Business of the House

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I hope that the local fire brigade is aware of the rather unique way that the hon. Lady’s constituents have of celebrating these events. I share her commitment to industrial heritage and I hope the ceremony goes well. I will share with the appropriate Minister the concern that she has just expressed.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

New academies, such as Harris, South Norwood, Oasis Shirley Park and Quest, serving Croydon Central have significantly driven up standards. May we have a debate on the Government’s academies programme, which built on the ideas of Tony Blair and Lord Adonis, which were so shamefully stymied by the shadow Chancellor, but are doing so much to drive up standards for all of our young people, but particularly those from deprived areas?

[Sir George Young]

I would welcome such a debate on the way that we have driven forward at high speed the policy that we inherited from Lord Adonis. We are clear that academies are helping to increase school standards, and this year’s academy GCSE results improved by nearly twice the level seen across all maintained schools. I hope that we can maintain the momentum and that in the new Session there might be an opportunity for a further debate on our education policies.

Business of the House

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 15th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I understand the issue that the hon. Gentleman raises, and I shall touch base with my right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary on this, but he will know that we are banning cowboy clampers. I hope that will bring some consolation to the motorists to whom he refers.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

Given the interest on both sides of the House, may we have a debate on the labour market? As the Leader of the House has acknowledged, the statistics published this week show, beneath the headline figures, a fall in long-term unemployment. They also show that while there has been a 380,000 reduction in public sector employment since the general election, the private sector has created more than 630,000 jobs.

[Sir George Young]

As my hon. Friend says, we are seeking to rebalance the economy so that there is less cost in the public sector, which is being downsized, with that being compensated for by growth in the private sector. The figures he has mentioned outline the progress we are making in that regard. He also underlines a point that was made in earlier exchanges about having a well-educated work force. The investment we are making in apprenticeships is part of the process of giving people the skills they need to find work in the private sector as it grows.

Business of the House

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 23rd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend rightly refers to the Scott Baker review, which was published in October. It is a substantial document. There have been a number of debates in the House subsequently on the issues that it deals with, thanks to the Backbench Business Committee. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is reviewing the Scott Baker report, together with the views that hon. Members have expressed in those debates. I will bring to her attention the specific issue that my hon. Friend has raised about the non-publication of certain documents that are in the Home Office’s possession.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

The Leader of the House has alluded to the fact that UK borrowing costs are at a record low. May I support the request of the shadow Leader of the House for a debate on the economy, so that we can discuss what those borrowing costs tell us about the market’s confidence in this Government’s economic policies, compared with those of the previous Government?

[Sir George Young]

We would relish such a debate. It would allow us to discuss the low interest rates that this country enjoys, which I think would be prejudiced were we to listen to the siren voices of the Opposition, who are asking us to relax the fairly tight fiscal stance that we have adopted. I very much hope that my hon. Friend’s wish will be granted in the context of the Budget, when there will be four days of debate. I hope that we will hear from Opposition Members an alternative and more convincing strategy than we have heard from them so far.

Business of the House

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 26th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

You, Mr Speaker, will have heard that question, which was directed towards you rather than me. I would not want to prejudice my position in any way by beginning to answer it.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

May we have a debate on what the Chancellor has done to tackle tax avoidance and on what else could be done, so that hard-pressed taxpayers in Croydon and elsewhere can be confident that they are not paying a penny more for people who are allowed to get away without paying their fair share?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend raises an important issue. We are introducing measures that will raise around £4 billion over the current Parliament by clamping down on tax avoidance. Some 2,250 HM Revenue and Customs staff are moving into a new anti-evasion and avoidance unity. We took action in the previous Budget to close loopholes.

Business of the House

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 1st December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I agree with the right hon. Gentleman and applaud the work that he did in the last Parliament on the subject. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is an equal opportunity employer. It is inconceivable that it would apply any sort of prejudice of the type to which he refers in deciding who should be our ambassador in any part of the world.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

Earlier this week one of my constituents was arrested after a video of her ranting at fellow passengers on a Croydon tram and using the most foul racist language spread on social media. It shows that the evil of racism is still with us, but it also shows, on a positive note, the power of social media, as it allowed her to be caught and showed that the vast majority of Croydon residents do not share her views. May we have a debate on how the evil of racism in our society can finally be eradicated?

[Sir George Young]

I agree with my hon. Friend. I should not comment on the particular incident, as I understand that charges have been made. It would be quite wrong if people could not travel on public transport because they were worried about being subjected to the sort of abuse to which he refers. I believe that the penalties we have to deal with hate crimes are serious and hope that they will be used if the offences justify them.

Business of the House

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

As the hon. Gentleman will know, I have announced that there will be an Opposition day. Perhaps his bid was heard by his friends on the Front Bench. He will also know that waiting lists doubled under the last Labour Government and that is the problem we are now trying to address.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

The sympathy that my constituents feel for public sector workers who face a freeze in their pay and changes to their pension contributions will be significantly eroded by the inconvenience and worse that will be caused by the proposed strikes. May we have a debate on the legitimacy of those strikes, so that we can see whether Labour Members will stand up for their constituents or their paymasters?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. We are trying to get a fairer balance between the public sector employees and the taxpayer, who pays a very large percentage of the pension contributions. My hon. Friend raises a good point. I detect public sympathy ebbing away from those who are planning to strike and they would do well to reflect on that before they go ahead with their action on Wednesday.

