Results 1-20 of 8,530 for speaker:Harriet Harman

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: Mr. Speaker, yesterday you informed the House of the subjects for debate on the Queen's Speech. The business for next week is as follows: Monday 23 November-Continuation of the debate on the Queen's Speech. The subjects for debate, as you announced, Mr. Speaker, will be Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Defence. Tuesday 24 November-Continuation of the debate on the Queen's Speech. Energy...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his generous comments on my receiving the parliamentarian of the year award from The Spectator. I have to confess that it was a great surprise to me. Over the years, The Spectator has called me many things but they have not approximated to parliamentarian of the year. I am not actually going to subscribe to the publication, but I shall offer some of its...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: The hon. Gentleman makes a mistake when he describes the legislation that we introduced in the Queen's Speech as "fantasy politics" and "abracadabra Bills". The Crime and Security Bill, which gives the police more powers to deal with gangs, is necessary, and I hope that he and his hon. Friends will support it. The Energy Bill and the Flood and Water Management Bill, which has already received...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: My hon. Friend may well look for an opportunity to raise that subject in the Queen's Speech debate on Thursday when we discuss the economy and business. He is absolutely right. Putting in the public domain information that is held by Government and by public agencies will allow a great deal of spin-off in the private sector. He has taken a leading role in proposing this; it is a situation...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: Although there is no legislation in relation to our armed forces, the Prime Minister, and indeed the Leader of the Opposition, referred extensively to the armed forces and their mission in Afghanistan in their speeches yesterday. The hon. Lady will be able to refer to any particular issues in relation to her constituency in the debate on defence on Monday 23 November.

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: It is important that Sir Thomas Legg can get on with his work. It is also important for the public to be able to see that every single claim made by Members of the House over the past five years has been gone through with a fine-toothed comb and to see that any overpayments, even those made by mistake, are paid back, so that we can turn and face them and say, "Any over-claiming has been dealt...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: It looks as though the hon. Gentleman will have the opportunity to raise the points he wants to raise on 1 December and next Monday in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office debate. He can also raise the importance of financial services in the Treasury debate.

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: As my hon. Friend knows, because he has championed the issue of animal welfare, we have a very good record and very high standards of protecting animals in scientific research, but we also place a very high value on scientific research, which can make a massive difference to alleviating disease and saving lives. The important thing is to enable that research to proceed without causing...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: I am sorry, but when the hon. Gentleman started talking about "The X Factor" I could not work out how that related to the important task of making sure that Europe has a clear and coherent voice. We must play a central part in that and we await the outcome today.

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: It is important to look across the business of the House as a whole for each week, including statements, questions, general and topical debates and debates initiated by the Opposition parties on Opposition days. I want to make sure that the House has the time that it needs to debate Afghanistan. The country expects the House to devote a proper amount of time to debating our mission there, and...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: The right hon. and learned Gentleman will know that questions of timing are dealt with by timetable motions and that, as far as possible, we seek to reach agreement with those on the Opposition Front Bench on how we do that. Obviously, there is an element of unpredictability, as it is not always easy to identify in advance which clauses will cause an extension of the debate. I look forward to...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: It is a bit difficult to say how we will deal with the Wright Committee's report until we have seen what the balance is of substantive proposals or suggestions for further debate. Obviously, the report will be very important for the House as a whole, and no doubt decisions will have to be made by the House as a whole following the report's publication. I shall try to make sure that we have as...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his suggestion that he will send me a list of the issues that are considered to require further legislation, but he does not need to do so, because that was in Sir Christopher Kelly's report, to which, obviously, I have paid close attention. Perhaps it would assist the House if I went through some of those points and said which of them I do not believe will...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: A written statement? [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear!"] No, what I said had a question mark-"A written statement?" I am not sure-I think that what I will do is have a meeting. I think the position is perfectly clear, but it might help the House if I could go through- [Interruption.] I know hon. Members are resisting, but it might help the House if I could go through the proposals and say very...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: I will check back on whether there were discussions on that with the Opposition Front Benchers, and I will give the matter further consideration. The hon. Gentleman has been consistent in raising that point, and I will check out whether I have done what I promised him I would.

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: The Defence Secretary will be at the Dispatch Box on Monday, and I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will have an opportunity to intervene to make that point and seek a response directly from him.

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: Our approach has been consistent. We recognise the public anger and concern, and we wanted to bring forward the Legg inquiry so that every claim could be looked through. We were also concerned that Sir Christopher Kelly should conduct an independent inquiry into a future framework for our allowances. The matter should not come back to the House, but should be dealt with independently. That is...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: I cannot add to what I said last time that question was asked. In a recent debate, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury explained that Sir John Chadwick will produce a report on a framework for proceeding with ex gratia payments. The work of the ombudsman's report on Equitable Life took four years, because it is an immensely complex matter going back many years. Obviously, we want the matter...

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: Perhaps the hon. Gentleman can expand on those issues in the debate next Thursday, when the Treasury and business will be the subject of the debate on the Queen's Speech.

Business of the House (19 Nov 2009)

Harriet Harman: Sorry, but all the time that I have spoken with the hon. Gentleman from the Dispatch Box, I had not realised that he was hot. I thank him for pointing it out.