Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to his Chinese counterpart on the animal welfare issues associated with the annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Turkish counterpart regarding the European Court of Human Rights judgment ordering the release of Selahattin DemirtaÅ.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2021 to Question 148829 on British Indian Ocean Territory: Navy, which stated that the UK has a 12 nautical mile territorial sea in the Chagos Archipelago, when that limit was first claimed by the UK Government; and how information on that limit was promulgated by the UK Government.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of amending the rules for universal credit to ensure that payments received from the Scottish Government’s Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund are fully disregarded so as not to result in deductions to benefit entitlement.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to help ensure that asylum seekers arriving at the UK border from red list countries can (a) quarantine effectively and (b) proceed with their asylum claim during the covid-19 pandemic.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to seek to recoup the cost of hotel quarantine from asylum seekers arriving at the UK border from red list countries during the covid-19 pandemic.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to deny entry to the UK to asylum seekers arriving at the UK border from red list countries during the covid-19 pandemic.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of asylum seekers from countries on the red list who have arrived at the UK border since March 2020.
Patrick Grady: We all know that, despite the Prime Minister’s experience as a Mayor, he has called the devolution settlement a “disaster” and a “mistake”. Is that loathing of Scotland’s Parliament perhaps the real reason why the Government are ripping up the devolution settlement, grabbing back our powers and imposing a shared prosperity fund that bypasses the democratically elected Members of...
Patrick Grady: As I said, one of those deciding not to stand is Aileen Campbell, whom I consider a close friend. She was the first Scottish Government Minister to take maternity leave, and Fiona McLeod, an outstanding Minister, was appointed to cover for her. The hon. Lady is talking about the difficulties that Members have in this place. Her former leader, Jo Swinson, was very negatively impacted, because...
Patrick Grady: The hon. Lady knows that she has the support of the Scottish National party for her amendments. Indeed, my hon. Friend the Member for Livingston (Hannah Bardell) wanted to make sure that her support in particular was recorded. Until the pandemic, the only times that I acted as a proxy were actually for new fathers in our group; we have not had a new mother, at least in the time that I have...
Patrick Grady: I am sorry to hear the experience that the hon. Lady is recounting. She has been paying tribute to pioneering, so I wonder whether she will join me in paying tribute to Aileen Campbell, a good friend of mine and the first Minister in the Scottish Government to take maternity leave. At that time, the Scottish Government were able to find a way of having a substitute Minister. It is not quite...
Patrick Grady: Hear, hear!
Patrick Grady: I am grateful for the opportunity to show solidarity with the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas), not least by taking the perch that she is quite accustomed to on these Benches. This is an important opportunity to demonstrate the cross-party and cross border ambition that exists to tackle the climate emergency. The Scottish Government and First Minister were the first on...
Patrick Grady: I congratulate my hon. Friend on his appointment to his new post. Is it not the case that lots of families are, for the first time, experiencing what it is like to be on universal credit? There will be a double whammy for those who have come on to universal credit over the course of the past year and then face this cliff edge of the further reduction. It is actually increasing the long-term...
Patrick Grady: I am very glad to hear that exchange, because this is a considerable issue in Glasgow, with our large asylum-seeking population. Will the Secretary of State also tell us how his announcements about quarantining will be applied to people who arrive in this country seeking asylum and who probably do not have £1,750 in their back pocket? How will new arrivals be supported in the quarantine process?
Patrick Grady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with representatives of the self-catering accommodation industry on enabling professional self-caterers to access the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Patrick Grady: What discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing support to businesses affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
Patrick Grady: Does the Secretary of State not accept that, if people who are excluded from support packages are forced to wind up their businesses and move to universal credit or social security, that is more costly to the Government and damaging to the economy in the long run? Surely it is better to bring the excluded in from the cold now than to pay the long-term costs of exclusion in the future.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the judgment of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on 28 January 2021, what steps he is taking to ensure that when Ships of the Royal Navy are within the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of the Chagos Archipelago they comply with the laws and regulations of Mauritius as the coastal State as required by the United...