and secondary care is shown in the following tables.

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Primary care: lenalidomide prescription items dispensed in the community in England1 Number of Net ingredient cost prescription items (£000) 2009 0 0 2010 2 9.1 2011 9 33.8 1 Although lenalidomide is only licensed for the treatment of multiple myeloma, it is not possible to determine if the reported usage was for that purpose as the intended use is not recorded. Source: Prescription Cost Analysis system. Secondary care: packs of lenalidomide used in hospitals1 Number of packs2 Cost (£000) 2009 5,655 23.2 2010 12485 49.7 2011 16,529 67.3 1 Although lenalidomide is only licensed for the treatment of multiple myeloma, it is not possible to determine if the reported usage was for that purpose, as the intended use is not recorded. 2 Lenalidomide is available in packs of 5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg and 25 mg, each containing 21 tablets. The figure for the number of packs is therefore not a direct measure of the physical quantity used, the number of times the medicine was used nor the number of patients treated. Source: IMS Health: Hospital Pharmacy Audit.

The British National Formulary indicates that the only manufacturer of lenalidomide is Celgene Ltd. Manufacturers can supply NHS organisations directly or through wholesalers. Thalidomide Trust Sir Robert Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent progress he has made on his talks with the National Advisory Council to the Thalidomide [115330] Trust; and if he will make a statement. Paul Burstow: I met with the National Advisory Council (NAC) to the Thalidomide Trust on 12 June 2012. Departmental officials met with members of the Thalidomide Trust and the NAC to the trust in June 2010, to discuss the evaluation of the first year of the three-year pilot funded by the Department and I anticipate that the trust will shortly submit the evaluation of the pilot’s second year. Officials will meet with the Thalidomide Trust and the NAC to discuss the evaluation report before the end of this month.

Financial year 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12

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Number of patients supplied with adult stem cell donors

Total cost to hospitals (£)

75 69 88

953,400 936,882 1,230,680

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER Electoral Register Mr Evennett: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent representations he has received on the sale of the edited electoral register; and if he will make a [115276] statement. Mr Harper: The Government has received numerous representations on the future of the edited electoral register. Cabinet Office records show 13 representations having been received on the edited version of the register since 1 June. The Cabinet Office has not received any recent representations specifically on the sale of the edited electoral register. Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad Chris Bryant: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on which occasions his Parliamentary Private Secretary has travelled overseas with him or on his behalf since [115347] May 2010. The Deputy Prime Minister: My hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) served as my Parliamentary Private Secretary from May 2010 to February 2012. My hon. Friend the Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson) has held the post since February 2012. I have not been accompanied on any overseas visits by my Parliamentary Private Secretaries nor have they made any overseas visits on my behalf. Voting Rights: Prisoners Mr Hollobone: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister to which categories of prisoner he wishes to give the right [115962] to vote. Mr Harper: The Government will consider carefully the recent judgment on prisoner voting in the case of Scoppola v. Italy (No. 3) and its implications for the UK and will respond in due course.

Transplant Surgery: Bone Marrow Disorders Jessica Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients received a bone marrow transplant of donated stem cells from adult donors and supplied by NHS Blood and Transplant in each of the last three financial years; and what the average cost to hospitals was of the supply of these cell units in each year. [115406]

Anne Milton: The following table shows the number of adult donor bone marrow stem cell units issued by NHS Blood and Transplant for the past three financial years and the associated costs to hospitals.

CABINET OFFICE Advisory Services Tom Greatrex: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 15 May 2012, Official Report, column 92W, on advisory services, if he will publish correspondence between his Department and the Scottish Government on additional funding for [115408] not-for-profit advice services. Mr Hurd: The Cabinet Office has not corresponded with the Scottish Government on this matter.

