Paul Blomfield: The hon. Member makes an important point and I will go on to cover it in a little bit more detail. Horizon and its predecessor programmes have been central to the UK’s research success, which is why the Government made association with Horizon Europe an aim throughout the Brexit negotiations. Obviously, that aim fell victim to the Government’s mishandling of the Northern Ireland protocol,...
Paul Blomfield: It was because of those concerns that I sought today’s debate. Government policy for quite some time—since the referendum—seems to have been going through a period of hesitancy, so I am looking for reassurance from the Minister, particularly given some of the issues about funding. We know that we will not have to make a contribution for those two years as part of the reassurances on...
Paul Blomfield: I beg to move, That this House has considered research and development funding and Horizon Europe. I am pleased to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hosie —I am trying to speak slowly enough that we might have the vote before I start my substantive comments. I am grateful to have been granted this debate to discuss the benefits of UK association with Horizon Europe, just as the Government...
Paul Blomfield: In response to an earlier question, the Minister talked about people “breaking into our country”. The Home Secretary has talked about an “invasion”. Those words, like this statement, are designed for the headlines, but can I ask him genuinely whether he recognises that using that kind of language to describe people, many of whom are seeking refuge from countries such as Afghanistan,...
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has taken steps to produce an updated version of the Student Income and Expenditure Survey.
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to extend the eligibility criteria for free school meals to cover all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit and equivalent benefits.
Paul Blomfield: There was an extraordinary omission in last Wednesday’s Budget: absolutely nothing to deal with the crisis in our public services, which is nowhere clearer than in health and social care. Every year, I hold an annual community consultation, giving my constituents the opportunity to say what priorities I should be taking up in this place and what the Government should be focused on. Over the...
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that university students in private rental accommodation (a) are receiving or (b) have received payment from the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
Paul Blomfield: As the Secretary of State knows, not only are developers frustrating leaseholder rights. In response to his last statement, I raised the case of Mandale House in my constituency; leaseholders in Daisy Spring Works have the same, or a similar, problem. The common factor is the managing agents, Y&Y Management, which also has freehold interests. That company is not simply denying leaseholders...
Paul Blomfield: I served on the Nationality and Borders Bill Committee, where we were told time and again that that Bill’s provisions to criminalise refugees would break the business model of people smugglers, despite the Department’s own impact assessment saying that the sorts of measures being proposed risked failing and driving people to more desperate routes. That Bill was designed not to work, but...
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department offered support to Royal Mail to help resolve the ransomware attack on 10 January 2023; and whether her Department had discussions with Royal Mail on (a) compensation for sub-postmasters who lost trade arising from the ransomware attack and (b) sustaining sub-postmasters income as they offer more services online.
Paul Blomfield: The Prime Minister gave a devastating critique of the Northern Ireland protocol, negotiated by his predecessor but one, who is conspicuously absent today. Clearly the Prime Minister was right, so this agreement is good news, but can I press him a little further on an earlier answer that he gave? Specifically, will he confirm that the agreement opens up the door to association with Horizon...
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his polices of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill for democracy and human rights in Zimbabawe.
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests for legal assistance were made by asylum applicants during the first instance procedure in 2022.
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests were made for legal assistance by asylum applicants for their initial asylum application in 2022.
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests for legal assistance made by asylum applicants during the first instance procedure in 2022 resulted in a grant of legal assistance.
Paul Blomfield: I rise to oppose the motion to disagree with Lords amendment 10. There ought to be a basis for cross-party agreement, as there was in the Lords. I sense from many of the contributions so far that there will not be cross-party agreement, and that wiser heads are not prevailing on the Conservative Benches—those wiser heads are being kept below the parapet. I read the letter that the Minister...
Paul Blomfield: Ministers are hiding behind the independent pay review process. The Minister knows that recommendations have been ignored when it suited the Government in the past. NHS employers want negotiations, the unions want negotiations and the public want negotiations. The Minister says it is time to come together in the interests of patients. He is right, so why do the Secretary of State and the...
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the letter of 26 January 2023 sent by the Office for Students to accountable officers at registered higher education providers, which states that £10 million which had been set aside for preparation for the Lifelong Loan Entitlement is no longer needed for the purpose originally identified, what progress has been made on...
Paul Blomfield: I thank the Secretary of State’s ministerial and staff team for the support they have given to residents in Wicker Riverside. However, he will be aware of another case in my constituency, that of Mandale House, where the managing agency, Y&Y Management, which has directors in common with the landlords, is not only denying leaseholders their rights, but challenging the legal status of the...