Speeches and parliamentary questions in the House of Commons 2006-07While speaking in the chamber of the House is a high profile activity for an MP, much other work is done elsewhere, in committee, as well as a large casework load for constituents. |
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): I am sure that my right hon. Friend knows about overcrowding on the west coast main line. The train on which I travelled yesterday from Carlisle was horrendously overcrowded because of the cancellation of an earlier train. However, overcrowding is a day-to-day problem on the west coast main line. I do not understand why Virgin Trains proposes to run a train from London to Glasgow with only one stop at Preston, missing out Carlisle. That will put extra pressure on the other trains in the area in order to reduce the time by only three minutes. Will my right hon. Friend ask the Minister responsible for rail to meet me to discuss the matter before the timetable is agreed?
Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State, Department for Transport: I shall certainly ask my hon. Friend the Minister responsible for rail to meet my hon. Friend - I should be delighted to do so. I am sure that he welcomes the £7 billion investment in the west coast main line upgrade. It has transformed the prospects for the route and means that far fewer people now choose to fly between London and Manchester but instead, like me, take the train. Of course, problems with overcrowding remain. They will be taken into account in any forthcoming spending plans. However, my hon. Friend the Minister responsible for rail assures me that, given that the timetable is not yet finalised, he is happy to have discussions with my hon. Friend.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): I have two questions for the hon. Gentleman. Would the Opposition have vaccinated in this situation? Why is the handling of bluetongue mentioned in the motion, because the Government have done nothing wrong in that instance?
Mr. James Paice (South-East Cambridgeshire) (Con): I am coming to bluetongue. On vaccination, we would have taken more notice of the scientist who told us that the pipes were damaged in the first place. We have made it clear that in the circumstances that have arisen, we would not have vaccinated, but that option would have been in the locker had the disease got further out of control.
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[Mr Paice] I turn to bluetongue, which hit us in September. Again, the initial actions taken were correct, but it rapidly became obvious that the consequences were going to be horrendous. We were told that stock could be moved to slaughter in the control and protection zones, yet nobody in DEFRA seemed to have realised that there were not enough slaughter places to slaughter the stock. I was told by a senior civil servant, in front of Lord Rooker, that licences would not be issued to allow stock from the control zone to go to the abattoirs because of European rules, yet that is now what is happening. Countless pedigree stock - cattle and sheep for which this is the peak sale time - cannot be moved, yet in France, a combination of an insecticidal regime and blood testing is being used to allow that to happen.
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Mr. Martlew: During the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, the decision was taken not to vaccinate because the industry - supermarkets and others - would not take the meat of vaccinated animals. Does my right hon. Friend believe they will take it from an animal that has been vaccinated against bluetongue?
Hilary Benn, Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: We do not have a vaccine at present, but consumers regularly eat other meat from vaccinated animals, including poultry, so I am not sure that there would be a difficulty.
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Mr. Martlew: The right hon. Gentleman, like me, was deeply involved in the 2001 situation. Surely the farmer living at Heddon-on-the-Wall who did not boil pig swill or examine his animals was the cause of the 2001 outbreak.
David Maclean: The hon. Gentleman has got that quite wrong. Where did that filthy food come from in the first place? Foot and mouth did not suddenly spring up at Heddon-on-the-Wall or Catterick Army base. It had to come into this country from a foreign source.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): It was very interesting that the Secretary of State mentioned the vaccine for bluetongue. As he is aware, Cumbria was in the middle of the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, which was a major outbreak. There was a lot of debate at that time about vaccination. That was rejected then, and it appears that vaccination has been rejected once more. Will the Secretary of State tell me why it has been rejected and under what circumstances we will use vaccine in the future?
Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Hilary Benn: The contingency plan for foot and mouth stated that we would consider whether vaccination had a part to play in helping us to control the disease after the first measures were taken, such as the use of protection and surveillance zones and the culling of infected animals and of dangerous contacts. Extensive surveillance has been undertaken by the vets and the staff of the Institute for Animal Health - and I know that some Members present have met some of the teams that have been working so hard since the beginning of the outbreak to make sure that we have the necessary information to discover whether the approach we are taking will work. On both occasions - the first and second parts of the outbreak - we stood up vaccination capacity and made an order for vaccines, but in both cases we have decided that the measures we have taken appear to have contained the outbreak: there have been eight cases in Surrey 66 days on. If we were to reach a point where we thought that vaccination was necessary to help us control the spread of an outbreak, I would be willing to consider it, but that has not so far proved necessary.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): I hope that the Minister will also visit the Cumberland infirmary, which is in my constituency.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ann Keen): I have been overwhelmed by invitations in the past couple of weeks, and feel confident that I will be able to visit my hon. Friend.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): If my right hon. Friend wants to see the difference between a Labour Government and a Conservative Government running the railways, she should look at the west coast main line. Will the extra carriages announced today mean that each Pendolino train will have an extra two carriages? I am rather disappointed at my right hon. Friend's dismissal of high speed lines. We have a high speed line that works - from the channel to St. Pancras - so there must be a case for a north-south line, because there will be major capacity problems on the west coast main line by 2014.
The Secretary of State for Transport (Ruth Kelly): I hear my hon. Friend's representations on behalf of the west coast main line. I know how important the project is to him, and the modernisation of the west coast main line will of course continue during this funding period. Precisely where the extra carriages will go will become clearer after negotiations with the industry, which will continue over the next few months. I know, too, of my hon. Friend's commitment to the north-south high speed rail link. If we had £30 billion we could have funded the equivalent of the west coast modernisation several times over. The issue for the Government is what the best use of that money is today. In future, the environmental or economic calculations may change so it is right that the Government keep the matter under review, but today is not the right time to make a commitment.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what grants were provided to (a) the Crime Reduction partnership in Carlisle, (b) Carlisle city council and (c) Cumbria county council for safety and policing in each year since 2003-04. [149625]
Mr. Coaker, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office: Grant allocations made to Carlisle city council and subsequently to Cumbria county council and available to the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership in each year since 2003-04 are set out in the following table.
 | Building Safer Communities and ASB Co-ordinators Grant (paid to Carlisle city council) | Safer and Stronger Communities Fund (paid to Cumbria county council) |
These figures reflect the fact that the Building Safer Communities Fund and Anti-Social Behaviour Co-ordinators Grant was pooled within the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund in 2005-06 along with the Drugs Strategy Partnership Support Grant. This pooling was an initial step in the development of Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and saw partnership funding paid to Unitary and Upper Tier Authorities. Cumbria, an Upper Tier Authority, received funding that was originally allocated to Allerdale, Copeland, Barrow, Carlisle, Eden and South Lakeland CDRPs.
The 2007-08 figures are not directly comparable with previous years because the pooled budget now includes a larger number of funding streams. Cumbria county council and its partners are now able to use this grant flexibly to deliver a wide range of outcomes, including reductions in crime, anti social behaviour and the harms caused by drugs.
