coming up next on c-span "prime minister's questions." then some of c-span's wrote to the white house coverage beginning with an interview with presidential candidate ted cruz, followed by carly fiorina speaking at this weekends faith and freedom summit in washington, d.c. at 11:00, another chance to see "q&a." on wednesday, british prime minister david cameron traveled to italy for meetings. chancellor of the exchequer and first secretary of state george osborne stood in for the prime minister during this week's question time. he took questions on british foreign policy, job growth, and combating terrorism.

speaker: questions to the prime minister. heidi alexander. heidi alexander: number one, mr. speaker. mr. osborne: the prime minister is in italy and i have been asked to reply. this morning i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, and in addition to my duties in the house i shall have further such meetings later today. heidi alexander: under this government's leadership, the construction of social rented homes has fallen to a 20-year low, but since 2010 the amount of housing benefit paid to private landlords has risen by £1.5 billion. does the chancellor understand the connection or would he like to come to my next advice surgery so that my constituents can explain it to him? mr. osborne: of course we are aware that there is an acute

housing shortage in london, which is why we need to build more homes, but i can tell the honorable lady that we built more council housing in the last five years than was built in the entire 13 years of the last labour government. i am very happy to come to lewisham, where we will talk about the fact that today the claimant count is down by 25% over the year and long-term youth unemployment is down 45% in the last year. the economic plan in lewisham is working. nigel huddleston: pensions are a really important issue to my constituents, and the government have delivered on their side of the bargain by giving savers the freedom to access their pensions. will the chancellor do all he can to ensure that the industry lives up to its side of the

bargain and delivers on those freedoms? mr. osborne: my honorable friend is absolutely right. the pension freedoms that we introduced in april are delivering the fundamental conservative principle that people who have worked hard and saved hard all their lives should be trusted with their own money, and 60,000 people have accessed their pension savings. there are clearly concerns however, that some companies are not doing their part to make those freedoms available. we are investigating how to remove the barriers, and we are now considering a cap on charges. i am asking the financial conduct authority to investigate. people who have worked hard and saved hard deserve a better deal. hilary benn: may i begin by congratulating the right honorable gentleman on his appointment as first secretary of state? it was reported this week that talha asmal, a 17-year-old from dewsbury, blew himself up in an isil attack that killed 11 people. i am sure the right honorable

gentleman would agree that we need to do everything we can to prevent our young people from travelling to iraq and syria, so will he tell the house whether the government now have an agreement in place with all the airlines to raise alerts when unaccompanied minors travel to known syrian routes, and whether our police are being notified by the turkish authorities when british citizens arrive at transit points to syria? mr. osborne: i thank the right honorable gentleman for his welcome, and i welcome him to his place. i think his father would have been extremely proud to see him leading for the labour party today. speaking for those on this side of the house, we are extremely relieved to see that there is no benn in the labour leadership contest but plenty of bennites. the right honorable gentleman raises the very serious situation around isil, and i think everyone in this house is

shocked that a 17-year-old citizen of our country can become radicalised and apparently, become a suicide bomber on the other side of the world -- of course, we also have had the distressing reports of the families from bradford. so we are taking a number of steps. first, we want to work with schools, mosques and other community institutions to help prevent the radicalisation -- there is a new statutory duty to do that. secondly, we are working with the airlines, including getting in place those agreements that the right honorable gentleman talks about and providing training at the borders, to stop people travelling to countries such as syria and to remove their passports if they attempt to do so. thirdly -- this will be an issue in this parliament -- we also need to make sure that our security and intelligence services have the powers they need to track people who are trying to get back into this country. i look forward to cross-party support on that issue. hilary benn: i am grateful for that reply. i think the house would appreciate an update on the progress of those discussions with the airlines, and i noted

that the right honorable gentleman was not able to respond to the question i asked about the turkish authorities. this is a very serious matter and we need to know where things have got to. we know that, for some time, a growing number of young people have been being groomed to travel to syria and iraq. last november, the intelligence and security committee criticised the government for not giving the prevent programme sufficient priority and concluded that "counter-radicalisation programmes are not working." why does he think that is? mr. osborne: frankly, i do not accept all those conclusions, and there has been a disagreement about the prevent programme. in the past, there was a confusion between the programmes that supported integration and the programmes that tried to prevent radical extremism. as a result, certain organisations that should never have got public money did so under the last government. the prevent programme is doing its work, but we have also passed a very important law in this parliament that now ensures

