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REGULATION OF INVESTIGATORY POWERS BILL [MONEY]
Queen's recommendation having been signified--
n made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 52(1)(a),
Question agreed to.
Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark, North and Bermondsey):
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Earlier this afternoon, the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe) raised the issue of asylum seekers. Can I ask for your considered view on what has happened since then and, if appropriate, for a ruling from Madam Speaker?
A report suggested that today there would be a parliamentary answer from the Home Office on asylum seekers. At 6.54 pm, the Home Office faxed to my office an answer by the Minister of State, Home Office, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche), to a question that was first answered on 6 December in reply to a question from the hon. Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman). I understand that the Home Office told the Table Office that it had supplied an answer today because the original answer was inaccurate and had had to be corrected. It was not inaccurate; at the time, it was entirely accurate.
What has happened is that the Government have changed their policy and, under the cover of an earlier question and an earlier answer, they have sought to put out an answer with no notice to the House in the normal way. I happen to know that that is because the Home Office failed on Friday to arrange for a question to be tabled which it could answer. Because it did not manage
to do that--to use a phrase that has become common to describe business as usual--there was another cock up in the Home Office, and it has had to find a subterfuge.
There is one other matter, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and--
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael J. Martin):
Order. Let me deal with the first matter before I deal with the other one.
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Let me deal with the first matter, because I might be able to help the hon. Gentleman. The Home Secretary is present and will therefore have heard the hon. Gentleman's remarks. I do not wish him to respond at the moment; it is an issue for another occasion. I have no doubt that Madam Speaker will note the hon. Gentleman's words and that the matter will be looked into. I can give him that assurance.
Mr. Hughes:
Further to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The other matter that arises is that the Home Office has provided a long parliamentary answer. However, it is bizarre in various respects, not least because, in the middle, it turns from being an answer and becomes a press release. It suddenly gives no factual information but starts giving what--
Mr. Hughes:
Will you bear with me, Mr. Deputy Speaker?
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. I cannot bear with the hon. Gentleman. He is now beginning to express an opinion on these matters. He must relate his point of order to the Chair.
These matters will be considered. The hon. Gentleman is perfectly welcome to approach the Home Secretary--perhaps after these proceedings--and he can lay a complaint before Madam Speaker. That is the best that I can do at the moment. I must get on with the business before us, which the House, and not me, has decided.
Mr. Hughes:
Further to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The point that I would like you or Madam Speaker to consider for a ruling is whether the answer provided is an appropriate parliamentary answer. It moves from reporting facts to describing what is or is not a sensible policy. If you could rule on that, I would be very grateful.
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
That is not a matter for me. I have given the hon. Gentleman a strong hint as to what route he can take.
Miss Ann Widdecombe (Maidstone and The Weald):
Further to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. When I raised the issue earlier, I asked Madam Speaker whether she had received a request for a statement because a major U-turn on Government policy was announced in the media this morning. Madam Speaker responded to me that there were a number of questions on the Order Paper that could be answered. I think that it is fair to say that we took that to mean that they were new questions and not
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Madam Speaker will note what the right hon. Lady has said.
n made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 119(9) (European Standing Committees),
this House takes note of European Union Document Nos. 10705/99, the Commission's Annual Report on humanitarian aid 1998, 10497/99, the Commission's Annual Report on TACIS 1998, 11203/99, Commission staff working paper: Report for 1998 on the evaluation of external co-operation, and un-numbered Explanatory Memorandum from the Department for International Development dated 5th November 1999 on a Commission Communication on the assessment and future of Community humanitarian activities; and supports the Government's policy of working in partnership with the European Community to improve the management, organisation and effectiveness of development assistance administered by the European Community institutions.--[Mr. Jamieson.]
Question agreed to.
Queen's recommendation having been signified--
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 52 (Money resolutions and ways and means resolutions in connection with bills),
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.--[Mr. Jamieson.]
Jane Griffiths (Reading, East):
I am grateful for the opportunity to introduce this debate on the important and worrying subject of sickle cell anaemia. The House will know that it is a genetically inherited condition and that it cannot be caught or contracted. The person suffering from it will always be anaemic, but, at times, there may be a crisis in the condition which leads to very severe pain.
The pain is caused by the red blood cells in the affected person becoming sickle shaped--hence the condition's name--and therefore unable to carry sufficient oxygen. One side effect of the condition is that the person suffering from it is immune to malaria because malaria mosquitos cannot attack the sickle-shaped cells. The main causes of the condition going into crisis are many, but they include strenuous exercise and any trauma to the body, such as the contraction of a severe virus, being subject to general anaesthetic, suffering from a fever or pregnancy. The cause of the crisis in sickle cell anaemia that may arise as a result of pregnancy is not fully understood, but it is not uncommon.
Sickle cell trait, which may or may not involve anaemia, is found in about 10 per cent. of people of Afro-Caribbean origin and more frequently in those of Nigerian origin.
