Sue Gray Report

Mark Pritchard Excerpts

Monday 31st January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am not going to speculate about hypothetical questions which, frankly, I reject.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

You will know, Mr Speaker, that it is a very rare event for any Prime Minister to come to this House and apologise—it is a difficult thing for any Prime Minister to do—but on the issue of the police investigation, does my right hon. Friend agree that there should be due process, free and unfettered access to all at No. 10 and, most of all, no prejudging or undermining of the police inquiry before it has concluded?

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, I completely agree, and I must say that I am shocked by some of the commentary that I have heard from the Benches opposite about that matter today.

Ukraine

Mark Pritchard Excerpts

Tuesday 25th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Let me repeat what I said earlier. The right hon. Gentleman is right to suggest that it is vital to guard against Russian dirty moneys flowing through the world, and he is right in his analysis of the way the kleptocracy works. That is why we have the unexplained wealth orders, why we are introducing a register of beneficial interests, and why we have a new corporate offence of failure to prevent tax evasion. We will and we do come down very hard on all those who are exploiting the City of London, or anywhere else, to wash dirty money.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

I welcome the Prime Minister’s strong underlining of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Back in November, there was no unanimity across Europe, and increasingly even across the Atlantic, on the issue of Ukraine. That has changed over the last few months through the good offices of the Prime Minister, the Defence Secretary and the Foreign Secretary.

The Prime Minister mentioned his conversation last night with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Germans are a critical part of all this, in respect of both diplomacy and defence. They are a key international partner and ally. We can do it with the Americans and we can do it with others, but it will be far more effective if we do it with the Germans.

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is completely right. I want to say a word or two in praise of Olaf Scholz, because it was clear from our conversation last night—as I have said to the House—how difficult this is for Germany. No one should be in any doubt about that. However, it was also clear that the new German Chancellor is determined to stand with the rest of the west to maintain a united front. Among other things, Germany has made it plain that Nord Stream 2 cannot go ahead—Germany cannot take part in it—if there is a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Mark Pritchard Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

I rise to join my constituents and people throughout the country, the Commonwealth, and around the world in mourning the loss of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As Member of Parliament for The Wrekin for the past 16 years, I had the privilege of meeting the Duke on several occasions. Many of my constituents will have met him too, no doubt through his dutiful, tireless and dedicated work for the environment, the rural way of life, Her Majesty’s armed forces, and the countless charities that he led and supported.

Prince Philip’s life was one of true public service and supreme duty to Her Majesty the Queen, this country and the wider Commonwealth. In particular I pay tribute to his personal vision in creating the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Every part of the United Kingdom has been touched by that life-changing scheme, as well as more than 140 nations around the world. On behalf of all the young men and women throughout Shropshire who have already undertaken, or are currently undertaking, the award, I say a very public thank you to the late Prince for believing, inspiring, investing in and trusting young people to discover their potential, and exhorting them to go higher and further.

Moreover, I know that many in Shropshire will recall with great fondness and celebration the Duke’s visit, accompanying Her Majesty the Queen to RAF Cosford in 2012, as part of Her Majesty’s diamond jubilee pageant. Prince Philip visited Shropshire multiple times over many years. Each visit was very special, and his memory will live on in Shropshire. Whether people met him or not, the people of The Wrekin certainly will miss him dearly—very dearly.

Integrated Review

Mark Pritchard Excerpts

Tuesday 16th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We cannot hear. We will come back to Ms Eshalomi.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con) [V]]

May I welcome the Prime Minister’s putting diplomacy at the very heart of the integrated review? With new resources going into the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, do we not have an independent Britain which still needs to be at the heart of multilateral democracy, multilateral institutions and multilateral diplomacy around the world? That includes conflict prevention and conflict resolution.

