they launched the scholars program. at 11:00 p.m., another chance to .ee q&a with james risen night, the communicators. >> my class. every buddy should rethink competition. most businesses tell you how to compete more effectively. mine tells you that perhaps you should not eat at all. as a founder or entrepreneur, you should always aim for something like a monopoly, a company that is such a breakthrough that you have no competition at all. >> monday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern on the communicators on c-span2. >> wednesday in the british house of commons, prime minister david cameron took questions

from parliament on a range of domestic and international issues, including britain's response to ebola, healthcare services, and the economy. this is 35 minutes. >> order. qwest turns to the prime minister. mr. albert oh when. -- own. mr. prime minister. >> thank you, mr. speaker. this morning, i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, and, in addition to my duties in this house, i shall have further such meetings later today. >> albert owen. >> thank you, mr. speaker. in april 2010, i agreed with the prime minister and nick that vat was a regressive tax. indeed the prime minister went further and said that it was far more regressive than income tax. he then went on to break his pledge to the british people and hiked vat to 20%. can i give him an opportunity to

restore his credibility on vat and ask him to rule it out completely to pay for any future income tax cuts? >> well our plans involve not up any taxes. what they involve is growing our economy and creating jobs. i am sure -- i will be pleased he will know that in terms of the long-term planning, new statistics are today, which is we used to say there were new 400,000 businesses in britain. i can now tell the house that, since 2010, there are 760,000 new businesses. in britain. >> anne main. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. does my right honorable friend share my concern that the one topic that is not being discussed today in the opposition day debate is the welsh health service? sadly, my mother died -- my mother died under the welsh health service. at her inquest, it was revealed that ambulances routinely had

kits that had not been checked and things that had been left out. does he share my concern that it has taken the death of another person in wales to get a change to this service? >> i think my honorable -- my honorable friend makes an important point, which is that there is a debate on wales in the house today, but not a debate about the health service in wales, which we should have such a debate because the health service in wales made the decision to cut the nhs budget rather than to increase it, as we have done in england. they have not met an nhs target on cancer or waiting times since 2008. the nhs in wales is in trouble and that is because -- not because of hard-working doctors and nurses, but because of a labour administration who cut the nhs and failed to reform it. >> ed miliband. speaker,eaker, mr. everyone -- mr. speaker, everyone was appalled by the abuse of people with learning disabilities at winterbourne view. it is a basic obligation of a

civilized society to treat everyone, particularly the most vulnerable, with respect and dignity. now a couple of years ago, the , government set the aim of moving people into the community and out of these assessment and treatment units. today's report shows that that has not happened. can we today, across the house, reaffirm this aim? >> we should absolutely reaffirm that aim. watched the television program on me,erbourne view, like would have been absolutely shocked at the way in which people with learning disabilities are treated. everybody knows that that has been a problem for years and decades, not for a few months, and that we have to do more to get people out of hospitals and into loving and caring homes in the community. the reason that we commissioned this report from sir stephen bubb, and it is an excellent report, is that the commitment to get all the people out of the hospitals had not been met. sir stephen has come up with good ideas for how we bring together the health service and local authorities to ensure that people with learning disabilities are treated with

respect. >> ed miliband. >> there are still more people with learning disabilities moving into institutional care than there are moving out of it, which is taking them away from their families and friends. can he promise today that there will be a clear timetable so that the promises made to people with learning disabilities and their families are kept? >> the prime minister. i do not want to set out a timetable that it is not possible to meet. we have just received the report from stephen bubb. and to be fair to him, what he says, very clearly, "it's -- unfair to blame the government, i think it's been a system failing, and i am very keen not to put blame anywhere, i am very keen that we move on." and, indeed, we should move on and plan properly how we commission care and how we commission places in the community, using local authorities as well as the nhs, and that we respond to the report in good time, because otherwise we will make the same mistake again. >> ed miliband.