Sickle cell C trait, in which people may well have no health problems at all but will pass the trait on to their children, is found in about 2 per cent. of people of Afro-Caribbean origin, and more often in people of Ghanaian origin. Thalassaemia trait, which is related and can cause a sickle cell condition, is found also in about 2 per cent. of people of Afro-Caribbean origin, and more frequently among people of Mediterranean origin.
In all our communities, therefore, it is necessary to understand that the condition is present from birth and often seriously affects children. One of its key symptoms is severe, disabling pain that onsets suddenly. Awareness of the condition is needed among health professionals. Although midwives' handbooks have considerable information about anaemia in general, as it is very common in pregnancy, they have little information specifically about sickle cell anaemia, yet that condition often goes into crisis in women in early pregnancy. No one knows why.
Evidence also shows that, in recent years, when people have visited their doctor or gone to hospital suffering from symptoms relating to sickle cell anaemia, they have been asked, "How long have you had sickle cell condition?" That indicates that not all doctors even know that it is an inherited condition that cannot be contracted. I had an e-mail on that subject today from a woman who said that her partner, a sickle cell sufferer, had been asked that question very recently.
Awareness of sickle cell is badly needed also among education and other professionals. Children who regularly suffer pain and illness are likely to have to miss school and their behaviour may well be affected. Sickle cell can also cause kidney problems, which involve many visits to the lavatory, and teachers can be less than tolerant of that if they are not fully aware of the reason for it. There is a
worryingly high incidence of exclusion from school among Afro-Caribbean boys, some of whom may well have sickle cell condition. They may not want to talk to teachers or anybody else about it, but it can cause problems throughout their education.
Teachers these days are routinely made aware of, and told how to deal with, asthma attacks, nut allergies and other severe allergies, which are suffered by an increasing number of primary school pupils. However, they are not routinely made aware of, and told how to understand and deal with, people with sickle cell anaemia, even in areas where the Afro-Caribbean population is high. This is therefore a public health issue that should concern us.
Awareness is needed also among the population at large and those in authority. I had a visit from a constituent whose daughter died when her sickle cell anaemia went into crisis early in her pregnancy. I shall not ask the Minister to look into the case of a particular constituent at this time, but I mention it because it is relevant to the wider issue. My constituent's daughter died from complications of pregnancy brought on, it seems, by sickle cell condition. The insurance company refused to pay out on her policy because, it said, she had a life-threatening condition which she had failed to declare.
I discussed this rather complicated issue, on which the insurance profession does not seem to have a clear policy, with a number of people in the industry. There is a worryingly lack of awareness--I shall not use the word "ignorance"--of the condition. One person working in insurance, but not for the company with which the young woman who died had a policy, said, "I am not surprised that people in the insurance industry do not know about sickle cell because it mostly affects Afro-Caribbean people and not many of them buy houses." That ignorant statement staggered me.
My constituent's daughter did not die from sickle cell anaemia; she had sickle cell. Many people live to a great age with the condition, but have episodes of ill health throughout their life.
Will the Minister look seriously at how we can ensure that all professionals, especially those who work with children and pregnant women, are fully aware of the symptoms and dangers of sickle cell? Constituents and others have told me that professionals do not care and that, because the condition affects mainly ethnic minorities, people do not think that it matters. I know that my hon. Friend will agree that it does matter. In general, health professionals take the condition seriously. The problem is more that those who work with children and pregnant women may not be fully aware of it.
Many older people in ethnic minority communities who have sickle cell were, in the past, heavily prescribed pain-killing drugs for the bouts of pain that come with the condition and, sadly, have become addicted to those drugs. I am reliably informed that doctors no longer prescribe pain-killing drugs in that way, but there are people in their middle years living with addiction to painkillers and the extra problems that it brings on top of their sickle cell condition.
That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill, it is expedient to authorise the payment out of money provided by Parliament of--
(a) any expenditure incurred by the Secretary of State for or in connection with the carrying out of his functions under the Act;
(b) any expenditure attributable to arrangements made by the Secretary of State under the Act for the making of contributions towards the costs incurred by persons in complying with requirements under the Act to obtain or disclose any communications data;
(c) any expenditure attributable to arrangements made by the Secretary of State under the Act for the making of contributions towards the costs incurred by persons in complying with notices given under the Act for the disclosure of keys to protected information;
(d) any allowances payable under the Act to the Interception of Communications Commissioner or the Covert Investigations Commissioner; and
(e) any increase attributable to the Act in the sums which are payable out of money so provided under any other Act.-- [Mr. Mike Hall.]
That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Carers and Disabled Children Bill, it is expedient to authorise the payment out of money provided by Parliament of any increase attributable to the Act in the sums which are payable out of money so provided by virtue of any other Act.--[Mr. Jamieson.]
Question agreed to.
8.17 pm
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