House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow mental health and social care minister Barbara Keeley paints a downbeat picture of social care in the UK.

She says it is "in crisis due to a lack of funding".

She tells MPs that patients are stuck in hospital because there aren't enough places in care homes. 

She says unpaid family members have to provide increasing levels of care leaving them "isolated and burnt out".

House of Commons
Parliament

We now come to today's second opposition day debate on social care.

Labour's motion urges the government to bring forward "promised funding to address the current funding crisis".

The government has tabled an amendment welcoming the fact that "the amount of money available to local authorities for adult social care services will rise significantly". 

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers accept Commons reasons for rejecting their amendments without further opposition - due to the fact that MPs are elected and they are not.

We now come to the fifth and final day of committee stage consideration of the Policing and Crime Bill.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames is moving the first batch of amendments today, which seek to tighten up the laws on "sexting" and revenge pornography.

Sexting is the name given to the transmission of sexually explicit images between individuals, and revenge pornography refers to the act of making intimate and explicit images of an individual public without the permission of that person.

Lord Marks says that these amendments would bring the bill in line with equivalent legislation in Scotland, as they broaden the scope of what type of explicit images come under current laws about the disclosure of such images.

He says that the amendment aims to increase public awareness and to ensure that police forces take these offences seriously. 

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs have voted to reject the Labour motion 284 votes to 265.

The motion is subsequently agreed to with the government's amended wording, which states that MPs note "the role of universal credit in ensuring that work pays". 

House of Lords
Parliament

The Commons and the Lords have been engaged in ping pong over the Investigatory Powers Bill, and an amendment that would bring into force a recommendation of the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.

Opponents have said that the recommendations, which are currently in law elsewhere in statute but not in effect, could lead to publications being sued and having to pay their opponents' costs, even if they win.

MPs rejected amendment 15 dealing with civil claims for interception of personal data - phone hacking.

MPs argued that the amendments were not appropriate until section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act was enacted.

Section 40 deals with the award of costs for claims against a publisher when there is an national press regulator. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Work and Pensions Minister Penny Mordaunt tells MPs that government is helping people to get out of their jobless situation "not just to endure it".

She says that new money from the Treasury will be used to extend a hardship fund and adds that the government will help jobseekers with "work related costs".

The debate comes to an end and MPs vote on Labour's motion.

The result is expected at approximately 4.20pm. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams urges the government to end its "shirker, scrounger rhetoric".

She calls for cuts to the Employment Support Allowance Work Related Activity Group to be reversed, arguing that they target sick and disabled people.

She tells the House that the country is becoming "more and more unequal" and attacks the government for giving tax breaks to the "highest earners". 

Image source, SPL

Former residents of the Chagos Islands who were removed to make way for a US airbase in the 1960s and 70s will not be allowed back, the government says.

Instead, it has decided the Chagossians will be offered compensation worth £40m over the next 10 years.

The government also confirmed that the UK would allow the US to keep its military base in the islands in the Indian Ocean.

Islanders lost a legal battle in June against a ruling they could not return.

Read more...

House of Lords
Parliament

As the urgent statement answer repeat comes to an end, Defence Minister Earl Howe moves the Commons reasons for rejecting Lords amendments to the Investigatory Powers Bill.

He praises peers across the House for their work in scrutinising the bill, and assures them that their efforts and arguments "have not been wasted". 

House of Lords
Parliament

At the end of Oral Questions, Baroness Williams of Trafford repeats the answer given earlier in the Commons to an urgent question on the implementation of section 67 of the Immigration Act.

Labour peer Lord Dubs, who first moved the amendment made to the Immigration Bill to allow unaccompanied child refugees into the UK, calls it a "bitterly disappointing statement".

The peer, who escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport programme for Jewish children, says that the government agreed to accept the "letter and the spirit" of his amendment - which has made up section 67 of the Immigration Act.

"My contention is that the government is doing neither", he says.

He asks how the government can say that refugees fleeing many countries are ineligible to claim refugee status on "a statistical basis" and urges the minister to think again on this issue.

Baroness Williams responds that she is  "disappointed that he is disappointed". 

Select Committee
Parliament

SDLP MP Margaret Ritchie asks the witnesses for their assessment of a potential reduction in VAT on tourism.

Jude Leitch said some business have expressed a desire to cut VAT, but most are concerned about the rate, rather than a cut explicitly. 

Any help that businesses can get "to help them invest further" would be welcomed, she adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Heidi Allen says that Universal Credit could be "the greatest enabler of social change seen in decades", but worries it could be undermined by cuts.

She urges the government to be "not just competent but compassionate" and questions whether a cut to benefits will act as an incentive to get people out to work. 

She tells MPs that they need to get out of "our well-heeled shoes" and step into someone else's for a day, adding:

House of Lords
Parliament

During her responses to the question on UK-US relations following the election of Donald Trump in America, Baroness Anelay misspeaks and refers to "Lord Trump", prompting laughter in the chamber with several peers waving their arms at the minister in mock horror.

"I've clearly made one of the most popular proposals for the increase in the size of this House ever", she says.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, Getty Images

Conservative peer Lord Balfe is asking the government what assessment it has made of future diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and the United States in the light of the outcome of the United States presidential election.

Foreign Office Minister Baroness Anelay of St Johns replies that the US and UK are "natural, resilient and strong allies" and says that throughout this alliance British prime ministers have worked with "numerous US leaders".

She says that the government looks forward to working with the administration of President-elect Trump.

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour MP Kerry McCarthy asks the witnesses about attracting visitors outside the summer months.

Jude Leitch, Director of Northumberland Tourism tells the committee there are perceptions that counties such as Northumberland are closed to business in the winter, but tourism promotion bodies need to keep people informed that there is "no such thing as bad weather, just appropriate clothing".

House of Lords
Parliament

The Coalition government scrapped a Labour scheme to introduce UK identity cards in 2010.

Supporters of an ID card system in the UK say it could combat identity theft, fraud and terrorism.

Opponents of ID cards say they are an invasion of privacy and would be expensive to administer.

The UK last issued compulsory ID cards during World War II, with the scheme continuing to 1952.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Helen Goodman wants to see the return of distributional analysis to the Budget and Autumn Statement.

She encourages ministers not to be "seduced by their own rhetoric" and instead "come back to fact based policy".

House of Lords
Parliament

Labour peer Lord Campbell-Savours asks the government whether it intends to consult the National Police Chiefs Council regarding the case for introducing national identity cards.

Home Office Minister Baroness Williams of Trafford responds that the government has no plans to reintroduce ID cards.

Lord Campbell-Savours says that this is "very bad news indeed" and points to evidence of the availability on the dark web of false forms of identification including bank statements, passports, and bank cards.

"Is it not time we return to this issue?" he asks.

Baroness Williams responds that if so many forms of identification can be forged then why would it be any different for ID cards. She also says that there is no evidence in Europe where there are ID cards that it has improved security.