Steve Darling MP: speeches

Speeches

• 9 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Eighteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I broadly welcome the way forward proposed in these clauses.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Eighteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I welcome the further clarity that the amendments offer. Amendment 92 agreed to. Amendments made: 93, in clause 83, page 85, line 11, after “any” insert “other”. This amendment is consequential on amendment 92. Amendment 94, in clause 83, page 85, line 15, leave out subsection (5). This amendment is consequential on NS1. Amendment 95, in clause 83, page 85, line 24, leave out from beginning to “may” in line 26. This amendment is consequential on amendment 92. Amendment 96, in clause 83, page 86, line 3, at end insert— “(10) For further provision about warrants under this section, see section (Warrants) and Schedule (Warrants under Part 5: further provision).”— (Justin Madders .) This amendment is consequential on NC9 and NS1 Question proposed, That the clause, as amended, stand part of the Bill.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Eighteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. On behalf of my residents in Torbay, whether they are employers or workers, a strategy to know how the Government are looking to drive this agenda forward can only be welcomed.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Eighteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I welcome the points made by the shadow Minister, and wait eagerly to hear from the Minister.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Eighteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  It is important that we hear from the Minister about getting the balance right and supporting people’s rights, while not being too invasive to businesses. I look forward to hearing from him.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Seventeenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I am concerned about the heavy weather that colleagues on the Opposition Benches are making of this. For me, this measure is about driving a positive culture in employment, and the board’s balance is entirely appropriate. I welcome the clause.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Seventeenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to work under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I broadly welcome the bringing together of powers under the fair work agency. I note that the Secretary of State is due to publish an annual report, but I am sure that businesses in Torbay would be interested to know where in the Bill the critical friend is to hold the Secretary of State to account and ensure that they are being light of foot and driving the agenda we all want to see in this area, so I would welcome the Minister’s sharing that.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Seventeenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I know from my surgeries and casework in Torbay that discrimination is sadly alive and well. I ask the Minister to reflect on some of the evidence from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which talked about the provision leading to fragmentation and the possibility of some of its standard work falling between two stools. What reassurances can the Minister give that the good work will proceed appropriately either through the fair work agency, or in a partnership approach with the Equality and Human Rights Commission?

• 9 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Seventeenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I broadly welcome the proposals in the clauses, and I look forward to the Minister’s explanation of the issues outlined by the shadow Minister.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Sixteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I have some sympathy with the desire to understand the cost, but to me, the vast majority of the Government proposals before us today are about modernising the system appropriately. I am concerned that this afternoon we have seen the official Opposition one minute say that all in the garden is rosy and there is no need for equality, and the next flip over and catastrophise about the Government’s proposals. We need to get a firm hand on the tiller and see that the vast majority of these proposals simply entail modernisation. I welcome them.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Sixteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I strongly welcome this modernisation of approach. Question put and agreed to. Clause 53 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 54 Industrial action ballots: turnout and support thresholds Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Sixteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I am concerned that the hon. Gentleman is taking a Panglossian approach that all in the world is perfect. It is far from perfect, which is why I welcome large tracts of the Bill, as long as we are supporting employers on the journey.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Sixteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  Happy new year, Sir Christopher. I have a small amount of sympathy with the shadow Minister—I understand the cost to business, so I welcome that element of the amendments—but I have great fears. One need only have listened to the radio this morning to have heard about the issues for McDonald’s workers that have not been sorted out. I accept that that is the private sector, and the amendments are about the public sector, but it demonstrates that if equalities issues are not taken seriously in the workplace, it can cause major harm to employees and to the culture of improvement that we need to see.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Fifteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I wish all colleagues a happy and prosperous new year. I welcome these proposals. Only this weekend, I was speaking with a constituent in Torbay who told me that the unit he worked in had transferred out of the NHS and been taken over by the private sector. He was gravely concerned about sharp practices that he saw being undertaken by the new employer. My best advice to him was, “Have you engaged with the trade union on site? How can the trade union help you? If I can do anything to assist the trade union, I stand ready to help.” Trade unions are a force for good in the workplace, and many of the proposals that we will discuss today will put us mid-range in the OECD on trade union rights. Far from the extremism that the Conservatives are painting us into a corner with, these measures will actually put us back on an even keel as a nation in our relations with trade unions, rather than something like third or fourth bottom among OECD countries in the rights that we give unions.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Fifteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I will be concise and echo the shadow Minister’s call for clarity.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Fifteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  To me, the clause is all about resetting the culture within our employment world, and I welcome the proposals within it. It is about driving the partnership approach that we should have in the workplace. The more we can achieve that, the better for our economy.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Fifteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  Bill Committees are here to check for snags in the final construction of legislation. I am pleased that this snag has been picked up and will be sorted out by this amendment.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Employment Rights Bill (Fifteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I welcome the amendments. Driving our economy to achieve the productivity that we need must be a mission for all of us in this House. The culture in our businesses is really important, and I think the amendments will drive a positive working relationship between workers and bosses, so that we can see productivity enhanced across the United Kingdom.

• 6 Jan 2025 · NHS Backlog · Hansard source

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  In my constituency, our hospital faces almost 700 sewage leaks, which has an impact on its ability to provide services. That is another pressure. Does my hon. Friend agree that the sooner the Government advise on what investment they will make to enhance services for our hospitals across the UK, the better?

