Here you can read brief extracts of my some of my recent speeches in the House of Commons which should give you an idea of the kind of issues I raise in the chamber.
If you would like to read any of the debates below in full please click here
Economic Growth (15 May 2013)
Guy Opperman: I am glad to see that the shadow Chancellor is beginning to agree with our plans for regional banking reform with local banks. However, he would improve his banking credibility if he were to repay the £3 million owed by the Labour party to the Co-operative bank. Does he agree with that?
Guy Opperman: People in the north-east welcome the three-year fuel duty freeze, but we have concerns that the OFT, despite having had repeated evidence, particularly in rural Northumberland, of a lack of competition, has still failed to act. Does the Secretary of State agree that a way forward would be to summon the OFT to the House so that all MPs can make representations in his presence and get some...
Oral Answers to Questions — Education: Headteachers (Academies) (22 April 2013)
Guy Opperman: Head teachers in Northumberland find it unacceptable that high local government pension scheme rates are set simply because a school decides to become an academy, and yet that is the policy of the county council. Does the Secretary of State agree that that policy is totally wrong and that head teachers who aspire for their schools to be academies should be encouraged and supported?
Written Answers — Energy and Climate Change: Biofuels (15 April 2013)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (1) what tonnage of domestic biomass was used for energy generation in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; and what estimate his Department has made of the likely tonnage in 2013; (2) what the total amount of taxpayer-funded subsidy was on the tonnage of domestic biomass used in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; and what estimate his...
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation: amendment of the Law (21 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: The good constituents of Hexham will welcome action on fuel duty, support for the victims of Equitable Life, action on increased infrastructure, tax-free child care, decreases in corporation tax, support for business and the raising of the personal allowance up to £10,000 by 2014, which will take millions more low-paid people out of tax altogether. The action on fuel duty is the most...
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation: amendment of the Law (21 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: There may have been plenty of times when the previous Government chose not to raise prices, but they did increase them on 10 occasions, and those with long memories in Northumberland and in Scotland remember that. [Interruption.] Opposition Members may chunter, but that is the bottom line. The full acceptance of the Heseltine report was particularly welcomed in the north-east. It was...
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation: amendment of the Law (21 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: That is entirely the case. As we all know, 75% of bank lending in this country comes from the big banks and few smaller community banks are supported. The decline in local lending is definitely affecting SMEs. There were four challenges to the creation of new local banks. First, there was a lack of legislation to facilitate such changes. We passed that legislation in the Financial Services...
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation: amendment of the Law (21 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: The shadow Chancellor took us on an interesting history tour of former Chancellors. Does the Business Secretary recall who it was who advocated light-touch banking regulation, sold our gold and uttered the famous phrase, “No more boom and bust”?
Biomass Power Generation — [Mrs Anne Main in the Chair] (20 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: Everyone here would agree that the fundamental concept of biomass is a good thing. There can be no objection by any Member of Parliament or any constituent to the fundamental principle and support for it. However, as always with Government policy, including in the three years that I have been in the House, the consequences are not always what we would wish to see. I am faced with a...
Biomass Power Generation — [Mrs Anne Main in the Chair] (20 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: In accordance with the time-honoured traditions of the House, I shall be delighted to write to my hon. Friend and give him chapter and verse. The honest reality is this: I cannot give him chapter and verse right now. However, he will be fully aware that there are only two places where a biomass energy company can purchase its timber product. It can come from this country—we have 12...
Biomass Power Generation — [Mrs Anne Main in the Chair] (20 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: I will not give way any more. The situation surely is this. On any interpretation, if there is no energy company in this country that is utilising domestic wood—
Biomass Power Generation — [Mrs Anne Main in the Chair] (20 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: If there is none or no significant one, why is a subsidy needed? If there is no utilisation, that is all the more reason why the Minister should take the dramatic point of view that we should get rid of the subsidy. With no disrespect, the energy companies cannot have it both ways. They cannot say, “We need a subsidy to buy timber in this country; that subsidy is to help us,” and,...
Biomass Power Generation — [Mrs Anne Main in the Chair] (20 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: On this occasion, I will.
Biomass Power Generation — [Mrs Anne Main in the Chair] (20 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: I accept that. We all understand that to kick-start energy policy, there must be subsidy—no one disputes that—and there has been, in a multitude of different energy fields over a long time, under successive Governments, that process. However, just as the Government have reviewed the subsidy that exists in relation to solar or other types of energy production, so the Government...
Biomass Power Generation — [Mrs Anne Main in the Chair] (20 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: Mrs Main, I take everything that you say very seriously and most particularly the fact that I have two minutes and 54 seconds in which to finish. It comes down to this. The Minister is a free-market economics guru. He is a robust embracer of his brief. However, I remain to be convinced of why we subsidise one item for one particular organisation, while we do not subsidise on the other hand. I...
Biomass Power Generation — [Mrs Anne Main in the Chair] (20 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: I apologise for arriving late for the debate, Mrs Main. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Selby and Ainsty (Nigel Adams) on securing it, and thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price) for taking my intervention. I should declare an interest as a member of the all-party group for the wood panel industry, and I have an employer in the industry in my...
Biomass Power Generation — [Mrs Anne Main in the Chair] (20 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: Will my hon. Friend comment on the fact that the timber price has gone up by at least half since we have had the domestic subsidy?
Oral Answers to Questions – Communities and Local Government: new Clause 21A – Awards of exemplary damages (18 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: Our constituents want a press that does not abuse the innocent, but that exposes the wrongdoer, the charlatan and the fraudster. I pay tribute to the work of Lord Justice Leveson, and to the people who have given evidence. Anyone who has ever given evidence or conducted legal proceedings will know that giving evidence is a traumatic and upsetting process, and to give evidence to the Leveson...
Oral Answers to Questions – Communities and Local Government: new Clause 21A – Awards of exemplary damages (18 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: I hesitate at any stage in my parliamentary career to disagree on a matter either of parliamentary protocol or of statutory interpretation with the éminence grise that is my hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg). However, on this point I would disagree with him, because although the charter has to be brought into fruition through this House, it is clear that...
Oral Answers to Questions – Communities and Local Government: new Clause 21A – Awards of exemplary damages (18 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: My hon. and learned Friend is making a very good case. Does he agree that the PCC was notoriously fallible when resolving large newspaper disputes, but very effective at resolving disputes involving local media and newspapers, which genuinely respected and obeyed its procedures? The danger with the new system, which my hon. and learned Friend is outlining eloquently, is that the local paper...
Oral Answers to Questions – Communities and Local Government: new Clause 21A – Awards of exemplary damages (18 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: Does my hon. and learned Friend agree that there appears to be, in effect, almost a mirror image of the common law system of exemplary damages? Under the present system, which he rightly describes, for an unlawful arrest involving a police officer verballing an innocent defendant, for example, a judge would give exemplary damages. Surely that would be mirrored in exactly the same way in the...
Oral Answers to Questions – Communities and Local Government: new Clause 21A – Awards of exemplary damages (18 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: I am delighted to observe that the Labour party studied the legislation in such detail before presenting it. I should probably declare that I am a qualified mediator and arbitrator. Under the current system, people involved in arbitration can appeal against the process if they are not happy with it, and the litigation can begin anew. Would that arrangement continue, and how would an...
Oral Answers to Questions – Communities and Local Government: new Clause 21A – Awards of exemplary damages (18 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: The fundamental problem is not necessarily the costs paid at the end of the case, but the costs of a litigant’s bringing an action against a publisher. I and my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Harborough (Sir Edward Garnier) have represented many individuals who would have struggled to bring such actions without protections. Will the Secretary of State advise the House of what...
Falkland Islands Referendum (12 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: Today the Falkland islanders showed unity over their future, with a referendum in which 99.8% of the votes cast were in favour of remaining British. The referendum asked them: “Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom?” Only three people voted against. Argentina has now been beaten, I would suggest, both on the battlefield and at the ballot box. It is time for Argentina to accept that the islanders have a right to be there. They do not deserve to be bullied, threatened or intimidated by a close neighbour.
Forced Conversion of Schools to Academies (12 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: With the hon. Gentleman’s experience of ARK, does he not accept that in even his own constituency—I do not extend the point to all other ARK schools around the country—when ARK has gone in and schools have become academies, they have transformed the education? Without knowing his constituency, I suggest that all the schools ARK has gone into have had a successful outcome....
Forced Conversion of Schools to Academies (12 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: Thank you, Mrs Main. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Southport (John Pugh) on securing this debate. I have to confess that the problem in Northumberland is not that the county councils are being bullied by the Government but, rather, that the county councils are bullying the schools. The reality of the situation is that Northumberland has few academies; my constituency does not...
Oral Answers to Questions – Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Army Basing Plan (5 March 2013)
Guy Opperman: People in Northumberland will be delighted that our long campaign to retain Albemarle barracks has been successful, for which I thank the Secretary of State. We will welcome the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery as much as we have supported the 39th Regiment Royal Artillery. I visited Albemarle again only three weeks ago. Will the Secretary of State meet me again to ensure that the present...
Opposition Day – Housing Benefit (Under-occupancy Penalty) (27 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: I am most grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way. May I draw her back to fundamental principles? I am listening to the argument that she is making with interest, but there is one fundamental point that the architects of the motion do not address. Is it accepted that the housing benefit bill, which is rising, needs to come down—yes or no?
Written Answers – Business, Innovation and Skills: Employment: Females (14 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of women in the workplace?
Written Answers – Business, Innovation and Skills: Regional Growth Fund: North East (14 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect of the Regional Growth Fund on job creation in (a) Northumberland and (b) the North East?
Written Answers – Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Forests (7 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to combat deforestation; and what assessment he has made of the final report by the Independent Panel on Forestry, published in July 2012.
Written Answers – Energy and Climate Change: Wind Power (7 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what limits he has placed on the development of on-shore wind capacity.
Neonatal Care (6 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: Does the Minister accept that, as the health care reforms kick in, it is incumbent upon GPs to make the point when they first advise expectant mothers that they can give birth at various places and that midwife-led units provide the full spectrum of care from well before the birth to well after it?
Neonatal Care (6 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: I am most grateful to you, Mr Streeter, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris) for letting me speak for literally 90 seconds at the end of his impressive speech. I endorse everything that my hon. Friend says, and I want to add my endorsement of the amazing work done by the NHS staff in my area of Northumberland, specifically at Hexham general hospital. It is an...
