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House of Commons

Tuesday 17 December 2013

The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock

Prayers

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Oral Answers to Questions

Justice

The Secretary of State was asked—

European Court of Human Rights

1. Mr Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con): What recent representations he has received about UK withdrawal from the European Court of Human Rights; and if he will make a statement. [901648]

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling): The coalition agreement commits the Government to the European convention on human rights and the Strasbourg Court. However, the differences between the two parties’ views on this subject are well known, so there will be no major changes before the next election, although, of course, it is my party’s intention that there should be afterwards.

Mr Bellingham: Does the Lord Chancellor agree with me that it is quite outrageous that the European Court of Human Rights has deemed whole-life sentences to be in breach of human rights laws? Is he aware that I used to be a strong supporter of the Court, but that I now feel strongly that the time has come when it is in our national interest to come out of it?

Chris Grayling: My hon. Friend echoes the view of many people in this country that the whole-life tariff ruling is entirely inappropriate. The Government are considering how best to respond to the ruling, but it is an example of why, in my view, the Court’s reputation in this country has fallen dramatically in recent times, and of why change is now so urgently necessary.

Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab): Will the Secretary of State think more carefully about this issue? Were Britain to withdraw from the European convention on human rights, and consequently, from the European Court, where would our moral stature be in condemning human rights abuses in any other European country, and what would be the future for human rights in this country? Does he not think that, instead, he should be more positive and proactive about the necessity of human rights legislation to protect us all?

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Chris Grayling: Let us be absolutely clear: human rights are important and remain a central part of what this Government, and any Government in this country, do to promote good practice around the world. That does not necessarily mean, however, that we all have to endorse the working of a Court that, in my view, has lost its way.

Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con): It is five months since the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the whole-life tariff case, so why are the Government still vacillating over what to do about it? Does my right hon. Friend agree that the problem is that the European Court of Human Rights is seeking to legislate rather than to interpret the law, because the whole-life tariff was a substitute for capital punishment?

Chris Grayling: My view is that it is not appropriate for the Court to seek to make law for this country in such an area, which should be a matter for Parliament. My hon. Friend will understand, particularly given the realities of coalition politics, the care we are taking with our response, but he should be in no doubt that both I and the Prime Minister believe that the ruling takes us into a place where we should not be.

Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab): Notwithstanding the difference between the two coalition parties in government, does the Secretary of State not believe that there are no examples of the Strasbourg Court defending our rights where domestic courts have failed?

Chris Grayling: That is an interesting point. Although we understand and respect the differences between the coalition parties on this matter, the Labour party is dancing on a pin. One week, it says that it opposes votes for prisoners; the next week, it supports the rulings of the European Court. As our party sets out its proposals over the next 18 months, it will be fascinating to see exactly where Labour stands.

Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD): Can the Secretary of State list the European countries that are not part of the European convention on human rights? Does he really think that Britain’s international standing would be enhanced by joining the club with Belarus?

Chris Grayling: It is important to say that my concern has always been about the Court, not the convention. As I have said to my hon. Friend in the past, anyone who reads the terms of the convention would find it to be a document that we would all agree with. The problem is the way in which it is being interpreted, which, in my view, has moved a long way away from the intentions of the people who drafted it in the first place.

Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab): This Government’s position on, and attitude to, Strasbourg was recently cited in Ukraine as a reason in defence of opposing one of the recommendations of the Court. Does the Secretary of State recognise that withdrawal from the Court would have implications for millions of people beyond our boundaries and beyond our nation?

Chris Grayling: The key point that the hon. Gentleman must understand is that we can be, and will continue to be, a beacon of propriety as regards human rights in the world, but that that does not mean that we have to

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continue to accept a jurisprudence that is treading on territory that rightly belongs to this Parliament. In my view, this Parliament needs to address that issue.

Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con): Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is no point in this country withdrawing from the European Court of Human Rights if we remain bound by the European Union and its charter of fundamental rights, because we will finish up being told what to do by the European Court of Justice?

Chris Grayling: As we renegotiate our membership of the European Union—as I hope and believe we will when we win the next election—it is important that we also address the legal position of the charter, which is not only an issue for this country, but conflicts directly, in a number of key areas, with the wording of the convention.

Departmental Contracts

2. Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab): What reports he has received on the progress of investigations of the alleged misuse of public money by private providers that hold contracts with his Department. [901649]

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling): The Serious Fraud Office has launched a criminal investigation of issues that have been uncovered in relation to the electronic monitoring contracts that my Department holds with G4S and Serco. As that criminal investigation is taking place, I cannot comment further at this stage, but I will make a statement as soon as it is appropriate for me to do so.

Nic Dakin: Today we learnt that Professor Harrington had warned the Secretary of State against rolling out fitness-for-work tests as long ago as 2010. Also today, many experts, including the chief inspectors of prisons and probation, have advised against the privatisation of the probation service. Why is the Secretary of State a serial offender when it comes to ignoring expert advice?

Chris Grayling: Let us be clear about the matter that has been raised today. Civil service records show no such warning having been made, and no such warning was included in the reports that were produced at the time.

Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con): Can my right hon. Friend assure us that there will be a full review, across Government, of all contracts held by G4S and Serco, so that Ministers will be able to manage such contracts better in future?

Chris Grayling: I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. We are looking carefully at our own contract management approach and at the contracts that we hold. It is worth reminding the House, however, that the issues that are being referred to, and the contracts that we are looking at, date back to the time of the last Government.

Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab): We have several years of experience of multi-purpose companies that appear to bid for anything and everything, regardless of whether they have any particular expertise, and that is

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happening again with the roll-out of the personal independence payment. Promises that were made about the service that would be delivered are simply not being fulfilled. Is it not time for a complete review of contracting of this kind?

Chris Grayling: I am very much in favour of a broader supplier base and the arrival of new organisations to work with the Government. I think it important for us to work with third parties, as, indeed, the last Government did. I believe that when, in the near future, we publish the list of organisations that have passed the pre-qualification questionnaire stage in respect of the reforms of the probation service, every Member in the House will be encouraged by the mix of organisations that have put their names forward.

Jenny Chapman (Darlington) (Lab): I have never before raised an individual case with the Secretary of State, but every now and again something happens that I think is worthy of being raised in the House.

The Secretary of State will be aware that last week, in court, it was reported that a woman had miscarried in her cell during her first night in a prison run by Sodexo, She informed health care workers, but was made to clean up on her own, and received no assistance for three days and no pain relief. Sodexo’s own inquiry into the matter is not sufficient. The Secretary of State should commit himself to some kind of inquiry, investigation or review to ensure that no other woman in a private or a public sector prison has to experience that level of neglect.

Chris Grayling: Let me make it absolutely clear that if what has been described is true, it is wholly unacceptable. My team will of course follow it up with Sodexo, and Sodexo itself will want to address it, because no one would seek to defend it. Things go wrong in public prisons and in private prisons, and whenever they do go wrong and what happens is unacceptable, it should be addressed.

Legal Aid (Funding)

3. Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab): What assessment he has made of the effects of reductions in funding for civil legal aid. [901650]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): The Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Agency keep the legal aid scheme under constant review, in terms of both expenditure and the impact of reforms. The Government will undertake a post-implementation review of the legal aid provisions in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 within the next three to five years.

Jessica Morden: Since the Government’s legal aid cuts, more of my constituents have had to represent themselves in family courts against former partners who can afford a solicitor, and local cases are being deferred by judges because they do not feel that the litigant in person is sufficiently prepared. Does the Minister agree that it is time to be transparent and produce figures showing the number of litigants who

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have appeared in person and the number of deferred cases that have taken place since the changes, so that we can judge the impact on our courts for ourselves?

Mr Vara: The reforms did not come into effect until earlier this year, and we need to give them a bit more time. As I have said, we will be reviewing the position, but it is currently too early to form a proper assessment.

Family Mediation Services

4. Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab): What recent assessment he has made of family mediation services. [901651]

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling): The Ministry of Justice does not regulate family mediation services, but it does award contracts for the provision of family mediation funded through legal aid to standards set by the Legal Aid Agency. We are aware that there has been a drop in referrals to mediation following changes to legal aid in April 2013, although there has been no drop in the number of mediations taking place. My Department is undertaking a range of activities to address this important issue.

Valerie Vaz: The Minister indicates that there has been a drop of 47%, causing some mediation services to close. That was a foreseeable consequence of cuts in legal aid to family lawyers, so will he please change the policy now?

Chris Grayling: We are working extremely hard to address the issue. One change that will come through when the Children and Families Bill becomes law relates to making it a requirement in a family process that the mediation referral takes place. However, as I say, the actual issue is about referrals, rather than about the number of mediations, which has not changed. We are working very hard with those in the mediation world to address that and ensure that the right referrals are made.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon) (Con): I would say the opposite to what the hon. Member for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz) said: I am surprised that the number has fallen, because when the change to the regulations was made the Department gave full funding for all mediation to those in receipt of legal aid. Has the Minister thought, therefore, of encouraging more mediation by approaching lawyers and other venues to increase it?

Chris Grayling: We are following a number of different paths, including an increased promotion of mediation services and making some mediation compulsory as a result of the provisions in the Children and Families Bill. We are also looking for other measures to help ensure that mediation takes place. It is much better if these issues can be dealt with through a mediation service, rather than through the cost and difficulty of a full legal process.

Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab): But is the Secretary of State not aware that in the delicate environment of the beginning of a divorce case, specialist advice from legal

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practitioners leading to mediation is essential? That is why this Government’s policy has such a negative impact. Will he please look at it again?

Chris Grayling: I am not sure whether that is an attempted spending commitment from the hon. Gentleman. The reality is that we have had to take difficult decisions about the availability of legal aid in order to deal with the financial challenge we inherited. The issue is about trying to ensure that we make the best use of the network of mediators we have in this country. As I say, the number of actual mediations has not fallen, but we are not getting enough people into mediation in the first place. That is why we are changing the law, we are introducing better targeting of the routes into mediation and we are working with mediation organisations to help them get more people referred to them.

Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con): Does my right hon. Friend agree that there seems to be a lack of clarity in this area? For example, it would not be appropriate to refer to family mediation a case in which a woman on low income, who could not pay for legal advice, wants to protect her child from going into custody. Such a case should still be legally aided, rather than being addressed through mediation.

Chris Grayling: Cases involving children being taken into care would, of course, remain funded through legal aid, and they continue to be carried out through the courts in the way they always have been—that remains important.

