Business of the House

Will the new Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?

I welcome the new Leader of the House and thank the previous Leader of the House. I am looking forward to this session!

Probably more than I am, Mr Speaker. [Laughter.] The business for next week is as follows:

Monday 15 September—Consideration of Lords amendments to the Employment Rights Bill.

Tuesday 16 September—Second Reading of the Sentencing Bill.

The House will rise for the conference recess at the conclusion of business on Tuesday 16 September and return on Monday 13 October.

The business for the week commencing 13 October includes:

Monday 13 October—General debate on baby loss. The subject for this debate was determined by the Backbench Business Committee.

Tuesday 14 October—Remaining stages of the Mental Health Bill [Lords].

Wednesday 15 October—Remaining stages of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill.

Thursday 16 October—Second Reading of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill.

Friday 17 October—The House will not be sitting.

The provisional business for the week commencing 20 October includes:

Monday 20 October—Committee of the whole House and remaining stages of the Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill.

I thank the Leader of the House for the business.

On this 24th anniversary of 9/11, I know the whole House will want to join me and, I am sure, the Leader of the House in sending our best wishes to the families and the friends of the victims of those horrendous terrorist attacks.

So, too, our best wishes go to those grieving the murder of Charlie Kirk in the USA, and to our own great colleague, the hon. Member for Washington and Gateshead South (Mrs Hodgson), for the terrible news she has had this morning.

I thank the recently departed Leader of the House, the right hon. Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell). She and I had our disagreements; I do not think there is much doubt about that. She supported the wrong football team, and I struggled to get her to answer my questions, but she was diligent and effective in responding to Members across the House, as well as in Committee. Without getting too teary about it, I will even miss her appalling puns.

But it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Hurricane tax dodge blew away the Deputy Prime Minister and destroyed the Prime Minister’s much-vaunted phase two, but it has brought us the former Labour Chief Whip! He was a history teacher, and there cannot be many better forms of public service than that. After his distinguished career channelling industriously away in the usual channels, I warmly welcome him blinking into the bright lights of the Dispatch Box.

I had somehow thought that, having plumbed the depths of incompetence over the summer, the Government would now settle down a bit. How naïve—how desperately foolish—I was. The No. 10 team were obviously taking the mickey. They were laughing at us. “You think this is incompetent?”, they said, “We have hardly got going. We can do vastly better than that. Resets are for wimps—let’s have a full-blown crash reshuffle. Let’s have a new Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary, as well as a new Deputy Prime Minister. And let’s undermine the Chancellor of the Exchequer by ostentatiously lining up the former Chief Secretary to replace her. The markets will really welcome that. Even better—let’s have an election for deputy leader of the party. People are already scared to death about all the taxes coming in the Budget, but they will be completely reassured if we run a Labour leadership election at the same time. Ideally, we can make the deputy leader a former Cabinet Minister whom the Prime Minister has just abruptly fired. That’ll be good for stability. Oh, and we can go further! We can actively undermine relations with our closest ally if we throw in a major scandal over the Prime Minister’s personal choice as ambassador to the USA.”

First, may I add my tribute to my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell), for her excellent work as Leader of the House over the last year? She spearheaded the revival of the Modernisation Committee, which was a manifesto commitment, and oversaw the packed legislative programme that formed the basis of this Government’s first King’s Speech. I know that I am among many MPs across the House who want to thank her for her diligence and hard work.

I would also like to express my thanks to Colin Lee, the Clerk of Legislation, who retires this week, having joined the House service in 1988. MPs from across the House have valued his wise counsel over many years, and I know the whole House will wish him well.

I know that the House will also share my sadness about the death of Sir Roger Sands, who was Clerk of the House from 2003 to 2006. Sir Roger was a distinguished servant of the House for 41 years, and the House will want to convey our condolences to Lady Sands and Sir Roger’s family.

I thank the shadow Leader of the House for welcoming me to my place. Before I turn to his remarks, I should caution him, and indeed the House, that the last time I answered a question at the Dispatch Box was in the same year that the iPad was released. Both you and I, Mr Speaker, had a little more hair and of a darker hue. At the time the average price of a pint of beer was £2.91—there are people sat behind me who were not even old enough to buy alcohol then.

I am looking forward to these sessions with the shadow Leader of the House. We have been in the House together for a decade, but I cannot claim to know him particularly well, so I also went to Wikipedia to find out a bit more. He is a philosopher, a historian and an author of note. It is clear that he is a thinking Conservative, which is an increasingly rare commodity.

Order. I expect this to run for around an hour, so Members can help each other with short and punchy questions. I call Elsie Blundell to set a good example.

I welcome the Leader of the House to his place. I applaud the Government for the bold action that they are taking to reform the criminal justice system, but more must be done to safeguard communities from violent reoffenders. In Middleton, I have been in touch with the courageous family of Michael Hoolickin. Michael was tragically killed in 2016 by a prolific offender who, despite supposedly being under the supervision of the local probation service, was not prevented from committing that appalling act, which has devastated the lives of Michael’s family and friends. Will the Leader of the House allow a debate in Government time so that Members may consider how to mitigate reoffending by violent perpetrators, and to give voice to the countless bereaved families out there, who deserve our compassion and focus?