Neonatal Care (6 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. I have a very successful midwife-led maternity unit at Hexham general hospital. Does he agree that such units can provide a fantastic ongoing service, but that it is very important that parent and larger hospitals in the region provide them with neonatal transfers and ongoing support?
Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill (5 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: This is one of the finest debates that I have ever had the privilege of listening to, with outstanding contributions on both sides. This House, I suggest, is on a journey, and it is a journey that can be traced back many years. A hundred years ago there were the suffragettes and the opportunity for women to have the vote. In 1922 women were entitled to be MPs. Fifty years ago we had the civil rights movement and in 1967 homosexuality was madelegal. Approximately 10 years ago civil partnerships were made legal. In that context, the House is on a journey and the country is on a journey too. We are all changing. The House must change with it, and so must the country. That is why I will support the Bill tonight.
To the many people who have come to see me or have written to me, whether from the Catholic Church, the Church of England or other faiths, I say that I respect entirely that this is a very large step for all of us to take and that it will have a significant impact on all of us, but it is right that we should support those who wish to go on this journey.
The Bill is not perfect. Anyone who has listened to the debate will know that even the most ardent supporters in the debate accept that the Bill requires improvement as it navigates its way through Committee. I for one strongly urge the House that the Bill should have proper Committee consideration and amendment as it goes forward.
For me, this is a matter of commitment. I have spent 20 years as a community activist, councillor, lawyer, and now MP seeing examples of the difficulties that occur when couples fail to commit and fail to bring up children in the right way. Yet when two people show a desire to commit in the most serious way possible, are we to deny them that opportunity merely because they are of the same sex? That cannot be right. We know that married couples are twice as likely to stay together as cohabiting couples. Yes, there are clear religious problems with the arguments made in favour of the Bill, but I cannot conceive of a God who creates, allows and permits homosexuals but would then want us to deny them the right to seek marital fulfilment within a religious context.
The protections that have been put into the Bill are ample. The examples that we see in other countries all across the world show that this process can be navigated without recourse to the European Court of Human Rights or other legal jurisdictions. It cannot be right that we are failing to allow religious groups, including the Quakers and the Unitarians, who want to conduct such marriages to be able to move forward on that. With respect, that seems totally illogical. I am satisfied that the necessary religious freedoms are in place and that no institution or church leader, be they Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist or whatever, can be forced to conduct such marriages. Do not take my word for it, Mr Speaker. Rabbi Julia Neuberger has said:
“It is precisely because marriage is such a uniquely important institution that we should ensure that all couples who want to get married can do so, regardless of their sexuality.”
Some have insisted that same-sex marriage would undermine the institution of marriage. Does anyone here feel that they would be less married because we had gay constituents who could commit in that way? I am not married. I have yet to find the woman who would want to marry someone such as me—but she is out there, Mr Speaker, I promise you. When I do want to marry, the fact that gay friends and gay colleagues are also getting married would not stop me from doing so.
Oral Answers to Questions - Communities and Local Government: Syria (Humanitarian Response) (4 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: I welcome this international aid to Syria on a combined basis, but following on from the good colonel from Beckenham, may I invite the Secretary of State to address the issue of safe havens in Syria or on the edge of it? What prospect is there of such safe havens being established in the absence of support from Russia and China, which thus far have not been of assistance?
Oral Answers to Questions - Communities and Local Government: Banking Reform (4 February 2013)
Guy Opperman: I welcome the proposal, as well as the fact that we are taking on the bully banks on interest rate swaps and clearing up the big banks, which have had grave deficiencies for a considerable time. Does the Minister agree that the Bill will also make it easier to create the local, regional banks that we need to provide the competition, access to finance and community trust we are trying to...
Regional Government (North) (30 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: The Minister is right that localism in its purest form is an exceptionally popular feature; certainly, it is massively welcomed in Northumberland. I suggest that he go an extra mile and propose the disbandment of the unitary authority that was created by Lord Prescott of Hull. Localism would then return to its purest form, and we would get back Tynedale district authority, which is much...
Regional Government (North) (30 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: To follow up the comments by the hon. Member for Halifax (Mrs Riordan) and those of the Minister, two groups are forming positive local solutions in the north-east: Lord Adonis is meeting various members of the local community, and an organisation has created the January declaration. I urge the Minister to study that manifesto and to meet me, because in the north-east, particularly in...
Regional Government (North) (30 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing the debate, but does she not agree with me on the following? This matter was decided in the north-east in July 2004, when an overwhelming majority of 77.9% rejected a regional assembly.
Regional Government (North) (30 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: The previous Government then decided not to proceed in the north-west, either. Given that, surely this matter has been settled, or is the hon. Lady saying that matters have changed since then?
Regional Government (North) (30 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: I am most grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way again. I do not want to keep interrupting her, but last May certain parts of the region were offered mayors, who would surely be a form of devolved administration and powerful local leaders, but they were rejected. Given that that forms part of the “January declaration” on the north-east, does she not agree that a mayor would be a...
Regional Government (North) (30 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: I promise that this will be the last time I intervene. Let us look at the northern hub, for example. With respect, it was promised for years under the previous Government, but came to fruition only under this Government. We are transforming the railways in the north. The hon. Lady talks about infrastructure, but surely that is a classic example of central Government getting out of the way to...
Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Underemployment (29 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: The Minister and I met local enterprise partnership members in Newcastle 10 days ago and discussed the city deal and the increase in job numbers. Does he agree that, with a 9,000 increase in job numbers in the north-east in the last quarter, all jobs should be welcomed, whether they are part time or full time?
Written Answers — Education: Special Educational Needs (28 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to improve outcomes for children with special educational needs in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) the North East and (c) England.
Business of the House: Backbench Business — Dementia (10 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: These are, as Charles Dickens put it, the best of times and the worst of times. It is a time of plenty; it is a time of difficulty. It is a time of great medical advancements, and yet a time of a greater number of dementia sufferers. It is a time of conflict on the Floor, and yet a time of shared priorities and shared understandings of the difficulties that we all face. Any person who wishes...
Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Topical Questions (10 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: May I thank the Minister, who has responsibility for broadband, for meeting me yesterday and for understanding the true complexities in the provision of broadband in Northumberland? Surely the true broadband nirvana for all rural MPs will be when we have the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, BDUK—Broadband Delivery UK—BT and county councils working as one, in...
Speed Limits (Rural Lincolnshire) (9 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: I congratulate my hon. and learned Friend on securing a debate that is very important to Lincolnshire. As a result of my campaign in the Allendale road in Hexham, we reduced the speed limit outside a school to 20 mph. Is that not exactly the sort of campaign that the Government should be encouraging? Should not Government guidance strongly recommend the lowering of speed limits in the...
Guy Opperman: The Labour party suggests that there is no evidence on mentoring. I spent the past 12 months studying that particular issue for my book, “Doing Time”, which, amazingly, is still available in shops. The fact of the matter is that the Labour party introduced custody plus in 2004 to 2007 on this exact issue, but it did not follow it through. It is this coalition that has the guts and...
Written Answers — Scotland: Scottish Independence: Border Control (9 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of Scottish independence on border control at the border between Scotland and Northumberland.
Guy Opperman: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this is about choices? Certain choices have to be made in what everybody accepts are very difficult circumstances. Nobody likes doing what we have to do today, but it is a job that we have to do if we are to sort this economy out.
Written Answers — Women and Equalities: Equal Pay: Local Government (8 January 2013)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what steps the Government is able to take to expedite the resolution of those equal pay claims by women employed by local authorities in the north-east which have not yet reached court.
Health: General Matters (20 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: Northumberland has much that it could teach the rest of Britain. My constituency is home to a vast number of civic groups, charities and volunteer organisations and people who give up their time to get involved, help their communities and improve people’s lives. They are passionate about the place in which they live. From the team in Tarset who organised the first oil-buying groups,...
Health: General Matters (20 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: I entirely agree. It does not really matter which political party is in charge of the local authority. I am criticising Northumberland county council, which happens to be Liberal Democrat in its persuasion, but I would still be criticising it if it were Conservative or Labour. It is a question of competence and leadership, organisation and logistics; it is not about money. Lots of authorities...
Health: General Matters (20 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: I am listening carefully to the hon. Lady’s speech, and I accept that difficult struggles lie ahead. However, on skills, does she not accept that the number of apprenticeships has doubled in her area? On infrastructure, does she not accept that this Government have done the A1 strongly, all the way to Newcastle and potentially beyond? The north-east also had the third largest increase...
Welfare Cash Card: Justice and Security Bill [Lords] (18 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: I conducted in excess of a dozen PII trials as a criminal barrister. Does the Minister accept that there is a fundamental difference between what he is proposing and the procedures under PII?
Opposition Day — [12th Allotted Day]: Backbench Business — Church of England (Women Bishops) (12 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: I support wholeheartedly the argument for women bishops and believe strongly that it will happen; the question is not if, but when. The recent decision was a great disappointment. It is a great honour and privilege to follow three of the finest speeches that I have heard in some time, by the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw), my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Martin...
Opposition Day — [12th Allotted Day]: Backbench Business — Church of England (Women Bishops) (12 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: I am happy to take that guidance and clarification, because some people will have interpreted some of our debates and the questions that have been asked over the past month or so as giving the impression that we wish to get involved, rather than allowing the Church itself to make those decisions. I endorse entirely my hon. Friend’s point that the Church has bravely taken the step to...
Opposition Day — [12th Allotted Day]: Backbench Business — Church of England (Women Bishops) (12 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: I would go further. I see it as the natural progression from this debate that there will be women bishops, that there will be women bishops in the other place and, ultimately, that there is the potential for women archbishops, although I have no doubt that that will not happen speedily. I endorse what the right hon. Gentleman says and he moves me on to my next point, which is that there...
Literacy and Drugs (Custodial Sentences) (12 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: Does the Minister accept that there is a potential role for long-term prison inmates—prisoners in prison—to be peer mentors to other prisoners who have just arrived and need literacy or other courses? Clearly, the people prisoners trust most are other prisoners, and that is no disrespect to individual staff.
Literacy and Drugs (Custodial Sentences) (12 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: May I take the Minister back to consent? He said that it would be difficult to impose conditions on a judicial sentence attached to custody without consent. Indeterminate sentences for public protection were introduced in that way, and it is also the case with community orders, so there is no fundamental principle between a community sentence and a sentence on licence, both of which exist...
