Rural Phone and Broadband Connectivity

Debate between Lord Benyon and Neil Parish

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon (Newbury) (Con)]

I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

I represent a rural constituency that is in the teeth of the superfast broadband roll-out, and is also the home of Vodafone. Twenty-five years ago, the first call was made from Newbury. The office contained 12 people and was above a curry house at the top of the high street. Vodafone is now one of Europe’s most successful companies. I do not stand here as the voice of Vodafone, but it is worth pointing out that the technologies developed through the inspirational leadership of people such as Sir Ernest Harrison are remarkable.

I was in Africa not long ago seeing the M-Pesa project, which is responsible for about a quarter of the financial transactions. It has completely changed the social dynamic and the ability of people who work in distant places to send money. It is remarkable. In this country Vodafone has developed a system for supporting people who are victims—or potential victims—of domestic violence through an alert system, and it deserves credit for much of what it has achieved.

West Berkshire has a rural population that is involved in two of the most dangerous professions: agriculture and the horse racing industry around the Lambourn valley. Getting good mobile phone coverage is not just a matter of convenience or of jobs and employment, but can be something that saves lives. The roll-out of the mobile infrastructure project is dear to our hearts in that area, and I would welcome an update from the Minister on how the project is going.

I welcome the Government’s effort to solve the problem through a legally binding agreement with the four networks that will see £5 billion invested in the UK’s mobile infrastructure. The results need to be visible as soon as possible so that constituents in areas such as mine can maximise their businesses, and people who live in rural downland villages in west Berkshire can fully partake in the dynamic Thames valley economy.

I am interested in the report produced by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, and I hope that we can hold the feet of the various delivery agencies and companies to the fire, and ensure that we deliver on some of the dates. The Government’s original objective of rolling out superfast broadband to cover 90% of premises by 2015 has been altered to 95% of premises by 2017. BT has said that it is there or thereabouts, but that it might end up being achieved in 2018. I hope the Minister will ensure that such comments are challenged. Chris Townsend of Broadband Delivery UK has stated that he is “absolutely committed” to finalising the last 5% by 2020 at the very latest, and if that is accurate I hope we try to speed it up.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

This is one of the problems. BDUK seems to be putting back the start date for many schemes. The village of Upottery near Honiton does not know whether it will get superfast broadband in 2016, 2017 or 2018. BDUK has been given money to get to the hardest-hit areas, but it is not getting there on time. I hope the Minister will keep up the pressure on BDUK to deliver.

[Richard Benyon]

I am supportive of what the Government have done and of the range of options to ensure there is no digital divide between town and countryside, but that does not mean we should ever be satisfied. We should push at the door wherever we can.

Water Bill

Debate between Lord Benyon and Neil Parish

Monday 25th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon]

There is provision in the Bill to establish an inset regime and allow new entrants to design innovative infrastructure, which can link into the water system. Moreover, under the capital allowance system, farmers can invest in new reservoirs and have the right to give the surplus of that water to their water companies. In dire circumstances, the Environment Agency can purchase that water to keep rivers flowing. Real opportunity exists for people. I am not saying that that will resolve our water resilience issues; many farmers will need to build many reservoirs for that to happen. None the less, there is a genuine opportunity.

I have one plea. Yes, we can get involved in lengthy debates about whether we should have a primary or a secondary sustainability duty, or whether the robust new resilience duty—I urge hon. Members to read about that—will provide an added incentive; but if the rivers do not flow, our reservoirs are empty and our economy suffers, we should be absolutely determined to concentrate on the outcomes. I appeal to Members in this Chamber and in the other place not to get stuck on the tokenism of any duty, but to consider the outcome that it can deliver. I am relatively agnostic about whether Ofwat should have a primary or secondary duty to deliver sustainability. I am much more concerned about the outcomes, and I have yet to be convinced that just changing the wording will make a huge amount of difference. A really important gain in all this is the resilience duty on Ofwat.

[Neil Parish]

Like other Members, I thank my hon. Friend for all the work that he did on the Bill when he was Minister. Does he not feel that the one thing we are missing in this country is the recycling of water? It would be good to use recycled water to grow crops, as it contains a huge amount of nutrients. When we get a wet year, we forget about all the dry years that we have had or may have in the future.

