Jeremy Wright: The Minister advanced the same argument in Committee. She might remember that I asked her a question about the matter. Does she accept that it would be perfectly feasible for people to breach the community penalty that they received for breaching a drinking banning order, yet to be able to continue with the drinking banning order? In other words, they could decide not to drink, even though...
Jeremy Wright: Does my hon. Friend agree that more alcohol is consumed in some restaurants than in some pubs, so those restaurants would be contributing more substantially to the problems that the Government want to address, yet their purpose as restaurants is not primarily the supply of alcohol?
Jeremy Wright: I, too, support the amendments that my hon. Friend the Member for Woking (Mr. Malins) has tabled, particularly amendment No. 18. Alcohol disorder zones have the potential to be not only unfair but counter-productive in many ways. The unfairness has been dealt with in detail by other hon. Members, so I will not address it at length. However, the problem does not, as the hon. Member for...
Jeremy Wright: If the hon. Lady is saying that people who supply alcohol to individuals who become drunk and cause disorder should bear the burden of costs, I agree. However, I do not agree that we should assume that every supplier of alcohol is therefore irresponsible. The assumption made by those who framed the proposal is that people who live or operate and work in a particular area of town that the...
Jeremy Wright: Does the hon. Gentleman accept that it is possible to sell alcohol responsibly? If so, can a responsible seller of alcohol work next door to an irresponsible one in an alcohol disorder zone, and would it be right to penalise him?
Jeremy Wright: How many pupils were recorded as having at least one incident of truancy in 2004–05.
Jeremy Wright: I am sure that the Minister will agree that the figure is far too high. The Government have spent just under £1 billion on combating truancy, yet the rate of unauthorised absence is higher now than when Labour came to power. Does she think that the taxpayer is getting good value for money from the Government's anti-truancy schemes?
Jeremy Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the impact of food additives being listed by name instead of by E numbers on food products, with particular reference to nursery and child care facilities.
Jeremy Wright: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many applications have been made to local authorities to reduce the height of hedges since the introduction of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003.
Jeremy Wright: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment his Department has made of the impact of local authority fees on the willingness of applicants to use the process provided by the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 to deal with excessively high hedges.
Jeremy Wright: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidance he has issued to local councils on actionthey should take in response to an application under high hedges regulations to cut a hedge by morethan a third to ensure reasonable enjoyment of a property.
Jeremy Wright: The Minister has expressed her concern for the junior Bar, which I share. Does she agree that one of the reasons for the industrial action is that members of the junior Bar in particular have been asked to wait and wait for an indication of what their financial future will be? Had the Government also waited for the Carter review before imposing cuts on fees paid to the junior Bar, that...
Jeremy Wright: The Minister has made it perfectly clear that the Government's intention is to reduce the demands on the criminal legal aid budget, but I am sure that she will accept that delay in the criminal justice system is a problem. What measures will the Government take to ensure that means-testing, and all that goes with it, does not delay the bringing to court of criminal cases?
Jeremy Wright: Will the hon. and learned Lady give way?
Jeremy Wright: I certainly am. The hon. and learned Lady is right to say that I have an interest in these matters. I practise, as she did, at the criminal Bar. I understand that plenty of people might apply to chambers such as hers, to be at the criminal Bar. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Djanogly) said, the issue is how many people are going to be able to afford to practise at...
Jeremy Wright: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that not only would a criminal defence service be not necessarily better for the defendant, but—on the evidence we have so far—it would be no cheaper either?
Jeremy Wright: I do not propose to detain the House for long. I declare an interest as a non-practising criminal barrister and as a distinctly thin cat, rather than a fat cat, in the course of my practice. I have two concerns about the Bill. First, it does not perhaps address in the way that the Government hope it will the fundamental problem at the heart of the criminal legal aid budget. Secondly, in...
Jeremy Wright: Surely the Minister cannot have it both ways. If, as he says, the eligibility criterion is a straightforward mathematical exercise, an appeal on that basis cannot waste much court time, can it?
Jeremy Wright: Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is no real reason why Warwickshire police force—my local police force—should not be permitted to amalgamate, if that is the appropriate solution for it, with counties such as Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, except that they cross regional government boundaries and that doing so does not fit in with the Government's regional government agenda?
Jeremy Wright: I, too, declare an interest as a non-practising barrister. I want to put one, straightforward point to the Minister. A great deal of what has been said by my hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon and, indeed, the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome, is extremely important to the amendment, which I, too, oppose, but the fundamental question that the Government must answer is what harm would be...