Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Bernadette Kelly tells the committee her department asked some organisations in the transport industry to sign non-disclosure agreements when preparing no-deal technical notices alongside them.

They are important for organisations commercially, says Director General at the Department for Transport, Lucy Chadwick.

Chair Meg Hillier asks the two witnesses to write to the committee with examples.

House of Lords
Parliament

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International Trade Minister Lord Bates responds to a question from Liberal Democrat Lord Strasburger on whether government forecasts for the next 10 years show a better outcome for the economy if the UK does or does not leave the EU.

He says the UK "will begin to chart a new course in the world" when it leaves the EU. He says parliamentarians will be given "appropriate analysis" to make an informed decision on the final deal.

Lord Strasburger says the government is "striving for a deal with our biggest trading partner that can only be a downgrade." Lord Bates says "the world is changing...the reality is that this is a great country to invest, in which to trade."

Theresa May says the present system is flawed" and not working for soldiers, police office, or victims.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Lib Dem Baroness Tyler of Enfield asks for an assessment of access to treatment in Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services. Health Minister Lord O'Shaughnessy says the government is improving and expanding access to services.

"We expect an additional 70,000 children and young people will access NHS mental health services by 2021."

Baroness Tyler says one in three young people now have mental health issues, but only a quarter of those that need help are able to access health provision. She says the absence of crisis care is "concerning".

The health minister agrees that the number of young people experiencing mental health issues is "simply terrifying". He says the ambition is to increase access points, "but that does involve creating a very large workforce, which we are trying to do."

House of Lords
Parliament

The Lord Speaker begins the day with a few words on the Burns report, which looked at reducing the size of the House of Lords.

"I'm pleased to announce that in the first year of the scheme the target for departures was exceeded, and there have been 42 departures [retiring peers]."

He says the prime minister has shown restraint in appointing Lords, and "we are on course to reduce the size", adding that this is being done without the need for legislation.

Two Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs criticise firms for not doing enough contingency planning.

Theresa May on the UK diplomatic reaction to the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the Saudi Arabian explanation is not "credible".

Select Committee
Parliament

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Chair Meg Hillier asks: "When did you know Crossrail would be delayed?"

Permanent Secretary Bernadette Kelly said believed formal notification had been given on 30 August 2018 but that "worries had been growing" over the spring within the Department for Transport.

"The timetable for dynamic testing of the trains system was being compressed and compressed," she says.

It was announced on 31 August that Crossrail would be delayed until autumn 2019.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Chair of the Northern Ireland Committee, Conservative MP Andrew Murrison praises "the energy" of the Northern Ireland secretary. However, he says "it's very clear that Northern Ireland is not getting what it deserves...key health care indicators are lagging behind."

He says it is "self evident" that the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland "want to get on with their lives" and says he does not hear regular concerns about the Irish language, which has been a sticking point in power sharing talks.

"I welcome this bill, I think it should have been bought before this House well before now... the place we are at at the moment was predictable, and we have simply lost time."

House of Commons
Parliament

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SNP spokesman Gavin Newlands says "the people of Northern Ireland have spent too long in limbo... they deserve better than this", adding that the Northern Ireland secretary should be "working night and day" to make progress in power sharing talks.

He says the Indepedent Reporting Commission has expressed concern that the absence of a power sharing agreement is making the task of tackling para-militarism harder.

"Northern Ireland is the central conversation in the Brexit talks and therefore it is vital that its voice is heard," he says, adding that "Brexit is prolonging the ongoing vaccuum."

Conservative MP Anna Soubry intervenes to say that the majority in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU, "yet we don't hear from them". The DUP's Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says the majority of his constituency did vote to leave, "they do have a voice, I am that voice".

"The UK government must give Northern Ireland and restoring the Assembly the attention it deserves," Mr Newlands concludes.

Select Committee
Parliament

Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier gets the session underway.

Labour MP Caroline Flint asks Permanent Secretary Bernadette Kelly how confident she is that HS2 will come in "on budget".

Ms Kelly said the overall timetable for the programme of work "has not changed" and the department are working to bring the project in "within the funding envelope".

High Speed 2 is a high-speed railway in the United Kingdom under construction which, when completed, will directly connect London, Birmingham, the East Midlands, Leeds and Manchester.

Image source, HoC

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative MP Nigel Mills says the question must be "what is best for the people of Northern Ireland to improve their everyday lives," and that is is "a shame that there is no easy option".

