Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Monday 24th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I would not want the hon. Member for High Peak (Ruth George) to feel socially excluded: I call Ruth George.

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker,

Since 2016, more than 10% of childcare settings in High Peak have closed and a large number of others have contacted me to say that they feel they are no longer financially sustainable. What will the Secretary of State be doing to speak to the Chancellor and make sure those childcare settings can see a way forward?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Thursday 14th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Mr Bradshaw, you are a curious fellow. You were standing up a moment ago. [Interruption.] Very well. We will take one more.

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Will the Minister for Women and Equalities join me in condemning the wording of letter ESA65B from the Department for Work and Pensions—the letter asks general practitioners to cease issuing fit notes to people with disabilities awaiting an appeal for employment and support allowance—and help ensure that such blatant discrimination against disabled people, which resulted in the death of my constituent who was forced back to work against his doctor’s advice, will cease immediately?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Tuesday 6th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

After the Budget, then, more than 3 million families will still be losing an average of £2,100 a year by transferring to universal credit. With 40% of claimants in debt and 38% in rent arrears, are not the Government simply transferring the nation’s debt into the pockets of the poorest families, and what assessment has the Chancellor made of their ability to move into work?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Lady should not have spoiled it. She was doing very well before she added a further bit that was not required.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Monday 10th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

No, no. High Peak is a beautiful part of the country, of which the hon. Lady is an articulate champion, but it is a long way from Westminster, on which the question is focused.

Gypsies and Travellers

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Monday 10th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ruth George]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Does the hon. Lady have the agreement of the Minister and of the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous)?

[Ruth George]

I was going to ask for that, rather than interrupt the hon. Gentleman’s speech.

[Mr Speaker]

If she does, she can speak briefly.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Tuesday 17th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

John Whittingdale—not here.

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Monday 2nd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fabricant]

Thank you.

[Ruth George]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

It is always good to hear from the hon. Lady, but we have already heard from her.

Rural Crime and Public Services

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Wednesday 6th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

I congratulate the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the hon. Member for Macclesfield (David Rutley), my constituency neighbour, on his promotion to the Front Bench. I promise to try to be a little more deferential—I can’t commit to it—on the platform of Macclesfield station as we travel down together.

As the Minister will know, rural crime is the same as crime in any other area. In my very rural constituency, we have burglaries, shop thefts, car thefts, domestic abuse, antisocial behaviour, and, most recently, a serious increase in violent crime with the coming of county lines criminals to our isolated towns. The difference between rural crime and urban crime is that there is more isolation: there is more isolation among communities. There are fewer police and they are more isolated, too.

I recently met shop owners in New Mills, a small town in my constituency, who see gangs of youths committing antisocial behaviour, trying to rob stores and present fake money. Those shopkeepers are often solitary, working on their own in their shops. They tell me that they are frightened by the lack of police presence on their streets. In Chapel-en-le-Frith, the capital of the Peak, a beautiful little village nestled in the valleys just down the road from where I live, there are people posting on social media that they are too scared to set foot outside their doors because they are worried about the criminals patrolling the area looking for burglary opportunities. In Derbyshire, we have lost more than 400 police officers in the last seven years, as well as two police stations, one in New Mills and one in Chapel-en-le-Frith, and while the Minister can question the impact of those losses, people in those communities certainly feel less safe.

We have had an increase in our precept of £1 a month for every resident across Derbyshire, which will allow us another 25 officers, but that will in no way make up for the more than 400 we have lost. High Peak is an area of over 200 square miles and 91,000 people. We used to have more than 100 police officers across our four police stations; now there is just half that number. We have seen not only a 26% cut in police funding but huge extra demands on our police forces, particularly from specialist crime, cyber-crime, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse and modern slavery.

Now we have just 50 police officers across two police stations. I pay enormous tribute to Inspector Phil Booth of High Peak police and his team, who work incredibly hard over a wide area—and singlehandedly now that there are not enough of them to cover the whole area with two officers at a time. At most, we have 10 officers patrolling at once, even at the busiest times—the thin blue line is very thin! I saw this when I spent a 12-hour shift with them on a Friday night, driving huge distances, searching for missing persons, dealing with antisocial behaviour, domestic incidents and violence.

Officers often have to attend dangerous incidents singlehanded. Last month, one of our officers responded to a burglar alarm at a warehouse—a fairly common incident. He went out on his own in a police car as usual, but when he got there, three cars sped out of the warehouse straight at him and rammed his police car, deliberately injuring him. Fortunately, after that, they left, but we are seeing increased violence by offenders, because they know our police are on their own.

When I was sitting in the police station with the police officers, a young constable told me that she often had to attend on her own incidents where gangs of youths taunted her and claimed she had no back-up on the way. She has to claim she has support around the corner while knowing from her radio that she does not, that her colleagues might be miles away and that she has to hold the line on her own, and it is scary. Our police officers should not be put in those situations. It happens more in rural areas because the police are so isolated and covering such a wide area. There is a limit to what individual officers can put up with, and unfortunately more are leaving the service from stress and strain. They should not be in danger because of cuts.

