Junior Doctors Contract

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and John Bercow

Monday 30th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Secretary of State is seeking to provide comprehensive and informative replies and that is appreciated. However, progress so far—and it is not entirely down to the Secretary of State, but to the length of questions—has been a bit slow. I am keen to get through everybody if possible, but I remind the House that the next debate is very heavily subscribed, so brief questions and brief answers are the order of the day. We will be led, as usual, in this matter by Gisela Stuart.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

When the Secretary of State chaired his three contingency meetings, did he take account of the fact that last year we had about 43,900 excess winter deaths, which were avoidable and largely caused by almost toxic overcrowding of emergency departments? What provisions has he made to avoid the excess deaths that we had last year and to make sure that that is not made even worse by the present situation?

G20 and Paris Attacks

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and John Bercow

Tuesday 17th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I gently say to the House that I am conscious that there are many colleagues here who cannot be accused of underestimating their own expertise in these important matters, but nearly 60 Members still wish to contribute? If I am to have any chance of accommodating them all, they will all need to follow the rubric of brevity, now to be demonstrated to perfection by Gisela Stuart.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to a wider narrative explaining how he thinks Daesh can be defeated, and his insistence that that has to be done with our allies. Press reports this morning suggest that France has invoked the mutual defence clause in the Lisbon treaty for the first time. Will the Prime Minister explain what practical implications that may have for the United Kingdom and our co-operation?

Paris Terrorist Attacks

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and John Bercow

Monday 16th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Accommodating all interested colleagues will require great brevity, in which exercise we can, as so often, be led by Gisela Stuart.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

Further to the answer given to my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper), the Home Secretary knows better than most people in this place that successful counter-terrorism depends on information gathered through neighbourhood policing. If she cuts that extremely important link, her increase in intelligence officers will not bring about the result that she desires.

Points of Order

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and John Bercow

Tuesday 21st July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think that the hon. Gentleman has largely achieved his purpose by what he has said and the way in which he has said it. He has spoken for Members throughout the House who will empathise with him, and who will feel enormous sympathy for the families of those involved in this tragic event. As for the wider issues of help for those who have been affected and questions to be raised about the precise sequence of events, they can be aired subsequently in a variety of forums in the House. The hon. Gentleman is dexterous and innovative in his use of those forums, so I am sure that we shall hear from him further as appropriate. I thank him for what he has said today.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday the House completed the process of setting up departmental Select Committees and their equivalents. However, one Committee remains as yet unformed, and even its Chairman has not yet been appointed. That is the Intelligence and Security Committee. How can we ensure that the Government will proceed with some speed to set up a Committee whose members are appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister?

[Mr Speaker]

As the hon. Lady has implied, that particular Committee is in a different category from the others with which the House has dealt. However, her point of order is not a matter for me. It is possible that she would like it to be, but it is not. It is a matter for the usual channels, the most senior representative of which is sitting, statesmanlike, on the Treasury Bench, and will have heard what has been said.

In the interests of the House as a whole, I hope that these matters will be attended to before very long, but, knowing the hon. Lady as I do, I am sure that if they are not, she will return to the charge.

Business of the House

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and John Bercow

Thursday 11th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I also point out to the House that, in order to preserve the unique character of business questions, colleagues need to relate their questions to the business of the House for next week. That simply requires a Member, in pursuing the point of his or her choice, to remember to ask for a debate or a statement in the following week.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

May we have a debate in Government time on Lord Carter’s report on how £5 billion could be saved in the NHS between now and 2020, with particular reference to how, following the Lansley reforms, the Government would find it difficult to insist on value for money in foundation trusts?