Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Sir Bernard Jenkin asks Sir Mark Sedwill what his top priorities are.

Sir Mark replies that his biggest job right now is to make a "success" of navigating the Brexit process.

He adds that he also considers work on national security and the government's industrial strategy his major areas.

Sir Bernard asks "what gives" in departments having to prioritise different areas due to the Brexit workload.

Sir Mark says that some departments have "paused" their "domestic agenda" in preparation for the end of March next year.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin, who chairs the committee, asks by asking Sir Mark how he deals with "double-hatting" his role, as he is also involved in national security.

Sir Mark replies that he has the same workload as one of his predecessors, Gus O'Donnell, who did not have a chief executive of the civil service to support him.

The chief executive role was created in 2014 as part of a drive to reduce costs and deliver "transformational change".

He adds that Mr Manzoni chairs some meetings which otherwise he would have to chair himself. He describes it as "just a different shape to the job".

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, UK Civil Service

Also this morning, the public administration and constitutional affairs committee is questioning cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill and civil service chief executive John Manzoni.

Sir Mark is the UK's most senior civil servant - acting as a policy adviser to the prime minister and responsible for the organisation of cabinet government.

House of Commons
Parliament

The day begins shortly with questions to ministers at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

After this MPs will put questions to Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, and Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom will announce future parliamentary business.

Then Communities Secretary James Brokenshire will make a statement on the government's provisional funding settlement for local government.

The settlement was supposed to be published last week, but was delayed due to the planned vote - also now delayed - on the Brexit deal.

Then Police Minister Nick Hurd will deliver a statement on the Police Funding Settlement, which sets out the police grant for the forthcoming year.

This afternoon's general debate is on tackling youth violence by treating it as a 'public health' matter - and the adjournment debate is on rural post offices.

In a last-minute appeal to Tory MPs before they began voting, the UK prime minister said she would step down before the next election.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

As we wait for the results of the confidence vote in the prime minister to be revealed, it's worth looking back on today's PMQs.

Theresa May faced questions from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn about her Brexit deal, and her future.

PMQs: The Verdict from Mark D'Arcy

So what did we learn from PMQs today?

No leadership contender broke cover to harry the prime minister.

Instead, a series of backbenchers - Ken Clarke, Kevin Hollinrake, Neil O’Brien, Maggie Throup - asked supportive questions and won loud cheers.

But there's the rub; the cheers were full throated, to be sure, but on closer inspection quite a number of Conservative MPs remained determinedly silent.

So the PM got her show of strength, and if anything seemed more relaxed than usual. But the further away from her you looked on the Tory benches, the less enthusiastic the troops seemed.

Her strategy was pretty clear - to remind her MPs that the real enemy was Jeremy Corbyn. So her answers to the Labour leader’s questions (and those of a number of other MPs) culminated in a general attack on Labour as a menace to the economy.

Jeremy Corbyn began against intense barracking and did well to maintain his composure as his fury mounted. In such charged circumstances, it is hard to maintain composure and coherence, but he did...

But his condemnation of the government for dithering and delay in submitting its Brexit deal to a Commons vote provoked the obvious retort from the other opposition parties, and some of his own troops, that he should put down a no confidence motion against it - culminating in the Lib Dem leader Vince Cable’s barbed question as to whether the PM thought a motion against her from her party was worse than one in the House.

(Mind you, if Mr Corbyn had listened to the entreaties of the Lib Dems and the SNP, and put down a no confidence motion on Monday, he might well have forestalled the Tories’ own confidence vote as they rallied round against an internal threat.)

The PM certainly emerges from this session unscathed; it is less clear that wavering Tory MPs will have been moved into her camp.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Julie Newcombe says that half of the beds in wards are owned by private companies, so if there are "heads on beds" then clinicians get paid. She says this represents a conflict of interest.

"There is a failure to see the people behind the pie charts," she states.

After she reads some quotes on the reality of those currently in detention, as well as Jeremy reading a section from a report on his own daughter by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the committee hearing comes to an end.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Ms Harman asks if this is a "one off" abuse of human rights, or if this is a "general problem".

Jeremy replies to say that he was shocked to see how high the numbers are of parents in similar situations. He says this is a general problem under the Mental Health Act.

"I'm aware of so many other people," he says "who have been gagged" by hospitals and local councils.

Labour's Karen Buck asks what their experiences have been of representation or advocacy for what is happening.

Jeremy says he has never been offered advocacy and he had to fight "tooth and nail" to get an advocate for his daughter.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Jeremy says he has a feeling of "utter failure" as a parent because of what his daughter Bethany has been through.

"She is stronger than me," he states.

"I can't imagine a worse situation to be in as a parent."

Ms Harman asks if the system listens to his needs.

Jeremy says he had to "fight two months ago" to be included in a professional meeting about his daughter's condition. He says he is the expert on his own daughter.

"I know the wonderful things my daughter can do, they're not in reports, they see a problem or condition."

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

"Some of the other patients looked after my son better than the staff did," says Julie Newcombe, referring to her son's treatment, in response to Baroness Hamwee.

She says that statutory guidance states that those with autism should be detained for as short a time as possible.

