Former Labour MP for Northampton South
I add my congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Jarrow (Mr. Hepburn) on bringing this Bill before the House. It has been said that the ballot for private Members' Bills is very much a case of chance, but I always like to look at what Bills Members choose to promote, because it can be almost a window on the soul. In choosing their subjects, my hon. Friends the Members for Jarrow and...
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his comments, but I have to say that the fact that we might not be able to go as far as we want is no excuse for not putting the Bill on the statute book or for allowing 300-plus deaths a year to continue unchecked. Perhaps the Government will have to come back at a later date to extend coverage to the public sector; if so, so be it. We should not...
On companies not taking seriously health and safety matters, does my hon. Friend agree that it is an outrage that, when the HSE considered the amount of time that directors spent at board meetings discussing health and safety, it found that more than 50 per cent. of companies had not discussed health and safety in the past three years? Is that not the crux of what we are trying to do? We want...
All of us in the House wish the PSNI and the Garda Siochana every success in bringing those responsible for these terrible crimes to justice. We look forward to the evidence being presented to the House. Does my right hon. Friend share the legitimate concerns of those of us who worry that invoking financial penalties and making links with individuals in the House at the same time as we are...
The need for brevity will perhaps lead me to be less courteous than I would like to be in my comments, but I start by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Minister and his team on delivering the eighth consecutive inflation-plus rise to local government since the Government came to office. I say that with all sincerity. Those of us who served in local government before coming to the House...
The role that free-to-air broadcasting plays in ensuring that the digital revolution can be shared by those on low incomes should not be underestimated, but can my right hon. Friend say why people in the middle of Northampton in NN1 and NN2 postcodes are still not able to receive free-to-air digital broadcasts? If we are to get people in those areas—many of them are on low incomes—to...
What steps the Government are taking to cut down the number of accidents on the motorway in which tiredness is a major factor.
I congratulate the Government and the Northamptonshire casualty reduction partnership on the work that they have done so far. Is he aware of research carried out by the Loughborough sleep research centre? The research shows two things: first, that small amounts of alcohol have a major impact on people falling asleep at the wheel, particularly at this time of the year when they have the odd...
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the level of violent crime in Northampton was in each year since 1997.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many special constables there are in Northampton; and how many there were in (a) 2001 and (b) 1997.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the effects of the security barrier being built by the Government of Israel on Palestinian communities; what representations he has received from non-governmental organisations on the effects of the wall on their work in the occupied territories; and what representations he has made to...
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people aged over 65 years have been in work in Northampton, South in each year since 1997.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been served in Northampton in each year since their introduction.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage change there has been in the number of police officers in Northampton in each year since 1997.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) teachers and (b) education support staff there were in Northampton, South in each year since 1992.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will break down achievement at each key stage in 2003 in Northampton by ethnicity, subdivided into those (a) in receipt of and (b) not in receipt of free school meals.
