Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and David Tredinnick

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The Government have put £3.2 billion of health money into social services, and the better care fund will start on 1 April, putting £5.3 billion into social care—something Labour argued should be delayed. However, there is a question that the hon. Lady has to answer. The shadow Chancellor said—he could not have been clearer—that

“there will be no additional funding for local government”,

which includes social services,

“unless we can find money from somewhere else…but we have not been able to do that in the case of local government.”

This is what Labour does. It goes round the country, promising more money for this, more money for that, and in its few moments of honesty, it reveals that it has not got any more money.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend recall that, not long after the liberation of Auschwitz, the British Army liberated another camp, Bergen-Belsen, freeing 60,000 starving inmates, many of whom were saved by British medical services? Does he also recall that our allies at the time, the Russians and the countries of the former Soviet Union, in their struggle to defeat Nazi Germany, lost 40 million civilians and soldiers? Should we not pay them some tribute too?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We should pay tribute to all those who helped to defeat the evil of Nazi Germany. It is a good day to pay tribute to the British soldiers who liberated Bergen-Belsen. At the Holocaust memorial event yesterday, a tape of Richard Dimbleby’s incredibly moving testimony of what he and those soldiers found at Belsen was played for everyone to hear, and we should be very proud of the role that British soldiers played in liberating these appalling death camps.

Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (Inquiry)

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and David Tredinnick

Wednesday 6th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

There are two answers. The first relates to the contracts that are signed in the first place; every trust board needs to read the report and think about how it will put in place those contracts. The second is to make sure that when there are failures, proper action is taken. That is what needs to happen.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

Will the Prime Minister ensure that the chief inspector of hospitals has access to all the information that he or she needs from the General Medical Council and all the other bodies? Does he agree that wards for the elderly in particular need regular inspections by nurses?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. My view—we can debate this over the coming weeks—is that quite a lot of transparent information is available in the NHS, but it is not properly acted on. What we need from the chief inspector of hospitals is a sense that, as in schools, you consider the data, walk the wards, look at the quality of care with a professional team and then reach a judgment. People do not necessarily need all the data; they need a judgment. They need to know whether the hospital is okay, whether it is clean and whether it cares for people. That is what is required.

Public Disorder

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and David Tredinnick

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Let me make a couple of points to the right hon. Gentleman, who I know served in the Home Office. First of all, sometimes the need for wider commissions of inquiry has come about because the House of Commons Select Committees could not get to the bottom of an issue; we are not even at that point yet. Secondly, these events are still continuing, so to start talking about what sort of inquiry there should be now is, I think, wrong. The third point that I would make is this: of course one should not jump to conclusions, but I think everyone is clear on the differences between what we have seen in the last three days and what we saw in 1981. This was not political protest, or a riot about protest or politics—it was common or garden thieving, robbing and looting, and we do not need an inquiry to tell us that.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend accept that following the G10 demonstrations in London, and the unfortunate death that occurred, many police officers have been reluctant to use force? If they do use force, what reassurances can he give them?

[The Prime Minister]

The reassurance that I can give is that we will put the resources into the police force to make sure we have the trained officers we need.

Libya and the Middle East

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and David Tredinnick

Monday 28th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

Can my right hon. Friend reassure the House that he has learned the lessons from the failure of the last Labour Government to plan effectively for what happens after regime change?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes the important point that we now need to plan for every eventuality. That is why I mentioned in my statement the importance of planning for a potential humanitarian crisis. We also need to plan for what might happen should the regime fall, or—something we do not want to happen—should it embed itself for a long time, resulting effectively in civil war in Libya. We have to prepare for every eventuality and work with the international community to ensure that we are ready for them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and David Tredinnick

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is entirely right to mention the tragic accident at the New Zealand mine. What has happened is immensely sad. I spoke to the New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, this morning and I know that the thoughts of the whole House will be with the 29 miners who lost their lives and with their families—particularly Peter Rodger from Perth and Malcolm Campbell from St Andrews. I know that our high commission and the consular officials are in touch with their families and doing everything to help at what must be an impossibly difficult time.

The hon. Gentleman has been a long-standing campaigner on the issue of tips and has done some excellent work on it. It is right that tips should be distributed to staff and should not be used to top up the minimum wage. They should not be diverted in any way. The law is very clear: tips must not be used to back up the minimum wage and enforcement officers should take action to ensure that that does not happen. The hon. Gentleman should meet Business, Innovation and Skills Ministers and they can look at the important code of practice that was produced and ensure that the hospitality industry is meeting it.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend take steps to sort out the mess in Parliament square, particularly ahead of 29 April? Does he think that it is reasonable that visitors to London from home and abroad should be faced with a no-go area surrounded by a campsite?

[The Prime Minister]

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. I will always defend the right to protest and the right to protest peacefully. It seems to me entirely fair that people should protest, but I have never seen why they are able to sleep in Parliament square. I have had many discussions with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, the Mayor of London and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. I think 29 April is too far a deadline by which to get this problem sorted out.

Afghanistan

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and David Tredinnick

Monday 14th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can give the hon. Gentleman that reassurance. On previous trips to Afghanistan, I have had proper presentations on the work of UAVs, drones, Predators, Reapers and other such projects, and what they are able to do is incredibly impressive. A great deal of British investment is going into those technologies, too, and we will ensure that they can be deployed as quickly as possible.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

When I recently spoke to soldiers from the Grenadier Guards who had just returned from Afghanistan, they made the point that the Afghan national police equipment is incredibly poor but the police themselves are very good, so will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister please address that as a key issue?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. The problem has been not just equipment but recruiting, training and retaining good police officers, and obviously we had that appalling incident at Nad Ali last year. This cause has come out among Members from all parts of the House: for too long not enough focus was given to the most important things in Afghanistan, of which training the police was absolutely key. The effort is now going in. I met American and British police trainers, and the police training college in Lashkar Gah is now turning out very good police officers, but for too long that particular issue was ignored.