PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament

635 Oral Answers
15 MAY 2013
Oral Answers
636
The Deputy Prime Minister: On the day in which
youth unemployment declined, in view of the fact that
youth unemployment went up remorselessly year after
year after year in the latter half of the Labour
Administration, and given that this Government are
introducing a £1 billion Youth Contract, which gives
everyone between the ages of 18 and 24 who has been
out of work for a certain period the opportunity to take
up an apprenticeship, subsidised work or a place on
work experience, it is pretty rich for the hon. Lady to
lecture us about the problems of youth unemployment.
Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con): Has the Deputy
Prime Minister had time to reflect on this week’s analysis
of Yorkshire’s top 150 companies by the accountancy
firm BDO, which shows that in the last year businesses
in Yorkshire have seen an increase in revenues of £5 billion,
that investment is up 20%, that exports to emerging
markets are up 50%, and that 10,000 new jobs have been
created?
The Deputy Prime Minister: As an MP for a great
Yorkshire city, I of course want to join my hon. Friend
in celebrating the great achievements of businesses in
Yorkshire, particularly the rebirth of so many great
manufacturing companies. I am immensely proud that
this Government have been backing manufacturing,
after years of neglect under Labour.
Q10. [154923] Mr Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow) (Lab):
The Government’s much trumpeted Mesothelioma Bill
was introduced last week, but only those diagnosed
after 25 July 2012 will be compensated. Does the
Deputy Prime Minister agree that it is wrong and
unfair that the leeches in the insurance industry who
are bankrolling the Tory party are getting away with
millions and millions, when working class people who
have been negligently poisoned by their employers are
getting away with nothing?
The Deputy Prime Minister: What does the hon.
Gentleman think happened for 13 years under Labour?
I am hugely sympathetic, as I am sure everybody is, to
the plight of people who are unable to trace a liable
employer or insurer against whom they can bring a
claim. We announced our intention to bring forward
legislation to introduce the scheme on 25 July 2012, and
it is from that date that people have a reasonable expectation
that if they are diagnosed with asbestos-related cancer
and they meet the eligibility criteria they will receive a
payment. But because we have also decided to pay
dependants of people who have died from that cancer,
the scheme will not be able to pay dependants of every
person who has died, and that is why we have taken the
approach we have.
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con): The Deputy
Prime Minister is a great democrat as well as a Liberal,
and I salute him for that. Will he therefore stand by the
precise wording in this very fetching Liberal Democrat
leaflet that I happened to find on my desk this morning,
which says:
“Only a real referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU
will let the people decide our country’s future.”
Will he now stand by that solemn pledge to the people
of Britain and join us in the Lobby tonight?
The Deputy Prime Minister: I fully stand behind the
position that I took then and my party has taken ever
since, that when there is a change in the rules and new
things are asked of the United Kingdom within the
European Union, there should and there will be a
referendum. Not only that, we have done better since
we issued that leaflet in 2008: we legislated to guarantee
that to the British people for the first time in primary
legislation just two years ago. We spent 100 days debating
that in this House at the time. If my hon. Friend wants
to reinvent it all over again and keep picking away at the
issue, what will he give up from a fairly crowded Queen’s
Speech? Will he tell his constituents that we will not put
a cap on social care costs; we will not deliver a single tier
pension; we will not pass legislation to have a national
insurance contribution cut for employers? I think that
we should stick to the priorities of the British people,
which are growth and jobs.
Q11. [154924] Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance):
Three of my young constituents, Emma Carson, Emma
Magowan and Sophie Ebbinghaus, recently presented
me with posters they had made supporting the IF
campaign. They asked me to tell the Prime Minister of
their concerns for boys and girls growing up without
enough food to survive. Unfortunately, he is not here,
but what assurances can the Deputy Prime Minister
give them that the forthcoming G8 summit in Northern
Ireland will deliver real action to ensure that there
really is enough food for everyone?
The Deputy Prime Minister: Like the hon. Lady and
many Members on both sides of the House, I am a huge
supporter of the IF campaign, and I attended its launch
here in Westminster, as did many hon. Members. Of
course it is a total scandal that in 2013 nearly 1 billion
people globally are hungry or malnourished. I am delighted
about the co-operation between all the different campaign
groups in the IF campaign and the Government in
pushing forward a radical agenda, which has never
really been tried before, in the G8, under our presidency,
to ensure tax fairness and proper transparency in the
way primary resources are exploited in the developing
world and the way trade works for the poorest around
the planet. That is why we will work hand in hand with
the IF campaign during our G8 presidency.
Q12. [154925] Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne) (LD): In
2008 the Independent Reconfiguration Panel made a
series of recommendations in response to an attempt
by my local NHS trust to downgrade maternity
services at Eastbourne district general hospital. The
IRP recommendations were, in my view and those of
eminent local clinicians, never properly introduced,
which has now led to safety issues that, perversely, have
enabled the trust to implement the service changes that
were originally rejected by the IRP. Will the Deputy
Prime Minister look at addressing that anomaly and
ensure that hospitals implement IRP recommendations
robustly and that that is audited, including at
Eastbourne district general hospital?
Mr Speaker: Order. There is probably scope for an
Adjournment debate on the back of that, so let us have
a brief answer.