Literacy and Drugs (Custodial Sentences) (12 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alan. Prison works. It locks people up effectively so that they cannot then commit a specific crime. Yet for many years, prison has failed to change prisoners’ behaviour. Despite multiple new laws and increasingly tougher sentences laid down by ever more robust politicians, prisoners throughout the 1990s and the Blair and Brown...
Literacy and Drugs (Custodial Sentences) (12 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: I endorse my hon. Friend’s point. One could go further on dyslexia. Dyslexia, like total illiteracy, is hidden by many prisoners in prison, because it is effectively a crime for them to admit that they cannot read or write or are dyslexic or dyspraxic. Unless that is tested for on arrival, there will be no awareness in the prisons of what kind of person they are dealing with. Let us be...
Literacy and Drugs (Custodial Sentences) (12 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: There is no question but that the problem with short sentences is the most difficult task that the Minister who holds the portfolio at the present stage has to deal with. It is much easier dealing with a longer term prisoner, because there are all the benefits of time and, hopefully, security of tenure in a particular prison. I deprecate our moving prisoners around all the time and that there...
Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Same-sex Marriage in Churches (10 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: As a lawyer, I have tested the ECHR rules and articles at great length in the British courts and in Strasbourg. I therefore welcome the proposed protections that will be enshrined in this law. Does the Minister agree that this is fundamentally a matter of choice for the couples as well as for the religious institutions that we so revere?
Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Autumn Statement (5 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: The improvements to the A1 and the freezing of fuel duty, which was raised 10 times under the previous Labour Government, are warmly welcomed by Government Members. However, may I urge the Chancellor to consider the call of the Chair of the Treasury Committee for local community banking to kick-start lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and local banking in local areas?
Written Answers — Northern Ireland: Fuel Poverty (5 December 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps she has taken to tackle fuel poverty in Northern Ireland in response to the findings of the recent Office of Fair Trading report on remote rural communities.
Oral Answers to Questions — Wales: Fuel Poverty (28 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: What steps he is taking to tackle fuel poverty in Wales.
Oral Answers to Questions — Wales: Fuel Poverty (28 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: I thank the Minister for that answer. The Office of Fair Trading looked at fuel poverty in both Wales and Northumberland. Does the Minister agree that the energy reforms will bring about real change for hard-pressed consumers?
Written Answers — Health: Midwife-based Maternity Services (27 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for midwife-based maternity services.
Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: European Council (26 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: People in Northumberland will be delighted that it is this Government who are keeping the rebate, stopping the budget rise and working with the fiscal sensibles in Sweden, Holland and Germany. Does the Prime Minister agree that fiscal restraint and constraint are gradually becoming the prevailing argument in Europe?
Bills Presented: Industrial Policy and Manufacturing (22 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: One such short-term policy that would have an impact is the liberalisation of small local community banking, as that would mean there would be lending directly to small and medium-sized businesses, which is what the hon. Gentleman would like. This Government are doing that, but the Opposition voted against it. Can he explain why?
Bills Presented: Industrial Policy and Manufacturing (22 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is a year since we last debated manufacturing, on a Thursday late in November 2011. Does my hon. Friend agree that there is some evidence that actual change has taken place, particularly on local banking? That is now that much easier because of the Financial Services Bill, which we passed on 23 April. It means that the smaller businesses so favoured by my hon. Friend the Member for High...
Business of the House: Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) (22 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: I draw the House’s attention to my recently published book on prison reform. I have represented hundreds of people who were in prison, not one of whom ever said to my good self that they were busting for a chance to vote; I assure the Secretary of State that that was not the intention of many I represented. What is the proposal in the option for considering short sentences of a few...
Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Topical Questions (22 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: Under the previous Government, broadband provision in Northumberland was woeful, disorganised and underfunded. That situation is slowly improving, which brings great benefits. Will the Minister meet me—rather than the sports Minister having that pleasure—and fellow representatives in Northumberland, to discuss how we can improve the provision of broadband in Northumberland?
Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill [Lords] (19th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: I endorse what my hon. Friend is saying and I know that the growers and producers in Northumberland will support this Bill wholeheartedly. What robust measures does he think would genuinely hold the supermarkets to account?
Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill [Lords] (19th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: I know that my hon. Friend is a champion of the dairy industry. The Minister who will respond to this debate is the Minister who responded to the dairy debate in Westminster Hall. Does my hon. Friend agree that the dairy industry is the biggest example that we can cite of a price compromise affecting the farmer and the producer such that they effectively go out of business?
Written Answers – Justice: Prisoners' Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme (9th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to review prisoners' entitlement to privileges.
Written Answers – Justice: Trespass (9th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent progress he has made in introducing greater protection for householders from intruders.
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent progress he has made in introducing greater protection for householders from intruders.
Written Answers – Justice: Trespass (9th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretay of State for Justice what recent progress he has made in introducing greater protection for householders from intruders.
Adjournment Debate - Combat Troop Withdrawal: Afghanistan (7th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: I support the troops fighting in Afghanistan, particularly my regiment, 39 Royal Artillery, who are doing an amazing job. Does the hon. Gentleman not accept, given that the title of this debate refers to the withdrawal of troops, that our troops are in Afghanistan at the invitation of an Islamic Government, and party to a United Nations resolution? Surely that is the fundamental basis on which we have sent our troops there.
Adjournment Debate - Combat Troop Withdrawal: Afghanistan (7th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: No one is glorifying or celebrating the loss of any British soldier. Surely the hon. Gentleman accepts that. We are celebrating and supporting our troops and their commitment. Does he accept that well over 100,000 Afghan troops and police have been trained by British and other troops to maintain law and order to the best of their ability after withdrawal?
Written Answers – Cabinet Office: Emergency Services (7th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what progress he has made on his Department’s review of the integration of emergency services.
Written Answers – Business, Innovation & Skills: Apprentices (North East) (7th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of apprenticeships in (a) Northumberland and (b) the north-east over the last 12 months.
Written Answers – Business, Innovation & Skills: Higher Education (7th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what support his Department has provided to university and business research partnerships in (a) the North East and (b) England in the last 12 months.
Written Answers – Justice: Pay (6th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he plans to implement payment by results to prevent offending.
Written Answers – Justice: Reoffenders (6th November 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he plans to take to reduce the number of people going repeatedly through the criminal justice system on short sentences.
Business of the House: Growth and Infrastructure Bill (5 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: I represent the constituency that contains the Northumberland national park. Kielder forest has more than 200,000 trees but no mobile phone or broadband coverage whatever. The Forestry Commission says that it is the only place in the country where it cannot contact its representatives at all. We welcome these provisions.
Prayers: Antarctic Bill (2 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is good that we are debating the Antarctic on the 100th anniversary of Scott’s death. It is a privilege to follow contributions from my hon. Friends the Members for Shipley (Philip Davies), for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) and for Stone (Mr Cash), although at times I have felt like Captain Oates. I was tempted to conjecture that I could step out of the Chamber because it was obvious that my hon. Friends would be speaking for some time, but their contributions were important and of significant weight. I will be much briefer, because I am conscious that other hon. Members want to speak and make progress on their Bills...
Prayers: David Black (2 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: I suggest that “No retaliation but maximum pursuit” should be our watchwords. I echo the tributes paid to Mr Black and the Northern Ireland Prison Service. What assurances and assistance will be provided to those who would wish to give information to the PSNI as we seek to build a better case against these killers?
Backbench Business: Air Passenger Duty (1 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: My hon. Friend is making an articulate case about the impact on the economy of Great Britain, but there is also an impact on overseas economies. For example, the APD banding is so arbitrary and wrong that the APD for somewhere such as the Caribbean is more than for somewhere as far away as Hawaii. Surely that shows the illogicality of this blunt tax.
Backbench Business: Air Passenger Duty (1 November 2012)
Guy Opperman: My hon. Friend is making a very articulate case not only on Gatwick’s behalf but in favour of the change that we all want to see, but does he agree that air passenger duty is not just a London tax? If the Government are interested in supporting the regions of England, at the very least they should bear in mind the fact that a change in APD would make a huge difference to regions such as the north-east and the north-west.
Oral Answers to Questions — Education: West Coast Main Line (29 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: I welcome the speed and transparency of the interim Laidlaw report and endorse the calls of other hon. Members for lengthier franchises. Today the all-party group on rail in the north looks forward to meeting the Minister of State.
Oral Answers to Questions — Education: Mental Health Act 1983 (29 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: I declare an interest, as someone who represented a number of individuals under section 12 of the Mental Health Act—and also as someone who is owed money by the state for the work that he did on behalf of such individuals three and a half years ago, but I leave that to one side. I welcome the drafting of retrospective legislation to resolve this problem, but has advice been obtained on whether the section 12 patients will retain any right to challenge their original detention procedures by way of judicial review?
Oral Answers to Questions — Education: Ash Dieback Disease (29 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: I have six forests in my constituency, and I pay tribute to the work of the Forestry Commission thus far. Will the Minister outline what ongoing funding the Government have allocated for research into tree health?
Oral Answers to Questions — Education: Academy Schools (29 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: If he will take steps to prohibit local authorities from preventing schools from converting to academy status by requiring a 20% pensions fund surcharge for non-teaching staff.
Oral Answers to Questions — Education: Academy Schools (29 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: Northumberland county council is blocking schools that wish to go to academy status. Will the Minister review the December 2011 evaluation of this problem and then meet with me and interested representatives from my constituency who wish to turn to academy status or are considering doing so?
Business of the House (25 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: May we have a debate on equal pay for women? That request arises first out of yesterday’s landmark decision on the issue by the Supreme Court, but also because county councils up and down the country are facing a problem caused by a failure to pay the women they have employed over the years. In Northumberland, for example, hundreds of my constituents face a five-year delay to be paid.
Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners: War Memorials (25 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: What steps the Church Commissioners are taking to prevent metal theft from war memorials in church grounds.
Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners: War Memorials (25 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: All of us welcome the Scrap Metal Dealers Bill to deal with this heinous crime, but does the Church Commissioner agree that the churches themselves need to engage with local scrap metal dealers so that there is not the repetition of this offence on a local basis?
