Early Parliamentary General Election Bill

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

2nd reading: House of Commons
Tuesday 29th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The Minister has two and a half minutes in which to develop his peroration, but the hon. Gentleman has registered his disapproval.

[Oliver Dowden]

Thank you for that opportunity, Mr Speaker, but I think I will be able to do so in slightly shorter order, so I hope that I can bring pleasure to the hon. Gentleman.

In the election, we will deliver on a one nation agenda: delivering for our schools and our hospitals, safer communities, more police, massive investment in our infrastructure, keeping our streets safe and tackling the cost of living. The alternative will be the nightmare advanced by the Leader of the Opposition, who wants to make 2020 the year of two referendums: one on Brexit and another on Scottish independence—more energy-sapping, mind-numbing stagnation and more pointless delay, so I urge right hon. and hon. Members to back this Bill and back the general election. Let the Government get Brexit done and allow the country to move on.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time; to stand committed to a Committee of the whole House (Order, this day).

[Mr Speaker]

Under the Order of the House of today, we shall now—for which I may have to substitute “shortly”—move to a Committee of the whole House.

I say this as much for the benefit of people outside the elected Chamber as for anybody else. I have collected the voices, as the Speaker is required to do, and it is clear that there is an overwhelming majority in support of Second Reading. From Second Reading, we proceed to Committee. When the House sits in Committee, the Speaker does not occupy the Chair. That responsibility is taken by A. N. Other, who will be wending his or her way to the Chamber as I speak. I say with some confidence that another Chair will arrive ere long to take up his or her important duties.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Wednesday 23rd October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

As ever, I agree with my hon. Friend. I am pleased to see that his powers of oration have not dimmed. Ours is the most successful political and economic Union in history, and our four nations are safer, stronger and more prosperous together. We are deeply committed to keeping our family of nations together.

[Mr Speaker]

Anybody would think the hon. Member for Clacton (Giles Watling) had once been an actor.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Wednesday 10th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Excellent.

[Oliver Dowden]

I regret to say that I am not a Secretary of State; I am but a junior Minister. However, I will be looking into the matter that the hon. Gentleman has raised. I am working closely with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health examining precisely those issues, and the Government have set up NHSX, which oversees the use of innovative technology for that very purpose.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Wednesday 24th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

Relations with IPSA are a matter for the Leader of the House, not for a Cabinet Office Minister such as myself, but I have heard the hon. Gentleman’s representations and I am sure the Leader of the House will have heard them as well.

[Mr Speaker]

What I can add, which I hope will be of some reassurance to the hon. Member for Ogmore (Chris Elmore), is that the House of Commons is indeed an accredited living wage employer and has been for some time. I hope that that warms the cockles of the hon. Gentleman’s heart.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Wednesday 13th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

The hon. Lady says that we have no idea of the level of attacks. I am happy to set out the number for her. We have already managed more than 1,100 major incidents through the National Cyber Security Centre. The national cyber security strategy is delivering, for example, the removal of more than 4.5 million malicious emails every month, and the taking down of 140,000 fraudulent phishing sites. This strategy is bringing together the commercial side and the Government side and it is delivering.

[Mr Speaker]

We are out of time, but we must hear the question of the right hon. Member for Loughborough (Nicky Morgan).

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Wednesday 16th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman has got his point on the record with considerable alacrity.

[Oliver Dowden]

The hon. Gentleman’s profession should have been orator and statesmen; that would have been a better description. He is absolutely right that we should be working with the police, and that is why one of the measures in our strategy is to deter and disrupt our adversaries, which includes states, criminals and hacktivists.

Capita

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Tuesday 24th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I must tell the right hon. Gentleman that his second reference to the rather unfortunate nickname of the company concerned has just caused some merriment among school students in the Public Gallery. They clearly found it very funny, as did I, so the right hon. Gentleman may be a celebrity among those students—not to mention, of course, in his constituency and in many other parts of the country.