Probation Services

5. John Healey (Wentworth and Dearne) (Lab): What his policy is on probation trusts tendering for probation services. [901652]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jeremy Wright): The “Transforming Rehabilitation” competition process has been designed to allow, as far as possible, a range of different entities to bid to deliver services. But such entities need to be capable of bearing financial risk, because under our reforms we will pay providers in full only if they are successful in reducing reoffending.

John Healey: The Justice Secretary is almost entirely without allies and without evidence for these privatisation plans. The Minister has confirmed that he is denying the experts in some truly excellent probation trusts, such as South Yorkshire’s, the chance to tender for these contracts. If South Yorkshire’s four local authorities combine to back the trust and take out the financial risks he talks about, will he think again?

Jeremy Wright: I would say two things to the right hon. Gentleman. First, he understands, I think, that one advantage of what we are proposing is that we move risk away from the taxpayer, so that those prepared to take on these contracts on a payment-by-results basis put their own money at risk, not the taxpayer’s. In the scenario he is outlining, it is difficult to see how we avoid the taxpayer continuing to take that risk. Secondly, as he may also know, many of the talented individuals who work for probation trusts at the moment are exploring

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the possibility of setting themselves up as mutuals so that they can continue to do this work, and there is considerable support for that from our colleagues at the Cabinet Office—they are providing money and support to enable them to do that.

Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD): What makes the Minister confident that the structure he has described can overcome the dysfunctionality in offender management described by the chief inspectors of probation and prisons in a report today?

Jeremy Wright: My right hon. Friend refers to the report that has been produced today. As he knows, a significant point in it is that there is not currently sufficiently good connection between offender management that takes place inside custody and that that takes place outside. As he will also recognise, our transforming rehabilitation proposals intend to close that gap, so that offender management involves the same provider from the closing months of someone’s custodial sentence, through the gate and out into the community. Transforming rehabilitation will start to address exactly the points that this report raises.

Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab): Thirteen police and crime commissioners, including Alan Charles in Derbyshire, have expressed grave concerns at the plans for the probation service because they could put public safety at risk. What has the Minister said to them to address their fears?

Jeremy Wright: The first thing the House should know is that all 13 are Labour police and crime commissioners. Whatever party they come from, it is very important that we work with police and crime commissioners and that all providers who will be doing this work do so too. For that reason, we will ensure that police and crime plans from every area of the country will be clearly available to providers, and we will expect them to co-operate not just with police and crime commissioners but with a whole range of other local partners too.

Gareth Johnson (Dartford) (Con): Does the Minister agree that the supervision of short-term prisoners by the probation service within existing budgets is simply unaffordable and that the tendering process is needed to provide extra supervision for short-term prisoners?

Jeremy Wright: I agree with my hon. Friend. He does not need to take my word for it as the previous Government tried to do that as part and parcel of the public sector budgets and failed to do so because they determined that it was unaffordable.

Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC): A few days ago, the Minister and the Secretary of State appeared before the Justice Committee, during which the Secretary of State said that his door is always open to meet the leaders of the National Association of Probation Officers. When will that meeting take place?

Jeremy Wright: I cannot give a date to the right hon. Gentleman. Both my right hon. Friend and I have met NAPO leaders before and are happy to do so again. What we will not do is pause the process in which we are

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engaged because the members of those trade unions would like some certainty over their own futures, and we think that is important, which is why we must get on with this process.

Victims of Crime (Code of Practice)

6. Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab): What steps he plans to take to enforce the code of practice for victims of crime. [901653]

The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green): We are working with all service providers who have duties under the victims code to ensure that their operational systems, guidance and training are updated to deliver their new responsibilities to victims of crime. We will continue to work with our criminal justice partners to ensure there is appropriate oversight of the new code at a local and national level.

Robert Flello: I am immensely grateful for that.

“There is more to be done to ensure agencies are made accountable under the code…this needs to be backed up by statutory powers.”

Those are not my words but the words of the Victims’ Commissioner herself. At every turn, the Government have paid lip service to victims and then acted against them. They have made the Victims’ Commissioner job part-time and then savaged the criminal injuries scheme. Will the Minister now give the victims code some real teeth, and not just warm words?

Damian Green: I am afraid the hon. Gentleman is massively out of touch with the sector that deals with victims if he expresses those views. When we launched the victims code, it was welcomed by a wide range of our partners in the voluntary sectors, including Victim Support and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The victims code is a significant step forward from the old impenetrable code that the previous Government put forward, and it has been welcomed by those who know most about the sector.

Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD): The one thing victims want most is to know that the perpetrators of the crime are brought to justice. Can the Minister assure us that we are doing enough to ensure that associates of the offender, or people who saw something, have the ability to report what they saw without fear of recrimination? If necessary, they can do it confidentially to start with.

Damian Green: That would be good police practice. One thing we are doing with the code is ensuring that the guidance that goes out to the police from the College of Policing will be improved to fit with the victims code. In other parts of the criminal justice system, both with the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts themselves, the code will make a difference in all instances and will enable victims to feel more confident.

Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op): The Secretary of State is planning to cut funding for Victim Support in London at a greater rate than anywhere else in the country. Will the Minister listen to his friend the Mayor of London and ensure that victims in London get the support they deserve?

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Damian Green: I am happy to assure the hon. Lady and everyone else in London that the amount of money going to Victim Support in London is going up, not down, as it is in every other region of the country. More money will go to victims’ services under this Government than under the previous arrangements.

Sadiq Khan (Tooting) (Lab): The right hon. Gentleman is usually a thoughtful and intelligent Minister and he will be aware that we already have a variety of codes of practice and charters for victims scattered across different Government agencies. Like him, I meet victims of crime all the time and they complain that the codes are toothless and offer no means of redress if their entitlements are breached. How will the new code differ and how will he measure success?

Damian Green: It will differ in a number of ways. First, the new code is written so that victims will be able to understand it—I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman will agree that the previous code was not written in that way, as it was written by and for professionals. Secondly, there are specific rights in the code that were not in the previous code, such as the very important right for a victim to be able to make their personal statement in court after the sentence. Many victims have said that that is a significant step forward in enabling them to feel that they are being taken more seriously than they have been before.

Dangerous Driving (Sentencing)

7. Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD): What plans he has to review sentencing for causing death by dangerous driving. [901654]

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling): Causing death by dangerous driving is punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment. I have asked the Sentencing Council to look at its guidelines on causing death by driving to ensure that the sentences imposed reflect the seriousness of the offending. We are also considering whether further changes might be necessary to strengthen the law.

Annette Brooke: I thank the Secretary of State for his answer. Constituents who have lost a close relative in a driving incident, perhaps a young son or daughter, face the stress of a court case along with a feeling that the sentences for serious driving offences are inadequate. Does he agree that the outcome of the review and the various issues he is considering must make a difference to irresponsible driving and the subsequent loss of lives?

Chris Grayling: I very much agree with my hon. Friend. I feel strongly that we must take a tough approach to someone’s causing death and serious injury while disqualified from driving. Too often, it turns out that the people who commit such an offence have been disqualified again and again and do not have a licence when it happens. That is an area that I am keen to address.

Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab): The Secretary of State’s colleague at the Home Office, the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), announced

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in Cambridge on 28 August that he had asked the Sentencing Council to review this very offence. Is this another request today? When exactly will the Sentencing Council review the offence and make a decision?

Chris Grayling: I put in the original request to the Sentencing Council some months ago. It intends to put this into its work stream for next year and will make recommendations. Separately, I am also looking at the current law. I feel that there is still scope for tightening and I will bring forward my thoughts in due course.

Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con): My constituents Mark and Sue Donnelly lost their 26-year-old son Stephen in a road incident on the A14 to a driver who was twice over the limit. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, which they do not think is long enough, and nor do I, but he was also given a 10-year concurrent driving ban, which they felt was particularly insulting since for most of that time he would be in prison and unable to drive. Will the Secretary of State consider concurrent driving bans to see whether they are appropriate?

Chris Grayling: I am rather sympathetic to what my hon. Friend says and I suggest that he and I have a longer conversation about it.

Victims of Crime

8. Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab): What his strategy is for supporting victims of crime. [901655]

16. Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con): What recent steps he has taken to support victims of crime. [901664]

The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green): This Government are committed to putting victims first and we will give victims a voice at every stage of the criminal justice system. It is crucial that victims receive the support and help they need to cope and, where possible, to recover. We are aiming to make up to £100 million available to support victims to recover, testing pre-trial cross-examination, considering how we might reduce the distress caused to victims by cross-examination in court and implementing the new victims code.

Mr Hanson: Most people I speak to think that the Victims’ Commissioner should be a full-time post. Why is it not?

Damian Green: The Victims’ Commissioner is doing admirable work. She is supporting the Government and she is capable of doing the work very well. I am already enjoying working with her to ensure that she continues to represent the interests of victims very well.

Mr Burrowes: Can the Minister give me an update on the progress in providing funds for victims from prisoner earnings, which not only fulfilled an important manifesto commitment, but upheld the principle that criminals should pay victims for their crimes, not least when as prisoners they are earning?

Damian Green: My hon. Friend raises an important point. Part of the extra money that is going to support victims in London and elsewhere comes from the proceeds of the Prisoners’ Earnings Act 1996. I am happy to tell him that whereas in 2011-12 some £332,000 went to

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Victim Support from this source, in 2013-14 the sum will be £825,000—more than two and a half times as much.

Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab): Victims of domestic abuse are placed at risk when forced to give their safe address in open court in unrelated proceedings. That not only places the individual at risk from the abuser, but deters the thousands of victims who suffer from domestic violence from reporting this horrendous crime. Does the Minister support Eve’s law, which seeks to address that anomaly, and will he work with the campaign to ensure its implementation in law?

Damian Green: I will happily consider that. The hon. Gentleman makes a reasonable point. It is for the judge to decide in each individual case, and it is not for Ministers at the Dispatch Box to decide what judges do in each individual case. We are already taking a range of steps to protect people who may be victims of domestic violence, and I am always happy to look at others.

Andrew George (St Ives) (LD): On a similar point, the families of victims of capital crimes, as well as coping with bereavement, will usually be unaware of their rights and the responsibilities of authorities to assist them in protecting the memory, reputation, estate and so on of the deceased. What assessment has my right hon. Friend made of the support available to victims’ families in such circumstances?

