Members’ Paid Directorships and Consultancies

Sandra Osborne Excerpts

Wednesday 25th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Pete Wishart]

I know one, and yes he will.

This House is able to secure only 60% of popular support. That suggests to me that the people of these islands are looking for something different. They are sick and tired of the antics of this particular House. That is reflected in how they are responding to the way the Westminster establishment parties do their business. They are sick and tired of the self-justification: the special pleading; the bleating; the idea that somehow this House is enriched because Conservative Members can make some extra money; that this House is enriched because they bring outside experience to it; and that we cannot live on £67,000 a year. Tell that to our constituents! That is treble the national average wage. Our constituents are currently suffering austerity and a diminution of their annual income. They are experiencing real poverty and real difficulty, yet this House tells them that right hon. and hon. Members cannot get by on £67,000 a year.

I believe that being a Member of Parliament is a full-time job. In fact, we have got two jobs: we have our responsibilities in this House, and then we have our obligations to our constituents. Becoming a constituency Member of Parliament has changed dramatically in the 14 years that I have been here. It has become much more technical and much more complicated, with a greater amount of different tasks and skills needing to be acquired to serve members of the public efficiently and effectively. The suggestion that this can be combined with a second job with outside earnings is something I believe our constituents would find very difficult to accept.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Pete Wishart]

I cannot; I have no more time left.

No SNP Member has a second job, a directorship or a place on a company. Our responsibilities here are our sole concern and our only responsibility. SNP Members serve our constituents and ensure that the agenda for the nation is progressed. That is what we do when we come here.

It is only this House among the Parliaments and legislatures of this nation that seems to have this difficulty. It is only at Westminster where there is an issue about paid directorships and second jobs. We certainly do not have such issues in the Scottish Parliament, and I do not believe they have them in the Northern Ireland Assembly or the Welsh Assembly.

I believe that there is something peculiar and particular about this House. It has something to do with the history and the culture, something to do with the sense of entitlement that almost seems to come out of the pores of this place—the idea that people came to this Chamber because it was something for them to do after their main job.

Devolution and the Union

Sandra Osborne Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute) (LD)]

I congratulate those hon. Members who secured this important debate today.

Just two months ago, the Scottish people voted decisively in favour of remaining within the United Kingdom. Following that decisive vote, the Government kept their promises and moved quickly to set up the Smith commission to convene cross-party talks and an engagement process across Scotland. The timetable agreed by both the Government and the Opposition involves the Smith commission reporting at the end of next week, draft legislation to implement their findings to be published by 25 January and that legislation being passed in the early stages of the next Parliament. That is the timetable that was promised by the leaders of the three main parties in the run-up to polling day in the referendum, and it is essential that it is adhered to.

So far, the timetable has been adhered to. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State published a Command Paper before the end of October; in fact it was a couple of weeks early. The Smith commission is working, and there is every indication that it will publish its proposals, as planned, by the end of next week, and I assume the rest of the timetable will also be adhered to.

Of course constitutional change must be fair to the whole of the United Kingdom, and I am sure that in the coming years we will see further progress on devolution for the other nations and regions of the United Kingdom, but further powers for the Scottish Parliament must not be held up while those debates take place in the other parts of the UK.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Gentleman also note that all of the party leaders said in the vow that the Barnett formula should continue?

[Mr Reid]

The hon. Lady is perfectly correct. That was a vow that was made by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and I would expect that vow to be kept.

Business of the House

Sandra Osborne Excerpts

Thursday 16th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

I will draw my hon. Friend’s point to the attention of my colleagues. She will be aware that Border Force officers will determine the travel history of passengers who have recently travelled from Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone at passport control, and they can ask additional questions, and they can, of course, examine passports as well. All of that will be done, and is being done already. No system is completely foolproof and there are, of course, passengers who use e-gates and there are some with more than one passport, and passport stamps are not always legible. I can think of many problems with this, therefore, but we should not dismiss any constructive ideas, and I will make sure my hon. Friend’s idea is relayed to my colleagues.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

Earlier in the week Members on both sides of the House voted by a huge majority in favour of UK recognition of Palestine as a state. What is the point of these Backbench Business debates if the Government simply pay lip service to them?

[Mr Hague]

I do not think anybody taking part in the debate was under the impression that it was binding on the Government, but the House of Commons certainly passed a resolution and had a full debate. As the hon. Lady knows, it is our policy to recognise a Palestinian state at a moment when it can make a contribution to peace, including through a two-state solution and the creation of a viable sovereign Palestinian state. That remains the position of Her Majesty’s Government.

Business of the House

Sandra Osborne Excerpts

Thursday 14th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend invites me to enter tricky territory. What is Europe is often interpreted differently in different contexts, as he will remember from the Eurovision song contest, no less. I encourage him to raise this, particularly the human rights issues, with colleagues at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office when they answer questions here on 5 March. I will also check with colleagues at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to see whether they have anything further to add on the footballing issues.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

May we have a statement on the adequacy of the discretionary payment, which exists to support the most vulnerable people who will suffer as a result of the bedroom tax? East Ayrshire council has sent letters to people saying that they might be entitled to a discretionary payment for a short period of time, after which they will have to find the money themselves. This is a matter of serious concern to some of my most vulnerable constituents, and I would welcome the Government looking at the matter again.

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady will be aware that this Government allocated an additional £30 million to the discretionary housing payment budget, taking it to £195 million. This is specifically aimed at helping disabled people who live in significantly adapted accommodation, and foster carers.

