Gerry Nosowska: Prevention is always undermined by the resources moving into urgent and acute needs. In practice, social workers are not able to do therapeutic, restorative support work that they would be able to if they had the time to spend with people who need that. There is a fundamental resource issue that the Bill does not address directly, but it may help with the potential for...
Alan Campbell: I will address some specific issues, but I suspect that we shall talk about them again at a later date. The hon. Member for Chesterfield asked why there is a need for three meetings. I said earlier that we regard them as a gateway to other activities and services that can be accessed. They are likely to create the foundation on which the individual can continue to access support and advice to...
Steve Double: Q I take your point about growth and development. I was more touching on the direct link and the fact that, at the moment, my local business community pay their business rates to central Government. There is no direct connection between them and their local council in how that money is spent, whereas if the Bill comes into force, there will be a direct connection, and the business community...
Iain Wright: Far be it from me to set what the regulator will want to do, but I imagine that involvement with the local community, by ensuring a contribution to the local strategic partnership and the sustainable communities strategy, and by having a real role, perhaps by participating in an appropriate local authority scrutiny role, will be important. The regulator will want reassurance that registered...
Tony McNulty: The answer to the first part of the right hon. Gentleman's inquiry is yes. Minor modifications are excluded. As I understand it the emphasis of that phrase is on ''modification'' rather than ''minor'' in the sense that the works themselves may be quite substantial but they are modifications to something that will remain once they are completed. Paragraph (e), rather than paragraph (a), would...
Paul Blomfield: I am interested in that observation, and I hope the right hon. Gentleman will lead the charge to persuade the Government to allocate far more resources for the training of health professionals and to tackle the crisis they have created within our health service over the past 11 years. Amendment 151 will try to ensure that the Government are clear-eyed about the impact of their policy and the...
Norman Baker: You will certainly have that from me, Mr. O'Brien. This is exactly the issue that I want to address. A strategic health authority is not the appropriate body to be solely involved in this. First, it is unelected. Secondly, it is unaccountable to the local community. It is accountable only through the Secretary of State, which is not a direct mechanism for the local community. The word...
Roger Pratt: No, I would not: I think we have to stick to the quota. There are already exceptions in the Bill—four constituencies are clearly protected, Northern Ireland has special rules for the quota and there are rules about the area of a constituency, which in effect affects only northern Scotland. Those exceptions are in the Bill. Otherwise, it is right to have the 5% tolerance and,...
Liz Kendall: Clause 11 is important because it gives the Secretary of State the power to require the national NHS commissioning board to commission certain services. Amendments 74, 108 and 109 explore the rationale and processes for defining which services are best commissioned at national level. Amendment 74 is a probing amendment relating to dental services. Clause 11 states that the national...
Dan Rogerson: I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for that intervention. We are obviously musing on the same matters, in particular with regard to amendment No. 181, which he has also tabled. New clause 3 recognises that there may well be site-specific aspects to NPSs, but that those would be of huge concern to local people. I say “local people” because the Minister has talked about the...
James Legge: My view is very much that it should be seen as a utility provision. The whole way in which we have looked at the housing problem in rural areas has transformed over the last 10 years from the idea of plonking mini-towns on the edge of existing communities. We have realised that if you try to do that, all you do is create massive local opposition and nothing gets built. What you...
Fiona Mactaggart: What has been described is one of the problems with the Bill and one of the reasons why it has been difficult for us to resolve some of the issues that the hon. Member for Canterbury raised in introducing it. The Bill deals with issues that reach across a number of Departments and which require their collaboration, and not just their agreement, to settle. For example, I have spoken to my...
Luke Pollard: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. The new clause, which is consistent with the case made by Labour Members in Committee, would create an evidence base for the missing fish that our coastal ports are denied when it is landed in foreign ports. We know that Conservative MPs have voted down Labour’s jobs in coastal communities amendments, favouring the landing of fish in...
Sarah Newton: I have been a councillor myself. I know that councillors are now facing tough choices about how they are going to spend the money that they have raised themselves locally or the money that is given to them by the Government. All of us, whether a parish councillor, a district councillor, a councillor in a unitary authority or a Member of Parliament, are elected to make difficult decisions and...
John Healey: My right hon. Friend is always reasonable, so of course I will. With regard to the question asked by the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, the short answer to whether local authorities will have the discretion to charge different rates is yes. What one local planning authority decides are the infrastructure needs for its area and what appropriate contributions to that could be through a...
Karen Buck: I thank the Minister for her reply and am happy with the tone and the expressed commitment to tackle what has been a problem. As we discussed when debating the citizenship arrangements, a process that should be positive for the refugees and their communities is often undermined by the fact that the arrangements are chaotic. People are sometimes left with no means of subsistence or any...
Les Lawrence: I know that it sounds simplistic, but I would mention the whole process of early intervention, working with families, early identification of youngsters who are in danger of getting into trouble, and the use of outreach services from the youth offending services. Those constructs and the passage of information between organisations are all elements that help to reduce the...
Damian Green: As the hon. Lady has explained, this group of amendments relates to the question of which parties can challenge the validity of a public spaces protection order, a concern raised by the Ramblers Association in its written evidence. An application to challenge an order can be made to the High Court by anyone who lives in, works in or visits the restricted area to which the order applies. Those...
Andrew Lansley: I join the Minister in welcoming you to the Chair, Mrs. Adams. Your reputation for fairness precedes you, and I expect that, as long as we behave ourselves and maintain order, you will be a benevolent dictator. We on the Conservative Benches will endeavour to keep to that stricture. I entirely agree with the Minister that proceedings will be cosy; this is not one of the cavernous Committee...
Sarah Jones: My hon. Friend makes an important point. We should remind ourselves of this: if I faced a crime, I would immediately call the police—they are the people I trust to fix it—but there are communities in our country who do not have that trust, and who do not think that calling 999 will help them, or keep them safe. We must act on that. Following Black Lives Matter and the death of George...