Tag: Diane Abbott

  • Diane Abbott – 2022 Speech on Manston

    Diane Abbott – 2022 Speech on Manston

    The speech made by Diane Abbott, the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, in the House of Commons on 28 November 2022.

    Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab)

    I am grateful to the Minister for coming before the House with his statement, but does he not agree that it should not have taken a death to make Ministers focus properly on issues relating to infectious diseases at Manston? It is not as if the possibilities relating to infectious disease have not been raised and written about. Does he not agree that it is quite wrong that it took a death for him to come before us and talk about new guidance: new guidance that nobody presenting with symptoms will be progressed on; new guidance about ensuring that asylum accommodation providers get the very latest public health advice; and new guidance about co-operating with the French about infectious disease in northern France? It took a death for the Minister to come before us with that new guidance.

    The Minister has also said that there is no risk to the wider population and the House is grateful to hear that. However, does he not accept that, whether these people are deemed to be legal or illegal, we have a basic responsibility for their health? It should not have taken Ministers so long to focus on the well-reported dangers of infectious disease.

    Robert Jenrick

    I respect the right hon. Lady’s point of view and experience, but it has not taken a death for the Home Office to focus on this issue. This individual’s death is deeply regrettable, but we have been working on, and alive to, this issue for many months—indeed, for years. The Home Office has had in place procedures to deal with covid since the start of the pandemic. The hotels I mentioned earlier, which we will use to transfer people with diphtheria symptoms, were the locations the Home Office used for those who tested positive for covid.

    The UKHSA has been publishing guidance on the treatment and support of asylum seekers and refugees for many months—it may even be years. The latest guidance on this issue was published by Dame Jenny Harries and her colleagues two weeks ago, prior to the sad death of this individual. I am afraid that the connection that the right hon. Lady seeks to draw is not correct. We do not take this issue lightly, and we will continue to follow it and to put in place whatever measures we need to.

  • Diane Abbott – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Damp in Hackney Properties

    Diane Abbott – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Damp in Hackney Properties

    The parliamentary question asked by Diane Abbott, the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, in the House of Commons on 16 November 2022.

    Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab)

    The Secretary of State will be aware that the family first raised the issue a year before their little boy died. That, in my view, points to the extreme culpability of the Rochdale Boroughwide housing association. It is my view not that its head should be fined but that, if he had any conscience, he would resign. Tens of thousands of people up and down the country are in properties that are riddled with damp and mould. I have the issue myself in Hackney, and one estate, Evelyn Court, is campaigning to try to get its landlord to do something about it. It is difficult to imagine anything sadder than watching your child literally cough to death because people who were supposed to act did not. The family are of the opinion that they were treated in this way because they were migrants and because they were black. We all know all sorts of tenants have this issue, but does the Secretary of State agree that some of us believe these tenants were treated like this because they were black?

    Michael Gove

    I am really grateful to the right hon. Lady for raising that question and for the way in which she raised it. It does seem to me, on the basis of the facts as we know them, that this family were victims of prejudice, whether unwitting or otherwise. There are other examples, and there have been other examples, of individuals in both the private rented sector and the social rented sector who have been treated with significantly less respect than they deserve because of attitudes that are rooted in prejudice. We all have a responsibility across this House to call that out when it occurs and to ensure that people, whatever their background, are treated with the dignity they deserve as human beings.

  • Diane Abbott – 2022 Question on Conditions at Manston

    Diane Abbott – 2022 Question on Conditions at Manston

    The question asked by Diane Abbott, the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, in the House of Commons on 7 November 2022.

    The House welcomes the fact that the numbers at Manston have gone down, but the Minister will be aware that the concerns, notably of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Neal, were about not just the numbers but the conditions. When he came to give evidence to the Home Affairs Committee, he told us that he thought there was a risk of fire, disorder and infection. Is the Minister confident that those risks no longer exist? On unaccompanied children, how many are there in Manston? What effort is being made to safeguard them? For instance, are they having to sleep next to males they do not know? When it comes to unaccompanied children in hotels, can he tell the House specifically how they are being safeguarded?

    Robert Jenrick 

    There should be no unaccompanied children at Manston. Unaccompanied children are taken directly from Western Jet Foil. In some cases when they immediately arrive at Manston, they are taken to specialist hotels, where they are looked after with a range of support provided for them. As I said in answer to a previous question, that in itself is not a desirable outcome. We want to ensure that those young people are quickly taken to better accommodation, particularly foster carers. That relies on us being able to find more. There is a national shortage of foster carers, which is why we put in place a financial package to try to stimulate the market and encourage more people and councils to step up and provide that service.

    The right hon. Lady makes an important point about conditions at the site. Conditions were poor when I last visited, but the primary reason for that was the sheer number of individuals there. The staff I met were providing a very good quality of care in difficult circumstances. The food was acceptable, and the health and medical facility was good. The clothing and other support that was provided was something I thought was acceptable and is certainly far in excess of that which would be provided in other European countries.

