Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 19th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Giles Watling. Not here. [Hon. Members: “Ooh!”] Well, I hope the fella is not indisposed. We look forward to seeing him again. I call Michael Fabricant.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

I’m here!

[Mr Speaker]

Nobody doubted it for a moment. We always expect the hon. Gentleman to be here, and we can spot him a mile off.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

7. What steps his Department is taking to help improve the cyber-security of public and private sector organisations; and if he will make a statement.

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office (Mr David Lidington)]

Our world-leading national cyber-security strategy, which is supported by nearly £2 billion of investment, sets out measures to defend our people, businesses and infrastructure, to deter our adversaries and to develop the skills and capabilities this country needs.

[Michael Fabricant]

With major data breaches at the Marriott hotel group and British Airways, with which I hope to be flying tomorrow—[Interruption] Well, I hope so, anyway—what can my right hon. Friend do to ensure that private corporations maintain security for their customers?

[Mr Lidington]

My hon. Friend is spot on in his comments. That is why the National Cyber Security Centre has designed new materials aimed at members of company boards. The Cabinet Office will be launching them, along with the NCSC, in the new year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 21st November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

This coming Monday will be the last development meeting of the EU that the UK will attend. It is my sincere wish that we will be able to continue working with our EU partners on humanitarian issues and others, but I have said that we will not do this for as long as the EU discriminates against British NGOs and suppliers.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Is it not the case that in developing countries, the brand “UK Aid” is well known and helps to promote soft power? Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should not do anything to mitigate that?

[Penny Mordaunt]

My hon. Friend is right, and the Prime Minister described “UK Aid” as a “badge of hope”. We should be tremendously proud of all that the British public enable us to do.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 14th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith]

I thank the right hon. Lady for her very serious question and engagement with this important issue. I share her concern about that as an example of disinformation. The Government are acting to counter disinformation in a number of ways, including following on from our manifesto commitment to ensure that a high-quality news environment can prevail. I look forward to working further with her on this important issue.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Given the activities of the Russians with cyber-attacks, and looking at Florida, what with hanging chads and all the rest of it, will my hon. Friend give the House an assurance that we will not move to an online voting system?

[Chloe Smith]

Yes, I can give that assurance, which derives from the Conservative party’s manifesto. I can also say that the system we do use of pen-and-paper voting is, by its nature, rather more secure.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 24th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Alun Cairns]

The hon. Gentleman will be well aware that that is a plan for and determination of our negotiations. That is exactly what we will seek to agree with the European Union. It is in the UK’s interest, it is in the European Union’s interests and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is working to that end.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware that one of our biggest exports is tourism, and the sector deal still awaits to be made. Will he undertake to speak to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to see whether the sector deal for the UK, and Wales in particular, can be enacted?

[Alun Cairns]

My hon. Friend, with his great knowledge and interest in Wales, recognises the value of tourism to the Welsh economy, and I meet him regularly. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for delivering on the industrial strategy, but my hon. Friend is right: Lonely Planet named north Wales the fourth top place to visit in the world in its recent report. [Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 10th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Harriett Baldwin]

We certainly welcome the report, and I hope the hon. Gentleman welcomes the Government’s commitment to contributing £5.8 billion between 2016 and 2020 to make a difference in this area. Since 2011, 47 million people have been helped to cope with the effects of climate change and 17 million have been helped to access clean energy, but there is more to do and we will do it.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Anyone who has been to Kerala knows it is a beautiful state with beautiful people. Has my hon. Friend had a chance to discuss with UK water companies their charity, WaterAid, and what they can do to help?

[Harriett Baldwin]

The Indian Government are of course leading on this, and I am sure that they will note my hon. Friend’s suggestion. He has clearly had the pleasure of visiting that beautiful part of India. I should say that Kerala is open again for tourism, and I know that the return of tourists would be welcomed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 12th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It has always been the case, across the planning structure that we have here in the United Kingdom, that there are decisions taken at local level, but there are also decisions—sometimes those local decisions are referred—at a national level.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Q12. What recent assessment she has made of the strength of the economy in the west midlands; and if she will make a statement.