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Cancer: Witham Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the number of cancer patients was in (a) Witham Town and (b) Witham constituency in each of the last [115901] five years. Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply. Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated July 2012: As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the number of cancer patients was in (a) Witham Town and (b) Witham constituency in each of the last five years. [115901 ] The latest available figures for cancer registrations are for the year 2010. Please note that these numbers may not be the same as the number of people diagnosed with cancer, because one person may be diagnosed with more than one cancer. Cancer statistics are not available for individual towns, so figures have been provided for Braintree local authority district (LAD) instead, which includes the towns of Braintree, Halstead and Witham. The table provides the number of newly diagnosed cases of cancer registered for (a) Braintree local authority district and (b) Witham parliamentary constituency, for each year from 2006 to 2010. The latest published figures on incidence of cancer in England are available on the National Statistics website: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/cancer-registrations-inengland/2010/index.html Table 1: Number of newly diagnosed cases of cancer, Braintree local authority district and Witham parliamentary constituency, 2006-101,2,3 Registrations Area 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Braintree local 654 670 680 759 797 authority district Witham 455 428 443 497 490 parliamentary constituency 1 Cancer is coded using the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision (ICD-10) as C00 to C97 excluding C44 nonmelanoma skin cancer. 2 Newly diagnosed cases registered in each calendar year. 3 Figures are based on boundaries as of May 2012. Source: Office for National Statistics

Empty Property Mr Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) if he will list the empty or largely empty buildings owned by his Department; and if he will [110836] make a statement; (2) how many buildings owned by his Department and the bodies for which he is responsible have been empty for more than two years; and if he will make a [110854] statement.

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continuing drive to deliver even greater savings, we are currently holding an open process to sell the long leasehold interest in Admiralty Arch. We have invited bids which will provide value for money for the taxpayer, potential options for increasing public access and preserve the heritage of the building. My Department is consolidating its central property usage to realise savings for the taxpayer and drive up efficiency. To that end we are moving staff into 70 Whitehall and the Treasury building at 1 Horse Guards Road. Because we are transferring 22/26 Whitehall to the Department for International Development later this year we have already moved most of our staff out of there.

Jobseeker’s Allowance: Lancashire Paul Maynard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what recent estimate he has made of the number of people aged (a) 18 to 24 and (b) over 50 in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance and resident in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency; [116075] (2) how many 16 to 24-year-olds in (a) Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency and (b) Lancashire claimed jobseeker’s allowance in each of the last five [116076] years. Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply. Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated July 2012: As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking what recent estimate has been made of the number of people aged (a) 18-24 and (b) over 50 in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance and resident in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency (116075); and how many 16 to 24 year olds in (a) Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency, and (b) Lancashire claimed jobseeker’s allowance in each of the last five years. (116076) The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system. Table 1 shows the number of people aged 18 to 24 and 50 and over, resident in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency who were claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in May 2012, which is the most recent period available. Table 2 shows the number of people aged 16 to 24, resident in (a) Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency and (b) Lancashire, who were claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in May 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, which is the latest date available. National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at: http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Mr Maude: There are nine ancillary buildings at the Emergency Planning College’s site at Easingwold, Yorkshire which have been empty since long before the last general election. The EPC’s private sector partner is currently seeking alternative use for these buildings. Admiralty Arch is largely empty. It is not fit for a modern day office and could not be adapted without disproportionate costs to the taxpayer. As part of our

Table 1: Number of persons1 aged 18 to 24 and 50 and over resident in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency claiming jobseeker’s allowance, May 2012 Number 18 to 24 years 50 and over Blackpool North and Cleveleys

665

465

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Table 2: Number of persons1 aged 16 to 24 resident in Blackpool North & Cleveleys constituency, and Lancashire claiming jobseeker’s allowance Number Blackpool North and May Cleveleys Lancashire 2008 380 4,510 2009 640 8,435 2010 515 6,560 2011 575 6,620 2012 665 7,255 1 Age data are available only for computerised claims, which account for 99.7% of all claims. Note: Data rounded to nearest 5. Source: Jobcentre Plus administrative system.

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Non-departmental Public Bodies Alex Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) how many vacancies there are on the boards of non-departmental public bodies; [115200] (2) what changes his Department has made to the process for the appointment of individuals to nondepartmental public bodies since May 2010; [115199] (3) what representations his Department has received from the chairs and officers of non-departmental public bodies on the time taken for appointments and [115202] reappointments to those bodies. Mr Maude: The current list of vacancies for the Government’s public appointments can be found on the Cabinet Office website at: http://publicappointments.cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Lost Working Days Mr Ruffley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the average number of working days lost per person was in (a) his Department and (b) each of [115293] its agencies in each of the last three years. Mr Maude: The Cabinet Office sickness absence currently stands at an average of 2.5 working days and remains one of the lowest rates across Government Departments. The Cabinet Office sick absence data for the last three years are published on the Cabinet Office website at: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/absence-data

