Former Independent MP for Blaenau Gwent
I shall not take more than five minutes, as my hon. Friend the Independent Member for Croydon, Central (Mr. Pelling) wants to speak, as does the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash). Several quotations from newspapers and other sources have been put to the House tonight, but the two quotations that I would like to use are from a constituent of mine. He said to me some weeks ago, "If politics...
Like my constituents, I thank the hon. Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands (Charlotte Atkins) for raising this subject. At a time of recession, areas such as Blaenau Gwent suffer as much redundancy, unemployment and debt as anywhere else. The interesting thing is that, after 70 years, we are still talking about basically the same things. Our constituents need virtually the same help that...
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that important point. We have the buildings and the facilities, so let us do things together. We have looked at the CAB over 70 years. The problem with grant funding is that although it can be given, it can just as easily be taken away. We must find a core fund to make sure that the past 70 years will be not the last for the bureaux, but a growing period and the...
I start by saying how much I admire the work of the police. It is an unenviable job, and to follow on from what my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre Forest (Dr. Taylor) said, the police have expressed frustration to me about their inability to get charges through the Crown Prosecution Service and into court. Although we have spoken a lot about the young people of this country, it is not just...
Like many others who have spoken, I welcome the Bill and the continuing forecast for the eradication of child poverty. Let me touch on a few issues that, although they have already been raised, I consider to be important enough to mention again. First, there is the poverty of love. We have heard about the importance of marriage and families and about marriage break-up and its effect on...
As I look around the Chamber, I see that I am probably the junior Member. Today Members have made some of the most powerful and incisive speeches that I have heard in the more than three years I have been here, and that shows the importance of the decision to go to war with Iraq. I have considered why I came to this House, and the main reason is that I could not get 55,000 people into the...
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Bolton, South-East (Dr. Iddon). His all-party group was the first that I joined when I entered this place; his leadership is exemplary and a fantastic example of how an all-party group should be run. It is one of the most proactive groups in this place. He has done a fantastic job and will be a great loss to this House. I joined the group owing...
I want to raise a few issues that I do not think have been touched on tonight. The first is how redundancy and closure programmes are announced. I was involved in a redundancy programme back in 2002. The people I worked with were told of the closure through the media, which does not seem to have changed over the past seven years. Lots of people are stressed enough worrying about their future...
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the Oral Statement of 23 March 2010, Official Report, columns 133-4, on UK passports (use in Dubai murder), what the other reasons are for not releasing the report by the Serious Organised Crime Agency.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether there are mechanisms in place to assist the provision of energy efficiency measures and equipment in (a) community centres, (b) public halls, (c) social clubs and (d) other community facilities; and what recent representations he has received from community representatives on those matters.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who represented his Department at the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro in March 2010; and whether his Department allocated funding to that forum.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what account will be taken of the full life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of each fuel type in identifying low carbon generation technologies which will be eligible for specific support under the five groups of options referred to in paragraphs 4.7 to 4.48 of his Department's report on Energy Market Assessment.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much uranium has been imported from each country for civilian uses in each year since 1997.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what budget has been allocated for the work to be undertaken by Infrastructure UK in its investigation into the cost of delivering major infrastructure projects in the UK referred to in paragraph 4.4 of the report on Strategy for National Infrastructure.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to paragraph 5.4, page 44 of his Department's report on Energy Market Assessment of 24 March 2010, what criteria will be used to identify interested parties with which to enter into a dialogue in the next stage of consultation.
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of the creation of the proposed new UK space agency, including the (a) rebranding of the British National Space Centre and (b) public consultation conducted in 2009 on the civil space sector.
