Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Meg Munn

Wednesday 4th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly have a look at my hon. Friend’s proposal. As he knows, we have made real progress on the electrification of railway lines as part of our infrastructure investment. I was in his constituency recently with representatives of the Homes and Communities Agency to look at a vital road development that is opening up economic development there, but I would be happy to look at the electrification project as well.

[Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab/Co-op)]

Schools with outstanding academic results can go for years and years with no inspection of their child protection procedures. Is it not time to make child protection much more central to the Ofsted process, and to ensure that every school’s child protection arrangements are inspected regularly?

[The Prime Minister]

I will look carefully at the hon. Lady’s point. For many years, inspections were seen as almost too routine in outstanding schools that were delivering good results. We needed to focus more on the failing schools and those requiring improvement. She makes an important point, however. Child sexual exploitation is an issue that we need to address in this Parliament and beyond, as are the issues of forced marriage and female genital mutilation, and it is important to know that the right safeguarding policies are in place. Of course, these things can also be triggered by boards of governors or by concerned parents, rather than having to have a routine inspection, but I will have a look at her proposal.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Meg Munn

Wednesday 11th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I have seen with my own eyes what BAE Systems does in respect of apprenticeships, including higher level apprenticeships, and it is extremely impressive. We have to take action at every level. We have to make sure that more young people are studying science and maths subjects, and that is beginning to happen. We have to make sure that setting up apprenticeships is simpler. It must be less expensive. We need a culture where companies really want to get involved in this programme, including small companies, but we also need to attract more investment to our shores. That is why it is particularly good news today that GSK, one of the giants of the pharmaceutical industry, is announcing another £200 million invested into our country, because alongside engineering, life sciences is an area where Britain can win in the global race.

[Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q14. When the House debated Syria in late August, the estimate of dead in the conflict was around 100,000. Just over three months later the estimate is over 120,000. We cannot allow this to become a conflict in a faraway land that we do not know anything about. Is it not time for the Government and, indeed, the whole House to urge greater action by the international community and show that we do care about the suffering of the Syrian people?

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely agree with the hon. Lady, who has a long record of speaking out on this issue and believing, as I do, that Britain should be fully engaged in all the work to try to bring those involved in this dreadful war to the negotiating table, under the terms of the Geneva II process. At the same time, we must continue with the work that we are doing on humanitarian aid to help those who are suffering because of the conflict, but we should also, in my view and, I suspect, in hers too, continue to work with all those in Syria who want a free, democratic and pluralistic future. We must not allow the argument to develop that the only opposition in Syria is an extremist opposition. That will become the case only if we stop working with those who care about democracy in the future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Meg Munn

Wednesday 26th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am happy to tell my hon. Friend that the Transport Secretary will be meeting him next week to discuss the issue. In terms of the answer I just gave on high-speed rail, I think that we have to recognise that there is a lot of congestion on our existing main lines and that high-speed rail will help free up services so that we can have more direct connections, particularly to important towns such as Shrewsbury.

[Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q11. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills proposes to abolish the protection for the name “Sheffield” that guarantees the quality of our manufactured goods. The Ministry of Defence proposes to move the headquarters of our Territorial Army regiment out of the city. What have this Government got against the businesses and people of Sheffield?

[The Prime Minister]

Sheffield is a fantastic city and a very important part of Britain’s industrial base, and I am proud of the fact that, through the regional growth fund and other schemes, we are investing in its future. We are actually putting more money into the reserves—an extra £1.5 billion—to ensure that we get them up to the level of strength needed for Future Force 2020. On the other issue, I am reliably informed that the hon. Lady should have some confidence.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Meg Munn

Wednesday 24th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman asks a baffling question about a truly baffling situation. We were told, I believe, by the First Minister in Scotland that he had legal advice on Scotland’s place in the European Union in the event of independence, but it turns out that he did not have any legal advice at all. What that shows is that when the spotlight is shone on the Scottish National party’s case for separation, it completely falls apart.

[Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Prime Minister has rightly expressed concern about child abuse in our institutions, but last year the Government reduced child protection measures in schools, and changes made to Ofsted will result in some schools never being inspected on their child protection procedures. Will the Prime Minister now meet me and cross-party MPs from the all-party child protection group to protect our children now and in the future?

[The Prime Minister]

I am very happy to arrange a meeting between the hon. Lady and the new Minister, who has huge experience in this area and who I know will be delighted to discuss it with her. What we have tried to do is simplify a set of rules and regulations that involved 9 million or 10 million more parents in this sort of thing and concentrate on where the focus is needed, but I am happy to arrange that meeting.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Meg Munn

Wednesday 30th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: we want to make sure that this country is open for business, and we are taking steps to do that. The point about people coming here to learn English is that, if they come to learn English for less than six months, that is permitted, but clearly there are problems, as everybody knows: too many bogus colleges and too many people pretending to come and study, when really they are coming for work. I shall certainly organise a meeting between my hon. Friend and the Immigration Minister to discuss that, but it is right that we have to deal with the problem of bogus colleges, where there has been so much abuse in recent years.

[Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Prime Minister has said that he wants to see more companies owned by their workers—the so-called John Lewis model. Sheffield Forgemasters is one of those companies. Will the Prime Minister therefore now accept that he was wrong to criticise its shareholders for seeking a loan from the Government? They were not seeking to line their own pockets; they have not yet taken a penny in dividends. What they were seeking to do was ensure the future of that company and other jobs in the UK.

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady talks about the importance of firms being owned by their own employees; I am looking forward to her support and the support of every Labour Member when we make sure that the Post Office has that sort of ownership model and we get the investment going as well. [Interruption.] I will take that as a yes, then.