John Pugh: The hon. Gentleman is talking about absence generically, but the evidence clearly includes two sorts of absence: the occasional absence, which people talk about and has extenuating circumstances, such as holiday absence; and systematic, regular absence. Do the data show any difference? The data will show clearly—I am only guessing; he may correct me if I am wrong—that children who are...
John Pugh: I congratulate the hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) on securing this important debate, which is not entirely about tourism in Cornwall—it goes much wider than that. I declare an interest. I never took any of my four children out of school during term time. That probably had something to do with the fact that I was a teacher. My employer would have regarded it rather...
John Pugh: With due respect to the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant), I must say, as one of the “wicked Liberal Democrats”, that equitable funding requests do not always seem to sit happily with the pupil premium policy. Has the Secretary of State any thoughts on either revising or reviewing that policy?
John Pugh: What plans his Department has to reduce the Whitehall estate as a result of further UK devolution. [R]
John Pugh: Radical devolution requires radical rationalisation. Does the Minister have a percentage target and does it include the highly desirable MI6 building?
John Pugh: Presumably, the Minister will tell us why the immediate remedy always has to be academisation.
John Pugh: I will consider the hon. Gentleman’s comments carefully. I am certainly happy with the idea of local decision making—I just wish the Government were more comfortable with it—and I think that we as politicians can do little to improve the educational landscape. We can change structures all the time, but they are not what makes a substantial difference: what makes a difference are the...
John Pugh: I rise in support of new clauses 3 and 9, and to make a few remarks about amendment 11. What bothers me about this legislation is the issue of consultation, which was alluded to by the hon. Member for Stroud (Neil Carmichael), and parental consultation in particular. That is a long-term anxiety for me, because I am aware of local schools in my constituency that have been subjected to...
John Pugh: I am unpersuaded by the promoter of the Bill. I agonise over this issue, because death and the manner of our death should trouble us all. I do not entirely trust my own instincts on this, so I took the trouble of going to my local hospice, Queenscourt hospice, to hear from staff there what their advice was on this Bill. After all, they see death on a regular basis—daily, hourly, weekly....
John Pugh: The default position is to discourage people from committing suicide, because suicide is most frequently the action of desperate people who are not getting the help they require. I believe that is acknowledged by the sponsors of the Bill, because they are suggesting that assisted suicide should take place only in special, carefully defined circumstances. Their Bill would put in place a series...
John Pugh: It is fair to say that regardless of what people may expect of this Bill—we saw some mistakes in the contribution made by the hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer)—what it will do is not what most of the supporters of the Bill expect it to do. What it will do is generate certain very obvious risks, which have been well highlighted by other Members and so I...
John Pugh: Will the hon. and learned Gentleman give way?
John Pugh: Will the hon. and learned Gentleman give way?
John Pugh: rose—
John Pugh: Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The cases the hon. and learned Gentleman is talking about at length are not covered by this Bill. They are not terminally ill cases.
John Pugh: Will the hon. Gentleman clarify something that has been bothering me? He has called this Bill the Assisted Dying Bill but there is not a person in this room who would not assist the dying. In the interest of clarity, why did he not call it the assisted suicide Bill?
John Pugh: What steps he is taking to rebalance the economy away from London and the south-east.
John Pugh: I thank the Minister for that response. Currently, northern cities with elected Mayors have below-average economic performance in their region, whereas northern cities with above-average performances do not yet have elected Mayors. Why are the Government making a fetish of elected Mayors?
John Pugh: Many current failures in care are caused by poor integration of services, not the failure of a specific service. What, in the proposals announced, addresses that problem?
John Pugh: If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.