Oral Answers to Questions

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2022 Commons Chamber

The Minister for the Cabinet Office was asked—

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

1. What cross- departmental steps he is taking to help ensure preparedness for winter.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

9. What steps his Department is taking to support the operation of public services during the winter months.

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Oliver Dowden)]

The Cabinet Office has well-established processes to support Departments and their sectors to ensure the effective delivery of key services over the winter. They are underpinned by comprehensive risk assessments and contingency plans for a wide range of risks, including industrial action and severe weather. The national resilience framework will be the first iteration of our new strategic approach. It will strengthen the systems, structures and capabilities that underpin the UK’s resilience to all risks.

[Afzal Khan]

The UK’s power supply is already stretched to breaking point, with the National Grid telling us that blackouts are now a very real possibility. Over the next few days, temperatures are expected to drop to well below freezing. A blackout in those circumstances could be catastrophic for the most vulnerable in our society. Will the Minister urgently explain to my vulnerable constituents what they should do to remain safe and warm in the event of a power blackout during freezing cold temperatures?

[Oliver Dowden]

The hon. Gentleman raises two important points. First, in respect of the winter weather, the Cabinet Office is keeping a close eye on it. Indeed, I have been briefed on the situation. On the wider situation in relation to energy supply, I am working closely with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, my right hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps). He and I have strong confidence about the resilience of the UK power networks and, excepting a very exceptional circumstance, we are confident that we will continue to supply throughout the winter.

Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Wednesday 30th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Alex Burghart]

It is very good to hear from my hon. Friend. He is absolutely right. This Government take the code of conduct for Members extremely seriously.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

In the absence of an ethics adviser, can the Minister inform the House of the status of the inquiry into Islamophobia that was ordered in January this year?

[Alex Burghart]

I know that the next independent adviser will want to take that case extremely seriously.

Oral Answers to Questions

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

As the hon. Lady knows, at COP26 we agreed a way forward with the Glasgow dialogue, and that took place in Bonn. I am quite sure that the issue of loss and damage will feature highly at COP27, in whichever forum. It is vital that we also support developing nations to make clean energy transitions, and that is something we are doing through the just energy transition partnerships with South Africa and other countries such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Senegal.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

3. What his objectives are for the remainder of the UK’s COP presidency.

[Gerald Jones (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney) (Lab)]

12. What his objectives are for the remainder of the UK’s COP presidency.

[The COP26 President (Alok Sharma)]

The Glasgow climate pact was a historic agreement that the United Kingdom forged among almost 200 countries. Our presidency year has been all about getting nations to deliver on the commitments they made at COP26 across the areas of mitigation, adaptation and finance, and we will continue this work up to COP27.

[Afzal Khan]

The heatwave this week shows the need to take serious and immediate action on climate change. The Glasgow call for a phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies is one prompt way in which the Government can swiftly work towards delivering net zero plans. Does the Minister agree that instead of fossil fuel subsidies, the Government should focus on home-grown, cheap, clean energy sources that guarantee our energy security?

[Alok Sharma]

The Government are focusing on that, and I refer the hon. Gentleman to the energy security strategy that was published a few weeks ago, and also to the recent contracts for difference auction process for offshore wind, which delivered a price for offshore wind that is almost 70% lower than in 2015 and four times less than the current gas price. The future has to be green energy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Wednesday 8th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend, who, among his many other distinctions, is my Member of Parliament, and I join him in thanking the entire team at the Princes Centre for everything that they do. I will certainly keep his kind invitation in mind.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

Q9. I would have more sympathy with the words “get on with the job” if it had actually started in the first place. Two weeks ago, the Prime Minister told the House: “To the best of my knowledge, everybody is getting their passport within four to six weeks .”—[Official Report, 25 May 2022; Vol. 715, c. 287-288.]However, the Passport Office is currently quoting a 10-week service time, and many of my constituents are waiting considerably longer than that. Cancelled summer trips could cost families more than £1 billion. Does the Prime Minister accept that the Passport Office’s backlog is placing additional pressure on families who are already struggling with the cost of living crisis?

[The Prime Minister]

Actually, I can tell the hon. Gentleman that 91% of people are getting their passports within six weeks, and we are putting hundreds and hundreds more staff members into the Passport Office. The strength of demand, by the way, is a sign of the robustness of the economy, because everybody is wanting to go on holiday, and quite right too.

When it comes to travel chaos, may I ask whether we have yet heard any condemnation from the Opposition of the RMT and its reckless and wanton strike? What about that?

Sue Gray Report

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Wednesday 25th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

My mother, my father-in-law and my mother-in-law are just three of the nearly 180,000 people who have died from covid-19 in Britain. Laws were broken by the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and others, and these were not victimless crimes; these were not silly rules and meaningless red tape—they were designed to protect lives. The doctors and nurses who cared for my relatives at North Manchester General Hospital were not clocking off for “wine time Friday”. So for the first time in his life, will the Prime Minister do the right thing, and resign?

[The Prime Minister]

No, but I want to assure the hon. Gentleman that I understand the reasons why he feels as he does. I also want to say that everybody in No. 10 took the pandemic with the utmost seriousness. I grieve for his loss. We were doing our best to contain a very, very difficult situation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 24th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister, Afzal Khan.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer) for raising the importance of access to legal aid. In fact, his region—the east midlands—has seen an above average fall in access to criminal and civil legal aid since 2013. Compared with England and Wales as a whole, the region also has a higher proportion of local authorities with no providers of legal aid on housing, immigration, family and community care law. These legal aid deserts are worst for family and community care law, with the cost of living crisis compounding that further. Victims are being let down at every stage.

