Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend outlines the sensible and productive approach that has been outlined by my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith), who I hope will be the next Mayor of London, to make sure we deliver more housing for London. As the joint chair of the London Land Commission, I look forward to working with him.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Does the Minister understand the plight of the residents of Haughton Green, an urban village in my constituency, who, under the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s spatial framework, have seen every remaining piece of open green space in that area identified for future development? Is it not time we had a planning system that worked for the people of Haughton Green?

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Gentleman’s council is represented on that authority, so I would hope it has a voice. I am also co-chairing the Manchester Land Commission, and I will certainly raise that point with the Labour interim panel chair and Mayor.

Syria Crisis: UK Response

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

One big step forward at the conference was the stepping up of the region to provide the resourcing for humanitarian supplies to get through to people. Of course, the last three donor conferences were in the region, in Kuwait. We chose to host the conference this year, but it had substantial and significant support from the region. That is one reason we were able to reach such a record-breaking pledge.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I echo the concerns of my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) about the squalid conditions of some of the refugee camps not just in Syria and the region but in Europe. What assessment has the Department made of the health risks, particularly the public health risks, arising from those squalid conditions? What more can be done to alleviate the conditions in which refugees are living?

[Justine Greening]

As I said earlier, we have provided key support to refugees arriving in Europe. Most recently, we announced a £10 million fund that will enable us to provide very practical support to refugees who are having to cope with the difficult conditions the hon. Gentleman describes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

My right hon. Friend mentions a number of very innovative pieces of work. I commend Tearfund for its work. Healthy economies need everybody to be able to be a part of them. That is why women’s economic empowerment matters so much.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

What efforts is the Secretary of State making to ensure that other donor countries, the EU, the UN and the World Bank integrate gender into their humanitarian efforts?

[Justine Greening]

The fact that we now have global goal 5 on gender equality means that, for the very first time, this is formally on the world’s to-do list. The world humanitarian summit is a key moment where we can make sure the vulnerabilities of girls and women in particular are properly pulled into the humanitarian system in terms of a response on the ground. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that two years ago the UK held a conference on this very topic to drive that forward.

Zika Virus

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hurd]

I thank my hon. Friend for placing on the record her respect for DFID’s work in leading an extraordinarily successful global effort to reduce malaria. In the current context, we are talking about a different type of mosquito and risk, but, as she hints, the countries most directly affected, such as Brazil, can still do a great deal to control and manage the risk on the ground, through the control of stagnant water, spraying and other common-sense measures. Such things require a big logistical effort, but so far Brazil seems to have risen impressively to that challenge. As I have stressed, we have made it clear that this country stands ready to help in any way we can.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

The Minister is right that the risk of an outbreak in the UK is low, but what steps have the Government taken to ensure that NHS staff can spot the signs and symptoms of the Zika virus? Working with his colleague, the public health Minister, will he keep under review the option of a public health education programme?

[Mr Hurd]

It is not for nothing that the public health Minister is sitting alongside me. I am satisfied that colleagues are working with professional groups to develop information and guidance on Zika for clinicians—it is not a condition we have grown up with—and this advice can be accessed through the Public Health England website and has been cascaded by organisations such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. This advice includes background and travel-related guidance on Zika, and from tomorrow it will include guidance, developed jointly with the royal college, on the management of pregnant women. PHE plans to provide guidance and information specifically targeted at primary care, which we anticipate will be available shortly.

Ebola: Sierra Leone

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Tuesday 19th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The number of lives directly saved because of work that the UK was able to do is staggering —we can actually see the epidemic curve bending upwards, and then our steadily working with the Government to wrestle it down over a period of months. It was extremely difficult work that required a huge effort.

