Transcripts For BBCNEWS Thursday In Parliament 20171117

More controversy in the commons over universal credit, as the governments urged to listen to those who want payment times cut. We cant all be wrong. The six week wait must be reduced to one month. Work should always pay and that is the principle that underlies universal credit. Mps denounce an inquiry into a controversial pregnancy test as a white wash. And demands for action to tackle antibiotic resistance. We must start with a Public Education programme to manage expectations and highlight the issues of inappropriate use and to frequent use. But first, the labour mp who chairs the work and Pensions Committee says universal credit is becoming a personal nightmare for constituents. Frank field was opening a debate in the commons calling on the government to urgently reduce the initial six week wait will for payment to four weeks. The new benefit is meant to simplify the welfare system and encourage claimants into work. Its being rolled out across the country, but many mps have expressed concern that the switchover is leading to debt and rent arrears. Frank field had one example. It was of a gentleman who had waited, waited and waited for an operation at our local hospital. That operation was taking place when he was told to turn up for an interview at ourjob centre plus. He was sanctioned. A friend befriending him reported yesterday that this constituent of mine is now homeless and while being homeless, struggling to recover from surgery. Could he help me in this respect, when i met with the citizens advice bureau, because we have universal credit being rolled out injuly, they are now making arrangements with all relevant authorities so that these very examples dont exist. My real question to the right honourable gentleman is did these constituents come to him at the end of this ghastly process or earlier on because if theyd come earlier on, we as mps all have exactly the access to speed it up and would he agree that we should be doing this now before it comes out in our areas . I couldnt agree more, although being here a little longer than the right honourable lady, i never thought as an mp i would be speaking like this about this, of myjob being adapted in this way. Croydon was one of the first boroughs where universal credit has been rolled out so weve had longer to see what a total and utter disaster its become. But ive had a long and growing stream of people coming into my office, many of them close to tears because universal credit has forced them into debt, made it harder for them to stay in work or left many of them facing eviction for rent arrears. Our local council has had to spend £3 million so far to stop people being evicted because of late payments for rent. Local food banks are running out of food because of the vast increase in people having to go there going hungry because of what the governments scheme has done to them and there are thousand tenants in croydon now who have rent arrears of over three months and are at risk of losing their home because of the failures of universal credit. Im calling for the government to cut the waiting time for universal credit and pause the roll out. Glasgow will be the last major city in the uk to be subject to the roll out but before that, how many thousands of families, children and Vulnerable People will have to suffer and starve before it gets to that point . If a tenth of the resource that is put into chasing benefit fraud was put into chasing tax avoidance, how much more resource could support working people and enable them to work rather than cut off back lifelines . I am firmly of the view, as i believe are most people on both sides of this house, that work should always pay and that is the principle that underlines universal credit and the passion that there is on this side of the house to ensure that more people get into work, are supported into work and once there, get on and get ever more work in terms of hours and in terms of quality of work. Members on all sides of this house, the cross party work and pensions select committee, appears, charities, the childrens commissioner and most importantly of all, our constituents, have raised concerns. We cant all be wrong. The six weeks wait must be reduced to a month. Down the corridor, peers, too, were debating universal credit. Labours lady hollis said it was having a catastrophic impact on many claimants. Many, ifear, will never get out of the net we have constructed for them. Debt. Family members themselves struggling trying to support other family members as one sister said, its the poor that are supporting the poorest. Over a quarter are waiting more than six weeks for their initial payment. One in ten for more than ten weeks without earnings, benefits, or savings. Pawning their belongings, missing arrears. Charity workers finding a fiver out of their own pockets to put back on the meterfor some lighting and heating. And all of them facing christmas. Of course im as concerned as anyone else in this chamber about the glitches in the workings of the system involved. Its not be amazed about, its the certainly worry about. But look at the glitches we had in the it systems we had throughout parliament and throughout this government. They are being tackled, these are being tackled and they will be overcome. 