Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made with the naval building programme since the Strategic Defence Review; and if he will make a statement.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the effect on children of greater journey times to suitable facilities as a consequence of closures of accident and emergency units.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what information his Department holds on (a) qualifications held by and (b) previous occupation of those registered as unemployed.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate his Department has made of the impact of changing the definition for determining the local housing allowance from the mid point of local rents to the median on the (a) percentage of claimants subject to the single room rate/shared room rent restriction who face a shortfall between their eligible and contractual rent and (b)...
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made with the naval building programme since the Strategic Defence Review; and if he will make a statement.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teaching staff were employed in further education colleges in Portsmouth, North in each year between 2001 and 2005.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I do not know the situation in Crawley, but 7,000 of the people on the council waiting list in Portsmouth are not people moving into the city of Portsmouth, but those who are already in the city, using the services in the city and looking for homes. Surely that is a consideration.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: What steps he is taking to increase employment opportunities for older workers; and if he will make a statement.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I thank the Minister for his reply and I welcome the increased opportunities for older people. A constituent of mine was very disappointed, on reaching his 65th birthday, to be told that he had to retire, and his request was not considered. Does the Minister agree that, as people are living for longer and in better health, employers' perceptions of what is old will have to be revised?
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I think that the frightening thing is the speed with which the degeneration occurs—one of my constituents recently wrote to me about it. What are the Government doing to further research into vision and particularly into AMD? I welcome the Secretary of State's statement on Lucentis today.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of antisocial behaviour orders issued in Portsmouth.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: It is interesting to hear the hon. Gentleman's comments about reductions to 25. Would he care to comment on the report for the Economic Research Council—which I understand is chaired by Lord Biffen, who was a Minister in Mrs. Thatcher's Conservative Government—which calls for the Royal Navy's fleet of frigates and destroyers to be slashed from 25 to 14 and for investment in unmanned...
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Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is extremely knowledgeable about naval matters, but he persists in quoting the previous First Sea Lord and has twice mentioned the term "overstretch". I was at a briefing last Monday with the current First Sea Lord when one of the hon. Gentleman's Conservative colleagues asked the same question as him, saying that the Navy was overstretched. The First Sea...
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate. I am conscious of the limited time available, so I shall concentrate on the naval base review, which has great significance for my constituency. Last year, Labour's defence budget reached £30 billion for the first time ever. That is a vast amount of money, and if we are asking the British taxpayer for such a sum, it is important that...
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: When visiting the Portsmouth carers group, I have been struck by the dedication of our young carers. Will the carers programme provide any specific help and support for those dedicated young people, who are performing such a valuable task?
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I present this petition on behalf of the residents of Port Solent, which is in my constituency and adjacent to the M27. The motorway is heavily congested and due to be widened by means of climbing lanes. The residents of Port Solent are not opposed to the climbing lanes but they request that acoustic noise barriers be erected to combat noise pollution. The petition has been signed by 544...
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Royal Marines were allowed to return to the service in 2006 having served a prison sentence.