• 19 Dec 2024 · Harland & Wolff · Hansard source

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  This is an outstanding Christmas present for the 1,000 employees from Devon to the Isle of Lewis who will benefit from this decision and the deal that has been pulled off by the Government. In the west country, we have a low-wage economy, and in the Appledore dockyard, which is not too far from my constituency of Torbay, this will go down extremely well, so congratulations are in order. That is in sharp contrast with the failure of the previous Administration on implementing an industrial strategy, supporting our shipping industry and growing our economy over many years. The position that the Conservatives are taking now is utterly shameful. How can we hardwire that long-term support for our shipping industry so that we see growth in this area and support for industries such as steel manufacturing?

• 19 Dec 2024 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  We have seen the proliferation of drone warfare in Ukraine as never before. I was struck by how the Minister referred to drones repeatedly in his statement; it is a massive change in how war is waged. With a Trump presidency on the horizon, Europe needs to look to itself and for its strengths. One of our strengths is the automobile industry and component parts, which can easily be repurposed for the development of drones for the war in Ukraine. Will the Minister advise us on how he is working with European colleagues to enhance that to support Ukraine to the hilt?

• 18 Dec 2024 · Post Office Redress and Funding · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for sharing his statement in advance. Honest, hard-working people had their lives totally wrecked by this scandal, and it is a great shame that it happened over a number of years, and that there was dither and delay over it for far too many years. I welcome the steps that he has outlined this afternoon. I welcome the suggestions made to him about an independent body for compensation. However, this scandal must never happen again. One way this Chamber could ensure that is the case is by having a duty of candour on officials, as the Liberal Democrats have called for. I hope he will give that serious consideration, to stop such a scandal ever happening again. Finally, there is a real opportunity, should the Government choose to take it, to set up an office for whistleblowers through the Employment Rights Bill, which is currently making its way through the House.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Community Pharmacies: Devon and the South-west · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Minehead (Rachel Gilmour) on securing this important debate. A number of primary care providers, including GPs, dentists, opticians and pharmacists, spoke to Devon MPs a few weeks ago. They shared with us the crisis that the frontline of the NHS currently faces. They also shared another challenge that I ask the Minister to reflect on: how national operating framework 4 puts additional pressures on services in Devon, and how the integrated care board is challenged in respect of some decisions, perhaps where fewer prevention opportunities have been taken. That has increased pressures on primary care, with more money spent on acute services. The Government rightly highlight the fact that, in children’s services and adult social care, prevention is better than cure, and it is the same for this area of the NHS. My constituency has 22 pharmacists serving communities across Torbay. Sadly, we have lost seven pharmacists in recent years, significantly increasing the pressure on those that still trade, which is a grave concern. We have an older population, leading to greater footfall for our helpful pharmacists. I also reflect on the fact that 10 years ago the NHS spend on support for pharmacists was 2.4%, and it is now 1.6%. If our plan is prevention, that is going in the wrong direction. Colleagues have rightly raised the Pharmacy First approach, which has saved a little under 500 GP appointments in the Torbay constituency; we need to push harder on that agenda. I would like to curry a little favour with the Minister by sharing with him the fact that the first manifesto I bought had a picture of his father on the front of it. I still have it up on my shelf, despite my wife regularly asking me to clear out my office. I would like the Minister to reflect on whether NOF4 is part of the problem rather than the solution for NHS services, and to ensure that we get the long-term funding for pharmacies that is the strength they need to build on.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Employment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I just reflect that when I was a unitary authority leader, we were effectively a hostage client of the private sector, since the previous Conservative authority had set up a joint venture with it. That was far from the land of milk and honey. Well, it was the land of milk and honey for the private sector, whereas local taxpayers had to suffer under a system that was set up to benefit the private sector. The reality is that often it is more appropriate for local authorities to run these services so that they are run in the interests of local communities rather than the profits of the private sector.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Employment Rights Bill (Thirteenth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I beg to move amendment 162, in clause 26, page 38, line 35, at end insert— “(c) supporting employees who provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need, as defined by the Carer’s Leave Act 2023.” This amendment adds caring to the list of “matters related to gender equality”, on which regulations will require employers to produce an equality action plan. This amendment relates to research showing that by the age of 46, 50% of women have taken on caring responsibilities, whereas the equivalent age for men is 57. Clearly, the impact of caring happens much sooner for women, and that is why it is appropriate to take carers into account under the equality action plan. There are approximately 10.5 million carers in the United Kingdom, 2.6 million of whom work. That shows that a significant number of carers do not work. In an earlier debate I made the point about the pool of workers for whom there are opportunities in our workforce yet who are not able to access longer-term employment. I strongly contend that the amendment is a way to enhance the pool of opportunity by driving the culture change that I was delighted to hear the Minister say a lot of the Bill is all about. Carers will often stay in lower-paid jobs or refuse promotion because of caring commitments. It is extremely important to include caring as part of the consideration and clearly flag that to people who consider the action plans, because it is not an obvious matter for an employer to take into consideration, but it affects such a large number of people in the United Kingdom that it would be an error in judgment not to include it in the Bill.