Points of Order

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Wednesday 27th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The hon. Member for Erewash (Maggie Throup) made in Prime Minister’s questions some allegations about the petitions system. I point out that the petition to revoke article 50 had 96% of its signatures from the UK, and the Government Digital Service has in place both automated and manual systems to detect bots and other fraudulent activity. Can you do anything to ensure that, if Members wish to undermine the most successful parliamentary petitions system in the world, they do so on the basis of facts and find out those facts from the Committee before they raise it in this Chamber?

[Mr Speaker]

I am very grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order. I do not think it is for me to advise on the identification of facts, which I imagine would be an extremely lengthy, possibly painful and conceivably unproductive exercise. However, I do not treat her point with levity. I will not arbitrate between her and the hon. Member for Erewash, and no one would expect me to do so.

I would like, however, to acknowledge the outstanding work of the Petitions Committee under the august and respected chairmanship of the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) and to emphasise that the staff who support the Committee display exemplary professionalism. I do not imagine, to be fair, that the hon. Member for Erewash would cavil at that at all; I do not think that that was her point. I want to put on the record that they are dedicated, hard-working and extremely skilled staff discharging a public duty on behalf of Parliament in the public interest.

Business of the House

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Thursday 14th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The star of the show, Helen Jones.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This morning on the radio, the Chancellor echoed the Prime Minister in saying that this House must decide not just what it does not want but what it does want. Yet next week’s business is filled up with statutory instruments, many of which could be taken in Committee. Given that the Leader of the House is not only the spokesperson for the Government but a champion of the rights of the House, when will she make time for a series of indicative votes to allow the House to express its will on what it does want in negotiations with the EU?

[Andrea Leadsom]

I can assure the hon. Lady that I take seriously my responsibility to be the voice of Parliament in Government, and all the time I reflect the views that I hear in the Chamber. I am pleased to be able, for example, to give time for statutory instruments to be debated in the Chamber on request from the Opposition, and to give a great deal of time for general debates that have been requested by hon. and right hon. Members across the House. In response to her question about the business for next week, I am sure that she will appreciate that today the House is being invited to consider whether it wishes the Government to seek an extension to article 50. Until we have established an answer to that question, we cannot consider what are the next steps.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Tuesday 27th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

An exemplar of eloquent brevity: Helen Jones.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Access to services is very important for those in the poorest areas of my constituency. Warrington Hospital has been losing services over time, but it has now sought to become a cancer hub for north Cheshire. Will the Minister ensure that, in the case of such applications, access to services for the poorest people is considered along with other factors?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Tuesday 21st March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

A question of textbook brevity and eloquence from Helen Jones.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

While digital platforms can be useful in guiding patients to the right service, does the Minister accept that there are still huge shortages of people who can carry out talking therapies, and long waits for child and adolescent mental health services? When are the Government going to stop talking about improving mental health services and actually ensure that the money is going where it is needed to recruit staff?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Tuesday 15th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

That was very dextrous handling of a very broad interpretation of the question on the Order Paper, but I hope that honour has been served.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

14. The Cheshire and Merseyside sustainability and transformation plan relies heavily on more care in the community. Does the hon. Gentleman accept that this will not work while local authority social care is being cut to the bone, because it will merely send people back to their own homes, where their health will deteriorate?

Points of Order

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Monday 26th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I do not think we will circulate the subsidy, but we will circulate awareness of the fact of it. I hope that meets the needs of the case. I know what the hon. Gentleman is driving at, and I think the House appreciates his purpose.

On a separate matter, I hope, I call Helen Jones.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Last weekend it was revealed that the general secretary of a party that is represented in this House had compared the NHS to Nazi Germany. That remark not only plumbs unfathomable depths of ignorance but, at a time when we are commemorating the holocaust and celebrating the dedicated team that aided the recovery of Pauline Cafferkey, is also morally repugnant. Can you advise whether there is any way for this House to express its disapprobation of those comments and its support for our many dedicated NHS staff, who deserve better from people who seek to be public representatives?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Lady is a very experienced Member of this House and I think she has already served her cause; I suspect that what she said will be echoed by Members on both sides of the House. I am not sure it is a matter for the Chair. The only thing I would say is that Nazism is one of the most evil phenomena in our history, and the holocaust a despicable crime. People in whatever party should be very careful not to bandy about terms of abuse in contexts which most sensible people would think completely inappropriate. I think both sides of the House will agree on that. Perhaps we can now make some progress. I thank the hon. Lady for what she said.

