Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Wednesday 17th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Crabb]

The labour market statistics for Wales were particularly good today. Unemployment and worklessness are down and overall employment levels are up. There are great reasons for optimism, but there is no reason to be complacent.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

3. What steps he plans to take to promote the Prime Minister’s respect agenda in dealings between the UK Government and the Welsh Government.

[The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr David Jones)]

I am committed to working with the Welsh Government to deliver economic growth in Wales. I do not intend that political differences should stand in the way of such co-operative working in the interests of Wales.

[Kevin Brennan]

I congratulate the Secretary of State and his hon. Friend the Minister—llongyfarchiadau, as we say in Wales. When the Prime Minister promised a respect agenda, did he mean trying to block Welsh Assembly legislation, unilaterally abolishing wage protection for agricultural workers in Wales and tearing up a cross-border GCSE exam system without consultation? If that is the case, can he even spell the word respect? It is R. E. S. P. E. C. T., by the way.

[Mr Jones]

As we say in Wales, diolch am y llongyfarchiadau. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that this Government are fully committed to the respect agenda. We are working closely with the Welsh Government and I am very pleased with the relationship I am cultivating with Carwyn Jones, the First Minister.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this issue. One of the key elements of the credibility of our deterrent has been that it is continuously at sea, and the Royal Navy takes immense pride in having been able to deliver that without a break over so many years. I have met some of the crews and visited some of the submarines. What they do is incredibly impressive and I pay tribute to them for the service that they provide. Yes, being continuously at sea is a key part of our deterrent.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

Q5. In a parliamentary answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas) yesterday, the Government said: “we remain very concerned by continuing reports of Rwandan support for the M23 rebels”—[Official Report, 15 October 2012; Vol. 551, c. 74W.]who are killing, maiming and raping in eastern Congo. Why then did the Government Chief Whip authorise the payment of £16 million of British taxpayers’ money to Rwanda, as his parting shot on his last day as International Development Secretary?

[The Prime Minister]

First, may I wish the hon. Gentleman happy birthday for yesterday? He was seen celebrating it, and I would like to join in that— [Interruption.] I am sorry I was not invited.

The hon. Gentleman raises a very important point. I am clear: Rwanda has been, and continues to be, a success story of a country that has gone from genocide and disaster to being a role model for development and lifting people out of poverty in Africa. I am proud of the fact that the last Government, and this Government, have continued to invest in that success. But I am equally clear that we should be very frank and firm with President Kagame and the Rwandan regime that we do not accept that they should be supporting militias in the Congo or elsewhere. I have raised that issue personally with the President, but I continue to believe that investing in Rwanda’s success, as one of those countries in Africa that is showing that the cycle of poverty can be broken and that conditions for its people can be improved, is something we are right to do.

Hillsborough

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Wednesday 12th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind remarks. We should not forget that some media publications stood up for the families, examined the issue and helped to get to the truth. We should therefore not try to blacken the name of everyone in one go. Clearly, The Sun has always been up there because of that appalling article—“The Truth”—and the appalling things written in it. My view is that Kelvin MacKenzie needs to take responsibility for that and he should be very clear about it, but it is for others to decide. My understanding is that The Sun and the police have apologised in the past. Lots of apologies have been made, but the point is that we now have a definitive guide to what happened. Now is the time for not only the proper, heartfelt “I’m sorry”, but the “Here’s what I got wrong and here’s what I regret.” It is like what we say when we deal with our children: sorry is not good enough unless people understand what they screwed up in the first place.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

It is clear from the Prime Minister’s welcome and important statement that the prevailing cultures in the Murdoch press, the police, and health and safety, played their part in the disaster and the injustice that followed. Will the Prime Minister undertake to reflect soberly and seriously on health and safety to ensure that there is never a return to the slack culture that led to this tragedy?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. When we talk about trying to deregulate and take small businesses out of health and safety, it is not to say that we do not need higher standards of safety when there are important issues such as large crowds in big public gatherings. However, in recent years, we have had too much form over substance. What really matters in health and safety is the substance and looking at real risks rather than thinking that some micro-business that has nothing to do with health and safety needs the same sort of regulation as a football ground.

Regional Pay

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Wednesday 20th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House notes that the national pay review bodies have been an effective way of setting pay while allowing for appropriate regional and local variation consistent with the need to recruit, retain and motivate staff and to keep tight control of public spending; believes that seeking to alter existing frameworks for negotiating and setting public sector pay could increase costs for the taxpayer as well as exacerbating regional inequalities; further notes that unanswered questions about Scottish separation risk uncertainty for the thousands of staff employed in Scotland under UK-wide pay negotiations and bargaining mechanisms; further believes that co-ordinated national negotiations can also reduce uncertainty, help financial planning and reduce costly and time consuming bureaucracy, local negotiations and disputes; and opposes moves intended to weaken or dismantle efficient and stable arrangements for negotiating and setting public sector pay.

