Session 2014-15
House of Commons
19th March 2015
Notices of Motions for which no days have been fixed
('Early Day Motions')
The figure following this symbol is the number of Members who have added their names in support of the Motion, including the Member in charge of the Motion.
After an Early Day Motion (EDM) has been printed for the first time, it is only reprinted when names are added or amendments tabled; only the first six names and any names added since the last printing are included. After the week in which a Motion is first printed and the following week, added names and amendments appear only in a separate paper, Mature EDMs, distributed the next Thursday. In the meantime, they are available for inspection by Members in the Table Office and the Library or on the EDM database at edmi.parliament.uk
695 SOCIAL SECURITY (S. I., 2014, No. 3270) 15:1:15
35That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I., 2014, No. 3270), dated 10 December 2014, a copy of which was laid before this House on 15 December, be annulled.
851 FUNDING OF FURTHER EDUCATION COLLEGES 9:3:15
40That this House believes that further education colleges are central to improving the nation's skills; shares the concerns of those working and studying in further education regarding the recently announced 24 per cent cuts to non-apprenticeship adult education funding in England; recognises that this will have a devastating effect on the sector and will shut the door on those sections of the community that rely on adult education the most; and therefore urges the Government to rethink this spending reduction which could threaten the future prospects of hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
854 STATE OF MEDIA FREEDOM IN TURKEY 9:3:15
28That this House is concerned about widespread reports of growing authoritarianism in Turkey, particularly illustrated by, but not restricted to, the state censorship and imprisonment of journalists in Turkey; notes the continued imprisonment since 14 December 2014 of Hidayet Karaca who is the chief executive of a Turkish television network of channels, and the arrest of 20 journalists in a series of dawn raids in Turkey in mid-December 2014, including Ekrem Dumanli, who is the editor-in-chief of Turkey's largest circulating newspaper and Sedef Kabas, who is a television presenter facing a prison sentence for posting a tweet about a corruption probe involving high-profile names, and most recently the arrest, charge and remand of investigative journalist Mehmet Baransu; welcomes the statement by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement Negotiations that the latest crackdown is against the European values and standards Turkey aspires to be part of; further notes the need for the Turkish authorities to remove travel bans imposed on journalists and to drop all criminal charges against them and release all other journalists behind bars in the country; and further calls on the Government to raise these and other concerns that give rise to a growing sense of authoritarianism in Turkey with their counterparts in Turkey.
856 PARITY OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR 10:3:15
32That this House notes with concern that some outsourced providers of public sector contracts are failing to pay their employees on the same terms and conditions as those carrying out the same work directly for the public sector; believes that all employees carrying out public sector work should have parity of pay and conditions whether employed directly or by an outsourced employer; further notes that some private sector contractors are failing to pay the living wage to their employees; further notes that employment terms and conditions drive low pay and that low pay contributes to poverty in the UK; and calls on the Government to ensure all public sector contracts which are outsourced to private sector providers include measures to ensure that workers are given parity of terms and conditions with workers carrying out the same or similar work directly for the public sector.
857 POSTAL WORKERS AND CYBERSTREETWISE PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN 10:3:15
21That this House calls on the Government to withdraw the Cyberstreetwise publicity campaign which makes a joke of dogs biting postal workers; notes that over 3,000 postal workers are injured every year and that two were nearly killed in 2007-08; believes that education, training, encouraging responsible dog ownership, enforcement and prevention should be a priority; and further believes this good practice will also be welcomed by the many thousands of party supporters who will be delivering leaflets in the coming weeks.
858 GENDER EQUALITY 10:3:15
26That this House welcomes the broadcast of the BBC's documentary India's Daughter, which draws attention to the rape and murder of Jyoti Singh and other women; applauds the students from Jawaharlal Nehru University who marched to protest against the treatment of women; commends the police force and justice system of India that arrested those responsible and brought them to trial; notes the documentary brought home the pain of Singh's parents, the brutality of rape and the loss of an empowered woman; acknowledges the economist Amartya Sen's article entitled More than 100 million women are missing, which highlights the unequal rights for women in the developing world and the resulting attitudes to women; further notes that 8 March 2015 was International Women's Day which represents an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women while calling for greater equality; and calls on the Government to promote gender equality in the UK and around the world.
859 ADULT SKILLS FUNDING IN LEICESTER 10:3:15
9That this House is deeply concerned that funding for adult learning has been dramatically cut in Leicester, leading to the closure of the Leicester Open Distance Learning Centre and the Evington Road Centre; notes that the adult skills budget has fallen by over 30 per cent since 2010, and will fall by a further 24 per cent in 2015-16 for many colleges; understands that this will have a serious impact on the ability of education providers, such as Leicester College, to support the necessary number of learners; recognises the importance of adult and community learning to economic growth and providing people with the opportunity to gain skills which can benefit their lives and the lives of their families; and calls on the Government to review its cuts to the adult skills budget, and specifically the cuts in Leicester.