As part of our response, we had 1,500 military personnel. We provided six UK treatment centres in a matter of weeks. We trained over 4,000 Sierra Leonean healthcare workers. We deployed 150 NHS volunteers, who worked on supporting over 1,500 treatment and isolation beds. That was more than half of the beds available to treat Sierra Leoneans. As I said, we now have a 36-bed mobile field hospital. One hundred Public Health England staff helped to set up three laboratories. We delivered 28,000 tonnes of aid. We delivered more than 1 million protective equipment suits for people working in the red zone and dealing directly with people who had Ebola. We supported over 140 burial teams. We had RFA Argus, the Royal Navy support ship and Merlin helicopters out there. It was a phenomenal response across government and I am very proud to have been part of it.

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. After a crisis has been responded to, it is easy to move on and lose sight of the important and valuable role we played.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I very much support the Secretary of State’s efforts so far and I agree with her comments about the need for economic reconstruction in Sierra Leone. She will have heard the comments of the chief medical officer of Sierra Leone, who is reported as saying that in the case in Magburaka, the patient showed

“no signs or symptoms that fitted the case definition of Ebola”.

Given that very disturbing fact, what are the wider public health implications for us in the United Kingdom, and what discussions has she had about this specific issue with Public Health England, the Department of Health and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office?

[Justine Greening]

We continue to have a substantial team in Sierra Leone working directly on the ground as part of the response to this latest case. That response is, of course, led by the Government of Sierra Leone. The real test of whether we have worked effectively is if, in time, we can step back and see its health system strengthened and able to take care of these sorts of outbreaks. We are investigating this particular case right now. The hon. Gentleman talks about some of the challenges of identification. This is why surveillance is so important. Indeed, it was the following of some procedures on taking swabs of all deaths that picked up that this was Ebola. At each stage of the response, we have had steadily to work out the most effective route forward. We continue to do that as we confront new challenges, such as the one seen in recent days. The House can be assured that we are working hand in hand and have resources in place. We have fantastic medical experts to help us ground any new strategy in terms of the science and of how we take the facts on the ground and respond to them effectively.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 14th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

Having a five-year land supply in place puts local planning authorities in a strong position to resist unwanted development. Furthermore, national planning policy reiterates the importance of sustainable development, not development anywhere or at any cost, and I am sure my hon. Friend’s local authority is well aware of that when making decisions.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Last Thursday at business questions I raised the case of Porlock avenue in Audenshaw in my constituency, where a small semi-detached property that is now privately rented has been converted into a house of multiple occupation as part of the asylum dispersal programme. Does the Minister understand the dismay of the neighbours of this property that the owners are able to circumvent planning and licensing regulations because there will be only five people housed in the property?

[Mr Jones]

I cannot comment on an individual case without knowing all the facts, but I refer the hon. Gentleman to the measures in the Housing and Planning Bill, particularly those in relation to dealing with rogue landlords.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I believe that it does help. We know that people are moving to escape conflict as refugees, and to get jobs and a better future. Our work is upstream and is a long-term strategy, and our jobs agenda is providing jobs and better economic development to provide opportunities where people are. Our commitment to the Syrian crisis to date is £900 million, and as a result only 2% of the 11 million displaced Syrians have sought asylum in Europe.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

8. A recent report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact—the Government aid watchdog—gave Ministers an amber-red rating for their interventions in security and justice, and stated that they were not yet making“a real difference to fragile and conflict states”.Getting this issue right is crucial to solving some of the underlying reasons behind the migration crisis. What more is the Secretary of State doing to ensure that DFID funding is spent wisely?

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman highlights a difficult area, and the issue of security and justice for a country such as Eritrea is one of the main drivers of people leaving that country. At the same time, our standards on human rights mean that we would not work with police forces, for example, if we thought that abuses were taking place while we were carrying out a programme. We try to strike the right balance and, as he mentions, tracking the results of that can be long term and not uncomplicated.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

We had already commenced work with the Government of the Philippines, in particular, on disaster resilience. For some time now, the country has done work in preparing itself to cope with these natural disasters, because it is in a part of the world that is particularly prone to them. The size of the typhoon would clearly pose challenges for any country, however prepared it was. There are still lessons to be learned about better preparation, not only at national level but at local level too.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

The transition from temporary shelter to permanent, well-built, robust homes can take time and cause hardship, so what is the Secretary of State doing to make sure that the process is completed as quickly and as efficiently as possible?