We have called this debate today to give Members on both sides of the House an opportunity to raise concerns and ask questions about the Government’s plans for regional pay and to send a message that there is no appetite among nurses, teachers, police officers or, indeed, businesses in our constituencies for disrupting or dismantling the systems we have in place and going down a path that would escalate costs to the taxpayer and exacerbate regional inequalities. We are giving the Government an opportunity to dispel the confusion that they have created, and perhaps to get out of the hole that they have dug themselves into by executing another of the U-turns that have become something of a speciality of late.

Last autumn, the Chancellor announced his desire to make public sector pay

“more responsive to local labour markets”. —[Official Report, 29 November 2011; Vol. 536, c. 802.]

At the time he described it as a “very significant reform”, and one newspaper said that the Treasury regarded it as

“one of the most important measures it can introduce to rebalance the economy.”

The Chancellor’s supporters were excited. The hon. Member for Tamworth (Christopher Pincher) said enthusiastically that

“a truly local…negotiating structure”

would make wage rates in economically depressed communities more competitive.

More recently, there have been signs that the Liberal Democrats and, perhaps, 10 Downing street have become worried about the new mess that the Chancellor has got them into, with signals given out that nothing is decided and, in the words of the Deputy Prime Minister,

“there is no proposal on the table”.

In response, the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Mr Burley) has called on the Chancellor to “hold firm”, and the hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom) has said that national pay bargaining is the reason why businesses are struggling at the moment.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend may not be aware of this, but the Federation of Small Businesses in Wales has also come out against the Government’s proposals for regional pay. Should it not be a warning to them that they are on completely the wrong path?

[Rachel Reeves]

I am not surprised at all, because in reality, if regional pay were introduced and pay were cut in Wales and in other areas of the country, businesses would suffer because people would have less money in their pockets to spend with local companies.

Given the concern that the proposal has caused, the Government have a responsibility today to clarify their position and their plans. Was the Chancellor right when he said that it is a “very significant reform”, or was the Business Secretary right today when he said that there is no question of the Government imposing lower pay on people simply because they happen to live in poorer parts of the country? Those mixed messages have created confusion: confusion about the degree of localisation and variation being proposed; confusion about whether the Government propose to differentiate pay into regions, zones or local markets, which could itself mean many different things; and confusion about whether national bargaining structures would be maintained, replaced with local bargaining processes or dispensed with altogether.

All that we have from the Government is the evidence that the Treasury has submitted, alleging that in many parts of the country public sector workers are paid upwards of 10% more than their private sector equivalents.

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Monday 18th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Heath]

I do not regret having given way to the hon. Gentleman as much as I often do, because his point is pertinent, but it is pertinent to amendment 7 rather than to amendment 8, which I am addressing at the moment and which is about the areas of information—

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

How about answering the point?

[Mr Heath]

I prefer to answer it at the point in my remarks where I reach the relevant amendment, rather than suddenly plucking a piece of information out of the air. I think that is helpful to the House.

We expect registration officers, as part of their canvassing duty, to write to all properties of which they are aware and at which people may be resident, including all the categories mentioned in amendment 8 and any other properties containing potentially eligible electors. The difficulty with specifying categories in primary legislation at the level that the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge suggests is that it could inadvertently narrow the scope of what electoral registration officers are expected to do. Such details are difficult to change if they are set out in primary rather than secondary legislation.

I move on to amendment 7, so the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd (Chris Ruane) will be pleased to know that his point is now relevant. I am grateful to hon. Members of all parties for highlighting the benefit of conducting house-to-house inquiries as part of the canvassing process. Section 9A of the 1983 Act already requires registration officers to take all steps necessary to maintain their electoral register. That includes the requirement to make house-to-house inquiries on one or more occasions. That will remain in the 1983 Act, so it is not necessary to make the suggested amendment.

In addition, the Electoral Commission’s performance standards set out the steps that a registration officer must take to comply with their duty, and we expect full compliance with those standards. Registration officers can carry out house-to-house inquiries to obtain information when no canvass form has been received, or to supplement such information, but the Bill will also enable them to make use of house-to-house inquiries before sending out canvass forms. That is an important distinction. Such inquiries may not be appropriate in every area, so we would not want to amend legislation to require registration officers to conduct them, but they will be particularly useful in ensuring the effectiveness of the canvass in areas of high population turnover such as we have discussed this evening. What I am really saying is that existing requirements remain, but they will be supplemented by this legislation.

