William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help British citizens and the families of British citizens imprisoned abroad for minor offences.
William Wragg: Two cities.
William Wragg: I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. He is proceeding with great courtesy, erudition and charm in this debate. Just on that point of the referendum in Greater Manchester, there were constituent parts of Greater Manchester that had referendums in 2012 on whether to have directly mayors and they rejected them. In part, that is my motivation for the amendment.
William Wragg: I think that the hon. Lady has mistaken the explanatory statement, which refers to the 50% threshold, for the amendment itself. Perhaps she should pay a little closer attention to the wording of the amendment, rather than the explanation provided by the office.
William Wragg: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Crausby. I pay a warm tribute to the Minister and the Secretary of State for their approach to this Bill and the constructive dialogue that they have had with—dare I say it?—the caucus of Greater Manchester MPs, including two who are sitting next to me. The Minister warmed my heart by quoting Edmund Burke earlier. I do not know how...
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2015 to Question 901670, what recent reports he has received on the imprisonment of Karl Andree in Saudi Arabia; what steps he is taking to secure the return to the UK of Mr Andree; and what recent discussions he has had with his Saudi counterpart on improving extradition arrangements with...
William Wragg: It is a pleasure to take part in the debate, particularly as today we commemorate a most significant day in the history of Parliament. Although I have not signed the motion and am minded to abstain, I understand entirely the perspective from which it has been approached. The financial crisis of 2008 did much to rock public confidence in the UK’s financial sector, with the collapse of...
William Wragg: I am glad that the hon. Lady, representing Plaid Cymru, managed to refer to Wales in her question. I am not sure whether it is quite within my remit to say how the Government should direct such profits towards Wales. The return of RBS to private ownership is an important first step, but the motion provides the opportunity to debate some particulars of RBS’s business and some important...
William Wragg: Following your lead, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will address one of those points, on bankers’ bonuses. Of course, bonuses should not be used to reward wrongdoing. I make my remarks and quote from the motion in the context of the UK’s financial sector. Further examination of the report revealed that many businesses across the country, at least those among RBS customers, found themselves in...
William Wragg: I agree entirely that the practice was not restricted to RBS. The case of my constituent involved RBS, but the hon. Lady’s constituent no doubt had a similar experience with other banks. Tomlinson said that the practices at RBS’s turnaround division were typical. Once placed in this division of the bank, businesses were trapped, with no ability to move and no opportunity to trade out of...
William Wragg: If I may strip away the rhetoric from the hon. Lady’s intervention, of course I would disagree with pouring away taxpayers’ money in such a fashion. Tomlinson’s evidence showed that the process was not open or transparent, nor was it a proportionate response from the bank. During the process, businesses were completely in the dark as to what was happening around them until it was far...
William Wragg: I agree wholeheartedly with the hon. Lady’s remarks. The pattern has no doubt been repeated across the country in different circumstances, but with the same sorry result. I know that the case in my constituency is not an isolated one, and the Tomlinson report suggests that the bank’s practice was widespread and systemic. RBS has failed to resolve the case of Pickup and Bradbury, and I am...
William Wragg: I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, and naturally I am disappointed to hear its content. Can the Government give any assurance about the timeliness of the report from the FCA? The recommendations of the Tomlinson report call for more competition to remove incentives to make short-term decisions purely in favour of bank profit, rather than in the interest of longer-term customer...
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that local education authorities do not specify the designs of building extensions when attributing funding from the Education Funding Agency to schools for building projects, as in relation to the case of Greave Primary School in Hazel Grove.
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent representations she has received from representatives of Greave Primary School on the process through which the funding for that school's building extension project from the Education Funding Agency has been arranged by the Stockport Local Education Authority.
William Wragg: What steps his Department is taking to ensure that the NHS recruits, trains and retains adequate numbers of therapists, clinicians and other staff to improve access to psychological therapies.
William Wragg: As well as providing adequate numbers of high quality specialised staff, given the prevalence of mental health issues in our society, is it not also important that general awareness is raised of mental health issues and the available treatments among all medical professionals, especially GPs? What future steps can the Government take to improve that training?
William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to ensure that smart meters provide the maximum possible benefits for consumers.
William Wragg: What steps he is taking to support military veterans.
William Wragg: Members of our armed forces not only put themselves in great physical danger but subject themselves to great psychological pressures in order to protect our country and our people. What is being done to help veterans of my excellent local regiment, the Mercian Regiment, and others who are struggling with mental health issues?