Speeches by Campbell.

“My hon. Friend continues to be a champion for deaf people in this House, and I commend her for that. I absolutely agree that no disability should be a barrier to a successful career. The Government are championing disabled people and those with long-term health conditions. Our Get Britain Working plan will support many…”

“As the hon. Gentleman points out, the winter crisis has started early this year—not least because of the flu situation—so our hospitals are under enormous pressure. A number of hospitals need capital expenditure; we inherited crumbling public services and, in many cases, a crumbling NHS estate, so that will take some t…”

“We continue to assess the wellbeing of prisoners and will always take the appropriate action, including taking prisoners to hospital if they are assessed as needing treatment by a medical professional. We are keeping that under very close scrutiny; the Deputy Prime Minister is aware of the situation, and he and his Dep…”

“We recognise that certain groups of patients still may find it difficult to access dental care. Specialised dental services are in place to provide dental treatment in several settings, and we are developing new emergency care hubs; in some cases, that includes care homes. The Government’s 10-year health plan will mean…”

“As usual, my hon. Friend pays tribute to the good people of south Wales and to her constituents. Apart from her song, let me pick out an important bit in what she said: this started on her kitchen table. It would not have happened and would not be the scale that it is without her fantastic dedication. It embodies the v…”

“My hon. Friend raises some really important matters, which I know are frustrating to her constituents. Local authorities have a really important role to play. The Government are very keen that both powers and resources are devolved not just to regions, but to individual communities, where they will have the most effect…”

“The business for the week commencing 15 December will include: Monday 15 December—Consideration of a Lords message to the Employment Rights Bill, followed by Second Reading of the Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill. Tuesday 16 December—Second Reading of the Finance (No. 2) Bill. Wednesday 17 December—If n…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for raising such an important point, and therefore amplifying it, so that it is heard by Members across this Chamber and anyone who happens to be listening. Roadworks have been raised with me many times in these sessions, and rightly so. We know how disruptive street works can be for local commun…”

“Of course, I would be delighted to.”

“I am Alan Campbell, Member of Parliament for Tamworth and the Leader of the House and Lord President of the Council.”

“Thank you for inviting me, first of all. As you know, I am quite recently appointed to the job, so I am learning as we go along, but there are three strands of work that I am involved in. The first is a legislative one; it is no secret that we are putting together a second Session, and therefore much of my time is take…”

“The short answer to your question is no, I have not had conversations with the Speaker. As you know, the Speaker is a great advocate for Parliament, and he encourages and cajoles us to make sure that MPs are making full use of that. I take your point that part of that is what happens here and people seeing it, but also…”

“Yes. I cannot give you a precise date, because I do not have one, but I think it is a fairly open secret that this is a long Session. It is not an unusually long Session; the first Session of the coalition Government in 2010 was of equal length, and we have done a great deal in this Session. There will be somewhere in …”

“Yes, this is a real issue. I am not saying it is a new issue; I do not know whether it has got worse or better, but it is a real issue, and I take it very seriously indeed. It goes back to what I said at the beginning about making sure that, where we have conventions and rules, they are followed. I continue to make the…”

“I do not think there is a simple answer to that. I do not hide the fact that my preference is for annual Sessions, which I would quite like to get back to, but that has probably gone. We still have the short November recess because the Sovereign’s speech was inevitably in November. We knew when the Session started and …”

“That is a really good question. We need to think about that, because there need to be lessons learned. Again, there are a lot of aspects to it: one is the new Government having a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do, particularly where it was set out in the manifesto, and there were commitments we had made, usually…”

“Good question. One thing I did very early on, which flowed from an earlier Procedure Committee report, was ask to look at what a typical working week looked like. An earlier Procedure Committee inquiry, if I am correct, looked at private Members’ Bills, sitting Fridays and all those things. I thought it was a good time…”

“I will start by saying how I see the Modernisation Committee fitting in. I know that there are some problems with this already, but I see it as a hub and spoke mechanism. We are busy refreshing Modernisation: we have changed our side, and I know that there are some changes coming on the Conservative side too, so there …”

“There are a number of things. This is not a criticism of Back-Bench business, but it will sound like it, so let me get that out there. Some of the things that were expected of them in the original reforms are not happening. That is partly due to the nature of how MPs—new MPs in particular—are seeking to use this place.…”

“I see. That is an interesting proposition. I am guessing that the one thing you cannot shift is the conferences, because they will be booked years ahead and we know when they will land. Are you saying, “What is the worth of the conference recess?””