Point of Order

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Thursday 24th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Sam Gyimah (East Surrey) (LD)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Oh, very well. Very briefly.

[Mr Gyimah]

Record numbers of people are watching the Parliament channel these days, because they are taking an interest in the proceedings of this House. Could you explain to us, Mr Speaker, the difference between a Bill passing Second Reading in the House of Commons and a Bill passing Parliament? It has come to my attention that the Government are presenting the Second Reading of the withdrawal agreement Bill as having passed Parliament. Some would describe that as fake news.

[Mr Speaker]

The difference is simple. A Bill can get a Second Reading, but that does not make it law. It simply means that it has approval for its general principles. Approval, in the ultimate sense, means the passage of a Bill on to the statute book, which requires it to go through Committee, Report stage and to secure a Third Reading. That is the difference and I hope that that satisfies the palate of the hon. Gentleman.

No Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Wednesday 16th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Naz Shah]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. At the moment, the hon. Gentleman is not giving way.

[Mr Gyimah]

We are members of NATO, and we believe that an attack on one is an attack on all. We are committed to defending our allies. So what would happen if we had a Prime Minister who was not committed to NATO? The entire western alliance, and everything it is based on, would be completely undermined. I will vote with the Government today on the principle that there are certain things that no Prime Minister should ever do and that we cannot trust the Leader of the Opposition not to do them. That is why we should all vote to support this Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Tuesday 16th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Very exciting, I must say! Let’s hear from the Minister.

[Mr Gyimah]

I agree, Mr Speaker. This is incredibly exciting and forward-looking, and the Department will be happy to give it every support it can.

Student Loan Book: Sale

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Thursday 11th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

The RAB charge was at about 35%, but as a result of raising the repayment threshold from £21,000 to £25,000, which in essence makes the loan system more generous, it now stands at 45%. The hon. Gentleman is right to ask about the ONS reclassification of the student loan book, but that is an exercise the ONS is going through and we have yet to hear what its recommendations are. When we find out what those recommendations are, both the Department and the post-18 review will look at them and take the appropriate action.

[Mr Speaker]

It is very good of the Minister for Security and Economic Crime to drop in on us; he is just in time for the next urgent question and we are greatly obliged to him, but I note that the shadow Minister is not yet present, which is mildly disappointing. It was disappointing that the Minister left it as late as he did, but there is obviously not always very good communication between Whips Offices and ministerial offices. We should now proceed with the urgent question, because the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) is present, although if people wish to raise points of order, I might be tolerant of them. There appears to be no great appetite for points of order at this time—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Tuesday 17th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

Just focusing on the substance of the hon. Gentleman’s question—[Interruption.] The reason behind UK Research and Innovation, which brings together all the research agencies in the UK, is that, for the first time, we have a strategic brain to direct UK research so that we can allow innovation and ingenuity to flourish in our universities. That is the best way to create returns that benefit the economy but also the best minds in our country.

[Mr Speaker]

I am sure that the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) did not bellow from a sedentary position like that when, as I referenced recently, he served with great distinction as a local councillor in the 1970s.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I have one of the foremost medical research centres on the border of my constituency at Queen’s University Belfast. Will the Minister outline what grants are available to enhance facilities in these world-class research centres?

Nuclear Sector Deal

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Thursday 28th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I will assume the insertion of a question mark.

[Mr Gyimah]

I welcome the extended question from the hon. Lady. She is absolutely right to say that small modular reactors in Wales could position Wales as a world leader. It is encouraging to see Ministers from Westminster at the launch today. They are working closely in partnership with Welsh Government officials. I believe that that is how we are going to make this a success. On the broader question, we will do everything possible to make this work for Wales.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

I had not been aware of the hon. Gentleman’s distinguished career in local government, but I am now.

[Mr Gyimah]

Nor had I been aware of the hon. Gentleman’s distinguished career, Mr Speaker—you learn something new every day in this House.

I can give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that safety is absolutely paramount in the plans that the Government have. On the tidal lagoon, the proposed programme would have cost the average household consumer up to £700 between 2031 and 2050. Each week in this House, there is a question about what we are doing to bring down the cost of energy. We are not against tidal lagoons, but we cannot support every project at any price, and that is why we made the decision that we did.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Monday 19th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

It sounds as though the hon. Lady is referring to a very specific issue. I would be happy to take it up with her afterwards.

