>> now from london prime minister's question time. live from the british house of commons. every wednesday while parliament is in session, prime minister gordon brown takes questions from members of the house of commons. prior to wrapping up previous business. this is live coverage on c-span2. >> will my right honorable friend, announced it was part of an effort to galvanize finance to help developing countries. get the funding they need immediately to make their countries more resilient to the effects of climate change. my right honorable friend, the prime minister and other primers is help secure commitments worth some $10 billion a year by 2012 to help with that particular challenge. >> will the minister go to the

water conference, international water conference in march, given the fact that people that i have met today are all very concerned indeed about the position, not only in haiti, but elsewhere in africa and the rest of the world regarding the search problem of the senator. >> at the risk of ruining the honorable generals under gentle but reputation, he will be aware of the substantial increase in aid or water and sanitation projects that we have put. he's asked me a specific question about the specific conference. i will have a look at that and i will write him privately. >> order. questions for the prime minister. danny alexander? >> question one, mr. speaker. >> mr. speaker, i'm sure the whole house will wish to join me in paying tribute to corporal

lee bronson, and rifleman luke farmer from third battalion, the rifles that they died in afghanistan this week in our thoughts are with their families and friends at this very sad time. last night i went to the moving tribute of their fellow soldiers to their selflessness and camaraderie which they displayed serving their colleagues, the british people, and the people of afghanistan. and they will not be forgotten. mr. speaker, all of us have also been deeply moved to action ivies to unfold tragic of the people of haiti. some of the poorest people in world facing some of the most extreme hardships and imaginable. our thoughts and condolences go to those families also in the united kingdom being directly affected by the tragedy. we must first provide also for improved international cooperation and we must help the government of haiti. mr. speaker, this point i met with colleagues about this. i shall have further such duties

later today. >> aisha the prime minister's condolences to the true brave soldiers who lost their lives in afghanistan, and welcome the steps he's taken to support the people of haiti. haiti. mr. speaker, i also welcome the consultation on the broadband next generation fund. but 10 percent of the highlands is going to be left out according to the government's consultation. the rest is in the final form. businesses can't wait. why does the prime minister think it acceptable to lead a 10 percent of the population overall pedley the rest of britain to the end of? >> mr. speaker, the whole purpose of the digital initiative is to include as much of the united kingdom as possible. that's why we're making available 1 billion pounds to businesses to be able to do so. that will mean that 95 percent of the population of the country will be geared t. broadband and fast broadband very soon. in other areas, we hope to make

advances with the scottish administration and i hope you will find over time we will be able to solve the problem of those rural areas that will not at the moment get broadband. our program means we will be one of the countries that will have the fastest broadband at more quickly than any other and that will help develop large number of businesses in this country and help other employment continued to follow. >> doctor tony wright? >> thank you, mr. speaker. sometime ago in the city minister, lord myers, said he thought it was becoming too easy for good british companies to be taken over by foreign predators. now that we've had the outrage of cadres, does my right out of a friend of great? >> mr. speaker, they employ more than 5000 people in this country. it is a very important company for the future of this country. we are seeking assurance and have received information from craft about the importance they attach to the cadres work force them to the cadre name and a

cadre quality the united kingdom. and we hope that the craft owners will make sure that cadbury workers, the five and half thousand, did retain at the job to make sure that new investment goes into a product that is distinctly british and is sold throughout the world there so we will do everything we can to make sure the jobs and investment are maintained in britain. >> mr. david cameron? >> thank you, mr. speaker. i join the prime minister in paying tribute to corporal lee bronson and rifleman luke farmer. they died serving our country. we must honor their memory and must look after their loved ones they have left behind. everyone in the house and in the whole country has been touched by the scale of the tragedy in haiti. we can be proud of the british response, the public donated generally, the members of the far service who volunteered immediately, and ngo's were doing such a good job in haiti. does the prime minister agree

there will come a time when we should reflect on how britain and the international community can make the initial rescue effort even better, even faster and even more effective? but while the prime minister update the house on the further action that britain is intended to take to assist the international relief efforts to? i am grateful to him. it is a matter of the media action further by an assessment as to what can be done better in future, and as i suggested two years ago, to have a reconstruction agency that is ready to do with these problems, something the united nations must consider very safely. as far as the relief to haiti is concerned, the still unfolding tragedy requires first of all, the firefighters and others to rescue people from the under the rubble. that is happening where ever possible that it requires food and medical supplies and indeed energy resources to be brought into haiti. that is happening as well. it requires the coordination of the medical services, and that is being done principally by the americans. what i can say also, that we are

sending a boat, to help with the effort that it will be able to help on supplies into haiti. that is a decision that has been made this morning. at the same time i talk to president obama about what we can most do to help in the reconstruction of a government effort in haiti so the government can take further control of decisions that are today in the country. we've agreed that we will help rebuild the office of the injured, the treasure, and other areas where work can start so the civil government can perform. we have medics in haiti who are doing what they can to help. sadly, there is at least one british citizen who has died as result of the events in haiti. i fear there may be for the deaths once is clear the whole damage that has been done, particularly the united nations section of the port-au-prince there but we will do whatever we can to back up to 11000 troops the americans have sent in the medical supplies. >> mr. david cameron?

