Birmingham Liberal Democrats

John Hemming MP

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Most recent appearances in Parliament

• Jun 18, 2013:
  • [Martin Caton in the Chair] - Unpaid Internships | Westminster Hall debates

    The point I was making is that I am still an employer, and I employ a large number of people on their abilities, not their parents' wealth.

  • [Martin Caton in the Chair] - Unpaid Internships | Westminster Hall debates

    If I might disagree with my hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Justin Tomlinson), I am still a business owner, and I employ more than 250 people. I believe it is better to select people on their abilities, rather than on their parents' wealth. Does the right hon. Member for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears) agree?

  • [Martin Caton in the Chair] - Unpaid Internships | Westminster Hall debates

    I set up a computer business many years ago. I am a computer programmer.

  • [Martin Caton in the Chair] - Unpaid Internships | Westminster Hall debates

    Given that not paying people is unlawful under the national minimum wage regulations, and given that under the Serious Crime Act 2007 encouraging a crime is unlawful, I wonder whether advertising an unlawful thing and encouraging people to do it is already a crime. Perhaps the right hon. Lady's efforts in this area could simply enforce the law.

  • [Martin Caton in the Chair] - Unpaid Internships | Westminster Hall debates

    I thank the right hon. Lady for giving way to me a second time. Does she agree that this issue is about getting a first step on the ladder? A person cannot get to the second step unless they get on the first step.

  • [Martin Caton in the Chair] - Unpaid Internships | Westminster Hall debates

    I congratulate the right hon. Lady on raising all these issues. I also thank Mr Speaker for allocating the time for this debate. Does the right hon. Lady share my concerns about social mobility, because this is about social mobility? Also, does she think that there are perhaps lessons to be learned from the history of the Bar? Initially, to get a pupilage, a person had to pay 200 guineas, but in 1975 that system was abolished and bursaries began to be introduced. Now there is a requirement to ensure that a pupil-who has to work as a pupil to become a barrister-is paid. That is perhaps something that other professions could learn from.

• Jun 11, 2013:
  • New Clause 3 - Regulation of child performance | Children and Families Bill | Commons debates

    Will the hon. Lady give way?

• May 20, 2013:
  • New Clause 1 - Education Act 1996 | Oral Answers to Questions - Work and Pensions | Commons debates

    I support the Bill, but I also have some concerns, which is why I have signed new clause 6. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to start understanding people's sensitivities, instead of trying to impose a secular consensus on the faith organisations?

• May 9, 2013:
  • Child-care Ratios | Business of the House | Commons debates

    May I first refer the House to my interest as the father of a nine-month-old baby who will be going to nursery in September? I ask the Minister to listen carefully to the representations of those who are concerned about the ratios, particularly for very young children and believe that those ratios should be very low.

• Apr 24, 2013:
  • Correspondence | Communities and Local Government | Written Answers

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the references, dates and subject matters are of letters written by Ministers in his Department to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley constituency since 1 February 2013.

• Apr 22, 2013:
  • Schedule 1 - Persons in public service: definitions | Public Service Pensions Bill | Commons debates

    The Opposition seem to be saying that the decision should be made today without negotiation, but does my hon. Friend agree with me that negotiation is the best way forward, and that to have such negotiation, we need to support the Government's proposal for negotiation?

  • Schedule 1 - Persons in public service: definitions | Public Service Pensions Bill | Commons debates

    Does my hon. Friend agree that this is about the physical efforts of the uniformed services, and that the £10 million will not derail the whole package? We need to be aware that certain jobs are particularly physically demanding, and that people cannot keep on doing them until they reach the relatively young age of my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell), for example?

• Apr 16, 2013:
  • Clause 56 - Commission for Equality and Human Rights | Business without Debate | Commons debates

    Does my hon. Friend accept that were the Government motion to pass, this issue would not return to the House of Lords and could not be subject to a further amendment, but it is possible to deal with it through a statutory instrument? There is general agreement that the Lords proposal is not an acceptable solution that would solve the problem properly.

  • Clause 56 - Commission for Equality and Human Rights | Business without Debate | Commons debates

    Does the right hon. Lady agree that the key thing about the general duty is section 12 and the requirement to monitor the progress of society towards the general duty? That is where it has a practical effect.

  • Clause 56 - Commission for Equality and Human Rights | Business without Debate | Commons debates

    Will my hon. Friend give way?

  • Development orders: development within the curtilage of a dwelling house | Business without Debate | Commons debates

    Does my right hon. Friend accept that one reason why no compensation has been paid under article 4 is that local authorities are frightened to issue article 4 directives under which they may have to pay compensation?

• Mar 26, 2013:
  • Business of the House | Commons debates

    I refer the House to my declaration of interest as the chairman of the Justice for Families campaign.