Business of the House

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 10th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

The Mayor of London has helped to fund additional trams for the Croydon Tramlink system and completed the extension of the East London line to West Croydon on time and on budget. May I join my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond) in pressing the Leader of the House for a debate on how our public transport system in London is being transformed, and on the grave threat of Ken Livingstone’s proposal to strip £800 million from Transport for London’s investment programme?

[Sir George Young]

As the Secretary of State for Transport who gave the go-ahead to the Croydon Tramlink, I particularly appreciate that reference.

I would welcome a general debate on London. My hon. Friend is right that there is a trade-off between lower fares and the investment programme. If we want to make progress with Crossrail and the upgrade of the tube lines, we need the revenue that the Mayor is currently planning to get from the fare box. If that revenue went down, there would be a knock-on effect on the capital programme.

Business of the House

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab)]

Last Monday was the 50th anniversary of the first session of Prime Minister’s questions. I am surprised that the Leader of the House did not mention that. I know how much you enjoy those occasions, Mr Speaker.

When I looked it up, I found that the first such occasion featured an old Etonian Tory Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, fielding questions about his negotiations to get us into the “common market.” Fifty years on, the latest Old Etonian Tory Prime Minister spent the day frantically pleading with his own side not to vote for a referendum to get us out of it. Macmillan was famous for his “little local difficulties”. I think that the current Prime Minister now has 81 “little local difficulties” of his own making, and more in the Cabinet. Can the Leader of the House tell us whether the PM will follow Supermac’s example, and resort to a “night of the long knives” to deal with them?

This Government’s flawed choice to cut too far and too fast before the recovery was secure stalled growth in the economy long before the eurozone crisis. Despite the most ferocious squeeze in living standards for generations, their only plan is to abolish employment rights for millions of people in the workplace. May we have a debate on this week’s leaked report from millionaire financier Adrian Beecroft, which calls for the scrapping of protections against unfair dismissal, and says that creating that insecurity for millions of people at work is “a price worth paying”? Can the Leader of the House tell us why owning four Aston Martins and making lavish donations to the Tory party qualify Mr Beecroft to have a worthwhile opinion on anything?

Last week the Leader of the House told us that rushing forward the debate on EU reform from Thursday to Monday would allow the Foreign Secretary to enrich it with his presence. Can he tell the House how large the Tory rebellion would have been if the Foreign Secretary had not enriched the debate with his presence? And, given that this was the biggest rebellion on Europe in any political party since the dawn of time, can he tell us who is taking the blame? Tory blogger Tim Montgomerie blamed the Prime Minister, accusing him of having a work ethic which is the “opposite of Margaret Thatcher’s”. Apparently our Prime Minister is more interested in the latest box sets than in his red boxes. This week he has obviously been watching too much of “The Sopranos” and not enough “Friends”. [Laughter.]

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

Ah! It was a joke!

[Ms Eagle]

Shall I say it again, then?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir George Young]

The Government are committed to the provision of free school meals with appropriate nutritional content. I would personally welcome such a debate. I cannot provide Government time for one but I am sure that the Backbench Business Committee or you, Mr Speaker, might respond to an application for a debate on the Adjournment.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

At the Quest academy in my constituency 41% of pupils got five good GCSEs, including English and maths, this year. That was an increase from the 23% figure that the previous school, Selsdon high, got just a year ago, making the Quest academy one of the most improved schools in the country. Other neighbouring schools—Edenham high school, Shirley high school and the Oasis academy—also saw big improvements. May we have a debate on how the Government’s education reforms are transforming the life chances of deprived children in my constituency?

[Sir George Young]

We would welcome such a debate, and I hope that the Opposition, who have an Opposition day or two in the weeks ahead, might choose education as a subject for debate. We heard yesterday their somewhat confused position whereby they are in favour of free schools individually, but oppose the policy that generates them.

Business of the House

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 8th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising the profile of this issue. I will certainly see what action can be taken further to discourage the sort of cold-selling tactics that he has outlined, and I will ask my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to write to him.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

Croydon college in my constituency has formed a partnership with the university of Sussex and is looking for accreditation as a university centre so that young people from across south London can study for a good degree, while living at home, for fees much lower than most universities are charging. May we have a debate on what more we can do to ensure that young people from deprived backgrounds continue to have access to university?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. It is appalling that of the 80,000 pupils eligible for free school meals, only 40 went to Oxbridge. We are committed to enabling more people from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds to get to university by raising the maintenance grant, introducing a new national scholarship programme, and making the graduate repayment scheme much more progressive. On top of that, we are writing to sixth-formers to draw attention to the financial support that is made available to students. I hope that we can improve on the figures that I mentioned.

Business of the House

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 14th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

It is right that we have statues in the Palace of Westminster that remind us of our traditions and the roots of our democracy. I think that whether and where new statues are erected are matters for the House of Commons Commission. If the hon. Gentleman would like me to raise the issue on the Commission’s agenda, I would be happy so to do.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

May we have a debate on school discipline? Teachers, parents and pupils in my constituency tell me that the education reform they most want to see is the introduction of measures to ensure that the vast majority of young people who want to learn are not disrupted by the small minority who do not.

[Sir George Young]

We have published new guidance for teachers, which is greatly reduced in volume from 600 pages to 52. It restores adult authority to the classroom and makes it clear that teachers have a legal power to use reasonable force to remove a pupil who is disrupting a lesson or to prevent a child from leaving a classroom. I hope that that sets a new tone in the classroom and enables teachers to teach and children to learn.