EU: Structural and Cohesion Funds

Debate between Baroness Royall of Blaisdon and Baroness Wilcox

Wednesday 8th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox]

I apologise for not understanding the question at first. The answer is yes.

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, at the special summit last month, a large sum of money—I do not recall how much—was made available for tackling youth unemployment in the European Union. Will the UK apply for some of that money, or will it be spent only in the 25 states that have signed up to the new treaty?

Loan Companies: Interest Rates

Debate between Baroness Royall of Blaisdon and Baroness Wilcox

Tuesday 13th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox]

The Office of Fair Trading is always vigilant and always has its eyes on this to make sure that the information is out there. That is a particularly good piece of advice, however. I will see whether this is being done and, if not, what we can do to take it forward.

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness when she says that we need informed consumers, but will she agree that for a Government to say that people should stop and think before they take these loans demonstrates that someone is out of touch? These people are desperate and poor and they have nowhere else to go, which is why they need good regulation and assistance.

[Baroness Wilcox]

After six years as chairman of the National Consumer Council and seven years as the president of the Trading Standards Institute, I am sorry if I gave the impression that I take it casually that people should get into trouble in this way. I apologise if that is the impression that I gave. There is no doubt that the biggest worry in all this is that capping, or any other similar action that we take, will lead to the poorest and most vulnerable people having to go to illegal moneylenders, where the punishment if they do not pay is not always visible. All the time that they can borrow money legally—no matter how high the interest, no matter how wrong the way in which they are borrowing it is—we can at least be there to help them out of the trouble they get into.

Regional Growth Fund

Debate between Baroness Royall of Blaisdon and Baroness Wilcox

Tuesday 11th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, in her answer to my noble friend about what the Government are doing to assist those workers who were so tragically being made redundant from BAE Systems, the Minister mentioned local enterprise zones. Can she tell us exactly what the local enterprise zones are going to do to assist in finding jobs and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in those areas of the country? Would it not have been better to have retained the RDAs?

[Baroness Wilcox]

The RDAs were enormously expensive and were not value for money. I am very glad that we are finished with the RDAs, although one or two of them were extremely good. I hope that the local enterprise initiatives will enable people to take themselves forward so that they do not always turn round and depend on the Government, which is not a good way to take forward the private sector—the sector that will actually start to bring our country out of this deep depression that we find ourselves in.

Public Disorder: Business Damage

Debate between Baroness Royall of Blaisdon and Baroness Wilcox

Tuesday 13th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox]

I am only too delighted to confirm to my noble friend that this is something that the Government are looking at. These are not victimless crimes, particularly for small, family businesses, which are almost afraid to open up again. A lot of work is being done in this area. I have spoken with my noble friend Lady Browning, the Home Office Minister, who has responsibility for crime prevention. In the next few weeks, the Home Office will be releasing an improved self-assessment tool for businesses to identify their vulnerabilities, providing practical advice for how those can be overcome. That will be available through the Business Link website and, to comfort my noble friend, I shall stay in contact with him on any other areas that develop well

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, when the commission, which was appointed by the Prime Minister, and of which my noble friend Lady Sherlock, I am proud to say, is a member, goes round the country, will it take evidence from businesses as well as from those who were affected in other ways by the riots? Does the noble Baroness know whether the commission will be going to areas which were not themselves affected by the riots but which potentially could have been affected? Many people up and down the country will have views on the reasons behind the riots and it is important that their views are listened to.

[Baroness Wilcox]

Pretty well anything that the noble Baroness could suggest today that we might do to reassure people all around the country, particularly in small high streets where the businesses are not run by great consortiums but by people who have been made very nervous, I will take away. I do not know whether they are looking at all of that at the moment. However, at the core of everything that we are doing is an understanding. We have been called a nation of small shopkeepers, and this is what the Question is about. We will make sure that we do our best for them.

Competition Commission and Office of Fair Trading

Debate between Baroness Royall of Blaisdon and Baroness Wilcox

Monday 22nd November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, the merger between the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading will come as a consequence of the Public Bodies Bill. The Minister mentioned the forthcoming consultation; does she think that it would have been more appropriate to have the consultation before the legislation is passed?

[Baroness Wilcox]

Obviously, my Government do not think that, otherwise we would not be bringing the Bill forward at this time. That means that all the people with expertise who are taking part in debate on the Public Bodies Bill, whose opinions we are hearing—the noble Lords, Lord Borrie, Lord Whitty and Lord Dubs—will be feeding in to the process going forward that will start at the beginning of next year. I think it starts just in the new year, and we hope that the new body will be in place in 2013.

It may be worth my reminding the House that the previous Government were working on the possibility of merging the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission, and it was only the election that stopped that work being completed. We are using some of the conclusions of that work to aid in formulating proposals for the consultation, and I hope for the support of noble Lords.