Results 1-20 of 1,594 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Alan Duncan

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Drug Misuse (Prisons) (10 Nov 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: I know that the Government have done some work on this, but is there not a serious problem in that some offenders go into prison clean of drugs, and then come out addicted? What is the Government's estimate of the number of prisoners who have acquired or intensified their drug habit while in prison?

Probation Service (4 Nov 2009)

Alan Duncan: I start by thanking the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd) for launching this debate. We are all grateful to him for doing so. This is my first formal encounter with the Minister since I became shadow Prisons Minister. I look forward to many more.

Probation Service (4 Nov 2009)

Alan Duncan: Many, many more, perhaps from the other side of the House in due course. For the last 102 years, the probation service has worked tirelessly to protect the public and rehabilitate offenders through its effective supervision of those offenders out in the community. It is and always has been a vital part of the criminal justice system. Great credit must go to all those who work so hard in what...

Bills Presented: Bill of Rights (21 Jul 2009)

Alan Duncan: Is it not the case that the hon. Gentleman's party voted against a full sunset clause—or at least argued against one—in another place?

Bills Presented: Bill of Rights (21 Jul 2009)

Alan Duncan: We are asked to consider the amendments made in another place. May I say at the outset, before I go through some of the detail, that we on the Conservative Benches broadly support the amendments that the Lords have made to the Bill? Most have been the subject of vigorous debate and negotiation. Just over a week ago, the Bill arrived in the House in a state of some confusion. It was...

Bills Presented: Bill of Rights (21 Jul 2009)

Alan Duncan: At the risk of annoying the House, I shall put €10 on it now. I am pleased that the Government accepted Lords amendment 1, a Conservative amendment that categorically states that the issue of parliamentary privilege will remain unchanged in the Bill. The original Bill would have succeeded in unravelling, in just a few days, fundamental rights that have been at the foundation of our...

Bills Presented: Bill of Rights (21 Jul 2009)

Alan Duncan: Thanks to our hard work, my right hon. Friend will be able to advance all those arguments when the sunset clause is triggered in about two years' time. He may well find that he has some very good arguments.

Bills Presented: Bill of Rights (21 Jul 2009)

Alan Duncan: I understand my hon. Friend's point, which he has made strongly. I sense that he wishes to push his amendment to a Division shortly. We should all face up to the fact that the Bill is essentially a panic measure. The Government have been forced to make it up as they go along. Even before the ink is dry it is not perceived, in the eyes of many, as a permanent solution. One of the great...

Bills Presented: Bill of Rights (21 Jul 2009)

Alan Duncan: In the Secretary of State's intervention we see the seeds of the very confrontation that Sir Christopher Kelly has—if not predicted—at least suggested that he would have a view on. We would all like a solution to the way in which we are paid and the way in which our expenses are administered, so that all of us, with our honourable differences, can get on with our job of being...

Business of the House (16 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: May I invite the Leader of the House to give us the forthcoming parliamentary business?

Business of the House (16 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: I thank the right hon. and learned Lady for giving us the business of the House. Perhaps she can tell us at what time the House will meet on Tuesday, as it often meets earlier than normal on the last day. First, will the Leader of the House explain why such an absurd number of written ministerial statements have been published today? There are no fewer than 53 on today's Order Paper, which...

Business of the House (9 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: May I ask the Leader of the House to give us the forthcoming parliamentary business?

Business of the House (9 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: I thank the Leader of the House for giving us the business. Last week, I raised the issue of the length of time that the Treasury has taken to respond to some MPs' correspondence. We should perhaps be grateful that it replies at all. May I ask the right hon. and learned Lady for a further statement on what appears to have become common practice in the Department of Work and Pensions?...

Business of the House (2 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: May I invite the Leader of the House to give us the forthcoming parliamentary business?

Business of the House (2 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: I thank the right hon. and learned Lady for giving us the business, and may I also thank her for at last getting this year's draft legislative programme published? But will she explain what on earth has happened to the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill? The former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the right hon. Member for Salford (Hazel...

Business of the House (2 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: And the vandalism?

Business of the House (2 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: Rubbish!

Business of the House (2 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: You should be ashamed of yourself.

Bill Presented — Sustainable Energy (Local Plans) Bill: Clause 14 — Short title and commencement (1 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: Very nice try, but it does not wash. As someone who has run organisations and set them up, I appreciate that the Secretary of State is quite right to say that the staff need some sort of continuity, but we are considering not just the staff but the significance of the legislation that we are passing. It is not the independent fees office that is in any way controversial—the Secretary of...

Bill Presented — Sustainable Energy (Local Plans) Bill: Clause 14 — Short title and commencement (1 Jul 2009) has video

Alan Duncan: I beg to move amendment 5, in page 9, line 39, at end add— '(4) This Act and any Statutory Instrument made under this Act shall cease to have effect on the first anniversary of the day on which the Act is passed.'. We might get a little squeezed in the Third Reading debate, so may I take this opportunity to extend the usual courtesies to the Secretary of State and his staff? We on this...