Opposition Day — [7th Allotted Day]: Energy Market Reform (24 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: I would suggest that fuel poverty and energy prices are apolitical, cross-party issues. These matters greatly affect the residents of Northumberland whom I and my colleague on the Opposition Benches, the hon. Member for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery), represent. Successive Governments have, to their credit, tried to address the problems. I do not come here to criticise the previous Government. As I have made clear to the shadow Secretary of State, Caroline Flint, there is much that could be said on that, but I am more interested in how we should proceed...
Opposition Day — [7th Allotted Day]: Energy Market Reform (24 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: The hon. Member for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery) and I inherited in excess of 20% fuel poverty in the north-east when we were elected in Northumberland in May 2010—but I will leave aside the past. Does the right hon. Lady not accept that these plans for, to use her own words, more competitiveness, more transparency and a fairer way forward are, at the very least, a step in the right direction?
Oral Answers to Questions — Health: Bovine TB and Badger Control (23 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: Fifteen years ago there were hundreds of beef and dairy farmers in Northumberland, but they now number a few dozen. They wholeheartedly support the proposed cull and the action that has been proposed today, albeit with regret. Will the Secretary of State confirm that such farmers will continue to receive the proper financial support that they need and deserve, until this disease is finally vanquished?
Mobile Homes Bill (19 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is a humbling and special moment rising to follow such distinguished speakers. If we are here to do anything, it is surely to protect those less able to protect themselves. People in park homes have found themselves in that situation through a variety of means and statutes that have been passed down the years. I should record at the outset that, of course, some very good park owners provide a perfectly good service and are in no way to blame for the problems caused by the miscreants, who have created the disasters that we have all heard about, either as constituency MPs or as lawyers—the joyous profession of my hon. Friend Mr Buckland. When the two of us were at the Bar we had to represent individuals who owned park homes and were attempting to litigate, with diminished funds and diminished ability, at an age when no person should be in a court. I do not refer to my hon. Friend there; I refer to the individuals whom I had to look after and guide through a litigious process that no 70, 75, 80 or 85-year-old should have to undertake. Their being in that position is manifestly wrong...
Mobile Homes Bill (19 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: Interestingly, we spend so much of our time looking after the Army and attempting to champion its cause, whereas park homes have, to a certain extent, been a less strong element in this House’s consideration. Individual champions have changed that and have brought the matter to people’s attention and to the attention of the House. I give due credit to all the individual local champions, both those who have been cited by hon. Members today and those who have gone to their MP in other circumstances. They should all be welcomed and supported. The point is that a small section of a society of well over 60 million people is particularly disadvantaged by the current legislation, and that is manifestly wrong. So today is a historic day, as the Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney will come to fruition...
Mobile Homes Bill (19 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: In the past my hon. Friend has, like me, done cases on behalf of residents of park homes acting against landlords. Does he agree that, just as there is a need for local authorities to pursue criminal actions, it is manifestly the case that all matters would be so much easier if, when the original purchase took place, there was a solicitor involved?
Mobile Homes Bill (19 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate and support everything in his Bill. He has described how the concerns about park homes relate particularly to coastal areas and to the elderly. May I point out that there are two park home sites in my constituency in Northumberland that are landlocked and that the residents, who are in no way elderly, are robust, strong and intelligent people? However, even the fact that they robust, strong and have their full capacities does not stop them being completely subject to landlords and the problems my right hon. Friend Sir Alan Beith identified.
Sentencing (Female Offenders) — [Sandra Osborne in the Chair] (16 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. I am not sure, however, that I agree with the entire thrust of what he is saying. What he is driving at, and the argument behind his thesis, is that women are being treated more preferentially, but would he accept at the very least that one of the reasons why women should be treated more preferentially is that, as mothers, they are in the in the position of having to look after those who might, if their mothers are not present to support them, lapse into the criminal justice system? I am sure that that is one thing with which he would wish to agree.
Sentencing (Female Offenders) — [Sandra Osborne in the Chair] (16 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: I understand the basis on which my hon. Friend is making his case. Will he address the nature of the sentence for female offenders and the degree to which they are required to work, take literacy lessons and address drug and alcohol addiction as part of the offending management programme?
Sentencing (Female Offenders) — [Sandra Osborne in the Chair] (16 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: Everybody accepts that those women are in women’s prisons, but at the same time we cannot ignore a statistic that says that upwards of 70% of offenders—male or female—reoffend. Therefore, does my hon. Friend accept that we have to look at a different approach, not only to sentencing male offenders—both Governments in the last five to 10 years have tried to do that—but to sentencing and dealing with female offenders.
Sentencing (Female Offenders) — [Sandra Osborne in the Chair] (16 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: All of us in this House would agree that those who are convicted of serious offences should go to prison. That is not in dispute, and neither is the desire to make prison more effective at rehabilitation. The statistics that my hon. Friend has produced show that longer sentences produce a lower likelihood of reoffending. Does he not accept, therefore, the overwhelming logic that if short sentences do not stop reoffending, short sentences are not necessarily working?
Oral Answers to Questions — Attorney-General: New Clause 14 — Civil liability for breach of health and safety duties (16 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: I am most grateful. All hon. Members will support the fact that the Olympics produced a death-free environment during the construction phase. However, changing laws on limited civil issues from strict liability to a balance of proof civil liability would not necessarily have affected or changed that. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will agree with and acknowledge that.
Oral Answers to Questions — Attorney-General: New Clause 14 — Civil liability for breach of health and safety duties (16 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: I am enjoying the march back through time to the Minister’s computer existence. I speak as a former health and safety barrister—on behalf of the prosecution, I should say. I welcome the changes recommended in the independent report. Is not what we are trying to do to bring flexibility and fairness to a system that is too old and defunct?
Oral Answers to Questions — Attorney-General: Hillsborough (16 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: What steps he is taking following the publication of the report of the Hillsborough independent panel in September 2012.
Oral Answers to Questions — Attorney-General: Hillsborough (16 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: All in the House and all the families involved will welcome the Attorney-General’s decision today; they have lived with a completely wrong verdict for far too long. Will the Attorney-General assist the House by telling us about the speed of the process, so that urgent justice can prevail?
Written Answers — Treasury: Economic and Monetary Union (15 October 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of the financial situation in the Eurozone on the UK economy.
[Mr Clive Betts in the Chair] (13 September 2012)
Guy Opperman: I will be brief. If we are not a nation of farmers, what are we? The way of life that we enjoy derives its origin from the countryside, and this Government, if they are about anything, must be about supporting the rural economy. Northumberland used to have one of the biggest collections of dairy farms in the United Kingdom; we now have very few. On 17 July, I met National Farmers Union representative Dennis Gibb and other dairy farmers. It was probably the saddest and most depressing meeting I have conducted in two and a half years as a constituency MP. One said that he could weep for the state of dairy farmers. One farmer, William Huddlestone from Allendale, explained to me how there used to be 30 dairy farmers in his dale, but now it is just him...
Guy Opperman: The hon. Gentleman will be aware that 3,000 community beds in community hospitals were shut under the previous Government. Is he going to enlighten us about what his policy is, specifically in respect of any particular cuts to community hospitals? Is he in favour of them, against them, or is there no policy?
Guy Opperman: At this moment, Mr Speaker, you must be feeling like Shakespeare’s Henry V at Agincourt, and I suggest you will look back on 6 September 2012 as the day when hon. Members in the Chamber heard many potential Ministers speak for the first time. We had the great honour and privilege of hearing my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston). She is a doctor and spoke with great wisdom when she introduced the debate. The other doctor in the House, my hon. Friend Dr Lee, also made a fine contribution. We then heard from my hon. Friend Anne Milton, who is now on the Whips Bench but previously distinguished the Department of Health, and throughout the past hour and a half a plethora of Labour Members have indulged us with their oratory and commitment to community hospitals. Finally, I welcome the new Minister who, as you prophesied, Mr Speaker, has a glittering career in front of her. Those were fine words, although I believe that you also admonished her most robustly for being a little too chatty when she was a Parliamentary Private Secretary...
Bill Presented — Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill: Community Hospitals (6 September 2012)
Guy Opperman: I endorse entirely what my hon. Friend says and am sure the Minister has taken due note of her comments. I want to sell and extol the groundbreaking decision in Northumberland in favour of the PFI buy-out of Hexham general hospital. The hospital was built and opened under the former Prime Minister—the right hon. Member for Sedgefield as was—with a substantial PFI that patently impeded its ability to function, but it is among the first in the country to have been bought out by the local community. The way forward must be to try to refinance and improve the financial situation of such hospitals...
Bill Presented — Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill: Community Hospitals (6 September 2012)
Guy Opperman: My hon. Friend rightly raises the issue of PFI and asks what the Government can do. I would venture to suggest that the previous Health Secretary’s decision to approve the county council’s assistance to the health trust so that it could buy out the PFI contract that was crippling Hexham hospital is exactly the right way forward. Under that approach, a PFI arrangement is bought out and a much better financial basis is put in place—an ongoing future financial basis approved by all.
Bill Presented — Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill: Community Hospitals (6 September 2012)
Guy Opperman: I accept that the hon. Gentleman is a champion for his constituency, but he surely accepts that this is a process that started under his Government. For example, his maternity unit closed in 2006, so it is not something new.
Bill Presented — Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill: Community Hospitals (6 September 2012)
Guy Opperman: I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. She mentions the Torbay model, which is rightly a pilot and flagship for the integration of services, but does she envisage a situation in which not only are medical services integrated in one location but other emergency services can come together? The result could be enhanced training for people, such as firemen and policemen , who could qualify as paramedics and assistants to the medical services.
Business of the House: Housing and Planning (6 September 2012)
Guy Opperman: The confirmation of green belt protection and the fact that county councils will retain responsibility for it are very welcome. We have thousands of empty homes in Newcastle and Northumberland that are not being utilised, so I welcome the further funding. Will the Secretary of State send forth the message that it is those empty homes that will benefit from the refurbishment money and those brownfield sites that local authorities should be building on, not green-belt rural sites?
Written Answers — Treasury: Corporation Tax (6 September 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in corporation tax on businesses.
Written Answers — Treasury: Tax Evasion (6 September 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to tackle tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.
