Business of the House

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 29th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising the question and all who have enabled this school to be stood up. I know he will want to get on record how important this is to diaspora communities. He is an experienced parliamentarian and will know how to apply for a debate and the various options open to him. I thank him for getting his praise for all involved on the record today.

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

May we have a debate in Government time on endangered species? Given the party of Disraeli and Churchill is now the mainstream of new-right fanatics and conspiracy theorists, I am particularly concerned about the lesser-spotted one nation Tory. My concern was reinforced last week when the former Prime Minister the right hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss) told CPAC, the conservative political action conference, that her party was full of CINOs, which means Conservatives in name only. Who does the Leader of the House think she meant?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for the characteristically amusing way in which he has raised an important question. He knows I have taken the matter of conspiracy theories very seriously as Leader of the House. We have stood up new services in the Library so that hon. Members can swiftly reassure their constituents on not just the facts of a particular matter but the origin of whatever they might have seen on social media, and very shortly, with the Speaker’s help, we will be launching some training for Members on dealing with this issue. Those are the sorts of things we should all be focusing on.

Business of the House

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 14th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on all his campaign successes in getting those new facilities. It is not just about the bricks and mortar, but about the healthcare professionals who will operate in them. Having a debate on this matter to look at progress against our capital programmes, and the fact that we have smashed our manifesto commitments on recruiting healthcare professionals, would be a jolly good idea.

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

The Leader of the House is probably unaware of this, but I am a special guardian to my four-year-old grandson. Lyle is not unique in being looked after by his grandparents; there are 180,000 children across the United Kingdom who are subject to kinship arrangements. I understand that the Government will publish their kinship strategy tomorrow. It is a shame that they did not do so today so that we could have a statement. May I ask the Leader of the House whether we can have a statement on the strategy on either Monday or Tuesday, before the House rises, because so many kinship carers are anticipating what is in that document?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good suggestion. I thank him for all that he does in this respect, and I will certainly make sure that the relevant Minister has heard his request.

Business of the House

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 23rd November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Lady will know that she can put that to the Secretary of State himself on 4 December. That devolution deal would not have proceeded if local stakeholders were not in favour of it, but if she has suggestions about other things, she can raise that with the Secretary of State.

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

The Leader of the House is a stickler for detail, yet there was scant mention in her replies to my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell), or indeed by the Chancellor yesterday, of freezing personal tax thresholds until 2028. That will cost basic rate taxpayers an average of £720 more each year. Does Leader of the House think that people will not notice the effects in their pay packets?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I think that people will notice that this Administration has doubled the personal tax thresholds and lifted many people on the lowest incomes out of paying tax altogether.

Business of the House

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 14th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question; it does sound a very sorry situation indeed. I am very sorry to hear that his constituents are having to endure misplaced priorities from his local authority. I will certainly ensure that the Secretary of State has heard his concerns, and I congratulate my hon. Friend for getting his views on record.

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

Last week the Leader of the House told me that the former Prime Minister, her right hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), had many achievements in office, and then struggled to name one. Now I understand that the former Prime Minister is giving a speech next week on how the Government can enable the UK to achieve higher growth. Irony really is dead with that one. For the sake of the millions hit by the Tory mortgage penalty, and as an enabler of her Government, will the Leader of the House please grant a debate on the subject of amnesia?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I look forward to entertaining questions from the hon. Gentleman. I gently say to him that given the Labour party’s track record on supporting business and focusing on growth, he might like to attend the former Prime Minister’s lecture.

Business of the House

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 7th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

It is incredibly important that we learn the lessons from the pandemic and the Government are very keen to do that. What I would say to such criticism is that all fraud is bad and we want to ensure that it is eliminated and money is recovered, but at the time the Government were right to act swiftly to ensure we were able to keep households and businesses going. The fact that we have now been able to show that our economy has recovered the swiftest out of comparable nations has demonstrated that that approach was right, whether through the furlough scheme, the bounce back loans or the other support that was provided to businesses. Where we can recover funds we will and we must; it is appalling that organisations, particularly bogus businesses, committed fraud at that particular moment of national crisis and need, and we should throw the book at those people.

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

I also welcome my hon. Friends the Members for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) and for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith) to their new Front-Bench roles. The shadow Leader of the House alluded to the fact that this time last year, the Leader of the House backed her “hope candidate” and said:

“Who can lead? Who can build that team and deliver for our country? Who does have that bold economic plan that our nation needs?... I’ve seen enough to know…the person I’m going to put my faith in”.

Of course, that person was not the current Prime Minister but the right hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss). Can we have a debate in Government time on the achievements of her “hope candidate”?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Gentleman tempts me. I will give him some achievements of the right hon. Member to whom he refers—I hope that he has given her notice of his question, but I suspect that he has not, because I am sure that she would have been here to tell him herself. I think that we ought to recognise that she delivered a lot for this country, including some of the first from-scratch trade deals. She served in many Departments, including the Treasury. I would be very happy to have a cup of tea with him and talk about the things that she did in the service of this country.

