The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many coastguard operations room staff in Liverpool have left the service in the last two years.
Stephen Hammond
Since April 2012 eight Coastguards that worked in the operations room at Liverpool Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre have left Her Majesty’s Coastguard.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how often and when each coastguard station has been under-staffed in the last two years.
Stephen Hammond
The following table shows the number of occasions each Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed at below risk assessed levels over the last two years by month.
Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty’s Coastguard is using the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many coastguard operations room staff have applied for voluntary redundancy.
Stephen Hammond
As at 14 April 2014, of those Coastguards currently working in a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, 86 have applied for both new posts in the new coastguard structure and voluntary redundancy, 140 have applied for voluntary redundancy only and 128 have applied for a new post in the new coastguard structure only.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many coastguard operations room staff have applied for both new posts in the new coastguard structure and voluntary redundancy.
Stephen Hammond
As at 14 April 2014, of those Coastguards currently working in a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, 86 have applied for both new posts in the new coastguard structure and voluntary redundancy, 140 have applied for voluntary redundancy only and 128 have applied for a new post in the new coastguard structure only.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2014-04-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answers of 29 April 2014, Official Report, columns 559-60W and column 560W, on schools: inspections, for what reason local authorities are inspected separately from schools maintained by local authorities but academies are not inspected separately from the head offices of academy chains.
Mr David Laws
Ofsted can inspect local authorities to see whether they are fulfilling a number of statutory duties. Academy head offices do not have the same statutory duties. However, Ofsted already inspects academy chains through batched inspections. It has recently undertaken focused inspections of academies within E-ACT multi-academy trust, and has previously inspected a group of academies within the AET chain.
The tribute made by Bill Esterson, the Labour MP for Sefton Central, in the House of Commons on 10 September 2022.
Like so many people, I have only known a world in which Queen Elizabeth II was our Queen. The wonderful tributes we have heard often include reference to the amazing longevity of her reign, and I was reminded of this when I looked at the dates of her many visits to Sefton. When the Queen first visited Bootle, Crosby and Southport in the early 1950s, they were all in the county of Lancashire. They became part of the borough of Sefton only some 20 years later with local government reorganisation, which is a story familiar to many people across the country.
The Queen also visited Bootle in 1962 and as part of her silver jubilee tour in 1977. She went to the Altcar training camp in my constituency in 1985, and she went to Southport again on the same visit. Aintree racecourse is in my Sefton Central constituency and is, of course, home to the world’s most famous horserace. Given the Queen’s love of horses, it is perhaps no surprise that she first attended the grand national in 1956, and it is fitting that Red Rum saved his record third win in the grand national for 1977 and the Queen’s silver jubilee.
People across Sefton have fond memories of the Queen’s visits, and none more so than in 1993 when she joined the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the battle of the Atlantic at Bootle town hall. The links to the armed forces and to the merchant navy, which she recognised through her visits to Sefton, have provided service personnel and civilians with fond memories and demonstrated her gratitude for their service to our nation.
The messages of condolence from my constituents have displayed warmth and gratitude to the Queen. Memories of her will be treasured for years to come. Queen Elizabeth II did her duty for my constituents and deserves our heartfelt thanks for her service to our nation. May she rest in peace. Long live the King.
The comments made by Bill Esterson, the Shadow International Trade Minister, on 11 June 2021.
This is a deeply disappointing – if sadly unsurprising – recommendation from an organisation that is fundamentally flawed in its composition and its remit and has simply not given sufficient weight to the implications of this verdict for steelworkers, their families, and the communities that rely on that industry.
The Government will say their only option is now to accept this recommendation, but that is simply not true. They must instead accept Labour’s offer to work together in the national interest and come forward with emergency legislation, which we will support, to amend the regulations and allow Britain’s steel safeguards to be maintained in full.
That is the only responsible and acceptable course of action to protect the British steel industry and the tens of thousands of jobs it supports.
The comments made by Bill Esterson, the Labour MP for Sefton Central, on 1 January 2021.
The government has announced all London Primary Schools will stay shut. My constituents are asking whether schools here will be opening. If the government is going to u-turn on schools opening across the country they have to do so quickly. Stop the dither and delay.
The comments made on Twitter by Bill Esterson, the Labour MP for Sefton Central, on 27 August 2020.
None of this sanctimonious self justification. Ed Davey was a cabinet minister in Cameron’s government. He supported austerity, the Health and Social Care Act and Gove’s destruction of our schools system. The Lib-Dems were willing Tory accomplices and Davey was at the forefront.
Comments made by Bill Esterson, the Shadow Minister for International Trade, on 23 July 2020.
The Government’s approach to its trade negotiations is extremely worrying. The only reason to impose these long-term gagging orders is to prevent the public discovering the reality of what the government is willing to give up to get these free trade deals.
On a practical level, these NDAs will make it impossible for business and union representatives to consult their members on the implications of specific proposals, and make it more likely that damaging provisions will slip into these trade agreements unchecked.
Instead of operating in this way, the government should increase the transparency of these trade negotiations, and allow effective scrutiny of what is being proposed, by business, by unions, by civil society and by Parliament. If they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear.