Select Committee
Parliament

Labour MP John Mann returns to the decision to drop the review of banking culture. 

Mr Mann says "culture in banks is crucial" and asks "whether it is a good thing or a bad thing that the FCA's chief executive has been sacked and its cultural review has been dropped - which it has been in a very profound way, is it not appropriate that there is full and open transparency to enable a full and open public debate on the FCA's decisions?"

Mr Griffith-Jones responds saying: "I am extremely happy to share with this committee at the level of detail that is deemed appropriate...to give you confidence of what we are doing."

The FCA chairman says he believes the culture in banks is improving but "we have some way to go".

House of Commons
Parliament

Lib Dem Norman Lamb says as a father he's "hostile" to drugs and the harm they cause. But he says he's also concerned about "bad law". "Our objective should be harm reduction," he says, and policy should be based on "evidence of what works".

He cites a Home Office report, commissioned when the Coalition was in power, that showed no correlation between toughness of drug laws and the prevalence of adult drug use around the world.

He asks MPs to "think before you vote for this legislation".

House of Lords
Parliament

Liberal Democrat Lord Tyler fears that Conservatives are seeking to "redefine the rules to entrench their own power" through changing constituency boundaries, "wiping" two million people off the electoral register and challenging the power of the Lords.

He accuses the government of seeking to stymie "an already hobbled opposition".

House of Lords
Parliament

Shadow leader of the House of Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon accuses the government of being in denial about the consequences of the bill.

She says its provisions will have "significant impact on the resources of one major political party, my party, the Labour Party".

She fears that the clauses in the bill will "disrupt the political balance in the UK".

House of Commons
Parliament

The Republic of Ireland's Criminal Justice Psychoactive Substances Act came into law in 2010, and has been repeatedly mentioned by MPs this afternoon, both by those in favour and those against a ban. The law is similar to the one being discussed in Parliament.

According to this BBC News report from the summer, the impact has been mixed. It quotes a member of the Garda's drug unit saying that as a result of the bill the headshop industry, of shops on high streets selling legal highs, had "gone".

But the article also quotes a worker for a drug charity, who suggests that the former legal high trade has moved online, and to drug dealers.

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour MP Wes Streeting asks about the decision of the Chancellor to tell Radio 4's Today programme that Ms McDermott did not want to stay on at the FCA.

Ms McDermott says with a rueful smile that the "unanticipated" announcement "rather threw the day's plans".

"I wasn't exactly delighted about it but these things happen," she says.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

BBC Parliamenty Correspondent Mark D'arcy explains the background to this motion:

In the Lords (from 3pm) the week's biggest single moment in the Lords may well turn out to be the motion from the Labour Leader, Baroness Smith of Basildon, on the appointment of a select committee to consider the impact of clauses 10 and 11 of the Trade Union Bill - the section on political funding by trade unions.

This picks up a proposal floated last week by the Lib Dem Lord Tyler, but not pushed to a vote. The interesting point is that what's more or less the same proposal, but rebadged as Labour might be more effective in maximising the Opposition vote in the chamber, especially as the debate and then vote would take place in prime time, starting just after questions, at about 3.30pm.

But there's an undercurrent of Lib-Lab rivalry here, with the Lib Dem Leader Tim Farron taking to the press to blast Labour for refusing to back Lib Dem moves against assorted government measures - and two Lib Dem peers, Baronesss Featherstone and Baroness Hamwee have put down fatal motions against government measures on feed in tariffs and on immigration. They won't be debated this week, and may simply lie there as a rebuke to Labour.

There are more interesting undercurrents too; will Labour be able to persuade their troops to turn up, after a couple of no-shows in important votes, and second, what will it reveal about the mood of the House, after the government floated plans to limit peers ability to block secondary legislation? Will the Leader, Baroness Stowell, face a backlash? Either way, this is a an important manoeuvre - the proposed special committee would have to report by the end of February - and its findings could feed into an attempt to re-write the political funding proposals.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, Reuters

We now come to Labour’s motion concerning political funding of trade unions.

The motion calls for two clauses in the Trade Union Bill (which is currently going through the Lords) to be considered by a select committee.

The first clause states that union members must “opt in” to contributing to political funds.