Petition — VAT on fuel for the Air Ambulance Service (11 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: Further to the debate that we have just conducted on the air ambulance service, and in the light of the e-petition that has been presented to the Backbench Business Committee, it is my great pleasure to present on behalf of the citizens of Hexham and Tynedale a petition by several hundred residents who have submitted it via the good offices of my local newspaper, the Hexham Courant and its editor, Mr Colin Tapping. This petition supports the e-petition...
United Kingdom Borders: VAT on Air Ambulance Fuel Payments (11 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: I suggest that the principle is the key. The proposed change would, without a shadow of doubt, potentially save lives. If anyone doubted the universal appeal of the air ambulance, we should look at who has spoken in this debate. The debate was commenced on the Scottish border, in Hexham, but took in the constituencies of my right hon. Friend Sir Alan Beith, my hon. Friends the Members for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart) and for York Outer (Julian Sturdy), and Hugh Bayley, as well as other Yorkshire constituencies, such as that of my hon. Friend Stuart Andrew...
United Kingdom Borders: VAT on Air Ambulance Fuel Payments (11 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: I beg to move, That this House supports wholeheartedly the work and actions of the Air Ambulance Service nationally, and all the individual crew members and staff, who provide an outstanding service to people up and down the UK; notes that the Air Ambulance Service is a charitable organisation, funded by donations given by the general public, and without any direct funding from Government...
United Kingdom Borders: VAT on Air Ambulance Fuel Payments (11 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: The right hon. Gentleman mentions an exceptional air ambulance charity, which is supported not just by him but all MPs concerned with the north-west. Put simply, in my part of the world—and all others, for that matter—health care would be jeopardised without the charitable air ambulance service. I am not denigrating the providers of other emergency services, but we could operate without the air ambulances. For example, the Great North air ambulance covers an area of 8,000 square miles, from the Scottish borders to North Yorkshire and from the east to the west coasts. The helicopters can be anywhere in the region within 15 minutes and on board are specialist trauma doctors and paramedics, who bring expert accident and emergency qualities to the scene. However, each mission costs £2,500, regardless of whether the patient is airlifted. That takes into account the cost of the aircraft, storage, paying the pilots and paramedics, and medicine and other equipment. There are hundreds of call-outs per month, and the same applies all across the country. Given that this involves paying in excess of £100,000 a year on fuel, of which VAT represents 20%, there will be a significant saving not only to the Great North air ambulance service but to several others, and that would equate to life-saving missions.
United Kingdom Borders: VAT on Air Ambulance Fuel Payments (11 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: At this stage, one has to acknowledge that only a fool would fail to see that the Government are in the headlock of a debt crisis, a eurozone meltdown and a struggling economy. Everyone accepts that they are short of a magic chequebook. However, I am pleased to point out to the Treasury that those at the air ambulance organisations are not difficult people. We do not seek a solution straight away. The motion asks for an urgent review and a study of the submissions and financial arrangements of the air ambulance charities, and for a long-term solution to be reached at some stage in the near future. On any interpretation, successive Governments have got a great deal from this free service. No Government have ever properly addressed this loophole, and we are giving this Government a chance, over the next year, to investigate and address the problem...
Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: Overseas Territories White Paper (11 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: What assessment he has made of the implications for his Department of the overseas territories White Paper; and if he will make a statement.
Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: Overseas Territories White Paper (11 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: I welcome a focus on increased support for our overseas territories as opposed to the bizarre focus we currently have, whereby support in aid goes to countries such as Argentina for bilateral relations and mutual understanding, which—I suggest—is clearly not working.
Local Services (Planning): House of Lords Reform Bill — [2nd Allocated Day] (10 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: Yesterday the shadow Justice Secretary was asked four times how long the Opposition would require to consider the Bill. Will the hon. Lady enlighten the House on how long the Opposition require now?
BBC: Community Banks (10 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: Clearly, the disposal of RBS, in whatever shape or form, is ultimately for the Government and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, having considered a full range of alternatives, market conditions and value for money. If it is not commercially viable to return RBS to the private sector, will the option of returning it to a local banking organisation, as I have described, be considered?
BBC: Community Banks (10 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: The case for local community banking and the break-up of the Royal Bank of Scotland to create a series of local banks has never been stronger. Since the global financial crash, the merits of a vibrant system of local banks have become apparent; it is the issue of our time. We need to look at finding new ways to unlock the finance that households and small businesses need. We need new local banks that will promote competition, reinvigorate community lending, improve the finances of small and medium-sized enterprises, and encourage local saving. They would work on the principle of using local credit to support manufacturing and start-ups, and they would not leave the disadvantaged at the mercy of loan sharks and money changers....
BBC: Community Banks (10 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: I completely agree with my hon. Friend and I entirely applaud the Government’s approach—by way of the Vickers report—to addressing the problems with the larger banks. Everyone can see that there is a fundamental problem with large banks and their failure to lend. The fact is that they are almost operating as a monopoly; the largest six banks run the show completely.
The other end of the telescope and the other end of the problem is the lack of local banking...
BBC: Community Banks (10 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: The reality is that Hampshire, for example, has done what I am talking about and set up the Hampshire bank, or Hampshire Trust. It is backed by the local chamber of commerce and by local authorities. It is regulated, so it is possible to have a county bank that is regulated, but on a lighter-touch basis—I use that phrase again—than the larger banks such as Barclays or HSBC.
Moreover, if we broke up RBS, which I will come on to discuss, the individual shareholders would have a say in a local county bank...
BBC: Community Banks (10 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: In real terms, the current RBS would go back to the people on a local basis, and if the hon. Lady listens I will explain how the shares could be devolved. We would end up, I suggest, with dozens of little banks like 3i. The 3i Group plc is a large FTSE 100 company that started out as a Government business bank, as a support mechanism to get the country out of the 1930s depression.
The new banks would be governed locally, with lending decisions made by managers who understood the local economy better than anyone at a London head office ever could....
Written Answers — Justice: Offenders: Deportation (10 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to facilitate the removal of foreign national prisoners.
House of Lords Reform Bill: [1st Allocated Day] (9 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: The right hon. Gentleman said that he required time to consider the Bill. How long does he require—10, 15, 20 or 25 days? Will he enlighten the House by saying how long he feels is necessary?
Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners: Metal Theft (5 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: What steps the Church Commissioners are taking to mark metal items in churches for the purpose of preventing metal theft.
Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners: Metal Theft (5 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: Churches, war memorials and monuments throughout the north-east have been affected by this despicable crime. Will my hon. Friend do all that he can to get behind the private Member’s Bill that is to be debated in the House shortly, and ensure that the churches themselves do all that they can to mark their property?
Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government: Community Assets (2 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: What plans his Department has to offer support to communities seeking to purchase their local pubs or other assets of community value.
Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government: Community Assets (2 July 2012)
Guy Opperman: Some of the finest pubs in the country are in Northumberland, including the one in Humshaugh in my constituency, which was saved by the local community. Does the Minister agree that it is a concern that soldiers were turned away from a pub down south last week? As Armed Forces day took place last weekend, including in my constituency of Hexham, does he also agree that pubs should be encouraged to accept soldiers at all times?
Written Answers — Women and Equalities: Female Genital Mutilation (27 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what steps she is taking to tackle cases of female genital mutilation.
Opposition Day — [3rd Allotted Day]: Secondary Education (GCSEs) (26 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: This has been a confectionary debate featuring a number of individual sweets, not least the polo mint that constitutes the motion. I have studied it in great detail and found nothing that takes forward this country’s education debate. In the words of one coalition colleague, it is an “opportunistic wheeze.” Having studied the motion and found nothing of substance, we should then go back to the words of Kevin Brennan, who so enlightened the House when he outlined the Opposition’s education policy last Thursday...
Opposition Day — [3rd Allotted Day]: Secondary Education (GCSEs) (26 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: The hon. Gentleman described how he now accepts that there was grade inflation. When did that road to Damascus discovery take place? Was it in 1997 when he was first elected, 2005, 2010 or 2012?
Written Answers — Treasury: Community Banks (26 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to make it easier to set up local community banks.
Written Answers — Business, Innovation and Skills: Credit Reference Agencies: Telephone Services (21 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions his Department has had on bringing forward legislative proposals to ensure that credit ratings agencies are obliged to provide freephone 0800 access to their organisation for the purposes of reporting and dealing with errors.
Opposition Day — [2nd Allotted Day]: Community Hospitals (North-East) (20 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: An example of that, I would suggest, is Haltwhistle hospital in west Northumberland, which has been rebuilt by the local NHS trust to provide a hospital facility and an integrated care facility. Does the Minister agree that that is a good example of the Department and the trust supporting a community hospital?
Opposition Day — [2nd Allotted Day]: Community Hospitals (North-East) (20 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: I applaud the fact that the hon. Gentleman has introduced this debate on behalf of north-east community hospitals. I want to address the issue of the quality of the service provided by them. We retain maternity services in Hexham. The service is so popular that Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has said that it is hopeful that more women will choose to have their babies there. Does he agree that that is an example of a community hospital going forward?
Opposition Day — [2nd Allotted Day]: Regional Pay (20 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: My entire career has been spent being part of the national health service. My grandmother was an NHS matron, and I came into politics when the hospital in which I was born and which saved my mother’s life was threatened with closure. In 2011 I was diagnosed with a tumour and spent several weeks in the London NHS hospitals. I saw all that was good in those hospitals and literally owe my life to the treatment I received. I will be for ever grateful...
Opposition Day — [2nd Allotted Day]: Regional Pay (20 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: I also believe that regional pay is divisive and manifestly unfair. Members who read The Daily Telegraph today—obviously, that includes many on the Opposition Benches—will know that it has criticised me personally for leading the opposition to these divisive plans. It must be very rare to be criticised by The Daily Telegraph and praised by the hon. Member for Sedgefield Phil Wilson all on the same day. I was interested when I read on to find that its argument is that pay distortions are “economically destructive. They make it harder for businesses in the regions to recruit workers at competitive wage rates and as a consequence they stifle enterprise”...
Opposition Day — [2nd Allotted Day]: Regional Pay (20 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: I understand what my hon. Friend says and, to a degree, endorse it, but I do not accept that regional pay will be agreed to or supported by the public sector workers who are already experiencing their fair share of the problems that we all have to deal with. What public sector workers and businesses want is continued investment in manufacturing, something that fell— effectively halved—under the previous Government; the groundbreaking reform of, and improvements to, our schools, and investment in the next generation; continued Government support for apprenticeships, the number of which in my constituency has doubled over the past year; and the maintenance of the Government’s focus on boosting exports, all of which are happening and making a difference to the regional economy...
