this is live coverage on c-span2. [laughter] >> i sense there may be some consensus on that in this house but it's a subject way above my pay grade. >> order. questions to the prime minister, michael? >> thank you, mr. speaker. i'm sure the whole house will want to join me in paying tribute to guardsman christopher davis of the first battalion who died on wednesday november the 17th of afghanistan. he was the 100 british soldier to die this year a reminder of the high price that we are paying. christopher was an utterly and highly respected soldier and we send our deepest condolences to his family and his lived ones. mr. speaker, this morning i had

metal with ministerial colleagues and in addition to such duties i should have more meetings. >> i join with my col dolences and express families to the families of those in the new zealand mining disaster, two of whom come from scotland. did the prime minister share my concerns that while 100% tips are passed to the staff some are using scams to pay national insurance while ripping up to 14% of the staff tips will. will he grow to meet with myself and a delegation of hospitality workers of the one year review on the operation of law on tips. >> thank you, mr. speaker. first of all, the honorable gentleman is entirely right to mention the tragic accident at the new zealand mine. i spoke to new zealand prime minister john key this morning and our thoughts and with the whole house with the 29 miners who lost their lives.

i know a high commission and the consular officials are in touch with their families and doing everything to help in what might be an impossibly difficult of time on the issue of tips, the honorable memory is a wonderful campaigner on this. it's right that tips should be distributed to staff. they should not be used to top out the minimum wage and they should not be diverted in any way. the law is very clear, tips musn't be used to back up the minimum wage and enforcement officers should take action to ensure that doesn't happen. and they should have a look of the code of practice that's produced and make sure that the hospitality industry is meeting this code of practice. >> will my right honorable friend will take steps to sort out the mess on the square and on the 29th. does he think reasonable that visitors from london to home and abroad should be faced with a

no-go area surrounded by a campsite? >> i have to say i entirely agree with my right honorable friend. i will always defend the right to protest and protest peacefully and it's entirely free that people should protest but i have no reason why they are able to sleep in the square. i had many discussions with many and i think april the 29th is too far a deadline to get this problem sorted out. >> mr. speaker, can i start by joining the prime minister in paying tribute to guardsman christopher davis of first battalion of the irish guards. he like our other troops died providing heroic service to his country. and could i also join the prime minister in expressing deep sadness of the deaths of the miners tragically killed in the

mine explosion and from scotland. i know the risks of miners take from working underground and our hearts go out to the miners' family and friends. can i also thank the whole house for the good wishes on the birth of my second son samuel. and in particular, to the prime minister and his his wife for their generous gifts. [laughter] >> i'll keep the gifts secret. [laughter] >> but i want to turn to -- i want to turn to a decision which has been made in advance of the education white paper in which there will be a statement at 12:30. is the prime minister aware of the deep concern among schools, families and leading sports men and women about the education secretary's decision to take away all of the funding from the highly successful school partnerships? will he now overrule the education secretary and reverse the decision?

>> well, first of all, let me welcome the right honorable gentleman back and congratulate him again on the birth of baby samuel. i very much know what it's like. the noise the mess the chaos trying to get the children to shut up. i'm sure it was two weeks away from it all. [laughter] >> he's very welcome. [laughter] >> the point about the sports funding of the white paper which my right honorable friend is talking about. we are taking a lot of the specific grants -- we're taking a lot of the specific grants that were spent on specific subjects and putting them into basic school funding. what it means the school's budget will go up 3.6 billion over this parliament and i have to say to the honorable gentlemen what we experienced over the last decade is, yes, a lot of money put in the sport but we didn't see a lot of progress. yeah.

we didn't see a lot of progress. let me just give him one figure. the number of schools offering rugly, and gymnastics. >> the prime minister will regret that answer because he shouldn't believe the nonsense the education secretary telling him. since 2002, we've seen an increase from 25% to 90% in the number of kids doing more than two hours of sport a week. we've seen 1 million more kids as part -- doing competitive sport between schools. and, and i would have thought the prime minister supported this. we have a network of 200,000 volunteers from the school -- i do say to the prime minister, that sounds like the big society to me why is he undermining it? >> let me tell you what it's ended up after 10 years of this approach.

