Margaret Moran: Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to congratulate Luton Town football club on its magnificent victory at Wembley recently? [ Interruption. ]
Margaret Moran: It was one in the eye for the football authorities and a great boost for Luton. Is my right hon. Friend aware of another boost for Luton and for hard-pressed families in mortgage difficulties, far fewer of whom are losing their homes as a result of our comprehensive support package? That is in sharp contrast to the Tory days when Luton became the repossession and mortgage misery capital of...
Margaret Moran: Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State say when she intends to conclude the review of housing provision and support for survivors of domestic violence, especially in the light of the recent report entitled "Map of Gaps"? Moreover, it was reported recently that the Mayor of London intends to renege on his promise to provide support for victims of domestic violence, and that he will...
Margaret Moran: Will my hon. Friend consider the issues surrounding incitement to violence? As he will be aware, many of my constituents and people across the UK were extremely angry at the attack made on our troops in Luton last week by a small al-Muhajiroun-related group with a history of attempting to incite violence and racial division in our town. Will he review the specific circumstances of what...
Margaret Moran: I particularly welcome the training and greening initiatives that my hon. Friend has outlined, which appear to be in stark contrast to the do nothing or "lay workers off" policies of the Opposition. The provisions will be of particular use to IBC Vans in my constituency, a company that is very highly productive but where workers are facing a 30-hour week from February. May I press the...
Margaret Moran: Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Luton borough council, which this week has successfully tendered all its infill housing sites to one housing association, providing much-needed housing and community facilities in areas such as Hart Hill, in my constituency? Will she use her considerable influence to ask housing associations to invest in extending existing registered social...
Margaret Moran: I endorse my right hon. Friend's sentiments. Is he aware that alcohol is 69 per cent. cheaper than it was in 1980? Does he agree that we need to do what we have done in Luton—engage with young people in our schools and academies, drawing up a toolkit so that young people can help to be part of the solution, and not just the problem?
Margaret Moran: I welcome my right hon. Friend's comments about public engagement, and I thank her for making Luton one of the new neighbourhood crime and justice pioneer areas. In that context, will she ensure that the police use new technologies to engage with communities as well as evening meetings? Mums do not do evening meetings, so we need to use BlackBerries, as Bedfordshire police does, and online...
Margaret Moran: I thank my hon. Friend for the approach that he is taking on the issue. Will he ensure that when guidance is issued after the PACE review, the Home Affairs Committee will be able to take an overview of it? As points have been made about confidence, including public confidence, it is important that Members of this House are confident that there will be transparency and consistency. Will he...
Margaret Moran: While I will not follow my right hon. Friend into the Lobby on this issue, does he agree that it is important that we have consistency as well as transparency? There is a porous border between Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and crimes are sometimes committed in the former by my constituents, and their DNA is taken there. I have received conflicting advice from those two police authorities...
Margaret Moran: I paused for the Division on the happy thought of Divine chocolate, which has seen me nicely through the Lobby, although some of the real stuff would have been better. I should declare an interest because, in the real world, before coming to this place, I was the chief executive of a housing association that had the twin aims of addressing housing need and tackling unemployment. I now chair...
Margaret Moran: I certainly agree with that. However, my argument is rather stronger, in the sense that I think that the Government should be using their leverage in the current economic climate to ensure that the arrangement is more than voluntary and they should not allow themselves to be swayed by arguments to the contrary. The advantage of providing capital funding through a social investment bank is...
Margaret Moran: I understood that only interventions were going to be made.
Margaret Moran: Fine; if the Minister is content.
Margaret Moran: I am pleased to be having this debate under your capable chairmanship, Mr. Bercow. I welcome the new Minister to his post and to what I guess is his first debate on social enterprise. Knowing him and knowing how well briefed he will be, I will not need to define terms for him. The key and distinguishing factor of social enterprises is that they are profit-making businesses that are...
Margaret Moran: On Monday, a family living in my constituency almost lost their home as a result of a 3 per cent. increase in their fixed mortgage rate, a bank that refused to negotiate, and a judge who told them to get it over quickly. Will my right hon. Friend, as a matter of urgency, redouble his efforts to make it clear to both banks and judges that we will intervene to safeguard homes, and that, unlike...
Margaret Moran: When my right hon. Friend considers the steps necessary to implement the convention, will she consider action against child trafficking? Will she reflect on the fact that, in many instances, children who are trafficked into this country disappear from social services' care within 48 hours? It appears that problems associated with internal data sharing in health and education bodies and social...
Margaret Moran: If the small business community is not depressed enough by the current economic situation, it will be even more depressed by the speech of the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Alan Duncan) from the Opposition Front Bench. The speech was short on solutions and long on omissions. The Opposition omitted to mention who was adviser to the then Chancellor at the time that we were dumped out of...
Margaret Moran: I am sorry, I have not got time. That company managed to reduce its waste costs by 80 per cent. over the last three years. It is now aiming for zero landfill, which will take a huge cost out of its bottom line. It is evangelical about it, and it is partnering other small businesses to give them similar benefits. That is the sort of model we should be aiming for, and that is the message that...
Margaret Moran: As the Home Secretary says, does not the points system give us the flexibility to enable us to import skills in, for example, the IT industry? The Home Affairs Committee recently met IT executives in India, who commended the points-based system and deplored any introduction of a cap, as proposed by the Conservatives, because a cap system has destroyed the IT industry and its relationship with...