Scrap Metal Theft (18 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: The hon. Gentleman rightly mentioned metal thefts in the north-east and those of us who represent constituencies there have been particularly concerned by metal theft from churches and war memorials. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that any future law on metal theft should have as an aggravating offence—and therefore attracting corresponding sentences—the theft from churches, war memorials and children’s graves?
Oral Answers to Questions — Education: School Funding (Northumberland) (18 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: What his policy is on funding by his Department of schools in Northumberland; and if he will make a statement.
Oral Answers to Questions — Education: School Funding (Northumberland) (18 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: The decision on 24 May to grant Prudhoe community high school a rebuild was wonderful news and formed a great birthday present for its head teacher, Dr Iain Shaw. It was also a huge boost to a community that had been long neglected in terms of funding. May I invite the Secretary of State to visit this fantastic school when the rebuild is complete to see for himself the positive difference that it makes, both to the school and to the wider community?
Written Answers — Cabinet Office: Offices (13 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether the (a) Cabinet Secretary and (b) Head of the Home Civil Service has a dedicated personal office in his Department; whether it is a shared or open plan office; and what the floor area is of each of the personal offices.
Defamation Bill (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: I, too, support the Bill, and on defamation I fundamentally believe, as Shakespeare wrote: “The purest pleasure mortal times afford Is spotless reputation: that away, Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.” That was said in “Richard II”, a king who sadly did not last long enough as a Yorkist to enjoy much of his spotless reputation, as he was shortly killed thereafter, but his reputation, spotless as it was, went with him to the grave...
Defamation Bill (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: I accept the possibility that my hon. Friend was not referring to that, but was referring to the development of events over the past few years. It is absolutely vital to ensure that we have a free press and an ability to speak out without fear or favour—that is fundamental—but justice must be accessible to the people who receive comments from such a press.
The Bill definitely increases that accessibility, and I welcome that wholeheartedly. Any interpretation of such legislation must take account of the countless stories told throughout this debate of people whose reputations have been annihilated on the internet and elsewhere.
Defamation Bill (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: I am delighted to say that to a certain extent such advice does exist. There more developed citizens advice bureaux and victim support organisations are able to provide such assistance, as are the Bar Pro Bono Unit and the Free Representation Unit.
I have represented individuals in libel cases as part of the Bar Pro Bono Unit, and there will certainly continue to be such accessibility. However, my hon. Friend identifies one of the fundamental flaws in the Bill, which I hope will be remedied in Committee...
Defamation Bill (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: I apologise to my hon. Friend. It is possible that he dines in larger and more salubrious establishments than the rest of us, who are more Little Chef and Happy Eater people. I am sure that those days of the Ritz are sadly gone. As lawyers practising in this field, we know that it is important to have accessibility, because without that there is no justice.
There is a long history of those who have been defamed, from Oscar Wilde to Winston Churchill to Marie Stopes to W. E. Gladstone. It is good to see the Liberal home affairs spokesman, Tom Brake, in his place...
Defamation Bill (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: I regret that my hon. Friend—eminent lawyer, lion of Northampton and feared throughout the west midlands legal circles though he is—has identified the fundamental problem with his own argument in a sort of self-defeating prophesy.
There will surely be an assessment of the individual merit of these e-mails and of whether they have been written by an individual who can be accounted for. All those matters will come under the test of credibility that he has espoused and that was put forward by the Secretary of State...
Defamation Bill (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: On jury trials, does my hon. Friend not accept, however, that in civil liability trials and in all number of other pieces of litigation, the judge is taken out of the assessment of the truth of individual witnesses, and that credit is something judges are well used to judging on a regular basis? Does he not also accept that there is a possibility of our merely returning to a situation in which we have endless jury trials, instead of trusting the judges to get on with the decision?
Defamation Bill (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: Does my hon. Friend agree that the practice of libel is such that a potential claimant will be massively dissuaded from seeking to bring an action without some degree of cover for the costs they could incur? Does he also agree that the way out of that situation is to institute protective costs orders for actions brought in the public interest?
Defamation Bill (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: Does the shadow Minister agree that, as a result of Lord Leveson’s review into press intrusion and the ability of the man in the street to get access to justice in libel, the issues that he is now raising could be readdressed?
[Mr Dai Havard in the Chair] — Emergency Services (Interoperability) (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: The right hon. Gentleman is making an impressive speech, but I am a little curious about a couple of points. Clearly, there would always have been reductions and changes, even under the Opposition’s budgetary proposals. What would you have done differently to avoid the impacts that you describe as the Minister’s problem?
[Mr Dai Havard in the Chair] — Emergency Services (Interoperability) (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: I suggest that we all owe a huge debt to our emergency services. Would we be able to deal with an ambulance situation, cope with an arrest or fight a fire? I suggest not. Those men and women are the cornerstone of our country and the cream of the crop whom we should support, laud and applaud. I am proud to record my thanks to them, both nationally and locally in my constituency.
This is an issue of great importance, and I congratulate my hon. Friend Mark Pawsey on securing the debate. With the forthcoming Olympics, we have one of the most serious security operations ever mounted in this country, and credit must go to the many security and emergency forces that are preparing for the ultimate test...
[Mr Dai Havard in the Chair] — Emergency Services (Interoperability) (12 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: Clearly, in relation to call centres and IT, we are taking steps. There is clearly a positive way forward. However, in broad terms, we have got into a situation in which individual parts of the emergency services in local areas are fighting for their own turf to much too great a degree. It is perfectly understandable that people wish to have an all-singing, all-dancing fire service, ambulance service and police stations. We might totally endorse that, but we have to ask, given that taxpayers’ money is paying for it all, how can we integrate matters better...
Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Aircraft Carrier Cover (11 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: What plans he has for maintaining aircraft carrier cover in co-operation with key allies.
Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Aircraft Carrier Cover (11 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: Our future aircraft carriers are being built by our Scottish allies. What happens to the construction of those carriers if Scotland declares independence and does not contribute to the cost?
Written Answers — Home Department: Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse (11 June 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to ban multi-buy promotions for alcohol in England and Wales.
Written Answers — Environment Food and Rural Affairs: Rural Areas: Northumberland (24 May 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to encourage growth and competitiveness in rural farms and businesses in Northumberland.
Petrol and Diesel (23 May 2012)
Guy Opperman: I support my hon. Friend’s campaign. I represent the least densely populated constituency in England. In Northumberland, fuel is a key issue, as I am sure it is everywhere else. I suggest that there should be an Office of Fair Trading examination, much like those we have carried out so successfully in remote communities into other forms of heating and other oil.
Fracking (22 May 2012)
Guy Opperman: I am grateful to the Minister for giving way and I apologise for interrupting his speech just as he was gaining momentum. He talks eloquently about the way in which America is transforming its energy provision and dramatically reducing its energy bills.
In his State of the Union address in January 2012, President Obama said that any company drilling on Government land would have to disclose the chemical used for fracking so that
“America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk.”
Is not that the right way for us to be going ahead as well?
Fracking (22 May 2012)
Guy Opperman: I welcome the point about the wider picture. In Northumberland, which is no less deserving than Lancashire, there are applications for two open-cast mines. Given that those open-cast mines will exist for years and will produce barely eight to 10 days’ worth of coal for particular power stations, and that fracking has the potential to produce about 150 billion cubic metres of gas, one has to add up the relative benefits. The people of Northumberland, and of the wider country, want an energy strategy that takes into account these points. On that issue, I endorse entirely what was said by my hon. Friend Eric Ollerenshaw.
Fracking (22 May 2012)
Guy Opperman: I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate on an important issue. I am a supporter of the economic and environmental benefits of shale gas. Does my hon. Friend agree that the data show that it has cut carbon emissions in a way that wind, solar and biomass have singularly failed to do?
Fracking (22 May 2012)
Guy Opperman: I am sure that my hon. Friend is coming on to this point. I endorse the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw). Just as mineral rights and the benefits from wind power are felt not by the wider community but by an individual farmer or energy company, so it is with fracking. I suggest that if mineral rights were to benefit the whole community, rather than an isolated individual, fracking would be a great deal more popular and bring much more benefit to the community.
Written Answers — Home Department: Alcohol Misuse (22 May 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals to reduce crime and improve health outcomes related to alcohol use.
Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government: Empty Homes (Northumberland) (30 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: What steps he is taking to promote the refurbishment of empty and vacant homes in Northumberland.
Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government: Empty Homes (Northumberland) (30 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: I thank the Minister for that answer. Does he agree that Northumberland county council, in drawing up its local development framework, should promote and maintain brownfield sites for development before any greenfield sites?
Written Answers — Treasury: Corporation Tax (30 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has assessed the merits of simplifying the filing of corporation tax returns for those in rural areas who do not have access to broadband.
Business of the House: Afghanistan (Troop Levels) (26 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I shall try to be good value. I welcome the ongoing withdrawal and support the troops from my constituency from 39 Regiment Royal Artillery who have recently returned from a successful tour of Afghanistan. Does the Secretary of State agree that a political deal with the Taliban must be a vital precondition of continuing the social and economic progress in Afghanistan that we would all seek as we continue our withdrawal?
[Mr James Gray in the Chair] — School Funding (24 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is a great pleasure and privilege to speak in this debate that was so ably secured by my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham). We know that this is a debate about schools because everybody has started quoting famous names. By my account, we have had Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, and Reagan snuck in at the end.
I prefer to take the Minister back to the ancient Chinese proverb of Lao Tzu who—as our eminent Education Minister will know—was the founder of Taoism and said that the longest journey begins with a single step. Is not the essence of this debate that we are all seeking that first step? It is not a large step; it could be a short step.
[Mr James Gray in the Chair] — School Funding (24 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: I do, and I will reply with words from Sun Tzu who, when he talked about the art of war, said, “Know your enemy.” That is interesting given that there is no enemy present today, but does not the absence of Opposition Members—save for the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Westminster North (Ms Buck), who will no doubt act robustly in defending the 13 years during which we all endured a funding gap—speak volumes?
I will move on from the happy badinage in which I and my hon. Friend have been engaged to say that like other hon. Members, I represent schools in Northumberland that look enviously at counties and cities that have a greater degree of funding. To put it simply, no change is not an option....
