Neil O'Brien: The shadow Minister said that the measures in the Bill are part of a wider pattern of Government behaviour. Indeed they are: they follow in the footsteps of the 75 different measures we have already taken to clamp down on tax avoidance and the £160 billion we have already raised for our public services by doing so. They follow in the footsteps of the changes we have made to capital gains...
Neil O'Brien: I shall make some progress. Realistically, we cannot will the end of reducing tax avoidance without willing the means. The idea that, every time the Treasury needs to make a small change to a definition to clamp down on a new form of avoidance, we should have to come back with not just new statutory instruments but new primary legislation would really put sand in the wheels of the war on tax...
Neil O'Brien: I am just about to conclude. The measures in clause 5 are good, and they are part of a wider pattern of behaviour: a war on tax avoidance that we have waged in order to get more money for schools, hospitals and police in my constituency and others. They are part of a wider economic policy that has delivered not just record employment—the highest since 1975—and record tax cuts for...
Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to ensure that teaching schools have staff who are qualified to train others to teach dyslexic pupils.
Neil O'Brien: On 28 September, NHS England will decide on the future of the Glenfield children’s heart surgery unit in the east midlands, which is currently at Glenfield Hospital. It is a very high-performing unit, with some of the best outcomes in the entire country, and I have been privileged to see its amazing staff at work. Without it, the east midlands would be the only region in the country...
Neil O'Brien: The Bill is an excellent bit of work by Treasury Ministers and officials. It is easy for politicians to say airily that we must clamp down on tax avoidance, but it is testament to the incredible amount of complex and technical work that goes into making that a reality that you now have in front of you, Mr Speaker, a Bill that is pretty much big enough for you to put your feet up on. Several...
Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure equal access to overnight rooms or bed-space next to their child for parents saying overnight with their child in a paediatric ward and parents staying overnight with their baby in a neonatal unit.
Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many neonatal units have the recommended amount of overnight parent accommodation to meet the standards outlined in the toolkit for high quality neonatal services; and what resources are provided to NHS trusts to increase the provision of overnight parent accommodation in places where that standard is not met.
Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to encourage the provision of hoists in health centres to help transfer patients to examination beds.
Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for publication of ACAS guidelines for employers whose employees have a baby born premature or sick; and what plans his Department has to ensure that those guidelines are (a) implemented and (b) evaluated.
Neil O'Brien: I warmly welcome the statement from the Secretary of State, which will benefit all schools in Harborough, Oadby and Wigston. I further welcome the fact that the funding is coming from efficiencies within the Department, rather than unfunded borrowing. There has been an excellent announcement that she will invest an extra £500 million a year in technical education. Will she confirm that...
Neil O'Brien: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will list by country where stocks of gilts are held by overseas investors and foreign central banks; and how much and what proportion of such stocks are held in different countries.
Neil O'Brien: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will list by country flows of interest payments on UK central Government debt held by overseas investors and foreign central banks.
Neil O'Brien: Earlier this year, the brilliant new St Luke’s Hospital opened in my constituency, but the old cottage hospital that it replaced contains an important and unique war memorial. Does the First Secretary agree with me that, however the NHS redevelops that site, it is vital that the war memorial is preserved in a fitting way so that future generations can remember the sacrifices of those...
Neil O'Brien: You are absolutely right—my hon. Friend is right—to point out that we are paying that much in debt interest payments. You will know that more than a quarter of our debt is held overseas, so by my calculations we are spending something like £10 billion a year to other countries for them to spend on their schools and hospitals. My constituents in Harborough will be shocked that...
Neil O'Brien: The hon. Gentleman says that the industrial strategy is empty words. However, the industrial strategy has involved, for example, the biggest increase in research and development and science spending since 1979. How can he possibly say that those are just empty words? Those are real actions that will increase the trend rate of the growth of the economy.
Neil O'Brien: Members on both side of the House want strong wage increases for those at the bottom end, whatever sector they are in. Will the Chief Secretary tell us what our new national living wage will do to the incomes of those at the bottom end, and will she confirm that it will give us one of the strongest minimum wages in the world?
Neil O'Brien: It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Bill Grant). Before he spoke, he promised me that he would make me look good. By speaking so powerfully, so poetically and so brilliantly, he has already broken his first political promise—so thanks a bunch for that. It is also a pleasure to follow my predecessor, Sir Edward Garnier. He was a brilliant...