there is a statutory duty on public authorities such as a schools, universities and the police to develop the prevent strategy and the counter-radicalisation strategy. where i think we agree -- after all, on an issue such as this let us try to find areas where we agree -- is on the need to try to do more in these communities to prevent this radicalisation from taking place in the first place. hilary benn: i assure the right honorable gentleman that he will, of course, have the full support of members on the opposition benches on measures that are taken to try to deal with this problem. but can he assure us that community-led prevent programmes are now actually being implemented in places such as dewsbury and elsewhere including by providing appropriate training to teachers and other workers in the public sector, as the new public sector duty to which he has just referred comes into force in two weeks' time? mr. osborne: i can confirm that that training is taking place -- indeed, we have provided additional resources. in the spirit of this constructive conversation, may i say that we have an extremism bill in the queen's speech which

goes further in seeking to disrupt groups that are plotting either to commit offences here in this country or to travel abroad and become further radicalised? i hope the labour party looks seriously at that bill and offers its support to the government. hilary benn: it is now clear that right across the middle east and north africa, the common enemy is isil. does the right honorable gentleman agree that our strategic objective must be to continue to bring together all of the countries affected, in the region and internationally, to put aside other differences and co-operate to confront isil? mr. osborne: i of course completely agree with the right honorable gentleman on that. britain plays a leading role in bringing together the various allies that are delivering the

impact against isil. indeed, we have had some welcome news of prominent terrorist leaders, not necessarily in isil but in other organisations, who have been killed in the past couple of days. if those reports are correct, it is a very welcome step forward in the global fight against terrorism. the right honorable gentleman is absolutely right. ultimately, the iraqi government and the syrian people are going to have to find a way to take greater control of their own security. in iraq, we work with the legitimate government there. in syria, we support the moderate opposition, continuing to support and train them in the tasks that they undertake. hilary benn: turning now to how we resolve that crisis, which, as the right honorable gentleman will know, has seen the largest movement of refugees since the end of the second world war, can he tell the house what expectations he has for the new round of talks that un special envoy staffan de mistura is holding in geneva? mr. osborne: first of all, the right honorable gentleman is right to talk about the displaced persons, particularly in countries such as jordan and turkey, which are bearing an enormous burden.

that is why britain has such a massive aid contribution. across this house, we can be incredibly proud that the parties in the recent general election stood on a commitment to deliver 0. 7% of our national income in development aid. that is not just a humanitarian effort but to make sure that we are able to help in situations such as this. when it comes to burden sharing across the region, of course we want to help, but we must be realistic. we cannot take large numbers of syrian refugees into our country. hilary benn: finally, as more and more people gather in libya to try to cross the mediterranean, hms bulwark is doing an extraordinary job in rescuing frightened people. but we learned yesterday that its deployment is under active review. having made a grave error last october in withdrawing support from the mare nostrum search and rescue operations, will the

right honorable gentleman assure the house that the government will continue to save the lives of those in peril on that sea? mr. osborne: of course i can give the right honorable gentleman the assurance that we will continue to play our full part in the search and rescue operation in the mediterranean. as i understand it, essential maintenance needs to be carried out on hms bulwark, which is clearly an operational issue but no one should doubt britain's determination to play its role in helping with this situation. may i end on this point? taking people out of the water and rescuing them is essential -- we are a humanitarian nation and we need to deal with those issues -- but, in the end, we must break the link that enables someone to get on a boat and then claim asylum in europe and spend the rest of their lives on the european continent. that is what draws these people.

they are aiming for a better life, but circumventing proper immigration controls on the european continent. we should work across europe to break that link. i look forward to the right honorable gentleman's role in helping us do that. helen whately: businesses in kent need capable school leavers and graduates to employ. will my right honorable friend explain what the government are doing to ensure that pupils study the most important academic subjects, such as maths, which employers value? >> welcome i completely agree with my honorable friend, and of course, my right other than the education secretary said that i think really important education reforms yesterday, at the introduction of the ebay which will increase rigor in our school make sure that children are learning the essential subjects they need to get great jobs. and, of course today not much talked about yet but perhaps later in this section we should reflect on the fact that unemployment is down again in our country employment is up