Business of the House

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 27th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

This incredibly important issue is a concern to many across the country. FairFuelUK is running the PumpWatch campaign, for example—an initiative supported by The Sun and other media. That shows that readers, viewers and listeners are concerned to ensure that there is fairness at the pump.

The Government welcome the Competition and Markets Authority’s decision to investigate this matter, and we will carefully consider any recommendations it makes. It is important to ensure that companies and individual motorists are not being overcharged and that there is fairness in the system.

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

The Leader of the House may well be surprised to learn that her Cabinet colleague the Secretary of State for Transport is named as legally responsible in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for keeping England’s roads on the strategic road network clean from litter and tipping. I say that she might be surprised by that because some of the dirtiest roads in the country are those operated by National Highways, including the M67 and M60, which run through my constituency. I reported the state of cleanliness of those roads to National Highways, only to be told that they were judged to be grade B, which meant that no action was required. They are utterly filthy and would be grade D at best if the local authority had judged them. What is the Secretary of State going to do to reassure Members of this House? May we have a statement on the cleanliness of National Highways’ roads?

Business of the House

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 9th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point. I know that he is an assiduous campaigner on this matter, not just for his constituents but across the country. Rough sleeping levels are currently 35% lower than they were a few years ago, and we clearly had some opportunities during the pandemic to tackle some of the difficult issues that had been driving people on to the streets. We need to continue that, and we are putting forward £433 million in the rough sleeping accommodation programme, which will deliver 6,000 move- on homes and accompanying support services.

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

On Saturday I was the guest of a number of WASPI women to watch their play, “Stung”, which was absolutely brilliant. Yesterday I met other 1950s-born women in the pouring rain on Parliament square. The all-party parliamentary group on state pension inequality for women also took evidence from BackTo60 and CEDAWinLAW. These women are not going away.

The Leader of the House knows that the ombudsman has already found maladministration relating to the 1950s women, but why is the Department for Work and Pensions still sending out letters with incorrect information? I have one here from 12 January 2023, saying that the state pension age is 60 for a woman and 65 for a man. May we have a debate in Government time on the incompetence of the Department for Work and Pensions and on how we can get the WASPI women the justice they deserve?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Gentleman knows that this is a complex situation and that different categories of women in that group are affected in different ways. DWP questions is a little way off. If he could pass that particular example to my office, I will raise this with the Department. Clearly, if incorrect information is going out, that needs to be rectified swiftly. I thank him for raising it.

Business of the House

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 2nd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am very sorry to hear that. That is not an acceptable situation. I thank the hon. Gentleman for the detail he gave in his question and, if he would pass those details to my office, I will raise the matter when I see the permanent secretaries next week.

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

We are now less than a month away from a new financial year. Over the past few weeks, councils have been setting the budgets that they have been working on for months now, but we still do not have the public health grant for England allocated to local government. Will the Leader of the House crack the whip with the Ministers responsible and get that information out to local governments so that they can finalise their public health allocations in their budgets, and will she apologise to councillors of all political persuasions for this sorry affair having dragged on for so long?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising the issue. He tried to get an urgent question on it. He will know that I have raised the matter on his behalf with the relevant Departments. I would just say to him that it is not unusual—there are reasons for it—for those funding allocations to be published this month and sometimes later. I will again make sure that the Department has heard his concerns, but it is not an unusual situation. Of course, we want to make sure people have information in a timely way to make those decisions.

Business of the House

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 9th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that, although skills are vital, all the other things that such facilities boost, such as attitude and confidence, are incredibly important to people. I would suggest two things. He has already done the first, which is to get his concerns on the record. I also know that he is the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on outdoor learning, and if his APPG were to do a report highlighting the concerns of the sector, that would be an excellent subject to have a Westminster Hall or Adjournment debate about.

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

My hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds), my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner) and I have petitioned the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill Select Committee in respect of the impact that the Bill will have on the Metrolink line to Ashton-under-Lyne, where it will be severed and mothballed for the years of construction of the High Speed 2 rail line. We have had our petition to the Committee challenged by HS2 Ltd and now have to go before the Committee in March to argue why we should have our petition heard. I refer the Leader of the House to Standing Order No. 91B, “Right of Members of Parliament to have petition considered”:

“Any Members of Parliament whose constituencies are directly affected by the works proposed by a Bill shall be permitted to have their petition against the Bill considered by the committee.”

Why do we therefore have to argue our case?

Business of the House

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I agree entirely with my right hon. Friend. I was also pleased to see swift action this week with regard to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Kim Johnson), who apologised—rightly, and all credit to her for doing so—for the totally unjustified and appalling remarks that she had made about Israel.

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

I thank the Leader of the House for confirming that on Wednesday the House will debate the local government and police grants. As she will know, local authorities are in the advanced stages of preparing their budgets for next year, but the public health grants for 2023-24 have still not been announced. Local authorities in England with health and wellbeing responsibilities desperately need to know what their funding allocations for public health will be next year as they set their budgets. Can the Leader of the House explain the delay, and tell us when we can expect that announcement?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that point. I am very happy to write to the Department and get them not just to contact the hon. Gentleman, but to make the timetable for that clear. It is important that we give people the information they need to plan, and I am sure that the information will be forthcoming very soon.