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that point. It may be some time before homes that are able to withstand such natural disasters are built. In the meantime, the United Nations, working alongside the Government of the Philippines, is co-ordinating an effort to make sure that we can provide shelter for people who need it. I should also say to him, as I have been clear with the House, that this is a real challenge because many of those people live in incredibly remote communities.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

It is always a joy to hear the mischievous wit and wisdom of my right hon. Friend. As he knows, we are as one on the European issue. Of course we need to reform the European Union—we need to strip away bureaucracy when that can be done, and to make the EU more transparent and efficient—but we also need to continue to exercise British leadership in the European Union club of which we have been a member for so many years.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Q15. Figures from the national health service show that 600,000 more people used accident and emergency departments last winter, an increase of 11% since 2010, and it looks as though the situation is set to get much worse this winter. Why?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I do not think that it is very helpful to the millions of people who work in the NHS to talk down their admirable efforts to ensure—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman really should stop talking down the NHS. He should also agree with us that it needs more money rather than less. He may be interested to know that while the right hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) was Secretary of State for Health, the average time for which people waited to be attended to in accident and emergency wards was 77 minutes. We have cut that in half, to 33 minutes.

Overseas Aid (Private Sector Contracts)

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 11th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I completely agree. My hon. Friend has provided a really good example of how this can work in practice. Another good example would be Taylors of Harrogate, which has worked to improve its tea collection and tea capability in Rwanda. It has not only improved things but brought about new products that benefit us all. This is a really practical way of lifting the poorest people in developing countries out of poverty—not just through cash transfers, but by genuinely providing them with what they want: a job.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I was pleased to hear the Secretary of State refer to ethical standards in her response to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury South (Mr Lewis). Will she outline what standards her Department requires private sector-led DFID projects to meet in respect of work and labour?

[Justine Greening]

In my answer to the shadow Secretary of State, I set out the criteria we use for giving out contracts. We need to engage with the CBI—we have already had initial meetings—on how to get a more structured approach to responsibly engaging business in the development push. It is right to point out that there is a good way and a bad way of doing this, as the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) says. The key thing for today is to engage in a process, working with the CBI, industry federation bodies, non-governmental organisations and stakeholders, business schools around Britain and other communities, about how to develop a proper strategy for getting business involved in the development push. That is what I want to see happen. To date, we have done a number of ad hoc projects, but now we need to pull them together and develop a more holistic strategy.

Syria (Humanitarian Response)

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Monday 4th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I do not believe that Russia was explicit in saying that it supported humanitarian aid getting into Syria. However, we have been clear, as has the international community, that the Syrian authorities and opposition should ensure that humanitarian workers have totally unimpeded access to help the 4 million people who are still in Syria. Many of those people are in areas that are still contested. It has been very challenging to ensure that there is coverage across the entire country. There are times when the humanitarian agencies have made progress and then, owing to the conflict, have had to pull back. The situation is challenging, and we need the international community to speak with one voice to urge those actors in Syria to allow humanitarian support to get through.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

The numbers that the Secretary of State read out in her statement are truly shocking. She is right to focus on the need to get aid in and on building respect for international humanitarian law, difficult though that is to achieve. What tentative plans does her Department have to promote the long-term reconstruction of Syria after the conflict?

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman may be aware that in January we hosted a conference with the Syrian National Coalition to talk about how the political transition might work and the challenges that Syria will face when we get beyond the current crisis. It is vital that alongside the humanitarian work in which we are engaged, we put effort into planning for the day-after work that will have to be done. We are engaged in doing that.