The second clause requires unions to publish details of political expenditure over £2,000 in their annual returns.

Labour has argued that considering these clauses in a select committee would allow funding of political parties to be considered in a non-partisan way.

House of Lords
Parliament

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering asks how long the money will be available for given that councils haven't had time to inspect the damage of all the bridges.

Government spokeswoman Baroness Williams of Trafford recognises the problem and assures peers that local authorities will be given the time they need.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, PA

The final question comes from Labour's Lord Liddle who asks what funding has been made available to Cumbria to restore infrastructure damaged during the recent floods.

Following its wettest December in a century Cumbria experienced floods which affected over 6,000 properties.

The floods and heavy rainfall also affected parts of Scotland, Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Floods Minister Rory Stewart has said that the government would spend £2.3bn on flood defences over six years.

House of Lords
Parliament

International Development Minister Baroness Verma tells the House that the UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis providing £1.1bn in aid to the region and taking in 20,000 refugees.

Lord Balfe worries that if the Syrian government fell, a further two million people would become refugees and asks if the government has plans to deal with the extra influx.

Baroness Verma replies that the government has been consistent in trying to support people within the region.

Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative Stephen Hammond is returning to the issue of Martin Wheatley's contract not being renewed by the Chancellor, asking Mr Griffiths-Jones whether he was surprised by the decision.

"Yes I was," he responds. 

Mr Griffiths-Jones rejects the idea that the FCA board should have released a statement saying they supported Mr Wheatley's leadership, reiterating his belief that "it was the prerogative of the Chancellor to take the decision that he had taken".

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Balfe asks how many Syria refugees will be offered asylum in the UK.

In September the government said it would allow some 20,000 Syrian refugees to settle in the UK by 2020.

Since the conflict in Syria began over four and a half million Syrians have become refugees.

The EU has said that over 942,000 people have claimed asylum in European Union countries.

Image source, Reuters

House of Lords
Parliament

Baroness Manzoor asks the minister how he intends to mitigate the effect of the charge on those with mental problems who lose their homes after falling into rent arrears. 

Lord Freud replies that the concerns about people falling into debt have not come to pass, noting that since the policy was passed 99% of rent has been collected on time. 

Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative MP Mark Garnier is asking about the link between members of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), external and the FCA decision to drop its review of banking culture.

Ms McDermott responds that FCA staff recommended the decision and rejects any assertion that members of the PRA pushed for the FCA to drop their review.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, Danny Lawson/PA

Conservative MP Daniel Poulter is talking about his amendment to change cannabis from a schedule 1 drug to a schedule 2 drug.

Rescheduling the drug would enable research into the medical uses of the drug, which is currently prohibited in the UK. 

He says research into the use of cannabis in palliative care is of particular interest, and points to a number of states in the US where medical use of the drug is allowed.

House of Lords
Parliament

Minister for Work and Pensions Lord Freud tells peers the policy is designed to make sure those who need social housing can access it.

He suggest that people "tend to forget" the numbers who are on waiting lists or who live in overcrowded houses.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, Getty

Labour’s Baroness Quin asks for an assessment of the effect of the under-occupancy charge on the health and wellbeing of those subject to it.

The under-occupancy charge, also known as the bedroom tax, is levied on welfare claimants with one or more empty bedrooms.

The charge is estimated to cost tenants between £14 – £16 a week.

Labour opposed the charge arguing that it forces people into debt.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, Science Photo Library

Conservative Baroness Rawlings has the first question and asks how the government intends to further incorporate preventative medicine into the NHS.

Last December the Academy of Medical Sciences called for greater use of personalised medicines tailored to individuals to prevent illness.

The academy argued that a better understanding of genetics makes it easier to predict what diseases would affect which people and which drugs could pre-empt them.

Some doctors have raised concerns this could lead to over-medication and suggest disease prevention should focus on encouraging healthier lifestyles.

House of Lords
Parliament

Before business gets underway the Lords Speaker, Baroness D'Souza, tells peers that the life peer Lord Weidenfeld has died.

Lord Weidenfeld fled the Nazis in Austria and subsequently became a British citizen.

After working at the BBC he set up a publishing company which produced books including Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. 

Image source, European Photopress Agency