0ne young mum visits Saint Aidans Church kitchen in hartlepool with her disabled son. She was moved onto universal credit and waited several weeks for her money. She told one of my clergy that she took paper napkins from mcdonalds because she was unable to afford toilet paper. Her sons condition means that he wears nappies, which she was also unable to afford. Can any of us here imagine the stress and indignity of such a situation . Despite now receiving her money, the majority of her payments go towards her rent arrears, so shes still dependent on saint aidans for a meal and food each week. Hers is one of many stories of families and individuals falling down the slippery slope of rent arrears, personal debt, eviction, and homelessness. Its too simplistic, however, to say that uc alone pushes families into debt. In many cases it exacerbates existing personal debt and makes that debt almost impossible to escape. This is particularly acute in the north east. In hartlepool, gateshead and county durham, more than 30 of adults are indebted and at least three months behind with their bills compared to a National Average of 18 . This will only intensify as payday loan sharks and doorstep lenders increase their worth and their profits. Back in the commons, at the end of mps debate on the subject, the minister said universal credit was being rolled out at a measured pace over nine years with frequent pauses in the process. Universal credit is a vital reform, it changes how we support people out of work and in work and how we help them progress from one into the other. It is a lot of change, a new benefit, the new it system, a new operational system, new ways of working with partners and yes, that does bring with it some challenges. We will continue to work with claimants, with stakeholders and partners, with honourable and right honourable members across the house to resolve these challenges as they arise and improve universal credit as it is introduced across the country. At the end of the debate, mps voted without a division to call on the government to cut the time claimants have to wait before receiving their first universal credit payment. After the vote, frank field said the work and pensions secretary should come to the commons on monday to explain what the government would do now to reform the benefit. The Deputy Speaker said that she would assure the ministers would note the mps request. He should come on monday and respond to this unanimous recommendation we have made to begin a form of universal credit so that some of our constituents might have slightly better christmases. The Prime Minister has announced that parliament is to have an independent grievance procedure to deal with complaints about harassment and abuse. The commons leader Andrea Leadsom told mps that a working group had been set up to decide how it will function. Mps hoped the new system would ensure justice for parliamentary staff and politicians. The working group has agreed that a new system should provide support, advice and action on a wide spectrum of complaints around willing bullying and harassment. We will do everything in our power to ensure the solution is transparent, fair and effective. And this fairness must also apply to mps and peers because we do recognise that right across both houses we have many model employers who genuinely care about and look after their staff extremely well. We all want a robust process that has the confidence of everyone but it is only when it is tested that we will know whether it is robust enough so that everyone can work safely in this amazing place for the good of our constituents and the country. There needs to be absolutely zero tolerance for any abuse or inappropriate behaviour and that all means are deployed notjust to tackle the Current Issues that have been presented but the historical patriarch and cultural hierarchies that have been allowed to develop in this house which have gone unchallenged in the past and we all agree that there needs to be a safe place for anybody to raise any harassment issues and that is the objective of this group. I welcome the statement and having just quickly read through it as well as listen to it i notice it doesnt say the word Sexual Harassment in it once and i would like to put weight behind what the shadow deputy leader said in encouraging the leader to make sure that there is a specialist Sexual Violence service that is giving advice to the working group and also then in place for people in this place afterwards and to urge that mediation in cases of Sexual Harassment is never appropriate. The parties keep on stating that they must have their own Party Procedures. There is, however, ithink as we have seen over the last few weeks a real issue here where what you get is parties acting and lets say for example suspending the whip from a member of parliament but they either member of parliament and they carry on with duties and responsibilities here in the house. The question therefore is how swift and how co located can that process be with what goes on in the house in terms of investigations . Because members of parliament stand accused and the longer this goes on, the more difficult it becomes to both do theirjobs or