From June 2011 the Cabinet Office data also included the Central Office of Information (COI) which closed on 31 March 2012. The sick absence statistics for the COI are published in their annual reports which are available at: http://coi.gov.uk/aboutcoi.php?page=82

The sick absence statistics for Buying Solutions are published in their annual reports which are available at: http://gps.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/about-governmentprocurement-service/annual-report-and-accounts

Ministers: Pay Mr Bone: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will review the level of salaries paid to Ministers. [115964]

Mr Maude: In 2010 the Government set Ministers’ total salary remuneration at 5% less than the remuneration equivalent Ministers in the former Administration received. These salary levels are fixed for the lifetime of this Parliament and there are no plans at present to review them.

The Commission for Public Appointments regulates the majority of non-Executive appointments by Ministers to non-departmental public bodies. An updated version of the Commissioner’s code of practice came into effect on 1 April 2012. The Government will shortly be publishing updated guidance on Managing and Making Public Appointments to take account of this updated code of practice. Alex Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many recommendations of people for appointment to non-departmental public bodies by the Appointments Commission have been rejected by [115201] Ministers since May 2010. Mr Maude: None. Public Sector: Procurement Stephen Phillips: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps his Department is taking to encourage a transition to e-procurement in the public sector. [115433]

Mr Maude: The Government fully supports measures that simplify and streamline the procurement process, including the use of electronic procurement and invoicing. Under the principles of LEAN Sourcing all central government procurements are required to use the Office Journal for the European Community (OJEU) compliant e-sourcing tools to help manage the full process. If an organisation does not have access to its own e-sourcing tools, it can use those available through the Government Procurement Service. Additionally, issuing and responding to bids via the Government’s Dynamic Marketplace is done electronically, making the procurement process quicker and more cost-effective.

ORAL ANSWERS Monday 9 July 2012 Col. No.

HOME DEPARTMENT .......................................... Antisocial Behaviour.............................................. Border Controls (Waiting Times) ........................... British Crime Survey ............................................. Crime (Local Communities)................................... Crime (Rural Areas)............................................... Deportations (Dangerous Foreign Nationals) ........ Deportations (Human Rights Legislation)............. Draft Communications Data Bill ...........................

1 10 17 1 14 6 3 16 5

Col. No.

HOME DEPARTMENT—continued Draft Communications Data Bill ........................... Immigration (Integration) ...................................... Metropolitan Police ............................................... Olympic Games (Security) ..................................... Overseas Students .................................................. Policing .................................................................. Topical Questions ..................................................

15 8 12 9 4 10 18

WRITTEN MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS Monday 9 July 2012 Col. No.

EDUCATION............................................................ Children’s Commissioner for England ...................

3WS 3WS

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS............................................................... Flooding ................................................................

4WS 4WS

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE..... P5 Conference of Nuclear Disarmament ...............

5WS 5WS

HOME DEPARTMENT........................................... Access to Elected Office for Disabled People..........

7WS 7WS

Col. No.

HOME DEPARTMENT—continued Student Visas .........................................................

8WS

JUSTICE................................................................... Justice and Security Bill .........................................

9WS 9WS

TRANSPORT ........................................................... Personal Independence Payment and Blue Badge Eligibility ...........................................................

9WS

TREASURY .............................................................. Decommissioning Relief Deeds: Tax Certainty in the UK Continental Shelf .................................. ECOFIN................................................................

1WS

9WS

1WS 1WS

WRITTEN ANSWERS Monday 9 July 2012 Col. No.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL .......................................... Human Trafficking ................................................ Lost Working Days ................................................ Offences Against Children ..................................... Police: Surveillance ................................................ Prosecutions: Northamptonshire ...........................

10W 10W 12W 11W 11W 12W

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS............. Business: Greater London...................................... Cooperatives: Greater London............................... Credit Cards........................................................... English Language: Education ................................ Higher Education: Scholarships............................. Regional Development Agencies: Pay .................... Teachers: Languages ..............................................

45W 45W 45W 46W 46W 47W 49W 51W

CABINET OFFICE................................................... Advisory Services................................................... Cancer: Witham..................................................... Empty Property ..................................................... Jobseeker’s Allowance: Lancashire......................... Lost Working Days ................................................ Ministers: Pay ........................................................ Non-departmental Public Bodies ........................... Public Sector: Procurement ....................................

