Engagements — House of Commons, 2017-01-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: Happy new year, Mr Speaker. Sir Ivan Rogers, in his resignation letter, said that people may have to deliver messages to the Government that Ministers may find disagreeable. So here is a message that the Prime Minister may find disagreeable: her lack of priority for the single market is putting jobs in Scotland and the economy at risk. That means her Government are as big a threat to the Union as the SNP. Her Government are not worthy of the trust of Scots, let alone their blind trust, so will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to apologise for threatening the Union and give a solemn promise to every single person in this country that they will not be a penny worse off after a Tory Brexit?; Cheshire schools in areas of rurality and areas of high deprivation will receive some of the lowest per-pupil funding rates in the country under the new proposed funding formula. Does the Prime Minister agree that these discrepancies must be addressed to ensure that Eddisbury pupils get the best possible start in life?; Dewsbury hospital A&E is set for a downgrade this year. Over Christmas, I had constituents who were waiting 20 hours for a bed in a facility that might not even exist next year. Will the Prime Minister please face reality and act now to stop this vital A&E service from disappearing?; Next Thursday evening, I will host the first session of the Bedford community business school, free of charge and open to all, with 250 local people sharing a passion for entrepreneurship and learning tips about business from national and local business leaders. Will my right hon. Friend ensure that her forthcoming industrial strategy has at its heart the passion and the interest of Britain’s small business leaders and entrepreneurs?; The Prime Minister, I am sure, will understand, despite the reassurances, that there are genuine and really serious concerns among staff across the NHS and the care system, and patients and their families, about the pressure that they are under. For that reason, MPs from her own party, from the Labour party and from my party have come together to call for the Government to establish an NHS and care convention to engage with the public, so that we can come up with a long-term settlement for the NHS and care. Would the Prime Minister be prepared to meet us to discuss it, so that she can hear our case?; There can be nothing so distressing for a parent as the death of their child, particularly where that child has been murdered. That is what happened to the two ladies, one of them a constituent of mine, who set up Justice After Acquittal, successfully campaigning for voluntary national standards of support by the Crown Prosecution Service and by the police for the families of murder victims following an acquittal. Those standards are due to be launched here next Tuesday. Will the Prime Minister join me in paying tribute to the determination and energy with which they have campaigned for their cause, and will she continue to ensure, as she always has done, that the voices of the victims of crime and their families are always listened to?; Across the United Kingdom, many banks are accelerating their closure of local branches, with adverse effects on vulnerable and older people and adverse effects on the high street. The Royal Bank of Scotland is closing down branches across Scotland, including those at Juniper Green and Chesser in my constituency. Local convenience stores are taking the strain of processing bills and often face exorbitant bank charges for the privilege of doing so. Will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss how we can realise a situation where banking across the UK services customers and the real economy?; Building a country that works for everyone means doing even more to tackle the economic and social deprivation that has come to afflict pockets of seaside towns such as Rhyl in my constituency. Will my right hon. Friend therefore support Growth Track 360, a locally developed plan to invest in rail infrastructure to help unlock the true potential of the north Wales and Mersey-Dee economic region as an integral part of the northern powerhouse, connected to the rest of the country via the proposed HS2 hub at Crewe?; As Pensions Minister, Steve Webb misled the public about the value of the single-rate pension. He also gave us the Pensions Act 2011. He was rightly booted out by the voters, yet is now deemed suitable for a knighthood. Does the Prime Minister not understand that, unless this Government take action to help the struggling WASPI women, that knighthood will be the final insult to these women?; I welcome the fact that the Prime Minister has raised awareness of the importance of child mental health this week, not least because 65% of young people requiring mental health support in south Warwickshire last year had to wait over 12 weeks before starting treatment. Will my right hon. Friend outline how the new proposals will improve our support network for such vulnerable young people?; The strained accident and emergency provision in my constituency is under review, and the community further up the Cumbrian coast risks losing 24-hour access to accident and emergency and to consultant-led maternity from its local hospital. I understand that the Prime Minister will say that these decisions are to be made locally, but will she at least say that she can understand the anxiety of expectant mums who face a 40-mile journey on difficult roads, which are often blocked, if they have a difficult birth?
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my right hon. Friend for her comments about the mental health announcements that I have made. I am sorry to hear of the particular difficulties that her constituent is experiencing and the distress that they have caused her. Of course, working tax credits provide support for low-income families in work and are designed to incentivise people to increase their working hours. With the new universal credit system, we will obviously have a system of benefits with single, streamlined payments that encourages work, but I am sure the Financial Secretary to the Treasury would be happy to look at the individual case that my right hon. Friend has raised and the issue that she has set out.