should they be doing theirjob . And i would like her to look carefully at that. My right honourable friend raises a very important point and one that the working party has certainly acknowledged needs to be resolved and hes right that it is difficult if somebody stands accused to be very clear where theres Party Procedure that may make a decision to take action on the whip and an ongoing grievance or indeed criminal procedure in another area of either policing or with this grievance and complaints procedure. You have to have justice for both sides. If we just have trial by the newspapers or trial by front page, that is notjustice for the young people or the people who feel they have been abused and make allegations nor is it justice for those at the other end. I remember in 2003 a journalist from the mail on sunday coming up to me in the strangers bar and saying were all taking bets on when you commit suicide. I hope itll be before christmas. Im so sorry to hear that and, you know, i really sympathise with the honourable gentleman on that last point. That is really, truly appalling and, you know, we all the nice there is a challenge here with living in the public eye and often unfortunately allegations which are either spurious or indeed malicious or designed to hurt can be made at individuals and thats not right. Mps have denounced an inquiry into a controversial pregnancy test as a whitewash and a cover up. This week, a major scientific review of hormonal tests, including primados, concluded that they did not cause major birth defects. The tests were widely used in the 19505, 60s, and 70s. The inquiry was set up after a long Running Campaign by parents whose children suffered heart problems, missing limbs, spina bifida and other conditions. In the commons, the minister recognised that the conclusion was not what campaigners wanted to hear. Available relevant evidence on the possible association has been extensively and thoroughly reviewed with the benefit of up to date knowledge by experts from the relevant specialisms. The evidence which has been reviewed by the expert group will be published in the new year once it has been rightly checked in line with legal duties and Data Protection confidentiality. In addition to the overall conclusion, the Expert Working Group has made a number of recommendations to safeguard future generations through strengthening the systems in place of detecting, evaluating, managing and communicating safety concerns with use of medicines in early pregnancy. While i recognise the conclusion of the report will be a disappointment to some, i hope they will see the recommendations as positive. I am so disappointed with the ministers response. Clearly he isjust quoting what his staff at the ministry have been telling him. I do wish the minister would actually go through the document that was submitted to the enquiry, the document we have, because if he has read those documents, he would never have come to the despatch box and said what he has said. Im notjust quoting notes that are put before me. Im quoting evidence from an Expert Working Group, an expert panel, and it really would come to something if members in this house suddenly started to second guess expert scientific and medical evidence so im notjust quoting whats before me. On friday, two constituents came to my surgery to speak to me exactly about this. The mother had taken one of these pills and her daughter was born with deformities. Can i suggest, its not the ministers report, hesjust giving us his explanation and hes doing hisjob, but could i suggest that we have a proper backbench debate about this the exercise all these issues because with Great Respect to this working party, having had some experience as a former Public Health minister and knowing about contaminated blood, im afraid to say i smell Something Like a very large rat in all of this and i think there have been cover ups in it. The conclusions dont take away from the suffering experienced by the families but we recognise the reviews conclusion may be difficult to accept by the families, of course we do, and birth defects occur naturally in up to four in every 100 babies and a birth defect in a baby exposed to a medicine during pregnancy does not necessarily mean it was caused by the medicine. There were complaints, too, about how the public release of the report was handled. Does he think 24 hours is a reasonable period of time to ask a family to travel to london from quite a rural parts of the country . Does he also think its appropriate that the honourable lady for Bolton South East and myself were locked out of the press conference that the mhra held yesterday . That in itself smacks of a cover up. The honourable ladys point about the notice the families were given, no, i dont think its good enough and i and my honourable friend in the other place has made that crystal clear. There was some notice given to mrs lyons on friday last week that there was likely to be an event on wednesday but that was confirmed until monday so that was the notice that they got and no, i dont think thats good enough, ive made that very clear. As far as her and the honourable lady who chairs the all party group being locked out the group, i cannot imagine how that happened and again, i