only 2 in every 5 pupils play any competitive sport regularly in their school. only 2 out of 5. that is a terrible record. only 1 in 5 children play competitive sport against other schools. the approach that you took for all those years didn't work. the time for endlessly telling head teachers what to do, how to spend their money is over. it's time to trust head teachers, give them the budget and let them decide how to make sure we have great competitive sport within school and between schools. >> okay, mr. speaker, if you won't take it from me, perhaps you will take from joe phillips who is the school sports coordinator in his constituency. she says this in a letter. i'm devastated to witness the potential demise of this legacy of the sweep of mr. gove's pen and i wished he could have

talked to our students, our parents and our local sports clubs and providers. i do say to the prime minister, this is a daft decision, it is a daft decision that you should u-turn on as soon as possible. and i'm afraid it sums up this education secretary. high-handed, incompetent and unfair. why doesn't the prime minister get it? >> last year the proportion of 11 to 15 years old playing sport went down. this was after all the money they spent, all the initiatives. it simply didn't work. what we are doing is protecting the playing fields under our planning rules where taking back the betting and borrowing schemes. but again, there is a fundamental difference. their approach was specific grant after specific grant wrapping teachers and schools in red tape and not making any progress. we take a difference approach. put the money in the school's budget, growing by 3.6 billion pounds, holding our schools

olympics, promoting school sport. that's the way they will make a difference. >> thank you, mr. speaker. can i ask my right honorable friend during his international negotiations regarding the island at any point did anyone actually suggest that those countries with large deficits should be slowing down the rate in which they are reducing them? >> the honorable lady asked a very good question going to the g20, going to the g8 and going to european counselors there is absolutely nobody who thinks if you've got a big budget deficit you should do nothing about it. the only people who seem to be taking this view are the party opposite they've now got a new approach. they're having a policy review and it says this. this is the leader of the opposition. in terms of policy, we start with a blank page. [laughter] >> it got to be a great help with the g20. [laughter] >> russell brown. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

uk border funding to support immigration on other religion work at the ports unit ceased yesterday with the commitment that all such work would be dealt with in northern ireland. without additional resources all at that location i believe that that cannot work. if in the coming months the portshire in my constituency does not see a reduction in cases, will the prime minister revisit this issue? >> i think it's incredibly important what we do at our borders. i spent some time yesterday with the home secretary at heathrow airport meeting with u.k. staff and i want to help them go on doing that. the answer is that what we're going to do is make sure that the immigration work will be done in northern ireland and i will look at this to make sure that the system is working.

>> geoffrey clifton brown. >> does my right honorable friend that a proper plan to the irish economy would be far less damaging to the wider economy this country then some of the other possible dire alternatives. >> my right honorable friend makes a good point. every man, woman and child pays 3 million on pounds. they are very intertwined and we do right to ensure stability and growth from the irish economy. >> jim sheridan. >> thank you, mr. speaker. in the context of we're all in this together, could the prime minister explain why he is proposing to abolish the agricultural wages po protect some of the -- and at the same time, he is protected from solid scrutiny the salaries of those in the country.

>> we have looked very carefully at all and tried to work out which ones need to stay and go. i think that was long overdue. we have a minimum wage in this country. we have a tax credit system and there are so many quangos that aren't doing any value. >> mr. william cash. >> would my right honorable friend explain why at every city the city of the investigative order, the economic governments of europe and also the stabilization mechanism that this government is has more integration and no repatriation of powers? >> i'm surprised to hear that these wrong. under a previous government we would have caved in when they asked for a 6% budget piece. we will make sure -- >> order, i want to hear the

prime minister's views about the honorable member for stone's views and i hope the house does. mr. prime minister? >> we will secure to make sure that future bailout mechanisms should not involve non-euro countries like britain and that is something like we're going to secure in europe. >> mr. speaker, does the prime minister agree with me just as it is right to disclose top salaries in the public sector so it must be right to require banks to disclose a number of employees paid salary and bonuses over 1 million pounds? >> yes, we do agree with that and the last government commissioned -- the last government commissioned the walker review, david walker has carried out that review. he's made his report. he's made very clear that he thinks that we should make progress with this transparency agenda at the same time as other european countries. that is a view we think should be taken into account. and i think it's important -- he shakes his head.

the fact is -- the fact, he was part of the government that appointed david walker. i'd rather listen to someone who knows something about banking then someone who doesn't nothing something about anything. >> mr. speaker, he'll have to do better than that. he's demanding -- he's demanding transparency, rightly from the public sector. but unless we have transparency in the banking system, then shareholders can't exercise their duties to clamp down on unacceptable bonuses. when there was news when it was in the offing and he said transparency is the key to confidence in any commitment from our banks to behave more responsibly on pay and bonuses. why won't the prime minister listen to his business secretary? >> we agree with the approach of transparency. that is why the walker review was set up. that is why we should examine what walker has to say.