>> i hope that the prime minister will take the report away and consider setting out a timetable, because a promise was made, and this is about the future and doing right by people with learning disabilities and their families. i want to turn to the wider issue of the nhs. mr. speaker we saw a report this , week of a patient waiting 35 hours in a and e. and across england, a and es including scunthorpe, middlesbrough, and king's lynn are telling patients not to turn up. and we have seen report after report of patients waiting hours for ambulances. does this represent more than some isolated incidents, and actually show an nhs in england at breaking point? >> what the figures show that, yes, the nhs is under pressure. and the figures are these. last week, 429,000 people presented at accident and emergency units across england, and that is 3,000 more patients day then under the last government, so what has happened is a big increase in accident and emergency admissions.

the target, as he knows, is to see 95% of people within four hours. the running total for this year is 94.7%, so 0.3% below what we are meant to achieve. the key thing is what we are going to do to respond to these problems in a and e. what we are doing is putting £700 million more into the nhs this year, and we are able to do that only because we have a strong and growing economy. and that is the key. you can only have a strong nhs if you have a strong economy. >> ed miliband. >> the truth is that the crisis in a and e is a symptom of the crisis in elderly care and in relation to getting to see a gp. now, one of the biggest problems -- one of the biggest problems is that one in four people is unable to get to see a gp within a week, and we even heard yesterday from the health secretary that this was a problem. mr. speaker, what does it say about the nhs when the health secretary says that he goes to a and e because he cannot get a gp appointment?

>> the prime minister. >> yet again, he comes to the house and raises a problem that he created. it was the labour party's gp contract. after that happened, 90% of doctors opted out of out-of-hours care. that is why we are putting in place arrangements for seven-day openings for gp's, and 7 million people already have access to that. but i repeat. if you cannot run the economy, you cannot run the nhs, and he could not run either. >> ed miliband. >> the truth is that we introduced evening and weekend opening, and he cut it. we opened walk-in centers, and he shut them, and he promised to improve gp access, but he has not delivered it, and this is happening on his watch. and today, mr. speaker the

, king's fund says that without an emergency injection of resources, the nhs is going to face financial meltdown. this is exactly the same pattern that we saw under the previous tory government. winter crisis followed by emergency bail-outs. is it not a damning indictment of his record on the nhs that we are back to those days? nhs is we have with the this government putting £12.7 billion more into the nhs, and that is why we have got 1,200 more nurses, 8,000 more doctors and patients being treated with , greater care. but the real point is this. he famously forgot to mention the deficit, and we know what happens when you forget about the deficit. look what happened to health care spending in portugal. cut by 17%. look what happened to health care spending in greece. cut by 14%. he cannot run the economy and he cannot run the nhs, he has no plan for either.

>> ed miliband. >> i would tell him -- i will tell them what is happening. deficits are rising right across the nhs because of his mismanagement, his top-down reorganization that nobody wanted and nobody voted for. and he has turned the nhs from a service that was succeeding to a service in crisis, and it is a crisis of his making. he closed the walk-in centers. he introduced the top-down reorganization. he cancelled the gp target so that people could get in to see their general practitioner. he has broken his promises. only a labour government can save the national health service. >> what he forgets is that when we put £12.7 billion into the nhs, his shadow health secretary said it was irresponsible. it is only because we have safeguarded the economy that we can safeguard the nhs. the fact is, he forgets the deficit, his shadow health secretary forgets mid staffs, and both of them have forgotten

you only get a strong health service with a strong economy. >> mr. john pugh. mr. pugh. >> thank you, mr. speaker. similarly, a manufacturing company in my constituency, provides portable incinerators isthe united nations and crucial and vital in addressing the issue of ebola and is now offering to donate a further £200,000-worth of equipment if the government will match it. will the government consider this proposal? >> i will certainly look at the proposal he makes. after all, we backed the ebola fund-raising that was very effective in that excellent england-scotland international, which raised a serious amount of money for ebola, and we also acted on the band aid single, so we will have a close look at what he says. q2. -- ian murray. >> thank you.