Point of Order

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Tuesday 25th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I have given notice of this to the hon. Member concerned. On Thursday, the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), visited my constituency, a visit of which I was given notice while she was driving, I understand, from one part of Warrington to another. I do not know whether that was down to the Minister’s inexperience or her lack of knowledge of the geography of Warrington and the boundaries of Tory marginal seats, or whether she simply did not want to discuss the recent funding announcement in which Warrington did not get any money. However, will you confirm, Mr Speaker, that the normal courtesies of the House require notice to be given to a Member in a reasonable time frame when a Minister is visiting their constituency, not when they are driving from one part of the town to another?

[Mr Speaker]

I am happy to confirm that that is the established convention. Moreover, the convention applies across the piece; that is to say, when any Member visits another Member’s constituency on parliamentary or official business, prior and timely notification is required, so the convention does not apply only to Ministers or shadow Ministers. It is on the whole rather unseemly for this matter to have to be aired on the Floor of the House. I make no criticism of the hon. Lady, but it would be good to think colleagues could treat each other with courtesy and that there would not be a necessity for the matter to be raised again on the Floor of the House. I hope note is taken, and it is very important that this convention is observed, not merely in terms of the letter, but of the spirit.

Bill presented

Energy in Buildings Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Martin Caton, supported by Mr David Amess, Sir Bob Russell, Mr Clive Betts, Joan Walley, Dr Alan Whitehead, Paul Burstow, Jim Dowd, Caroline Lucas, Andrew George, Dame Joan Ruddock and Roger Williams presented a Bill to require the Secretary of State to draw up and publish an Energy in Buildings Strategy; to make provision to implement that Strategy; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 6 June, and to be printed (Bill 188).

NHS Commissioning Board

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Tuesday 5th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Last week, the Leader of the House insisted that the regulations did not—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I apologise for interrupting the hon. Lady, but there is too much noisy chuntering from both sides of the House, including from Members whom I have previously told to keep it to themselves. They cannot think that they are different or separate because they feel strongly about something—that way, we get to cacophony. Members should keep the chuntering to themselves, ask a question and listen to others with a degree of courtesy.

[Helen Jones]

Last week, during business questions, the Leader of the House said that the regulations would not introduce compulsory competitive tendering in the NHS; today the Minister has said that he will have to revise them in case they do. Is it not a fact that the Government actually do not have a clue about what they are doing? If the Minister wishes to disprove that, will he tell us exactly what changes he will make to the regulations—or will this just be like the pause in the Health and Social Care Bill, after which it carried on regardless?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Monday 12th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

This is an emergency relief scheme for Tory council candidates, and it is a shambles, is it not? The Secretary of State spent 12 months telling us he wanted local schemes; he has now had to design a national one. Because councils are getting back only a fraction of the money that has been cut, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says that it is not possible to design schemes that meet the criteria within the funding available. There is no clarity on whether councils will have to spend more money on consultation, and because the grant lasts for only a year, they will then have to design new schemes and consult on them again for 2014. Meanwhile, at the sharp end, the poorest people in the country are faced with bills that they cannot meet and the threat of being taken to court.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We have got the drift of it.

[Helen Jones]

Would an omnishambles be an improvement on this?

Points of Order

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Tuesday 23rd October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am immensely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. He clearly takes a very keen interest in this matter, either on his own behalf, that of his Bosworth constituents or conceivably even Her Majesty. I may tell him that it is possible for there to be serial appointments to the office in question. I do not say that the hon. Gentleman’s interest in this matter is in any way anorakish, but it is certainly intense, and I hope that he will be satisfied when I tell him that the second appointment to the said office has the effect of causing the lapse of the first appointment. I hope that that has brought a little joy into his life.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. During Health questions, the Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter), gave me an answer in which he confused two trusts and created another, which he called the Halton trust, that does not actually exist. I realise that he may never have been north of Watford, but is there any way in which you can get him to come to the House and correct the record? My constituents cannot rely on assurances given by a Minister who does not even know which trust he is dealing with.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Lady implies that she is seeking a correction of the record. The Minister, like all Ministers and Members, is responsible for the veracity of his own observations in this House. He will shortly hear—not least through the Deputy Leader of the House—about the point of order that she has raised. Meanwhile I hope she will be satisfied with the knowledge that she has made her point in her own way on the record. We will leave it there for today.