Business of the House

Sandra Osborne Excerpts

Thursday 7th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

We made an additional day available for a debate on the economy following the autumn statement, and we do not have long to wait until the Budget and the debates that will follow it. However, my hon. Friend has made some good points. Control of public spending is integral to our economy. If we did not control our spending, we would lose credibility. There would be a risk of a rise in interest rates, and a significant risk of our losing the international confidence and credibility that we currently command. The Government have maintained that spending control: we have consistently met the target in the spending plans that we have set out, or even achieved a reduction below that level.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

May we have a debate on how foreign companies can be prevented from buying British companies and then closing them after a short period of time after removing their assets and sending them to China? Some 80 jobs in my constituency are currently under threat because of that, and it is not the first time this has happened in the Govan area in recent years.

Business of the House

Sandra Osborne Excerpts

Thursday 10th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

Yes, my hon. Friend makes an important point and he will have welcomed, as I did, what our right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills said last year about supporting a supply chain initiative. It is important that we perform strongly in the motor vehicle industry, and that can have considerable multiplier effects. My hon. Friend is right about skills and the Under-Secretary of State for Skills, my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matthew Hancock) is this morning making clear the Government’s support for initial traineeships—a sort of pre-apprenticeship programme—to ensure that we do not have an economy in which any of our young people go without access to skills and training, and so that we can provide all levels of skills to industry.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

Well before Christmas I secured a Westminster Hall debate on proposed increases to rail freight charges that threaten more than 700 jobs in my constituency. We were promised an announcement by November but nothing has come. If that means a change of heart, I very much welcome it, but may we have an indication of when an announcement will be made as the issue is causing great concern throughout the coal industry in the UK?

[Mr Lansley]

I will, of course, ask the Department for Transport on the hon. Lady’s behalf whether it could let us both know the position on that issue from last year. Transport Minsters will be answering questions in the Chamber on 17 January and the hon. Lady might find an opportunity to raise the issue with them.

Business of the House

Sandra Osborne Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In that context, support for the Work programme is terrifically important. It is an unprecedented campaign to help the longer-term unemployed to get back into work. Encouraging as those employment figures were, we know that a substantial number of people have been out of work for some considerable time. The Work programme is directed to that, and 693,000 people are already accessing support through it.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

May we have a debate on communication between Government Departments and Members of Parliament with regard to individual constituents’ issues? Until recently, I have had named individuals in the Department for Work and Pensions whom my office could contact to discuss benefit inquiries on behalf of very vulnerable individuals, but I have now been told to contact the general inquiry line. At a time when, thanks to this Government’s draconian policies, DWP offices are inundated with inquiries from vulnerable people, this is not an adequate response.

[Mr Lansley]

I was not aware of any reduction of such facilities, but I will of course talk to my colleagues in the DWP. I know from conversations I have had with them that they are looking for Members to continue to be able to access dedicated support in looking after their constituents’ interests, but I will take a personal interest in the matter and ask DWP colleagues to reply to the hon. Lady.

Business of the House

Sandra Osborne Excerpts

Thursday 24th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

If we were to do that, it would displace the Question Time of another Department. At present, Question Time is focused on departmental responsibilities, but responsibilities for Europe stretch across various Departments. In the last Parliament, there were cross-cutting questions in Westminster Hall, at which Ministers from a range of Departments answered questions on cross-cutting issues. I have to say that I think that was a failure, which is why it was discontinued. Against that rather unpromising background, I am not sure I can give much encouragement to my hon. Friend.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is being all but annihilated, and the Government now intend to repeal significant sections of the Equality Act 2010. How will this be done? Will it be the subject of a debate on the Floor of the House, and will we have the chance to vote on it?

[Sir George Young]

I think I am right in saying that the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill contains clauses on the EHRC, so there will be an opportunity for the hon. Lady to say a few words about this matter when we debate that Bill on the first Monday when we return.

Business of the House (Thursday)

Sandra Osborne Excerpts

Wednesday 8th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn]

I have followed with interest the various reports of the movements and non-movements of the Climate Change Secretary who, in fairness, is doing very important work in Cancun because we need a global climate deal. Having seen some of the newspaper reports that we should have offered him a pair, however, it seems to me that the easiest thing would be for him to pair with one of his colleagues who is going to vote on the other side. There is no need for him to come to seek our assistance.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

Does my right hon. Friend recall the debates on the national minimum wage, when we sat up all night because the Conservatives were determined to oppose the proposals and fought them every inch of the way? Does he agree that we should be equally willing to fight this legislation, and that we should stay up all night if necessary?

[Hilary Benn]

The determination of Opposition Members to do everything we can to ensure that we get a proper amount of time to debate the issues and the chance to vote the proposals down is evident. My hon. Friend makes a powerful point.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Jones]

I am sure that the Leader of the House—[Interruption.] I am sorry, but I think that barracking the Leader of the House is wrong, because he is a very courteous individual who respects the House. I am sure that in his winding-up speech, he will want to explain why we have the extra two hours.

We have already explained how the motion before us tonight relates to “Erskine May”. It is the same principle as a programme motion.

[Sandra Osborne]

Does my hon. Friend recall the regular songs and dances in the previous Parliament from both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats about programme motions, and about how if they got into power they were going to do away with them? Does he think that is consistent with what they are doing tonight?

[Mr Jones]

No, and my hon. Friend is another Member who has read my mind, because I was just about to come on to that. The Deputy Leader of the House, who has now resumed his place, used to give long lectures on why programme motions were so evil, but the effect of tonight’s motion will be to limit the time for debate in a similar way to a programme motion.

I do not intend to go through the entire history of how we came to have programme motions, because that would lead us away from the point, but as my hon. Friend the Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Sandra Osborne) said, in the last Parliament we were regularly told how evil programme motions were. The hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Mr Shepherd) set out his views clearly on many occasions about why programme motions, or limiting the time for debate—