On top of all this, we have recently seen county lines criminals come to our quiet area of Derbyshire, bringing violence, cuckooing, the kidnapping of vulnerable people, hard drugs and serious weapons. They come out from Manchester, take over a house in Buxton, Chapel or New Mills and hold inhabitants captive while they supply hard drugs in the area. When our police receive intelligence that a drug supplier is present, they have to request an armed response unit from Ripley, which is over an hour away. If they do not get that intelligence and have to raid the property themselves, they can be faced with knives, guns and—in the latest incident—machetes. They are putting their own safety on the line for us.

Rural crime might be similar to that in urban areas, but rural areas have fewer resources to deal with it. We could have a debate about the reason for that, as the Minister tried to do earlier, but I would rather make some practical suggestions, and I hope that Ministers will take heed. Our local court was closed two years ago, so now offenders have to be transported over an hour away to Manchester or Chesterfield, which ties up police time and resources.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady, and we look forward to the elucidation of her arguments, but I was a tad nervous when she talked about the subjects she wanted to go on to discuss, because a number of other Members also wish to contribute, and we must get on to the winding-up speeches as well. I am sure she will treat of these matters in a legendary fashion but also very succinctly.

[Ruth George]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Absolutely.

I am sure that the Home Office will be asking Justice Ministers to look into the impact of the next round of court closures on police and Home Office resources.

It takes six months for people in my area to receive drugs treatment. That means not only that those people are suffering, but that the criminals who come out for county lines have a ready-made market. Although hardened drug users are apparently begging for treatment, they cannot get it for six months, and that needs to be looked at.

Finally, our police tell me that they have a serious problem with forensic testing. It takes six months for an illegal substance to be tested. The police can hold suspects on pre-charge bail for a maximum of three months, so they have to let them go and cannot place conditions on them. Those people are then free to intimidate victims and witnesses, thus endangering their trials and the ability to commit them for sentencing.

I look forward to the Minister’s addressing those issues. We all want our police to have the support they need in every area, so that they can do their job of protecting us all.

[Mr Speaker]

Well! That was extremely succinct. I thank the hon. Lady.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Tuesday 22nd May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Colleagues can help each other by being very brief, which I am sure they will be.

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

With child poverty set to increase by another 1.5 million by 2022, according to the Economic Council for Equality, what will the Treasury be doing to help the very poorest households?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Wednesday 28th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

Q6. I asked my constituents what they would like me to ask. They overwhelmingly said how can the Prime Minister justify that from next week families in poverty, earning just £145 a week, are expected to find £10 per week for each of their children to eat a nutritious school dinner, while Members of this House, earning 10 times—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do not care how long it takes—I have all the time in the world—but the question will be heard and the answer will be heard. That applies to every single answer and question in this Chamber, no matter how long it takes.

[Ruth George]

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. To conclude my question, I was asking about families earning just £145 a week not receiving school dinners for their children while Members of this House, earning 10 times that sum, are subject to subsidised catering from the taxpayer.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Wednesday 6th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Before I call the hon. Member for High Peak (Ruth George) to ask Question 1, I should inform the House that the text of the closed question tabled by the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant) relating to economic performance and public services in the west midlands—Question 5—has, in error, been omitted from the printed copies of the Order Paper. A corrigendum—that is a wonderfully clerkly word—has been made available in the Vote Office and copies are on the Table.

The Prime Minister was asked—

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

Q1. If she will list her official engagements for Wednesday 6 December.

Universal Credit Roll-out

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Tuesday 24th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Ruth George]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman is not giving way at the moment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Wednesday 18th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)]

Q4. Prime Minister, you said that universal credit is working. I wonder what you would say to my constituent, Fred, who claimed universal credit for a short time more than two years ago and has been working ever since, but suddenly got a letter in August demanding that he repay £366. Despite spending hours on the phone line, Fred was not told why he was being charged, and more than £100 a month was taken out of his wages, meaning that he incurred bank charges. Will you take personal responsibility so that no more claimants suffer injustice and debt, as Fred has?

[Mr Speaker]

I will take no responsibility for those matters myself, and the hon. Lady will be advised on the protocol, but the Prime Minister may wish to respond.

Finance Bill

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Tuesday 12th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Ruth George]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Before we proceed, I suggest that a little focus on the contents of the Finance Bill might be in order.

[Ruth George]

If the hon. Gentleman wants to decide that election pledges were made from any sort of wording that came from any politician or any party leader, I hope he will also be looking over pledges made by those on his side, which came with absolutely no costings whatsoever.

European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Debate between John Bercow and Ruth George

Thursday 7th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Ruth George]

I am very surprised that the right hon. Gentleman is saying how delighted he is that so many rights and responsibilities will now come under delegated legislation. I am not sure if he recalls that on 1 September 2012, as a member of the Delegated Legislation Committee on the criminal injuries compensation scheme, he, with all the other Conservative members of the Committee, called for the then Minister to withdraw the measure before them, and that did not happen. A second Committee was set up—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Forgive me, but colleagues must have some regard to each other’s interests. There are a lot of people wanting to speak. Interventions must be brief; they should not be mini-speeches.