COP26

Janet Daby Excerpts

Monday 15th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Australia did make a commitment to net zero. Electorates and consumers around the world are now going to hold Governments to account for the promises that they have made.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

When we consider energy efficiency, the UK has some of the draughtiest homes in Europe. A national retrofit programme would not only drive down emissions, but create thousands of jobs for people around our country and save families £400 on their annual energy bills, so will the Prime Minister tell us why he scrapped his green homes grant?

[The Prime Minister]

We are committed to retrofitting homes around the whole UK. As I said earlier, the housing stock is very various, so we need different approaches in different places. We are supporting households across the country to go green and thereby to save on their fuel bills as well. That is the Government’s approach.

Committee on Standards: Decision of the House

Janet Daby Excerpts

Monday 8th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain]

I am sure that the hon. Member was present at the debate last week, and he will know that that is exactly what those of us on this side of the House were calling for. We were calling for consensus and for the goalposts not to be moved. We were also proposing that we look at our processes and procedures on an ongoing basis, as we should be doing, and hold ourselves to account as our voters would expect us to do. I have had correspondence from lifelong Conservative voters who have been appalled, not just by last week’s actions but, sadly, by this Government’s actions over the past two years and the alarming frequency with which scandals befall them.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

Does the hon. Lady agree that the Government have been playing a ridiculous game with the public’s trust, not only through the foul play in last week’s vote, but through a string of corrupt dealings over the past two years?

[Wendy Chamberlain]

I will go on to detail some of the things the hon. Lady is referring to. Back in May 2020, it was Dominic Cummings’s trip to Barnard Castle, in flagrant breach of covid regulations; then it was the Home Secretary, found to have breached the ministerial code, but let off; and then it was the then Health Secretary breaching covid guidance he had been instructing others to follow. That is just the tip of the iceberg.

G20 and COP26 World Leaders Summit

Janet Daby Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Our green industrial revolution alone, the £26 billion we are putting in, generates 440,000 more jobs in battery technology, electric vehicle manufacture, wind farms and maintenance. The opportunities are vast for this country and we are at the cutting edge.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

I welcome the statement today, but does the Prime Minister believe, like I do, that it is important to encourage more people to use rail, instead of other carbon-intensive transport methods? If so, why is he cutting duty on domestic flights, or will he now rethink that decision?

[The Prime Minister]

There is a very clear climate reason for putting up duty on long-haul flights, because they account for 96% of emissions. In the case of our own United Kingdom, with its far flung islands represented by some distinguished Members on the Opposition Benches, it is a useful thing to remove barriers to movement.

AUKUS

Janet Daby Excerpts

Thursday 16th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I do not want to go into the details of the contracts, but the House will understand that what we are doing is seeking, with our American friends and our Australian friends, to help the Royal Australian Navy to acquire the type of nuclear submarines that are appropriate for the current geopolitical situation they find themselves in. I have absolutely no doubt that the skills and expertise that are available in this country—across the whole UK—will be called upon extensively to fulfil that objective.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

It is important that we maintain a diplomatic dialogue with China. Without it, solving some of the world’s greatest challenges, such as climate change, will not be achievable. Will the Prime Minister tell the House what is being done to increase our influence with China, and what impact this alliance might have on COP26 negotiations later in the year?

[The Prime Minister]

I can tell the hon. Lady that the President-designate of COP, my right hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma), was in Beijing recently and had very productive conversations with his Chinese counterparts. We are hopeful that China will be able to go even further than its current commitment to get to net zero by 2060. We are hoping that we will see a very productive commitment from China.

Afghanistan

Janet Daby Excerpts

Monday 6th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my right hon. Friend for her question. I know how much work she has done in her career to protect this country and to counter terrorism. As yet, we have no direct information on any increase in the threat, but I assure my right hon. Friend and the House that every effort will be made to make sure that our counter-terrorist agents have the resources they need to keep us safe.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

I have received hundreds of emails about Afghanistan from constituents, and I have British national constituents—a husband and his pregnant wife—in Afghanistan. What discussions have the Government had with Afghanistan’s neighbours about keeping borders open for those at risk under the Taliban and supporting refugees?

