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1681 Business of the House
6 JUNE 2013
Business of the House
1682
[Mr Lansley]
them to the Secretary of State, who in my experience is
able to take advice from the Independent Reconfiguration
Panel.
Jessica Lee (Erewash) (Con): Will my right hon.
Friend provide time to debate the valuable heritage of
our rivers and canals, and the volunteers who work on
them? As one of the few MPs whose constituency is
named after a river, I understand well the importance of
waterways. [Interruption.] We can now begin the list,
Mr Speaker. It is worth noting that this is national
volunteers week. Such a debate could highlight the
campaign for new volunteers to help the Canal & River
Trust in Erewash, which has the Erewash rangers scheme,
and elsewhere up and down the river and canal network.
Mr Lansley: My hon. Friend raises two valuable
aspects of life in her constituency. Her views about our
canals and rivers, and about volunteering, are shared in
many constituencies. I would love to be able to stand at
the Dispatch Box and dispense debates on such issues,
but I direct my hon. Friend and other colleagues to the
Backbench Business Committee, which is very receptive
to applications for such debates.
Jim McGovern (Dundee West) (Lab): May we have a
debate on how employers can help employees who are
suffering from work-related mental health issues? Last
year on St Stephen’s day, 26 December, one of my
constituents, Filep Myzylowskyj, tragically took his
own life. He was employed by National Express as a bus
driver and had been on sick leave following an accident
involving a pedestrian. His widow, Janet, his family and
his friends agree unanimously that his suicide was workrelated.
I have written to Dean Finch, the chief executive
of National Express, seven times. It appears that he
simply refuses to respond to my correspondence. Such a
debate would help us to determine how employers can
help employees and how they should communicate with
Members of this House.
Mr Lansley: Members will sympathise with the hon.
Gentleman’s constituent and he is right to raise the case.
I hope that the fact that he has done so will encourage
some employers, including National Express, to take
note of the points that he makes. Many employers are
taking up the opportunity under the responsibility deal
to improve the occupational health support for their
employees. Through the national health service, we are
continuing to expand access to psychological therapies.
In my experience, such therapies are particularly valuable
for employees who are suffering from work-related stress,
anxiety and depression. Early access to those therapies
can help to avoid the kind of tragedies to which he
refers.
Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con): I look forward to
welcoming the Pendle rainbow parliament tomorrow
morning for a question and answer session following its
parliamentary tour. It is made up of hard-working
school children from Nelson St Philip’s Church of England
primary school, Walverden primary school, Higham
St John’s Church of England primary school, Holy
Saviour Roman Catholic primary school and Castercliff
community primary school in my constituency. May we
have a debate on what we can do to make it easier for
teachers to take pupils on educational trips so that more
Pendle school children can visit Parliament and other
educational places?
Mr Lansley: I am glad that my hon. Friend raises that
matter. I am sure that the House will be delighted to
host the Pendle rainbow group. In the last year for
which figures are available, 2012-13, some 47,000 young
people made educational visits to this place. That is
some 10,000 more than in 2010-11. I know that you
have attached particular importance to this matter,
Mr Speaker, and that increase is testimony to the priority
that you have given it. I know that you want us to go
further and do better. Ultimately, I hope that schools
across the country will feel confident that all young
people will come here at some point in their educational
life to learn about democratic processes and the history
of Westminster.
Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East
Cleveland) (Lab): Can we have a debate on how sensible
is the Government’s new requirement for a member of
the armed forces to get their chain of command to
confirm they are deployed on operations, in order for
service personnel to secure an exemption from the
bedroom tax? Is that efficient and practical when people
are deployed to Afghanistan or at sea? May we have a
statement on how many members of the armed forces
are still awaiting that confirmation, and how many
households are now in rent arrears?
Mr Lansley: I confess I do not know the difficulties to
which the hon. Gentleman refers, but I will, of course,
raise the point with my hon. Friends at the Ministry of
Defence and ensure that he secures a reply.
Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
(Con): In 2020, Britain will commemorate and celebrate
the 400th anniversary of the pilgrim fathers leaving
Plymouth on the Mayflower to go and found the American
colonies. Unfortunately, a number of other cities and
towns are trying to claim that they should be the centre
of celebrating this main historic event. Please may we
have a debate on Britain’s relationship with the USA, so
that everybody can be aware that Plymouth is the
unrivalled home of the start of the special relationship,
and a potential prime contender for hosting the G8 in
2020 when it comes to Britain?
Mr Lansley: My hon. Friend takes a fantastic opportunity
to promote Plymouth’s ambitions in that regard. Being
from East Anglia, it is not for me to judge these matters,
but having been in Massachusetts and gone to Plimoth
Plantation, it seems obvious where those who named it
that way thought they had come from.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op):
Mr Speaker, you know that I am not a puritan or
killjoy, but like most Members of Parliament I think
that the betting and gambling industry is out of control
in this country. Fixed-odds betting terminals and bookies
are proliferating in every deprived part of our country,
and online gambling is destroying lives. Is it not about
time that the House tackled the scourge of betting
shops, which often sit next to payday loan shops? They
are preying on the poorest people in our country, and it
is about time that the House was aware of it and acted
to regulate this industry which is out of control.