Damian Green: I think I know the case to which my hon. Friend is referring, as he and I have discussed it in Westminster Hall. He will be aware that I wrote to him on 4 December on the detailed issue. Victims of all kinds require support and are getting better support. As he knows, the specific issues related to cases such as he describes are being considered at present.

Justice System (Savings)

9. David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con): What assessment he has made of the potential for further savings to the public purse from the justice system. [901656]

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling): Across the spending review period starting in 2010 and running up to March 2015 the Ministry of Justice will have delivered annual savings of well over £2.5 billion. Building on successful delivery of these savings, the Ministry is developing reform plans to transform the way we deal with offenders and make courts, prisons and probation more efficient.

David Mowat: A unique feature of the legal aid system in the UK is that we pay a subset of practitioners several multiples of what we pay our Prime Minister. Can the Secretary of State give us some assurance that his changes and amendments to the legal aid system will bear down on those very high salaries, while protecting the majority of barristers who do such good work?

Chris Grayling: We have tried very hard in difficult decisions to make sure that we focus as much as possible of the impact of necessary changes to legal aid on the higher end of the income scale. Our changes to very

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high cost case fees and the approach that we are taking to Crown court fees are designed to ensure that, so far as possible, the impact of our changes is much less on those people at the bottom end of the income scale than it is at the top.

Human Trafficking

10. Mr Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Lab): How many young people currently in young offenders institutions and specialist children’s homes are being held on human trafficking offences. [901657]

The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green): From 2008 to 2012, no children and young people were sentenced to custody for human trafficking as the principal offence. This Government are committed to combating human trafficking. On Monday we published the draft Modern Slavery Bill to strengthen our response and to underpin the work of law enforcement agencies.

Mr Field: As the Lord Chief Justice has ruled that victims of slavery should not be prosecuted for crimes they undertake under the direction of their slave owners, will the Minister undertake an audit of young people in offender institutions to establish how many are there, even if they have been charged under a lesser crime, in order to see whether their cases should be reviewed?

Damian Green: Yes, as part of the extra work we are doing under the aegis of the draft Modern Slavery Bill, to which the right hon. Gentleman has contributed significantly, we are obviously looking at the individual effects on those who might have been victims of trafficking and enslavement. He makes a perfectly valid point.

Restorative Justice (Funding)

11. Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con): How his Department’s funding for restorative justice is being disbursed. [901658]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jeremy Wright): We recently announced funding of £29 million over three years for restorative justice, at least £22 million of which is going to police and crime commissioners for victim-initiated and pre-sentence restorative justice services. The remainder is being used to boost capacity so that good-quality restorative justice is available at all stages in the criminal justice system.

Fiona Bruce: I thank the Minister for that reply. Will he join me in affirming the excellent work of the Prison Fellowship’s restorative justice programme, known as the Sycamore Tree project, and will he be good enough to meet me and Prison Fellowship representatives to discuss how the project can be extended beyond the third of prisons in which it currently works to prisons across the country?

Jeremy Wright: As my hon. Friend says, the Sycamore Tree project is already available in some 75 prisons. I certainly support what my hon. Friend says about the good work it does, as was showcased at the excellent event she hosted last week, which I had the pleasure of attending. I will certainly meet her to discuss it further.

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Offender Supervision

12. Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con): What professional development support his Department plans to put in place for those supervising offenders in the community. [901659]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jeremy Wright): The national probation service will continue to use the probation qualifications framework to ensure the competence of its staff. For the new community rehabilitation companies there will be a contractual requirement to have and to maintain a work force who have appropriate levels of training and competence. On 3 December we announced that we will be setting up a new probation institute that will promote the sharing of good practice to those working across the probation profession.

Henry Smith: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that answer. How much investment are the Government making in the new national probation institute?

Jeremy Wright: We are contributing some £90,000 towards the cost of setting up the probation institute. The remainder will come from the Probation Association and the Probation Chiefs Association. I am grateful to them and to the probation trade unions for working together so successfully to bring forward the proposal, which we entirely support and which will help to underline the professionalism and continuing professional development of those who work in rehabilitation.

Access to Justice

13. Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Bradford South) (Lab): What steps he plans to take to ensure access to justice regardless of ability to pay. [901660]

14. Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab): What steps he plans to take to ensure access to justice regardless of ability to pay. [901662]

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling): The fee remissions scheme was updated on 7 October this year. It provides for court and tribunal fees to be waived in whole or in part based on an assessment of the user’s disposable capital and gross monthly income. The scheme ensures that access to justice is protected for those who cannot afford to pay court or tribunal fees. Legal aid also remains available in many cases, and those granted legal aid will have their court fees paid.

Mr Sutcliffe: I am interested in that answer. Why is it, then, that the legal profession in Bradford is telling me that, as a result of the Government’s introduction of charges for industrial tribunals—£1,500 before taking a case—and reduced support for legal advice workers, people will be denied reasonable access to justice?

Chris Grayling: The system is very clear. When someone needs to go to court but does not have the income to pay any court fees incurred, there is a system of fee remissions that ensures that they do not have to contribute.

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Paul Blomfield: The Secretary of State’s justification for the legal aid residence test is contribution, particularly through tax. Can he therefore explain his decision to exempt only certain categories of children from the test? If he fails to broaden the exemption, is he not in danger of falling into the trap that the Joint Committee on Human Rights described last week as

“knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing”?

Chris Grayling: I might be a bit old-fashioned, but I do not think that we should give civil legal aid to people who have just arrived in the country. However, I recognise some of the issues raised in the consultation and I have listened. The change with regard to very young children under 12 months old was specifically requested by people in the judiciary. I listened and I introduced it.

Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab): One group particularly badly hit by the Government’s restrictions on access to justice are mesothelioma sufferers. The Secretary of State has not carried out the review that he promised in order to get the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 through. He continues to confuse funding for mesothelioma with the Mesothelioma Bill, even though there is no connection. He has not even answered the question that my hon. Friend the Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) asked at the previous Justice questions, which he promised to do. Why is he making people who suffer from that terrible disease pay 25% of their compensation in lawyers’ fees and then telling them to shop around? When will he give justice to mesothelioma sufferers?

Chris Grayling: Of course this is not a new problem, and in many areas we are picking up on things that were not done by the previous Government. We will bring forward a further consultation on these issues shortly.

Domestic Violence (Victims)

15. Graeme Morrice (Livingston) (Lab): What steps he is taking to support victims of domestic violence. [901663]

The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green): Domestic violence is a dreadful form of abuse and is not acceptable within our society. The Government are committed to providing greater protection to victims of all forms of violence, and their approach to domestic violence and abuse is set out in the violence against women and girls action plan, updated in 2013.

Graeme Morrice: Last week’s report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights on the Government’s legal aid cuts said:

“We are particularly worried about the impact of the residence test on vulnerable groups such as children or victims of domestic violence.”

Will the Minister tell the House exactly how much will be saved by taking away legal aid from sufferers of domestic violence affected by the residence test, and explain what victims are expected to do if these plans strip them of the option of legal aid?

Damian Green: The Government have left in place all the exemptions in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 to ensure that the

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most vulnerable continue to receive legal aid. Beyond that, we have ring-fenced nearly £40 million for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services. That, together with specialist domestic violence courts, provides a better specialist way of dealing with this terrible abuse.

Claims Management Companies

17. Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con): What steps he is taking to tackle rogue payment protection insurance claim companies and nuisance calling by those companies. [901665]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): Our priority is to protect the public by rooting out and punishing bad practices by claims companies. The claims management regulator is expanding its resources and consulting on a new set of toughened rules to crackdown on abuses, and later next year claims companies will face fines for rule breaches.

Andrew Jones: I thank the Minister for that reply. Given that so many rogue companies have been plaguing constituents, what effect have the Government’s actions had on the number of claims firms?

Mr Vara: I am happy to say that there has been a positive impact on the numbers. Between January and November 2013, the total number of authorised claims management companies decreased by 718; the total number of personal injury claims management companies fell by 917; and the total number of PPI claims management companies fell by 85. That is clear evidence that the Government’s tough measures are having an impact.

23. [901672] Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con): I serve on the Transport Committee, and we have just completed an inquiry into the effect of fraudulent whiplash claims on the cost of motor insurance. Will the Minister update the House on what steps the Government are taking to stop bogus claims by rogue firms driving up the cost of insurance premiums for drivers?

Mr Vara: The Government have introduced various measures, one of which, on whiplash, is to have an accredited panel of medical experts. We want to make sure that there are proper experts who deal with this issue. The AA has reported that, as of October this year, the average comprehensive insurance for motor vehicles has gone down by £80.

Cautions (Repeat Offences)

18. Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): What steps he is taking to reduce the use of cautions for repeat offences. [901666]

The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green): Cautioning for repeat offenders is unacceptable and does not deliver justice for victims. That is why we have acted to ensure that criminals should no longer receive a second caution for the same, or a similar, offence committed in a two-year period.

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Sir Tony Baldry: I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. In addition to stopping the use of repeat cautions, does he agree that there are some offences for which, in any event, the use of a caution is simply not appropriate?

Damian Green: I do agree; my right hon. Friend makes an extremely important and valid point. That is why we concluded after the simple cautions review that cautions should not be used for any offence that can be tried only in the Crown court. Indeed, going further than that, certain offences that can be tried either in the Crown court or in a magistrates court are also not suitable for cautions, including, in particular, possession of a knife.

Prisons (Literacy)

19. Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con): What steps he is taking to ensure that no prisoner leaves prison unable to read. [901667]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jeremy Wright): When a literacy need is identified on arrival in prison, prisoners are offered teaching and support as a matter of priority. In 2014 we are introducing increased assessment for prisoners, including reading skills, to ensure that we maximise the benefits of the literacy support that is available.

Andrew Selous: The Secretary of State has spoken of his vision of custody as “education with detention”. If serious efforts are made in prison to deal with illiteracy, will probation officers absolutely ensure that that continues on release?

Jeremy Wright: I think my hon. Friend refers to a quote that is specifically about the youth estate, but he is absolutely right that education is just as important in the adult estate. Too many prisoners cannot read and write properly, which means that their chances of securing employment on release are much reduced. Under our reforms of rehabilitation, we will expect providers to ensure that someone is supported not only through the gate, but in the community for at least 12 months. One of the best ways of supporting them to stay free of crime is to make sure that they get employment, so I would absolutely expect them to be interested in literacy as well as many other things.

Mr Speaker: The right hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Sir Andrew Stunell) was already looking excited, but I imagine his excitement will now be boundless.