The figures exclude any funding allocated to the CDRP that has been targeted at specific initiatives, such as the Street Crime Initiative and the Tackling Violent Crime Programme, and any discretionary allocations made by the Regional Director. Data on those funding allocations are not held centrally, or would be available only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with Cumbria county council on secondary education provision in Carlisle; and if he will make a statement. [149624]
Jim Knight, Minister of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families: Officials from across the DCSF have met with officers from Cumbria county council on a number of occasions to discuss the planned city wide secondary school reorganisation in Carlisle. There have been ongoing discussions relating to the capital investment in Carlisle in response to the January 2005 floods and how it will be used to raise standards in education across the city. This includes working with the council on the academy proposal to replace St. Aidan's school and about finding sponsorship for a possible second academy in Carlisle, based on the Morton school which is currently in special measures.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many representations Post Office Ltd. received in response to the consultation on moving the Carlisle Crown Post Office to W.H. Smith; and how many of the responses raised problems about access. [149626]
Mr. McFadden, Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. Alan Cook the Managing Director has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): I congratulate my hon. Friend on his promotion, which is well deserved. He knows Carlisle well and is aware that we have a large Rural Payments Agency office there. I am sure that he would not attribute any of the blame for what has gone wrong to the people who have been making the calculations. I wonder whether he would visit the Carlisle office next time he is in the area to see how hard-working the staff are.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Jonathan Shaw): I am grateful for my hon. Friend's words. He is right. What he have heard this evening is that a complicated system was introduced at the same time as a radical change. I have read through the evidence from former Ministers and, as has been said, had they thought more clearly about the issue and had the foresight, it would perhaps have been clear that introducing such a scheme was not the right thing to do. The consequence has been the difficulties that we have seen. I pay tribute to the hard work of the staff of the Rural Payments Agency and in particular to that of Tony Cooper, the interim chief executive, who has turned the organisation around and is making a real difference to staff morale. He makes visits regularly, has welcomed the challenge and deserves our support and thanks, as do the rest of the staff.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescriptions for (a) diamorphine and (b) methadone were dispensed in Carlisle constituency in each year since 2003; and if she will make a statement. [143217]
Caroline Flint, Minister of State, Department of Health: The information is not available in the requested format. The data provided in the following tables is for the number of items prescribed for diamorphine hydrochloride and methadone hydrochloride in the former Carlisle and District Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Cumbria PCT (after October 2006).
| Diamorphine hydrochloride (British National Formulary (BNF) codes 3.9.1 and 4.7.2) | ||
| Prescriber name | Total items diamorphine hydrochloride | |
| Methadone hydrochloride (British National Formulary codes 3.9.1 and 4.7.2 and 4.10) | ||
| Prescriber name | Total items methadone hydrochloride | |
| (1)
Cumbria PCT was formed in October 2006 and consists of Carlisle and
District PCT, Eden Valley PCT, West Cumbria PCT and part of Morecambe
Bay PCT. | ||
ePACT Data
This information was obtained from the prescribing analysis and cost tool (PACT) system, which covers prescriptions prescribed by general practitioners, nurses, pharmacists and others in England and dispensed in the community in the United Kingdom. For data at PCT level, prescriptions written by a prescriber located in a particular PCT but dispensed outside that PCT will be included in the PCT in which the prescriber is based. Prescriptions written in England but dispensed outside England are included. Prescriptions written in hospitals/clinics that are dispensed in the community, prescriptions dispensed in hospitals and private prescriptions are not included in PACT data. It is important to note this as some BNF sections have a high proportion of prescriptions written in hospitals that are dispensed in the community.
For example, BNF chapter 4, Central Nervous System, has a fair proportion of items written in mental health clinics that are dispensed in the community - these prescriptions are not included in PACT data.
Prescription items
Prescriptions are written on a prescription form known as a FP10. Each single item written on the form is counted as a prescription item.
PCT level data
A PCT will only appear in the PACT system if a prescription has been made within the time period that the data spans. Hence, the total number of PCTs will vary for different BNF chapters/sections. Blank fields are indicative of PCTs which have ceased to exist (or come into existence) either because they have merged with one or more other PCTs or have been officially renamed during the time period for which data has been requested.
The sum of the data for all PCTs does not equal the total England figure, because the total England figure includes unidentified Doctors (not possible for the Prescriptions Pricing Division to allocate to a PCT).
BNF classifications
The prescription cost analysis system uses the therapeutic classifications defined in the BNF. No information on why a drug is prescribed is available and since drugs can be prescribed to treat more than one condition it is impossible to separate the different conditions that a drug was prescribed for.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): May I thank my right hon. Friend for keeping the promise that he made to me on 8 January 2005, the day when my constituency was devastated by floods? During our telephone conversation, he said that moneys would be available to build flood defences to protect the people of Carlisle. Some £30 million was made available and those defences are being constructed. However, given the problems that we have seen today in the south of England, and given the problems of global warming and climate change, is he convinced that, following the comprehensive spending review, there will be enough money available to protect other communities from the devastation that we suffered in Carlisle?