i have to say i will take lectures from the honorable gentleman about certain things but not about the bank. he was in the treasury when they didn't regulate the banks properly. he was in the treasury -- he was in the treasury when they set up the tripartheid system that failed. he was in the treasury when they had the biggest boom and the biggest bust. he was in the treasury when they gave fred goodwin a knighthood. i'd go back to the blank sheet of paper if i were you. >> i'll compare my record in the treasury anytime to his. he was there on black wednesday. black wednesday. now, isn't this just typical of the prime minister? before the election he promised a day of reckoning for the bankers. we passed the legislation. it's there for him to implement. it's not very much to ask,

mr. speaker, all that the legislation would require is that they would to have publish the banks, the number of people -- not even their names as the chancellor used to call for, the number of people getting pay and bonuses above a million pounds. it doesn't make sense to wait for europe. why doesn't the prime minister show a lead and just get it done. >> he says -- he says he wants to contrast his record in the treasury. yes. let's just remind people when he was in the treasury they built the biggest budget deficit of any g20 country. we had the biggest boom and the biggest bust. he says it was his government, it was his government that set up the walker review and he should listen to what they have to say. i got to say, the honorable gentleman has got nothing to say about the deficit, has got nothing to say about regulation. he's just the nowhere man of british politics.

>> mike -- >> mr. speaker, i'm sure -- i'm sure the prime minister is aware of the november campaign where a man growing mustaches for the month of november for prostate cancer. would he join knee half million people worldwide many in the u.k. who are on the 25 million pounds this year in sponsorship and given how good we look, would he consider joining us next year? >> first of all, can i congratulate the gentleman of a mustache specimen of the mustache that he has grown. it's absolutely right to raise awareness about prostate cancer. i think it's a very good charitable move. i can see some of his neighbors have followed his example as have some of the people in my protection team. they are all to be commented for raising awareness about this real killer that we need to do more about. >> mr. geoffrey donaldson. >> i join the prime minister in

paying tribute to christopher davis who sadly lost his life in afghanistan. the prime minister will be aware of problems with post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by many service personnel and veterans across the united kingdom. will he give a commitment to implement in full the report prepared by his honorable friend the member for southwest wellshire to help our veterans and service personnel with this? >> he did an excellent report particularly about mental health issues and how we need to invest in those both in the forces and in our nhs and we're carrying out those recommendations. >> thank you, mr. speaker. can the prime minister inform the house how much foreign students contribute to the economy? how much jobs they creates and how much for funding for higher education for domestic students? >> foreign students do make a

big contribution to british universities and to the british economy but i have to say to the honorable gentleman the home secretary went to heathrow yesterday to talk with border agency staff and the one thing that they all raised was the problem of bogus students coming to the u.k., people arriving at our borders who have got a visa, who are claiming to go and do a m.a. or a b.a. and who can't speak english. i'm quite convinced as i've said at this dispatch before. we can control immigration properly by cutting down on bogus students and people coming here without a reason while also helping the u.k. economy at the same time. >> would the prime minister agree with me 162 million pounds of sports budget is a prize worth paying for the health and fitness of our school children? >> everyone wants to see an expansion of competitive sport in school. i feel absolutely passionately about this issue. the approach we've taken for the

last decade has meant that only 1 in 5. that is pathetic. 1 in 5 of our children are playing competitive sport against other schools. you have a choice in politics. you can go on with an approach that is failing. you can go on with an approach that is failing or you can make a change and do it differently. they are shouting on the front bench because they know their record was one of lots of money spent the complete failure. >> the issue of workplace bullying has been highlighted in an article in the new statesman this week. i quote ed's team are terrified -- they think they are going to kill him because -- >> order, order. the honorable gentleman will resume his seat immediately. that question has got nothing, whatsoever to do with government policy. mr. dennis skinner. >> if the prime minister is so

keen to put a cap on immigration why did he earlier state that he gave his 100% backing for turkey to join the e.u.? surely, he knows that most immigration to britain comes from the e.u. doesn't he think there's a stench of hypocrisy about this immigration policy of the government? >> i have to say i think the honorable gentleman is wrong for a very clear reason. if you look at immigration, the balance of migration of european countries and the u.k. is broadly in balance. the excess immigration is all coming outside of the e.u. the current figures were for for net migration of 2,000 a year. that is 2 million people across a decade. in our view that is too high. it needs to be cut and a cap is a very important part of that. >> jonathan moore? >> what assessment has the prime

minister made of the statement that there is no such thing as an irresponsible strike? >> well, i have to say he is completely and utterly wrong and i think the world in a slightly mad place where someone who supports militant tendency can get elected to the largest union in the country on 17% of the vote and that same union basically picks the leader of the labour party and pays all his bills. it's completely wrong and if he's going to be a reformer he better do something about it. >> thank you, mr. speaker. despite being slightly a head to the curve in the mustache stakes, can i -- can i take the prime minister back to an explaining we had in june and further to the question to the honorable gentleman for lock and is really. much more needs to be done to help troops returning from conflict. the prime minister i know is concerned about it. i am very concerned about it. and i hope that more will be done.