102W 102W 103W 103W 104W 105W 105W 106W 106W

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT.. Housing: Construction...........................................

20W 20W

Col. No.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT .......................... Broadband: Kent ................................................... Mobile Phones ....................................................... Public Expenditure................................................. UK Fashion and Textile Association......................

1W 1W 1W 2W 3W

DEFENCE................................................................. Aircraft Carriers .................................................... Parliamentary Armed Forces Scheme .................... Public Expenditure................................................. Submarines ............................................................ Trident ...................................................................

3W 3W 4W 4W 4W 5W

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER ................................. Electoral Register................................................... Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad ... Voting Rights: Prisoners ........................................

102W 102W 102W 102W

EDUCATION............................................................ Academies: Complaints ......................................... Education Funding Agency: Complaints ............... Education Maintenance Allowance........................ Education: Warrington .......................................... Free School Meals: Bassetlaw ................................ Further Education: Wentworth .............................. GCE A-level........................................................... GCSE .................................................................... HM Chief Inspector of Schools: Correspondence . Lost Working Days ................................................ Primary Education.................................................

28W 28W 30W 30W 31W 33W 34W 35W 36W 37W 37W 37W

Col. No.

EDUCATION—continued Pupil Exclusions..................................................... Pupil Exclusions: Greater London ......................... Pupils: Disadvantaged............................................ School Milk ........................................................... Schools: Finance .................................................... Teachers: Pay .........................................................

38W 38W 41W 42W 43W 44W

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE ..................... Electricity Generation ............................................ Electricity: Scotland............................................... Energy: Prices ........................................................ Environment Protection: Employment................... Green Deal Scheme................................................ Nuclear Power........................................................ Renewable Energy.................................................. Renewable Energy: West Midlands ........................ Warm Home Discount Scheme ..............................

22W 22W 22W 23W 24W 24W 25W 25W 26W 26W

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS............................................................... Farms: Crops ......................................................... Farms: Water ......................................................... Fisheries: Dee Estuary ........................................... Floods: Crops ........................................................ Floods: West Midlands .......................................... Food: Prices ........................................................... Government Procurement Card ............................. Livestock: Exports ................................................. Rain Forests ...........................................................

16W 16W 16W 17W 18W 18W 18W 19W 20W 19W

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE..... Belarus................................................................... Colombia ............................................................... Egypt ..................................................................... European Union: Legislative Competence ............. Israel ...................................................................... Middle East ........................................................... Russia .................................................................... Syria....................................................................... Visits Abroad .........................................................

13W 13W 13W 13W 14W 14W 14W 15W 16W 16W

HEALTH................................................................... Abortion ................................................................ Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse....................................... Atos ....................................................................... Cancer ................................................................... Continuing Care .................................................... Diabetes ................................................................. Dialysis Machines .................................................. Drugs: Misuse........................................................ Drugs: Pregnancy................................................... Drugs: Prisons ....................................................... Drugs: Safety ......................................................... Drugs: Young Offenders ........................................ Health and Wellbeing Boards................................. Health Services: Greater London........................... Kidneys: Diseases .................................................. Mental Illness: Children......................................... NHS: Public Opinion............................................. Nutrition................................................................ Pharmacy............................................................... Public Health England ........................................... School Milk ........................................................... Surgery................................................................... Thalidomide........................................................... Thalidomide Trust ................................................. Transplant Surgery: Bone Marrow Disorders.........

85W 85W 86W 86W 87W 87W 88W 88W 88W 89W 89W 89W 90W 91W 92W 95W 95W 96W 97W 98W 98W 99W 100W 100W 101W 101W

HOME DEPARTMENT .......................................... Anti-social Behaviour ............................................

75W 75W

Col. No.

