Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Michael Fallon

Monday 24th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

Absolutely not. This is a five-year programme to restructure our forces, as they shift from focusing on the campaign in Afghanistan to being an Army that is sufficiently adaptable to be able to meet any threat the nation faces in future. For example, we currently have some 1,350 troops on exercise in Poland and more than 850 deployed to tackle Ebola in west Africa.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State and the Department on what they have achieved towards this programme. Will he share with the House precisely how we are helping families who may want their loved ones to serve as reservists but have misgivings about what the implications will be?

[Michael Fallon]

I am happy to reassure my hon. Friend on that. It is very important that families understand the nature of service life, and there can be some misapprehension about the scale and length of reserve activity. If I may, I will ask the Under-Secretary of State for Defence, my hon. Friend the Member for Canterbury (Mr Brazier), the Minister responsible for the reserves, to meet her to see what further reassurance he can offer.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Michael Fallon

Thursday 26th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

It certainly is not. There are many reasons why some RGF bidders withdraw—because they do not get the planning permission they were anticipating, their main board does not give final approval for the plant, or they are not prepared to put in private sector money alongside the regional growth fund grant. Any money that is not used is of course put into future rounds of the fund. It is important that we carry out the necessary due diligence and check before taxpayer money is handed over.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

The Business Secretary gave us the welcome news that the local growth fund will come on stream next year. Infrastructure is the key to allowing local businesses to develop. Will there be enough money in the local growth fund to improve and upgrade the A64 along its whole route from York through Malton to Scarborough?

[Michael Fallon]

I am afraid that my hon. Friend will have to be patient for a few weeks longer before we announce the local growth deal for the local enterprise partnership covering her constituency, but I am aware that that is one of the projects that the local enterprise partnership wants to prioritise.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Michael Fallon

Thursday 3rd April 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Michael Fallon)]

Tata Steel has made it clear that it welcomes the announcement in the Budget. It is important not to promise a scheme that could not necessarily be delivered by April 2015, because these schemes, like the others, take time to receive state aid clearance in Brussels.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

What are the procedures for a fracking permit to be issued for deep-well shale gas drilling, and what opportunities will those living locally have to express their concerns about the process in the planning application?

[Michael Fallon]

The process is that applicants must first have a licence and then receive planning permission from the local planning authority. They then need authorisation from the Health and Safety Executive for the method of fracking, permits from the Environment Agency concerning the protection of water and the environment, and, finally, a consent from the Department. The key to that process is that the major decision within it is local. It is a matter for the local planning authority to decide whether the application, on its merits, is appropriate for that particular site.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Michael Fallon

Thursday 6th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

We have announced a £2 million tourism support package, from which Plymouth will benefit. Local workshops and drop-in clinics will deliver practical help on the ground for tourism businesses, alongside a focused marketing campaign to boost trade for Easter and the early summer. VisitBritain is providing a promotional push abroad to encourage visitors from overseas, and I can tell my hon. Friend that it is working in partnership with Brittany Ferries on a £10 million campaign to promote the south-west more generally.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend share my concern that small businesses will be excluded from the Flood Re insurance scheme, and that that will have an impact on their future reinsurance and excess premiums?

[Michael Fallon]

The Flood Re scheme is there to help some of the hardest-to-insure areas, but most business insurance is already priced to risk, unlike household insurance, in which cross-subsidies apply. However, I will certainly look again at the point my hon. Friend has raised.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Michael Fallon

Thursday 28th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

If the charges are at that level, it is clearly unacceptable. We will look at this with Ofgem to make sure that everybody is entitled to a choice— everybody is entitled to switch—and if there are particular difficulties with dynamic teleswitched meters, they need to be looked at.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

3. What representations he has received on the level of green levies; and if he will make a statement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Michael Fallon

Thursday 24th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

I understand that in 2014-15 the local LEP is going to have a sizeable budget to distribute for infrastructure. Will the relevant Minister explain how we can access that budget and what the criteria will be?

[Michael Fallon]

Local enterprise partnerships have been invited to submit their growth plans not simply for the first year of devolved budgets, which is 2015-16, but for the expenditure of structural funds—both regional funds and social funds—from July next year for the next seven-year period. We will examine each of the local growth funds and work with individual LEPs on particular growth deals to suit each area.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Michael Fallon

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

I am not sure what that has to do with the red tape challenge, but Barclays is one of the banks that we are pressing hard to do more to lend more to small businesses, and we expect it to steadily increase the take-up of the various Government schemes on offer.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend look at removing gold-plated provisions on items such as jam, which has to be marketed as a preserve unless it has the right amount of sugar or fruit in it?

[Michael Fallon]

It was the previous Government who transposed the European directive but who failed to transcribe the flexibility that France and Germany have to lower the minimum sugar content in jam. We will consult on that shortly. Under this Government, not only is there more flexibility towards the European Union, but there will be more jam tomorrow.

--- Later in debate ---

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

T6. I believe it is Lord Heseltine’s birthday today. I wish him congratulations. Large rafts of money are going to city regions such as Leeds and Sheffield for transport infrastructure and other projects. We feel that we will be left in the lurch, so may I ask the team what support will be given to rural areas of North Yorkshire to improve the roads and other infrastructure?

[The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Michael Fallon)]

That is a perfectly fair point, but let me reassure my hon. Friend that the single pot funding from 2015 will be allocated not simply to the cities, but through local enterprise partnerships. It is her local enterprise partnership that will be able to make a bid to the Government.