Transcripts For BBCNEWS Thursday In Parliament 20240714

Now on bbc news, thursday in parliament. Hello, and welcome to thursday in parliament. Coming up after the suicide of his father, an mp calls for a change in the law to allow assisted dying. What drove him to end his life at that point was the fear that if he didnt act when he could and was still able to do so, then he would lose the opportunity to act at all. Ministers are accused of potential cover up or incompetence over documents relating to the deaths of disability benefits claimants. A governments first duty is to protect its people all its people. But they are failing the sick and disabled, and this reveals the enormity of this failure. And peers press the government to force muslim couples to have a civil marriage, as well as a religious ceremony. Where human rights are concerned, there is no room for cultural exceptions. But first an mp has made an emotional plea for the laws on assisted dying to be changed on the anniversary of his fathers suicide. Labours Paul Blomfield told the commons that his father made the decision to end his life after being told he had terminal lung cancer. It is by a coincidence to the day the eighth anniversary of my receiving a phone call here in westminster that my father had been found dead in his garage. And im sure that he made up his mind to take his own life soon after receiving a terminal diagnosis of inoperable lung cancer. But he still died prematurely. And im sure that what drove him to end his life at that point was the fear that if he didnt act when he could and was still able to do so, then he would lose the opportunity to act at all. The mp whod opened the debate had his own very personal story to tell. Six years ago this week, on a sunnyjuly day like today, my father made a decision. At home in devon, in the bed he shared with my stepmother for over 30 years, with his family around him, he took communion for the last time, said a few words of goodbye to each of us, and asked the district nurses to switch off the oxygen and make him comfortable. A few months ago, jeff whaley made a similar decision. Cut from the same cloth as my dad, he was a gentleman of the old school. But jeff had motor neuron disease, and recognised that he was likely to suffer horribly in the final days and weeks of his life. He knew that his only chance of a good death was to arrange to go to dignitas in switzerland. Thanks to the support of his wife and daugher, he said jeff had died on his own terms. But several months earlier than he would have needed to if the same procedure had been available here in the uk. He wasnt calling for a change in the law, but a review of the impact of the existing legislation. A labour mp intervened. My mum died suddenly, riddled with cancer. I know that if this law had been passed at that time, she would have spent her last months consumed by guilt and anxiety about when she should press that button because she would have worried about the pressure on me and my sister shed have worried about the cost of her care and worried that people wouldve thought she was consuming resources that she shouldnt do. I am utterly certain that the honourable lady wouldve wanted with all the generosity in the world to ensure that her mother had the full support available to her. Well, thatjust might not be the view of her mother, in the pain and difficulty she was facing in her death. Why wasnt she allowed the opportunity to make that decision . I must give way to the honourable lady. She would have argued that she should have had the right to take her own life. Let me just put back to him one statistic he mentioned Washington State. 51 of the people who took the tablets from the Washington State 51 gave their reason for doing so, because they were a burden to the people they love. And thats the exact reason my mother wouldve done the same. A conservative mp spoke against a change in the law, saying the public did not support it. The more aware people are of the implications of change, the more concerned people become. And i can quote from another poll from february of this year that over half the public say that people would feel pressurised into accepting help to take their own lives and so as not to be a burden on us if assisted suicide were legal. Only 25 disagreed. An emotional debate on assisted dying. The department for work and pensions has been accused of potential cover up or incompetence over documents relating to the deaths of disability benefits claimants. A labour mp demanded an urgent ministerial statement over concerns that the department failed to send crucial evidence about deaths linked to the Work Capability assessment to the independent expert who was reviewing how the tests were working. Talking about the circumstances of peoples death, ive said a governments first duty is to protect its people, all its people. But they are failing the sick and disabled, and this reveals the enormity of this failure. The Department Takes the death of any claimant extremely seriously and always conducts an investigation into the circumstances. The department is continually working to improve its safeguarding practises, working with Partner Agencies and local government. And the department is presently undertaking a review of the departmental safeguarding policy guidances available to staff, and will report in the autumn of 2019. And the scope of the review, mr speaker, is considering what more about what we had the department can do to help vulnerable claimants with an emphasis on ensuring both safety and working with partners to provide the necessary support when and where necessary. And the review covers all areas of dwp delivery activities. The opposition parties piled in to criticise the governments treatment of disabled people. There is a systemic problem at the dwp when it comes to meeting the needs of disabled people, and the facts speak for themselves. 