HOME DEPARTMENT—continued Antisocial Behaviour: Alcoholic Drinks................. Antisocial Behaviour Orders .................................. British Nationality: Assessments............................ Cleveland Police..................................................... Crime Reduction.................................................... Databases: Telecommunications ............................ Deportation ........................................................... Deportations (Human Rights Legislation)............. Detention Centres .................................................. Drugs: Misuse........................................................ Entry Clearances.................................................... Europol.................................................................. Extradition............................................................. Illegal Immigrants.................................................. Immigration ........................................................... Immigration Controls ............................................ Licensed Premises: Security ................................... Misuse of Drugs Ministerial Group....................... Offences Against Children: British Nationals Abroad .............................................................. Passports: Scotland ................................................ Police: Job Satisfaction........................................... Schengen Agreement.............................................. Sexual Offences: Victim Support Schemes ............. Theft: Metals ......................................................... Work Permits: Overseas Students...........................

77W 76W 77W 76W 78W 78W 78W 76W 79W 79W 80W 80W 80W 81W 81W 82W 82W 82W 83W 83W 83W 84W 84W 84W 85W

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.................... Afghanistan ........................................................... Developing Countries: Biofuels.............................. Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad ... Public Expenditure................................................. South Sudan ..........................................................

26W 26W 27W 27W 28W 28W

JUSTICE................................................................... Children: Abuse ..................................................... HM Courts and Tribunals Service.......................... Work Capability Assessment: Appeals ...................

64W 64W 64W 65W

NORTHERN IRELAND .......................................... Bank Services.........................................................

21W 21W

PRIME MINISTER.................................................. Russia ....................................................................

10W 10W

TRANSPORT ........................................................... Air Traffic .............................................................. Aviation: EU Action .............................................. BMI ....................................................................... Cable Cars ............................................................. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency..................... Driving: Licensing.................................................. Driving Under Influence: Drugs ............................ Fuels: Rural Areas ................................................. Motor Vehicles: Insurance ..................................... Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad ... Pedestrian Crossings: Schools ................................ Public Expenditure................................................. Railways................................................................. Roads: Accidents ................................................... Tonnage Tax .......................................................... Written Questions: Government Responses ...........

67W 67W 68W 68W 69W 69W 70W 70W 70W 71W 71W 71W 71W 72W 73W 74W 75W

TREASURY .............................................................. Business: Greenhouse Gas Emissions..................... Child Care Tax Credit ............................................ Finance Act 2008 ................................................... Gift Aid ................................................................. Income Tax ............................................................ LIBOR...................................................................

5W 5W 5W 6W 6W 7W 7W

Col. No.

TREASURY—continued National Infrastructure Plan.................................. Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad ... Social Impact Bonds .............................................. Tax Avoidance ....................................................... Taxation................................................................. Taxation: Multinational Companies ...................... Taxation: Olympic Games 2012 ............................. Welfare Tax Credits................................................

8W 8W 8W 8W 9W 9W 9W 10W

WALES...................................................................... Cardiff Airport ......................................................

1W 1W

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES.................................. Homosexuality: Marriage ......................................

20W 20W

WORK AND PENSIONS ......................................... Atos Healthcare ..................................................... Disposable Income.................................................

51W 51W 52W

Col. No.

WORK AND PENSIONS—continued Employment and Support Allowance .................... Employment Schemes ............................................ Employment Schemes: Pay .................................... Employment Schemes: Scotland ............................ Housing Benefit: Scotland ..................................... Housing Benefit: Young People.............................. Jobseeker’s Allowance: Graduates ......................... Parliamentary Private Secretaries: Visits Abroad ... Pensioners: Poverty ................................................ Pensions: Females .................................................. Public Expenditure................................................. Scotland................................................................. Social Security Benefits: Gwent ............................. Social Security Benefits: Scotland .......................... Staff: Scotland ....................................................... Universal Credit..................................................... Work Capability Assessment.................................. Work Capability Assessment: Appeals ...................

53W 54W 54W 54W 55W 55W 55W 55W 55W 57W 57W 58W 58W 59W 59W 59W 60W 64W

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Volume 548 No. 28

Monday 9 July 2012

CONTENTS Monday 9 July 2012 List of Government and Principal Officers of the House Oral Answers to Questions [Col. 1] [see index inside back page] Secretary of State for the Home Department House of Lords Reform Bill [Col. 24] Motion for Second Reading—(Deputy Prime Minister) Debate adjourned Business of the House (11 July) [Col. 134] Motion—(James Duddridge)—agreed to Dangerous Driving [Col. 138] Debate on motion for Adjournment Written Ministerial Statements [Col. 1WS] Written Answers to Questions [Col. 1W] [see index inside back page]