Mr Mills says "other possibilities could have been explored" including "more of a compromise with MLAs".

The DUP's Gregory Campbell intervenes to say that MLAs should have been given the chance to meet across party divides and make representations to the Commons as "the government here may realise that they have more in common than not."

Mr Campbell questions why the decision over rule in Northern Ireland is being made in the Houses of Parliament.

Nigel Mills calls for an answer to what happens at the end of the deadline in March, and for more clarification on whether an election date will be proposed.

"If we're trying to give certainty to the civil servants here, some certainty of what will happen if no deal can be reached before the deadline is necessary," Mr Mills says.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Tony Lloyd says it is very difficult "to see that this [the bill] really resolves the issues that Northern Ireland faces."

He says Labour will not oppose the bill, as they recognise there is consensus on its need, but the Northern Ireland secretary is "straining the consensus...because this bill is simply grossly inadequate for the purpose."

"There are many other areas of activity that we have to see action...We can do better than this and we have to look at what we can do better."

He asks what is being done to get power sharing talks restarted, questioning whether the introduction of an independent chair could help progress.

"There are many issues of enormous importance that won't be affected by this bill," he says, listing a number of examples, including problems faced by the Northern Ireland health services, which he says "is now in a very bad state...the failure to deal with health reform in Northern Ireland is causing premature death in Northern Ireland."

He suggests previous Northern Ireland secretaries have taken specific action "in areas of great urgency".

"Looking for specific action now should show in some sense that we are taking this constitutional crisis serious and this human crisis seriously."

New border controls may not be ready in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a government watchdog warns.

The Border Delivery Group is a government body which is planning for changes at the UK's borders as a result of Brexit.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

This afternoon, MPs will hear from Bernadette Kelly, the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport, on her Department's preparations for the implementation of Brexit.

A recent report by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that the Department for Transport’s programme of work to support Brexit represents a large and complex challenge.

It is estimated that by March 2020, up to £180m will be spent by the department and its associated agencies on Brexit.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

A PM at bay, a party of government riven asunder, an Opposition scenting blood. All the ingredients for a classic PMQs were there, but as usual the May-Corbyn show delivered its usual formulaic clash.

Perhaps it is my imagination, but Theresa May seemed to me to be a bit more nervous than usual, with occasional micro-stumbles in her answers.

She seemed to gain confidence as this session ran on, but maybe she was conscious that a serious stumble could have put her on the back foot for tonight’s appearance before her troops at the backbench 1922 Committee.

By the time Mr Speaker brought her questioning to an end, she seemed a bit more serene. The joust with Jeremy Corbyn ran true to predictable form; he complained about the impact of austerity in several areas of public services, she said the government was putting more money in, and that Labour would wreck the economy – strip out the references to the forthcoming Budget, and it was pretty much the same exchange they have most weeks.

The PM stuck carefully to her prepared line, when the SNP’s Ian Blackford raised the murder of Jamal Khasshoggi, listing various ways in which the government was responding, and committing news by announcing she was due to speak to King Salman about the issue.

But, conspicuously, she steered clear of the nub of his question about the UK following Germany in banning arms sales. This was Mr Blackford’s most effective outing as SNP Westminster Leader.

• Jamal Khashoggi: Who is murdered Saudi Journalist?
• Saudi Arabia: Five reasons why Gulf kingdom matters to the West

Once again there was no real friendly fire from Tory dissidents. Jacob Rees-Mogg wanted the PM to deny a story about the role of the European Court of Justice, post Brexit, and she obliged – and that polite intervention was the closest any Conservative came to any kind of challenge to their leader.

Elsewhere, the PM hinted at government support for a a few measures: the Creditworthiness Assessment Bill, a private member's bill from theLords, external, being piloted by the former Education Secretary, Justine Greening, has little chance of even being debated in the Commons, let alone of becoming law – but the ideas it contains, the PM hinted, may well be picked up by the government in the Budget, next week.

Labour’s Jess Phillips raised the use of Non Disclosure Agreements “to allow rich and powerful men to do pretty much whatever they want, as long as they can pay to keep it quiet,” and is rewarded with the promise of a review of “unethical” use of NDAs.

And there was a sympathetic nod to the recent Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee report, calling for a revamp of the Dangerous Dogs Act.

So some nuggets were dispensed, and one or two people emerged from PMQs with something to show for their attendence – a less sterile proceeding than many in recent weeks.