863 SAFETY AND SECURITY ROLE OF RAIL STATION STAFF 11:3:15
27That this House is concerned for the safety of the travelling public by threats to reduce the number of station staff; notes that the platform train interface is a major risk on the railways; further notes that Passenger Focus supports proper staffing at stations and has called for obligatory staffing initiatives as part of the Government's franchise agreements with operators; is further concerned that numerous stations are already de-staffed and further cuts at railway and tube stations will increase platform train interface risks to passengers as well as stations becoming unwelcoming and inaccessible places; believes that rail passengers deserve, and are entitled to, safe staffed stations; and therefore calls on the UK and Scottish Governments and the Mayor of London to ensure that all rail operations guarantee a sufficient number of trained station staff to safely dispatch trains, protect the travelling public and maintain security at all stations.
865 McDONALD'S TAX AFFAIRS AND THE EXCHEQUER 11:3:15
23That this House is gravely concerned at evidence of the aggressive tax avoidance strategies pursued by global fast-food chain McDonald's over several years up to 2013; commends the work of the worldwide coalition of trade unions and global justice campaigns that resulted in the disclosure of these findings in the Unhappy Meals report; notes that the company has potentially cost up to £818.7 million to the UK Exchequer alone in tax by diverting franchise payments to McD Europe Franchising Sàrl, a Luxembourg-resident intellectual property holding company with a Swiss branch, then shifting McDonald's European headquarters from London to Geneva for the purposes of tax avoidance; understands that this was a direct response to a tax policy change in Luxembourg allowing companies to benefit from significant reductions of their tax rate on income earned from intellectual property; further notes that McDonald's and its franchisees, which openly employ much of their workforce on zero hours contracts, earned £2,335.5 million in sales in the UK; and therefore calls on the Government to ensure that such multinational corporations are obliged to pay their fair share of tax on profits generated from UK operations.
866 VAT ON WOMEN'S SANITARY PRODUCTS 12:3:15
32That this House is concerned about the level of Value Added Tax (VAT) levied on women's sanitary products, such as tampons and sanitary towels; notes that, whilst female sanitary products are subject to a five per cent rate of VAT, shaving razors are subject to a zero per cent rate, as are other essential items such as food and children's clothing; believes that sanitary products are also essential and should be subject to the zero per cent rate of VAT; further notes Treasury estimates that VAT on these products raises just £15 million in revenue per year; acknowledges that the setting of VAT rates is a matter for the EU; and calls on the Chancellor to urge the European Commission to bring forward a proposal to remove VAT from women's sanitary products as part of measures in the 2015 Budget.
867 ISTANBUL CONVENTION ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS 12:3:15
15That this House calls on governments across Europe to ratify the Istanbul Convention on Women's Rights; believes the Convention to be an influential tool to tackle violence which affects the lives of millions of women in Europe; further believes that countries which ratify the treaty have an obligation to support victims of violence; notes a report by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency stating that one in three women across the 28 EU Member States has suffered physical violence since the age of 15; and calls on the UK Government to commit to women's human rights by ratifying the Istanbul Convention.
868 DETENTION AND TREATMENT OF BOYS FROM HARES 12:3:15
18That this House notes that 15 March 2015, Mothering Sunday in the UK, marks the second anniversary of the arrest of five 16-year-old Palestinian boys from the village of Hares; condemns their having been dragged out of their homes at 3am by Israeli soldiers with attack dogs, taken without explanation to an adult prison, denied lawyers, tortured physically and psychologically and each put in solitary confinement until they allegedly confessed to crimes they did not commit such as stone-throwing and attempted murder; further condemns this breach of Israeli law, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Article 76 of the 4th Geneva Convention; and calls on the Government to honour Ms Um Fadi, who spoke in the House at a public meeting in 2014, and the other mothers and families of the five boys who have campaigned tirelessly for their release by doing all it can to get the Israeli government to return the boys to their families without further delay.
869 INQUIRY INTO BA SURVEILLANCE OF EMPLOYEES 12:3:15
9That this House calls for the setting up of an independent, judge-led, public inquiry into the surveillance of employees by British Airways and Gate Gourmet during and following industrial action undertaken by their employees.
