Results 1-20 of 4,143 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Patricia Hewitt

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (28 Oct 2009) has video

Patricia Hewitt: In view of this week's state visit by her excellency the President of India, will my right hon. Friend say what more he can do further to strengthen the trading relationship between Britain and India?

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Care and Support (Reform) (14 Jul 2009)

Patricia Hewitt: I warmly welcome the substance of my right hon. Friend's statement and the spirit in which he made it. As the Government take forward the debate on the three funding options that they have put forward, can he assure me that they will also continue to build on the excellent work that has been done with personal budgets and direct payments so that people receiving help with their care needs...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Patricia Hewitt: It is a pleasure to be able to participate so early in this debate. I very warmly congratulate my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister for Women and Equality on introducing this excellent Bill. She has been a stalwart and consistent champion for equality from well before it became a reasonably fashionable cause. I listened to the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) and I was...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Patricia Hewitt: The hon. Gentleman raises an extremely interesting point. There is no doubt that there are occasions when there are competing rights. I dealt with that as Minister for Women when we were considering, for instance, the introduction of laws against religious discrimination and laws against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in employment. We arrived at, I believe, the right...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Patricia Hewitt: I strongly agree with the hon. Gentleman. I do not think there would be much disagreement in any part of the House. We carefully considered that in setting up the single equality commission, and I know that the commission takes it extremely seriously.

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Patricia Hewitt: I disagree with the hon. Lady on that point for the reasons so eloquently expressed by the Minister for Women and Equality. The point that I wanted to make about the right to request flexible working and, more broadly, work-family balance is that the new challenge we face is how employers can make it much easier and more normal for men to vary their working hours so that they can play the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Patricia Hewitt: My hon. Friend is absolutely right—in fact, I recall getting some sense of the work of that local strategic partnership when I visited her constituency—about the concerted effort that is needed over a long period to address such deep-seated disadvantages, which are transmitted intergenerationally within extended families in a neighbourhood. I want to raise two specific, more...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Patricia Hewitt: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her support, because she has done outstanding work on the issue. On the second issue, I want to return to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, North (Jeremy Corbyn) about caste discrimination, because it is certainly the belief of Caste Watch UK that the current law does not adequately protect those in south Asian or, indeed, other...

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

Patricia Hewitt: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Deplorable though it is that private information relating to hon. Members and our staff has been offered as a leak or possibly for sale to members of the press, we clearly cannot blame the media for the situation in which we find ourselves. I wonder whether, when the House of Commons Commission meets this evening, you would consider adding to what you are...

Oral Answers to Questions — Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform: WTO Negotiations (Doha Round) (7 May 2009) has video

Patricia Hewitt: I welcome my hon. Friend's reference to the Indian elections. Will he ensure that as soon as the elections are concluded and a new Indian Government are in place, the British Government will do everything possible to work with that Government, both to remove the remaining obstacles to the Doha round and to ensure a successful agreement on the proposed India-European Union trade agreement?

Opposition Day — [5th Allotted Day]: Royal Mail (11 Feb 2009) has video

Patricia Hewitt: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak, and for the opportunity to follow the speeches that we have just heard. I must, of course, declare an interest. As noted in the Register of Members' Interests, the Communication Workers Union has been a generous donor to my constituency campaign funds in the last two general elections. However, its members know that, on this issue, I do not agree...

Opposition Day — [5th Allotted Day]: Royal Mail (11 Feb 2009) has video

Patricia Hewitt: I simply cannot give way, given the time. For all the reasons I have outlined, I strongly support the Government amendment, and I wish the Minister every success with this difficult piece of work in progress.

Opposition Day — [5th Allotted Day]: Royal Mail (11 Feb 2009) has video

Patricia Hewitt: Will my right hon. Friend confirm that Royal Mail has lost approximately five times more revenue as a result of the transformation to e-commerce, e-mail and so on than as a result of the competition that has been introduced to the UK market?

Energy and Climate Change: Carbon Dioxide Emissions (22 Jan 2009) has video

Patricia Hewitt: As the Government focus on the carbon reduction targets, will my right hon. Friend redouble his efforts to ensure that green jobs and a green new deal remain at the heart of the Government's programme to stimulate the economy during the global downturn?

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Businesses (Financial Support) (14 Jan 2009) has video

Patricia Hewitt: I know that many firms in my constituency will warmly welcome today's announcement, but will my hon. Friend confirm not only that the help will be available from today but that all banks will be participating, so that we no longer have the spectacle of some fundamentally and absolutely healthy firms finding that their overdrafts are completely withdrawn or that credit lines continue to be...

European Affairs (9 Dec 2008) has video

Patricia Hewitt: It is a pleasure to take part in this debate and to follow the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Mr. Wilshire), who made a very interesting and well-informed speech. It was also a pleasure to hear my right hon. Friend the Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd), who speaks with deep passion and knowledge about Turkey, Iraq, the Kurdish people and their culture. She gave us a rather pertinent reminder...

European Affairs (9 Dec 2008) has video

Patricia Hewitt: I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that point, and for her support for my argument; I think that she is right. The action that the European Union is already taking, and will take, on climate change through a strengthened emissions trading scheme is vital in itself, as is the contribution that the largest single market in the world can make towards reducing pollution levels. It is also...

European Affairs (9 Dec 2008) has video

Patricia Hewitt: I did not realise that that was painful for some hon. Members to the extent that one of them cannot bear to hear again about the extent of his party's isolation in Europe. It is quite extraordinary, however, that the official Opposition still persist with their commitment to withdraw from the European People's party in the European Parliament, to withdraw from the social chapter, and to...

European Affairs (9 Dec 2008) has video

Patricia Hewitt: That is something that we debated at considerable length in the House when we went through many days and weeks of proceedings on the Lisbon treaty. Many Members and I made a point about the significant differences between the Lisbon treaty and the constitution, but I must tell the hon. Gentleman that the position that his party persists in maintaining on the treaty, the social chapter and on...

European Affairs (9 Dec 2008) has video

Patricia Hewitt: My right hon. Friend has made an important point about the fiscal stimulus package in Germany as well as across the European Union. In January, we will see a similar fiscal stimulus package on a massive scale in the United States of America, when President-elect Obama takes over. Does he agree that the real disaster for Britain would be if we had a Government who isolated us from both our...