>> thank you, mr. speaker. i'm grateful for that answer. it's not just a 3 million people have been affected, too many left destitute and parts of the country have lost half the buildings. haydee will be significant external help with everything, including its whole government. for many years to come. of course we all want to see this old republic governed in itself but in the short and medium-term, can the prime minister tells what consideration is given to supporting new joint structures through which the u.n. and haitian government can start to rebuild basic services and government for a people have suffered so much? >> the canadian government is organizing from the conference next week to make sure that the international allocations that should be made by countries to the rescue are made. i'd shall say the european union has offered 400 million euros already as a result of the meeting that took place that i did talk to president obama about the very issues that he raceway spoke to him yesterday evening. i've also talked to the

secretary-general of the united nations in some detail about this as well. it is important that the government of haiti is seen as a legitimate government. it is also important that the united nations and of course the principal provider supplies the united states can work with most affect together to deliver the coordination that is necessary. president obama has explained to me that in addition to the military effort which is massive, 11000 troops have gone in with a few medical hospitals and every other kind of equipment necessary to help people, there is also the civilian effort of usaid which is working very, very hard in the region, and at the same time the work being done by presidents clinton and president bush to coordinate the relief that is being given to people. all these things are designed to ensure there is proper coordination. there are lessons to be learned for the future. we have 1000 group that somebody team ready to go to areas where we attend reconstruction and stabilization is necessary. some of them are in afghanistan

at the moment, but the world at some point must come to a decision that first of all, funding has got to be available to move immediately where there is a disaster. secondly, we need a signing up of professionals who are able to go at a moments notice to help where there is a disaster in the future. that will require a reconstruction agency. >> and thank you, mr. speaker. i'm grateful for that answer. i want to turn to a completely different subject here at home. the torture and appalling abuse of two children by 10 and 11 year old boys has profoundly shocked the whole country. later this week a serious case review will be produced but only a summary of it will be published. these dreadful events follow the death of seven children between 2004 and 2009. can the prime minister tell us why so many warning signs were missed and why it took so long for the government to step in? >> this is a matter that is in

the course at the moment but we are all agreed about the seriousness of this case for two bush to be assaulted in this way. by two other children who were at that time in the care of foster parents, but who had a history where there have been social services and other intervention to try to do with their problems but it's one of the most tragic cases we have seen, and i do not want britain to be defined by the appalling violence and a responsibly that has been shown to these youngsters by two other youngsters. it is therefore important that we learned a lesson to properly from what has happened. that is what a serious case review is undertaken. it has been said in an sbc has also been one of the organizations that have suggested this is the best course of that in the interest of people being able to tell the truth about what has happened, the summer is what should be published and that is what will happen i believe by the end of this week. that serious case review will in my view into the habit of flaws

in the organizations and i think it is necessary with a new director of social services with intervention already agreed by the secretary for children that we learn all the lessons that what has happened. i think before the publication of the abstract of the executive summary of the series case review, we cannot draw the conclusion that are necessary. what is clear is the protection and security of our children will always be at the foremost priority and we should take every action we can to protect them. >> thank you. i'm going to come on the issue whether we should publish the report in full because i believe we should. but if the prime minister wants to learn the lessons, clearly one of the most important lessons to learn just why did so much go wrong for so long before we intervened? if you look at the catalogue of errors, seven children die between 2004 and 2009. there were five series case reviews, one didn't appear for three years, and of course in

every case, only a summary was published. in 2007, two years ago, and report took that serious failures in social services. yet it took more than a year and the deaths of five more children and coding three for abuse, before the government took over in 2009. doesn't this alone demonstrate that serious case reviews are not leading to the correct action being taken? >> mr. speaker, we looked at this last year and brought forward recommendations. these recommendations are being conducted. he also recommended the child safeguarding boards had led independent chairmen and that is what has happened and don't have and don't have to protest was the series case review if so, i think we have to wait, and i would not to prejudge that. the reason why the whole review is not to be published is that we wish to protect the identity of each names of the children as much as anything else. and i say before we have had

this argument before. we've had this argument before. the executive summary is published. that allows us to draw the conclusions. the problem, if i may say so, if there were many actions taken but they were the wrong actions and they were the actions that were taken that were not this time to prove we had children of violence that had to be separated from parents of violence at an early time. with that i believe will come out industries case review summary. that will be published soon. and i think the conservative should listen to some of the organizations on this matter. and two the lord leaving himself and wait for the publication of the evidence and then let us by all means have the debate that is this very on what further measures we can take. we know and had to be intervened upon. and we know also that a series case review will reveal what has happened. >> prime minister tells us to wait for the publication for the review. the point is the review is not going to be published. of course, i know there are