The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend raises a perfectly reasonable point, and it is one of the reasons we are committed to spending an additional £600 million in this financial year on our coastal defences. Since 1997, we have invested some £4 billion in coastal defences. This is an indication of how, over time, as a result of the changing climate, countries will have to invest very large sums in protecting ourselves against the changing weather. However, I entirely agree with hon. Friend, and I can assure him that this will obviously form a very significant and serious part of the comprehensive spending settlement.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were unemployed and claiming benefit in Carlisle on (a) 1 April 1997 and (b) 1 April 2007; and if he will make a statement. [143216]
Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, Mr. Jim Murphy: In April 1997 there were 3,060 Jobseeker's allowance claimants in the Carlisle local authority area, and in April 2007 there were 1,240.
Notes:
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on public expenditure of the fiscal rules; and if he will make a statement. [142580]
Chief Secretary, HM Treasury, Mr. Stephen Timms: The fiscal rules have enabled the Government to make historic increases to investment in public services - overcoming the decades of underinvestment before 1997 and helping secure improvements in services - while simultaneously delivering a decade of sustained growth alongside low and stable inflation.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff of each grade and business stream will be transferred from existing HM Revenue and Customs offices within daily travelling distance of Carlisle to the Carlisle office before 2008; how many new staff of each grade and business stream will be employed at the Carlisle office; and what work will be transferred to the Carlisle office. [139264]
John Healey, Financial Secretary, HM Treasury: HMRC is reviewing all its accommodation to bring it into line with future business requirements. On current plans the review of the Carlisle office will not begin until April 2008.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): I rise to present the petition of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and concerned members of the public regarding Canada's commercial seal hunt. The petition is signed by Brenda King and more than 46,000 other UK citizens, and should be seen in the context of the further 144,000 postcards, text messages and letters presented to the Minister for Trade today, of another non-parliamentary petition by IFAW of 83,000 signatures, and of the more than 31,000 signatures on this matter presented last year by my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Judy Mallaber) on behalf of Respect for Animals.
The petition declares:
That the commercial seal hunt in Canada is unacceptably cruel and notes that all veterinary reports document this. The petitioners are concerned that over 1 million seals were killed in Canada alone between 2003 and 2005; and are further concerned that the UK provides a market for unnecessary seal products.
The petitioners therefore request the House of Commons to pass legislation to ban the trade in all harp and hooded seal products in the UK as a matter of urgency.
And the petitioners remain, etc.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of the research and development budget for London hospitals was reallocated to hospitals in the regions in each of the last three years; [131348]
(2) what proportion of her Department's research and development budget is allocated to (a) London and (b) each of the regions following her recent announcement on biomedical research centres. [131350]
Caroline Flint, Minister of State, Department of Health: Allocations from the research and development budget are made on the basis of research activity rather than a regional basis. Details of the allocations made to national health service trusts and other research active NHS organisations over the last three years are published on the Department's website
The distribution of the allocations has not varied significantly over this period.
The Department's implementation of the Government's health research strategy "Best Research for Best Health" will deliver a funding system that is transparent, fair and sustainable and where funding better reflects research and development activity. The creation of Biomedical Research Centres alongside the expansion of national research programmes and the establishment of new funding schemes is one of the ways in which these objectives will be achieved. The transition to the new system will be complete by 2009. Further details are available on the National Institute for Health Research website
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): May I support my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, South (Sir Peter Soulsby) in asking for a debate on the take-over by WH Smith of the Crown post offices, including the one in my constituency? I believe that that will be bad for customers, that the facilities provided will be inadequate, and that there will be a cut in the wages of the counter staff and a cut in their conditions. A debate would give the Minister responsible for the Royal Mail the opportunity to defend himself against the charge that he is indifferent to the concerns of hon. Members on the issue.