[The Prime Minister]

I am sure that many colleagues in the House will ask similar questions. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has been talking to the Government in Pakistan and other regional countries about what we can do to assist them, as I have described. As the hon. Lady knows, in addition to the ARAP programme we have the Afghan settlement programme, which will run up to 20,000 over the next few years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Janet Daby Excerpts

Wednesday 26th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Ford]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: bioscience is a really important area and never more so than during this pandemic. It is our chemists, our biochemists and our biologists who are leading our way out of covid. The work that we do through our science learning partnerships aims to increase the take-up of triple science at GCSE—chemistry, physics and biology—and that will make sure that more of our young people can become the scientists of the future.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

What recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on plans to increase the number of prison places for women.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Alex Chalk)]

Investing in the women’s custodial estate will improve conditions for female prisoners through modern, gender-specific and trauma-informed design. It will further ensure capacity is in place to give effect to sentences imposed by the independent courts.

[Janet Daby [V]]

When mothers are imprisoned for minor offences, the separation and loss for the child are detrimental to their wellbeing. The charity Women in Prison tells us that the most effective way to tackle the causes of crime and to prevent women from reoffending is to invest in women’s centres. Given that the Government’s own female offender strategy pledges to reduce the number of women in prison, why are they proposing to invest £150 million on new female prison places, and what representation has the Minister made to recommit to reducing the number of women in prison?

[Alex Chalk]

It is important that we continue to invest in women’s centres in the community, and that is exactly what we are doing. For the very reason that the hon. Lady makes about keeping relationships with the family, part of the money that she refers to will go to providing accommodation so that individuals can make family visits to those women sentenced to custody, to keep those relationships going. Prisons need to be a place of security, but they must also be a place of humanity, rehabilitation and hope, and that is what we are investing in.

Lobbying of Government Committee

Janet Daby Excerpts

Wednesday 14th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab) [V]]

Over the past 13 months, correspondence and conversations with my constituents have shown how much damage the dodgy dealings of this Government have done to our public trust. The Greensill debacle is not the beginning or the end of the shameful behaviour of the Conservative party. From Dominic Cummings’s brazen breach of lockdown regulations to the Housing Secretary’s involvement with lobbying developers, it is hard to see what integrity this Government have when those awarded the highest positions of authority are allowed to get away with this. The Home Secretary was found in a report to have bullied her staff members, including swearing and shouting, but the Prime Minister determined that this was not an issue.

Now we are hearing that a former Prime Minister has been permitted exclusive access to some of our most senior Government Ministers to further his own financial gains. Journalism is uncovering this scandal, because the public really need to know what is going on behind the closed doors of Whitehall. Throughout the pandemic, again and again we have seen public money being handed out, through lucrative contracts, to the Health Secretary’s friends. We have seen the shambolic failure of the delivery of personal protective equipment after millions of pounds was misspent, not to mention billions spent on the failed test and trace service. Our poorest children have been going hungry because highly essential free school meal contracts were entrusted to a company that sought profits only. Now our Chancellor, the very person we have no choice but to trust with our country’s money, is implicated in these disgraceful underhand dealings.

We must have a parliamentary inquiry that covers the Greensill sleaze affair. The culture in the Conservative party that has allowed it to exploit its power again and again undermines its integrity in office. British taxpayers deserve a transparent investigation so that it is clear what those in high Government office have been doing with their money. After the farce of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report, named contributors to which said that their words had been twisted to show a racism-free Britain, we will not accept another Government-fixed pseudo-review.

Covid-19: Road Map

Janet Daby Excerpts

Monday 22nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I have a high regard for my hon. Friend, whom I have known for many years, and I know that he speaks for many in our party and beyond in what he says. These are difficult judgments to make, as I know he appreciates, but it is right, when we are facing a pandemic and the risk of new variants, to have a very tough border and quarantine policy indeed.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab) [V]]

The Prime Minister has been asked several times about how the Government procured contracts during the pandemic. My question to him is slightly different. Are there any plans for the Government to claw back any of the funds spent on pandemic contracts that have failed—for example, those that have delivered unusable or unsafe personal protective equipment, at great expense to the taxpayer?

