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Mr. Oliver Heald (North-East Hertfordshire) (Con): As usual with these debates, we have had an excellent opportunity to hear Members of Parliament take up issues on behalf of their constituents. We have heard some philosophical discussions about the role of Members of Parliament in connecting with the community outside. We have heard a range of national issues raised in the constructive way that often applies in these debates.
I hope that the House will not mind if I congratulate my constituent, Viscount Trenchard, on taking up his seat in the House of Lords today. I am particularly pleased that my constituent was able to win the by-election that was necessary to achieve that result—happily, not by postal ballot.
There has been great testimony to the work done in constituencies. The hon. Member for Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies) spoke of some of the valuable work that can be done by Members of Parliament and said that they can be a force for good, to use his words. He mentioned the miners' compensation scheme and a number of other aspects. I felt that his view and philosophy were optimistic and constructive, and the House generally warmed to his theme.
I am not sure whether the same can be said of the hon. Member for North Cornwall (Mr. Tyler), who took the opportunity to make a bid for more money for the Liberal Democrats. I am not sure whether that went down quite as well as the remarks of the hon. Member for Ogmore.
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Many Members mentioned post office closures. The hon. Member for Hammersmith and Fulham (Mr. Coleman) raised something of particular concern in his constituency. My hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink) mentioned his concern about post office closures and referred to a letter that he had received from Rev. Galloway.
I think that my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) and the hon. Members for Argyll and Bute (Mr. Reid), for Hornchurch (John Cryer) and for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) also mentioned post offices.
The hon. Member for Hornchurch was right to say that the Government cannot escape the blame for the situation. Coupled with the Government's decision to scrap the order book and move elderly pensioners into the modern age of the personal identification number and the card, the urban reinvention programme, which provides Government money to encourage the closure of post offices, has undoubtedly made many post offices far less financially viable.
Mr. Burstow: The hon. Gentleman mentioned scrapping the order book. Will he confirm that the decisions that set that in train were taken when the Conservatives were in office?
Mr. Heald: That is absolutely the opposite of the truth. I was a junior Minister in the Department for Social Security when we decided not to scrap the order book because we thought that chaos would follow. I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman, who is usually fairly knowledgeable on welfare matters, has been so misled.
Continuing the theme of public services, colleagues on both sides of the House mentioned a number of issues. The Health Committee report on obesity is certainly important and should be debated. Mobile phone masts were also mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West. There is no doubt that there has been considerable concern in the House in recent weeks and months about the impact of those masts. My hon. Friend introduced a ten-minute Bill on mobile phone masts, and my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Mr. Spring) and the hon. Member for Lewisham, West (Jim Dowd) have promoted private Members' Bills on the subject. I have tabled an early-day motion on the ntl mast in Stamford avenue, Royston, which greatly concerns my constituents. I presented a petition against that mast and met representatives of ntl this week. It is time that the Government looked again at the siting of masts and whether it is possible to give councillors more control so that they can take account both of a mast's proximity to schools and of concerns about the associated health risks.
My hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West also mentioned abortion, an important issue that perhaps should be discussed more often. The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) spoke about media matters. There was an element of motherhood and apple pie about his remarks on the importance of the BBC and its independence. Most of us would agree with him, but he also commented on the Spanish Government bullying Spain's public service broadcasters, which made me recall some of the evidence from the Hutton inquiry on the way in which Mr. Alastair Campbell operated. I noticed that the hon. Gentleman did not mention that inquiry.
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The hon. Gentleman also congratulated Channel 4 on its efforts to make its services available in Wales, although he thought that it should have better facilities for interviews. He did not like Sky and wanted more cable. He was particularly unfair on Ivor the Engine, and I hope he will withdraw those comments.
Chris Bryant: The hon. Gentleman failed to understand any of my points, which must be my fault, not his lack of intelligence. There is an important distinction between the Spanish public service broadcaster and the British public service broadcaster. Up until now, every new Government in Spain have sacked all senior staff of the public service broadcaster. In Britain, the director general and chairman of the BBC resigned, but the Government have no power to sack anyone in the public service broadcaster.
Mr. Heald: The hon. Gentleman makes his points in his own inimitable way.
My hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point made the important comment that the hon. Member for Rhondda had forgotten Max Boyce. That is another charge to lay at his door.
My hon. Friend went on to make a point about yob culture and the importance of the police having adequate powers to take drink from young people in the street. He rightly highlighted the Government's failure to realise the importance of those powers as they relate to sealed containers. There is some dispute about the matter. I refer the House to the report of the proceedings on the Criminal Justice and Police Bill in Standing Committee F on 15 February 2001. In a debate on an amendment tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Mr. Hawkins) and me, the right hon. Member for Norwich, South (Mr. Clarke), the then Minister responsible for the police, said:
"We are worried that the power proposed in the amendment"—
which would have removed the exemption from seizure of sealed or unopened containers—
"would go too far; power to seize sealed containers would bite on supplies purchased to drink at home. The power is designed to prevent drinking in public, hence the power to seize alcohol in open containers. It is open containers, glasses and bottles that are important to us here".—[Official Report, Standing Committee F, 15 February 2001; c. 227.]