That is without doubt an appalling tragedy, and my thoughts are with Michael’s family. It is important that we address reoffending—that is critical to public safety. On Tuesday we have the Second Reading of the Sentencing Bill. It aims to reduce offending, which has a devastating effect on victims. I encourage my hon. Friend to consider speaking in that debate.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

I welcome the new Leader of the House to his place. I join him and the shadow Leader of the House in thank the previous Leader of the House, the right hon. Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell), for her sterling efforts, especially with so many people bobbing to ask questions every Thursday morning. I look forward to working with the Leader of the House in the various Committees on which we serve. I hope that he will follow the Government’s mantra to go further and faster, especially in modernisation.

Today is a big day for news. In particular, I echo the words condemning the appalling attack on the office of the hon. Member for Washington and Gateshead South (Mrs Hodgson)—[Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”]—for whom I have a huge amount of respect.

I also join other colleagues in recognising that today is the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I am sure that the whole House agrees with the importance of remembering the victims, including British citizens, their families and those who continue to be affected physically and mentally by the attack and its aftermath.

This week, I again met victims and family members who have been subjected to ongoing injustice in our health system, in particular women and their children who were affected by shocking failures of medical devices or by the prescription of drugs that had devastating and life-changing consequences. While pregnant, my constituent Mary was prescribed the anti-epilepsy medication, sodium valproate. Very sadly, Mary joined so many other parents whose children were consequently born with significant birth defects. Like any parent of a disabled child, Mary is incredibly worried about their future and what support will be in place to look after them when she is no longer able to.

Victims and their families are exhausted. They have campaigned for many years to draw political attention to such matters, but it seems that successive Governments are not listening. Indeed, the Government have yet to respond to the Hughes report on the sodium valproate and pelvic mesh scandals that was published more than 18 months ago. Will the Leader of the House ask the Health Secretary to make a statement to this House to provide an update urgently?

I thank the hon. Lady for the tone of her question. I, too, look forward to working with her on the Commission and the Modernisation Committee. I commend her for campaigning on these important matters. Our sympathies are with those affected, and we are fully focused on how best to support patients and to prevent future harm. The Government will continue to listen to those affected in this complex area, and I will ensure that Ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care and in the Cabinet Office have heard her concerns. If my hon. Friend wishes to meet them, I will seek a meeting.

I had the pleasure of meeting Fergus, Freddie and Michael, members of the band Jam Tub, on a recent visit to Framwellgate school in Durham. These musicians are passionate about contributing to Durham’s cultural vibrancy, performing at events such as the much-loved Durham fringe festival. They contacted me after they noticed a distinct lack of venues across the whole of County Durham for young bands to perform and practice in, limiting their opportunities to grow as musicians. Will the Leader of the House agree to a debate in Government time on the importance of addressing regional cultural inequalities that are having an impact on the opportunities available to talented youngsters not just in Durham, but across the country?

As a Durham lad, I concur with my hon. Friend. It is a question not just of venues in Durham, but of venues across the country. The Government and, in particular, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are cognisant of that. We will be doing everything that we can to support them. Such issues affect a lot of constituencies. Therefore, should she choose to seek a Backbench Business debate or even an Adjournment debate, I am sure that she would receive support from across the House.

I call the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee.

I welcome the Leader of the House to his position. I hope that we can have an early meeting to ensure that Back Benchers can have their voice heard in this Chamber, as before.

I thank the Leader of the House for giving us the business for 13 October, when we return from the conference recess. Given past experience of when we return from recesses, with the likelihood of statements and possibly urgent questions, and given that 78 people want to speak on the baby loss debate, I ask him to consider giving it protected time, so that they are able to relay their stories.

In addition, the business in Westminster Hall on Tuesday 16 September will be a debate on the International Day of Democracy. On 16 October, there will be a debate on World Menopause Day, followed by a debate on Ada Lovelace Day and Government support for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. On 23 October, there will be a debate on histological testing of excised moles, followed by a debate on the impact of NHS workforce levels on cancer patients.

I was very tempted to ask a question about the legalisation that happened in an employment tribunal earlier this week that means it is now possible to discriminate against people because of the football team they support. However, there is a much more serious issue: the situation in Nepal.

Following the deaths of 20 protesters, the Prime Minister of Nepal has resigned, the Parliament building has been set on fire and there is the threat of a military coup. I have many constituents with relatives in Nepal, and they are worried about the situation for their families. Will the Leader of the House arrange for a Foreign Office Minister to give a statement next week on what we are doing, as the United Kingdom, to protect those families and support the families in the United Kingdom?

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his work as Chair of the Backbench Business Committee, and I look forward to working with him. I will commit to an early meeting with him and also to regular meetings. He will know I have long taken the view that we need to take care on Mondays, whether it is with Backbench business or Government business, when we return from recess. I will give some thought to protected time, but the reality is that we can often manage the business of that day. The Government can manage the number of statements that go on; there is an issue around managing urgent questions, which is not the Government’s decision, but it nevertheless can be managed. I will return to that issue if need be.

On the really important matter of the situation in Nepal, let me say the recent loss of life and violence in Nepal is appalling. We support fundamental freedoms and respect for human rights, including the right to protest and peaceful assembly, but violence is not the way forward. I expect that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will be across this matter, but I will draw his remarks to its attention.