long-term unemployment is down as well. and for the first time wages are growing faster than since the great recession. and that shows that our economic plan is working. >> thank you mr. speaker. the iraq war a decade ago and its aftermath has been an unmitigated disaster. to choke off inquiry into the causes of the war has now been running for six years at a cost of 10 million pounds. is it true that the report has been delayed until next year? >> the employer is of course completely independent of government and we do not determine when it publishes its conclusions were i agree with the honorable judgment is this. it has been a long time coming and people i think running out of patience to go to see that report i would make a broader observation, of course there was a cross party lines between the scottish nationals and the conservative party when the call

to inquire to be set up early than actually was. if it had been without the conclusions now. >> picture much mr. speaker. it's worth remembering the chancellor of the exchequer and the prime minister both voted for the war that we were led into by the then labour government. does he feel he has no moral or political responsibility to get to the bottom of the reasons why we went into this catastrophic war in the first place? and what is he going to do about this? >> that responsibility is fulfilled when we voted to create an independent inquiry. we want to see the results of the independent inquiry. i think those involved in chilcot would avert the view of the house of commons today and, indeed, public concern about how long this inquiry is taking. but ultimately this is an independent inquiry. if there wasn't an independent inquiry people would question his motives. it is independent but think you should get on with it.

>> thank you mr. speaker. the tunnel -- [inaudible] would the chancellor join me in congratulating everybody who's been involved in this most amazing feat of engineering which this country must be truly proud of? >> well, i think my honorable friend rightly draws attention to one of the great engineering marvels of the world which is at this fantastic crossrail tunnel that has been built up one of the under one of the oldest capital cities on the planet. the honorable gentleman says how much it didn't cost that it did cost money but to you what. this government is investing in the infrastructure to provide -- [shouting] and if we were not making the savings in the coming budget elsewhere we wouldn't be able to provide for our children.

>> thank you very much, mr. speaker. [shouting] >> calm your self, man. [laughter] calm down. a bit of yoga would help. [laughter] >> i'm very grateful mr. speaker put it is both sad and disturbing that the number of reported rapes in greater london has risen by 68% in the last 10 years. sexual crime is up by 35% in the last year. will the chancellor commit the extra resources to the police to ensure that they catch and jail the perpetrators come but also they continue to support organizations working with women in the most sensitive manner? >> of course we continue to provide that support. and, indeed, we have to the operational incentives by the

metropolitan police seemed to please focusing more on these heinous crimes. and, of course, one of the other piece of news is there's increase reported as well and women coming forward who have been victims of the horrific record i'm always prepared to look at extra request the resources if there is more to do we can help. >> in my constituency, one year alone and the last part of the number of apprenticeships and doubled which is part of more than 2 million apprenticeships in the country as a whole. clearly very beneficial to businesses and to young people. will my right honorable friend confirm that apprenticeships as an important priority of? >> well i can confirm that 3 million apprenticeships is the objective of this government building on success of providing 2 million of friendships in the last parliament.

i think the whole house will want to congratulate my honorable friend of the can he apprenticeships advisor to the prime minister. he has a very important role to play because of the are many companies great companies who run great apprenticeship programs, but not enough but notnot in of companies give those up and ship programs and hope they will receive a knock on the door from my honorable friend. >> will he confirm that to waste water from fracking will be properly treated so it is safe to drink again speak with well we will have the proper environmental standards around the expiration of shale gas come but i think for this country to turn its back on one of these great natural resources which other countries are using whidbey to basically condemn our country to higher energy bills and not as many jobs. and, frankly, i don't want to be part of a generation that says

all the economic activity was happening somewhere else in the world and was happening in our country and wasn't happening on our continent. so we should get off with a safe environment ally protected exploration of our shale gas resources. >> thank you, mr. speaker. [inaudible] successfully secured the future -- telescope project and over 12 million pounds to highlight its unique science heritage. does my friend agree there is further evidence, importance to science in his compelling vision of a northern powerhouse? >> welcome my honorable friend is quite right to draw attention to the success at manchester university and the bank that in securing the international headquarters of the square kilometer array experiment i visited the bank in the middle of the elections campaign to drop in and congratulate them on their achievement which was

achieved under instructions issued by the previous government. it is the world's largest science experiment that it's an incredible collaboration across nations and i'm extremely proud that its headquarters are in the northern powerhouse. >> thank you, mr. speaker. today sees him as lobby in westminster of people are committed action on climate change. -- does he agree facing out call we in this house have responsibility to divest our parliamentary pension fund fossil fuels as the event in norway very recently? >> well it's way above my pay grade to interfere with the parliamentary trustees of the pension fund here. and i leave the decisions on investment to them. but i would agree with the honorable lady at the lobby as part it is important to date and those pairs talks at the end of

