Oral Answers to Questions
Sally Jameson Excerpts(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) (Lab)
Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)
Steve Reed
My hon. Friend is a great champion for her constituents in east London, on this matter as on many others. With her support, this Government have secured a record £104 billion to upgrade crumbling pipes and build sewage treatment works across the country, so that we can cut sewage pollution. We have also ringfenced customers’ money, so that it can never again be diverted away from investment to pay for bonuses and dividends while sewage pollution got worse. That, of course, includes in the Lea valley.
Sally Jameson
This summer it was reported that the CEO of Yorkshire Water had received an extra payment from a parent company, in spite of recent admissions that it would not be appropriate to receive a bonus due to the company’s poor performance. Yorkshire Water has committed to improving transparency, but that is of little comfort to my constituents who are facing higher bills. Does the Secretary of State agree that it is wrong that those water bosses receive financial reward, when my constituents are facing higher bills and a shocking performance?
Steve Reed
As my hon. Friend rightly says, that payment has outraged customers, and I have asked Ofwat to assess its legality as a matter of urgency. I will not tolerate any company attempting to circumvent this Government’s ban on unfair bonuses through exorbitant salary increases, secret bonuses, payments through parent companies, or any other deception. If Ofwat finds that the rules have been broken, companies will face sanctions, including fines imposed at a level that will deter future abuses.
Foot and Mouth Disease
Sally Jameson Excerpts(8 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Daniel Zeichner
Northern Ireland farms are just as important. In Northern Ireland, the controls will apply to meat and live animals moving from a 3 km protection zone and a 10 km surveillance zone surrounding the affected premises in Germany. Those products cannot be moved to Northern Ireland.
Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)
Will the Minister outline what measures are being taken to ensure that no animals infected in the outbreak in Germany end up in this country?
Daniel Zeichner
This is an unusual outbreak, in a sense. It is a very small herd of 20 water buffalo. What is unknown to the German authorities at the moment is how they got infected in the first place. Extensive work is going on in Germany to try to understand that. The difference from 20 years ago is that we now have much better science to be able to trace where it may have come from. Extensive work is going on across Europe, because it is a threat to the entire continent. I can assure my hon. Friend that every avenue is being explored to try to make sure that we understand how this has happened and that it goes no further.