Results 1-20 of 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:Tom Blenkinsop
- Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: A and E Departments (21 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: We know that walk-in centres alleviate the pressure on A and Es. How many walk-in centres have shut since May 2010?
- Business of the House (16 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: May we have a debate on the £2.6 million owed in wages to armed forces personnel that was not paid in April 2013, following the 1.5% agreed pay increase, a decision arrived at by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body, which was applied only from 1 May 2013? That means that the pay increase applies for only 11 months rather than 12—something I have never heard of in the private sector...
- Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners: English Baccalaureate (16 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: If he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Education on the merits of including GCSE religious studies within the English baccalaureate.
- Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners: English Baccalaureate (16 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: Does the hon. Gentleman share the concerns of religious studies teachers in my constituency that the decision not to include the subject in the EBacc will have a negative on the number of young people taking it at GCSE?
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: rose—
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: I am not going to respond to personal digs, but I will say that I met the Minister’s predecessor on more than one occasion about concerns relating to the CIC. Opposition Members were concerned about that and wanted to be constantly fed information so they could know what was happening and disseminate information to their constituents. However, in recent months we have certainly not had...
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: I genuinely hope the Minister will take this opportunity to stop the strategy of stonewalling, as a result of which we have received no answers to freedom of information requests or questions in this House, and answer the final question in my speech: will he guarantee that there is no route via mutualisation that will allow for privatisation, as outlined by the chief fire officer to us at a...
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: rose—
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: I think you will agree, Mr. Speaker, that it was such an important point that it had to be made a second time. I shall develop my response to it during my speech, if my hon. Friend will allow me to do so. In Cleveland, the chief fire officer is exploring the possibility of spinning out the fire brigade. The whole range of fire and rescue services activity, including emergency response, is...
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: I will, although Members normally inform the Member who has secured the debate that they wish to intervene.
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: We understand that, under the recent regulations introduced under the Government’s own Health and Social Care Act 2012, the TUPE regulations are worth about 90 days in practice. As for the hon. Gentleman’s claim that the Labour authority is pushing the proposal, the Labour chair actually said “If we were properly funded, we would not even consider going down this...
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: Thank you very much. Many operational issues arise from the proposals, relating to, for instance, local, regional and national resilience. I understand that the Fire Officers Association, the Chief Fire Officers Association and the Fire Brigades Union have raised them with officials in the Department for Communities and Local Government. I shall focus on four specific concerns. The first is...
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, who himself has had to get FOIs and put those letters of information into the House of Commons Library, due to the lack of transparency. One of the main genuine reasons why some members of the fire authority are even considering going down this route is their belief that it would mitigate some of the cuts, due to the spun-out body’s ability to bid...
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: At the meeting mentioned by the hon. Member for Stockton South (James Wharton), the main thrust of the chief fire officer’s argument for seeking a mutual model was to avoid corporation tax. If that is the sole purpose of pursuing the mutual model, one has to assume that the mutual is making a profit, but I want to go into that in more detail. Spending £198,000 from the Department...
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: That is precisely why we are here tonight. My hon. Friend makes the valid point about letters on separate issues appearing before the Regulatory Reform Committee with no prior warning. That suggests something going on behind closed doors that we have still not been able to get the documents on in any proper manner. I presume these providers could be in the private sector as well as the third...
- Cleveland Fire Authority (13 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: First, I thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to have this important Adjournment debate. I am sure that hon. and right hon. Members—at least those on the Opposition Benches—are acutely aware of the financial squeeze being applied to their fire and rescue authorities by central Government. Indeed, two years ago, my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright)...
- Business of the House: Child-care Ratios (9 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: Obviously, whoever was babysitting the Deputy Prime Minister this morning did not do a very good job, as on LBC this morning, he apparently insisted that the Government’s child care policy will be reversed. Is the Minister sure that this policy will be implemented?
- Business of the House (9 May 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: Community sentences were meant for low-level offences, not serious offences. May we have a debate and a proper explanation from a Minister on why more than 10,000 domestic violence, knife crime and serious assault offences last year resulted only in community resolutions?
- Agricultural Wages Board (24 April 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: The backdrop to this terrible and petty Government measure is the fact that real wages have fallen by £1,700 since this Government were elected. This is a Government who preach about making work pay, yet raise the national minimum wage by only 1.9% while consumer prices index inflation is at 2.8%. This is a living standards debate. Instead of raising standards for farm workers, the...
- Agricultural Wages Board (24 April 2013)
Tom Blenkinsop: As my hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) said from a sedentary position, that means that 59% of workers do not earn that. Therefore, 41% have enhanced terms because a statutory minimum is in place—the same principle as for the national minimum wage. It is a different sector, but 59% of people do not earn that and there is no guarantee about what direction their pay,...