We said at the time that that was nonsense, and so it proved. I thought that it was useful to give that reference, and I am very happy to have done so.
My hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point mentioned the joys of Hadleigh castle and the Dutch cottages on Canvey Island. I wish him luck with his lottery bid for the Canvey Island heritage centre and I hope that the reductions on c2c trains can be reversed. He congratulated civil servants, which is an important thing to do, particularly now that there are so many of them. I noticed this week that the public sector employment figures showed an annual increase of 150,000. I do not know whether the Minister has any more information about that, but I know that employment in the education sector went up by 88,000, yet the Department for Education and Skills is absolutely sure that there are only 4,000 extra teachers, so who are the other 84,000? If the Minister has found out, perhaps he will tell us.
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I join in the congratulations to Canvey Island FC on their triumphs.
Mr. Heald: I am told that they lost the final, but they did get promoted, so we are entitled to say that they did pretty well.
The hon. Member for Hornchurch made an important point about hospital closures, and I should be interested to hear the Minister's reply. He said that he is strongly opposed to the European constitution. He feels that it is an important factor in the public's disengagement from politics. That may be true in part, but the bigger problem is that in 1997 there was enthusiasm in politics. We were told that things could only get better, and the public bought into the Labour party's proposal. Things have, of course, got worse rather than better. There has been a failure of delivery throughout the country, and people now feel let down by Labour. That is the background to their disengagement from politics. [Interruption.] I do not think that even the hon. Member for Rhondda would agree with the hon. Member for North Cornwall that the public are disengaged because the Liberal Democrats do not get enough Short money. National political issues are the reason for the public being disengaged, particularly from the Government, who have let them down.
Many of the points made in this debate, such as those on hospital closures and the problem of the European constitution, relate to the failures of the Government. Almost every issue that we have heard about is a Government failure of one sort or another. The hon. Member for Braintree said that his hospital is now nine-to-five. It is not a Rolls-Royce service; one is almost tempted to say that it is more of a Lada under Labour.
My hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Mrs. Browning) made an important point about insurance, and explained that the cost of insurance for small businesses has risen sharply. She highlighted the position of independent financial advisers, and we need to know exactly what the Government are going to do about the financial services compensation scheme. Perhaps the Deputy Leader of the House can tell us about the review of insurance that is being conducted by the Department for Work and Pensions. He will know that at the moment the Government are supporting a private Member's Bill that would greatly increase the penalties for not having public liability insurance, so how does he square that with the difficulties that small businesses experience in getting cover? Can he point to anything that the Government have done successfully to address the problem? My hon. Friend also mentioned further education colleges. There has been a huge increase in the number of students attending North Hertfordshire college, but it has not had a concomitant increase in funding—my hon. Friend outlined exactly the same problem.
The hon. and learned Member for Dudley, North (Ross Cranston) expressed concerns about Iraq, and I agree with the need to follow legal procedures and
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respect human rights in providing justice. He rightly welcomed the decision to refer a particular case to the Crown Prosecution Service. He gave an interesting interpretation of the Interbrew case, and concluded by talking about activism and pension funds. The National Association of Pension Funds, under Christine Farnish, has taken a robust line with companies, has argued strongly for good governance, has tried to press the case on rewards for directors and has demonstrated other examples of activism. I agree that trustees need better training, especially those nominated by members, and the Government should seek to address that issue.
The hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) raised a number of issues. The campaign for the postal town of Cheam is a good one, and the Sutton Guardian is right to be proud of the town. Good luck to Cheam, and let us hope that the campaign is successful. Last year, we had a popular campaign for Letchworth to be named Letchworth Garden City, and we succeeded, in the town's centenary year, in getting the name changed. We will have to hear what the relevant Minister says about the case that he mentioned involving the Child Support Agency, but there is a more general point to be made about the CSA. The Government have introduced simpler rules for the CSA, which have been applied to cases that are being processed now. However, a great number of existing cases have not been transferred to the new system. The Government are quite unable to say when that will take place, because their computer does not work. It would be helpful if the Deputy Leader of the House could tell us when "C day", as it is known, will finally come. Many of us would like to know that the new simpler rules that the Government boast about will apply to a large part of the case load.
We have had a marvellous debate, which is typical of the occasion. In conclusion, we are lucky to have the staff of the Serjeant at Arms Department, who do so much to keep us safe and who recently have been criticised, very unfairly. We should pay tribute to them and their work, as well as to all the other staff of the House of Commons, the Doorkeepers and the Badge Messengers. I congratulate all of them on what they do for us, and wish everybody a happy Whitsun.
5.44 pm
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