argument on both sides about full publication. but isn't the argument kipping and save. the fact is the publication of summers has not led to the action. in the case of baby peter, the summary was found to be completely inadequate. it wasn't worth the paper it was written on. the prime minister should consider this, we fused murders by mental health patients into published in full. they manage to have the correct amount of anonymity. why do we treat murderers by mental health patient more rigorously than torture and potentially killing and murder of children? >> mr. speaker, i'm sorry he's moving ahead at this point, because every -- every voluntary organization and children society that i know, every professional that i know has recommended that the best way of proceeding is publishing a summary of the series case review. the reason is to protect the anonymity of the children and to allow people to say things that they will then -- remember, the purpose of a series case review

is to learn lessons from what has happened. and that's why the summer is published when people are clear what lessons have to be learned. and i hope, i hope that the opposition party will not stand isolated against all the professional in this field. and simply on the issue of whether we published the summary of the series case review, make an issue of this but what when they do address are the lessons that have to be learned from doncaster. >> we're not going to learn the lessons probably unless we get information out of the public. the prime minister says we should hear the professionals. he said it's not black and white. there have been occasions when the executive summary has provided a lack of clarity. a growing number of social workers, including the magazine, want to see these things published. the fact is this is an appalling case of two children being

dragged onto wasteland and tortured within an inch of their lives. it shocked the whole country. he talked about the publications report. let him just listen instead of consulting. listen to this important point that the bbc who have seen the report, they say the summary and the full report don't match up. aren't we in danger? are going danger of having a cover-up if we don't publish it in full? >> mr. speaker, the court case is not yet completed. this series case review has been leaked but it has not been published. the summary will be published at the appropriate time. i have taken as the secretary for children the advise of the lord who did -- he says it's the wrong advise but lord leavy is respected right across the country for the work is done. i and the secretary of state for children are taking the advice of many children's societies, professional organizations on the matter. i think it's important to recognize the issue here is what lessons we learned, how we have learned these lessons is a matter for people now to look at

the summary of the series case review. i asked them to consider the anonymity of the children as an important issue and also the freedom of children to say to the inquiry what they think is happening what they think has gone wrong and these are important issues that the opposition will consider. we went through this before on the baby peter case and it was agreed then, it was agreed then that we would have the report from lordly depegging made the recommendrecommendations about the series case review and i'm sorry that on an issue that we do not have a final verdict in the court on an issue where we do not have the summary even published he asked me a series of detailed questions when he hasn't read the report either. >> shawn james? >> thank you, mr. speaker. the fund has been a wonderful success and benefits to many, not the privileged few. does the prime minister agree with me we have to do more to encourage more and more to take

up this offer, particularly in constituencies such as my own? >> over 4.8 million children now have a child trust fund. no child, unfortunate the conservative policy would take child trust funds away from two thirds of the children who would be eligible in the future. middle-class families as well as people and modest incomes need child trust funds or they can save for the future. i think the conservative party are out of touch with middle income britain. >> i would like to add my own expressions of sympathy condolence to the family and friends of corporal lee bronson and the rifle and for the third battalion. who tragically died while serving so bravely in afghanistan last week and i would like to shake a trifecta primus of what he said about the age of relief efforts in haiti. i know everyone is shocked to the core by the sheer scale and

ferocity of this terrible disaster which has hit a country which has already been crippled by such poverty. i would like to return to the issue. last month lord mandelson declared the government would mount a huge opposition to the kraft takeover of cadbury. why is it the royal bank of scotland which is owned should now want to lend a vast amount of our money to craft to fund their takeover of? >> mr. speaker, if he's really suggesting that the government can step in and avoid any takeover that's taking place in this country and then tell a bank that has got to deprive a particular company of money by government dictate, that is liberal principle have seemed to have gone to the wall o. [laughter] >> i thank the prime minister for the little economics lecture, but there is a simple -- there is a simple principle

at stake. there are tens of thousands of british companies crying out for that money to protect jobs. and instead rbs wants to lend money to multinational with a record of cutting jobs when british taxpayers bailed out backs -- and they would money would now be used to put their money out of orbit isn't that just plain wrong? >> mr. speaker, to put the words liberal and principal together seem very, very difficult. [laughter] >> i have to tell him, -- [shouting] >> there is no government that is doing more to try to protect jobs and increase jobs in this country. unemployment is falling today as result of an action would've taken. if we had taken the advice of the liberal party, unemployment would be a great deal higher than it is now. he has got nothing to offer the debate on the economy at all.