[The Prime Minister]

We continue to support all the sustainable development goals that my right hon. Friend rightly mentions, and we believe passionately in diplomacy. The flag is going up around the world in embassies, legations and continents. The UK flag is going up, I am proud to say, in Australasia, Africa—around the world.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Pritchard Excerpts

Wednesday 13th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly thank the GP vaccination centre in St Albans for what it is doing and for its wonderful work. It is thanks to primary care networks across the country that we have done 2.8 million vaccines for 2.4 million people. The constraint is not the distribution network; it is the supply, but don’t forget that we have a bigger supply than all other European countries—indeed, we have virtually done as many vaccines as all the other European countries put together—and we will be ramping up that supply in the days and weeks ahead.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

Will the Prime Minister join me in thanking Shropshire’s defence engineers, in both the public and private sectors, who are currently working on the Warrior and Boxer military vehicle programmes and doing a great job? As the Government consider making a decision on the Challenger 2 life extension programme, will he bear in mind that excellent workforce in Shropshire, who have such a history and a modern-day practice of delivering UK defence?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course I am familiar with the superb workforce in Shropshire to which my hon. Friend refers. There is a competition currently going on, and negotiations are going on with the modernisation that he speaks of. As he knows, we have made the biggest investment in our defences since the cold war with the recent spending review, but it would not be right for me to comment on those negotiations at this stage.

External Private Contractors: Government Use and Employment

Mark Pritchard Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2020 Westminster Hall

[Paula Barker]

Sadly, I concur with the hon. Gentleman’s observations. Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus the inequality between the sick pay provisions of civil servants and those of outsourced workers employed on civil service contracts.

Through PCS talks during covid-19, most civil service departments adopted a policy of paying their outsourced staff full pay for covid-19-related absences until the end of June 2020. From July 2020, Cabinet Office guidance was updated to allow the arrangement to continue where appropriate. As part of PCS’s campaign to defend and extend the right to full sick pay, it wrote to the Prime Minister in June, setting out the case for all outsourced Government workers to be paid full sick pay from day one. Disappointingly, there has been no response.

Does outsourcing facilities management services achieve social value? The simple answer is no. Section 1(3) of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires a public sector authority to consider how a procurement

“might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the relevant area”.

When awarding central Government contracts, the Cabinet Office is obliged to consider the wider social benefits of procurement to ensure that cost does not override other Government considerations.

I want to take the opportunity to thank you, Mr Pritchard, for overseeing today’s debate. Let us move forward by initiating an open, frank and honest debate, with which I hope the Government will actively engage in the coming period. Value for money is not always delivered by the current procurement and outsourcing arrangements. For a Government who claim to pride themselves on hating waste, the reality is that nothing could be further from the truth.

The Government should be ambitious and see what services can now be brought back in-house. Fundamentally, the truth remains that when workers are paid properly and valued, productivity is better. After a long, difficult year for so many workers, the Government have often waxed lyrical. It is high time that politicians clearly show whose back they have—the cleaners, the contact tracers, the security staff and all manner of low-paid staff, or the directors of outsourcing companies.

[Mark Pritchard (in the Chair)]

I am going to set an informal time limit of three minutes, but if colleagues could be a bit quicker we might have some time for a two-minute reply later. Obviously, there are five minutes for the Scottish National party spokesman and the shadow Minister, and 10 minutes for the Minister. Thank you for your co-operation.

--- Later in debate ---

[Julia Lopez]

I do not think I have time to give way. Mr Pritchard, what time does the debate finish?

[Mark Pritchard (in the Chair)]

The debate will finish at 5.41 pm.

[Julia Lopez]

I want to leave time for the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree to respond, so I will not give way.

There will always be situations where it makes sense to use contractors, working alongside our high-quality civil servants, to deliver specialist advice and services and to tackle short-notice urgent requirements where the civil service does not have sufficient capacity. We also need to reverse the trend we have seen over recent years, which has eroded civil service capability and led to an over-reliance on consultants and other contractors.

Hon. Members raised a number of other issues today about outsourcing and I am happy to take them away. I thank the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree again for her thoughtful contribution.