Kelly Tolhurst: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Evans. I thank the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) for securing this debate. I know how important the train service is for his constituents. It is also important for my constituents, who live only 26 miles from London. Since being elected to the House, I have had to commute to London for the first time in 15 years. Hon. Members will...
Kelly Tolhurst: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Nuttall. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes) for securing the debate. My constituents will be extremely interested to hear about some of the challenges that she faces in her constituency, which she summarised well. Rochester and Strood is very close to London—only 26 miles away. My...
Kelly Tolhurst: I welcome the Minister’s statement this morning. I am a big fan of apprenticeships and I am extremely proud of the fact that in Rochester and Strood we have produced 7,410 apprenticeships since 2010, the fourth highest figure in the south-east. This week, I was at MidKent College, which has had more than 100 new engagements with employers since last September. Can the Minister assure me...
Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Hungarian counterpart on the sale of Hungarian residency bonds through off-shore companies.
Kelly Tolhurst: There is nothing more important than the safety of our country and the people who reside in it. I believe that the Bill before us today is an important step forward with regard to securing a clear framework to further enable our security and intelligence agencies to do just that. I welcome the introduction of the Bill and its allowing us to have this debate. I am pleased that the draft Bill...
Kelly Tolhurst: Thank you for calling me to speak in this debate, Mr Bailey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan) on securing this debate and on her detailed speech, which correctly highlighted the issues facing us. I represent a constituency with a long, rich history of engineering. It has the dockyard, the Royal Engineers, Short Brothers, BAE Systems and now a growing...
Kelly Tolhurst: What steps the Government are taking to tackle migration from countries in Africa to the EU.
Kelly Tolhurst: Just before Easter weekend, 52 suspected migrants, many of north African descent, were held after two lorries were stopped at the Dartford crossing and Canterbury. Given that Kent is on the front line of these desperate attempts, can my right hon. Friend outline what additional support can be provided to our region’s police and border guards to prevent these clandestine actions?
Kelly Tolhurst: In Rochester, we are facing the closure of two single-handed GP practices owing to a retirement and a suspension, with no long-term replacements, making it more difficult for our growing population to access these vital services. Will my right hon. Friend outline the steps he is taking to maintain appropriate access to local GPs?
Kelly Tolhurst: Would you agree with me that your council could take guidance from Medway Council, a Conservative-run council that has been building council houses for the first time in a long time? It has smashed its own targets on affordable housing, delivering far more than our percentage target over a number years. Do you think that your council could take advantage of Medway Council’s experience in...
Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to improve the performance of schools in parts of the country where there has been persistent underperformance.
Kelly Tolhurst: Thank you for calling me to speak, Ms Ryan. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Amanda Milling) on securing this debate. I know that the impact of this issue on her constituency has troubled her extremely over the past few months, and that it has been at the forefront of her mind. I represent the south of the country, but I know what my hon. Friend is feeling. In...
Kelly Tolhurst: I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Bristol West (Thangam Debbonaire), and welcome her back to the House. I have followed this Bill throughout its progress, in Committee and on Report. Today, I will talk about two points. This evening we have heard a lot of talk about the migration crisis that we are seeing across Europe. As a Kent MP, I have seen those troubles more acutely, because...
Kelly Tolhurst: Yes, I support the Government’s incentives, but I also support the measures that will be a direct outcome of the implementation of this Immigration Bill, which will help counties like mine in the dispersal of some of the unaccompanied asylum seekers we are seeing come to our county. Last week, I was at the Council of Europe, where the EU migrant crisis was debated. It is interesting today...
Kelly Tolhurst: Absolutely. My hon. Friend knows that over the past 12 months we have had significant representation from our county council with regard to the pressures it is under, not only in dealing with the domestic situation but the issue we are debating today. I absolutely believe that hon. Members from other parts of the country should encourage their councils to help the counties in the south-east.
Kelly Tolhurst: I absolutely accept that young people are coming to this country to be reunited with their families. As I have said, Kent has already taken more than 1,000 of them. The amendment to allow asylum seekers unrestricted access to the labour market after six months would completely undermine the current system and the measures in the Bill. Last year, I visited the refugee camp in Calais with my...
Kelly Tolhurst: I am a constituency MP and I represent the people of Rochester and Strood. I have had a lot of representations, over an extended period of time, about what people have seen in my constituency and across the county of Kent. I represent what a large proportion of people in my constituency believe on this matter. To allow asylum seekers unrestricted access to our labour market after six months...
Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the practical implications of schools having their own admissions criteria under a fully-academised system; and how local authorities will manage that situation.
Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on cardiovascular and cognitive health.
Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether local authorities will retain responsibility for school deficits under the proposals in her Department's White Paper, Educational excellence everywhere, published in March 2016.