Voluntary Sector (Rehabilitation Contracts)

20. Sir Andrew Stunell (Hazel Grove) (LD): What steps he plans to take to ensure that the voluntary sector is able to compete for rehabilitation contracts. [901668]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jeremy Wright): I am not sure I can live up to the expectations, Mr Speaker.

We have run a registration process for smaller providers to maximise the opportunities for them to be involved in the competition, and we awarded £150,000 to the

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Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations to help the voluntary sector and mutuals to compete for contracts. We will embed good market stewardship principles in the system so that there is fair, reasonable and transparent treatment of all those involved in the direct and indirect provision of services.

Sir Andrew Stunell: I thank the Minister for that reply, but does he agree that in many previous exercises by other Government Departments, inappropriate scale of projects and burdensome bureaucratic detail have meant that small, voluntary local organisations have been ruled out? Will he undertake to ensure that high-quality, small-scale providers will be able to access these contracts?

Jeremy Wright: I understand the point my right hon. Friend makes: it is very important that we reduce bureaucracy wherever we can. I know he has experience of this from his time in government. It is also important that we support those small, voluntary organisations when they show an interest and then support them through the contract-bidding process and contract management. My right hon. Friend will be reassured to learn that there is already considerable interest in the voluntary sector: some 550 voluntary organisations have already expressed their interest in participating.

Stafford Prison

21. Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con): What plans he has for Stafford prison. [901669]

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling): My hon. Friend and I had the honour and pleasure of visiting Stafford prison last week. I pay tribute to the skills of the team working there. It has a strong and valuable future in our prison system.

Jeremy Lefroy: I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend for visiting last week. He will have seen the emphasis that Governor Oakes-Richards places on prisoners being in work, education and other purposeful activity. Will my right hon. Friend indicate what support the Ministry of Justice is giving to Stafford and other prisons to help them prepare prisoners for the world of work?

Chris Grayling: If you were to visit Stafford prison, Mr Speaker, you could not help being impressed by the work being done by the team on the ground, bringing valuable contracts and work experience into the prison. Of course, our central team that looks for opportunities to bring work into prisons will work with Stafford and other prisons to ensure that we do as much as we can to keep prisoners active.

Mr Speaker: I must tell the Secretary of State that I have visited the prison myself, but sadly it was 13 years ago. I am sure it is even better now than it was then. [Interruption.] No, I did so in my capacity as a shadow Minister. [Laughter.]

The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green): The whole House is relieved to hear that, Mr Speaker!

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Cracked Trials

22. John Pugh (Southport) (LD): What assessment he has made of trends in the number of cracked trials. [901671]

The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green): The number and proportion of trials which crack and the reasons for this is reported by the Ministry of Justice in quarterly court statistics. As part of the Government’s criminal justice strategy and action plan, Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service is working with the Crown Prosecution Service and the judiciary to improve performance in the summary justice system, including reducing the volume of cracked trials.

John Pugh: Has the number of cracked trials been in any way influenced by the reduction in the number of courts and court access?

Damian Green: No. The cracked trial rate in magistrates courts has remained fairly stable—between 43% and 45%—since 2006. I am happy to report that the rate in the Crown court has been falling steadily—from 43% in the third quarter of 2010 to 36% in the second quarter of 2013—so progress is being made.

Topical Questions

T1. [901673] Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab): If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling): Given the interest in victims’ matters today, I will briefly update the House on the new victims code, which came into effect last week. It is the culmination of a year’s work to make sure that victims are given back their voice, and it has been widely welcomed by victims’ groups. Crucially, it includes a new entitlement for victims to read out their personal statement in court, which means that offenders and the court will be left in no doubt about the full impact of the crime. Children and young people will get the enhanced levels of support that they deserve all the way through the criminal justice process. The new impact statement for business will make sure that when hard-working people and their businesses suffer from the effects of crime, the court can hear directly about its impact on their livelihood and on jobs. I want to make sure that all victims’ voices are heard, and this Government are working to ensure that they are.

Tom Blenkinsop: Since May 2010, 47 courts closed by this Government have remained unsold. The cost to maintain those buildings is £2.2 million. Is that a good use of taxpayers’ money?

Chris Grayling: Clearly, we want to sell an unused property as soon as we can, and we are working to do so, but we of course need to have a buyer before we can sell it, and we are constantly looking for buyers.

T3. [901675] Priti Patel (Witham) (Con): Will the Secretary of State provide the House with an update on when he intends to stop child sex offenders and terrorists being automatically released from prison early?

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Chris Grayling: This is an extremely important area. A change is long overdue, and we will proceed with it in the next few weeks.

Sadiq Khan (Tooting) (Lab): You will be aware, Mr Speaker, that the Justice Secretary is unwilling to publish the MOJ’s assessment of the risks attached to his plans to privatise probation. Will the Secretary of State tell the House whether his plans will see the risk to public safety higher, lower or the same as it is now?

Chris Grayling: I owe the right hon. Gentleman an apology from last time, when I implied that his campaign to be Mayor of London had him trailing in third place. I have now discovered that that is not the case, and I wish him well. I have watched his progress carefully.

On the risk registers, I would say to the right hon. Gentleman that he never published them because they are a working tool for the civil service. This Government will not do anything that leads to a greater risk to public safety. Bringing supervision to under-12-month groups will make the public safer, rather than more at risk, through a system that he and his Government admitted was wrong but never did anything about.

Sadiq Khan: The Secretary of State’s response is even more surprising, bearing in mind the very damning joint report from the chief inspectors of prisons and of probation, which is published today. They believe that the scale of the problems they have identified means that

“the entire thrust of the Government’s rehabilitation plans”

is undermined. We know that he ignored their last report in 2012, but bearing in mind the seriousness of the issue, will he meet the inspectors as a matter of urgency to hear their concerns that his plans could in fact make matters worse rather than better?

Chris Grayling: I hate to disappoint the right hon. Gentleman, but I last met the probation inspector about three days ago. I meet both inspectors regularly, and I take their views immensely seriously. That is one reason why we have put in place radical changes that will create a through the gate rehabilitation service to deal with many of the issues that they have highlighted. Unfortunately for the right hon. Gentleman, their report is not about our plans, but about the system we are trying to change, and that is why we are trying to change it.

T4. [901676] Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con): The Secretary of State will be aware that, following a spate of knife attacks in Enfield, my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield North (Nick de Bois) and I led a successful campaign to toughen up the knife laws. After the killing in my constituency of Joshua Folkes just two weeks ago from a knife attack, will the Secretary of State ensure that the law shows greater intolerance of those carrying a knife?

The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green): The whole House will share my hon. Friend’s horror at the death of his constituent in a knife crime, and I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his dedication to tackling that particular social scourge. He will know that the Government have recently created a mandatory prison sentence for threatening someone

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with a knife, and as I have just said to my right hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Sir Tony Baldry), we are ending the use of cautioning for possession of a knife. Knife crime is falling, but we will of course consider any further changes that will continue that welcome fall.

T2. [901674] Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab): Bristol city council and Barnardo’s have just launched a charter for the children of prisoners, which is intended to prevent young people in such a situation from enduring their own hidden sentence and to reduce the impact of a parent’s imprisonment on their educational attainment, emotional development and behaviour. What support is the Justice Secretary giving to such initiatives, and will he review how his Department can help the 1,300 children in Bristol and the close to 200,000 children in England and Wales in such a situation?

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jeremy Wright): What the hon. Lady says is very interesting and we will look at the details. She is of course right that it has a huge impact on young people when one of their parents serves time in custody. There is a knock-on effect on the likelihood of those young people going on to commit crimes themselves. Shockingly, something like 60% of young men who have had a parent in custody go on to commit crimes themselves. She is right to make that link and we will look at what she has said.

T5. [901677] Andrew George (St Ives) (LD): The forfeiture rule precludes a person who has been convicted of unlawfully killing another person from acquiring benefit in consequence of the killing. However, if the deceased person is a close family friend, a spouse or a close family member, their killer can use and abuse the estate until they are convicted. Will the Government consider addressing that issue? Will the Minister meet me to explore whether the rule can be improved in that respect?

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): My hon. Friend raises an interesting point. I would be more than happy to meet him to discuss the matter further.

T7. [901679] Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab): Will the Secretary of State confirm that neither G4S nor Serco will be considered for any further contracts with the Ministry of Justice while the fraud inquiries are continuing?

Chris Grayling: Mr Speaker, you will understand that, for legal reasons, I cannot discuss the outcome of a tendering process before the appropriate time. I will make the appropriate statements when the right moment arises.

T6. [901678] Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con): Further to the Secretary of State’s earlier reply, will he confirm that this country is a proud signatory of the original European convention on human rights and a founder member of the Council of Europe? Indeed, for its first five decades, the convention was hardly a controversial issue. The problem is that the Human Rights Act 1998 has been used by the European Court

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of Human Rights in a proactive way to deal not with gross abuses of human rights like those that we saw in fascist Europe, but with the decisions of a democratically elected Parliament. Why do we not simply remain a member of the Council of Europe, keep the convention, repeal the 1998 Act and create our own Bill of Rights?

Chris Grayling: My hon. Friend makes a valid point. A leading official from the Court came to this House a few weeks ago and described this country as “best in class”. If a country that is best in class on human rights has reached a point where it has lost confidence in the Court, it is clear that something needs to be done. Under a Conservative Government, something will be done.

T9. [901681] Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab): As well as the 13 wise Labour police and crime commissioners who have raised concerns about the Justice Secretary’s plans for probation, probation staff themselves have raised concerns and the internal risk assessment raises serious concerns about the dangerous and reckless plans. Given that, why is he signing contracts with private companies for up to 10 years, which will bind future Parliaments to pursue this privatisation whether it is successful or goes very badly wrong?

Chris Grayling: Let me remind the House what the Labour party opposes. It opposes extending supervision to under 12-month prisoners. It opposes a through the gate service. It opposes a system that will provide mentoring and support to people for 12 months after they leave prison. That is what the Opposition keep criticising. They could not do it because they could not find a way. We have found a way and we are going to do it.

T8. [901680] Mr David Ward (Bradford East) (LD): I listened with interest to the question that the hon. Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney) asked about PPI claims. It is excellent news that the Competition Commission is taking action to address market failure in the car insurance industry. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department for Transport and the Home Office are all making a contribution. Is there anything more that the Ministry of Justice can do?