the our real opportunity to get global commitment to finding standards and carbon targets. britain will play its full part. what we want to achieve is to do with those greenhouse gas company our international obligations on climate change but doing it in the cheapest way possible for the consumers of electricity here in britain. >> think you very much mr. speaker. [shouting] >> after years of undeserved neglect, my city up with is beginning to enjoy some infrastructure and investment everyone is quite brilliant potential and you can see that today. jobs figures that have shown an unemployed fall of almost half since this chance working in. would be chancellor confirm to me and most important step on this is our train. taken from to me where we are without today, please? >> my honorable friend is already doing a great job in speaking up for the city of plymouth alongside other

honorable friend come and as a result of major investments in the southwest by the upgrade and, of course, the new train on the great western line down to the southwest. i can confirm we're in active discussions to provide those new trains and to help the for the good news later this summer. >> according to the women's annual survey last year on one single day there were 132 women aged 18-20 living of refuge after being attacked, assaulted and in some cases raped. will the chancellor today guaranteed for me and those women that those living in supported accommodation like refuge would not be included in his government plans to remove housing benefit from those aged 18-214 will receive 132 women abused return to their violent

partners every day? >> well, we made it very clear what we set out our proposals on housing benefits that we would protect basically, for little people such as the people the honorable lady refers to come and i welcome her to the house. but i would pick a broader argument about welfare before. this country faces a a very simple choice be with one person of the world population, 4% gdp but we undertake 7% of the world's welfare spending. we can either carry on in a completely unsustainable path or we can continue to reform welfare and get a fair deal to those on welfare and indeed, a fair deal to the people, the taxpayers of this country who pay for it. >> order. >> thank you. does potential agree that today's elections to chairmanship of select committees are a great success story for parliament as a whole?

[laughter] i -- i'm very grateful for the for the gesture of support from the whole house of commons. [laughter] in which case since they are success and particularly if the prime minister is going to miss a few wednesdays, we suggest to the prime minister vetting out appear before the liaison committee more than three times a year? >> i've asserted pass on the request. [laughter] my honorable friend is right to draw attention to the success of these elections. we shouldn't of course exists for the conservative came into office. i'm not sure his own election isn't the best possible example of this since i think he is unelectable in unopposed in his own election. >> well, elected unopposed immigrant i think that's what the right honorable gentleman and. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

i want to add my contribute -- [inaudible] on climate change. can potential to do with the government is doing diplomatically to support the tough global field? but also to ensure a level field for carbon efficient companies indicate to ensure that we don't see global emissions simply increase by offshore and into places like china? >> that is of course what a global deal is on board and we are actively engaged in these negotiations, indeed the prime minister was speaking to the french president about this only last week or so we are determined that britain plays a leading role along with our colleagues in europe and delivering a binding global target so that individual parts of the world can't opt out. >> mr. speaker -- [shouting] employment in crawley is at record high levels with companies like creative --

created extra jobs. can my right honorable friend say what additional policies can be done by the government to ensure that companies can flourish further still? >> well of course a small and medium-sized businesses of which we've seen i think around three quarters of a million created in the last five years or the engine of growth in our economy and are one of the reasons why as he said the claimant count in his own constituency is down almost two-thirds. more encouragingly long-term youth claimant count is to pay down by 75%. it will go on doing things like providing that implement the amount which helps to small businesses employ more people. of course, what will be disasters is to abandon the economic plan borrow and spend more. because the worst thing for a small business is economic instability that puts them out of business.

>> the chancellor will be aware of the incidents on thursday in my constituency were a few people -- a people is accused of stabbing his teacher giunta whole house will wish to join in expressing its shock, it of this war-fight incident and also want to wish the teacher a swift and full recovery. can the chancellor tell the house what the steps he's taking to cut down crime in our schools a? >> well, first of all can i say to the honorable lady i think she speaks to the whole house and sending sympathies to the teacher and of course, to the people and staff of that school. i think our hearts go out to dinner i think the leadership in the school dealt with the situation in carbon will. and i know the education sector spoke to the head. of course, what we've done is given teachers now powers to search bags of people and the like but if there are more things we can do is learn the