[Richard Benyon]

My hon. Friend is right. I see this in household terms: my simple view is that if a builder wants to build 1,000 houses in the Test valley—I do not know why I am picking on the Test valley; I could pick on any number of catchments in the south or east of England—for that to be considered sustainable development, he should have to prove to his local authority that he is hardwiring into his thinking recycling rain water, greywater systems and permeable membranes outside the houses. In fact, he should think of everything to ensure that the development’s water demands are as low as possible.

An important change is being made that will assist investment in our water sector, by cracking the problem with the investment cycle that we have faced for years. I am grateful to British Water—the organisation that represents supply chain companies—for drawing my attention to how investment fell off a cliff edge a year or so before the end of a price review period. That is a problem. Britain is losing jobs, losing skills to abroad and losing much-needed infrastructure investment. Three changes will make a difference in that regard. The first is the resilience duty, which I have already mentioned. The second is the requirement on water companies to invest for the long term, particularly through the 20-year reviews of their water needs. The third is the need for a six-year investment programme, which is a major step forward. Over time, the cycle of investment will level out rather than fall off that cliff.

We need to think beyond the Bill on sustainability. I am pleased, for example, that improvements to the building regulations include a standard daily usage of 125 litres per head. The code for sustainable homes refers to 105 litres per head. We use 155 litres per head in this country—a figure higher than almost anywhere in Europe. We must consider the demand side as well as the supply side.

I hope that that clause on flood insurance goes through with the support of all parties. All Members with constituents who live at risk of floods feel strongly that the statement of principles, worthy though it might have been when it was drawn up, was full of faults. There was no affordability element. Our constituents face excess charges that are at times more than £10,000—an impossible situation that cannot be allowed to continue.

I have the scars of the negotiations on Flood Re on my back—I pay full tribute to the ABI for the constructive way in which it negotiated—but I think we have reached a point at which we can address the needs of the 500,000 households that are at the highest risk. It will limit the cost, and as best it can, it will link that limit to people’s ability to pay. Linking the scheme to council tax banding is the right way to do that. Excess charges will be capped at somewhere between £250 and £500. That is a major win for those people who come to see us in our surgeries and tell us that every time it rains their stress levels rise considerably.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Benyon and Neil Parish

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

T7. The people of Halberton and the Environment Agency worked very well when the damage to the canal happened, preventing flooding from occurring throughout the village. However, I want to see better management of our waterways, through farmers and local communities managing water and helping to dredge the rivers, because we are not doing enough to stop the flooding.

[Richard Benyon]

I assure my hon. Friend that we learn lessons from every flooding incident. Although we have implemented Pitt and the other aspects that came from recent floods, we are looking closely at issues such as dredging. I know that that is a concern in his constituency, as it is in Somerset and other places where the belief is that water is held on the ground for too long.

Fish Discards

Debate between Lord Benyon and Neil Parish

Thursday 14th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon]

One of the reforms we want as part of the process is a greater movement to multi-annual plans, which I like because they actually take power away from politicians. The horse trading that goes on in December is less possible when we have a good multi-annual plan. What the hon. Gentleman is talking about is a bad multi-annual plan, one that was not thought through properly, does not work and in many cases achieves the reverse of what was intended. I will work with him, Diane Dodds and anyone else to ensure that we get the right kind of multi-annual plans system within the reforms.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

I, too, congratulate the Minister, who has achieved a great deal on discards in his time in office. I think that the local management of fisheries and fishermen owning up to the way fish stocks are managed are essential. We have to ensure that cod discards, which are still going on in mixed fisheries off the south-west, are stopped as soon as possible.

[Richard Benyon]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has been a hearty proponent of an end to the top-down management of fisheries and an enemy of discards both here and in the European Parliament, and I will continue to work on that. We should be very grateful to organisations such as Fish Fight for the part they played in exciting popular culture in support of what we are doing, but it is also worth paying tribute to the small groups of scientists, officials from DEFRA and other organisations that have been working to end discards and reform this policy for a long time.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Benyon and Neil Parish

Thursday 19th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

12. What support she is providing to rural communities to encourage enterprise and growth.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Richard Benyon)]

DEFRA is working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government to ensure that measures designed to support business and the economy have a proportionate and positive impact in rural areas. On 29 November last year, the Government announced a strong package of new measures designed to stimulate sustainable growth in the rural economy and to help rural businesses to reach their full potential.

[Neil Parish]

Devon and Somerset are making a bid for £15 million of rural growth network funds. Tourism, farming and business can all come together, along with infrastructure, but it needs to be co-ordinated. I support their bid and would like the Government to consider it sympathetically.

