Alan Johnson: My right hon. Friend is making an interesting speech. Does he accept that one of the problems from Poland is that the Polish prosecution service does not have the discretion not to prosecute? Does he also accept that the work going on within the European Union with Poland has led to a 40% reduction in applications? Their number is still too many, but it is declining.
Alan Johnson: The Whips will be pleased to know that I support the motion, but I do not have too much problem with the amendment. The problem is the timing of the amendment because it deals with generalities when we need to start talking about specifics, particularly if the Home Secretary’s pledge that this should be a matter for Parliament to decide is to be honoured. Truth to tell, the opt-out in...
Alan Johnson: My point is that the Government came to the conclusion that they are minded to opt out. We have no idea where that thinking came from—there was no consultation with anyone. It is just as valid for the Government to be minded to opt in, but we have no sense of what big issue prevents them from doing so. The Home Secretary said in October and has repeated today that some of the measures are...
Alan Johnson: Exactly a year ago, the Home Secretary said in her introduction to the draft Communications Data Bill: “Without action there is a serious and growing risk that crimes enabled by email and the internet will go undetected and unpunished, that the vulnerable will not be protected and that terrorists and criminals will not be caught and prosecuted. No responsible Government could allow such a...
Alan Johnson: My hon. Friend is making a powerful case for Hull. Does he agree that one of the most exciting things about Hull and the Humber area is the opportunity that exists for digital creation? We have artists, graphic designers, musicians and technicians from Grimsby institute and Hull university creating a real opportunity, both to make digital creation part of the redevelopment of Hull and to...
Alan Johnson: I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. I am pleased to hear him make these points, which I think can be summed up by saying, “You don’t promote your own bid better by denigrating other bids.” Indeed, would he go a little further and say that anyone who described other towns and places in the UK as dumps would be hindering rather than helping their campaign?
Alan Johnson: Abu Qatada’s legal team have used the Human Rights Act 1998 to suggest that if extradition took place, evidence gained through torture would be used in a trial against him. Surely his team would have more success if it changed tack and argued that Abu Qatada might commit suicide, in which case they would have the support of the Home Secretary.
Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on couples with a spare room who legally separate in regard to the under-occupancy penalty.
Alan Johnson: This is a fascinating subject and I am willing to have a look at any correspondence between the hon. Gentleman and me when I was Health Secretary. I certainly tried very hard to correspond with all Members of Parliament. Does he accept what Francis said: “Local MPs received feedback and concerns about the Trust. However, these were largely just passed on to others without follow up or...
Alan Johnson: Well, there’s a man who knows all the answers! It was four years ago on Monday when I apologised to this House on behalf of the Government and the national health service for what happened at Stafford. We had just received the report from the Healthcare Commission, and I think it is fair to say that no one with any experience of the NHS could quite believe what had gone on. The people in...
Alan Johnson: No, I am not giving way—at least not to the hon. Gentleman. I have heard enough. This is what Francis said in paragraph 108 of his report: “To place too much emphasis on individual blame is to risk perpetuating the illusion that removal of particular individuals is all that is necessary. That is certainly not the case here. To focus, therefore, on blame will perpetuate the cycle of...
Alan Johnson: On the question of a public inquiry, when Francis reported on his first inquiry, commissioned by my right hon. Friend the Member for Leigh, he made the point that it was about people affected being able to come and tell their story, and Francis said in his first report: “I am confident that many of the witnesses who have assisted the inquiry in written or oral evidence would not have done...
Alan Johnson: The Secretary of State is right. Of course there need to be safeguards to ensure any system has a backstop to stop people misusing targets. The guidance from the Department of Health was very clear. In no way must the pursuance of targets interfere with the need for good patient care. The Stafford chief executive must have translated that into saying it was fine to put receptionists on triage...
Alan Johnson: The principal point about targets is that they reduced waiting list times. They changed a situation in which people were dying while on waiting lists, which was a disgrace in a civilised country like ours. The Francis report also gives no comfort to those who expected him to offer up Sir David Nicholson’s head on a plate. The irony is that they choose to make this attack on an NHS that is...
Alan Johnson: No, and I read the hon. Gentleman’s correspondence and it in no way drew attention to what was happening at Stafford.
Alan Johnson: The Secretary of State is making an interesting speech and there is no way that the Labour party can escape criticism for what happened at Stafford. Does he accept, however, that before 2000 there was no independent regulation of the NHS and no standardised mortality ratios, complaints in hospitals stayed in the hospital and there was no recourse to any independent observance of those...
Alan Johnson: If the hon. Lady turns to page 1,281 of volume 2 of the Francis report, she will see that, far from the reports being suppressed, every one of them was seen by Robert Francis. He states: “As part of his work leading the working group, Sir Liam”— Sir Liam Donaldson, the former chief medical officer— “commissioned reports from three highly respected US-based organisations”. Francis...
Alan Johnson: I wonder if the hon. Lady is coming to the point that Francis, a QC, in the course of a two-year public inquiry that produced two volumes, looked at all these documents and said that many of the issues within them had obviously been acted on. During a two-year review, Francis drew completely the opposite conclusions to those that the hon. Lady is drawing.
Alan Johnson: I rise to emphasise that there is cross-party, cross-Humber support for the Bill. I pay tribute to the work of the hon. Members for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy), for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) and for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart), the right hon. Member for East Yorkshire (Mr Knight), my hon. Friends the Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin), for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana...
Alan Johnson: I clearly recall paying tribute to the right hon. Member for Putney, but I am happy to do so again—she is so good, they pay tribute to her twice. I do not want to speak for long. This Bill is very important for our little corner of the world. There is not a person, organisation, agency or business opposed to this development, and I very much hope the Bill gets its Second Reading this evening.
