Contributions
402 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fifteenth sitting)I welcome, for the purpose of the record, what was a brave and interesting admission from the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire: in his words, this amendment is motivated by a…07 Jan 2025HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fifteenth sitting)My hon. Friend and I have both helped to administer the internal democracies of trade unions. Does he agree that the caricature of trade unionists as conscripts who just do as…07 Jan 2025HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fifteenth sitting)I think we have all followed with interest, and perhaps some entertainment, the shadow Minister’s embrace of red tape and pettifogging bureaucracy in as much as he wishes to apply…07 Jan 2025HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fifteenth sitting)In an earlier intervention, I failed to draw the Committee’s attention to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am a member of the GMB and Unite trade…07 Jan 2025HANSARDEmployment Rights: Terminal IllnessIt is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Corby and East Northamptonshire (Lee Barron) on securing this important…18 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting)In addition to the interest to which I drew attention earlier, my partner is a trustee of a multi-academy trust. The reinstatement of the school support staff negotiating body is…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I will pick up the point just made about the changes made in 2017. Some of the opposition at that time came from the august institution of the Institute of Economic Affairs, which…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for Chippenham for her intervention. I agree with her up to a point. Teaching assistants’ wages have increased by about 24% on average over the period that…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I would say better, having had some experience. The hon. Gentleman might want to return to that point. On the substance of the clause, there were some concerns about the original…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting)That is a direct question. We could talk about the way the PISA rankings are constructed.17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. Merry Christmas, everyone. In that spirit of glad tidings, I draw the Committee’s attention to my declarations in…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I thank the Minister for giving way at the death. Does he also recognise that one example of a council that tried to go down the wholesale outsourcing route was Northamptonshire?…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting)That is fine—I think that applies to both the intervention and the response. A direct question had been put about whether there is an alternative proposition on pay and terms and…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting)Why does the hon. Gentleman’s argument against central direction-setting not apply to teachers? Is he arguing for the abolition of the School Teachers Review Body?17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way a second time. He describes a picture of extraordinary success. Classroom-based support staff spend the majority of their time supporting…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fourteenth sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I think I am correct in saying that Buckinghamshire is one area that has opted out of the National Joint Council, so I…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fourteenth sitting)The hon. Member is making an interesting argument. I am keen to tease out the evidence for the assertion that there is a relationship between the decentralisation of pay and terms…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fourteenth sitting)Is it the case—perhaps this gets to the heart of the matter—that the proposed way that the SSSNB would work is that a matter would be referred to a body, an agreement would be…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fourteenth sitting)I am trying to understand what the shadow Minister means by cost to the education sector. Does he mean the running cost of the body itself or the cost of an agreement? If he means…17 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fourteenth sitting)I want to come back on some of the points that the shadow Minister raised. I appreciate his clarification about exactly what information the Opposition are trying to tease out…17 Dec 2024