Saddleworth and Tameside Moors

Lord Lee of Trafford Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

As I said to my other noble friend, in terms of what is deployed and when we are guided by the fire and rescue service but have also been in close contact with the fire chiefs and the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. We are guided by local knowledge and assessment, and we are providing what is requested as being needed to fight the fires.

[Lord Lee of Trafford (LD)]

My Lords, it was reported on the radio this morning that the Fire Brigades Union was appealing for baseball hats, sun cream and socks to be sent to the firemen who were working. These firemen work heroically in horrendous conditions. Surely the local councils and the Government should ensure that they have all these facilities and capabilities. It is quite ridiculous that the Fire Brigades Union has to make this sort of appeal.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

Such is the danger of Twitter that I hope I can set the record straight: we understand that the tweet that went out to the public from Manchester FRS was not a formal request. If a request was put to us, we would certainly follow it up, but no such request has formally been put to the Home Office.

Investment Banks: Client Protection

Lord Lee of Trafford Excerpts

Wednesday 13th June 2018 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the current Beaufort Securities situation, what steps they are contemplating to ensure that client assets are protected and ring-fenced from administrators of failed stockbroking or fund managements firms operating under rule 135 of the Investment Bank Special Administration (England and Wales) Rules 2011 (SI 2011/1301).

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Lord Bates) (Con)]

My Lords, the special administration regime is designed to accelerate the administration of failed investment firms, reduce costs and increase recoveries. The administrators’ plans for returning client assets and allocating expenses must be approved by the creditors’ committee and the court.

[Lord Lee of Trafford (LD)]

I hear what the Minister says but I ask him to look again at this situation. I do not think that he quite appreciates the seriousness of it. Unless this loophole is closed, the clients of small and medium-sized broking firms—very well-run broking firms—will leave those firms and go to larger ones. That is already happening, so will the Minister please look at this matter again?

[Lord Bates]

I recognise that the noble Lord has a long tradition of standing up for small shareholders in the field of investing. Small shareholders, like small businesses, are the backbone of our capital markets and we have to restore confidence among them. This issue of the fees was looked at. The noble Lord will know that last week the creditors’ committee, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and PwC acting as the administrator met and reached an agreement which will mean that 94% of the fees will be covered by the FSCS. Out of 17,000 retail investments that the noble Lord and I are very concerned about, only 10 will suffer a loss under the current programme. We looked at this matter again with the Peter Bloxham review in 2012 and 2013, and we always keep all matters in this complex situation under review.

Brexit: UK Passports

Lord Lee of Trafford Excerpts

Thursday 29th March 2018 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what date they intend to introduce new United Kingdom passports; and what will be the status of existing passports after 29 March 2019.

[The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of Trafford) (Con)]

My Lords, when the UK leaves the EU, the current burgundy design will be issued without reference to the European Union, and a new “Brit blue” passport will be introduced from late 2019. Existing UK passports conform to all requirements for international travel documents. There is no reason for a country to refuse to accept UK passports, nor indeed is it in their interests to make it harder for British travellers to enter their country.

[Lord Lee of Trafford (LD)]

I thank my fellow Traffordian for that Answer. Exchanging a passport granting access to 28 countries for one allowing access to only one, and paying £500 million for the privilege, must go down as one of the worst deals in history. Could we not be allowed to choose the colour of our own new passports? If we were, I would chose black, as Brexit is a black day for this country and a black day for future generations.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

Well, from young Trafford to Old Trafford—

Overseas Aid and Defence Expenditure

Lord Lee of Trafford Excerpts

Monday 13th November 2017 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the ratio of overseas aid expenditure to defence expenditure in the current financial year.

[Lord Lee of Trafford (LD)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and declare an interest in shareholdings as set out in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Lord Bates) (Con)]

My Lords, according to the latest available data, the ratio of defence expenditure to overseas aid expenditure in 2016 was more than 3:1. The UK Government spent £42.2 billion on defence and £13.3 billion on overseas aid in 2016. Both defence and overseas aid budgets are published on a calendar-year basis, in line with international standards.