0ver1 million sanctions have been imposed on disabled people since 2010, 73 of both pip and esa cases that went to tribunal were found in favour of the appellants in 2018 19, and the government is currently carrying out seven reviews into different aspects of the Social Security system where disabled people were wrongly denied support that they should have been entitled to. The austerity measures of this government have leaked a system that can no longer considers Vulnerable People as individuals in need of support. But it views them with suspicion from the outset, and its sickening when faced with such serious allegations as peoples deaths the government took so long to admit their failure to send their own independent reviewer documents that ministers knew would have linked the fitness for work tests with the deaths of disabled benefit claimants. Can i raise the death of one of my constituents shortly after he lost a personal independence payment . I asked for an independent inquiry, which the secretary of state refused. Given our exchanges today, would he take the message back to her that i would like her to reconsider her decision . And as the Prime Minister laid down for hillsboro and for the poison blood inquiry, it was the duty of departments to produce information, not for the chair of an inquiry to fish for information which would be crucial to the proper consideration of the events that lead to someones death. The minister said he would take what frank field said very seriously. A conservative wanted a reassurance. Can the minister confirmed for me that whenever a claimant dies, that a thorough review is undertaken by the department, and that is quite rightly the process to be followed . Well, i thank my honourable friend for that question, and for the way in which he put it. We do take all cases of this nature incredibly seriously. Since 2015, mr speaker, the department has undertaken 84 internal process reviews. And the department carries out these reviews for a number of reasons, and theyre not only in cases related to suicide. Such reviews do not mean, i should stress, that the department was at fault, and these reviews do contain in the majority of cases very personal information so its not right that they would be published. But nevertheless, it is incredibly important that we do them because lessons where there can be learned should be learned. Will quince. Youre watching thursday in parliament with me, mandy baker. Ajustice minister has told mps he can see no reason why the outsourcing firm serco cant continue to supply services, despite a £19 million fine for fraud and false accounting over its provision of electronic tagging to the ministry ofjustice. The fine is part of a deal with the Serious Fraud office, bringing to an end an investigation that began in 2013. The company has already paid nearly £70 million in compensation to the government. Serco had been understating how profitable the contract had been in its reporting to the justice ministry. Called to the commons to answer an urgent question, the minister welcomed the end of the case. The agreement allows the parties to draw a line under the matter. Following the successful conclusion of this process, we see no reason why serco should not continue to be a strategic supplier to government and compete for government contracts. We conducted an investigation into the matters raised in the agreement, announced yesterday, and we are content the matters were resolved in 2013 14, when serco reached a financial settlement of 60. 5 million with the moj, and undertook an extensive self cleaning exercise. Serco has said it was mortified its uk subsidiary, serco geografix, had overcharged to tag criminals and repeated an unreserved apology. But labour didnt accept it was all water under the bridge. This isjust the latest scandal to hit ourjustice system, involving the private sector in recent months. We have seen the private probation contracts terminated early, we have seen hmp birmingham private prison return from the public sector, and new Research Showing disproportionate violence in private prisons. We have seen the collapse of cirillion, meaning prison maintenance works were brought back in house. Each time we are told its an isolated case, so will the minister finally admit that in reality, its a systematic failure. Right across justice, home affairs, and other government departments, ill conceived and badly managed contracts are leaving Vital Public Services in disarray. The government finally saw sense in probation, but elsewhere, all that seems to happen is that the same small group of Companies Get more and more contracts based on a race to the bottom towards cutprice service provision. So isnt it time