    I remain concerned about cases in all the secret courts in the UK. The more secret the court, the more the system acts against the rule of law. Narrow freedoms of speech are at least as important as broad access to publicity-reporting wrongdoing to regulators and asking for advice are important narrow freedoms. Without academic scrutiny, nonsense can be spouted and experts can lie for money with impunity.

    Care proceedings are an area of difficulty. I remain of the view that around 1,000 children a year are wrongly forcibly adopted in the UK. Gradually, I am getting more Government support in this area-sadly, still not from the UK Government. Last week I spoke at the Polish embassy, at a conference about care proceedings. Concerns have now also been raised by Nigeria, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Latvia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Spain and Turkey.

    EWHC 521 (Fam) of Mostyn J.

    When the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown) apologised to the children who were forcibly sent to the Commonwealth, I asked what confidence he had that such an apology would not be issued in the future for what we are doing today. His response was to ask me to send details of individual cases. I have, of course, sent many individual cases to UK Ministers. The standard response is "It's nothing to do with us, guv". The fact is that, according to our constitution, the UK Government must publicly accept judicial decisions, although in practice they often criticise them-except in the family division.

    More recently, Australia has apologised for forced adoption. The question was put by Florence Bellone to Professor Eileen Munro about whether in the future we may see an apology in the UK. Her response was:

    "I would not be surprised if a future generation looks back and thinks how horrific the quality of our work was and the damage that we did to families."

    What we have developed-this is mainly through a mathematical error in the use of the number of children in care for the denominator of the adoption target-is a care system that is obsessed with adoption. It is so obsessed with adoption that it does things that objectively have to seen to be irrational. I will not go into the details of Angela Wileman's case, as I have referred to it before and I do not have time. I was pleased to hear that the arrest warrant was removed from Susen McCabe, the daughter of Councillor Janet Mockridge, who has been living in France with her two children for over five years. The attempts to remove her son for adoption in England, whilst leaving her daughter, gave the message of a system more concerned about winning than about the best interests of the child.

    In another recent case, I read a note about the effect of the proposal for a child to be adopted out of her family. The report said:

    "Since being told about the adoption, A's mood has changed, she is clearly concerned and upset by this move, which perhaps is to be expected. However, she has nightmares most nights and is not getting adequate sleep, two weekends ago she vomited 5 times in one night."

    This case is not unique. There are even international cases where the system has taken children from people visiting the UK and refused to give them back, even though the system clearly does not have jurisdiction. That is damaging to the children, and I am prevented by the sub judice rule from giving more information here.

    The international cases are particularly interesting as the assessments in England can be compared against assessments from professionals in other countries. Professionals in other countries wonder why such strange things are done-things that cause serious psychological damage to children in the UK. Working with Slovak politicians, I have managed to establish an inquiry by the Human Rights Commissioner in the Council of Europe. However, it remains the case that a problem that arises basically in secret courts is constitutionally difficult to fix, because it needs scrutiny to fix it. There is an additional challenge in that the people affected who are UK citizens are generally poorer people and less articulate. Hence, although stories about people who are foreign citizens maltreated in the UK get substantial coverage in the foreign media, there are only a few journalists such as Sue Reid, Christopher Booker and Ted Jeory who are willing to report on these cases. The speech of Denise Robertson, "This Morning's" agony aunt, at the justice for families conference in Birmingham last December should be broadcast on TV to explain the truth.

    What we actually have is a failure of democracy. In the same way as the cover-up over Hillsborough and the failures at the Mid Staffordshire hospital, we have a system that is going wrong in a large number of cases and maltreating families. In maltreating families, it is maltreating the children and the adults. It is reasonably well known that this is going on. However, the Government deny it. The inquiries that occur in Parliament do not look at the individual cases. Without looking at the individual cases, we cannot see the things that are going wrong. Inquiries such as the family justice review are dominated by the people who run the system, and hence are unlikely to recognise the failures of the system.

    I put forward proposals in my private Member's Bill, but it was squeezed out by the Government, who have still not explained why in detail. I have had a conversation with the Minister with responsibility for children, but I have no hopes from that. I have very little time left. I would like to give a much fuller speech, as a lot more needs to be said, but I will end by saying Happy Easter.

• Mar 25, 2013:
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles | Defence | Written Answers

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what support the RAF is providing to the United States for unmanned aerial vehicle operations outside the UK.

  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles | Defence | Written Answers

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the cable linking RAF Croughton to Camp Lemonier is used to support US unmanned aerial vehicle operations.

  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles | Defence | Written Answers

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence

    (1) what reports he has received on whether the US administration is operating unmanned aerial vehicles from any UK RAF base;

    (2) what oversight the RAF has of US unmanned aerial vehicles where such operations originate from the UK.