Mr Vara: I thank my hon. Friend for that question. Given that the Competition Commission is undertaking that inquiry, it is probably best to listen to what it has to say, take note and see whether we can improve on its suggestions.

T10. [901682] Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab): Given that new entrants will potentially be coming into an immature private probation market, will the Secretary of State guarantee that low and medium- risk prisoners will be managed correctly when their risk level increases so that public safety is not compromised?

Chris Grayling: A crucial part of the reform plan and the contracts that we are putting together will be to require an element of co-location between the members of the national probation service who carry out risk

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assessments and the teams in the new providers to ensure that there is a simple process that happens in the same office so that risky offenders can be transferred to multi-agency supervision as quickly as necessary when the circumstance arises.

Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con): According to Ministry of Justice figures, for every single category of offence, men are more likely than women to be sent to prison. Does the Secretary of State accept his own Department’s figures, or does he think they are wrong?

Jeremy Wright: I always try to accept my own Department’s figures, but I think my hon. Friend will accept that it is always in the minds of sentencers to try to avoid sentencing female offenders, in particular, to custody. As he will agree, however, that is sometimes unavoidable, which is why we need to provide the necessary places in the female custodial estate.

Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab): A few weeks ago I attended a public forum on domestic violence, where I was told that specialist domestic violence courts were being closed and that support for domestic violence victims to bring their case to court was being restricted. Why do the Government find it acceptable to deny the most vulnerable access to justice?

Damian Green: This Government have done more than any previous Government to give victims of domestic violence access to justice, and we are continuing to improve how such people, normally women, are treated in the operations of both the courts system and the police. As I said earlier, we have backed up that commitment with £40 million of ring-fenced money.

Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock) (Con): Theft and vandalism against small businesses costs jobs. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that his changes to the victims code will mean that courts can take into account the economic consequence of crime from now on?

Chris Grayling: I can confirm exactly that, and I pay tribute to my hon. Friend and her constituents. Her work in this area is clear evidence that a Back Bencher bringing a genuine constituency case to the Government can make a real difference. She did that, she has made a difference and the world has now changed for such businesses, so the impact will be known.

Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab): The Secretary of State indicated earlier that he was planning a consultation on mesothelioma victims. Does he accept that the review that his Department recently carried out simply did not fulfil the requirements of section 48 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012?

Mr Vara: We had a consultation, and we have come up with the preliminary report. As was said earlier, we will come up with a fuller report in due course.

Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con): Will the Minister confirm that if an alternative location can be found for the Felmores approved premises in Basildon, his Department is still willing to relocate it?

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Jeremy Wright: We will certainly look at that. May I say that it has been particularly helpful to receive submissions on the matter from my hon. Friend, who has been closely engaged in arguing on behalf of his constituents? Of course, if a suitable alternative venue can be found, we will co-operate with that.

Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab): Will the Secretary of State confirm that last Friday the prison capacity was running at 99.2%? Will he further confirm that over Christmas and into the new year, no police cells or custodial cells in courts will be used to supply the overfill?

Chris Grayling: The Opposition are desperate to find a crisis in our prisons. I can absolutely confirm that we are nowhere near the situation that they were in when they were in office, when they had to use police cells. We have plenty of capacity in our prison system and plenty of reserves that we can draw upon, and last week the prison population came down.

Dr Matthew Offord (Hendon) (Con): Does the Secretary of State share my concern about the case of Beth Schlesinger and the unusual decision by an Austrian court to deprive her of custody of her two young children? Will he undertake to make representations to the Austrian Government on what many people consider a serious miscarriage of justice?

Chris Grayling: I am happy to discuss the case with my hon. Friend. I suspect that he, as constituency MP, may be better placed to make representations, but I am happy to discuss it with him.

Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab): May I take the Secretary of State’s mind back to the war memorial at the former Fenton magistrates court? There seems to be a bit of confusion among some of my constituents who are fighting for it about the difference between a covenant and a clause in a sale contract. Will he put on record whether there will be a permanent covenant or a temporary contract clause?

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Mr Vara: I have corresponded with the hon. Gentleman on the subject, and I can assure him that there will be a covenant to ensure that the monument is preserved, and not temporarily.

Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con): How many foreign national offenders are there in our prisons, and what steps are being taken to send them back to secure detention in their own countries?

Jeremy Wright: Well, this question is familiar to me. The answer is 10,789—I think that figure is heading in the right direction although there is a lot more to do. My hon. Friend is right to say that the Government’s clear intention is to return all the foreign national offenders we can back to custody in their own countries. That requires compulsory prisoner transfer agreements of the kind that we are negotiating and that Labour failed to negotiate.

Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD) rose—

Mr Speaker: I would not want the hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert) to feel either forgotten or ignored. We must hear the hon. Gentleman, with brevity.

Dr Huppert: For many years there has been an increase in private companies doing public sector work. Does the Secretary of State agree that that must be done in a transparent and accountable way, and will he extend the Freedom of Information Act to cover it?

Chris Grayling: I am very much of the view that the Freedom of Information Act should be extended to cover some of those provisions, and I am also in favour of an open-book arrangement with our contractors. I hope that when the hon. Gentleman looks at the list of organisations that have put their name forward for probation, which will be published shortly, he will see some powerful partnerships between the private and voluntary sector of the kind we all hope to see.

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Transport Infrastructure

12.35 pm

The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Patrick McLoughlin): With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement about the work of the Airports Commission. I will also give brief details of my written ministerial statement from this morning on Network Rail’s reclassification.

In September last year, Sir Howard Davies agreed to chair an independent Airports Commission. That commission was asked to examine how the UK’s status as a leading global aviation hub can be maintained, and this morning it published its interim report. I have deposited copies of that report in the Library, and it is available on the Airports Commission’s website. I know this issue is central not only to our nation’s economic future but to those who use or work in airports, or who are affected by the impact of airports on their lives.

The UK is a leader in aviation, with the third largest aviation network in the world. The sector contributes £18 billion per year to our economy, and employs around 220,000 workers directly and many more indirectly. We need airports that put our country at the front of global competition and allow people to get to where they want to go. We also want airports that are quieter and meet our carbon commitments. Today’s report is an important step towards both goals.

Many Members of the House and their constituents hold strong views about the right outcome, and it is right that we respect that. I will be writing to invite Members to a briefing session early in the new year, when Sir Howard will explain the contents of the commission’s report in more detail. I take this opportunity to thank Sir Howard and his fellow commissioners—Sir John Armitt, Professor Ricky Burdett, Vivienne Cox and Dame Julia King, and Geoff Muirhead who stood down in September—for the care they have taken. Their interim report is a detailed and professional piece of work based on careful research, and it merits the fullest consideration.

It may be helpful if I provide a brief overview of the key issues that have been addressed. First, the interim report provides the commission’s advice on the level of future airport capacity this country will require, which is based on new evidence about a rapidly changing industry. The commission has also consulted a wide range of people and organisations, and as a result it offers a clear recommendation that there is need for new runway capacity in the medium term to support continued competitiveness and prosperity. We will, of course, be looking carefully at that recommendation and at how best we can take decisions that are in the long-term economic interest of the country, while respecting the environment and quality of life. Sir Howard is also clear in his report that there is no crisis of capacity now. He does, however, conclude that we will need one additional runway in the south-east by 2030, and in all likelihood a second by 2050. The commission is clear that those recommendations can be consistent with the UK’s climate change obligations.

Secondly, the commission has announced which long-term options it intends to take forward in the second phase of its work. The first option is Gatwick Airport. The commission will consider a new runway spaced

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sufficiently south of the existing runway to permit fully independent operation. The second and third options are for Heathrow Airport. The Commission will consider, first, a new full-length runway to the north west of the existing airport, as proposed by Heathrow Airport Ltd, spaced sufficiently to permit fully independent operation; and secondly, an extension of the existing northern runway to the west, as proposed by Heathrow Hub Ltd, which would allow it to be operated as two separate runways, one for departures and one for arrivals.

Options for the construction of a new airport in the Thames estuary have not been shortlisted by the commission at this stage. However, the commission intends to carry out further analysis of the feasibility and impacts of a new airport on the Isle of Grain and aims to reach a decision in the second half of 2014 on whether this constitutes a credible option for further development and detailed study. If this option is then added to the shortlist, it will be subject to a process of appraisal and consultation similar to that proposed for other shortlisted options. In phase two of its work, the commission will undertake detailed analysis and consultation on each of these locations, in partnership with promoters. It will also, of course, work with local communities and listen to their views.

On the third key issue, the commission also recommends action to make better use of our existing aviation infrastructure, particularly over the next five years. I welcome this fresh thinking, much of which is aimed at industry as much as the Government, about how we can make improvements to our already strong aviation sector. The commission has produced some interesting ideas including: the better use of airspace to improve resilience at London airports; trials at Heathrow airport to smooth the early-morning arrival schedule to minimise stacking and delays and to provide more predictable respite for local communities; and an independent aviation noise authority to improve decision making on noise issues. These are important recommendations that merit a response in advance of decisions on longer-term capacity. The Government will consider the short-term recommendations in detail and respond to them by the spring of next year. Finally, the commission proposes improvements to surface access to airports. The Government set out their initial response to these recommendations in their national infrastructure plan, published earlier this month.

I would also like to set out how we intend to address the concerns of people who live around sites subject to further consideration by the commission. Now that the commission’s report has been published, we will be working closely with promoters to consider the form and scale of any appropriate relief that might be put in place, and we will set out our thinking on this important issue in our response to the interim report.

I know that colleagues on both sides of the House will have their views on the content of the commission’s interim report, and in particular on the choices made in shortlisting those options. My principal concern as Secretary of State for Transport is to protect the integrity and independence of the commission process through to the final report, which we expect to be delivered by summer 2015. The Government will not therefore be commenting, either today or in responding to the interim report, on the respective merits of the options that have and have not been shortlisted. Given the vital importance

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of aviation to our nation, I urge colleagues to engage positively with the work of the commission as it moves into the next, equally important phase of its work. The variety of views in the House and beyond about the right way forward is proof that an independent commission, rather than ill thought out actions that might suggest other alternatives, is the right way forward. The commission process offers us the best chance we have to get this decision right.