    We have to remember that the individuals who arrive at Manston have literally been hooked out of the sea. We saved their lives just hours previously and many of them have come from significantly worse accommodation such as, for example, the camp at Dunkirk. I am not saying the UK should compare itself with that—we want to be better—but I think the right hon. Lady will find that the facility at Manston is now in a significantly better state and I would be interested in hearing her reflections when she returns.

  • Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to allow the most vulnerable Syrian refugees to come to Britain.

    James Brokenshire

    The first group of Syrian refugees arrived in the UK on 25 March as part of the
    Government’s Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) Scheme. The next group of
    refugees
    is expected to arrive this month, with further groups to follow on a regular
    basis. We continue to work with UNHCR to establish a steady flow of cases.

    Whilst there is no set quota we predict that the VPR scheme will support
    several hundred people over the next three years.

  • Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent representations he has received from organisations concerned about the inclusion of books in the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme; and what assessment his Department has made of the effect the inclusion of books in that scheme will have on prisoner rehabilitation.

    Jeremy Wright

    There have always been controls on the sending of parcels into prisons, and allowing parcels to be sent in unrestricted would be operationally unmanageable and would lead to a significant risk of drugs and other illicit items being smuggled into prisons.

    We have always recognised the importance of reading and literature in the rehabilitative process, and the positive effects this has on prisoners’ welfare. The National Offender Management Service works closely with schemes such as the Shannon Trust reading network, which includes peer mentoring to improve reading levels.

    The Howard League for Penal Reform, English PEN and Liberty have made representations concerning prisoner access to books. There have been no changes in the availability of books in prisons. Every prison has a library, to which every prisoner has access. Up to 12 books may be held by prisoners in their cell at any one time and additional volumes may be stored locally at the prison.

  • Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that resources for mental health services meet the requirements of both adults and children.

    Norman Lamb

    Mental health and wellbeing, for both adults and children, is a priority for this Government. Our overarching goal is to ensure that mental health has equal priority with physical health, and that everyone who needs it has timely access to the best available treatment. We have enshrined in law the equal status of mental and physical health in the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

    The Mandate to NHS England makes clear that ‘everyone who needs it should have timely access to evidence based services’. This will involve extending and ensuring more open access to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, in particular for children and young people, and for those out of work.

    We are also committed to introducing access and/or waiting time standards for mental health. The revised Mandate asks NHS England to develop and evaluate a range of costed options to implement access and waiting standards for mental health services starting from April 2015, with a phased introduction depending on affordability.

    We will hold the National Health Service to account for the quality of services and outcomes for mental health patients through the NHS Outcomes Framework. Improvements for people with mental health problems will also be a crucial element of success across the framework as a whole.

    Our action plan, Closing the Gap, which was launched in January 2014, sets our priorities for action and progress in mental health services over the next couple of years, including actions supporting commissioners in allocating resources.

    We are setting up a new, national Mental Health Intelligence Network to provide comprehensive, up to date information about mental health and wellbeing, mental health problems and what the most pressing needs are in each area – which will support commissioning of services.

  • Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent steps he has taken to ensure that zero-hour contracts are not used in an exploitative manner.

    Jenny Willott

    My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills launched a consultation on proposals to tackle abuses in the use of zero hours contracts. The consultation was launched on 19 December 2013, closed on 13 March 2014 and received over 30,000 responses.

    The Government response to the consultation will be published in due course.

  • Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that school lunches in academies and free schools meet the nutritional standards of those in the state sector; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Laws

    The revised school food standards will apply to single mainstream academies and free schools opening from July 2014, other mainstream academies and free schools opening from autumn 2014 and non-mainstream academies opening later in 2014. Academies set up prior to 2010 already have to comply.

    During their review of school food, the authors of the School Food Plan approached several academy chains, including the Harris Federation, the Oasis Community Learning Multi-Academy Trust, and the School Partnership Trust. All agreed in principle to comply with the standards and the Leon Foundation are encouraging as many academies and free schools as possible to sign up formally to the new standards.

    99% of those academies which responded to a survey by the School Food Trust in 2012 said they were committed to following the new food standards.

  • Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the Prison and Probation Ombudsman’s (PPO) report on Learning from PPO Investigations: Risk factors in self-inflicted deaths in prisons.

    Jeremy Wright

    We will carefully consider the Ombudsman’s recommendations made in the Learning Lessons Bulletin on Risk Factors in self-inflicted deaths in prison to identify further learning. I also refer the honourable member to the answer given to the Lord’s Oral Question on 6 February 2014 (Official report Col 36 ), announcing that the Government hasestablished an Independent Review into the self-inflicted deaths of 18-24 year olds in NOMS custody. The review is being led by Lord Harris of Haringey and will report by Spring 2015. NOMS takes the safety of prisoners very seriously and draws learning from individual death in custody reports from the PPO as quickly as possible.

  • Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2014-05-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 17 September 2012, Official Report, column 512W, on torture, what the result of the audit was; if she will publish the audit; what training requirements were identified by the audit; whether that training has been delivered; if she will publish the training materials; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    An audit of casework relating to reports made under Rule 35 of the Detention
    Centre Rules 2001 began in April this year and will be completed in June. The
    findings of the audit will be made available later in the summer and will be
    used to identify good practice and areas for improvement.