Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the statement on page 57 of the Autumn Statement (Cm 8231) that the Government will invest £5 million to set up a nationwide taskforce to target metal thieves and scrap metal dealers who illegally trade in stolen metal, of whom this taskforce will comprise; who will lead the taskforce; what the anticipated timescale is of its operation; on what basis its budget has been set; and if she will make a statement. [84939]

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to develop and promote vocational rehabilitation services. [85761]

Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): May we have a debate early next year on social care and paying for the costs of care homes? We have been promised a White Paper in the spring, but it appears that this is going to be no more than a progress report and will not contain substantive policy decisions. It is sometimes argued that it is difficult to establish cross-party agreement on this issue, but if we were to have a debate, we could see whether there was cross-party agreement on the funding of social care and the cost of care homes. As co-chair of the all-party group on carers, I very much hope that this issue can be resolved before I leave Parliament. At the present rate of progress, however, I will be contesting a number more elections in Banbury before this matter is resolved.

Following the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s announcement during the Autumn statement that the East-West rail link will go ahead, North Oxfordshire MP Tony Baldry asked Ministers about whether the Ministry of Defence has been involved in any discussions with the Department of Transport regarding the potential for greater use of the existing rail infrastructure in and around Bicester.

Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): May I offer my right hon. Friend many congratulations on what has been achieved? Does he agree that one of the major achievements of Durban was that for the first time everyone in the world, including the major emitters—the United States, India and China—are now committed to the same process of a legally binding agreement? For the first time ever, everyone is going in the same direction towards the same objective. A simple machinery of government question: will the funding for the green climate fund come from the budget of my right hon. Friend’s Department or that of Department for International Development?