Results 1-20 of 2,524 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:James Clappison

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

James Clappison: The Minister says that he is going to monitor the situation. As another regular user of this line, may I assure him that he will not have to monitor it for very long to see the misery that it is causing to my constituents in Radlett, Borehamwood, Elstree and Potters Bar, who pay substantial amounts of money and feel that their interests have been completely overlooked by both the company and...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009) has video

James Clappison: Yes, I shall certainly give way. The right hon. Lady has experience of these matters.

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009) has video

James Clappison: The right hon. Lady has made her point, but may I draw her attention to Lords amendment 2? It says: "Nothing in this section shall cause any financial sanction to be imposed in the case of a single parent with a child under five years of age." That amendment was moved by my noble Friend Lord Freud, and it could not be more explicit. The right hon. Lady knows that we have been consistent...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009) has video

James Clappison: I think I was a little kinder than the hon. Lady in what I said about the value of affirmative resolutions. As a parliamentarian, I always welcome the affirmative procedure and argue in favour of it when considering Bills, but one needs a tinge of realism when discussing the subject. I am always in favour of parliamentary debates, but following the hon. Lady's point I would say that even when...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009) has video

James Clappison: rose—

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009) has video

James Clappison: I think that we have been consistent about this matter. The Minister seems somewhat uncomfortable talking about sanctions affecting very young children, but I do want to ask him a question. There is not much between us otherwise, but why is it so important to have financial sanctions that can be imposed on parents with children as young as three and four? If the sanctions became available...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 2 — Work-related activity: income support claimants and partners of claimants (10 Nov 2009) has video

James Clappison: May I begin by welcoming the Minister to the proceedings on this Bill? He has obviously spent some time studying the provisions, and he will know from previous debates that we on this side of the House have expressed broad support for the Bill and its objectives. We support many of the measures in the Bill—as we should, indeed, since we suggested many of them before the Government took...

Olympics: FOI Request (Immigration) (9 Nov 2009) has video

James Clappison: Does not this information reveal a culture of risk-taking and laxity in government? Is there not a danger of this culture continuing when, as the Home Affairs Select Committee learned last week, the points-based system overrides the discretion of individual immigration officers even when they entertain the gravest of doubts about people seeking to enter the United Kingdom. May we have an...

Business of the House (29 Oct 2009) has video

James Clappison: Is the Leader of the House aware that it emerged yesterday in evidence to the European Scrutiny Committee that the rules and procedures of the proposed European presidency are being fashioned in secrecy, and that the European Council proposes to adopt them straight away without the opportunity for scrutiny or debate in this House? Might we have some debate at least about the proposed new...

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: Antisocial Behaviour Orders (26 Oct 2009) has video

James Clappison: Approximately what proportion of the ASBOs that the Minister has just told us about were breached?

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: Topical Questions (26 Oct 2009) has video

James Clappison: Given his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), is the Minister for Borders and Immigration making the case that the United Kingdom population will not reach 70 million?

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (19 Oct 2009) has video

James Clappison: Will it not have been depressing for a newly unemployed person to have heard the Secretary of State's response in today's exchanges? Her first response to the unemployment crisis is to reach for the history books and rewrite the statistics from the 1990s. May I take the Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform back to the question that his colleague failed to answer about the young person's...

[David Taylor in the Chair] — North Sea Oil and Gas Industry (13 Oct 2009)

James Clappison: I congratulate the hon. Member for Aberdeen, North (Mr. Doran) on securing the debate. He made the important point that this subject is not debated often enough; it is good that he has given us an opportunity to debate it. As he rightly says, it is of great importance to the safety of those who work in the industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of people in hundreds of installations,...

Opposition Day — [15th Allotted Day]: Identity Cards (6 Jul 2009)

James Clappison: Is my right hon. Friend struck by the fact that the right hon. Lady, one of the main architects of this policy, did not make a single argument in favour of ID cards in her intervention, and instead chose to ask the Opposition questions about it? Does not that speak volumes?

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: Topical Questions (6 Jul 2009)

James Clappison: On the question of unnecessary police paperwork, is the Secretary of State aware that years and years ago, when the Select Committee on Home Affairs was looking into the issue and the Chairman was the right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham), who is now the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Ministers came before the Committee and gave exactly the same...

Oral Answers to Questions — Health: European Council (23 Jun 2009)

James Clappison: The Prime Minister has said that the guarantees to the Irish people will be given effect in protocols but these, apparently, are to be added to a completely different treaty as and when further countries accede to the European Union at some uncertain time in the future. In the meantime, do the guarantees have legal effect and if so, how?

Oral Answers to Questions — Transport: Track Renewals (14 May 2009) has video

James Clappison: Is the Secretary of State aware that the condition of the track, and particularly the points system, goes to the heart of the issues concerning the Potters Bar rail crash, which now took place more than seven years ago? I appreciate the personal interest that he has taken in this case, but does he agree that seven years is far too long to have to wait for an inquiry into these important issues?

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

James Clappison: Ministers continually talk about the extra money they say they are spending, but they consistently fail to put in place the help that people need at the time when they need it. Given the figures that the Minister has just revealed, which show a significant increase in the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance—it is now up to 1.5 million—it is sadly very likely that there...

Business of the House: Testing and Assessment (7 May 2009) has video

James Clappison: Notwithstanding the reams of statistics that the Secretary of State mentioned and the learned groups and experts whom he prayed in aid, does he accept that there is a widespread public concern, which my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) expressed, about the degree of rigour in education and the level of attainment in difficult subjects such as sciences and languages,...

Business of the House (7 May 2009) has video

James Clappison: Can we find time for a debate on early-day motion 1407 on the Potters Bar rail crash? [ That this House notes that 10 May 2009 marks the seventh anniversary of the Potters Bar derailment; and expresses its regret that no form of public inquiry has yet taken place despite the clearly expressed wishes of surviving victims and bereaved families for such an inquiry to be held. ] Is the Leader...