PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament

1573 Easter Adjournment
26 MARCH 2013 Easter Adjournment
1574
applying to speak in this debate, for which I am grateful,
was a visit that I had from campaigners from religious
organisations and others from Bradford university. The
campaign is based around the organisation Enough
Food For Everyone If, which will have lobbied most
hon. Members in the run-up to the Budget, seeking an
important relief for poor children in poor countries.
Sadly, the Government, on that occasion at least, failed
to rise to that challenge. It is my hope that that campaign
can continue and that the Government will take on
board its demand to introduce some requirement on
British companies operating in poor countries.
In parenthesis, every 45 seconds—the length of time I
have been speaking for—a child in Africa dies of malaria,
let alone all the other ailments that kill so many children
in poor countries. In the world as a whole, 110 million
children under 10 go to work instead of school. For
those children, there is no Easter, Christmas or holiday.
There are none of the basic comforts that we wish for
our own children. Yet in the midst of that, we discover,
contemporaneously, that many British corporations and
companies, some of them well known, are not only
operating in those poor countries to take advantage of
the very low wages that workers labour for, but doing
their best in those poor countries to avoid, even evade,
the minimal rates of taxation that those countries require
from them. Therefore, that campaign is asking for something
like the disclosure of tax-avoidance scheme that will be
applied to British companies under the Finance Bill to
force them to disclose the tax-avoidance schemes in
which they are involved in poor countries.
Of course, child poverty is on the march in our own
country, too. Yesterday, I had a brief moment with you,
Mr Deputy Speaker, to allude to some of the child
poverty in my constituency, which has the second highest
child poverty and the second highest child mortality in
the entire country. I know that I will not melt the hearts
of the Government on that point, so I want to raise a
practical point with them that, even in their own terms,
is an anomaly. More than 10,000 children in Bradford
are not receiving free school meals but are officially
under the poverty line. The reason is that their parents
are working and receiving working families tax credit.
They are officially poor, officially below the poverty
line, but cannot get free school meals. However, if their
parents gave up their jobs, they would immediately be
eligible for free school meals.
How can that conceivably fit with the Government’s
oft-claimed intention to try to encourage the unemployed
into work and to help the working poor? According to
the Children’s Society, in one city alone—Bradford—more
than 10,000 children are living under the poverty line
but are not receiving free school meals. Therefore, they
are likely to go an entire day without proper nutrition.
I would like the Deputy Leader of the House to
explain to me, in writing, at least, how this anomaly can
be tolerated. Why not give the working poor at least the
same break that we give the unemployed, by giving their
poor children something to eat at lunchtime?
6.20 pm
Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con): Easter is
one of the most important Christian festivals and as we
speak, across the world, particularly in the Punjab in
Pakistan, Christians are being systematically traduced,
attacked, tortured, imprisoned and even killed. The
Centre for Legal Aid Assistance & Settlement said in a
recent letter to me:
“The ongoing abuse of blasphemy laws against Christians in
Pakistan is a violation of their human rights and the laws themselves
are in direct contravention of various human rights charters.
Pakistani Christians are accused of blasphemy to settle personal
scores and without being given the chance to prove their innocence
are locked up in jails.”
If the UK’s soft power means anything, it means exercising
influence and withdrawing funds if necessary, to make
sure the Pakistani Government know that this is completely
unacceptable.
The House will know that in October 2011, I led a
debate in Westminster Hall on Tourette’s syndrome, an
inherited neurological condition that affects children
from the age of six or seven. Many of those children are
not well educated because they struggle to keep their
tics under control and end up being excluded and in the
criminal justice system. I remain unconvinced that the
new NHS and education reforms take account of children
who desperately need to have their issues addressed. I
hope the NHS Commissioning Board looks at that.
The House will also remember that during a recent
Prime Minister’s Question Time, I raised the issue of
the fortification of basic foodstuffs with folic acid,
particularly for women of child-bearing age. Many
countries across the world have done so, and although
they have not eliminated the dreadful, tragic conditions
of hydrocephalus and spina bifida, they have reduced their
incidence. It is my great good fortune to represent the
city of Peterborough, in which the Shine charity, formerly
the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, is
based. It gives help, support and guidance to children
affected by spina bifida and their parents. I remain
hopeful that the Government will work with the Food
Standards Agency—the Department of Health will work
with others—to do the right thing and fortify foodstuffs
such as bread and flour with folic acid to prevent these
terrible conditions.
Turning to the comments made by my hon. Friend
the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), I will not dwell
too much on the Budget, other than to say that I was
disappointed that, although we could find time for
something was not in the manifesto and the coalition
agreement, such as same-sex marriage, we could not do
so for something that was, such as a marriage tax break.
Senior members of my party, including the Prime Minister
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, have said that
that will happen under this Government, and I sincerely
hope they are as good as their word.
Representing as I do the city of Peterborough, in
which the headquarters of Thomas Cook is located, I
was disappointed that the Chancellor also avoided the
issue of air passenger duty, but I remain ever hopeful
that that will change.
On a more positive note, philanthropy and the voluntary
and community sector in my wonderful constituency,
which I have had the good fortune to represent for eight
years, is thriving. The Peterborough cathedral “900”
appeal, which is seeking to raise millions of pounds
from business and others for a heritage and education
centre and a centre of excellence for English choral
music to celebrate 900 years of a Christian settlement
on the banks of the River Nene—an abbey, and then a
cathedral—is doing well. Of course, something very