Mr. Straw, Lord Privy Seal, Leader of the House of Commons: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry is not remotely indifferent to Members' concerns. It was he who secured hundreds of millions of pounds by way of additional subsidy to ensure that post offices, including in rural areas, can continue to operate. But none of us is able to resist the changes, not necessarily in our habits, but in the habits of our constituents, and the advance of technology. Of course I understand my hon. Friend's concerns and I will ensure that they are relayed to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. We will also look for an opportunity to debate the matter.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the new deal self-employment programme at returning people to work compared with other employment programmes. [129256]
Mr. Jim Murphy, Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions: I refer the hon. Members to the written answer I gave on 23 March 2007, Official Report, columns 1184-86W.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for Health what resources her Department has allocated to facilitate the take-over of Hammersmith and St. Mary hospital trust by Imperial College, London. [131349]
Andy Burnham, Minister of State, Department of Health: The Department has not allocated any specific resources to facilitate the proposed integration of St. Mary's national health service trust, the Hammersmith hospitals NHS trust and the Imperial College into the Academic Health Sciences Centre which is subject to the outcome of local public consultation.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): Yesterday, Sir Rod Eddington indicated at the Select Committee hearing that by 2014 the west coast main line would be running to full capacity and that there is a business case for a high-speed line, but the fact is that there is a lead time of 10 years. When will the Minister announce that there is going to be a new high-speed line on the west coast?
The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Douglas Alexander): With due respect to my hon. Friend, one of the intriguing features of the discussion about the high-speed train line is the number of hon. Members who presume that it will stop in their constituency. In fact, Sir Rod Eddington gave a searching critique of the case for a high-speed rail line in the course of his report. We have a separate manifesto commitment that we will give consideration to a high-speed rail line and we are reflecting on the recommendations and the insights in relation to the high-speed rail line in the Eddington report at the moment.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of customers who will participate in the new deal self employment programme in 2007-08; and how many did so in each of the previous three years. [128665]
Mr. Jim Murphy, Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave to him on 23 March 2007, Official Report, columns 1184-86.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners living in the Carlisle City Council area are in receipt of council tax benefit. [131347]
Mr. Plaskitt, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions: As at August 2006, there were 4,310 council tax benefit recipients aged 60 and over in Carlisle local authority.
Notes:
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. case load stock-count taken in August 2006.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has estimated the costs to the public purse of assisting an unemployed person to return to work under the (a) New Deal self-employment programme and (b) other employment programmes. [128668]
Mr. Jim Murphy,Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions: Self-employment support is available to new deal participants through the mandatory new deal for young people and new deal 25 plus and through the voluntary new deal for partners and new deal for lone parents. There is no separate new deal self-employment programme.
Self-employment support offers an initial awareness session for potential entrepreneurs followed by a period of supported business planning with a business expert and a period of 'test trading'. During test trading, participants start their business while continuing to receive their benefit, an allowance or working tax credits, depending on their circumstances, to help them over any initial transitional hurdles. This period can last up to a maximum of 26 weeks.
No specific assessment has been carried out into the relative merits, or costs involved, of returning to work through new deal self-employment compared with other elements of new deal. However, data indicate that of those who started the stage three self-employment test trading element of new deal for young people, 61 per cent. subsequently left to employment. Corresponding figures for the new deal for young people options are: employment option: 71 per cent.; full-time education and training option: 46 per cent.; voluntary sector: 51 per cent., and environmental task force: 52 per cent. Similar data are not available for the other new deals.
We expect that around 5,000 people will start new deal self-employment support in 2007-08.
Information is not available on the number of starts to self-employment provision through new deal for partners and new deal for lone parents in the last three years. Information on the number of people who started self-employment provision in the two mandatory new deals in each of the last three years is in the table.
| Starts on the new deal self-employment option | ||
| New deal for young people | New deal 25 plus | |
| 2003-04 | 2,720 | 3,940 |
| 2004-05 | 2,340 | 3,770 |
| 2005-06 | 1,600 | 2,950 |
| Source: DWP Information Directorate | ||
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): I am sure that my right hon. Friend is aware that over the past decade, the number of people killed in road accidents in the United Kingdom has declined. However, is he aware that over the past five years, there has been a very alarming increase in the number of young drivers killed, very often with young passengers as well? Will he have discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport to find out why that is happening, and will he bring forward proposals to stem this tragic loss of life?