[The Prime Minister]

I was indeed very pleased to be in the west midlands yesterday at the world’s first zero-emission vehicle summit, where I made clear my determination to put our manufacturers in the west midlands and across the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacture of zero-emission vehicles. The midlands has a very strong automotive industry. The growth of high-tech manufacturing across the region continues to drive investment: it is creating high-skilled jobs; it is boosting economic growth. The latest employment statistics, released yesterday, show there are now over 320,000 more people in work in the west midlands than in 2010.

[Michael Fabricant]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Also based in the west midlands is silicon canal. Silicon canal is like silicon valley, but without the sunshine. It employs some 40,000 people working in computer science and there are some 6,000 different companies—the second largest cluster of its kind in the whole of Europe. With the announcement last week of 5G being based in the west midlands as a test bed, what more will the Prime Minister do to promote high-tech in the west midlands?

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 27th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chloe Smith]

The right hon. Gentleman is an experienced Labour Member of Parliament, so he might recall that Labour had a hand in the legislation that guides this process. He will also recall that the Conservative party won the general election on a manifesto that said it would not prioritise reform of the House of Lords.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Never mind the House of Lords. When are we going to see this House reduced to 600?

[Mr Speaker]

It is all very well the hon. Gentleman breezily declaring, “Never mind about the House of Lords.” The question, inconveniently for him, is focused on the House of Lords. Generosity gets the better of me, however, and I am itching to hear the ministerial reply.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 13th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Michael Fabricant.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Diolch yn fawr, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Very good—well done!

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

3. What recent discussions he has had with the Secretaries of State for (a) Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and (b) Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on promoting Wales as a tourist destination; and if he will make a statement.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Stuart Andrew)]

I have regular discussions with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, including about how we work together to promote Wales across the globe. Along with the Minister responsible for tourism, my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton North (Michael Ellis), I recently met key figures from our tourism sector to discuss the industry in Wales and the important role that the UK Government and VisitBritain have to play.

[Michael Fabricant]

Whether it be the beautiful beaches of the Gower peninsula, on which I entice my hon. Friend to join me one day, the Clink restaurant in Cardiff prison, or whitewater rafting—I could go on and on—

[Mr Speaker]

But you won’t.

[Michael Fabricant]

But I won’t; does my hon. Friend agree that the tourism offer in south Wales will be enhanced by the removal of tolls on the Severn crossing?

[Stuart Andrew]

Given my hon. Friend’s participation in the programme “First Dates”, I am somewhat perturbed by his proposition. Anyway, I agree that the removal of the tolls will show that Wales is open for business and that we are determined to get people to come and visit the wonderful sights on offer in south Wales and throughout the country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Alun Cairns]

The hon. Gentleman well knows that Wales does not operate in isolation. The hon. Member for Wrexham (Ian C. Lucas), for example, has been campaigning for the Halton curve, which is in England but of course would serve north Wales and link it better with Merseyside, demonstrating how the rail network in Wales does not operate in isolation. I have met Mark Barry, the proponent of the Swansea bay metro. He is undertaking a host of work on it, and we will happily look closely at it, but I point the hon. Gentleman to the need for a decent cost-benefit ratio.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

On the subject of electrification of the line to Swansea, is my right hon. Friend aware that the South Wales chamber of commerce, in Swansea, is a darned sight more concerned about there being an old Labour Government in this country destroying industry than about shaving two minutes off a journey time?

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 14th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

May I tell my hon. Friend that I had a meeting with commercial property people on Monday? They were telling me that the electrification of the rail line to Swansea is having no effect whatever on investment. What is having an effect is the lowering of tolls on the Severn crossing.

[Stuart Andrew]

Exactly. We should be talking up the benefits of the investment that is happening in our rail infrastructure to bring about growth for cities such as Swansea. It is disappointing to hear negative comments when we really should be pushing the opportunities that exist for the city.