>> order. the house really must calm down. we are making slow progress that i want to get down the order paper and i'm determined to get there. >> they propose -- the house had the opportunity to debate on recommendations within two months and that has elapsed that will my right honorable friend bring forward a debate very soon, and since he also said quite rightly, that it is an entirely a matter for the hous house,. >> mr. speaker, first of all i know he is a reformer and he wishes to see improvements in the way the house operates. we are grateful to the committee chaired for welcoming for putting forward proposals for reform the committee system. the government will make time of

belfour a day today. the house will have an opportunity to decide on the committee's recommendations. the government wants the house to agree a way forward, and we will therefore propose accepting many of the committee's recommendations, including elected shares of select, a liking to these of selectivity, scheduling non-government business and strengthening the role to hold the government to account. >> gregory barker? >> thank you, mr. speaker. on monday michael bishop publishes report on the testimonials of 60 senior civil servants in whitehall. they concluded the prime minister's government is weak and dysfunctional and there's a strategic ab at its heart is in deed, y. in particular does he think that one senior civil servant at number 10 said ministers -- [shouting] >> order. >> is going to have to do better

than that. [laughter] >> i just have to say the report did not analyze the conservative way of making decisions on married couples. and other issues that when he said there was going to be -- when he said is going to be one new policy every day disher, i didn't realize it was one new policy every day on married couples allowances that mr. speaker, we are getting on with the business of government. and that is why -- and that is why unemployment is falling today. that is why we took action to help small businesses but that is why we coordinate government action to help homeowners. and we are seeing the results of our action. the unfortunate thing is that conservatives oppose every single measure that we have proposed. >> mr. speaker, today's employment figures are good news for my constituents and there are now almost 7000 fewer people

unemployed then during the last tory recession. would this have happened if the government had simply let the recession take its course and what more can the government do to help my constituents get back into work? >> mr. speaker, from this government unemployment is not a price worth paying. and for this government, we have taken action so that in the '80s recession, unemployment apprising for five years. in this recession we have taken action so that we can see unemployment falling and we can see the action that is helping young people into work. it is interesting that the leader of the opposition is not asking me about the economy today. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the chilcott inquiry has heard the current prime minister was in the iraq war inner circle and he refused he payments for our troops on the front line. will be confirmed to the house that there is no impediment for him to seek a time to give evidence that chilcott inquiry

before the general election? >> mr. speaker, this is as i said a matter for the chilcott inquiry. i had written to sir john chilcot and i said to them i'm happy to give evidence at any time that that is a matter for the committee to decide. but i will take whatever advice he gives me about when he wishes me to appear. i am happy to give evidence on all the issues that he puts forward an habit to satisfy the public of this country about our government's commitment to the security of this country. >> mr. speaker, my friend would like to get married. but her boyfriend is not so keen. i wonder if my honorable friend might be able to tell us, should the government give them some money? and if so, how much in order to tie the knot? [laughter] >> mr. speaker, is a conservative party that is tied in knots. [laughter]

>> now that the said business secretary is with them, let me just tell the house what he said about this married couples allowed to i really don't think it's anything to do with politicians he said, whether you get married. and most of the younger people and don't seem very keen on a. my view of conservatives is it's not for us to tell you what to do through the taxes that my wife didn't put up with it because i was the 150 by way of tax. [laughter] >> this is social engineering, for god sake. and when i joined the party we were not in favor of a. from the shadow business secretary. [shouting] >> order. order. order. [shouting]. order. i'm sure the house wants to hear from mr. mark. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the power company has just announced that they will be

closing their call-center with a proposed loss of over 600 jobs. given that sad news, can the prime minister personally assured me that the business department, the job center network will do absolutely everything they can to assist my constituents and their families, and to help them find alternative employment if that closure goes through? >> mr. speaker, i can assure him that the rapid response unit of the department of work pension and a job center will be available to help his constituents if they are looking for jobs. i have to say to him that 300,000 people are leaving the unemployment register every month. pardo result of the action that job center plus is able to take, and we will be able to put to the assistance of his constituents not only advice but health and careers assistance and in some cases working for others who are young people looking for jobs in the future. we will do everything we can. i have to say to him, however, i

hope you will note that all these measures are opposed by the leader of the opposition. >> thank you, mr. speaker. is my right honorable friend aware of the recent research done by the institute for fiscal on how to tackle child poverty and help families? does he share their analysis that the best way to tackle a child poverty is through child tax credits and not through policies obligated by the official opposition? >> mr. speaker, we have a conservative family document published today and it doesn't mention that they wish to cut child tax credits away from large numbers of people. and it doesn't mention that they want to take the child trust fund away from large numbers of people. as for politics, mr. speaker, if you publish a document and you do not tell people what your policy really is, mr. speaker, mr. speaker, last week i said, last week