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Tuesday 17th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. During the last debate, many of us were dismayed by the conduct of the Minister, who giggled and grinned through descriptions of people dying of mesothelioma and what they suffered. I have to say that in almost 15 years in this House, I have never seen conduct that so demeans a Minister of the Crown and is so damaging to the reputation of the House. Is there anything that you can do to ensure that in future Ministers pay proper attention to such serious debates and conduct themselves as would be expected from a Member on the Treasury Bench?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order. The Minister is welcome to respond if he wishes, but he is not under any obligation to do so.

Points of Order

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Monday 11th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman is a trusty servant of the House. He is also sometimes a mildly unkind Member in that he refers to a matter without giving me any notice. The truth is that I do not have the foggiest idea what he is chuntering about—but I will look into the matter. If he wants to return to it and it is a genuine point of order, I will try to respond to it.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Today, Southern Cross has announced that it is going to cease trading, which is causing great concern to many elderly people and their relatives and, indeed, to many Members. Have you had any indication from Ministers that they are going to make a statement about this? I include Ministers from both the Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government, as I am sure Members would like to hear what additional support is being offered to local authorities. Have Ministers approached you in any way, Mr Speaker?

Points of Order

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Tuesday 21st June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I note what the hon. Gentleman has said, and I think that the House will have noted it as well. I do not think I need to add to what he has said, but I am nevertheless grateful to him.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. We shall shortly be considering a very important motion on the recommittal of the Health and Social Care Bill, and I understand that the Secretary of State for Health is not going to be here to move it and be questioned on it. Have you had any communication from the Secretary of State about his presence or otherwise, or has he simply resigned or gone out looking for another job before he is pushed?

Points of Order

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Monday 23rd May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for what he has said. I think he has said enough to make it clear to me that this is not a matter on which I can rule; rather, it is—however disagreeable as far as he is concerned—a matter for the Select Committee on Education, should it wish to address the matter further. I think we shall have to leave it there for today.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Is there any way in which you can discuss with Ministers the quality of replies being sent to Members? I recently wrote to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on an important matter affecting my constituency, and received a reply from the public engagement and recognition unit, rather than from the Minister. It was signed “The correspondence team”—

[Helen Jones]

Not even Mrs Adams, no. Another reply, from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, began: “Dear Mr Marsden”. I am very fond of my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool South (Mr Marsden), but I do not usually take on his correspondence. Is there anything that you can do to ensure that Members get proper replies from Ministers?

[Mr Speaker]

I am responsible, at least in part, for the timeliness of replies—I do my best to assist Members in that regard—and also for their courtesy. However, so far as their quality is concerned, I feel that I must tell the hon. Lady that she holds out for me a set of powers that I do not possess and a range of abilities to which someone of my modest capacities cannot reasonably aspire.

Points of Order

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Monday 16th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. In a recent debate in Westminster Hall, the Minister of State, Department of Health, the right hon. Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns), suggested that one way of solving the problems of Whiston hospital would be a merger with another trust. Given that the obvious trust for a merger is North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust, that suggestion has caused widespread concern in my constituency about a possible loss of jobs and services from Warrington hospital. Is there any way in which you, Mr Speaker, can urge a Minister to come to the House and make a statement about their plans for health services in the area? So far, they have failed to address the concerns that my hon. Friend the Member for St Helens North (Mr Watts) raised about Whiston and are now causing real concern about the future of Warrington hospital.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order, but I fear that she invests me with mystical powers that I do not possess. She is a very experienced and indefatigable Member, who will be well aware of the avenues open to her to pursue such matters—and of which I feel sure she will shortly take advantage.

