House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, North Yorkshire Police handout

Conservative Kevin Hollinrake now introduces his bill - Guardianship (Missing Persons) Bill.

The bill would enable families of a missing person to look after their finances and property whilst they are away.

Currently families cannot access a missing person’s account – in one case this led to a woman’s home being repossessed after her husband disappeared.

In March 2015 the government agreed to introduce such legislation but has not so far published one.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MPs Kevin Foster and Jenny Chapman have asked if the Green Investment Bank will be allowed to fund fracking projects.

Nick Hurd says the bank will be required to continue to respect the "green purpose of the organisation".

He adds that it is a "judgement to be made by trustees". 

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP (and former Labour leader) Ed Miliband says there is cross-party concern about the sale.

He says this is the moment for the government to prove its commitment to an industrial strategy. 

Nick Hurd believes there is no issue about the government's commitment to the low carbon economy.

He says the difference of opinion concerns whether "state ownership is a good thing".

"We have moved on," he says. "We want to liberate the bank." 

House of Commons
Parliament

Callum McCaig says the sale is "happening at the worst possible time" noting a "90% fall in renewable investment".

He asks if the bank's headquarters in Edinburgh will remain.

Nick Hurd says the government is evaluating bidders based on a criteria which includes attitudes to jobs in Scotland.

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow business secretary Clive Lewis asks, if the Green Investment Bank is considered a success story, "why are you selling it off?"

Is it a case of private good, public bad? he asks.

He also asks how the government will protect the bank given Macquarie's "history of asset stripping".

Nick Hurd says the government believes the bank will "do even more" and "be even mover successful" in the private sector.

House of Commons
Parliament

Green MP Caroline Lucas urges the government to "stop the killling off" and "halt the sale process with immediate effect".

Business Minister Nick Hurd says he can't make any public comment on any potential bidders.

He suggests that Caroline Lucas is "drawing implications from media reports".

He says the government is running a competitive process. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, Reuters

Green Party leader Caroline Lucas now asks her urgent question on the Green Investment Bank.

The bank, launched by the coalition government in 2012, invests in commercial viable green projects.

In June 2015, the government announced plans to part-privatise the bank.

Caroline Lucas has raised concerns that the preferred bidder - an Australian bank called Macquarie -  has “a deeply regressive approach to environmental issues” and will asset strip the bank.

A Macquarie spokesman said it had a “substantial and longstanding commitment to the renewable energy sector”.

Select Committee
Parliament

The committee hearing is on its last few questions.

Lord Cormack says he is troubled by the characterisation of the negotiations as "poker".  He says the UK is negotiating with "friends and allies" of 40 years standing.

David Jones, minister at the Department for Exiting the EU, says the UK has "important international relations with the continuing members of the EU" and important bilateral arrangements.

He says "we have been at pains" to tell individual members states that we wish for the good relationships to continue after Britain leaves the EU.

Lady Prashar closes the session saying "this is an emotive, difficult and complex area" and she hopes the committee's report will be helpful to the ministers.

House of Commons
Parliament

DUP MP Gavin Robinson tells MPs that nothing can be or should be gained from threatening the peace process that "we have fought so hard to sustain".

Theresa May agrees the progress has been "hard won". She says the government doesn't want to put that progress "in jeopardy".

She adds that the government will work hard to see a resolution to the issue,. 

House of Commons
Parliament

New Conservative MP Caroline Johnson asks what the government can do to support the ambulance service.

Theresa May says there has been an increase in paramedics of 2,000 and increase training places by 60%.

She adds that an agreement on compensation to paramedics will increase their pay.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's John Woodcock raises the NHS and the situation in Cumbria, where A&E and maternity services are under threat.

He says there is a possible 40 mile journey for expectant mothers.

Theresa May says the problems in Cumbria NHS are understood; and she says a lasting plan is being put in place. 

She says that Mr Woodcock is right in saying there are specific decisions being taken locally, but she says there are long-standing challenges for the Cumbria NHS.

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP MP Alan Brown says former Pensions Minister Steve Webb misled the public over the Waspi women pensions and that his knighthood is "a final insult" to the Waspi women.

Theresa May says that money was put in place to reduce the number of people affected.

She adds that new pensions structures will mean women are one of "the greater beneficiaries of new structure".

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP Joanna Cherry say many banks are "accelerating closure" of local branches with "adverse effects" on older and vulnerable people.

She asks the prime minister to ensure that banking serves its "customers and the real economy".

Theresa May says accessibility to bank services is an issue "for individual banks".

She adds that many people access bank services in "other ways than going into a bank branch". 

House of Commons
Parliament

Lib Dem Norman Lamb says there is "genuine concern" among NHS staff and patients.

He asks if the prime minister will meet a group of cross party MPs who are seeking to establish a convention to come up with long term settlement.

Theresa May says she would be happy to meet with such a group.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Ian Murray accuses the government of being "bigger threat to the union than the SNP".

He says her lack of priority for the single market is putting jobs and the economy at risk.

He adds that her government is "not worthy of the trust of Scottish people, let alone their blind trust".

He asks for a promise that Scotland will not be a "penny worse off after a Tory Brexit".

Theresa May says she wants to see best possible trade deal with the EU.