Conservative Jeremy Lefroy asks how this situation can happen.

Ms Newcombe replies to say that "they can get away with it" because there is no oversight of the system.

Mr Lefroy asks if these isolations were necessary, or done because they are easier.

"It is service driven and not person driven," replies Ms Newcombe, saying that the response of many of these units is to "pump them full of drugs" to sedate. She says that the system is designed to do what is easiest and not what is right for sufferers.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Julie Newcombe says that her son, Jamie, was originally detained under the Mental Health Act due to some medication changes.

She adds that her family were "promised that it would only be a few weeks," she adds that "a few weeks turned into 19 horrific months".

Liberal Democrat Baroness Hamwee asks Jeremy what the problems were with the facility.

Jeremy replies to say that Bethany's original diagnosis was something which was not recognised by healthcare professionals.

"She is hard wired to avoid people making demands of her," he states, "without staff who understand...none of these placements were ever going to fill Bethany's needs."

Jeremy points out that Walsall Council has previously tried to take out a gagging order against him from talking about Bethany's case.

House of Lords
Parliament

Over in the Lords, peers are now summing up a debate on the Science and Technology Committee's report Off-site manufacture for construction: Building for change.

The report states that the construction sector as it currently operates cannot meet the UK's need for housing, and may struggle to meet the need for infrastructure.

It concludes that given that the UK already lags behind other countries in construction productivity and is facing a labour shortage, the government and the construction sector must urgently find solutions.

After this debate, peers will move on to a short debate on the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Academy of Arts and the contribution made by the Academy to the artistic and cultural life of the country.

House of Commons
Parliament

We'll be leaving our coverage of the House of Commons there for today, but stick with us as we continue to cover the Human Rights Joint Committee.

The day began with questions to Northern Ireland ministers, before an especially loud and lively PMQs.

After that, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry asked an urgent question on the government's funding for the Institute for Statecraft's Integrity Initiative, before MPs considered the remaining stages of the Courts and Tribunals (Judiciary and Functions of Staff) Bill.

Business begins at 9.30am tomorrow, but the drama of Westminster continues this evening as Conservative MPs vote on the future of Theresa May.

You can continue to follow that story here.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The committee has returned and has moved on to the next witnesses, Julie Newcombe and Jeremy, who are both parents of autism sufferers who have been detained.

Jeremy says his daughter is in St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton, a specialist mental health unit. He says she has been there for two years, for the majority of the time she has been "secluded, locked in a cell, with no treatment, no therapy".

Ms Harman asks what his assessment of the situation is.

Jeremy says his daughter "cannot cope" with the environment she was put in, with people being loud and self harming on the same ward. Her response was "fight or flight," he says, and their response "was to lock her away".

He adds that the "hardest thing I have ever ever had to do" is to speak to his daughter through a six inch hatch which they feed her through.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs have voted in favour of the bill receiving a third reading. In all, 302 voted in favour, with 233 voting against.

The bill has already passed through the Lords, so now only requires royal assent to become law.

Business now turns to the adjournment debate, which tonight is now led by Labour MP George Howarth and concerns development of the artificial pancreas for people with type 1 diabetes.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Commons have divided to vote on the third reading of the Courts and Tribunals (Judiciary and Functions of Staff) Bill.

The bill gives judicial office-holders more flexibility throughout the the courts system, making it possible for court functions to be delegated.

It's already passed through the Lords, so will proceed to royal assent if it passes third reading.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Paul Scarrott, from My Life My Choice, is giving his experiences of seeking hospital treatment for his autism.

He says he previously sought help because he had become a danger to his girlfriend and to those around him. He wasn't sectioned, but he was kept in the unit as a way of monitoring him.

Responding to a question from Labour's Baroness Lawrence, he says that the staff generally treated him "okay".

Conservative Fiona Bruce asks him how his life is now. He replies to say that he works for the My Life My Choice charity, as well as the Oxfordshire health board, "I'm going forward, and I like charity working."

Labour MP and chair of the committee Harriet Harman asks if this means that with the right support, sufferers can live a "good life".

Mr Scarrott says he knows "a lot of people" are on the "red tape" sitting between two legal areas. He says these people are not necessarily getting the support they would need. He says he wants to see people being treated and receiving support when they are close to home.

The committee pauses to vote on the Courts and Tribunals Bill in the Commons.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Chair of the Justice Committee, Bob Neill, expresses his support for the bill.

He adds that he "would have liked to have seen a fuller bill...but we are where we are".

Labour MP Andrew Slaughter, who served on the committee for the bill, echoes those who describe it as "small". It is "rather inadequate and unsatisfactory", he says.

Select Committee
Parliament

Ms Harriet Harman , external(Chair)Labour

Fiona Bruce , externalConservative

Ms Karen Buck , externalLabour

Alex Burghart , externalConservative

Joanna Cherry , externalScottish National Party

Baroness Hamwee , externalLiberal Democrat

Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon , externalLabour

Jeremy Lefroy , externalConservative

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne , externalConservative

Baroness Prosser , externalLabour

Lord Trimble , externalConservative

Lord Woolf , externalCrossbench