[Mr Speaker]

The Minister could always put a copy of his reply in the Library for the delectation of Members of the House, if he felt so inclined. I am sure that we would all be deeply grateful.

Points of Order

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Tuesday 27th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

That is not a point of order for the Chair. Whether it momentarily slipped the Minister’s mind or for some other reason he chose to focus his remarks elsewhere, I do not know. The Minister is welcome to come to the Dispatch Box if he wishes, but he is not under any obligation to do so.

[The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Mr Sam Gyimah)]

It is not a point of order.

[Mr Speaker]

It is not a point of order, as the hon. Gentleman rightly says. If the hon. Lady wishes to go in hot pursuit of the Minister and to seek to engage him in conversation on this matter, conceivably even over a cup of tea, it is open to her to try, although it does not look as though the prospects of her succeeding today are high.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Tuesday 5th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question —again. I think he asked the same question at the previous justice Question Time. As he is aware, even with prisoner transfer agreements, it is down to the receiving country to take those prisoners. We cannot force them to do so even when we have an agreement in place. The majority of prisoners who we send back to their home countries are sent under the early removal scheme, and 40,000 prisoners have been sent back home since 2010.[Official Report, 21 December 2017, Vol. 633, c. 6MC.]

[Mr Speaker]

Members regularly ask the same question again, as I am often wont to observe. Repetition is not a novel phenomenon in the House of Commons.

Prisons Policy/HMP Long Lartin

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Thursday 12th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

My hon. Friend has asked this question of me a number of times. He will be aware that a prisoner who is a perpetrator of a crime in prison will be prosecuted for that specific crime and, if convicted, will serve that sentence, and that has certainly happened in the case of the perpetrators of the Birmingham riots last year. That is a fair and just way to deal with this kind of situation.

[Mr Speaker]

There is of course no procedural barrier to repeat questions, which many people regard as an example of dogged and insistent campaigning.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

That was a really interesting answer, because the heroin dealer Ian Paul Manuel beat up prison officer Adam Jackson at Kirklevington prison in Stockton, and the courts gave him a conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £20 compensation to the officer. Does the Minister agree that such a slap on the wrist is totally inadequate, that it offers no deterrent at all to the thugs who turn on prison officers and that it is time the courts were given clear advice that they, too, have a responsibility to protect prison officers?

--- Later in debate ---

[Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP)]

I fear the Minister might have misunderstood the situation described earlier by the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Sir Edward Davey), because the main difference in Scottish Government policy has not been to suddenly release prisoners early; it has been to give the courts a way of sentencing and punishing low-level offenders without sending them to prison in the first place. Every Member in this House representing a Scottish constituency has seen significant community benefit work carried out in the local area by people who would otherwise have been in prison. I hope the Minister accepts the invitation to meet Scottish Ministers to talk about the investment programme, and I urge him to also speak to others involved in the justice and prison system in Scotland and find out that—although I appreciate this would be a difficult decision for a Conservative Government to take—moving to a presumption against short sentences reduces offending.

[Mr Speaker]

No one could accuse the hon. Gentleman of excluding any consideration that might in any way at any time to any degree be judged material in his question.

[Mr Gyimah]

I fully understood the question posed by the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Sir Edward Davey). Would we rather have a situation in which interventions in the community work and people do not end up in custody? Of course, yes. Would we rather invest there before people ended up in custody? Of course, yes. In this country we have a presumption against custody, but after several repeat offences, judges have no choice but to send a person into custody. That means we have obviously got to improve the work that happens in our community, but we cannot arbitrarily let people out of prison, which is what I assume the question of the hon. Member for Glenrothes (Peter Grant) to be about.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sam Gyimah and John Bercow

Tuesday 5th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

Drones are one way in which drugs are smuggled into our prisons, but we are looking at all possible ways. For example, paper is sometimes impregnated with new psychoactive substances, which makes them very difficult to detect. The way to tackle the supply is to get intelligence not just from each establishment but from different parts of the Prison Service so that we can respond appropriately. We are investing heavily in doing so to combat the drugs problem in our prisons.

[Mr Speaker]

We are now substantially better informed.