I turn briefly to a second issue. Hon. Members will also be aware that today the Office for National Statistics announced that from 1 September 2014 Network Rail will be reclassified and appear on the Government’s balance sheet. As the Treasury and the Office for Budget Responsibility noted when my right hon. Friend the Chancellor made his autumn statement, this includes the company’s net debt of some £30 billion. I laid a written ministerial statement this morning, and I published a memorandum of understanding with Network Rail on my Department’s website and placed copies in the Libraries of both Houses. The MOU shows how my Department will work with Network Rail until its reclassification in September 2014. This independent, statistical decision will not affect Network Rail’s investment programmes, plans for High Speed 2 or the franchising programme.

The Government will continue to deliver vital improvements to all modes of transport so that transport can remain the engine for economic growth that it is. I commend this statement to the House.

12.45 pm

Mary Creagh (Wakefield) (Lab): I thank the Secretary of State for giving me notice and advance sight of his statement. I welcome the interim report from Sir Howard Davies. This is important work, and we will scrutinise it closely. It is vital that we take decisions about our airport capacity, including in the south-east, as it is important for Britain’s jobs, growth and competitiveness. Britain’s status as a global centre of aviation should be maintained.

It is good to see that the original Heathrow proposal for a third runway to the north of the current airport, which we were sceptical about, has been taken off the table. We also welcome the fact that this work takes into account our climate change obligations. As the commission now looks at specific proposals in more detail, we urge it to take into account the need to minimise the impact of increased capacity on local people and the environment. We are glad that the Government accepted our proposal to establish the commission, and we will look carefully at the report. The commission must be allowed to get on and complete its work on the long-term future of UK aviation.

Will the Secretary of State explain the exact status of the plans for an airport in the Thames estuary? I also want to ask him about the commission’s short-term recommendations. Will he introduce legislation in the Queen’s Speech in May to set up an independent aviation noise authority? If so, which Bill will contain the proposals? Can he say more about the optimisation strategy to improve the efficiency of UK airports in the short term? Communities that are currently affected by aviation noise want to know the Secretary of State’s position

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on additional night flights and on compensation for communities. Will he draw up plans to ensure that EU limits on air pollutants from existing aviation are met, as recommended by the Transport Select Committee?

On the reclassification of Network Rail, given that the Government already guarantee Network Rail’s debt, will its cost of borrowing now fall as a result of today’s announcement? Will the Government’s fiscal rules be changed to take account of the changes to debt and borrowing? Will today’s change affect the deficit? Will the Government and the Office for Budget Responsibility continue to publish borrowing and debt figures excluding these changes, as they have done with the transfer of the Royal Mail pension scheme, so that the underlying changes in borrowing and debt are transparent? Will the Government be taking any additional powers to direct Network Rail’s borrowing now that it will be on the Government’s books, or will the reclassification mean that Network Rail’s borrowing and debt have to be offset by further cuts and tax rises elsewhere? Could the change mean less money being available to invest in the railways? Can the Secretary of State guarantee that passengers will not face higher fares to pay for the debt reclassification? Does he anticipate any structural changes to Network Rail that would take the debt off balance sheet in the future?

The Secretary of State’s memorandum of understanding announced the appointment of an accounting officer to satisfy Parliament’s accounting and budgeting process. When will that person be in post? What will the audit arrangements be? When can we expect decisions from the Secretary of State on whether to appoint a special director to Network Rail, and on whether he will change the framework for Network Rail executives’ pay and bonuses? How many of them are currently paid more than the Prime Minister? Will he now personally sign off on their pay and bonuses? Can we expect greater transparency in the way in which Network rail operates? Who will be accountable for Network Rail’s performance? Will he tell us who is now responsible for safety on the railways? Is it Network Rail executives, Network Rail members, the permanent secretary or the Secretary of State himself?

Mr McLoughlin: I thank the hon. Lady for her—I am not quite sure how many—questions. A number were on Network Rail, on which I may respond a little later. It is always amazing to hear the way in which the hon. Lady tries to rewrite history. I notice today that she has said in a press release that it is good to see that the original Heathrow proposals for a third runway

“of which we were sceptical”

have been taken off the table. I cannot help but go back to the manifesto on which the hon. Lady fought the last general election; a manifesto written, I think, by the current Leader of the Opposition. The manifesto says:

“We support a third runway at Heathrow, subject to strict conditions on environmental impact and flight numbers”.

Something about which they are now sceptical was actually a core part of their transport manifesto at the last general election. I know that there is a rewriting of history going on but when something appears in the manifesto, it is usual to try to stick to it.

On the welcome for the setting up of Sir Howard Davies’ commission, I do not remember the calls for it initially; I think that the idea was put in place by my

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predecessor and was announced by me when I became Secretary of State for Transport. I am glad that the hon. Lady welcomes the report because this is a big infrastructure issue that takes time to develop. It takes time to work through all the proposals and it is right that we try, if possible, to get as much consensus as we can across parties. One of the commissioners did a report for Labour on infrastructure spending that was published not so long ago. I welcome the hon. Lady’s points on that.

On the Thames estuary proposals—the Isle of Grain— Sir Howard has said this morning in interviews and in the report that he would hope to have a view on that by the middle of next year and we will then know on which route we are going.

With the Leader of the House and the Chief Whip here, I am not at this stage able to announce what may or may not be in a future Queen’s speech. I did say that I will respond by the spring to some of the points that Sir Howard has made in the report and I shall stick by that commitment.

The hon. Lady asked me a number of questions about Network Rail. There will be more time for us to debate this issue as the change comes into operation from September 2014. But as I am here today making the statement, and as I have made a statement on the Office for National Statistics recommendations, which came through only this morning, I will be happy to deal in more detail with specific points that she raised on a number of issues.

One of the things that the Government and I are keen on is that over the next four years in the CP5 phase of Network Rail’s expenditure, it will invest £38 billion in the railways, far more than it has been investing for some years. That certainly is under no threat whatsoever. We will still see record levels of investment taking place. Some of the other questions the hon. Lady asked are on issues that the hon. Lady I am considering.

Mr Simon Burns (Chelmsford) (Con): Will my right hon. Friend accept that too many Governments of all political parties have fiddled around on the question of airport capacity for too long, which is why the commission is to be welcomed so much? But does he agree that when the final recommendation is made, we need to seek political consensus across the chamber to be able to move forward as quickly as possible? How does he think that consensus can be achieved?

Mr McLoughlin: There may be a consensus, but there will always be a certain number of people who are against a consensus. I am not necessarily sure that one gets total consensus on any infrastructure project. It often depends on how it impacts on individual constituents, which is something we have to take into account. We should not run away from that. I hope that, as a result of the detailed work that is being done by the commission and the fact that it is being as open as possible in its dealings with everybody, it will be seen that it is doing a proper and constructive job and will enjoy widespread confidence. Today has been a good example of that, in the way that the shadow Secretary of State has welcomed the initial findings of the report.

John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab): At a minimum, according to the report, 2,000 of my constituents

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will lose their homes, which will be demolished. That could rise to perhaps 10,000 because of homes being rendered unliveable by noise and air pollution. Two primary schools will be demolished, with perhaps two more being rendered unfit to teach in. The threat returns that we may have to dig up our relatives buried in the local cemetery. Where will my constituents find a home? Where will my constituents send their children to school? Where will we bury our dead? Does he appreciate the sense of betrayal that is felt in my community?

Mr McLoughlin: I know that the hon. Gentleman has spoken very sincerely about this on behalf of his constituents. However, he is prejudging the outcome of the report. The report has not said which option it has gone for. It has come forward with three shortlisted options and another option that will be looked at in the longer term. This is not a fait accompli. The commission’s work will continue over the next 18 months.

Sir Alan Haselhurst (Saffron Walden) (Con): Bearing in mind that the recommendations of the Roskill commission on airport capacity were rejected by successive Governments, does my right hon. Friend accept that until the first concrete, and lots of it, is poured, uncertainty will not be removed from many of the locations that are mentioned by Sir Howard Davies today? To echo the sentiment of my right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns), will my right hon. Friend work extremely hard to get bipartisan acceptance of the final recommendations?

Mr McLoughlin: Not only will I try to get bipartisan agreement, I will try to get tripartisan agreement. I shall not just look at any two parties. I hope that that is the way in which we can move forward. My right hon. Friend has huge experience of this issue and has often made the case for protecting Stansted airport.

Mrs Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab/Co-op): The Davies commission report includes a shortlist that has on it the recommendation of the Transport Committee for expanding Heathrow, and confirms the importance of connecting the economy of this country with the emerging economies in India, Brazil and China. Does the Secretary of State agree that taking no action means that this country continues to lose out? When does he think the decision should be made?

Mr McLoughlin: I am sorry; I missed the last bit of the hon. Lady’s question. [Hon. Members: “When do you think the decision should be made?”] I know that the Transport Committee will be seeing Sir Howard at one of its meetings in the early part of January. I agree with the hon. Lady; we will be responding early next year to the recommendations on which Sir Howard has asked us to come to a view.

Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD): The Government was absolutely right to scrap Labour’s plans for a third runway at Heathrow. I very much welcomed the Prime Minister’s statement:

“No ifs. No buts. No third runway”.

I assume the Prime Minister meant it. What assurance can the Secretary of State provide that nothing will be done to breach the Committee on Climate Change recommendations?

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Mr McLoughlin: It is important that everything that Sir Howard is looking at is contained within our climate change obligations. Aircraft are changing; their emissions are changing. What is very unenvironmentally friendly is stacking aircraft above London that are pumping out emissions into the atmosphere.

Mr Alistair Darling (Edinburgh South West) (Lab): The Commission appears to be recommending another runway at Heathrow, which is exactly where we were 10 years ago. The proposal on Gatwick appears to be “in addition to” rather than “instead of” the proposal at Heathrow. I notice that the Secretary of State studiously avoided expressing an opinion and I understand that he wants to await the outcome of the commission. However, could he tell us whether or not the Government think that the commission is on the right track? Clearly if it is not, it would be better to tell it now, rather than wait until 2015. I join everyone in this House who believes that, 50 years after the Government first looked at what should happen to London airport, we need to make a decision, and we should do so as soon as possible. If we do not, we will fall behind the rest of the world.

Mr McLoughlin: I am always slightly cautious in the answers I give to the right hon. Gentleman, who has the distinguished record of being one of the longest-serving Transport Secretaries of recent times. I would point out, however, that when he was Secretary of State and the 2003 White Paper was published, there was only one mention of Dubai. Things have changed hugely in aviation over the last few years, which is why it was right to set up this commission. The right hon. Gentleman was wrong on his original assumption: Gatwick is an alternative—it is not necessarily a case of Heathrow and nothing else—as is the Thames estuary.

Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con): The commission report places great importance on the success of all the options it is still looking at through effective and integrated surface transport links. So much so that the commission, which I understand is carrying out, in the Secretary of State’s own words, work that merits the fullest consideration, now intends to examine the HS2 line and the possible HS2 spur to Heathrow. Surely the Government should now wait until this work is completed and the final decision on airport capacity is made before pressing ahead with a high-risk £50 billion project that might end up being built in quite the wrong place.

Mr McLoughlin: I refer my right hon. Friend to page 202 of the report. I thought that she would raise this issue, so I refer her to paragraph 6.94:

“A high speed rail spur from the main HS2 line to the airport is not included in the cost estimate, but the Commission will consider the case for this as part of its review of surface access options. It will not, however, consider the case for any re-routing of the main HS2 line.”

I believe that it is a vital part of the national infrastructure of the United Kingdom.

Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green): Is the Secretary of State aware that some of the UK’s leading companies have cut their flights by an average of 38% over the past three years, and does he not recognise that his reckless enthusiasm for new runways will not only

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cause huge harm for the local communities involved, but shows this Government lagging far behind progressive companies that understand the urgency of climate change and are reducing their number of flights on economic as well as environmental grounds?

Mr McLoughlin: The hon. Lady needs to look at the passenger numbers through the terminals. At Heathrow in 1992, for example, there were 45 million in comparison with 70 million in 2012. At Gatwick in 1992, passenger numbers were 19.9 million, but 34.2 million in 2012. People still want to travel. I am sure that the hon. Lady has holidays only in the United Kingdom and never travels abroad, but a lot of people like the option to go abroad.

Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con): Sir Howard reminds us that Heathrow is 100% full and Gatwick is 85% full. A new build of any kind anywhere is going to take an absolute minimum of 10 years and probably longer. We are losing business to Schiphol, Charles de Gaulle and Dubai now. We have to get to chapter five, paragraph 5.91 on page 163 before we find a paragraph that mentions other airports, and it is dismissive. Manston airport in Kent has the capacity—now, as we speak—to take business from Gatwick and Heathrow to release the capacity we need and to build in the time we need for the right decisions to be taken in the longer term. Will my right hon. Friend please look at it seriously?

Mr McLoughlin: The commission has looked at a number of options. I draw my hon. Friend’s attention to the conclusions on page 102, where it is made clear that the UK does not face an immediate capacity crisis. Sir Howard and the whole commission are clear that we need to take this decision so that we have the option of a new runway by 2030. That is exactly what we will be doing.

Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab): For my constituents, today’s report is proof that the Heathrow lobby’s hold over the Conservative party never went away. The hands of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are all over this report. One third of those seriously affected by airport noise in Europe live around Heathrow. What is the Secretary of State offering to the 2 million people in west London other than a continued deterioration in their quality of life by the expansion of Heathrow.

Mr McLoughlin: I remind the hon. Gentleman that he fought the election on the basis of a manifesto saying that there would be a third runway at Heathrow airport. Before he gets on his high horse about what I am doing, perhaps he should consider what that manifesto said. As I have said, the simple fact is that we need to do everything we can to alleviate noise problems; we need to look carefully at the eventual recommendations of the final report. We do not yet have the final recommendations; the time to conduct this type of debate is when we get them.

Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con): My first impression is “so far, so depressing”. I know that this is only an interim report, but my constituents will note that Heathrow is yet again emerging as the favoured option. I should also say that the two options for Heathrow that are flagged up in the report will both be

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particularly bad news for my constituents in Ealing, Chiswick and Acton. Let me ask my right hon. Friend: what on earth more do my constituents have to do to get their message across that any expansion of the noise, pollution and congestion that goes with Heathrow and blights the whole of west London would simply be intolerable?

Mr McLoughlin: I am grateful to my hon. Friend, and I understand the passion that she and other Members feel about this issue. It is right for us to try to look at and address these issues. We have to see what is happening with aviation noise and how it should be judged. That is why I am very interested in some of the commission’s interim proposals. It will take longer to take a view on that, but I hope to be able to come back in the spring to announce the way forward. This is a very difficult job because these issues have been around for some time. It is right to conduct a proper investigation and, I hope, come up with the right alternative at the end of the day.

Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton) (Lab): As Government after Government have ducked this issue, our main European competitors have built many runways, while our new competitors in the middle east have built even more of them. Does the Secretary of State agree that the only way to break this logjam is for both the major political parties represented in this Chamber to give a commitment to accept the conclusions of the Davies report?

Mr McLoughlin: I agree with the hon. Gentleman, who served for a long time on the Transport Select Committee. I certainly agree with him that it would be good if we could reach a consensus on this matter. Whatever option we come up with will impact on people’s lives and communities. We need to try to do everything we can to address and relieve it, but we also need to look at the options for the longer-term future offered by quieter aeroplanes, for example. An overall consensus would indeed be the best way to move forward on big infrastructure projects.

Mr Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con): My right hon. Friend has repeatedly used the phrase “longer term” both in his statement and in replying to questions. The exam question to the commission was how the UK’s status as a leading global aviation hub could be maintained. By any standards on a long-term basis, the commission has failed. Its principal options simply cannot sustain the UK’s position as a long-term hub. The only hope remains the Isle of Grain option. When it comes to consideration of Gatwick, for example, someone will need to explain that doing up Gatwick station will not deal with the capacity issue on the Brighton main line or with the road issues. Someone will also have to explain where a town the size of Crawley is going to be placed.

Mr McLoughlin: My hon. Friend has just dismissed two options, but no doubt other hon. Members who may be called to speak a little later will dismiss the third option, which my hon. Friend refers to as the “only” option available. That is why we set up a commission—so that we could base our final decisions on proper researched evidence.

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Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab): The chief executive of Birmingham airport, Paul Kehoe, has described the Davies report today as focusing disproportionately on the south-east and entrenching the dominance of the south-east economy to the detriment of growth in the rest of the UK. The Birmingham chamber of commerce has said the same thing. Does the Secretary of State recognise that, in circumstances where Birmingham wants the expansion of its airport, which will be key to economic growth in the midlands, Britain simply cannot succeed through London and the south-east alone?

Mr McLoughlin: I am a passionate believer in the role of airports outside London. The first time I appeared before the Select Committee, I said that we should stop describing airports such as Birmingham and Manchester as regional airports, because they are major international airports in their own right. I want to see those airports—along with East Midlands airport—serving their local communities. On page 195 of its report, the commission says that it does not see

“a strong case for expansion at Birmingham”

at the moment, but that may well change by 2050. Moreover, being served directly by HS2 will give the airport a great opportunity for the future.

Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD): Will there be an independent assessment of the impact of any proposals on the carbon emission targets of the Committee on Climate Change?

Mr McLoughlin: The commission is taking all our carbon reduction obligations into account, as I would expect.

Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab): At the last general election, both coalition parties opposed an increase in runway capacity in the south-east. I think it is clear that the Conservatives have now realised that that was the wrong decision and have changed their minds, but the Liberal Democrats are still in denial. Most of us want the Davies commission to report earlier than the summer of 2015. Who set the deadline—the Secretary of State, Sir Howard, or the Liberal Democrats?

Mr McLoughlin: I note that the hon. Gentleman is now speaking from the Back Benches about a subject on which he used to speak from the Front Bench. When he was on the Front Bench, I challenged him to tell us, if his was such an easy solution, what proposals he would support. He was unable to answer that question from the Front Bench, but perhaps he will be able to do so from his more privileged position on the Back Benches.

Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park) (Con): I note the answer that the Secretary of State has just given, but does he not accept that no serious political party can go into the next general election without a clear opinion on an issue that matters to so many people and so many businesses in this country? That is simply not a credible position for any party to have.

Mr McLoughlin: I know my hon. Friend’s views on this matter, and I know that he fights passionately on behalf of his constituents. However, I think it right for

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us to try to obtain an answer that is, as far as possible, based on good evidence and good research. That is what the commission is doing, and it will report by the summer of 2015.

Phil Wilson (Sedgefield) (Lab): According to the Davies report, London continues to accommodate the largest overseas destination market in the world. What more can be done to enable regional airports such as Durham Tees Valley airport, which is in my constituency, to have access to that market by ensuring that it is given Heathrow slots sooner rather than later? May I also ask the Secretary of State to discuss with his colleagues in the Treasury the possibility of varying the levels of air passenger duty around the country, which would help all United Kingdom airports?

Mr McLoughlin: I think that the biggest increases in APD occurred under the last Government rather than this one. At a time when we are trying to reduce the deficit, it is always easy to find ways of making cuts, but we must then find a replacement for that certain income. As for the hon. Gentleman’s question about regional airports, I remind him of what I said a few moments ago about their importance to local communities.

Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con): Does my right hon. Friend agree that the provision of more long-haul services from, for instance, Manchester airport, and Leeds Bradford International airport—which my constituents use—to China, India and the other emerging markets would help to ease all the congestion at London’s airports? Could that not be part of the solution?

Mr McLoughlin: It might play a role in easing some of the congestion, but the overall evidence shows that there is continuing growth in aviation traffic, and the commission is giving that careful consideration.

Gemma Doyle (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab/Co-op): Will the Secretary of State consider seriously the issue of connectivity throughout the United Kingdom, particularly in relation to Scotland? Connections to the south-east are extremely important, and if we do not get a move on, we shall be in danger of strangling growth throughout the UK.

Mr McLoughlin: I understand exactly where the hon. Lady is coming from. Concern has been expressed in a number of regions about the accessibility of London. However, people could consider using other airports, such as Luton and Stansted.

Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con): Do the Government accept the commission’s contention that a new runway needs to be built in the south-east before, or by, 2030?

Mr McLoughlin: I believe that what the commission has said is important, but we must await its final proposals and establish whether we can work to that deadline.

Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP): Let me first thank the Secretary of State for his statement. He described the United Kingdom as an international aviation hub.

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What discussions has he had with representatives of Belfast City, Belfast International and City of Derry airports in Northern Ireland to ensure that the viable transport links to which he referred can be solidified and all regions can benefit from them?

Mr McLoughlin: Having responded to questions from the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, I am well aware of the importance to Northern Ireland of its connections with London. I have had no direct conversations with the Northern Ireland Assembly, but I have of course listened to what colleagues in the House of Commons have had to say.

