Speeches by Jones.

“I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue, which clearly is important to him and his constituents. I confirmed to the House today that the Minister for Trade in the Department for Business and Trade is working with the trustees of the BCSSS to consider options. I will meet the Minister to look at those options and …”

“I thank the hon. Member for his question. I am afraid I have not had time to do so since he told me 35 minutes ago that he was going to ask that question, but I have heard it clearly. I will take that away and come back to him in course.”

“I thank the right hon. Member for his question, and I think “fairness” is the right word. That is why we worked in opposition to try to persuade the last Government to act on the mineworkers’ pension scheme, but we failed because the last Government did not think this was an urgent issue for them to consider. The Labou…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for raising that question on an issue that I know is deeply important to him, his constituents and his family, and on which he has worked for many years. The Government are actively considering proposals from the scheme’s trustees, and we will set out the next steps in due course. My hon. Friend …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his question and his work on behalf of his constituents. He may know that, in the previous Parliament, I and colleagues worked on the mineworkers’ pension scheme through the Business and Trade Committee to lay the ground for the initiatives that this Government were quickly able to implement …”

“This Government recognise the contributions that miners made to the prosperity of the nation and the challenging circumstances in which they worked. That is why the Government agreed to transfer the investment reserve fund to members of the mineworkers’ pension scheme, so that the mineworkers who powered our country re…”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman, as I am sure the Chancellor does, for his kind words. A key part of the test on ODA spending in terms of fiscal circumstances requires those circumstances to improve. One of the reasons we are in this problem in the first place is because of the mess the previous Administration left th…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why both dealing with the Home Office backlog in processing claims and returns and working with counterparts in the Ministry of Justice to ensure that the tribunal process is up to speed are intrinsically important to the ODA budget. Under the last Administration, crucial ODA…”

“One of the issues, to which the hon. Lady alludes, is that under the last Administration, when they lost control of the borders and the asylum system, the cost of hotels to house asylum seekers waiting for their decision was included in the ODA definition of spending. That is why the Home Secretary is working at pace t…”

“The Government remain committed to restoring ODA spending to 0.7% of GNI as soon as fiscal circumstances allow. The latest OBR forecasts show that the ODA fiscal tests are not due to be met within this Parliament, but we will continue to monitor future forecasts closely and each year we will review and confirm, in acco…”

“I am pleased that the hon. Member can afford the subscription to Bloomberg News; I cannot, unfortunately, so I could not read the article to which he refers. He inadvertently asks me a question about the process of the spending review. [Interruption.] That was the question. We are embedding mission-led government, whic…”

“At the autumn Budget, the Chancellor invested in frontline public services, because we recognise that people rely on them, but also because functioning public services are an important route to growth in the economy. If people are sick and cannot get to work, they need to be able to see a doctor in a timely fashion, so…”

“My hon. Friend is right. May I offer some probably unwelcome advice to Opposition Members? The sooner they stop groaning and stop laughing about their performance when they were last in government, and the sooner they apologise for it, the sooner the British people might start listening to them again.”

“I must say I am rather surprised by the inflammatory language of the former Chair of the Treasury Committee, which is clearly no reflection of reality. The Chancellor is going on her trip to China. It has been well documented for many weeks, and it is an important visit for trade and investment in the UK economy. May I…”

“I thank the Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee for her question. She will know that our first commitment in the Labour party manifesto at the last election was to fiscal responsibility. It is the bedrock of this Government and the bedrock of every decision we take. As the Prime Minister set out i…”

“I have been clear to the House, as has the Chancellor, that the fiscal rules are non-negotiable. Public services will have to live within their means. We set the Budget in the autumn last year, and we have the OBR forecasts coming in March. Those are the numbers that Departments are working to in the spending review, a…”

“I very much agree with my hon. Friend. We have to pay day-to-day bills with the income we generate day to day. The lesson that we learned from the Opposition was about what they were happy to do, but this Government are not. They were happy to announce plans and programmes to make promises to the British people, even t…”

“I can absolutely assure the Father of the House that we are working through this spending review on the basis of the envelope set at the Budget. Public services will have to operate within the means that we are providing to them. The OBR forecast will come in March, which will give us the latest set of information, and…”

“My hon. Friend knows very well that this Government’s approach has been about stability, investment and reform: the stability we have brought following the chaos of the years under the Conservative party, as has been recognised by the British people and by the markets; the investment we have been unlocking, from our gl…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his question. He will note from the Prime Minister’s plan for change that the NHS is the subject of one of this Government’s key commitments, with commitments to get the elective waiting list down and to invest in the national health service so that we can do so. He will have heard that from…”