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I thank the right hon. and learned Lady for her willingness to listen to the House last week when we asked about the investigation into privilege in the wake of the arrest of my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Damian Green). What is the status of the two potential committees of inquiry that have been suggested, and when might she be able to give a statement to the House on the proposed way forward?
Yesterday, the House soundly defeated the Government’s policy on the Gurkhas. However, there is another group of people whom the Government treat with deep contempt: the policyholders of Equitable Life. Will the right hon. and learned Lady confirm what I have heard—that, a full three months after the Chief Secretary to the Treasury established an independent review into supposed ex gratia payments for those who have lost out from Equitable Life’s collapse, the man leading the investigation, Sir John Chadwick, has not yet been in contact with Equitable Life or any representatives of those affected? Does not that further underline the speciousness of the review and the Government’s intention to bury the issue? When will the Leader of the House ensure that Ministers come to the House to give us a statement about their plans to compensate—I use that word deliberately; I mean “compensate”—policyholders, as the ombudsman demanded?
Will the right hon. and learned Lady also give us a statement on the status of the Government’s misguided policy on ID cards? On Tuesday, it was reported that a—inevitably unnamed—group of senior Cabinet Ministers were lobbying the Prime Minister to drop the scheme altogether. Later, the former Home Secretary who gave birth to the idea said that he favoured using biometric passports instead. After telling us for the past year—and even before that—that ID cards are essential for national security, the Government are clearly somewhat split on the issue. After this week’s U-turns on Titan prisons and national databases, perhaps the Prime Minister will return to YouTube and give us a U-turn on ID cards, too.
May we also have a debate on our relations with Poland, in which we could take the opportunity to congratulate the Polish Prime Minister on his forthright honesty and sage advice to our Prime Minister on the rigours of fiscal probity and economic management?
May I congratulate the right hon. and learned Lady on the publication of her leadership manifesto in the guise of the Equality Bill? I know that she is very proud of it, but can she perhaps explain to the House why she will not be entrusted with steering it through on Second Reading? Will she confirm that, in tune with the stardom that she seeks, when the Bill was launched at a press conference earlier this week, she was asked to sign copies of it, as though it were a celebrity photograph? In the spirit of our regular exchanges across the Floor of the House, rather than going on to eBay, may I please have one too?
Ms Harman:
The hon. Gentleman talked about swine flu, and I acknowledge that he has been asking for a debate about preparedness for flu since December last year. His suggestion that we select flu preparedness as the subject of either the topical debate or the general debate on 14 May is sensible. As he acknowledged, the Secretary of State for Health will come to the House as often as necessary, in order to be accountable to the
House for the plans that have been made. However, as I am sure hon. Members will be aware, that is an issue not just for the Department of Health, but for the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and a range of other Departments. Local government is also involved and Cobra is meeting daily, joining work from across Departments and the agencies.
The hon. Gentleman asked about a ministerial statement on Stafford hospital. The Secretary of State for Health will make a statement. He wants to make an oral statement, because he knows that the House will want to hear from him personally and ask him questions. We have had to prioritise the swine flu statements, as we do not want to make too many statements on any one day. I hope that the shadow Secretary of State for Health will recognise that the Secretary of State wants to come to the House as early as possible to make that statement, so that he and other hon. Members can ask questions.
On the questions of privilege and the Speaker’s Committee and the request for a reference to the Standards and Privileges Committee, I need to be clear about the exact position of the official Opposition and the Liberal Democrats and about their preparedness to nominate their Members to sit on the Speaker’s Committee, which the House resolved to establish earlier this year. I shall have to check the state of play and perhaps discuss the terms of reference for a reference to the Standards and Privileges Committee.
I do not think that what the hon. Gentleman said about the inquiry into Equitable Life not yet having made any investigations is correct. However, I cannot give him a categorical answer on that, so I will discuss it with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and work out how best to communicate with him and all other hon. Members, whom I know are concerned about Equitable Life, in case what he has told the House is wrong and they need reassurance about that.
As for the policy on ID cards, it is important for foreign nationals to be able to have biometric ID cards. Removing any uncertainty about identity can allow visa sections all around the world to operate much more quickly. When the House was in recess, I spent two days visiting Ghana, where many of my constituents come from, and was taken through the process of taking biometric data. The people there say that they can now issue visas within two days to people who want to visit Britain, because they do not have to worry about what their identity is or make massively expensive checks—the biometric data are captured. That relates to biometric cards for foreign nationals. Hon. Members should also recognise that airport security is very important indeed; biometric identity cards are important for that, too. They are important and we should be pressing on with them.
I was pleased to hear that some Opposition Members welcome the Equality Bill. Although not all of them have been convinced, we will not give up hope and we hope to persuade them finally to enter the 21st century. The Bill was a manifesto commitment for the Government in 2001. I will introduce the Bill’s Second Reading debate on Monday 11 May, but the lead Minister will be the truly excellent and flawless Solicitor-General. I look forward to her dealing with all those who seek to take a different view of the Bill.