The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend is right on both points. There has been a dramatic drop in the number of deaths as a result of various measures that have been taken over the past few years. It is sometimes worth pointing out that the number of lives saved, especially young children's, as a result of some of the road measures that have been taken runs into many hundreds. However, my hon. Friend is also right that a very specific problem has arisen. Discussions are under way in government about what we can do about that and, especially, about what can be done to ensure that we are able to deal with young drivers in either stolen or uninsured vehicles far more quickly than we do at present.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): Perhaps the Secretary of State will confirm that the west coast main line will open again on 12 March.
Following the Potters Bar derailment, when there was a failure involving the points, the Rail Safety and Standards Board made 16 recommendations specifically on rail maintenance. Have those recommendations been implemented?
The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Douglas Alexander): I will certainly be happy to write to my hon. Friend about the RSSB recommendations. I assure the House that work is under way to make sure that the west coast main line opens as quickly as possible.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): Because of the opt-out [for Scotland] that the hon. Gentleman has included in the Bill, I cannot support it, although I would like to. In my area, an ITV station called Border Television broadcasts both sides of the border, so under the hon. Gentleman's Bill, the news that is broadcast on one side of the border at 5 o'clock would be broadcast at 6 o'clock on the other side. There is an arrogance about the hon. Gentleman - he does not realise the confusion that his Bill would cause for those of us who live in the English-Scottish border region.
Mr. Yeo: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his saying that he would have supported the Bill but for that aspect of it, but I have to say that his intervention was extraordinary. The truth is that people are accustomed to watching television programmes broadcast from a time zone other than the one in which they happen to be; indeed, most of us do that every day of our lives. Furthermore, given the proliferation of channels these days, it would be quite easy for Border programmes to be shown an hour later or earlier and beamed in the appropriate direction.
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Mr. Martlew: Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the Bill's promoter does not expect the measure to proceed, and included the opt-out for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as a piece of mischief?
Mr. Beith: I prefer the less cynical explanation that the hon. Member for South Suffolk included it because, like many Scottish Conservatives but unlike the Front Bench team, he is persuaded of the merits of devolution. [Interruption.] I accept that changes are happening - I must keep up to date with the rapid policy changes of the Conservative Front-Bench team. The hon. Gentleman did not want to provoke opposition from people in Scotland who are concerned about such a change and believe that Scotland should decide the issue. In most circumstances that would be the attractive option, provided that it did not create serious difficulties in the border area.
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Mr. Martlew: Surely the dilemma for that Secretary of State would be made easier were the opt-out not in the Bill. Does the right hon. Gentleman support the opt-out in the Bill?
Sir George Young: I shall come to that point. I very much hope that we end up with one time for the United Kingdom. That would be my ideal solution. I have no objection to the clause in the Bill that gives people in Scotland the opportunity to decide whether they want that solution. If Labour Members look at the Nigel Beard Bill, I believe that they will see that it had exactly the same provision for an opt-out as this Bill. This is not some Conservative conspiracy to reopen old wounds; it is a repetition of a provision in a Bill introduced by a Labour Member of Parliament.
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Mr. Martlew: As the Bill is drafted, it would have no effect on my hon. Friend's constituency. Does she mean that, if these provisions were implemented in England, Scotland would have to follow?
Rosemary McKenna: Yes. That is inevitable. If the Bill is passed and is applied to England, the opt-in will not really be an opt-in; Scotland will be forced to come into line with the rest of the country.
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Rosemary McKenna: ....I live in London for half of the week, as all Members of Parliament do, so it is a spurious argument to claim that this is a purely Scottish issue.
Mr. Martlew: Is it not that sort of arrogant attitude from the Conservatives that led to their having only one Member of Parliament in Scotland -
Madam Deputy Speaker: Order. We are now straying wide of the Bill. Will hon. Members please concentrate on the clauses of this Bill?