Ministerial Code (Culture Secretary)

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Monday 30th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is quite right. It is the easiest thing in the world to react to any Opposition leader or politician calling for a scalp or asking for a resignation, but one has to take the time and get the issue right. That is exactly what is being done in this case, and people will just have to be patient while the full facts are looked at.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

As a former competition Minister who dealt with some quasi-judicial matters, I do not understand why a special adviser was involved in any case, since they are appointed purely to carry out political work on behalf of a Minister. Has the Prime Minister got to the bottom of whose idea it was that the special adviser should be involved? The House has still not been told.

[The Prime Minister]

Let me try to explain. A range of people were authorised to have contact with News Corporation. Clearly, if a company is involved in a transaction, it has to have some contact with the Department about process and the rest of it. The authorisation was given—it was agreed by the permanent secretary—so I think that the hon. Gentleman is barking up the wrong tree.

Party Funding

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Monday 26th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Minister corrected himself perfectly clearly. I heard him; we all heard him.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister, as Leader of the Opposition, responded to the report mentioned by my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman), entitled “Conduct of Mr David Cameron” and relating to the 2006-07 Session, by saying:

“I would like to assure the Committee”

—in relation to lunches for donors held in his parliamentary office—

“that this will not happen again. I will not hold lunches for members of the Leader’s Group in my Parliamentary office in the future, nor will my office be mentioned in any promotional literature.”

Having had to make that apology to the House, should not the Prime Minister have been extra careful to obey the ministerial code and ensure that there could not even be any possible perception of impropriety in the dinners that he held on public property at No. 10 Downing street?

[Mr Maude]

The flat that the Prime Minister and his family occupy is private property. [Interruption.] It is their private residence, and the Prime Minister has not in any way—[Interruption.]

Freedom of Information Act

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Wednesday 14th March 2012 Westminster Hall

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

I apologise to my hon. Friend for missing the beginning of her remarks—the debate started earlier than expected. Would it not be a ludicrous situation if the Government tried to uphold the position that private e-mails are not covered by the Freedom of Information Act, since that would, in effect, allow the Government to create a government in parallel using private e-mail accounts to evade their responsibilities under the Act?

[Lisa Nandy]

Absolutely. Evidence has emerged in the press that that is exactly what has happened in this instance, which is why I am seeking to clear up the matter today.

There is another thing that does not, so far, stand up to scrutiny. The Department for Education’s initial response to the press reports was to say that only political e-mails were sent through private accounts. The Secretary of State subsequently repeated that claim to the Education Committee. If the Department genuinely believed the e-mails were not governmental, why did it ever seek advice on the applicability of the law to private e-mail accounts? Can the Minister shed any light on that? Did he or his officials have any conversations with the Department, the Secretary of State or his advisers about it? That is why it matters so much to so many of us in the Opposition. Not only do the e-mails relate to decisions of crucial public importance to young people and their families—not least about Building Schools for the Future—but they have created a situation that looks distinctly murky. That affects and discredits us all, and must be clarified urgently.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Tuesday 7th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I am sure that my hon. Friend is working tirelessly as he always does for his constituents on what sounds like quite a controversial planning application in his area. I cannot comment on the specific application but, as he will know, the draft national planning guidance is very clear that we will always continue to cherish and protect the green belt and that any incursions on it can take place only for very exceptional and special reasons.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

T2. I understand that at this morning’s Cabinet meeting the Culture Secretary gave the Deputy Prime Minister for Dickens day a copy of “Oliver Twist”. Did his Tory Cabinet colleagues then burst into a chorus of, “Consider yourself one of us”?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

That was a well-rehearsed and well-delivered joke. No, they did not.

Informal European Council

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Tuesday 31st January 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The specific foreign policy stances taken by the EU are all agreed by unanimity, which proves that agreement by unanimity is possible if there is political will and drive. Almost the entire approach to Iran and Syria and Burma was something that the British requested be discussed at the Council and we requested that there be a statement. I think that shows that with political will, but with unanimity, it is possible to get a lot done.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister realise that the more he denies that this is effectively a European treaty, the more he reminds us of comical Ali denying that an invasion had taken place while the tanks rolled by behind him?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is in for a big surprise. When no treaty arrives in the House of Commons, he will have to do a bit of explaining.

EU Council

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. That leads to something else, which is that the countries that are like-minded on single-market issues—Holland, Germany, Sweden, the Baltic states—want Britain to be there when we are discussing single-market issues. That is another reason I do not believe that this separate treaty and separate organisation will cut across the single market.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

For the sake of clarity, can the Prime Minister tell the House where the Deputy Prime Minister is and why he is not here for this extremely important statement?

[The Prime Minister]

The Deputy Prime Minister agreed to the negotiating strategy. I am not responsible for his whereabouts, but I am sure he is working extremely hard.