a recent report by the respected charity, the joseph rowntree foundation, found that the government's unfair tax and benefit changes had resulted in the poorest half of households losing out, while the top 1% had seen their incomes rocket. that makes me feel extremely angry. what does it make the prime minister feel? >> well i have studied the , report carefully, and it says that the rise in adult poverty that this report outlines actually occurred on labour's watch. now since the election, we have , seen 600,000 fewer people in relative poverty, 670,000 fewer workless households, and 300,000 fewer children in poverty. but the other point about this report, mr. speaker i am sure , the house will want to hear this, is that it covers only the income figures up to april 2013. and the report says, and i quote directly "since the middle of , last year, there have been huge increases in employment, which will surely impact on incomes and risks of poverty." that is absolutely right. heald.all over -- oliver

>> mr. speaker, in my constituency, we are very proud of local boy, lewis hamilton. be prime the -- would minister join me in congratulating lewis, ross brawn, who helped to design the car, and mercedes? of course? and does he agree that the british motor racing industry not only gives us a lot of entertainment, but it also gives us jobs, engineering skills, and british business success? >> i certainly join my honorable and learned friend in praising lewis hamilton. he is a young man with nerves of steel and huge ability, and he made everyone in our country proud. but i think my honorable friend is right. we should not just be proud of the driver is. we should be proud of the industry. all 19 of the formula 1 races last year were won by british-built cars. this is an enormous industry for our country. there are 43,000 people employed in oxfordshire alone in this

industry. and it is also worth remembering that it is not just formula 1. i had a reception at no. 10 downing street for the whole motorsport industry, and it is very important to remember that that goes all the way from go-carting up to formula 1, and lewis hamilton started off in a go-cart. an-woods.a blackm >> recent figures from the office for national statistics showed that real wages have fallen by up to 9% in recent years, with two thirds of those who got work last year earning less than the living wage. this is leading to extensive in-work poverty, especially in areas such as the north-east that already have lower incomes. how can the prime minister say that we are all in this together, and what is he going to do to tackle the issue? is we will gol do on growing the economy, creating jobs, and, crucially, cutting people's taxes. because the best way to help with this issue is to do what we have done, which is to lift 3 million of the lowest paid

people out of poverty altogether and to cut taxes for 26 million more. but the figures show that two thirds of the jobs we have created have been full-time jobs, not part-time jobs. the long-term economic plan is working. >> sir edward garnier. >> a few weeks ago a 92-bed hospital in kerry town in sierra leone was completed, at a cost of £2 million to the british taxpayer. that is a good thing. as of last night, it was looking after five patients. it is run by save the children. would my right honorable friend have a word with the secretary of state for international development and others in the government to make sure that that hospital is made proper use of? >> my friend is absolutely right. it is good that the hospital has been built, and roughly on time, but there is an issue with its operation. and the work we are doing with save the children, and we are working with them intensively to , ensure that it reaches its

full capacity and full use. we are building other facilities across sierra leone, and, of course, immunity centers, as well because we need all those , facilities to bring ebola under control. >> pete wishart. >> prime minister, we are living in the early days of a ukip uk in which farage and company pull all the strings in this house. pandering to ukip has been a disaster for the prime minister and for the tory party, as even a cursory look at the opinion polls shows. is it not time to stand up to its pernicious agenda and take them on? my country might be dragged out of europe against its will because of this ukip-ification. how could that possibly be right? >> i can tell you there is something that they have in common. which is they seek to divide people. we stand for the united kingdom and bringing people together. >> annette brooke. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

i welcome the prime minister's strong support for protecting funding for the nhs and also the drive towards efficiency in dorset, but the needs are great, particularly for children's mental health services, for adults in crisis, and social care. will the prime minister gave his support additional resources for the nhs and social care in the forthcoming autumn statement? >> well, my honorable friend will obviously have to wait for the chancellor to make his autumn statement but, as i said a moment ago, we have been able to put more money into the nhs and to make sure that the nhs and social care are working better together, for instance with our better care fund, because we have a strong economy that can deliver those resources. and i am absolutely committed to making sure we safeguard and improve our nhs, and that means everything to do with our nhs, including, of course the mental , health services she mentioned. >> sir gerald kaufman.