Mr. David Heath (Somerton and Frome) (LD): I am disappointed that there will be no Liberal Democrat Supply days in the next two weeks, as they seem to be going rather well at the moment. Following the historic win after yesterday’s debate, I should like genuinely to thank the Minister for Borders and Immigration for responding to my request and coming back to the House to make a statement yesterday evening. That was the right thing to do. May I ask the Leader of the House a specific question relating to that? The Minister made it clear that he would “publish”—his word—revised proposals for Gurkha settlement before the recess, but I do not think that publishing will be sufficient. The proposals need to be presented to the House, and Members must have an opportunity to express an opinion on the Government’s solution. I hope that we will have either a statement or a debate on that issue.
Today, the Metropolitan Police Authority is discussing the demonstrations associated with G20 and the police response to them. It is extraordinary that the House has had no opportunity to discuss those matters yet, either by means of a statement from the Home Secretary or of a debate. May we have an opportunity for such a discussion?
One of the changes in the machinery of government that the Prime Minister introduced when he became Prime Minister was to split the Education Department into two. The two Departments are now competing to see which can be the more incompetent. We have had the issues relating to college buildings, to sixth-form numbers and to SATs, and we have had the unseemly dispute with the former chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. May we have a debate on how we are running education in this country, and on why those two Departments have become so shambolic?
Pigs have been uppermost in our thoughts over the past couple of weeks, mainly because of pig flu. I welcome the Secretary of State for Health’s statement and his undertaking to keep the House updated, and the Leader of the House’s offer of a debate. That is exactly the right thing to do. However, there seems to be another contagion around the place, and I would call it pig’s ear syndrome. The Prime Minister seems to turn everything he touches into a pig’s ear at the moment. Whether it is the economy, the issue of the Gurkhas, Members’ allowances or even appearing on YouTube, he has not dealt with any of these issues with great competence. Perhaps what we need is a therapeutic debate—a cathartic debate—on the conduct and performance of the Prime Minister, so that Labour Members can have the opportunity to say in the Chamber what they are saying in the corridors and the Tea Room, and it is not desperately complimentary about the Prime Minister.
Ms Harman: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments about our response to the result of the Opposition day debate. The Minister made it clear in his statement that we respect and accept the will of the House, and that further action will be taken, as announced yesterday. The House will be kept informed.
The hon. Gentleman will be aware that a number of official inquiries are under way into the policing of the G20 demonstrations. Hon. Members will no doubt tell me if I am wrong, but I think that the Home Affairs Select Committee has begun an inquiry.
Ministers from the Department for Children, Schools and Families answered questions on Monday, and we had Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills questions earlier today. Therefore, any questions about increasing the number of students staying on at school and taking A-levels, about the increasing number going into further and higher education, or about the guarantee of committing to education up to the age of 18 could have been put to Ministers this week. Furthermore, the Prime Minister answers questions every Wednesday.
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Alan Haselhurst): Order. We have a statement on Sri Lanka, which the House will be anxious to hear, and the main business of the day appears to have attracted a certain amount of interest. I must keep a tight control over business questions today, so I appeal to hon. Members to co-operate by being extremely brief. I do not think it will be possible to call every Member who is seeking to catch my eye. I hope that the hon. Member for Brent, North (Barry Gardiner) will get us off to a good start.
Barry Gardiner (Brent, North) (Lab): Many hon. Members have experienced problems with unjustifiable service charges. I have a constituent who has experienced a service charge of £285 per week on a studio flat. Do not the Government need seriously to address the issue of service charges on such properties?
Ms Harman: I agree that there can be big problems with service charges, particularly for those in former council flats that have been bought. I suggest that my hon. Friend raise the matter with the relevant Minister, who is in the Lords.
Mr. Nicholas Soames (Mid-Sussex) (Con): Following the Prime Minister’s statement yesterday on future strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, will the Leader of the House try to secure a debate on some of the details that were not made plain, particularly the serious problems of the chain of command and its structure, which are causing real problems in Afghanistan? Without a resolution to that problem, there will be no success.
Ms Harman: We have had a debate on Afghanistan and Pakistan since Christmas, but perhaps we should split our debates on 14 May between swine flu and Afghanistan and Pakistan. I do not want to give a running commentary on my thoughts, but that might be a sensible suggestion.
Mary Creagh (Wakefield) (Lab): Three weeks ago, the High Court decided that four Rwandans accused of involvement in genocide could not be extradited to Rwanda to face justice. There is a gap in UK law between the War Crimes Act 1991 and the International Criminal Court Act 2001, so may we have an urgent debate, either in Government time or in Westminster Hall, to discuss plans to close the gap in the law and ensure that those who are accused of mass murder do not reside with impunity in our country?
Ms Harman: I will ask the Justice Secretary and Home Secretary to discuss my hon. Friend’s point, and write to her to let her know their views.