870 CARE.DATA AND PATHFINDER AREA LAUNCH 16:3:15
5That this House views with great concern plans by NHS England to relaunch the care.data initiative in trial regions in the run-up to the general election; recalls that the previous attempt to launch care.data was an unmitigated disaster that had to be abandoned due to widespread public opposition; believes that Parliament has been misled, as it received incorrect assurances that care.data pathfinder communications would not take place before the Confidentiality Advisory Group Regulations (CAG) under the Care Act 2014 had been laid before Parliament and approved, thereby introducing strong legal safeguards for data handling before extraction began; further believes that current proposals lack clarity and transparency, as the current opt-out is now for GP data only, excluding hospital data which requires a further, separate opt-out procedure; notes that those who have already opted-out from having both sets of data extracted will receive the same communication in the pathfinder regions telling them to opt-out again and seek any further clarification from their over-stretched GP, who is unlikely to have time to discuss data protection with large numbers of patients; further notes that previous consent definition errors which impact on the ability of patients to receive direct care have yet to be remedied; and calls on the Government, as a matter of urgency, to delay the pathfinder launch at the very least until after the general election, so that outstanding issues can be resolved in a considered and transparent manner.
871 NHS AND THE TRANSATLANTIC TRADE AND INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP 16:3:15
19That this House notes with concern that the NHS is still included in the scope of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) despite the risk of this leading to a privatised, fragmented service that is run for private profit rather than public wellbeing; recognises that only a complete and explicit exemption of the NHS from TTIP will protect the UK's health service from inclusion in the treaty; reminds the Government that the risks of not ensuring that the NHS is excluded from TTIP include increasing deaths from tobacco and higher costs for vital medicines; observes that the TTIP investor-state dispute settlement provision would allow companies to sue governments which bring in legislation to protect public health for billions of taxpayers' money as lost future profits; further notes with concern that this is already happening around the world under existing trade deals; further observes that allowing greater competition into the NHS would lead to further fragmentation and cherry-picking of profitable services, damaging the quality of healthcare available to citizens; further observes that the primary function of governments is to protect citizens' rights and wellbeing, including where necessary by defending them from the greed of global corporations; further notes that the Prime Minister has the right to insist that the UK's NHS is explicitly excluded from TTIP; and calls on him to use this right to protect the health and wellbeing of the citizens he was elected to serve, rather than the profits of private healthcare companies and their shareholders.
875 ST PATRICK'S DAY 17:3:15
11That this House calls on the Government to bring forward legislative proposals to provide for St Patrick's Day, 17 March, to become an annual public holiday in Northern Ireland; recognises that a shared celebration of St Patrick, as a common symbol for all the people of Northern Ireland regardless of faith, belief or background, would play an important role in reconciliation; and acknowledges the deep historical, cultural and religious significance of Ireland's patron saint, whose teaching and life forms a universal example espoused by all Christian traditions.
876 PENSION SCAMS 17:3:15
13That this House recognises the imminent change in the way personal pensions can be utilised; is concerned that tens of thousands of people, who qualify for more flexible arrangements from April 2015, have been targeted by those operating financial scams which seek to convince people to invest substantial pension savings in worthless schemes offering impossibly high returns; and calls on the Government to do more to alert all potential victims to the actions of the fraudsters.
877 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION FUTURE FUNDING CAMPAIGN 17:3:15
14That this House welcomes the Local Government Association's Future Funding campaign and supports its aim of securing sustainable long-term funding for local authorities; acknowledges that councils have made £20 billion worth of savings since 2010, and applauds their resilience and ability to innovate; recognises that millions of people rely on local services and that any reductions to public spending in the next Parliament need to be driven by public service reform to improve outcomes; and calls on whoever takes power after May 2015 to engage in meaningful devolution of decision-making powers and funding to communities through councils.
878 CHURCH BOMBING IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN 17:3:15
14That this House extends its deepest sympathies to those killed in the recent bombing of two churches in Lahore, Pakistan over the weekend of 14-15 March 2015; condemns the actions of the bombers which killed and injured those who were simply exercising their faith; and asks the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to ascertain what help and support is available to ensure churchgoers are safe.
879 SALE OF PARACETAMOL 17:3:15
12That this House is concerned that many vulnerable young people under the age of 18, who regularly self harm, are able with ease to buy paracetamol over the counter in shops; is aware that as UK law stands no age restrictions are currently in place to prevent this; notes, however, that some concerned local companies voluntarily operate such a policy; and further notes that as a nation we readily enforce purchase restrictions on a number of items, notably alcohol, cigarettes, knives, even on the buying of a Lottery Ticket, yet decline taking action to help protect some of the most vulnerable people in out society by taking immediate action to stop such practices.
