Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bob Blackman and Greg Clark

Thursday 20th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Universities, Science and Cities (Greg Clark)]

I pay tribute to the work of Anne Glover, who has been a force for enormous good in Brussels. I am concerned at these reports and it is my view and that of the Government, which I think the hon. Gentleman shares, that it is important to have strong and robust scientific advice at the heart of European policy making. That has been provided in the past and I very much hope that it will be provided in the future.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T5. Every day in my constituency, 200 eastern European men assemble outside the local B&Q superstore on Honeypot lane. They tout their services aggressively for casual labour to people visiting the superstore, take money in cash and have no deductions for tax or national insurance for the work they do. What steps can be taken to ensure that people are employed properly and that the necessary deductions are made to support state aid?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bob Blackman and Greg Clark

Tuesday 13th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

1. What recent discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues on further devolution of power from Westminster and Whitehall.

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Greg Clark)]

I am a member of the local growth committee, which is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and brings together Ministers from a wide range of Departments monthly to focus on local growth programmes, including the delivery of the recommendations of the Heseltine review. To date, we have completed 24 city deals and by the summer all 39 local enterprise partnerships, which have submitted their economic plans, will have been assessed and we will make the announcements of local growth deals at that point.

[Bob Blackman]

Further devolution has taken place to Scotland and to Wales, and it has now been a year since the London Finance Commission reported on proposals for devolution to London and the great cities. What progress has my right hon. Friend made in his discussions with Treasury colleagues on devolving property taxes to London and the other great cities of this country?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is a great champion of empowering our great cities—he is a distinguished leader of a London council—and he knows we have made great progress in this area. He will know that the devolution of business rates, for example, allows London, and other parts of the country, to keep 50% of business rate income. That is worth £3 billion a year to London, and those retained business rates have helped to pay for the £1 billion Northern line extension to Battersea, so this is working in London.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bob Blackman and Greg Clark

Tuesday 25th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

6. What discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues on the role of decentralisation in the implementation of the Heseltine Review.

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Greg Clark)]

I am deputy chair of the Local Growth Committee, which my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister chairs and which brings together Ministers from a wide range of Departments to focus on local growth programmes, including the delivery of recommendations of the Heseltine review. Local enterprise partnerships are submitting their strategic economic plans at the end of the month, and announcements on the growth deals will be made later this year.

[Bob Blackman]

Is my right hon. Friend aware of the review that the Communities and Local Government Committee is undertaking on devolving fiscal responsibility to London and cities throughout the country? Does he agree that this gives us the ideal opportunity to put back into the hands of local authorities the power that was taken from them?

[Greg Clark]

I do agree. I am looking forward to giving evidence to my hon. Friend’s Committee next week in pursuance of that. However, I do not think I am letting the cat of the bag when I say that I am strongly in favour of the direction of the inquiry. The fact that the Mayor displays his usual muscularity in forcing this on to the agenda is very much an illustration of the power of the devolution of powers that has already taken place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bob Blackman and Greg Clark

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman, who is a distinguished member of the Treasury Committee, makes an important point. It is crucial that the change we need in the culture of banking is achieved through leadership and through a clear warning that abuse, mis-selling and all the other vices that banks can fall into will be punished rigorously. The FSA knows my views on that and I will reinforce them to the authority.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

17. What recent steps he has taken to tackle tax evasion and reduce tax avoidance.

National Planning Policy Framework

Debate between Bob Blackman and Greg Clark

Tuesday 27th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

Yes. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. That has found expression in the framework.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I am pleased that the many hours we spent on the Select Committee on Communities and Local Government have been reflected in the new document. One of the key thrusts that concerned us, however, was the fact that the requirement was on the developer to prove that a development was sustainable rather than on the local authority to prove that it was not if it rejected a planning application.

[Greg Clark]

It is always for the planning authority to assess the application, and the applicant puts in what is proposed, so there is no change to that.