Legal aid deserts are a direct result of chronic underfunding, and they deny justice to victims across the UK. The Government have failed to deliver even the bare minimum of what Sir Christopher Bellamy advised in his review. I understand that the Government are considering a civil sustainability review, so perhaps the Justice Secretary will provide further details. The Government like to pay lip service to levelling up the country, but when will the Lord Chancellor level up access to justice?

[James Cartlidge]

It would probably be more helpful if I referred to what the hon. Gentleman said on a previous occasion. On 15 March, in response to the Deputy Prime Minister’s statement about criminal legal aid and the measures that we were taking, he said:

“Today’s announcement and response to the Bellamy review is welcome, particularly the Government’s commitment to increase legal aid rates by the 15% that Sir Christopher Bellamy recommended.” —[Official Report, 15 March 2022; Vol. 710, c. 777.]

That is what we are doing. He recommended £135 million of additional funding for criminal legal aid. That is what we are proposing and what we are consulting on. So my job as I see it is very clear. It is to get on with ensuring that those criminal legal aid rates are increased as soon as is practicable, and we look forward to introducing a statutory instrument later this year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Wednesday 20th April 2022 Commons Chamber

The President of COP26 was asked—

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

1. What assessment he has made of the potential contribution of domestic solar energy generation to meeting COP26 commitments.

[The COP26 President (Alok Sharma)]

Solar is a UK success story, with more than 99% of the UK solar PV capacity deployed since May 2010 totalling almost 14 GW, which is enough to power more than 3 million homes. As the Government’s British energy security strategy sets out, we want to see a fivefold increase in deployment by 2035.

[Afzal Khan]

The Government’s British energy security strategy sets out a very ambitious aim to grow solar capacity by five times as much by 2035, yet Xinjiang produces about 45% of the world’s supply of the key components used in solar panel polysilicon. Despite raising that issue countless times, my calls have languished, as the Government continue to import goods that use forced Uyghur labour. Will the Minister set out what steps he is taking to ensure that the expansion of solar capacity in the UK is not tainted by the ongoing Uyghur genocide?

[Alok Sharma]

The hon. Gentleman raises a very important point. The Government are deeply concerned about the reports of forced labour and the impact on the global solar panel supply chain. He will know that the Government announced robust measures last year to ensure that no UK organisations are complicit in that, and those measures are now being realised. They include strengthening the overseas business risk guidance and introducing financial penalties under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. He will also know that the UK’s main solar industry trade association, Solar Energy UK, is leading the industry’s response through a whole range of measures.

Easter Recess: Government Update

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 19th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for what he has said. I am heartily sorry, as I have said. I wish it had not happened and I wish that things had been totally different. What I have already done, as the House will know, is take steps to change the way we do things in No. 10. But that, in itself, is not enough. I accept full responsibility myself for my actions.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister’s supposed apology to the nation is pathetic. Last year he told bereaved families in Downing Street that he had done everything possible to save their loved ones. Now he has been fined for breaking his own laws, illustrating just how soft the Tories have become on crime. Does he accept that his words ring hollow for those of us who have lost loved ones?

[The Prime Minister]

I repeat what I have said. I know that the hon. Gentleman has experienced bereavement during the pandemic and I am sorry for his loss. I repeat my apologies for what happened in No. 10.

Oral Answers to Questions

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Thursday 31st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

My hon. Friend raises an extremely important point. It would be great to hear voices from the Labour Benches showing their commitment to tackling these issues. I can reassure him as to the Government’s support on the issue that he raises, and he is right to bring it to the attention of the House.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

T8. This week I joined grieving families like mine to mark the anniversary of the covid memorial wall. On the same day, we watched in shock as the Met police issued 20 fines for the Downing Street parties. Right now, the chair of the UK inquiry is meeting the bereaved families on the terms of reference of the inquiry, and soon the chair will pass draft terms to the Prime Minister. Given the importance of this inquiry, will the Minister confirm that the draft terms will be published in full to guarantee that the chair’s recommendations are implemented?

[Steve Barclay]

The hon. Gentleman raises an extremely important point. It is a deeply emotive point for the families affected. That is why we are committed to getting the terms of reference right. That is why, as my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office set out, this is shaped by the judge Lord Hallett and comes under the terms of the legislation passed by a previous Labour Administration. I know that Lord Hallett is committed to working with stakeholder bodies as regards reflecting the terms of reference in a way that meets the wider need.

Oral Answers to Questions

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister, Afzal Khan.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)]

Can I bring the Minister on to a more domestic issue? Victims of domestic abuse and other serious crimes are more often than not denied justice due to the broken criminal justice system. Legal aid provides a lifeline to those who need it most, but the system is on its knees due to chronic underfunding. Sir Christopher Bellamy QC recommended a minimum fee increase not as an opening bid but as a necessary first step to nurse the legal aid system back to health. How will the Minister stop the continuing haemorrhage of criminal solicitors and barristers from the workforce in the meantime, so that further victims are not denied access to justice?