881 INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY 17:3:15
8That this House commends Health Poverty Action's report of February 2015, Casualties of War: How the War on Drugs is harming the world's poorest, which highlights how the predominant drug policy of prohibition has undermined attempts to tackle poverty and improve health; notes that this is confirmed by evidence presented in the report of January 2015, Drugs and Development: The Great Disconnect from the Global Drug Policy Observatory at Swansea University; is concerned at the alarming violence fuelled by the increased militarisation of repressive responses to the drugs trade; acknowledges the opportunity afforded by the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs in 2016 to help the poorest and most marginalised; and calls on the Government to recognise that drug policy should be treated as a health and development issue, not a crime and security issue, and to advocate this approach at UNGASS.
882 INDIA'S DAUGHTER AND ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 17:3:15
49That this House notes the very powerful effect of Leslee Udwin's documentary, India's Daughter, inspired by the Indian peoples' response to the gang rape of a 23 year old medical student, Jyoti Singh, as demonstrated by the resulting month-long protests of men and women from all walks of life; further notes the relevance of the film in raising awareness of on-going worldwide efforts to educate everyone against violence against girls and women; congratulates the UK for its leadership in working to end female genital mutilation, child marriage and gender inequality; deplores the Indian government's decision to ban the film, which has denied the people most affected by rape and murder a platform to speak for themselves and has prevented a light being shone on what needs to change in the grossly unequal attitudes toward women worldwide and especially Dalit women who are disproportionately affected; further notes that the blanket ban contravenes fundamental rights of free speech and freedom of expression; and calls on the international community to do more to extend their solidarity to all those who are suffering as a result of continuing violence against girls and women, including the family and friends of Jyoti Singh, and to all those campaigning to end it.
883 LESBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MINERS GROUP 1984-85 TO 2015 17:3:15
17That this House places on record its thanks to the Lesbians and Gays Supports the Miners' Group for its solidarity with mining communities organised by the Neath, Dulais and Swansea Valley Miners' Support Group and many other mining families in other coalfields during the miners' strike of 1984-85; recognises the work of the late Mark Ashton and the late Hefina Headon in building this special alliance; notes the £4,000 raised on the 14 March Anniversary Event at Onllwyn Miners' Welfare Hall for the Mark Ashton Red Ribbon Fund of the Terrence Higgins Trust; and congratulates the Terrence Higgins Trust on its outstanding work in campaigning to support people living with HIV.
884 CONSULTANT LOBBYING (S. I., 2015, No. 379) 17:3:15
9That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that the Registration of Consultant Lobbyists Regulations 2015 [SI, 2015, No. 379], dated 24 February 2015, a copy of which was laid before this House on 26 February 2015, be annulled
885 PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (S. I., 2015, No. 102) 17:3:15
11That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 [SI, 2015, No. 102], dated 4 February 2015, a copy of which was laid before this House on 5 February 2015, be annulled
887 WENTWORTH WOODHOUSE IN ROTHERAM, SOUTH YORKSHIRE 18:3:15
8That this House commends the current plans to secure the future of one of the grandest stately homes in England, Wentworth Woodhouse in South Yorkshire, by placing it in a charitable trust and opening it to the public; acknowledges the exceptional splendour of this house and recognises the work already carried out in restoring parkland, lakes, monuments and temples, as well as repairs to the house itself; underlines the huge potential stimulus to economic regeneration in South Yorkshire; and calls on the Government and the National Heritage Memorial Fund to recognise the imperative to give strong and urgent support to these efforts.
888 PERSECUTION OF THE ROHINGYA COMMUNITY IN BURMA 18:3:15
5That this House notes that the Rohingya community in Burma continues to suffer serious abuse of its fundamental human rights; further notes that many members of the Rohingya community have been forced into camps or to leave the country; believes that the Burmese government should establish a special administrative territory in Northern Arakan, reinstate the national identity registrations card, and guarantee the basic human rights of the Rohingya community and its right to equal treatment and respect in particular; also believes that the Burmese government should take strong action to halt the anti-Muslim propaganda which has stimulated the killing of members of the Rohingya community and the burning of their property and to protect the Rohingya community from these attacks; and calls on the Government to make these demands of the Burmese government.
889 FORGOTTEN 14s 18:3:15
6That this House recognises that those people working in Northern Ireland at ages 14 and 15 between 1947 and 1957 continue to be the subject of a discrepancy in that they have worked longer in comparison to their Great Britain counterparts when the working age changed to 15 in 1947; further recognises that Home Responsibilities Protection and Category B pensions do not adequately address this discrepancy; also recognises that not all are protected by state pension credit and other income-related benefits; and, as an excepted matter and the responsibility of HM Revenue and Customs, calls on the Government to address this discrepancy.
