Oral Answers to Questions

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I welcome Charlotte Nichols to her first outing at the Dispatch Box.

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

There are over 600,000 people in work who are clinically extremely vulnerable. Current shielding guidance states that if they cannot work from home, they should not go to their usual place of work, but this does not entitle them to be furloughed. This means that many disabled people have had to ask their employer to put them on furlough in order to receive financial support. Where employers have refused to do so, an estimated 22% of disabled employees have had to choose between their lives and their livelihoods. Does the Minister think that this is fair?

[Kemi Badenoch]

As the hon. Lady will know, the pandemic has affected many different groups in very bad ways, and we have done everything we can to support them. Specifically on disabled people, we have done quite a lot in looking at the benefits that they have and providing support in many other ways, including employment support. These are the ways that we are protecting those people who are being disproportionately impacted. I am sure that my hon. Friend the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, who is also in the House today, is going to be answering more questions on our disabled strategy, and perhaps he will be able to provide more information specifically from a Department for Work and Pensions perspective.

Covid-19: Winter Plan

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the vital importance of sport. I can tell him that even in my current confinement, I am taking whatever exercise I can—mainly on a treadmill, I am afraid. He is totally right. We will ensure that gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools are open in all tiers and that organised sport can resume.

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on pubs, I have been contacted by pubs not only in my constituency of Warrington North, but from across the country. They are dismayed by the extension of the substantial meal requirement to tier 2, but also by the agonising wait to find out what tier their premises will be in as we come out of national lockdown. For those who will be allowed to reopen, in order to be able to do so, they need to be getting their orders in now with suppliers. Those who cannot will be losing out on one of the most profitable times of the year. As they have been absolutely battered by the restrictions, is it not time for a sector deal for pubs, which are the heart of our communities, and for their supply chain?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady makes an important point, and it is appalling that pubs, or any businesses, have had to face the restrictions that they have. Nobody has wanted to do this. The reason for the delay that she talks about until Thursday is that we need to look at the data and make sure that we get it right about which tiers various areas should be going into. Of course she is right that we have to have plans for our whole economy to bounce back, and indeed we do. She will be hearing from the Chancellor on Wednesday about that, but we must not forget that pubs and other businesses that have been forced to close remain entitled to furlough until March.

Covid-19 Update

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am deeply sorry to hear about that loss of life—the suicide of my hon. Friend’s constituent, Dr Jagdip Sidhu. All I can say is that we are doing everything we can to support NHS care for its staff, their wellbeing and their mental health. I urge anybody in the NHS who is aware of a colleague who is struggling with their mental health to come forward and seek help.

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Will the Prime Minister please tell the House how many people he estimates were laid off in anticipation of the furlough scheme ending before its last-minute extension, and whether he will make an apology to them?

[The Prime Minister]

I think most fair-minded people would think that this Government have done everything they can to support people throughout this crisis. We are not only extending the furlough scheme but massively increasing help for the self-employed. We have already put £200 billion into supporting people across the country and we will continue to do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Wednesday 4th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is precisely why my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is working so hard to recruit 20,000 more police officers and to enhance stop-and-search powers. That is why we have set out plans to build more prisons and keep violent and sexual offenders in prison for longer. I am delighted that the west midlands, thanks partly to my hon. Friend’s lobbying, is receiving another 366 police officers.

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Q3. I note that, in the interests of public safety, the Government have taken emergency measures to rush through legislation to ensure that those convicted of terrorist offences serve their full sentences. Given the far smaller conviction rate and far more substantial reoffending rate for those convicted of sexual offences, will the Prime Minister commit to a wider sentencing review, so that communities can rest assured that sex offenders who pose a threat to children and women are serving their full sentences, to ensure their rehabilitation?

[The Prime Minister]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on what she just said, which may have come as a bit of a bombshell to some of her colleagues—

[Charlotte Nichols]

indicated dissent.

[The Prime Minister]

Perhaps those on the shadow Front Bench, at any rate. The hon. Lady is entirely right, and that is what we are doing, as I said in my earlier answer.

Transport Infrastructure

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We can certainly ensure that we restore areas where there is environmental damage—and there will of course be effects on woodlands. We will be planting 7 million trees, which is many more than will be destroyed.

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On balance, I welcome the news that HS2 has been given the go-ahead, for the capacity gains that will benefit the north-west region and for the construction and rail supply firms in my constituency, which I hope will receive a fair shot at winning contracts associated with the project. However, my constituents in Culcheth, Croft, Risley and Hollins Green in particular will be looking for assurances that the unnecessary Golborne spur will be removed from the proposed route. This is an issue that transcends party affiliations and on which local MPs are in agreement. Will the Prime Minister give us those assurances?

[The Prime Minister]

I have heard representations on the Golborne spur from many people in this House, and we will certainly be looking at the matter.

Lobby and Media Briefings: Journalists' Access

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith]

I have already answered that point a few times. Again, the answer is that, under the lobby arrangements, any member of the lobby with a press pass is more than welcome to put any question to the Government. That goes for journalists from any corner of our United Kingdom. We on the Government Benches are a Unionist party, and we think that that it should be more than possible to run that kind of practice across the nations of our wonderful country. We welcome close co-operation between the people and the press of Scotland and every other part of our United Kingdom, which I hope will stay united. Again, all of that is supplemented by what we are offering as technical briefings, which I hope can be read as spreading across the Union in that way.

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

I was interested to hear the Minister refer to the people’s PMQs on Facebook and engagement on social media as some sort of alternative to proper scrutiny of the Government’s decisions by the press lobby. The Prime Minister cannot even answer what shampoo he uses in the people’s PMQs on Facebook. Why is he running scared?

[Chloe Smith]

I use Dove shampoo.