[Oliver Dowden]

My children are aged six and eight, and on the off chance that they happen to tune into this later, I will make sure that I do not repeat that word, because I would not want to hear it around our breakfast table.

I know about the commitment of my right hon. Friend the Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois) to this issue; he is absolutely right to raise it. We all know that there have been problems with Capita, but I can update him and the House by saying that the MOD and Capita have agreed an improvement plan under their contract. I understand that Capita is looking to deliver on that plan, so I am confident that it is making steps in the right direction, although I do not deny that there have been problems in the past.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Wednesday 28th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

We are constantly looking into new ways to reduce the barriers to small businesses working with the public sector, which is why we have already scrapped complex pre-qualification questionnaires for low-value contracts. We require public sector buyers to split contracts into accessible chunks for small businesses, and I am pleased to confirm that we will reopen the G-Cloud to new suppliers, which will further help small businesses.

[Mr Speaker]

We are very short of time. I sometimes think we have time for the questions but not always for the answers. We need to be pretty dextrous about this.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Wednesday 10th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Oliver Dowden)]

In November 2017, we published the 2015-16 figures for central Government Departments. The Government are fully committed to supporting our small businesses, which are the engine room of our economy, so we are continuing to take action to meet our target of a third of procurement being with small businesses by 2022.

[Mr Speaker]

It is good to see the Minister looking in a state of high excitement, as well he might.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Monday 8th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I do apologise if I missed something extremely valuable. If I did, I suggest that the right hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) place it in the Library of the House, where I imagine it will be regularly and exhaustively consulted.

[Oliver Dowden (Hertsmere) (Con)]

10. What steps she is taking to tackle extremism.

Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Bill

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

2nd reading: House of Commons
Friday 3rd November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

I was responding—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am immensely grateful to the hon. Member for St Helens South and Whiston (Ms Rimmer), but may I gently point out that interventions must be brief? I recognise the sincerity and seriousness of what she said, but there is huge pressure on time in respect of this Bill and of what might follow, so a certain self-denying ordinance is needed.

[Oliver Dowden]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. I know that she, like me, greatly values the work of our public sector workers. With respect, I was seeking to respond to interventions from other Opposition Members, and if they will refrain from making political interventions, I will happily refrain from rebutting them.

The root of this can be traced back to my constituency of Hertsmere, which I proudly represent and in which I was born and grew up. I remember the way in which mental health was treated during my childhood. We are on the edge of London, and London was historically surrounded by very large mental health institutions. In my own constituency, we had facilities such as the very large hospitals at Harperbury and Shenley. In many ways, those institutions had a positive ethos. I am fortunate to represent many mental health nurses who worked in those institutions and who still live in the constituency, and there was certainly a positive ethos of rehabilitation and providing a safe, calm space for people. However, the flipside of that was a tendency to put people in those institutions, shut them away and never think about the problem again. It is absolutely right that, under successive Governments, we have sought to change that approach. We now mainstream mental health problems, certainly in my own constituency and I am sure in many others.

UK Plans for Leaving the EU

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Monday 9th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am keen to accommodate remaining colleagues. However, although we have been blessed with commendably succinct replies from the Prime Minister, the length of some questions has equalled the eloquence with which they have been expressed, so there is a premium on brevity.

[Oliver Dowden (Hertsmere) (Con)]

Businesses in my constituency are concerned about outcomes, particularly the frictionless movement of goods across Europe and the mutual recognition of standards, rather than membership of particular institutions. Will the Prime Minister reassure me that, during the second phase of negotiations, those outcomes will be the Government’s priority?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Oliver Dowden

Tuesday 15th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think that was intended as a tribute. It will doubtless be communicated by the hon. Gentleman to the good burghers of Lincoln the length and breadth of his constituency.

[Oliver Dowden (Hertsmere) (Con)]

11. What progress his Department is making on regulating the sale of laser pens.