for a fundamental review of how these contracts are awarded to the government . Isnt fishing repeatedly from the same small pool of companies . I think the minister deserves a medal for coming with such a positive outlook on what has been a major catastrophe, and we know with all those strategic supplies, that one of the really key issues is the governments oversight and management of these contracts, where things go wrong, but they are too big to fail. What is his department learning in reality and going to do differently in making sure that those skills are there in the several service to actually oversee these contracts, and pick up these problems much sooner . I think what i would say to her is since 2010, one crucial change has been the introduction of crown representatives in each of these business areas. Thats making sure the government has someone sitting inside the room, making sure the decisions are being taken appropriately. On the part of my department, we are reviewing all these contracts carefully, working with both serco and other private providers who work in the public sector, to make sure that the quality of what they provide meets their contractual obligations. Is he aware of any of the people involved in the original wrongdoings still being associated with the company . Im not aware of any potential individual prosecutions arriving in this investigation, but what i can tell you is that since the point of this investigation commencing, serco has had a complete overhaul of its senior executives. Has a new chief secretary office, new chief financial officer, new chairman, and in turn a new board, serco has had a thoroughgoing overhaul, and recognises now what went wrong in the past. Paul maynard. The government has insisted its up to the bbc to provide free tv licences for the over 75s. Last month, the bbc announced that free tv licences for up to 3. 7 million pensioners were being scrapped. Under the new rules, only low income households where one person receives the pension credit benefit will still be eligible for a free licence. Four years ago, the government announced the bbc would take over the cost of providing the free licences by 2020. But that would have cost £745 million a fifth of the bbcs budget. Many mps directed their anger at the government. The bbc are not a benefits agency, so both tory leadership contenders have condemned the proposal to remove their tv licenses from over 75s, and stated that it must be reversed. The director general has said rightly that the government is responsible for the tv licence proposal, and they would be open to conversation with the government on its reversal, so can the secretary of state tell us when further conversations may happen, and when will this benefit cut be reversed . Well mr speaker, as the honourable gentleman knows, the decision to transfer this responsibility to the bbc was taken in 2017 by this house, in fact. In the Digital Economy act, but i can assure him that the conversations about what more we expect of the bbc will continue, and we expect them to do more. Of course it was in 2017, his party had its manifesto that they would cut the free tv licenses. On monday people on the street were infuriated by this, there were six and half thousand over 75s in my constituency, so will he come and visit and tell them why hes planning to cut their tv licence . Well mr speaker, im happy to send the message to them that i share their disappointment. Ive made that clear on a number of occasions. But in fact we can go back further than 2017, because in 2015, the arrangement was made with the bbc that this responsibility would transfer, was part of the charter settlement in 2015. So this has been known for some time by the bbc, they have had the opportunity to prepare for it, and in our view, they need to do better. We are not hiding behind the bbc again, can the minister explain to my constituent who rang up to hear that his 86 year old neighbour, who is a veteran, who relies on his tv for company, should have is tv licence taken away, the minister of defence, who opened up in the armed forces debate last week, thought this was unfair, does the minister . In relation to veterans, she makes a good point, and its one of the issues that i have raised with the bbc, and i would expect that they will be able to do more for veterans, and that they should. Why dont we get rid of all tv licenses altogether for everyone, and force the bbc to compete for its revenues like every other broadcaster. The supermarket equivalent of this is under threat of criminal sanction, forcing everyone to spend £150 in tesco, even if they shop at aldi, sans berries, co op, or elsewhere. No, mr speaker, i cant agree with my honourable friend about that, we have looked carefully in previous years at whether or not this is the right way to fund the bbc, and the conclusion thats been reached is that it is, and the government has no plans to change that fundamental funding model. Perhaps the most difficult part of growing old is the loss of a husband, wife, or partner. The person you have shared your every day and every thought with, often over a lifetime. There are nearly 600,000 widowed men, and one and half million widowed women over the age of 75. An estimated seven out of ten widowers are going to lose their free tv licence. Thats