>> will the prime minister condemn the new israeli government bill that removes what are defined as national rights from all israeli citizens who are not jews, makes hebrew the only national language and has been denounced by the israeli attorney-general as causing a "deterioration of the democratic characteristic of the state"? will he make it clear that the statutory, repressive removal of citizenship rights on the basis of religion will turn israel into an apartheid state? to the, what i say honorable gentleman, the right honorable gentleman, is one of the reasons i am such a strong supporter of israel is that it is a country that has given rights and democracy to its people, and it is very important that that continues. when we look across the region and you look at those indexes of freedom, you see that israel is one of the few countries that tick the boxes for freedom, and it is very important that it continues to do so.

>> norman baker. >> i am sure that the prime minister will share my enthusiasm for e.on's confirmation this week that 300 jobs are to be created for the construction and maintenance of a new offshore wind farm, many of which will be in newhaven in my constituency. does that not prove that doing the right thing for the environment is also doing the right thing for the economy, and will he condemn those people, in ukip and elsewhere, whose anti-green rhetoric would destroy green jobs? >> i think what you see under government, which, until recently, he was a part, is consistent levels of investment in green energy, which is producing jobs in our country. obviously what is happening in newhaven is welcome, but so too is what is happening on the humber estuary and in hull, with -- in terms of the large siemens investment, which is not just about making wind turbines, but will involve a huge supply industry around it, as well. >> khalid mahmood.

>> on saturday, i attended the service at birmingham cathedral along with the families of those who lost loved ones in the 1974 pub bombings. they are all agreed, after a 40-year-long wait, that there is still no action to bring to justice the perpetrators of that action. would he confirm what actions he is going to take? >> well, first of all, are submitted and condolences should still go to those people who lost their relatives 40 years ago. relative, that stays with you, and the grief and the pain stays 26 nov 2014 . column 916 with you, for ever. -- the pain stays with you forever. it is important that we continue to work to try to make sure that we address all the issues that happened in the past, find those who are responsible, and try to help people to come to terms with what has happened. that needs to happen in northern ireland as well as on the mainland. zahawi.m

>> when i see a white van, i think of the small business owner who works long hours to put food on the family table. when i see the cross of st george, i think of the words of my constituent, william shakespeare. "this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this england". does my right honorable friend agree that we should not sneer at people who work hard, who are patriotic, and who love their country? but i agree with -- i agree with every word. i agree with every word my friend has said. in fact, i was wondering why the labour benches were so quiet, and now i realize, of course, the shadow attorney-general, who normally makes so much noise, is presumably not here today. she is probably out taking pictures of people's homes, i expect. [laughter]

but we know what that meant about the modern labour party, sneering at people who work hard and love their country. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. can the prime minister tell the house how much taxpayers' money his government spent on challenging the eu cap on bankers' bonuses before it was abandoned last week? has he learned nothing from rochester and clacton, and is not ukip right, because even ukip was against increases in the bankers' bonuses? >> the prime minister. we were taking the same approach as that advised by the governor of the bank of england and by all the experts who advised us on that position. i think it is important to stand up to brussels and to challenge we think they have gotten it wrong. >> mr. prime minister, are you aware that areas, such as romford in the london borough of havering, with a high concentration of older people will be substantially hit by the

financial implications of the care act? will he meet me, and a delegation, to look at a more equitable funding arrangement for older people? >> well i will make sure that my , honorable friend has a meeting either with me or with the health secretary to discuss this issue. i think it is important. the care act makes some very important breakthroughs in terms of providing care for people and making sure there is quality care for people. also, what i would add to this, if he does have a high concentration of older people in his constituency, they will obviously welcome the fact that by next year the basic state pension will be £950 higher than when we came into government in 2010. >> karl turner. >> does the prime minister think it is right to give serco a £70 million contract when there are questions about its handling of yarl's wood and allegations of serious abuse and sexual violence? does he not agree that a full, independent inquiry into these allegations should have been carried out before his home

secretary signed off on that contract? important it is very when these contracts have gone wrong, and i think he is right that in some cases they have gone wrong, it is properly looked at and investigated and lessons are learned. on occasion, we have made sure that serious amounts of money have been recovered from the companies concerned. but what we should not do is use one or two bad contracts to fulfill the trade unions' dream of ending all contracts altogether. >> mark menzies. >> can i think the prime minister for his government having designated warton in my constituency as an enterprise zone, but may i ask what steps they are taking to ensure that warton is the most attractive zone for advanced manufacturing inward investment? i amll, i think -- grateful to my honorable friend for what he says about warton. the enterprise zones are now all up and running, and they are all working well.