lessons of this incident, of course we will. >> thank you very much mr. speaker. figures released today show that the number of job seekers allowance claims the my constituency have dropped in the last five years by nearly 60%. can't i thank my right over friend for his recent letter, and then ask them to agree with me that for the rail investment down to portland to increase jobs and prosperity in my constituency? >> my honorable friend has raised with me the case of his particularly slow rail service to portland and we will look into. were making a massive commitment to the southwest the biggest ever commitment of infrastructure to the southwest of 7 billion pounds program and i will look to see what they can do to improve the rail service to his constituents so we probably connect up to the southwest. >> chancellor will be aware that

under the coalition 299 pounds is allocated to rebuilding the hospital. would you like to restate the commitment to that funding so we can save the hospital? >> welcome we did commit to that hospital project and provided continue to provide money which include does. we will go on providing that support. of course, what we've done is commit to the stevens plan for the national service an additional 8 billion pounds for nhs become something you can only get if you and your public finances in better order and your growing our economy, and that's precisely what we are doing. >> thank you mr. speaker. [shouting] >> since my right honorable friend became chancellor, and upon has fallen in derby by 64%. [inaudible] a trend fastest growing

economy in the uk. this will come as no surprise to chancellor who recently visited my constituency and spoke about the engine of growth. a secret with me that we should even more to support small business across the midlands great more jobs, better skills and boost our economy even more? >> welcome i very much enjoyed this thing the engineering term and are constituency a couple of weeks ago. it's an outstanding example of a successful medium-size business growing in the east midlands, exporting around the world. it's what we want to see more of in our country. that's why we've got a policy but to live economic security for our nation in uncertain times, delivers more jobs more infrastructure more devoted to small businesses all so we can back the working people of this country. >> the right honorable gentleman

expressed -- for my constituency constituency. will the chancellor agreed to convene a meeting between myself and ministers to discuss the revisit with you to counterterror policy, particularly countering radicalization speak was i know we'll be happy to meet the honorable lady and indeed, with your constituents that but i think of course we want to work together to try and prevent other tragic cases like this one and of course, let's not forget the victims of the suicide bomb. and that is going to be a great generational task for us is could be a islamic and the radicalization by young people is not going to be something we saw in the face of weak or a month or even potential in this parliament. so we need to work across party divide. we also need to work with all the different public services to

make sure we prevent these young people thinking that somehow their life or their death is better off on the other side of the world. >> thank you, mr. speaker. today's employment figures are produced my constituency where a number of people out of work is down to 895. during the election the chancellor said that his plans. kenny update the house -- -- kenny update of the house speak with personal and very much welcome my honorable friend to the house. is ex ord after 32 minutes of the session not a single question from the labour party on jobs? [shouting] and went and never stand up to talk about the good news in his constituency he gets shouted down by the opposite side.

the truth is the long-term youth claimant count in his constituent is down by 50% it will go on investing in the south coast as a general election the labour party wanted to counsel the improvements. i thought it spoke volumes of the long-term vision for country. will go on investing in that road any other key infrastructure we need to see roads and rail and broadband across the south of england. >> thank you very much mr. speaker. [shouting] >> is the second aware among concern that the calculation of the public lending right is being distorted by increasing the of public -- libraries being run by funded because of the huge cuts in local council? will be asked the cultural secretary who i know is extremely knowledgeable in these matters to assure this rectified and the they can expect the reports for which they are

entitled to? >> welcome i know we have to address some potential to lending right and the last couple of years and i'm happy to look specifically at the case come at the issue he raises and see if there's more we can do. >> done nothing. >> today's an opponent they can provide further compelling evidence -- the. [shouting] -- of the strength of united kingdom's economic recovery thanks in large measure to a long-term economic plan -- [shouting] but given the strength of that recovery, may i launch an appeal to my right honorable friend that we do now commit to spending 2% of gdp on our

defenses most appointed military capability gaps we have had to sustain? and in these troubled times, to measure our principal allies united states of america, that's a long as we have a conservative government, defense of the realm will be the number one priority of this country? [shouting] >> first of all i welcome the support of my honorable friend of the economic plan that is delivering jobs. of course, the military can the defense industries are incredibly important employer in his constituency and he is right that we can't have strong defense without a strong economy. eddie's right to pursue we're spending 2% of our gdp on defense. we made a commitment to the future equipment program for defense and will set out our future plans at the spending review. if i may mr. speaker at the end of the session since he raises a military matter it is the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the agency which was the