Julian Huppert: That is a substantial decrease and it is very welcome, particularly at a time when crime is falling. Much of it has been due to the excellent work of the Youth Justice Board, which should be congratulated. Does the Minister agree that we should take similar steps to try to reduce the number of women in prison, which is what has been argued for by the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, my...
Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people who qualify for attendance allowance are made aware of the scheme and of their eligibility for it.
Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to increase his Department's investment in cancer services; whether NHS England plans to provide increased funding to clinical reference groups to ensure they have sufficient resources to improve specialised services; and if he will create a recognised cancer leadership team to provide support and strategic oversight to NHS England,...
Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to secure the release of Raif Badawi.
Julian Huppert: It is now clear that the decision by the last Government to put Hinchingbrooke hospital out to tender, with the last three bids under that Government all being led by the private sector, was deeply flawed and has been a massive failure. Does the Prime Minister accept that this experiment in privatisation has failed and that the future of Hinchingbrooke hospital should be fully within a public NHS?
Julian Huppert: It is a pleasure to have an opportunity to speak at the end of the debate, and to see the new clause make progress. As I think the House knows by now, the case for cycling and walking is incredibly strong. It is a great way to travel. It is environmentally friendly, healthy, reliable, cheap and fun. It cuts congestion, so that everyone else benefits as well. It boosts the economy, it saves...
Julian Huppert: On behalf of everyone else from the all-party cycling group, others who supported the new clause and all the organisations who have worked on this, I thank the Minister for the Government agreeing to do this, because it will make a big difference. Will he update us on what has happened to the draft strategy that came out last year? When should we expect a full-blown strategy to take effect?
Julian Huppert: I will try to be brief, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Joan Walley), and I pay tribute to her for her work on this issue and her call for the moratorium, with which I agree. We have the problem of using too many fossil fuels; despite knowing the harm that climate change is causing and is going to continue to cause, we still see a...
Julian Huppert: I will give way only the once.
Julian Huppert: Indeed; we should be seeing a quest for more renewables. One of my concerns about the dash for fracking and for gas is that it can be seen as a substitute for a dash for renewables and other low-carbon technologies, which is where we have to get to. That is what worries me about all this. When we know from study after study of the huge amounts of fossil fuels that we have to leave in the...
Julian Huppert: I will not give way, because many Members wish to speak. Other concerns have been mentioned. I am talking about not the extreme claims that do not stack up but the real issues around this matter such as water usage.
Julian Huppert: I thank the Minister for that welcome news. I was going to talk about water usage, but I will turn to that matter instead. The Minister’s words effectively bring us closer to proposed new clause 4 and amendment 44, which were tabled by me and a number of my Liberal Democrat colleagues. They propose that we should not allow fracking if it leads to an increase in carbon emissions. I thank the...
Julian Huppert: rose—
Julian Huppert: I thank the Minister for that amendment. It goes halfway towards my amendment, which called for that to happen and then said that we should not allow fracking if it increased emissions. She spoke about the report from Dave Mackay, one of my constituents. Does she accept that he also says that “in the absence of strong climate policies…we believe it is credible that shale-gas use would...
Julian Huppert: Is the Minister saying—she should be very clear on this—that there is absolutely no prospect of any fracking happening on any of this list of properties, and that anybody reading this debate should be clear that the Government have no intention of allowing that? Is that what she is saying?
Julian Huppert: I will be extremely brief, because I do not want to take time away from the debates on the Bill. My concern is not so much about the time available for debate, because we have had enough heat and no light already, but about the number of votes that the House will be able to have. There are a number of new clauses and amendments, and I am particularly interested in a range of them, such as new...
Julian Huppert: Local housing allowance levels in Cambridge are far too low, and have been for years. In 2008, Shelter could find only four properties that were affordable, and the position is essentially unchanged. The Minister helpfully gave us an above-inflation increase, but it still has not solved the problem. Will he investigate further to check that local housing allowances match the cost of renting,...
Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure that the shared accommodation rate is representative of the real cost of renting shared accommodation.
Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the merits of introducing an exemption for compostable plastic bags from the single use carrier bag charge; and if she will meet representatives from the compostable plastic bags industry to discuss such an exemption.
Julian Huppert: It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Rother Valley (Kevin Barron). We have heard references to Nye Bevan and his amazing work in setting up the NHS. We should talk about Beveridge and his report, too. He was a good Liberal and he did that work during a coalition, albeit a somewhat different coalition that had come about for different reasons. Let me start by looking at some...