[The Prime Minister]

Some 99.5% of the PPE that we have received has been of a high standard, but of course, where people have fallen down on their contracts, we will claw back the money that we have paid.

Oral Answers to Questions

Janet Daby Excerpts

Wednesday 10th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

We are directing vital support to seaside towns through the £230 million coastal communities fund. We recognise the unique challenges faced by towns such as St Annes, and that will be very much in our thoughts as we look to the £4 billion levelling-up fund and the UK shared prosperity fund. I am pleased to say that we will be publishing prospectives for those shortly, and no doubt my hon. Friend will be interested in applying.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

What recent discussions she has had with the Justice Secretary on the disproportionate number of BAME people in the criminal justice system.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lucy Frazer)]

Tackling race disparity in the criminal justice system remains a priority for all Ministers in my Department. We have a broad programme of work to address the issue, including work on the collection of data and the implementation of policies that tackle disproportionality, together with scrutiny and oversight. The criminal justice system race and ethnicity board reviews the progress of this work.

[Janet Daby [V]]

A lack of diversity in the judiciary is something that should concern the Government. It is deeply troubling, as it is one of the major reasons that all communities, including black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, lack confidence in the criminal justice system. There are currently zero Supreme Court judges who are from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds. Steps need to be taken to fix the justice system so that it is fair and equal for everyone. Will the Government introduce a clear target for a representative judiciary, as called for in the Lammy review?

[Lucy Frazer]

The hon. Member raises an important issue in relation to diversity in the judiciary, and it is important to ensure that women and black and ethnic minorities come through the system as lawyers. Indeed, there are a lot of women coming through the system, but we need to improve that as well. From 2014 to 2019, there have been some small improvements in judicial diversity. The proportion of women judges increased from 24% to 32% in the courts and from 43% to 46% in tribunals, and the proportion of BAME judges increased from 6% to 7% in the courts and from 9% to 11% in tribunals, but we need to do more work. The judiciary is independent, and I know that it is very concerned about this issue.

Elections: May 2021

Janet Daby Excerpts

Wednesday 13th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith]

Yes. There have been some trials of all-postal voting in the past, under a previous Government. My officials and I have looked at that evidence, and we will continue to look at any other evidence that is provided. As I said in answer to an earlier question, I do not think all-postal voting is the right way forward—it takes away from people an element of choice as to how they wish to cast their vote—but I hope that my reassurances about the importance of electoral integrity generally and about making sure that any method of casting a vote is absolutely secure are helpful to my hon. Friend and to the House more generally.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab) [V]]

What steps has the Cabinet Office taken to ensure that people who are asymptomatic of covid-19 and instructed to self-isolate are able to cast their vote? Will the Minister consider changing emergency proxy voting rules to enable those testing positive on the day of the election to vote via proxy?

[Chloe Smith]

This is an excellent point on which to end the session. This is exactly the measure that I was referring to earlier that will complete the set of preparations to enable that to happen for anybody who might be affected by covid-19 in the few days before an election, when, traditionally, it would have been too late to apply for an absent vote. The details of this scheme will be coming to the House shortly. This also allows me to recap on the point that I have been making throughout this session, which is that to change the date of these elections at this stage would require primary legislation, which is a high bar and it is not something to be taken either lightly or quickly, and I know that the House will understand that. That is why we are keeping this point under review. Clearly, given the Prime Minister’s announcements of further national restrictions, circumstances have changed, but we are taking a careful review of the situation, being conscious of the timescales that would be required to make any changes were they strictly necessary. I also hope the House will have understood from my tone that we are all extremely keen to ensure that democracy goes ahead and does not suffer further delays. I look forward to bringing those other details to the House, as such scrutiny is important and hon. and right hon Members have a close interest, as we all should, in helping our residents be best informed about the choices in front of them.