nearly one and a half Million People who have lost their life partner, who are now going to be stripped of the comforts of their television by this conservative government. I asked the secretary of state, can he live with that . Mr speaker, the decision thats been made is a decision to transfer this responsibility to the bbc. How the bbc chooses to exercise their responsibility is, as they and we say, their responsibility. The point about the honourable gentleman makes is a fair one. And it is a point that needs to be heard by the bbc as they make their decision, as to what more they can do to help those who are in particular need, or are particularly vulnerable. That is exactly the conversation that i am having with the bbc at the moment, and that we will continue. The decision for the honourable gentleman is how he intends to back up the pledges that he has so far made to take this responsibility back to the taxpayer, and how he intends to fund that change. The culture secretary, jeremy wright. The government has come under pressure to act on the recommendation of an independent review that muslim couples should undergo a civil marriage, as well as a religious ceremony. The review, led by professor mona siddiqui, said the change would give Women Protection under the law. But the government has rejected the proposals, saying islamic sharia law has no force in the uk. I have had no response, or seen any evidence of progress on this crucial issue, causing such suffering to muslim women who are under the implication of sharia law. Many of them come to me, desperate, destitute, even suicidal, with no rights following asymmetrical divorce, evicted by their husbands, or trapped in unhappy polygamist marriages. In the recommendation of the sharia law review and the message from the parliamentary 70 and the council of europe a re totally consistent with the objectives of my private members bill, requiring all religious marriages to be registered, thereby giving women the rights they so urgently need. Therefore may i ask the minister for an assurance that the legislation will be introduced as a matter of great urgency, as so many women are suffering in ways that would make the suffergettes turn in their graves. My lords, we understand and recognise there is a very real issue here, but is more of a social issue than a legal issue. I cannot accept that the proposed way forward set out by the noble lady in her private members bill is appropriate. Her proposals would effectively deregulate marriage ceremony law, and undermined the safeguards in it, including in relation to sham and forced marriages. Its not a social issue, it is a legal issue. So therefore we do need, and i entirely agree with baroness cox, that it is a matter that does need to be looked at urgently. We can have a register which allows imans to register very easily, and we do need to do this as quickly as we possibly can. My noble friend is perfectly entitled to disagree with me, and i in turn disagree with her. And i in turn disagree with her. So let us be clear as to what the position is, because some of this proceeds upon a misapprehension. It is perfectly possible to perform a lawful marriage in england and wales under sharia law, provided that the relevant mosque has been identified and registered by the registrars, a place for the performance of that ceremony, and that a person has been identified by the registrars as a suitable person to be present for that ceremony. And the law of england and wales is then to be adhered to. Sharia law is not the law of england and wales, it has no standing. Our national law prevails in these matters, our National Marriage law prevails in these matters. Again i reiterate, we understand and appreciate there is a social issue here, because many are not aware of the true position with regard to our law in respective marriage. Lords, the council of europe referred to by in the question by the noble lady, baroness cox, are very clear. Where human rights are concerned, there is no room for cultural exceptions. The independent review, which is commissioned by the government in 2016 is also clear on its main recommendations that muslim women undergoing islamic marriage must be protected by british civil law. Too many Vulnerable Women are suffering, and will suffer, until the government pulls its finger out and implements this recommendation. My lords, with great respect, some of what has been said by the council of europe and its resolution 2253 does not reflect the true position of marriage law in england and wales. And in particular, the reference to simply registering a marriage is inept, it does not reflect the true position of our law in england and wales. Civil registration, per se, is not a route to a lawful marriage. Lord keen. Well, brexit has seen something of a re emergence in the house of commons this week. Kick started by the two tory leadership candidates and the chancellor who expressed deep concern about leaving the eu without a deal. The snp were keen to talk about it, too. Coming to the debate about brexit, you know that thing we were giving all the extra time to actually try and resolve, maybe we should actually debate it then occasionally, because we have heard from both of the parliamentary, both of the candidates for the tory leadership, and they are