Sir Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield) (Con): Does the Leader of the House accept that a Member who is not called to speak on the Second Reading of a Bill or put on the Public Bill Committee can contribute to such an important debate only in the remaining stages or on Report? Will she assure the House that programming will be abolished for the Report stage of Bills?
Ms Harman: No, I will not. Without programming, all the debate can be on the first part of the Bill, and subsequent issues do not get debated. Programming helps to ensure that all the different elements of a Bill are scrutinised on Report. That is why programme motions were so liberally used by the Conservative party when it was in government.
Mr. David Clelland (Tyne Bridge) (Lab): My right hon. and learned Friend will be aware, as we have discussed the matter previously, of the important role of carers in our society. She is also aware of the great stress put on carers by looking after someone who is infirm, elderly or disabled—it is often so stressful that the carer’s own health suffers. Such caring is as stressful as looking after a child, yet child allowance is paid to parents regardless of their income as a matter of right. Carer’s allowance is paid only to certain categories of carers, can be cut off if earnings rise a few pence above £95, and is not paid to retired carers. May we have an early debate on carer’s allowance to come up with a fairer system for carers?
Ms Harman: I will look for an opportunity to debate carers, which is an issue of growing concern. My hon. Friend might be able to choose the issue for a Westminster Hall debate. He will be interested to know that the Equality Bill includes provision to prevent people from being discriminated against because they are carers: for example, someone who applies for a promotion at work and is told, “Sorry, we know you are caring for your elderly mother, so you can’t have promotion because we don’t think you are committed to work.” We must do everything possible to support carers and to enable them to work as well as care, if that is what they want to do. The number of over-85s in this country is set to double over the next two decades, so family care is a central issue.
Christopher Fraser (South-West Norfolk) (Con): Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on nitrate-vulnerable zones. Is she aware that the Environment Agency believes that 6 per cent. of all farmland has been wrongly designated, but that farmers are still expected to invest tens of thousands of pounds on additional slurry storage that may prove unnecessary?
Ms Harman: I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman has sought the opportunity to ask about that point in Environment, Food and Rural Affairs questions. I suggest that he consider that, or seek a Westminster Hall debate.
Mike Wood (Batley and Spen) (Lab): It is four years since the high hedges legislation was put on the statute book. May we have a ministerial statement on departmental monitoring of the legislation, and what advice is being given to local authorities to make it more effective?
Ms Harman: I will bring that matter to Ministers’ attention, and they will consider the best way to be accountable to my hon. Friend and other hon. Members on the issue.
Mr. Douglas Hogg (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con): Last night, the immigration Minister was not able to say in detail how the Government intend to respond to the declared will of the House on the Gurkhas. Will the right hon. and learned Lady therefore arrange for the Prime Minister, who was clearly the principal architect of the Government’s ungenerous proposals, to make a statement in the next two weeks? Will she also be good enough to sit next to him, so that she can prevent him sneaking out before he is called?
Ms Harman: I remind the right hon. and learned Gentleman, who was a Member of the House when the Conservatives were in government, that neither he nor they proposed any rights of settlement for Gurkhas. When we came into government, we arranged for all those from 1997 to have rights of settlement. We will respect the points raised in the debate on the Liberal Democrat motion and take them forward.
Dr. Phyllis Starkey (Milton Keynes, South-West) (Lab): I have raised previously the use of hazardous chemicals in nail bars in this country. However, research has identified a new hazard—the use of ultraviolet lamps—associated with skin cancer. Will the Leader of the House suggest how the Secretary of State for Health might revisit the non-interventionist approach to the beauty industry and its potential health hazards, and be more active in protecting women’s health?
Ms Harman: My hon. Friend makes an important point. Whether it is mostly women—and some men—who get melanoma skin cancer from sun beds, hazardous chemicals having a terrible effect on women’s fingernails, breast enlargement surgery or facelifts— [Interruption.] I will get back to her on those matters. Ministers for Women will work with Health Ministers on a set of proposals.
Mr. Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute) (LD): This week’s Helensburgh Advertiser starts off by saying that
“shocked staff at Faslane naval base have hit out, claiming they were kept in the dark over radioactive leaks.”
The Ministry of Defence must be completely open when such incidents happen. Attempts at excessive secrecy cause great concern locally and play into the hands of those who would like to see the base closed for ideological reasons. May we have an urgent statement from the Ministry of Defence about the recent radioactive leaks?
Ms Harman: I will pass on the hon. Gentleman’s comments to the Ministers concerned.
Mr. David Kidney (Stafford) (Lab): The Health Secretary has published two important reports today about Stafford hospital. Given that one says that there are further urgent actions to be taken at the hospital, and the other has wider implications for the NHS about public and patient involvement and the responsibilities of primary care trusts and strategic health authorities, may I stress the urgency of the need for an oral statement, and will the Leader of the House say whether we will get it on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday next week?
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