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This time last week, I was chairing the annual general meeting of the all-party group on the Holy See. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor was present, as were the media because they thought he would announce his successor as cardinal, which he did not. The Papal Nuncio was present and so, too, was our wonderful ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Campbell. Some
long-serving Members will remember my exchange about the Holy See with Tony Blair at Prime Minister’s questions, after it had been brought to my attention and that of other Members that we were to lose our delegation at the Vatican. Mr. Blair looked very surprised at that, even though he was running the country and, as we learned, was very close to the Catholic Church. After Members were alerted to the situation, a number of us got together to form the all-party group.
Francis Campbell is doing a wonderful job as ambassador and I am delighted to tell the House that Peter Ricketts has informed me that as a result of sensible and constructive lobbying by colleagues, our embassy will be reinforced with a new deputy ambassador and more staff. The staff have done wonderful work operating on a tiny budget.
I agree with the hon. Member for Nottingham, North that this place has changed out of all recognition. Colleagues do not know what we are talking about when we tell them how much power we had. We worked long hours and we could really make a difference. Now we have lost all our power to quangos, but the issue I have just described is an example of how we can make a difference without rowing and arguing with colleagues. I am delighted with what has been achieved.
Anti-Semitism is unacceptable wherever it happens. The Metropolitan police report that there were four times as many anti-Jewish incidents in recent weeks as there were Islamophobic incidents. The Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Jewish racism, reports that there were as many attacks on Jews in the first weeks of 2009 as in the first six months of 2008. That is staggering, although we know why about 270 cases of anti-Semitism were reported in the first few weeks of 2009—it was to do with the Israelis and Hamas in Gaza and southern Israel.
Incidents recorded by the CST include violent assaults in the street, hate e-mails and graffiti threatening jihad against British Jews. One disturbing aspect is the targeting of Jewish children. The Jewish Chronicle reported that a 12-year-old schoolgirl on her way home from school was terrorised by a mob of youths chanting “Kill all Jews” and “Death to Jews.” I became so concerned that I tabled a series of parliamentary questions, and I am pleased to hear that the Government have taken the matter seriously and will act on it.
I welcome the fact that the first international conference on combating anti-Semitism was held in London. It was attended by more than 100 parliamentarians from 40 countries. The conference called for the establishment of an international taskforce of internet specialists to monitor anti-Semitism online and propose international responses. I very much welcome that.
Over the years, I have found that many of the issues raised in Parliament are seasonal. Here we are on 2 April, so I am raising the issue of fireworks. Despite the passage of the Fireworks Regulations 2004, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals still receives hundreds of complaints every year, particularly on bonfire night and new year’s eve. Domestic animals are severely stressed and given to madness by loud fireworks. A Labour Member who is no longer in the House—
Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes) (Lab): Bill Tynan.
Mr. Amess: Yes. Bill Tynan introduced a Bill on fireworks.
Despite prohibition of the supply of excessively loud category 3 fireworks, it is clear that fireworks are still readily available that create noise levels in excess of 100 dB at 15 m, well beyond the loudest noises in normal domestic settings. We need to look at what can be done to promote desensitisation programmes for domestic pets and to ensure that the current law on night-time firework use is enforced thoroughly. In addition, we need to look at ways to reduce statutory maximum noise levels further, perhaps to 75 dB, as recommended by the RSPCA.
Shona McIsaac: I am a former executive officer of an all-party parliamentary group that campaigned against fireworks, so I welcome the fact that the hon. Gentleman is raising the issue today. Is not the situation particularly serious for guide dogs? I am often told by vets who say that fireworks are not a nuisance, “You can simply sedate an animal for the duration of the firework season.” One cannot do that to a guide dog.
Mr. Amess: I agree with the hon. Lady. I have heard her speak on these matters before, and her support is welcome.
Sir Robert Smith: One can have a spectacular firework display that gives great visual enjoyment without loud noise levels. The noise is not essential to the quality of the firework; it is an extra that is added on, and it could be reduced without damaging the visual quality.
Mr. Amess: I agree with the hon. Gentleman. We are blessed to be by the River Thames, where we can see beautiful firework displays reflecting off the river without its being noisy. The new year celebrations were a wonderful opportunity to see such displays. Last November, all the bangs, which seemed to be fired in the direction of my house—I do not know whether I was being targeted by local residents—were slightly over the top, so I certainly agree with the hon. Gentleman.
The Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (Chris Bryant): Did you take it personally?
Mr. Amess: No, I certainly did not.
All hon. Members, whether or not they use their allowance for a second home, must be absolutely fed up with all the junk mail that is put through the letterboxes. I know that these are tough times, but whether the junk mail is from restaurants, suppliers or others, it is completely out of control. Some of that junk mail can cause nuisance, distress and inconvenience to many people in all sorts of ways. It leads to a high level of waste and identity fraud. Levels of direct mail mistakenly sent to people who have moved are still far too high. I am advised that even under the best practice guidelines of the Direct Marketing Association, data management software still leads to an average of 25 per cent. of deceased persons continuing to be sent direct marketing. That can cause great distress to family members. More rights are needed to allow people to take control of their personal data and to prevent bothersome and unnecessary junk mailings.