have explained to the mhra that i expect them to look into that and come back to me and explain to me how that could have happened to cause while we may disagree, i can see how that merely feeds the Conspiracy Theory thats around this subject. Steve brine. Youre watching thursday in parliament with me, alicia mccarthy. We could be facing a return to the medical dark ages unless action is taken to tackle antibiotic resistance, and to get people to use them only when appropriate. That warning came as mps held a debate to mark antibiotics Awareness Week, and following the launch last month of Public Health englands keep antibiotics working campaign. Its warned that antibiotic resistance, known as amr, already represents a major Global Health issue. In the uk alone, it is estimated that every year at least 5,000 deaths result from antibiotics no longer working for some infections. If we do not act now, Antimicrobial Resistance will be responsible for ten Million Deaths per year by 2050. This is more than the worldwide number of people who were killed by cancer in 2015. We run the risk of returning to a medical dark age, where routine operations, such as hip operations, cannot be carried out, and standard infections today, become deadly. The chief medical officer, professor dame sally davies, has rightly described amr as a catastrophic threat. She has warned of a post antibiotic apocalypse, where 40 of the population die prematurely from infections that we cannot treat. In her view, this could amount to nothing less than the end of modern medicine. We will start with a Public Education programme, to manage expectations, and to highlight the issues of both inappropriate use, and too frequent use. The health minister, steve brine, highlighted the importance of public awareness. Amr is a global problem. The uk has led the way and made significant progress, but this is clearly a long term serious and urgent problem. Initiatives i think such as world antibiotic Awareness Week are very welcome, it gives us an opportunity to continue to discuss things, gives them a media hook to hang them on, and keep them high in the minds of people across all sectors, and vitally, across members of the public. A recent study revealed an increase in the number of girls admitted to hospitalfor self harming over a three year period. In the lords, people wanted to know how the problem was being addressed. They are non stigmatising, and easily accessible. However, i visited an area yesterday, where i was told that all the School Counsellors have had to be sacked because the schools cannot afford to pay them. So, will be minister work with the department for education to ensure that, by the end of this parliament, every secondary state school in this country has a cool councillor . School counsellor . Bullying in schools can start very early, and it can give rise to Severe Mental Health issues. Would you also agree that schools struggle to deal with this issue, partly because they are unclear about how to balance their duties of care to victims and to perpetrators who often have issues of theirown . In the end, it actually comes down to behavioural policies. Schools with very robust behaviour policies, fair and robust behaviour policies, do not tend to see bullying. Those who are more lax on it do, and so first and foremost it is about making sure that teachers have the training and support from the government and parents that they need to crack down on that. Bullying has also moved into different domains, particularly online. You may have seen that his Royal Highness the duke of cambridge is today launching some actions on cyber bullying, so dealing with bullying is a big part of that, and i completely agree with her about the importance of starting hourly. The governments own research, most notably commissioned by dwp, conclusively showed a causal link between young peoples internalising problems such as self harm with conflict in their parents relationships. Will this evidence be acted on in the forthcoming green paper on children and young peoples Mental Health . The department for work and pensions has a cross Government Support for parents. Ill salute the best Community Health services and schools work to provide that support, with a number of parenting programmes out there, and i can assure him that that evidence absolutely takes proper place in the Mental Health strategy we will be publishing for children and young people. Lord 0shaugnessey. Mps are to hold their third day of the detailed consideration of the eu withdrawal bill on tuesday next week. The government has promised 64 hours over eight days for this stage of the bill. It completed its first two days this week without amendment. Whether the Committee Stage of the whole house will be completed before the christmas recess on the 21st of december . And will it be in the other place before the christmas recess . I know that my friends in the other place are very keen to help out. She will be aware that the usual procedure, because it is difficult to project forward with absolute certainty for a lengthy period of time, so we will continue to update the house in the usual way every week with future business, as far as we are able to do so. The snps spokesman reflected on news from outside the