House of Commons Commission

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

I am very pleased to support the motion. One thing that Members learn after a few years in the House is that those who serve on the House’s internal Committees do a vast amount of work, which often goes unrecognised, so I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough (Sir Stuart Bell) for his service to the House over a number of years.

My hon. Friend is a long-standing Member, and prior to becoming the Member for Middlesbrough, he fought an election in the constituency of Hexham. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Roy Hattersley; served on the Front Bench as a spokesman on trade and industry and on Northern Ireland; and, latterly, has given sterling service to the House of Commons Commission and the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. It has not been an easy time, but I put on the record my personal thanks for the amount of work he did in trying to explain to the general public exactly what Members’ expenses were for and how they were dealt with. It was at times an uphill task, but he made a sterling effort.

I also welcome, if the House agrees to the motion, the appointment of my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen North (Mr Doran) to the Commission. At various times he has been the Member for Aberdeen North, Aberdeen Central and Aberdeen South—without moving very far. I know from having had the privilege of serving with him on the Administration Committee that he has a devotion to the interests of this House and its Members, and that he brings to everything he does an energy and commitment, as well as an analytical mind and a real commitment to getting the best possible deal for Members.

I am very pleased to support the motion, and I commend it to the House.

Question put and agreed to.

[Mr Speaker]

Let me take this opportunity to thank the Deputy Leader of the House and the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) for what they have said by way of tribute to the hon. Member for Middlesbrough (Sir Stuart Bell). The contribution that he has made has been enormous; it is, and certainly should be, widely appreciated across the House. My understanding is that the hon. Gentleman has served on the Commission since 21 February 2000, so his service dates back well over 10 years, and it follows that he has sat on the Commission under three successive Speakers. I know of the seriousness with which he has taken his commitment to the Commission and the passion that he feels for the interests of the House as an institution and of individual Members. I know that the hon. Gentleman will appreciate the thanks expressed to him in the course of the debate on the motion.

Of course, I associate myself, as Speaker and as the person who chairs the Commission, with what the Deputy Leader of the House and the hon. Lady have said about the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Mr Doran), who has a long-standing and respected track record of commitment to this institution and to the various Committees which are so vital to its effective functioning.

Prayers

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Monday 12th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It would not be a point of order, now, I am afraid.

Points of Order

Debate between John Bercow and Helen Jones

Tuesday 6th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order, and also for giving me advance notice of it. He will understand that I am reluctant to be drawn into the detail of the debate, but I will say this to him. As I have already indicated, statements to the House should be both timely and accurate. Obviously, if something said to the House is misleading—that is a strict and tough test—it should be corrected; if any apology is required—I do not know whether it is—I hope that it will be forthcoming.

I did comment yesterday on the difficulties for the House of learning about detailed announcements when a Secretary of State possesses full details and the House does not. I made very clear my view that in the name both of courtesy and of effective scrutiny, if a Minister making a statement possesses a list, he or she has a duty to put that list on the Table of the House or in the Vote Office or both, at the start, not the end, of the statement.

It may also be helpful if I say to the hon. Gentleman and the House both that his point will have been heard on the Treasury Bench—I am delighted to see that the Leader of the House is present—and that there will be further opportunities to take up the matter, not least during oral questions to the Department for Education next Monday, 12 July. I have not, however, been notified of any further statement to be made on this subject today.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. It has been said on a number of occasions from the Treasury Bench that the previous Government made unfunded spending commitments. Labour Members have repeatedly asked Ministers to produce, if that were the case, the letter to the permanent secretary giving a ministerial direction for those things to take place. Is there any way that you, as Speaker, can ensure that a Minister comes to the House and produces that letter of direction—or, if not, that Ministers apologise for the slurs that they have placed on Members?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Lady is a very wily and experienced operator, and she knows that I could be forgiven for concluding that she is attempting to continue a debate started yesterday by the right hon. Member for Morley and Outwood, the shadow Secretary of State for Education, and continued with some poise and persistence by the hon. Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker), who is still sitting on the Front Bench. In fact she may, for all I know, be engaged in a double act with the hon. Gentleman. However, she has made her point with her customary eloquence, and it is on the record.