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Mr. Martlew: Although the Solway divides my hon. Friend and me, very little else does. Constituents of mine work at the ammunition depot at Longtown, while constituents of his work for the one at Eastriggs. They are currently doing a magnificent job getting munitions out to Afghanistan and Iraq, but the time zone difference would be a major problem for them.
Mr. Russell Brown (Dumfries and Galloway) (Lab): My hon. Friend is right, although I am not sure that the Ministry of Defence will be too happy about his saying where the supplies for Afghanistan and Iraq are coming from. On both sides of the border there are common themes of social life, employment and business. That is important to people, hence my deep concern about the Bill.
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Mr. Martlew: How would heavy goods vehicles, which use tachographs, be affected by the different time zones?
Mr. Brown: I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. To be honest, I cannot answer his question; the issue that he raises would undoubtedly arise if we had different time zones.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): Unlike Opposition Members, I have a long memory. I was a member of a health authority for many years. During that time, an independent report about my constituency of Carlisle stated that babies were dying because there was a split site; the consultants were on one site and the maternity unit was 2 miles away across a crowded city. In 18 years, the Conservative Government did nothing to assist us, yet within three years of a Labour Government it was put right. We have a brand new hospital. The maternity unit was moved to the same site as the consultants and we now have an excellent service. Those people across the road should remember what it was like when they were in charge of the NHS.
Ms Hewitt: My hon. Friend speaks with great experience in the matter. He is absolutely right and has given us a vivid illustration of how in many parts of the country maternity services need to change to provide even better and even safer care for mothers and their babies.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): The Secretary of State mentioned the conversion to North sea gas and I am old enough to remember it, but the difference is that that was a free service. I know that digital now has about 70 per cent. penetration into people's homes, but the vast majority have both digital and analogue, so switchover will have its costs for many. My specific point is about blocks of flats in private ownership for which the landlord needs to change the aerial. Is there going to be any legislation to enable that to happen?
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell): My hon. Friend raises a very important point. In fact, progress is being made and public sector landlords of houses in multiple occupation are paying attention to the issue. We estimate that about 60 per cent. of the houses in multiple occupation are in the public sector, with a smaller proportion in the private sector. The public sector is making good progress and Digital UK will be working with local authorities and other bodies to ensure that the tenants and residents of privately owned houses in multiple occupation are not left behind. I do not underestimate the challenge of that, and I know that my hon. Friend does not either. We will obviously want to keep this issue under review.
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Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): If it were not for the Solway my hon. Friend and I would be neighbours, and we share the Border television area. Does he agree with me that it would be a crime if the Border area was broken up after the switch from analogue to digital? If that happened, his constituency would be in the Scottish television area and mine would be in the Granada area.
Mr. Russell Brown (Dumfries and Galloway) (Lab): I agree with my hon. Friend and - were it not for that stretch of water - near neighbour. He and I are of one mind. Border is dear to our hearts, as I suspect it is to those of all Members, including the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Mr. Moore), whose constituency is on the Scottish border. It is unique. Our great fear is that Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish border areas will end up with STV and Cumbria will end up with Granada, and we may not receive the unique coverage that we have had for so long with a much more local base. It is ironic that digital switchover brings the opportunity for much more region-based television, yet there is always the sense, lurking at the back of our minds, that it will bring something else that we never expected but of which we have always been wary in the past.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle): I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way; he is always very courteous - and I am glad that he has his telephone under control today, unlike in a recent debate.
The hon. Gentleman goes on about policies. The Government's policy on the west coast main line has been successful, but how would his policy of breaking it up and integrating it vertically succeed? There are 12 rail companies that run on the west coast main line; how would the policy that he advocates be of benefit to that line?
Chris Grayling: The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the benefits of the west coast main line project - I use that route regularly and the service is much improved - but he would do better to spare a moment's thought for Members with constituencies along the Great Western and Great North Eastern routes. Both routes were due to be upgraded as part of the Government's 10-year plan, and both upgrades have been kicked into the long grass.
Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO
| On behalf of Eric Martlew, 3 Chatsworth Square Carlisle Cumbria CA1 1HB |