they have created over 12,500 jobs, and 434 different businesses are coming into the enterprise zones. i think making sure that they succeed means that we have to market them even better, using u.k. t.i. and its resources both here and around the world. in terms of advanced manufacturing, if we promote to companies the tax rates we have, the patent box and the catapult institutes up and down the country to support advanced manufacturing, and bring all those things together. it is absolutely clear to me that there is no better place to invest in europe right now than coming to invest in britain. >> jamie reed. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the first thing i think of when i see a white van is whether or not my father or my brother is driving it. mr. speaker -- mr. speaker -- mr. speaker.

thank you, mr. speaker. the national audit office has revealed that 40% of cuts to councils in england have been made at the expense of adult social care. the consequences of this on the nhs are obvious. this is the prime minister's disaster. can he tell the house today what will be the cost of this failure is? >> if he values people who work hard and want to get on, he ought to cross the floor and come over to the government benches. thank you, thank you. now, on this -- on the issue of social care -- on the issue of social care, what we have done is introduced the better care fund, which has taken money and pulled it between the nhs and social services to make sure that they can work together. it is absolutely vital that we do that, and i am sure that the he is working in his local area

to make sure that that happens. >> sarah newton. >> the royal fleet auxiliary ship argus is currently off sierra leone fighting the war against ebola, saving lives there and keeping us safe at home. will my right honorable friend join me in thanking the crew and their families for their service and their sacrifice now and over christmas? >> the honorable -- my honorable friend is absolutely right. because rfa argus is often based in falmouth. rfa argus is often based in falmouth. and they are doing an amazing job, and they are doing an amazing job at personal risk to themselves. it is absolutely essential that britain takes this leading role in sierra leone and inserts not just the hospital beds and the staff, but the training and logistics that are going to be essential in turning around this crisis. and having rfa argus there with all its expertise and ability is an absolutely key part of that.

>> mr. andy slaughter. >> following the closure of hammersmith and central middlesex a and e departments in september, west london now has some of the worst waiting times for a and e in the country, but last week nhs england told the evening standard that charing cross a and e would be replaced with an emergency centre run by gp's and nurses. will the prime minister abandon any further cuts to a and e services in west london? >> well, what the honorable gentleman should know not only that we are recruiting more a and e consultants and nurses in north-west london and that northwick park and ealing hospitals are getting more beds, but that both hammersmith and central middlesex hospitals have gp-led urgent care centers on site that are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. so instead of trying to frighten his constituents, he should be talking about the investment going into the local health service. >> simon kirby. >> the prime minister will not be surprised to hear that i will be marking world aids day on monday in brighton, but will he

join me in encouraging people this week, national hiv testing week, to come forward and have regular tests? >> i think my honorable friend is absolutely right. obviously, this government are pioneering the idea of free tests. we think that is very important. and we need to tackle hiv and aids, not just here in our country, but around the world. that is also why we have put so much money into antiretroviral drugs. >> phil wilson. >> can he envisage any circumstances in which he would lead the no campaign in an eu referendum? >> unlike the labour party, i have set out what i want to achieve, which is a renegotiation and then a referendum. and i think britain is better off inside a reformed european union. but i have to ask labour members, "what are you frightened of?" we say, "trust the people, and let the people decide." >> mr. alan reid. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

royal mail's universal service obligation, that is, to deliver mail to every premises in the country and collecting mail from every post box six days a week, is vital. will the prime minister give an assurance that he will never allow the universal service obligation to be watered down in any way, and so support red van man? >> i know how important the universal service obligation is, particularly in constituencies such as my honorable friend's, that includes so many islands and so many far-flung communities. it is very important that it is maintained. >> mark reckless. i am grateful to the prime minister -- i am grateful to the prime minister. >> order. a parliament, if it believes in anything, believes in free speech. i do not need the heckling. it is tedious. it is low grade. the honorable gentleman will be