890 MEASURING THE COST OF LIVING 18:3:15
10That this House believes that the Retail Price Index (RPI) remains the most accurate measure of the rise in the cost of living faced by UK workers; notes that over many decades the majority of pay bargaining in the UK has traditionally taken the RPI as its main reference point but that the Johnson Review poses a major threat to the continued publication of the RPI; further believes that given the alternative Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and CPIH measures run around one per cent lower than the RPI, this would deal further blows to the pay packets of workers who have been experiencing years of deep declines in the value of their wages; further notes that a rigorous study of inflation by Dr Mark Courtney which sets out why the coverage of the RPI is most relevant to the costs faced by workers; and further believes that the importance of accurate measurement is central to recent proposals calling for the introduction of an independent Living Standards Index to measure the success of Government in dealing with the cost of living.
891 BURIAL OF RICHARD III 18:3:15
3That this House is delighted that the burial ceremony of Richard III will begin on 22 March 2015, ending with his remains being re-interred on 26 March 2015 in Leicester Cathedral; believes that this event unites the Protestant and Catholic communities of the UK, as his re-interment will be led by both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster; thanks the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester, for such incredible work in making these events possible; and notes that this will be a historic day for Leicester, and highlight the rich cultural history of the city.
892 GLOBAL DIABETES PREVALENCE 18:3:15
4That this House is deeply alarmed by a recent study by the University of East Anglia, which found that diabetes affects around 382 million people worldwide, a figure expected to rise to 592 million by 2035; is concerned that the consistently increasing economic impact of this disease on low, middle and high income countries is having extremely negative consequences for public health services; notes that two-thirds of type 2 diabetes cases are now diagnosed in low-income and middle-income nations, with particularly high levels of prevalence in Mexico, India, China and Egypt; and calls on the Government to include diabetes-related public health measures in relevant international development programmes.
893 PRIORITIES FOR ROAD SAFETY 18:3:15
3That this House welcomes the publication of Priorities for Road Safety by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (an All-Party Parliamentary Group); notes that these priorities include the setting of ambitious casualty reduction targets, measures to reduce drink and drug-driving, implementation of double/single British summertime, safer road design and safety management based on the safe system approach; and calls on the Government to redouble its efforts to improve safety for all road users.
894 HORMONE PREGNANCY TEST DRUGS (NO. 2) 18:3:15
5That this House notes that children were born with serious deformities due to hormone pregnancy test drugs taken by expectant mothers between 1953 and 1975; further notes with concern that many of those affected cannot retrieve their medical records from this period; further notes evidence from 1964 which shows that GPs discussed moves to destroy reports about controversial medicines; welcomes the Government's announcement instructing the Women's Health Expert Advisory Group to carry out an independent review of all evidence on oral hormone pregnancy tests; and calls on the Secretary of State for Health to ensure that the review is fully comprehensive and transparent.
896 ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE 19:3:15
1That this House notes the immense value of the National Health Service since its launch on 5 July 1948; reaffirms its belief in the founding principles of the NHS, that it should meet the needs of all who need it and should be free at the point of use; acknowledges that the NHS is experiencing severe financial pressures; also acknowledges that the NHS faces a real challenge in delivering services locally while at the same time remaining a national structure; believes that the future of the NHS, how it is run and funded, are issues of huge national importance; further believes that these issues are not well served by party politics and are undermined by electioneering that oversimplifies the challenges and solutions; urgently calls for a Royal Commission to be appointed and set up as soon as possible after the forthcoming General Election with the remit of considering how best to fund and structure the NHS; further calls on all parties and the next Government to sign up to implement the findings of the Royal Commission; and further believes that in the longer run this would help deliver a sustainable NHS that properly delivers health services on an ongoing basis.
897 EXTENSION OF THE BADGER CULL 19:3:15
1That this House believes that commencing the next badger cull in June 2015 is completely misguided and that it will result in many badger cubs being killed when they do not have TB; and calls on the Government to abandon plans for the 2015 cull since this has been found by the Independent Expert Panel to be ineffective in reducing bovine TB.
898 DISPOSAL OF WET WIPES AND OTHER MATERIALS 19:3:15
7That this House is appalled to learn that the number of wet wipes found as part of the Marine Conservation Society's Beach Clean increased by 50 per cent in a year; understands that wet wipes do not break down like toilet tissue due to their tougher, sometimes plastic, fibres; further understands that water companies estimate that about 70 per cent of blockages are avoidable if wipes and other materials are disposed of properly; supports the 3p's campaign of nothing but pee, poo or paper; and calls on the Government to do more to promote the campaign and encourage manufacturers to raise awareness of correct disposal methods.