Waste Management: Refuse Collections

Debate between Baroness Hanham and Lord Tomlinson

Thursday 31st January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, the £250 million found by the Department for Communities and Local Government was found from within its own budget. We are dealing with a very important area—that is, to ensure that people who already pay for their bin collections have the opportunity of having weekly collections. The analogy which the noble Lord is trying to draw and the trap he is trying to drag me into are not relevant to this particular discussion.

[Lord Tomlinson]

But if the department can find £250 million from what the Minister describes as its own resources so easily, would it not be an act of generosity and kindness to transfer £650,000 of it to the department of the noble Lord, Lord McNally, so that he will not have to get so upset at Question Time when he is questioned about cutting legal aid services?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, I am inclined to stick to my Question, which is about weekly collections of bins. I reiterate that householders value a weekly collection very much. It had gone out of favour with the previous Government and we see it as being of genuine benefit to local people.

Local Authorities: Standards

Debate between Baroness Hanham and Lord Tomlinson

Tuesday 28th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, I think the noble Lord slightly underplays what the sanctions can be. There can be censure. If it is a trivial matter, it can be dealt with by the leader of the group. It can be much more seriously dealt with. It can be taken to the council for formal censure. Someone who is found to have transgressed can also be removed from a committee for a certain length of time. We have not allowed local authorities to suspend councillors as a result of such decisions, but I think we have put forward a perfectly reasonable set of sanctions.

[Lord Tomlinson]

As the noble Baroness has suggested that the genesis of this legal judgment was European, will she given an undertaking to write to me to explain precisely which part of European legislation is alleged to have been breached?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, I said that I thought it was; if that is not correct, I will write to the noble Lord.

Big Society: Church of England

Debate between Baroness Hanham and Lord Tomlinson

Thursday 12th May 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, I can certainly agree with what the noble Baroness has said. The Church of England is well placed because, as she says, it has—I was going to say fingers in every pie—tentacles in every part. The Question is about the Church of England, but I emphasise that we work happily not only with the church but indeed with all faith communities.

[Lord Tomlinson]

Will the Minister acknowledge how much damage her party did to the big society when it promoted the demutualisation of building societies and mutual societies, which were the very origins of the big society?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, we pass on in time, and the big society is something that we all now understand. [Laughter]

I am truly astonished at that response from the Opposition. Do they not understand that the big society is based on communities, on the value of the work that people do for other people and on neighbourliness? I do not understand why they are laughing.