Engagements — House of Commons, 2019-06-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: Today is Thank a Teacher Day, and I am sure the whole House would want to express its gratitude to our hard-working, dedicated teachers.Earlier this week, a report from the Department for Education showed that children in coastal areas achieve lower grades than elsewhere, which means that children in constituencies such as mine have a double whammy, because West Sussex has historically been one of the worst-funded areas as well. Given that the PM recognises that fair funding for schools needs to be a priority in the forthcoming comprehensive spending review, will she support setting up a coastal schools challenge fund to replicate the success of the London schools challenge fund, which achieved significant improvements in outcomes from 2003 in London?; Does the Prime Minister agree with me about the importance of tackling corruption and tax evasion around the world and about the key role that knowing who really owns companies plays in that? Does she therefore welcome the announcement today by Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man that they will open their registers in a couple of years’ time, and will she urge our remaining overseas territories to make progress in doing the same?; Following my visit to the Netherlands two weeks ago with Emma Appleby, I have witnessed at first hand the incompetence of the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care in delivering medical cannabis with THC, not just CBD, for children with severe epilepsy. History was made exactly one year ago today when Alfie Dingley received the licence for his medication and the Prime Minister looked Hannah Deacon, Alfie’s mum, in the eye and promised to right this wrong. Today, will the Prime Minister commit to making it part of her legacy to deliver on her promise not just to Alfie, but to the many other children who are still suffering?; Last year, an Ofsted report revealed severe shortcomings in the London Borough of Sutton’s special educational needs department. I have since met many parents, such as Hayley Harding, who have had to resort to tribunals to get an appropriate education, health and care plan for their children. A leaked internal report showed that money is categorically not the issue, as Sutton has the highest per head spend on SEND in the UK. However, it also has one of the highest levels of refusals for EHCP assessments. Will the Prime Minister assure me that Sutton Council will receive all possible assistance from the Government to resolve its lack of leadership and its mismanagement, which were identified in its own report, so that we do not let families down?; Last month, the Prime Minister wrote to the seven Westminster political leaders and said that the victims of the contaminated blood scandal would have to wait years, until the end of the inquiry, for compensation to be paid. That is a political decision. Every 96 hours, a victim dies. While I accept that the Prime Minister made the right choice in setting up the inquiry, would not a real legacy be to pay compensation now, as happened in the Republic of Ireland in the 1990s, for those who have suffered so much for so long at the hands of the state?; Over the past nine years, the Prime Minister has had authority over immigration, first as Home Secretary and now as Prime Minister. By her own metric, she has failed to reduce immigration, and her unjust, discriminatory and racist policies have caused thousands of people to be treated inhumanely. In Refugee Week, the last week of her term in office, can she call her record on immigration anything other than a failure?; At the end of her career, will the Prime Minister take time to reflect that her creation of the hostile environment led to the Windrush scandal, a catalogue of errors in immigration decisions, people feeling unsafe in their own homes, an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion, and to xenophobia, which has damaged our relations with our European neighbours? Will she apologise for that?
Andrew James Griffiths (Conservative, Centre-right): Last week, we learned that a 13-year-old boy who brought his rapist to court received £20 in compensation. A 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl received £50 for being abused as children. Does the Prime Minister agree that this is a terrible way to treat the victims of child sexual abuse, that they deserve to be treated fairly and compassionately, and that it sends out all the wrong signals to anybody who is thinking of bringing their perpetrator to justice? Does she agree that it takes huge courage to bring a case such as that, and will she urgently look at a review of criminal compensation orders, so that victims of child sexual abuse get the justice that they deserve?