[Mr James Gray in the Chair] — School Funding (24 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is a bit like watching Martin Luther King in his prime. Is it not right that my hon. Friend has a dream, not only for all schools to be equal, but for the Schools Minister to give us the first step, the first indication and the first rung on the ladder to an equal and fair funding for all the schools we represent?
Financial Services Bill (Programme) (No. 3): New Clause 1 — Retrospective reviews of Bank performance by court of directors and publication of court minutes (23 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, albeit briefly. Like Mark Antony in “Julius Caesar”, I come to praise the Bill, not to criticise it. I accept that the Government are all honourable men and women, but so, it might be reasoned, are the members of the Treasury Committee, who are also honourable men and women, advancing a slightly contrary view....
IMF (23 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: Businesses in the north-east want a secure, worldwide support system for the global economy and welcome this decision on the IMF, but the man in the street in Newcastle and Hexham wants to know whether we have ever failed to get our money back from the IMF.
Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Flexible Support Fund (23 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: What steps Jobcentre Plus is taking to use the flexible support fund to support claimants into work.
Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Flexible Support Fund (23 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: How has the flexible support fund actually provided funding to local partnerships to address those barriers to work, and will the Secretary of State write to me with specific evidence relating to the north-east?
Written Answers — Women and Equalities: Pay: Gender (23 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what steps the Government Equalities Office is taking to reduce the pay gap between men and women.
Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland: Fuel Poverty (18 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: What steps are being taken by the Government and the Office of Fair Trading to tackle fuel poverty in Scotland.
Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland: Fuel Poverty (18 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: Does the Minister agree that the problem of a lack of competition in the availability and provision of heating oil in the Scottish border region needs addressing urgently?
Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Topical Questions (17 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: I recently visited India with a view to helping a constituent whose son died there two years ago. They are still awaiting the outcome of the forensic findings of the loss of life investigation. Will the Minister or the Secretary of State meet me and, on a cross-party basis, other Members of the House who are similarly affected by loss of life investigations in India?
Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: Cultural Heritage: Armed Conflict (16 April 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of protection of cultural property in areas of conflict; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals based on the draft Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Bill 2008.
Royal Assent: Assisted Suicide (27 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: During the Budget debate last year, I collapsed in Central Lobby. It was not, I assure hon. Members, the Budget that made be ill, but a tumour the size of a small fist in the left part of my brain. I was taken to St Thomas’s hospital, where an A and E doctor advised me that I required a craniotomy to remove the meningioma from my brain. That was extremely frightening. I was advised as...
Royal Assent: Assisted Suicide (27 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: There is a great need for strong protections. Everybody accepts that. Not a single person disagrees with that, just as there is not a single person who does not wholeheartedly endorse the need for palliative care. However, that is not enough. I suggest that the principle of clear self-determination must be the core of any concept of human rights. I am a huge supporter of palliative care...
Royal Assent: Assisted Suicide (27 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: That is very helpful, because we would all concede that a consultation on putting in statutory guidelines what is already in guidance from the DPP, who has done an excellent job and whom we should all thank for his tremendous efforts, is not necessarily the way forward for long-term consultation on assisted suicide. To enable others to get in, I will try to draw my comments to a close.
Royal Assent: Assisted Suicide (27 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: I make a declaration as a former criminal prosecutor. It was frequently said that we were often consulted but often ignored. In these particular circumstances, given that there may be a presiding view of the Government, what is to be lost by having a consultation and finding out what is the view of the people?
Oral Answers to Questions — Health: Private Finance Initiatives (North-East) (27 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: What his policy is on the rationalisation of PFI deals in the north-east for the purposes of making savings on long-standing PFI hospitals; and if he will make a statement. [R]
Oral Answers to Questions — Health: Private Finance Initiatives (North-East) (27 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: Many hospitals around the country are struggling under PFI debt. What plans does the Secretary of State have to ensure that other types of organisations, aside from Northumbria NHS Foundation Trust, will benefit from the new deal, just as my constituents in Hexham are?
Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: Broadband: North East (27 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent progress he has made on his plans to extend superfast broadband to the North East and Northumberland.
Written Answers — Education: Day Care: North East (27 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many families will receive the extension of 15 hours of childcare to the poorest families in (a) the North East and (b) Hexham constituency.
Written Answers — Education: Pupils: Disadvantaged (27 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools and pupils have received the pupil premium in (a) the north-east and (b) Hexham constituency.
Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Topical Questions (26 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: Given that 30% of all Vietnam veterans suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and given the 13 to 14 year average before our veterans display PTSD symptoms, what is the Minister doing to ensure that servicemen and women receive support not just soon after their discharge, but in the decades that follow?
Written Answers — Transport: Railways: Northumberland (26 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what (a) consideration she has given to and (b) plans she has drawn up for a Northumbia rail franchise.
Written Answers — Defence: Armed Forces: Accommodation (26 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for additional funding for forces' accommodation (a) nationally and (b) in Northumberland.
Written Answers — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Lebanon: Syria (26 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support he is giving to Christian communities in Lebanon and Syria.
Written Answers — Justice: Reoffenders (23 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent progress he has made on his policy of payment by results for the reduction in prisoner reoffending; and if he will make a statement. [R]
Oral Answers to Questions — Business, Innovation and Skills: Topical Questions (15 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: Does the Minister agree that Newcastle upon Tyne, with its great industrial heritage, will be the ideal location for a university technical college, which will provide exactly the sort of technical education that can cure youth unemployment and help meet the needs of modern manufacturing and engineering employers?
Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Prison Provision (Charities) (13 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: What his policy is on prisons being run by a charity; and if he will make a statement.
Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Prison Provision (Charities) (13 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: I thank the Minister for his answer. Clearly, there are very good examples of charities working within prisons, and I urge him to work with some of them to see whether it is possible for them to take over a community-run prison that provides a local setting and a local response to offenders’ needs.
Work Experience (13 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. Does he agree, on pragmatism, that MPs can lead the way? I employ an apprentice, as part of my team working in the House of Commons, but we can also have work experience in our constituency offices—we had 40 in the Hexham office over last summer.
Work Experience (13 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: Does my hon. Friend agree that the advance of academies and free schools, such as the enterprise school being set up in Newcastle, next to my constituency, will provide greater skills and address youth unemployment problems?
[Mr George Howarth in the Chair] — Pay and Consultants (Public Sector) (13 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: I have 60 seconds to change the world. In my respectful submission, no one should earn more than the Prime Minister, the lead general in Afghanistan, the Lord Chief Justice or my local chief constable. The issue of excessive pay is raised on the doorstep in the north-east, and should, frankly, be addressed. The Government are right to raise the tax threshold to £10,000, but I would like...
Written Answers — Environment Food and Rural Affairs: Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (12 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effect on farmers of nitrate vulnerable zones regulations on slurry storage.
Backbench Business: Adult Social Care (8 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: Well, they make them out of strong stuff in the west country. It is a joy to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston), who brings great medical and intellectual wisdom to the debate, and I am honoured to be speaking in a debate introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton). I would be humble in my approach to this matter, but I would like to...
Written Answers — Communities and Local Government: Empty Property (8 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many vacant and unused homes there are in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Newcastle and (c) Gateshead; and if he will make a statement on his plans to promote the use of vacant and unused homes.
Veterans (Mental Health) (7 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is a great pleasure and a privilege to speak in this debate today. I have been in this House for nearly two years and I have not had the opportunity to raise the issue of the mental health of veterans in the way in which we have done today. I pay great tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy) for securing this debate and for the measured and eloquent way in...
Veterans (Mental Health) (7 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: I entirely endorse that point. Although it is incumbent upon Members of this House to raise the profile of this issue and to try to disseminate information about the types of health care support that exist, it is also incumbent upon the relevant health trusts and authorities to ensure that in future a degree of information is passed down the net to individual GPs and action teams,...
Veterans (Mental Health) (7 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is interesting, is it not, that today is 7 March and on 7 March 1982, exactly 30 years ago, about three and a half weeks prior to the Argentine invasion of the Falklands, which happened on 2 April 1982, the British ambassador in Argentina wrote a cable from Buenos Aires to the then British Prime Minister, saying that matters were escalating. It is very well known, and it was reported in...
Veterans (Mental Health) (7 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: I accept there is always a risk that, if we create some new body, we will be in a position whereby everybody passes the buck and says, “Well, they’re sorting it out”. However, I am clear that every single MP could come to this House and say, “I have individual examples of people in my constituency, or stories that I have heard of former servicemen.” Those...
Veterans (Mental Health) (7 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate and I support the laudable aims that he is describing. Given the established difficulties with keeping track of individual soldiers and the difficulties with giving the necessary support post discharge to all manner of servicemen and women, is it not time that we started to consider the possibility of a veterans agency that brings together...
Written Answers — Communities and Local Government: Local Government: North East (7 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to devolve power to cities and towns in the North East.
Business of the House (1 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: Police Constable David Rathband passed away last night. He was an outstanding Northumbria police constable, and I know that I speak for all local north-east colleagues when I say that this brave man will be sorely missed. Will my right hon. Friend join me in passing on our condolences to his family and to the police colleagues he worked with and who continue to serve our region so well?
Oral Answers to Questions — Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Metal Theft (1 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: What steps are being taken to protect churches and churchyards against metal theft.
Oral Answers to Questions — Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Metal Theft (1 March 2012)
Guy Opperman: Metal theft is a huge issue that concerns church leaders across all faiths in Northumbria. Does my hon. Friend agree that the punishments for those who steal from churches and churchyards should be both severe and a proper deterrent?
Jam Jar Bank Accounts (28 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: As my hon. Friend knows, I am leading a campaign for the establishment of community-based local banks. Would one of the best custodians for jam jar accounts not be a community-based local bank? Such banks allow people to save locally with a local bank manager, with whom there can be a close, personal relationship. That would increase savings and the benefits of a jam jar account.
Jam Jar Bank Accounts (28 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: Given that RBS will potentially be sold or divested by the Government in the longer term, is that something that should be carried through post-sale and hopefully made part of a community-based organisation?
Energy Suppliers and Prices (28 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: May I give an example of such overcharging from the Heddon-on-the-Wall women’s institute, which is in my constituency of Hexham? The Heddon-on-the-Wall WI is being harangued by npower to pay more than £5,000 in back entitlements of power, dating from 2006. In other words, the company got the bill for the WI wrong, and demanding that money now will effectively put the local WI...