in particular, there's so many homeless people now coming back and also the medical services are necessary. will he please commit himself to making an urge statement on this matter before long because time is running on. >> the government is very closely focused on this issue. it's not just about medical services as the honorable gentleman says. it's also about long-term mental health needs. in the u.s. veterans are contacted every single year to check up on the mental health status. when we look at the mental health problems that came out of the fortunes war where more people killed themselves in fortunes than died in that war we're storing up a huge problem of the future because of the incredibly active service that people have seen in both iraq and afghanistan. we need to prepare for this now. the government is fully aware of that. i'm very, very aware of it myself. i'm not sure about a parliamentary statement but we do want to legislate and make sure it goes through everything it does.

>> does the prime minister believe the tax rate should be temporary like the shadow chancellor? >> yes, i agree with the shadow chancellor. the interesting question is whether the shadow chancellor agrees with the leader of the opposition. the leader of the opposition has got two policies on tax, the graduate tax and the 50p tax and the shadow chancellor doesn't agree with either of them. >> before the election, the prime minister pledged not to cut education maintenance allowance. and the deputy prime minister pledged to vote against tuition fees. can the prime minister now explain to my 17-year-old constituent lauren bedford the difference between a pledge and a promise? >> what i would say to your constituent is that we inherited a complete mess from the previous government. we have a choice. we can deal with it or we can end up if a situation like ireland and other countries where it's not just cutting educational maintenance allowances. you'll be cutting everything. what we're going to do is replace it with something that is more targeted on those who need the money to stay on at

school. that, i think, is in the best interest of her constituents and everyone else. >> eric -- >> thank you, mr. speaker. stepping stones in algeria is a children's based charity in my constituency. it worked with its nigerian partners of children who were accused of witchcraft often if they were left they would be persecuted or killed and recently been subject to a great deal of intim days can i ask my right honorable friend to do whatever it can to assist the children's based charities in nigeria? >> well, we do have very close relations with nigeria and i'm sure the foreign office will be interested if what he has to say and the charity he's referring to does an extremely important job. >> thank you, mr. speaker. is the prime minister aware that in the nursing home in my constituency there are some of the 60,000 people across this country whose quality of life is

going to be shattered because of his government's decision to remove the mobility component of disability living allowance? how can he possibly justify this cruel cut of either 1895 pounds a week to some of the most decent people who have paid their taxes all their lives? >> well, it's important, i think, that we make sure disability living allowances is paid consistently to people who are in hospital and to people who are in care homes. that's what we're doing. and as i understand it, the labour front bench support this change, yes? >> no. >> on a previous occasion, the leader of the labour party said he supported to disability living allowance or is this another area where it's back to the blank sheet of paper? >> mr. speaker, now that the government has brought forward details of its new homes bonus,

will the prime minister join me in rug si council who are proceeding with proposals for substantial development? >> i do think this is important. for years we were spending lots of money on housing but not building any houses. why? 'cause there was no incentives for authorities and we're changing that and i believe that even though the resources are limited a lot more house-building will go ahead. >> i'm sure, mr. speaker, the prime minister will agree with me that education is a powerful agent for social mobility. and while i welcome in principle the pupil premium, emerging details seems to suggest that taken together with the withdrawal of the education maintenance allowance, it could detour some young people from staying on education. will the prime minister agree with me thed delegation of experts to address this problem.

>> i know the right honorable gentleman has addressed this problem and i'm sure the education secretary will be happy to meet with him to discuss this. basically what is happening here is that we're seeing per pupil funding that is not being cut and on top of that, you're going to see the 2 1/2 billion of the pupil premium. so that is going to mean overall the education budget rising by $3.6 billion across this parliament. that's a substantial funding increase. i'm sure that the pupil premium will have the effect that i want and he wants but i'm sure he can look at the detail of it with the education secretary. >> mark spencer. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i've been recently meeting with many charities in my constituencies and indigo children and many of whom have expressed concern at the reduction of local authority funding and the timeline between the openings of the big society bank. can the prime minister assure me -- can the prime minister

assure me to the access to that big fund will be quick and easy for those charities to snacks >> yes, i can. the point the honorable gentleman raises is exactly why we're raising 100 million pound transition fund to help charities that might be affected by difficult decisions by local authorities to help them through that time. that's exactly why we're doing it. and i expect we would have the support of the whole house in doing so. >> shaun james? >> could the prime minister explain to me how the cloture of the identity will pass the security of the country and will be replaced by a risk assessment system which surely cannot be right and cannot be safe and secure? >> i'm very happy to look in the case the right honorable lady said. we are having to make savings right across the public sector. that does mean big changes in the way we do things but in each case we should be looking at making