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Summer Recess Adjournment

I am delighted to be able to contribute to the debate. I wish to raise three substantive issues, but I shall begin by displaying the same level of indignation as my hon. Friend the Member for Chorley (Mr. Hoyle). I was promised a Jobcentre Plus facility in Dursley, in the south of my constituency, some six months ago. The jobcentre there had closed a couple of years ago. I had no angle on that, because there were reasons for the closure, but there was a need to open another centre, and the fact that that failed to happen is an indication of the Government's failure to address rural issues. I hope that my hon. Friend the Deputy Leader of the House will convey my indignation to the Department for Work and Pensions, because there is an urgent need for the Department to act. The first substantive issue that I shall raise relates to something very sad that happened last week. A certain Mr. Nick Griffin arrived in my constituency. That may or may not be something that Mr. Nick Griffin does regularly, but I should like to think that Members of the European Parliament must give the same notice as Members of Parliament when they intend to visit constituents. I do not know why Mr. Griffin was wined and dined in Painswick, in my constituency, but he was. It just so happens that one of my constituents took offence, and happened to spill some beer over Mr. Griffin. I know the young man concerned, and he is totally upstanding. Indeed, he is an outstanding individual, the sort of person with whom I am proud to be associated. As a result of that incident, he was taken outside and given one hell of a hiding. I am not prepared to accept that any politician should have a private army. I am not prepared to have the BNP anywhere near my constituency. In previous times we would have chased these individuals around but I hope that we will take action and look at the actions of the BNP. I do not know whether a court case is proceeding because the young man is too shocked, but it is indicative of what the BNP is like. My second issue is one that I raised in a previous debate before Easter and concerns school staff. I can now use their names; Roger Lock, the former head of Marling school in my constituency, and Mick Madden who was the head of care at Cam house, also in my constituency. I use the past tense because they have now been summarily dismissed and have lost their appeals. Roger served for 30 years at the school, as well as being the head for a period. Mick served for 27 years at Cam house. Both have lost their jobs. There is an employment tribunal pending in both cases so I shall be circumspect in what I say, but their cases are mentioned in the excellent report from the Children, Schools and Families Committee. A real issue arises in terms of how staff are removed. Most of the Select Committee report refers to pupil allegations; the cases in question did not involve pupil allegations, but did involve unfair practices. In the case of the second school's head, it is very unfair that allegations of bullying and harassment came suddenly to the surface after a new chairman of the governing body arrived. He became the presenting—or dare I say the prosecuting—officer. He chose the hearing committee. He chose the appeal committee, which involved a parent—the school's internal arrangements make it clear that a parent is not the preferred person to be on such a body—and two external representatives, which again was most peculiar. That case is deserving of proper investigation. A support group, the Friends of Marling School, is fighting on behalf of that head teacher. I wish the group well and will continue to raise the issue because wrong things have been done. Mick Madden, too, has lost his job. He was seen a something of a sacrificial lamb, given that the deputy head of that school resigned and the head teacher, after 18 months of being suspended, was then reinstated. It just so happens that in the last couple of weeks the head teacher has been dismissed. The three senior members of the school's staff have now lost their jobs. Mick is by the far the most innocent of those individuals and is fighting his corner. He subsequently got another job but, to put it mildly, powers were brought against him and that job was also taken away. There has been a degree of vindictiveness, which is more than unfair and is deserving of proper investigation. I finish by mentioning three Bills, two of which I have presented to the House and one of which, the Permissible Donors Bill, has been somewhat overtaken by events, I am pleased to say. I am glad that the Government have now come to their senses in terms of the Political Parties and Elections Bill and have seen that there is a need to restrict donor activity from outside. The first of my other two Bills was the Parliament (Disclosure of Information) Bill, which I hope in due course we will get a chance to talk about properly. The Bill demands financial disclosure, as in the United States where all representatives have to disclose three years' of tax returns in advance of taking office. That is a perfectly reasonable thing to do and I hope that arrangement can come in here. Finally, the Media Owners (Residency Requirement) Bill would restrict ownership of media outlets to British individuals and British firms who pay full tax in this country. I could go on at length about what I have learned from others about those who have attacked us in this House. It would only be just and proper to look at the tax that they pay. Horrifyingly, many of those media outlets pay no tax at all. They are the key to tax avoidance and I hope that, in due course, we will get a chance to investigate those individuals, who they are and what they do.