Stephen Byers: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for calling me to make my maiden speech in the debate on the Queen's Speech, and may I take this opportunity to extend to you my personal congratulations on your selection as Deputy Speaker. It is appropriate for me to pay a tribute to Mr. Ted Garrett, my immediate predecessor, who retired at the general election. Ted Garrett was popular with hon. Members of...
Stephen Byers: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if the Lord Chancellor will withdraw the recent circular sent to justices' clerks concerning the proofs of wages paid or benefits received which are required from claimants before their applications can be considered.
Stephen Byers: I welcome that most constructive reply. Can the Parliamentary Secretary give the House a guarantee that when he considers issuing new guidelines, he will consult all interested parties? We share a common view that we need to achieve value for money, but we also believe that those seeking legal representation should have appropriate legal representation immediately so that they can face the...
Stephen Byers: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on his Department's plans for regional policy.
Stephen Byers: Is the Minister aware that, since 1979, unemployment in the northern region has increased by 58 per cent. and that bankruptcies have increased by more than 200 per cent? Will he explain why, at a time of rising unemployment and record bankruptcies, the Government have cut regional assistance to industry in the north by 85 per cent. in real terms? When will the Government discharge their...
Stephen Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the level of respite care available within the NHS.
Stephen Byers: Has the Minister had an opportunity yet to consider the recent survey carried out by the Carers National Association? Is he aware of the main findings of that survey, which are that no less than 20 per cent. of carers had no break for even a day from their caring responsibilities and that no less than two thirds of carers suffered ill health in discharging their caring obligations? In the...
Stephen Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to renegotiate the terms of the Maastricht treaty.
Stephen Byers: Does the Secretary of State agree with the comments made yesterday evening by the Prime Minister that the United Kingdom presidency of the Commission provides a priceless opportunity for the Government to set the European agenda? If he agrees, will he accept that that will entail positive steps being taken by the Government? One popular measure would be the endorsement by the Government of...
Stephen Byers: I add my congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Mrs. Campbell) on her good fortune in succeeding in the ballot for the debate today. I commend her good judgment in selecting special educational needs as the topic for the debate. All too often, special educational needs are seen to be on the margin of education provision, but about 1 million school children and students...
Stephen Byers: If the Minister is so sure that parents' views are of paramount importance, does he not further agree that if a parent were aggrieved because a place was not available at a grant-maintained school, he or she should have the facility—which I know that the Government are considering—of appealing to the independent tribunal that it is hoped to establish?
Stephen Byers: The debate is about special educational needs. If a parent who has a child with special educational needs applies to a grant-maintained school and is refused, no provision is made—apart from appealing to the school —for gaining admission. In those circumstances, would it not be appropriate for that parent to have the right to appeal to an independent tribunal?
Stephen Byers: I wish, first, to reply very quickly to the points that were made by the hon. Member for Dartford (Mr. Dunn). This scheme is not about parental choice; it is about schools choosing their pupils, which is exactly what happens when an application is made under the assisted places scheme. Often, a pupil has to sit an examination set by the school that his parents wish him to attend; thus it is...
Stephen Byers: The Minister leads me to my next point. I want to look at the backgrounds of those parents who are less well-off. The assisted places scheme is helping people from middle-class backgrounds who have fallen on hard times as a result of the Government's recession. The figures show clearly that 61 per cent. of the mothers and more than half the fathers of children who receive assisted places were...
Stephen Byers: I welcome the fact that Eton and Harrow make their own arrangements and do not rely on public subsidy. My point was that those schools are well known for the quality of education that they deliver. We cannot say the same for the 295 schools that are part of the assisted places scheme. As my hon. Friend the Member for Durham, North-West (Ms Armstrong) said, there is no way of judging the...
Stephen Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to renegotiate the Maastricht treaty.
Stephen Byers: Does the Foreign Secretary accept that, whatever the merits of the Maastricht treaty may have been in December 1991, it is clearly not a treaty based on economic growth and job creation and will therefore not lift Europe out of recession? Does the right hon. Gentleman recognise the depth of public concern about the Maastricht treaty, and is he not aware that, unless the Government indicate a...
Stephen Byers: Is the President of the Board of Trade aware that Swan Hunter Shipbuilders on Tyneside wishes to diversify into the merchant shipbuilding sector but, in so doing, will be in direct competition with German shipyards that presently receive a 36 per cent. subsidy from the European Commission? In the light of that, will the President agree to make intervention funding available? Will he also...
Stephen Byers: The hon. Gentleman refers to the Government's commitment to education, but is it not true that, in real terms, spending on education each year since 1979 has been less than that in other areas of Government spending? If the Government were spending the same percentage as was spent in 1979, an additional £1·5 billion would have been spent on education in the last year alone. Those are the...
Stephen Byers: Will the hon. Gentlemen give way?
