Results 1-20 of 679 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:John Hemming

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

John Hemming: I am pleased to speak after the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mr. Purchase). The issue of council housing has a lot of purchase with me, too. In Birmingham, we can at least say that we are building a small number of new council houses, even if that is done through a municipal housing trust, so that we are not trapped by the housing revenue account calculations and the tax on...

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

John Hemming: I like to look at cases in detail and I do not know enough about that. Much of the time, what we do in this place is pick on a case that seems wrong. There are cases that seem wrong superficially, but we need to consider a set of cases. There are systematic problems in child protection, for instance-take the Climbié inquiry or the case of baby P-but often we focus on one case. I am...

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

John Hemming: The Berkeley brothers took the issue of the system of law in Sark, which is linked with Guernsey, to judicial review. It was seen clearly as a responsibility of the Ministry of Justice. It is settled UK law that that responsibility rests within the UK. I accept that there are differences of status. Whereas I am not sure about the settled legal position on the Turks and Caicos islands, there...

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

John Hemming: Does my right hon. Friend agree that, in having a business management committee, Holyrood provides another lesson that this House could learn?

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

John Hemming: In arguing for the repeal of the 1998 Act, is the right hon. and learned Gentleman also arguing that individuals in this country should have no right of appeal to the European Court in Strasbourg?

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

John Hemming: On the other arguments for sustainability, is the Secretary of State aware of the recent research done by the UK Energy Research Council that identified that it is quite likely that global oil production will peak in the next 10 years, if it already has not peaked?

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

John Hemming: The right hon. Lady says that the Government are doing everything that we suggest they should. We suggested both in Public Bill Committees and on the Floor of the House having fixed penalty notices for community service orders, but the Government did not accept that.

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

John Hemming: rose—

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

John Hemming: I do not know whether my hon. Friend is aware of the research done by the university of Groningen, which identified that it is absolutely critical that rules should be enforced, and that unenforced rules undermine the whole concept. In Birmingham, we have supported a limited number of antisocial behaviour orders as well as acceptable behaviour contracts. We are particularly keen that...

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

John Hemming: Perhaps the right hon. Lady will agree that another aspect of the problem is that human behaviour is often habitual, rather than necessarily rational, that people need to develop good habits, and that one way to enable them to do so is for us to ensure there is better discipline in schools. In my constituency four or five years ago, a child was excluded from school for assaulting a classroom...

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

John Hemming: rose—

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

John Hemming: I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way on the subject of early intervention and the need to support families at that stage. I had the opportunity to visit a Sure Start centre in my constituency and, separately, to go to see Home-Start, which does similar sorts of early intervention support work. Home-Start said that about half of its problems arise from bad housing, whereas Sure Start said...

Olympics: Swine Flu Update (20 Jul 2009) has video

John Hemming: At the previous statement on swine flu, the Minister had no answer to the question about what is being done about people getting cross-infected on a plane flying into this country. We have this strange situation where the Government seem to have done nothing to discourage people from flying into the country, while airlines are turning people away and preventing them from flying out of it with...

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

John Hemming: I have to make a rather unusual declaration of interest because, along with Mike Whitby and Carl Chinn, I was one of the people who opened negotiations with BMW and then got kicked out as a community representative from the bid, and although we may have residual legal rights, we would not wish to exercise them other than in the interests of the wider community. It is the wider community, of...

Estimates Day — [3rd Allotted Day] — Department for Children, Schools and Families: Looked-after Children (2 Jul 2009) has video

John Hemming: One of the interesting aspects of this subject is definitions. Let us take the definition of care. A child is "in care" when there is a care order in place, but even then, that child may be placed with their parents. The fact that there has been an intervention, and maybe an early one, does not necessarily mean that it is a stressful intervention with a child being put with a foster carer...

Estimates Day — [3rd Allotted Day] — Department for Children, Schools and Families: Looked-after Children (2 Jul 2009) has video

John Hemming: That is true: there are children in care under section 20 orders, and there are a few children in respite care, too. I accept that point. Of the more than 60,000 children in care, roughly a third are voluntarily put into care under section 20 orders, but I always find it a bit of a mistake to take them into account when calculating figures on adoption targets, although admittedly we do not...

Estimates Day — [3rd Allotted Day] — Department for Children, Schools and Families: Looked-after Children (2 Jul 2009) has video

John Hemming: That is true. Sorry about that—a slight error there, but who knows? That research was published in a report in Aging and Mental Health, volume 7, issue 5, 2003. It found that the experience created an attachment disorder, which, in a sense, suggests reasons why the Danish approach is particularly good; it is an interesting question whether we should subcontract the entire system to...

Estimates Day — [3rd Allotted Day] — Department for Children, Schools and Families: Looked-after Children (2 Jul 2009) has video

John Hemming: I am talking about research into particular issues, such as reactive attachment disorder, children who are adopted and then readopted, and why we try to get so many children aged seven, eight or nine adopted when that is clearly not in their best interests. We need to look at some individual cases. Let us take the case, which the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton)...

Estimates Day — [3rd Allotted Day] — Department for Children, Schools and Families: Looked-after Children (2 Jul 2009) has video

John Hemming: It is not sub judice.

Estimates Day — [3rd Allotted Day] — Department for Children, Schools and Families: Looked-after Children (2 Jul 2009) has video

John Hemming: My understanding is that the case is not before any court at the moment. Sebastian and his mother have been on the run for around 14 months. The father of the baby girl was jailed for 14 months, but has since been released. The family is on the run in Europe, yet Medway social services will not drop the complaint to the police and still wants the mother to be arrested under an international...