NHS Waiting Times
Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Lord McFall of Alcluith(1 year, 5 months ago)
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Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve NHS waiting time performance.
The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)
For the second time in a week or so, I do not notice the noble Lord in his place but I believe that the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, will kindly step in again.
House of Lords: Size
Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Lord McFall of Alcluith
Lord McFall of Alcluith [V]
That is the noble Lord’s personal opinion. I think the House has conducted itself in an excellent manner in the past six months, not least with regard to remote engagement. By all standards, according to outside commentators, the House of Lords has been the House that has done most in that regard. I think the work of the House is important and its reputation has to be increased. Indeed, the recent review of committees which we undertook—on which I am moving Motions later today —is to ensure that we enhance the reputation of the House. As a House, we do what we can, and I think we are doing that.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab) [V]
My Lords, I would like to take the noble Lord back to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Cormack. He said that reconstituting the Burns committee was a matter for the Government, but it is also a House matter. Could the Senior Deputy Speaker, through the Procedure Committee reporting to the House, arrange an opportunity for noble Lords to debate the re-establishment of the Burns committee? This is very much a House matter.
Lord McFall of Alcluith [V]
My Lords, I understand that the Burns committee, the Lord Speaker’s committee, has agreed to meet again to consider the latest situation. As we know, the committee is an informal body, which I do not speak for. The noble Lord would be best placed to speak to the noble Lord, Lord Burns, directly—but I will bring this Question to the notice of the noble Lord, Lord Burns.
House of Lords: Remote Proceedings
Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Lord McFall of Alcluith
The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)
My Lords, earlier today in the Chamber, a Motion was agreed to enable certain items of business, including Oral Questions such as this one, to be held virtually. The Procedure Committee met last week to agree and publish guidance on how these Virtual Proceedings will work in stage one. The committee will meet again next week to discuss proposals for moving to more extensive Virtual Proceedings in stage two.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)
My Lords, I am very grateful to the Senior Deputy Speaker, his colleagues and the staff of the House for everything they have done to make this possible. I hope it means that never again will Parliament be silenced for so long during such a critical time for our country. On the further work that is to be undertaken, it is perfectly possible that many Members of your Lordships’ House will be excluded from attending Parliament for quite a long time into the future. If that is so, will the further work look at the possibility of Members being able to vote in Divisions online? It would be wrong if people were excluded from taking a full part in the work of your Lordships’ House because in the public interest they were remaining at home.
The Senior Deputy Speaker
This is an issue for the Procedure Committee. It will be informed by the views of members of the committee and the usual channels. However, I can say with confidence that the aim of having a virtual Chamber is for everyone to participate in Parliament, which is very important. If we have that as a primary objective, I am sure that noble Lords’ views and comments will be in accordance with those of the Procedure Committee.
Palace of Westminster: Restoration and Renewal
Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Lord McFall of Alcluith
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether the restoration and renewal of Parliament will still proceed.
The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)
My Lords, in early 2018, both Houses passed resolutions agreeing to a full temporary decant from the Palace of Westminster to enable much-needed restoration and renewal work to take place. Subsequently, both Houses passed the Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Act 2019 to establish an independent sponsor body to oversee the programme and the delivery authority to carry out the works. The main provisions of that Act commence next month and work to support the programme continues.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)
I am grateful to the Senior Deputy Speaker for laying where we are on the line. He will be aware of reports that some Ministers wish to stop the full restoration and move to a bodged plan of annual maintenance programmes, which will take decades to complete, cost more money in the long run and put Members, staff and visitors at risk. Will he echo the words of the Lord Speaker in his letter to the Times yesterday, making it absolutely clear that this House will not find any going back acceptable? We should stick to the legislation we enacted last year.
The Senior Deputy Speaker
The commissions of both Houses met last Monday and a statement was released after that. Naturally, the majority of the agenda was on coronavirus, but the statement was clear that there is no change to the plans. We continue to plan for the QEII for restoration and renewal. I emphasise the Lord Speaker’s letter of yesterday, which was mentioned. He said that swapping
“full restoration … for a one-year ‘quick fix’ is fanciful … a sticking plaster solution is simply not feasible … Vacating the entire building while the work is undertaken is a far more cost-effective option and avoids having to work around MPs and peers. That is why both Houses agreed in 2018 to a full decant of the palace and enshrined this in an act of parliament. To go back on this … would place an unacceptable burden on the public purse”.
The House of Lords Commission agreed with that in its entirety.
Scottish Parliament (Constituencies and Regions) Order 2010
Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Lord McFall of Alcluith(13 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord McFall of Alcluith
Perhaps I may paint a deeper picture for my noble friend regarding the River Clyde. There is a history to that, which entailed patients from my area on the north side of the Clyde going to Paisley. The Argyll and Clyde Health Board at the time decided to impose that. Its very obtuseness and refusal to listen resulted in the demise of that health board and the population being absorbed into Greater Glasgow. That was an example of hostility and lack of identity on both sides of the Clyde. It may be that the pages referred to by my noble friend use that as a case history and the commission said: “This far and no further”.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
I am grateful to my noble friend for illuminating our concern, because local inquiries allow for local matters and history to be brought to the attention of the commission. That cannot happen if you have simply a paper exercise.
Of course, the Government are determined to scrap the whole local inquiry process for Westminster constituencies, which means that the public will lose the opportunity for meaningful participation in it. That risks undermining the transparency and legitimacy of the current position. We then have the utterly absurd position, as I understand it, whereby the Government wish to hasten the abolition of public inquiries for Westminster constituencies in Scotland but such inquiries will continue for Scottish Parliament constituencies. I should like the Minister to confirm that that is the position of the Government and to have a go at justifying it.
While he is at it, the noble and learned Lord might comment on the boundary position more generally. On this side of the House, we have no problem with the principle of creating equal-sized seats, which has long been written into law and is the main purpose of the Boundary Commission’s work. However, the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill pursues the objective of a rigid equalisation of seat sizes, which means that millions of eligible voters, predominantly younger people and those from lower-income groups, will be ignored by the Boundary Commission’s proposals and calculations. That will distort the results. Boundary Commission hearings will no longer be required to take account of history, local ties or geography, because the electoral quota will trump all other considerations. As a consequence, towns and villages will be divided between constituencies. Natural boundaries such as mountains, rivers and valleys will be overlooked. The vast majority of existing parliamentary constituencies held by representatives of all parties, regardless of the electorate, will undergo significant disruption as a consequence of the new rules and thousands of voters will be moved into and out of existing seats. In England, we have just gone through a boundary revision and we are just getting used to new constituencies, only to have them all ripped up.
This is a great pity and a tragedy. The future for Westminster constituencies represents a huge contrast to the way in which the Scottish Boundary Commission has gone about its work. I ask the Minister: why the difference in approach between boundary reviews for the Scottish Parliament and Westminster? It has no logic. It exposes the unsatisfactory and undemocratic nature of the parliamentary voting system Bill, which, I can promise the noble and learned Lord, we will subject to the most rigorous scrutiny possible.