Results 1-20 of 1,760 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Lynne Featherstone

Pupil Funding (Haringey) (4 Nov 2009)

Lynne Featherstone: I am extremely grateful to have secured this important debate, the outcome of which is so vital to children in Haringey, and I am delighted to appear before you this afternoon, Mr. Cummings. What is the extent of the problem that I have brought here today? In Haringey schools, children get nearly £1,200 less per head—per head—than children in neighbouring boroughs such as...

Women and Equality: Equality and Human Rights Commission (22 Oct 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: Thank you for calling me, Mr. Speaker, but this was not the question that I thought I was going to be called on.

Women and Equality: Equality and Human Rights Commission (22 Oct 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: Thank you, Mr. Speaker; I will therefore do so. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has said that parental rights are so good that women are having a difficult time being employed. I wonder what the Government are doing about that.

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: G8 Summit (13 Jul 2009)

Lynne Featherstone: I listened to what the Prime Minister said about the 60 per cent. increase in the number of helicopters in the past two years. However, it is my understanding that helicopters that can transport troops are the most significant need, so what proportion of that 60 per cent. is troop-transporting helicopters and what is that in raw numbers, please?

Archer Inquiry (1 Jul 2009)

Lynne Featherstone: I must declare an interest because my nephew is a haemophiliac, and he has been infected with hepatitis C. He was forced to carry on taking treatment that was not safe long after the Government knew about the infected blood. The manufactured blood product, recombinant, was available only to those under the age of 16. Any haemophiliac over 16 had to take potentially infected injections. There...

Women and Equality: Gender Pay Gap (25 Jun 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: Although we disagree on mandatory and voluntary pay audits, if we are to have voluntary pay gender information and it has not worked by 2013—because the matrix has not worked or whatever—what threshold will the Minister be looking at to determine whether the scheme has not worked? What percentage of companies will need to have voluntarily displayed at that point?

Business of the House: Whitsun Adjournment (21 May 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: There are a few matters relating to my constituency that I wish to address. Before I do so, however, as a new Member who joined the House in 2005, I want to say how shocked I am by the way in which Parliament works, and how democracy is often thwarted here, rather than advanced. Perhaps I was simply naive before I came here and knew very little of politics so did not see the reality, but I...

Business of the House: Whitsun Adjournment (21 May 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: He knows everything. I go to him for advice; he is very wise Member.

Business of the House: Whitsun Adjournment (21 May 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: That is what he tells me, and I believe him. I shall turn to the middle east, because the heart of the Stop the War movement is in my constituency. It was born in Muswell Hill, and it is a very powerful movement. There is also a reasonably large—not huge, but sizeable—Jewish population in my constituency. I am constantly lobbied by pro-Palestinians and pro-Israelis to take their...

Business of the House: Whitsun Adjournment (21 May 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: Okay, sorry. Last but not least, I shall turn to beer tax. I simply want to say that we all like going to the pub. I certainly like going there, even more in times of depression. I have been there quite a few times recently.

Business of the House: Whitsun Adjournment (21 May 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: Both. The above-inflation increases in duty on beer are crippling local pubs, but they are the heart of our community. I must declare an interest, because my constituency office is on the first floor of a pub called the Three Compasses, on High street, Hornsey. It is a very good place to have a constituency office. It is secure, because I am not alone—people are there until late at...

Business of the House: Whitsun Adjournment (21 May 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: Did he? Well, anyway, the British Beer and Pub Association said that 2,000 pubs closed last year. Tax is 33.5 per cent. of the price of a pint of beer and drinking is lawful. I simply call for a fair tax. I do not want to see that mainstay of British society, the pub, go out of existence.

Business of the House: Whitsun Adjournment (21 May 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: I agree wholeheartedly with everything that the hon. Gentleman is saying. Is he aware that there are moves—from the right hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Frank Dobson), I believe—to try to get the secret ballot abolished? That would be an absolute tragedy, given that we have had this opportunity.

Commission for the Compact: New Clause 22 — Penalty for contravening notice relating to encrypted information (19 May 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: Does the Minister realise that there has been a rash of applications for lap-dancing licences, just prior to the legislation coming into force? If there were to be grandfather rights, would there be a distinction between those establishments that have been opportunistic and are suddenly getting in on the act, and others?

Women and Equality: Gender Reassignment (Equality Bill) (14 May 2009) has video

Lynne Featherstone: Is the Minister aware that transsexuals face an NHS lottery? There are heavy restrictions in, for instance, Oxfordshire, where they can only get part of what they need done. That is akin to the position in the 1960s, when people were forced to go to Morocco or the Netherlands for surgery. Does the Minister agree that that is an appalling situation for them to find themselves in, and will she...

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

Lynne Featherstone: I welcome the whole of the procurement chain being used in that way, but my concern is that there may not be the means to ensure proper monitoring of that chain. I am anxious lest it become a tick-box exercise, rather than a real force for change.

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

Lynne Featherstone: There is such a backlog, but there are no measures in the Bill to deal with it. Should we not have had representative action?

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

Lynne Featherstone: We have heard a lot about the costs to business, but does the hon. Lady think that business might support the introduction of compulsory pay audit measures in the first quarter following the economy having returned to growth—or might businesses welcome such measures after two quarters of growth, perhaps?

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

Lynne Featherstone: Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that there will be a net profit to UK plc?

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

Lynne Featherstone: The passion that drives and motivates Liberal Democrats—that beats in our hearts—is our quest for, and commitment to, a fairer and more open and equal world, so we very much welcome the Bill. It was too long in gestation and far too late in arriving but it is very much welcome nevertheless. Fairness and equality are Liberal Democrat watchwords and we shall support outcomes in the...