Christina Rees: There is a rare exception by which a mother’s details can be included; it is if she has been authorised by a court as the sole adopter. Then a couple can make a special request to have her details put on the register and in the certificate. The other way that it can be done is via a loophole, whereby the mothers’ names can be included if the mothers are witnesses, but that is the only...
Christina Rees: The point is that regulation can be changed at any time; if these things are put in primary legislation, they cannot be. As I said, I welcome discussion, and we can change my Bill in Committee. The Bill will have its Second Reading on 22 January, and it addresses the main points. I think we should move forward with that.
Christina Rees: I had a similar experience when I got married many years ago. My father died when I was a young teenager and my mother brought me up. The father of my husband-to-be had also died many years before. The two mothers came to the ceremony but their names could not be on the certificate. That was when I realised it was a great injustice. I agree with what the hon. Gentleman says about someone...
Christina Rees: Will the Minister work with me to make the private Member’s Bill cover the things he mentions better? Can we work together to move it forward on 22 January?
Christina Rees: Does my hon. Friend agree that Labour MEPs have sought a common position in the EU Parliament on TTIP, and are calling for a full carve-out of all public services, the inclusion of all binding and enforceable workers’ rights, and strong safeguards on food, health and safety measures? That specifically excludes the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, which is not democratic, not...
Christina Rees: Does the hon. Gentleman think that a separate judicial system available only to foreign investors is called for?
Christina Rees: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners are employed in prisons in (a) the most recent period for which figures are available and (b) each of the last five years.
Christina Rees: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many new criminal offences have been (a) created and (b) proposed since May 2015; and if he will make an assessment of the (i) effect on and (b)cost to the prison estate of the creation of those offences.
Christina Rees: I beg to move, That this House has considered the effect of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 on Wales. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. Last month’s autumn statement was an opportunity for the Government to deliver a fair deal for Wales; to support Welsh families, to invest in skills and infrastructure and to give the Welsh Government the tools...
Christina Rees: No, we did not actually say that—if the hon. Gentleman he checks his facts, he will see that we did not. As I was saying, by the time this Conservative Government leave office in 2020, we will have seen an 11% cut in the Welsh budget. For all the Government’s talk of economic recovery, they have delivered a mountain of cuts since 2010, and their decisions will do further harm to the Welsh...
Christina Rees: The hon. Gentleman may think it is a diatribe but I do not—these are the facts, and the so-called national living wage is yet more rhetoric from the Conservative party. In Neath Port Talbot, the county borough in which my constituency sits, the local authority has seen a cumulative cut of £65 million to its budget since 2010, not including this coming financial year, with further planned...
Christina Rees: We have to look at this issue. When spending in Wales is falling, that level is too low, so surely the best thing is to generate an economically viable situation in Wales so that spending increases.
Christina Rees: Not at the moment—I have to make progress. We are all well aware of the Chancellor’s habit of slashing funding from central Government then expecting local government and the devolved Administrations to make up the shortfall. That policy ensures that the poorest areas are hardest hit. If the Chancellor plans to use the devolution of income tax to Wales as a cover to cut Welsh funding...
Christina Rees: I do not quite understand what that intervention means. We are not causing the uncertainty; the Government are. The Swansea bay tidal project is also of critical importance because of the potential jobs and investment that it will bring across south Wales, as well as the apprenticeships promised to institutions such as the Neath Port Talbot College group. It is estimated that up to 1,900 jobs...
Christina Rees: I will try it.
Christina Rees: That was such a long intervention that I cannot remember now what the beginning was. We also have north Wales to consider and surely—
Christina Rees: The news about HS2 comes just weeks after the Public Accounts Committee concluded that the £1.5 billion rise in the cost of electrification to Cardiff was “staggering and unacceptable”. It is now down to the Government to get a grip of the project, to ensure that the upgraded line is delivered quickly and with the maximum value for money for the taxpayer. With that in mind, can the...
Christina Rees: I did welcome it, but there are too many provisos in there.
Christina Rees: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were in open prisons (a) in the most recent period for which figures are available and (b) in each of the last five years.