Energy Suppliers and Prices (28 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: The hon. Lady referred to the big six main energy companies. Does she agree and acknowledge that the problem is also off-grid in terms of liquefied petroleum gas and heating oil? Millions of consumers up and down the country are affected and their position is just as bad.
Supplementary Estimates 2011-12 — Home Office: Forensic Science Service (27 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: Can my hon. Friend assure us that there is no fundamental difference between the situation facing the north-east and the situation facing the rest of the country?
Supplementary Estimates 2011-12 — Home Office: Forensic Science Service (27 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: Let me start by making a declaration that for the best part of 21 years I was a criminal barrister. In that time I prosecuted about nine murder cases, was involved in the defence of certain cases, and prosecuted and defended well in excess of 150 Crown court trials. Certainly, I will have done 30 to 50 forensics-based cases and worked with the Forensic Science Service a great deal. Like...
Supplementary Estimates 2011-12 — Home Office: Forensic Science Service (27 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: I accept that accreditation is important, and I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say about that, but to a certain extent the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Prosecution teams and police teams will go to organisations that have proved their worth in past cases, but that is not to say that such organisations will always get it right. We have all seen, whether in shaken...
Estimates Day — [4th Allotted Day] — Vote on Account 2012-13 — Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Olympics and Paralympics (Funding) (27 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is always a great honour to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard). He is clearly taking the clever man to Cleveleys, as well as demonstrating a greater degree of passion for disability sport than any other Member. Like him, I have a poor record as a dressage performer; I frequently lost my horse from the arena and was eventually demoted and...
Estimates Day — [4th Allotted Day] — Vote on Account 2012-13 — Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Olympics and Paralympics (Funding) (27 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: I take it that that refers not to my hon. Friend’s tickets but to other Olympic tickets. I wish to assist her, because I know that she was not referring to her tickets. Secondly, all of us have tried to show an Olympic discipline in which we could be proficient. I was very impressed by the speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Watford (Richard Harrington), who is, sadly, no longer in...
Oral Answers to Questions — Education: Topical Questions (27 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: The number of apprentices in the north-east has gone up from 18,000 to 34,000 in my area. I added one when I became the first MP to employ an apprentice in my Hexham office. What more can the Minister responsible for apprenticeships do to encourage others, including MPs, to take on apprentices?
[Mr Mike Weir in the Chair] — BackBench Business — Cycling (23 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: I cycled in to the House of Commons today from Fulham. Members can see that from my helmet hair. I support my hon. Friend and The Times campaign, and I hope that my local cities in the north-east—Newcastle and Gateshead—will institute the campaign as part of their ongoing work. I represent the small rural towns of Hexham, Ponteland and Prudhoe. Does my hon. Friend agree that we...
Written Answers — Energy and Climate Change: Biofuels (9 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the capacity for domestic wood feedstock to meet the demands of biomass generation in addition to those of UK wood processing industries; from which locations his Department expects any further supply to be sourced; what assessment his Department has made of the effect on UK wood processing...
Written Answers — Energy and Climate Change: Biofuels (9 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the energy that will be generated from domestic wood feedstock supplies in each year up to 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Written Answers — Health: Influenza: Vaccination (7 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy that the influenza vaccine should be compulsory for all public and private sector care workers.
Written Answers — Treasury: Executives: Pay (1 February 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps is he taking to restrict excessive executive pay.
Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Prison Officer Training (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: What steps he is taking to encourage the inclusion of peer mentoring in prisons as part of the training of prison officers.
Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Prison Officer Training (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: Does the Minister believe that the expansion of private provision in prisons and the payment-by-results scheme will lead to more peer mentoring and better prison officer training, and that rehabilitation rates will improve as a result?
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: For the avoidance of doubt, I shall try to clarify the point that I was seeking to make, which I believe was supported by my hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr Gray). There have, down the generations, been examples—whether it is Gibraltar or the Falkland Islands in the late 1960s—where successive Governments have sought to negotiate on sovereignty in circumstances...
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Crausby. I thank colleagues for attending the debate, given Select Committees and various other activities; I will take interventions. In 1982, the Falkland Islands war saw the loss of 255 British troops; also lost were 650 Argentine troops and three female islanders. Today is a good day to begin with remembering each and every one whose...
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: It is a brave man who tells the colonel whether troops were good or indifferent at a particular time, and I bow to my hon. Friend’s greater knowledge. Thomas Mann, however, was right when he said: “War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.” Among the almost 3,000 inhabitants of the Falklands, there is an overwhelming desire to remain a British overseas territory....
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: I have great respect for President Obama, and he is truly a groundbreaking politician and a leader of men; he is taking things forward tremendously in America. On this particular issue, however, I do not respect his decision, and am most concerned that it appears to have been made without full assessment of the UN rules on self-determination.
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: One could ask whether the Americans will return Hawaii or other places such as Diego Garcia to the original occupants. Ongoing, I do not believe that President Obama’s holiday home will stop being part of America.
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: I entirely agree, of course. We could get into a detailed and lengthy historical analysis of the origins of Argentina and its various provinces, as well as of the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands. It is worth remarking, however, that the ninth generation of the people of the Falkland Islands was recently born on the islands. Although the population is immigrant, that is also true in...
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: All of us would like to see the individual countries getting on to a greater degree, and one of my themes in the debate is to make it crystal clear that we regard Argentina, fundamentally, as a potential friend. It would be good if trade relations were better, fishing were better harmonised or hydrocarbons work was done together. At present, however, the Argentine stance is blocking that...
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: With no disrespect to the hon. Gentleman, I will not go down that route. One of the few good things to emerge from the Falklands war was the return of democracy to Argentina in 1983. It is entirely right that there have been various analyses of the history of Argentina but, with respect, it is not for me to lecture the Argentines on that history and on what they were involved with. Instead of...
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: I accept that there is a need for greater economic certainty, but we must understand that the islands have a strong economy and a profitable business community, and that they are effectively self-sustaining. I draw my hon. Friend’s attention to the 1995 agreement between the Argentine and British Governments on oil exploration. In 1995, they signed a deal that identified a discrete area...
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: I never thought that in a debate about the Falkland Islands I would become such an expert on squid and European fish embargoes, or that I would be trying to respond to an acknowledged expert on all fish matters, but I agree with my hon. Friend and accept entirely that there is great scope for the two countries to work together. If they do not, the story of some European waters will, sadly, be...
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that point. We are no longer a colonial power. Those days are, rightly, distant history. As such, we will never force any dependent territory to remain part of our country, but we will also not let down a dependent territory. Let us take Scotland as an example. I would not, of course, call Scotland a dependent territory, notwithstanding the subsidy...
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: I am pleased that there is a cross-party selection of Members in the Chamber early on this Tuesday morning when they have many other matters to attend to. We are presenting a united front across parties and throughout the House to show adamant support for the individual rights of people who live in the Falkland Islands. I welcome my hon. Friend’s comment, and the support from his party....
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: My hon. Friend makes his point eloquently. I pay tribute to all our servicemen and women who are serving overseas, protecting our interests and striving to preserve other people’s freedoms. Most importantly, I pay tribute to the thousands of troops, led by the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, who are working on the Islands at this time. I know that many hon. Members here today represent...
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: Argentina has described the royal visit as an inflammatory act, which is ridiculous. The gentleman involved, who happens to be the future king, is going as a search and rescue pilot. Were he to save the life of some hapless Argentine sailor, I hope that Argentina would be equally as grateful as, I am sure, the individual saved by the presence of the Duke would be. I support the fact that the...
[Mr David Crausby in the Chair] — Falkland Islands (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: Such a measure would confirm the rights of those individual Islanders who live in overseas territories that have a settled population, and show the United Kingdom’s strong intention to recognise self-determination. There are references to that in the various United Nations conventions that have considered such matters repeatedly, and in what are called colonisation committees that sit...
Written Answers — Education: Free Schools (31 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps can be taken by local organisations and schools when an application to set up or become a free school or academy is opposed by a local authority.
[Linda Riordan in the Chair] — Health Inequalities (North-East) (24 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: My grandmother was an NHS matron, and I worked with health care professionals for nearly 20 years in my former profession as a barrister. I also spent far too much time as a patient, attempting to become an expert on all health matters. I probably hold the House record at the moment for the most time spent in hospital in the past year. I certainly spent a lot of time in hospital in my other...
[Linda Riordan in the Chair] — Health Inequalities (North-East) (24 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: I have listened carefully to the hon. Lady’s arguments, and I congratulate her on this debate. It is good to see so many hon. Members from the north-east in the Chamber. She talks about inequalities, and referred to Surrey’s excellent mortality rates and alcohol abuse recovery rates compared with the north-east and Scotland—people in Glasgow have the lowest life expectancy...
Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: Tourism: Northumberland (20 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what (a) support he is providing to encourage and (b) assessment he has made of opportunities for rural tourism in Northumberland.
Written Answers — Transport: High Speed Two (20 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans she has to ensure that equipment and materials for High Speed 2 are (a) made in and (b) procured from the north-east.
Written Answers — Treasury: Investment (20 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is taking steps to reform the banking system by using Government funds to set up an industry bank.
Northern Rail Hub — [Mr Jim Hood in the Chair] (18 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: I will try to be a little briefer and more directly to the point. I make the fundamental point that I support the assertions in favour of the northern hub, and briefly reflect on the fact that we now have a situation where the Secretary of State is from Rotherham. Is that not a good thing, as a northerner? The Minister has been repeatedly up to Newcastle, both before and after the general...
Northern Rail Hub — [Mr Jim Hood in the Chair] (18 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: Some would say, “Quite right, too.” I do not think that everybody else is doing that, but the point is this: all of us see, commuting as we do to the north, the degree to which there is a lack of capacity on the trains at peak times. I support wholeheartedly the work that is being done by the North East chamber of commerce, which is very supportive of the northern hub, and by the...
[Sir Roger Gale in the Chair] — Care of the Dying (17 January 2012)
Guy Opperman: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr Burrowes) on securing the debate. A lot of people present are passionate Christians and see the subject from a religious standpoint. I speak as someone who was given warning of death on 26 April, before my operation last year, and with respect I take the view that, of the choices faced by individuals, one is the choice of...