[Richard Benyon]

I am aware that the local enterprise partnership has made a strong bid, but it is one of many—we are excited by the response—and I cannot say at this stage whether I prefer one over another. Nevertheless, I wish them the best of luck in the transparent process of being accepted as one of the pilot schemes.

Fisheries Council

Debate between Lord Benyon and Neil Parish

Monday 19th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon]

I am delighted that we are able to report that there were considerable increases in stocks that will benefit fishing out of the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, and that we were able to invoke the Hague preference, which is of particular importance to fishermen in the north-east. We secured increases in whiting, which is of particular interest to his constituents, and I very much hope that we will be able to continue the scientific work that we are doing with fleets based in the north-east on a land-all system so that we can learn what a discard-free fishery means, following it right through the food chain.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

I congratulate the Minister on standing up for British fisheries, and compliment him on the deal he got for cod in the western approaches. On the cod recovery plan, he should not have to defend our plan when we are stopping discards. Should we not get the Commission to endorse more of our plans, rather than having to defend them?

[Richard Benyon]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There has been some really good work in this country on reducing the number of discards, which was acknowledged by the Commission, so it was rather perverse that there was the possibility of measures being introduced that could have brought an end to precisely that good work. In his area, for example, Project 50% saw a more than 50% reduction in the number of discards in the beam trawler fleet. That would not have been possible under the proposed reduction in days that we were facing but luckily managed to reverse.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Benyon and Neil Parish

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon]

We are progressing the implementation of an ecologically coherent network of marine conservation zones, which have to be sustainable in every sense. That means that they have to be able to withstand any challenge that may be put to them, legal or otherwise, so we need to get more evidence for some of them. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that this Government remain absolutely determined to take this forward, but we need to get it right. If that means we have to take a month or two longer—or six months longer, to be perfectly accurate—that would be a better way than getting it wrong.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

This week has seen the launch of the ecosystems market taskforce. What are the practical implications of that?

Common Fisheries Policy

Debate between Lord Benyon and Neil Parish

Thursday 14th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We are grateful.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

I spent 10 years listening to warm words from the European Commission. May I urge the Minister to take as much unilateral action as possible, first, to ban discards from our 12-mile limits, at the very least, and to use that fish efficiently both to eat and to process for fish farms and, secondly, to look after sea anglers and the under-10-metre fleet? We can do much more as a nation; let us lead by example and take the rest of the European countries with us.

[Richard Benyon]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend and I recognise his experience and the cynicism born out of his many years on the other side of the channel. I assure him that I will do all that. I want to ensure that Britain continues to be at the forefront of calling for radical reform and I am concerned with outcomes, not warm words. I am sure there will be plenty of warm words, but the proof will be found in what my fellow Ministers do. Co-decision among his erstwhile colleagues in the European Parliament is now really important.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Benyon and Neil Parish

Thursday 17th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon]

I recently met stakeholders and raised the matter this week—yesterday, in fact—with Commissioner Damanaki, when I gave support to her strong call for measures to be taken against the Faroese and neighbouring states that cause so much damage to a sustainable stock. The problems that the hon. Lady’s constituents and others around our coast face are very much our priorities, and we will continue to support strong measures to deal with them.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

5. What recent discussions she has had on reductions in fishing discards; and if she will make a statement.

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

13. What recent discussions she has had on reductions in fishing discards; and if she will make a statement.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Richard Benyon)]

I was delighted to participate in a recent high-level meeting on discards with the EU Commission and other members states, which agreed with the UK that tackling discards must be a priority for common fisheries policy reform and that action must be taken now. There was a constructive and positive debate about measures needed as part of that reform. The UK is clear that these must be practical, effective and developed in co-operation with industry.

[Neil Parish]

I know that the Minister, like me, welcomes the fact that Devon fishermen have cut their discards by 50%. Can he work on the total eradication of discards by promoting the greater use of other types of fish? Fish that do not meet human consumption standards could be ground down for use as fishmeal for fish farming, because we must keep that resource.

[Richard Benyon]

I understand my hon. Friend’s point—he eloquently made it yesterday at the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. DEFRA’s “Fishing for the Market” project looks at the fact that more than 50% of discards are created because there is no market for those fish. By taking up my hon. Friend’s suggestions and by working with fishermen to support the industry to find better markets for such fish, we will further reduce discards.