Mr Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) (Con): I commend the Howard Davies commission for recognising that the Isle of Grain cannot be lightly dismissed and merits further consideration. However, he said this morning, when comparing it with the other proposals, that the Thames estuary proposal was

“a much more extensive proposition for shifting the economic geography of the south-east of England by creating a new pole of economic development.”

Is that within the remit of the commission?

Mr McLoughlin: I should make it clear that by “he said”, my hon. Friend meant what Sir Howard Davies had said, rather than any words that I might have said.

The commission must look at the whole proposal, and it has said that it will do so, because it is completely different from the proposals that certain airports have been making themselves. The matter will be addressed in the report which Sir Howard has said he hopes to produce by next summer.

Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab): I am not sure that I derive much comfort from the information that the expansion of Birmingham airport may be decided in 2050, by which time I shall be 95 years old. May I suggest something that the Secretary of State could do now? He could compel Network Rail to come up with a strategy to improve surface access to airports, so that those such as Birmingham which have spare capacity can be properly connected?

Mr McLoughlin: I am not sure that I wish to comment on the first part of the hon. Lady’s question—it might not be the thing to do from the Dispatch Box—but I will say that I know Birmingham airport very well, having used it on a number of occasions. It is not badly connected at present, but there is room for improvements, and I naturally want to think about ways of making those improvements. I believe that the direct connection between HS2 and Birmingham airport will give it the potential to develop in that way.

Mr Speaker: Order. The Chair must be very careful when it comes to these matters, but I must say that I found the age-related facet of the hon. Lady’s question utterly implausible.

Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con): A suppressed Cabinet Office report on HS2 raises major concerns about its risky construction timetable, its poor management and the insufficient work done on costs, and also questions the capability of those involved in the delivery of the project. Will my right hon. Friend

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tell us whether the Government are prepared to publish the report by the Major Projects Authority?

Mr McLoughlin: I do not think that there is any shortage of reports on HS2, be they from the National Audit Office, from the Transport Committee, or in the form of evidence given to the Treasury Committee. There is a huge number of such reports that people can consult rather than consulting a report that is more than two years old.

Ian Austin (Dudley North) (Lab): Birmingham airport is right in the middle of the country and right next to the major motorways of the United Kingdom, and, with HS2, it will be within easy reach of the vast majority of the people who live in Britain. People living in the west midlands will be utterly staggered to learn that they must wait until 2050 for any consideration to be given to its expansion.

Mr McLoughlin: It is not a case of waiting until 2050 for any consideration of that airport’s expansion; what I said, and what the report said, is that there will be a need for a new runway in the south-east by 2030 and then probably for another runway in 2050, and at that stage that airport could be one of the considerations. But a huge amount is still going on at Birmingham airport. I am not going to talk that airport down now, and I do not want anyone else to do so. It has extended its runway and has a lot more availability, and I want it to be able to prosper, along the lines that other airports, such as Manchester, have done.

Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con): I very much agree with the comments made by the Chairman of the Transport Committee that the current situation is an option that cannot go on for much longer, but I also agree with comments made by Opposition Members about the connectivity with Birmingham. Given that senior engineers in HS2 doubt the efficiency, cost and environmental suitability of the route, would it not make sense to link HS2 directly not only from Birmingham to central London, but to whichever airport is chosen to have that third runway?

Mr McLoughlin: I am not sure which people in HS2 my hon. Friend is referring to when he says that they are opposed to the current route. We are committed to that route and have deposited the Bill before the House.

Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op): There is a widespread feeling that the airports issue is symptomatic of this country’s poor approach to long-term infrastructure planning. Clearly there will be winners and losers whichever decision is made, but the truth is that a decision will still need to be made. If we need two runways by 2050, will the Government make a provisional decision on both, thus finally bringing some long-term certainty to this issue?

Mr McLoughlin: I am not sure that we will make a decision on both of them in one go. As I say, the report is very clear: we will need an additional runway by 2030 and, in all likelihood, another by 2050. A number of things will have changed by then, so it would be wrong at this stage to start saying exactly what the runway beyond the next runway will be, because the infrastructure

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I have talked about, such as HS2, will be in place and other airports will come much more into play.

Karen Lumley (Redditch) (Con): The Government are determined to build HS2, rebalance our economy and make Birmingham airport 38 minutes from London Euston. Does the Secretary of State share my concern and disappointment today that Birmingham airport was not included in the initial recommendations?

Mr McLoughlin: What I am seeing, and what I see nearly everywhere I go, is a strong lobbying exercise, or representation exercise, on behalf of Birmingham airport, and rightly so because it is a very good airport—I like it and use it regularly. What Birmingham has already done, through its expansion and extending the runway, means that it will be able to offer lots more services to the people of the west midlands, and I very much hope to take advantage of that.

Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): Will most ordinary people listening to this debate not conclude that a politician who cannot make a decision is no more use than a chocolate teapot? If we are going to keep on procrastinating and if the Government cannot even decide that Boris island is not going to float, they have run out of steam.

Mr McLoughlin: Coming from somebody who was 13 years in a Government who refused to make—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman was 13 years in Parliament supporting a Government—avidly, on every occasion—who continually failed to take any decisions about major infrastructure projects, yet he now complains that this Government, who have made more progress on the railways and on aviation, are somehow slacking in making their decision.

Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con): Heathrow is crucial to the continued economic vibrancy of towns such as Reading and to foreign inward investment into the Thames Valley region. Airport capacity does need to expand, but so, too, does surface access to Heathrow. Will my right hon. Friend ensure that the Heathrow rail link to Reading and from the west is immediately brought forward from the 2021 timeline currently in progress?

Mr McLoughlin: My hon. Friend is a very big advocate of more infrastructure investment in Reading, where we are currently spending some £880 million on a major refurbishment of Reading station, which will greatly enhance the capabilities for surface access to Reading. However, I note his early applications for even more investment in his area.

Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab): One issue that merits greater consideration than the half page given by the commission is the proposal for a temporary exemption from air passenger duty for new long-haul routes from airports outside London. Such an exemption would help airports such as Manchester to develop new routes to China. Will the Secretary of State make sure that this idea stays on the table?

Mr McLoughlin: The right hon. Gentleman, by his mentioning the proposal, has just done exactly that.

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Mrs Caroline Spelman (Meriden) (Con): The Davies report states that expansion at Birmingham airport would have a “relatively high” noise impact compared with the alternatives, but ironically a second runway would have taken the noise further way from areas of habitation. Will the Secretary of State look also at the road surface access to the existing extended runway, as that can currently be a source of gridlock at a very important transport node?

Mr McLoughlin: I will of course look at that important issue, as my right hon. Friend asks. Her constituency is very much affected by the entire road network around that area, and by the rail and airport expansion, so I will look seriously at the point she raises.

Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op): On the Network Rail statement, given the way in which responsibilities for rail services in Scotland are divided between the Scottish and UK Governments, how will responsibility for the net debt of £30 billion or its servicing be divided between those Governments?

Mr McLoughlin: I will write to the hon. Gentleman about that.

Sir John Randall (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Con): I congratulate my right hon. Friend on coming to the House to make a statement on an interim report. I am delighted to hear him confirm that the Government have no set position on this matter, but I am sure he will be reassured to know that people in Hillingdon, including my honourable comrade, the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), will be dusting off the campaign material and once again proving that any expansion at Heathrow is politically and environmentally undeliverable.

Mr McLoughlin: My right hon. Friend and the hon. Gentleman will be a formidable team in their campaigning approach to this matter. I know they will do so, but I also urge them to submit their views to the commission as it moves to its next phase in preparing its final report.

Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab): The Aerospace Growth Partnership, with strong environmental safeguards, is supported by all three main parties—even the Liberal Democrats have signed up. My hon. Friend the Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) made the good suggestion that all three parties should commit to the outcome reached by the Davies inquiry. Will the Secretary of State explore that with all main parties?

Mr McLoughlin: Yes.

Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD): I thought that Sir Howard’s remit was to examine the need for aviation provision for the whole UK economy, so does my right hon. Friend share my disappointment that he seems focused on the self-fulfilling prophecy that growth feeds further demand in the south-east? Does my right hon. Friend share my wish for further consideration to be given to growth in resurgent economies, and, thus, to Birmingham international airport, for the midlands, and to other regional airports and economies?

Mr McLoughlin: The commission has had to work on the basis of what is actually happening in aviation: Heathrow has 99% usage and Gatwick is also filling up,

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but other airports in London are not as busy at the moment. So it is right that the commission has done the overall work and the proper work, and has made an interim suggestion. The Davies commission does also talk about the importance of regional airports, and nobody is denying that; I would much prefer more services to be available for people so that they would not necessarily have to travel into London to use an airport of demand. However, the availability of services does attract a lot of passengers to airports in the south-east.

Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab): New airport capacity must go hand in hand with our efforts to reduce CO2 omissions from aviation, as the Secretary of State mentioned in his statement. Given that his Government abandoned the UK’s target to be at or below 2005 levels by 2050, what guarantees can he give to the House to ensure that those considerations are included in the final plans?

Mr McLoughlin: If the hon. Gentleman takes time to reflect and to look at the various appointments to the commission, he will see that we have taken incredibly seriously the environment and our environmental commitments.

Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con): I invite my right hon. Friend to expand a little on the role of regional airports. Will he give an assurance that the Government will recognise the important role that smaller regional airports can play, not just in easing the burden on traffic to the south-east but in providing economic growth to areas such as the Humber region?

Mr McLoughlin: I cannot add very much to what I have said already. I agree with my hon. Friend, but it is difficult for some regional airports to attract new services. That is one of the big changes that we have seen as far as the aviation industry is concerned, and I am keen to do anything I can to encourage those regional airports to be able to provide more services.

Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab): In that regard, Birmingham could cater for two thirds of the projected passenger increase from building a new runway at Heathrow at less than 2% of the £6 billion cost, without the need to demolish schools, villages or homes. Why are those considerations not worthy to be looked at now?

Mr McLoughlin: Those considerations were looked at by the commission, and there is someone on the commission who works in Birmingham.

Several hon. Members rose—

Mr Speaker: The time has come to call a patient dame. Dame Angela Watkinson.

Dame Angela Watkinson (Hornchurch and Upminster) (Con): Does my right hon. Friend agree that increased airport capacity and quieter aircraft will not just benefit the UK economy but improve the quality of life of my constituents in Hornchurch and Upminster and those in the rest of Greater London by reducing stacking of aircraft, which currently have nowhere to land?