I have been contacted by the Swimming Teachers Association, which feels a little bit peeved that it was not involved in the excellent decision to extend free swimming to the over-60s and under-16s. The programme involves a lot of money being spent—£140 million—including on 49 development officers. It would seem prudent to involve all relevant parties, so that we can strengthen decision making on how that money is to be spent. I hope that in future, the Swimming Teachers Association will be included.
When I was on the Select Committee on Health, I suggested an inquiry into allergies. I am raising this issue on 2 April, not in the summer. There are so many allergies that people have today; I am thinking particularly of hay fever. The availability of allergy therapy through the national health service is patchy and varies enormously between primary care trusts. Availability of anti-allergy medication, vaccines and immunotherapy is limited, and greater urgency is needed in giving devolved primary care trusts money that is ring-fenced for allergy therapy.
I wish to mention the Kennel Club and dogs. The ability of dog owners to comply with their obligations under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to provide their dogs with off-lead exercise has been compromised by the introduction of dog control orders under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, particularly where no alternative provision has been made. The Kennel Club believes that to date at least 120 councils have implemented dog control orders, sometimes issuing as many as 100 orders in an area, although there could well be more. Research shows that the biggest factor for owners when choosing where to exercise their dogs is whether they can exercise them off the lead. If that is not possible locally, more than 40 per cent. would drive elsewhere, despite the detrimental impact on the environment. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs guidance accompanying the 2005 Act states that local authorities should show that dog control orders are a “necessary and proportionate response”. In practice, that has been largely ignored as many local authorities have taken the most restrictive approach. Furthermore, although local authorities are required to notify Natural England of any proposed dog control orders on access land, very few appear to have done so.
I end with some good news about Southend council. I am delighted to say that the Audit Commission has given it a three-star rating; that means that it is a local authority that is continuing to improve, under the excellent leadership of councillors Nigel Holdcroft and John Lamb and the chief executive Rob Tinlin. All in all, and given the challenging economic backdrop, Southend council is doing extremely well. I join others in wishing everyone a happy, healthy Easter.
2.41 pm
Mr. Eric Joyce (Falkirk) (Lab): Last week, I read a test that those who want to live in the UK and take UK citizenship have to pass. At a meeting of my constituency Labour party, we discussed whether we could answer the questions ourselves. I bought a little book with all the questions from the Portcullis House bookshop. Actually, some of them are not that easy; some are quite tricky.
One of the questions asks about the role of a Member of Parliament. I take it that the answer in the book is the one in the official documentation, although the
book may be wrong. The answer given was that he—or she, indeed; I am sure that whatever term is used is gender-neutral—
Chris Bryant: I am sure that it is.
Mr. Joyce: I am, too; I am sure that that has not been missed. The answer was that Members of Parliament meet their constituents and raise issues in Parliament. There were also a few other subsidiary points about the things that Members of Parliament do. However, the book did not say that we legislate; it mentions nothing about legislation, which strikes me as the oddest thing.
I have been here for eight years. I am not the most experienced Member, but I have seen things happen and how different Members do their jobs. It seems to me that the only statutory function of a Member is to legislate. All the other stuff that we do is a matter of local style, and we do it all in different ways. Some Members have a lot of contact about council issues, while others tend to leave that to councillors. It depends on the local political context. The single thing that we do is to come here to legislate in what we think is the interest of the common weal, if I can put it in that rather aggrandised way. That is primarily what we are here for. All the party politics and so forth come on top of that; they are important, and we all have our philosophical predispositions in that respect. But the most meaningful stuff, which I like to get my teeth into—I mean constituency cases, which we all have—is that which has a direct bearing on current legislation, for good or ill. When I say “legislating in the common weal”, I do not always mean our producing new legislation; sometimes it is not a bad idea to get rid of legislation when it is unnecessary.
I shall tell a little story. Recently, I came across a case that gave me a great opportunity to look closely at a tiny area of policy that had a really marked influence on the life of a constituent—indeed, probably several thousand women in Scotland, as it happens, were affected by this legislation. A woman, who shall remain anonymous, came to my constituency surgery. I cannot remember what the original issue was, but as I was ushering her out of the door, finishing my cup of tea, she said, “It would be good if you could help me with that, because I lost my child benefit last year when my child started at the further education college.” I asked her to run that by me again, because for other reasons she had already explained that she had a child who had left school and was in her second year of a course at the local FE college. The child was 17, and the woman had lost her child benefit.
All Members will be pretty aware of what the child benefit regulations are, because lots of constituents come to us with different issues relating to them. It was immediately obvious to me that there was something very peculiar about her losing her child benefit because the child was in further education. The general principle of child benefit, which is a universal benefit, is that parents are given assistance, regardless of income level, in bringing up their children until they are regarded as adults. Generally speaking, under the regulations drawn up by the Treasury, someone under 19 and not in advanced education—not at university or an equivalent,
or doing an HND, which is just below university level; in higher education, essentially—would be excluded. Otherwise, if a child—or a student or person; the word “child” can be seen as pejorative and some 16 and 17-year-olds would not be happy with it—is still under 19 and in school or equivalent, then child benefit applies.