both saying that they are prepared to take this country out of the eu without a deal. We have got to start to prepare the parliamentary fight back, there is a huge moment coming, where there will be no deal brexiteers versus parliamentary democracy, and democracy says no to the brexiteers mr speaker, we now have to prepare to get ready for that fight. He has called for further debates on brexit, i think there are many in this house that feel that we have probably had, had more than enough debates on brexit, but i can assure him, that it is inconceivable that there will not be many more debates on brexit in the weeks and months to come. Now, you may remember there was talk about suspending parliament to get brexit through. One of the early leadership contestants, dominic raab, raised the issue of suspension or prorogation, as its offically called. The speaker said that was not going to happen, but one snp mp wanted to run it past the attorney general. If, as appears to be the case, that the right honourable gentleman does become the next Prime Minister upon which the attorney general is a supporter, will he support the right honourable gentlemans view to rule out, or refusing to allow parliament for an ordeal brexit, which would surely be an act of constitutional vandalism, does he agree with that . The uxbridge mp is, of course, borisjohnson. That is a question which will be reviewed at the time, and the circumstances of any application for are matter not for me, but for the Prime Minister, and her majesty. Thats true, for the government has noted if parliament was to facilitate no deal, it would not be possible to pass any bill, which our remaining secretary of legislation needed to prepare the uk statue book for such an outcome. Would he therefore agree that leaving the eu with no deal, with no function in parliament, really to our country, and a legislative black hole, at a time when people across the country will be looking to the government for emergency actions. This house has been given the opportunity of leaving the european with a deal on three separate occasions, i dont recall this snp ever voting for one of them. The answer is quite simple. We can still pass with a withdrawal agreement, we can still leave the European Union in an orderly way, but what is now quite clear is that the imperative to leave the European Union is overriding, we must leave, we must leave in my view, this year, and on the 31st of october. Geoffrey cox. And thats it for now. But please join me at the same time tomorrow for a round up of the whole week in parliament including a look at what theresa may might do once that removal van leaves downing street. But for now from me, mandy baker, goodbye. Hello there. If you were looking for the warmest, sunniest weather on thursday, you had to turn your eyes southwards. The further south you went, the bluer the skies remained. A bit of wispy, high cloud overhead in london, but temperatures in the london area got very close to 27 degrees. Compare and contrast that with the scene for this weather watcher in ullapool, in north west scotland. Grey, murky, damp, temperatures at 13 degrees. And similar rules apply through the day ahead. The best of the sunshine to be found across central and southern parts of the uk. Further north, more cloud, some patchy rain, some mist and murk, especially for hills and coasts in the west. And then some heavy rain returning to northern and western scotland later in the day, where it will also be quite breezy. The will also be quite breezy. Wind will be pretty light, north east the wind will be pretty light, north east england should see some brightness at times, north west england tending to cloud over during the day, for Northern Ireland it is tending to become quite grey and damp. The westerns got them feel see heavy burst of rain setting and by the end of the afternoon stop it in scotla nd the end of the afternoon stop it in scotland getting some showers from the hills and mountains, the rain quite light and patchy. There might be some brighter grimaces. As you go into friday evening, we push this band of cloud and patchy rain further southwards, ahead of it some clear spells, behind the sky starts to clear once again. Temperatures overnight between ten and 15 degrees. As we go into saturday, this band of cloud and patchy rain with the cold front. To change things because behind it all start to get into some cool and fresh ever stop head of the weather front, someone stop head of the weather front, someone lingering. As you go through the day on saturday, it may well be that the boss of the vacant status only stays sunny all day long. As you enter east anglia, the midlands into wales, northern income, Northern Ireland and scotland seeing cooler and fresher feelings. We Northern Ireland and scotland seeing cooler and fresherfeelings. We make it to 22 or 23 across parts of the south. As we look ahead to sunday, that front will have clear to all of us 0 that front will have clear to all of us so all of us in the call and fresh air. A lot of clutter run, spells of sunshine, one or two showers here and there, most places will state drive. Doctor bridges of 13 22 will state drive. Doctor bridges of 13 22 degrees. Top chapters. Welcome to bbc news, im mike embley. 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