chamber while parliament had been away for a brief recess. It has only been a couple of weeks since the last Prime Ministers questions, but i suppose two weeks in politics must seem like an eternity for this government. In that time, they have managed to lose two members of the cabinet, and the brexit civil war now raging would actually put the roundheads and cavaliers to shame. But, fear not, the environmental secretary has apparently been auditioning for the role of chancellor at cabinet meetings, by, according to his colleagues, using lots of economically words, so all is not lost. Well, therell be plenty of economically words next week, with Philip Hammond giving his budget on wednesday. A conservative mp has made his maiden speech. David duguid was one of only two mps elected this year yet to make a speech in the commons. As is tradition, he praised his constituency, which he said was a great place to live and visit. 0ur coast, across the north east of scotland, is like no other in the british isles. Rugged cliffs, home to a wealth of birdlife, including, for information, scotlands only mainland gannet colony, at troup head. Were all coming to visit, then youre all most welcome 0ur shoreline is also regularly visited by porpoises, dolphins, and even the occasional humpback or killer whale. Former metropolitan Police Commissioner sir Bernard Hogan howe has taken his seat in the house of lords. Lord hogan howe was flanked by supporters lord alton of liverpool and lord dholakia as he swore the oath of allegiance to the queen. Lord hogan howe retired as the head of britains Biggest Police force earlier this year after five years in the post, he will sit as an independent crossbencher peer. And thats it from us for now, but dojoin me on friday night at 11 00 on Bbc Parliament for our round up of the week at westminster, when among other things, ill be chatting to conservative mp sarah wollaston, the new elected chair of the powerful commons liaison committee. But, for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. A cold night out there and frost on the way. First thing on friday morning you might even have to scrape your car windows. The good news is that the weather is looking good. Lots of sunshine around. Lots of clear, crisp autumn weather on the way. On thursday we saw a cold front moving across the uk and behind the cold front we have colder air and that cold air is in place right across the country right now. Through the course of the night the skies have cleared the cold front out on the continent there. Temperatures in towns and cities around 2 3 degrees. In rural spots it could be as low as minus four celsius just before sunrise. Really chilly nights out there. The cold nights wont last for very long. We have some slightly milder weather on the way. More on that in just a second. This is what it looks like around eight oclock in the morning on friday. A slightly different story in scotland. Not quite the sunny skies. Plenty of showers around in the Western Isles and the north of scotland. Quite strong winds. Across northern ireland, wales, and much of england it is a crisp start to the day. You can see the City Centre Temperatures around 2 3 degrees. Even three degrees in the centre of london, which is pretty nippy and for exeter at eight oclock in the morning. Beautiful morning on the way right across the uk. Quite a wind blowing across scotland and particularly the far north, even touching gale force at times. Showers moving in. Some of the showers will be wintry, particularly across the hills. A polar air mass from the northern climes. Temperatures will get up to only about eight degrees for most of us. That is briefly. Earlier in the day it will be lower than that. It looks like we are in for another clear and cold friday night. That will not last for very long. There is some cloud and light rain heading our way. Saturday morning looks like it will be cloudy across many parts of england and wales, particularly in the south. By the time we get to about lunchtime those clouds will start to break up and there will be some sunshine on the way. Saturday, admittedly, is looking a little bit mixed. Sunday we are between weather systems. 0ne weather system in the baltic and one in the atlantic. We are in a weak area of high pressure. There will be some sunshine around, particularly in eastern areas. There is a low in the atlantic heading our way and the anticipation is that there will be cloud and rain spinning into some western and south Western Areas a little bit later on on sunday. As i said, the cold air will not last for very long, by the time we get to sunday night and into monday the colder air is swept away and the milder atlantic air returns. Goodbye. Welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. Our top stories. After talks with zimba bwes the globe. Our top stories. After talks with zimbabwes military chiefs, president mugabe remains under house arrest and there is more pressure for him to step down. In the interests of the people of zimbabwe, mr Robert Mugabe must resign. Step down immediately, in line with the National Sentiment and expectation. Aspiration for millions in yemen, living under blockade and on the brink of famine. 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