This woman’s 18-year-old child was doing an HNC at Falkirk college, which is now called Forth Valley college, it having absorbed the colleges in Stirling and Alloa. Some Members may not be immediately acquainted with that development, but it was very important in my area. It is a fabulous college with a really good recent inspectorial result. I thought that the case was peculiar, so I looked into it. The girl is planning to become a nurse, so she is on a pre-nursing course. She is doing that instead of being in the sixth form, so she will end up with a qualification that is the equivalent of advanced highers in Scotland—the equivalent of A-levels down here. Her mother therefore should not have lost her child benefit—that was clear as a bell to me as soon as she said it.
I checked up on the situation. Some of this stuff is devolved because education is devolved in Scotland, but the child benefit regulations are not. It is a question of having different qualifications across the UK. The relevant institutions—the Scottish Parliament and, I guess, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly—have to say that their qualifications are equivalent to certain English ones, and then the child benefit regulations are drawn up accordingly. There is a table in the child benefit regulations, which are drawn up by the Treasury and implemented by the Department for Work and Pensions, laying out non-advanced and advanced qualifications. It is pretty clear-cut. On one side are GCSEs, or standards in Scotland, A-levels, BTECs in England, and so forth; on the other, degrees, HNDs and so forth.
The Scottish HNC is a one-year qualification, full-time, or a two-year qualification, part-time. In England, what used to be called an HNC is essentially a part-time HND, which is a two-year course. An HND is an advanced course and an HNC is a non-advanced course—the equivalent of a BTEC in England. It transpires that the officials in Scotland seem to have missed that detail and agreed with the Treasury that an HNC is an advanced qualification. The DWP therefore assumes that all these students will be going into the second year of their two-year course in colleges all over Scotland, and effectively disqualifies their parents from child benefit.
That has implications. Child benefit is a gateway benefit, so my constituent loses not only child benefit but a number of other benefits. I will maintain her anonymity by saying that she has an unusual benefit that I had never heard of before, which is not constrained by income. In total, this woman was losing about £8,000, not taxed, in the one year when she was wrongly disqualified. That is remarkable. I suspect that in my constituency—I am taking a stab here—several hundred people will be affected. Although most people doing HNCs are returners, quite a few do them as an alternative to sixth form, and they are clearly a BTEC equivalent. People in Scotland are being treated differently as a consequence.
I wrote to the Treasury, fully expecting a big barney, and I have now met the relevant Minister—the Financial Secretary. I hope that this is not too presumptuous of
me, but I think that they agree. They would not have had much of an argument because the Scottish Qualifications Authority—a fabulous, very efficient organisation that my sister works for, so I always have to say that—has a diagram that simply says that the Scottish HNC is the equivalent of an English BTEC. The peculiarity is why, when the Treasury fired this process up in the first place, it was agreed that they were equivalent when a difference should have been spotted.
For the moment, the outcome is that the Treasury is taking a careful look at the matter. I hope that it will make a correction and move the qualification across the line—I think that it is doing so—so that in the coming year, people who were previously disqualified from child benefit and other associated benefits will qualify. There is, of course, the question of what happens to my constituent, whose child will have finished the course by then. The effect will be that several thousand people in Scotland—mainly women, but it is not necessarily women who take child benefit—will benefit to the tune of somewhere between £1,000 and £8,000, which is perhaps what my constituent would have received, in one financial year. That is a significant bunch of cash, and it depends on a tiny detail. I cannot really blame the Treasury because lots of stuff is going on, and there is a lot of complexity in the vastly important bits of legislation it is dealing with.
Reflecting on my laborious entry into this position, given the generous amount of time we seem to have available—
Chris Bryant: You don’t have to use it.
Mr. Joyce: My hon. Friend says that I do not have to use it—
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab) indicated dissent.
Mr. Joyce: I note what both of my hon. Friends on the Front Bench are saying, and it is not necessarily the same thing.
What I was banging on about was this: in this place, one can do a lot as a Back Bencher, looking at legislation and picking things up instinctively. If something seems as if it is not right, quite often it is not. Often that is just the way it is; we do not get perfect solutions to everything. Constituents may come along and say, “That person gets a certain benefit, and I do not. We are on either side of a dividing line—why is that?” It is not really possible to say, “There is a continuum, we have to draw the line somewhere, and that is just the way it is.” The most difficult thing to say to a constituent is often, “I know that it’s not really fair, but that’s just the way it is. I am not saying, “Life’s not fair”, but sometimes, by definition, legislation will be a bit clunky, and there will always be marginal cases that are unfortunate, which we cannot do anything about.
In this case, however, we could do something about it. I think that the outcome will be fine, but when I reflected on the meaning of the case from a political perspective, I saw that something else was going on, apart from the fact that the Scottish civil servants had apparently responded badly. It did not seem to happen at the political level; as far as I can see it happened because of an official’s error in Scotland. I do not think that it was just a case of someone being slack.
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