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

My Lords, is the continuing hollowing out of our Armed Forces not a betrayal of all those veterans who proudly marched and paraded over the weekend? The defence budget is under huge pressure, our Army is below strength, we would be hard pushed to deliver 12 escort vessels and there is speculation over cuts to our amphibious capability, to our Royal Marines and to our minesweepers, to say nothing about finding money for the Joint Strike Fighter for our new carriers. While many of our aid programmes are vital and commendable, is it not time to revisit the 0.7% commitment? Is not the current ratio of overseas aid expenditure to defence expenditure now just unsustainable? Does development aid really need its own department?

[Lord Bates]

Perhaps I may answer the second part of that question. If we look just at the past year, overseas aid has provided humanitarian assistance to 17 million people. Some 28.7 million people have received immunisations, saving 475,000 lives, while 7.1 million children have been provided with education and 27.2 million have been provided with access to clean water. So the answer to the second part of the noble Lord’s question is yes, it is needed, and the Department for International Development is doing good work.

On defence, I do not accept the noble Lord’s premise that the Armed Forces have been hollowed out. The defence budget is increasing in real terms year on year by 0.5% over the current spending review period. In terms of aircraft—I see that the noble Lord may wish to come in on this at some point—there is our shipbuilding strategy, the details of which I will perhaps elaborate on later.

Queen’s Speech

Lord Lee of Trafford Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

My Lords, nobody disputes that many of the defence procurement overruns in cost and time terms have been a national embarrassment and that substantial improvements and changes are imperative. However, whether a GOCO, a government-owned and private sector-operated solution, is the answer, is highly questionable.

I have nothing against GOCOs in principle. Indeed, when I was a Defence Minister in the 1980s, I was heavily involved in the Bill to contractualise the dockyards, taking it through the Commons. But that was for a specific operation; what we are now talking about is a whole new order of magnitude—£14 billion of procurement with, currently, 16,000 civil servants. What the Government are effectively saying is that we cannot put our own house in order; it is just too big a job for us. That is a very substantial admission of failure.

No other country outsources its defence procurement through a GOCO route. Can you imagine a large plc such as Shell or Tesco or even BAE Systems putting out their purchasing to a third party? Of course, defence procurement is complex, and technological changes are rapid, but with the right systems, disciplines and quality of management, it surely could be substantially improved in-house. Indeed, the MoD is clearly still unsure about the GOCO option itself. We are now apparently in what is called the final assessment phase, scheduled to last 12 months, comparing the public sector option, DE&S plus, with the GOCO alternative. Could my noble friend tell us what the plus is, in DE&S plus? What is the change here from the current situation?

According to a recent article in the Financial Times, the US-based contractor, Jacobs Engineering, has been appointed by the MoD’s delivery partner to help to develop the business model for the handover. How was Jacobs selected, and at what cost? Indeed, how many MoD personnel are spending the majority of their time on the GOCO option?

A GOCO option would add a fourth player into this already complex arena. First, we have the customer, our Armed Forces. Secondly, we have a body, let us call it MoD Purchase, which will presumably place the order with the GOCO and, ultimately, check the procurement on completion. Thirdly, there is the GOCO itself, and, fourthly, the defence contractor with which the contract is placed. That is four bodies rather than the current three.

I turn to the GOCO itself. I have a number of questions for my noble friend and I fully understand if he is not able to answer them tonight and has to write to me. How will the GOCO operator be selected? Will overseas countries, particularly American-controlled companies, be considered? Will companies that are already involved with the MoD be considered, and will companies that already work or provide services for defence contractors be eligible? In today’s Financial Times, the chief executive of Babcock has ruled that company out. Perhaps our old friends, G4S, are champing at the bit.

What will the basis of the financial arrangements be between MoD and the GOCO? Will the GOCO receive a block of money and a list of spending requirements and be told to get on with it, or will the arrangement be fee-based, perhaps with an incentive? How many of the 16,000 MoD personnel will the GOCO be required to take on? What about those left? Will the GOCO be free in future to hire and fire as it sees fit? How long will the contract between the MoD and the GOCO operate, and in what circumstances can the operator be terminated? What restrictions will be placed on the GOCO’s freedom to operate—specifically, as between buying off the shelf and sustaining our national strategic capabilities?

How will collaborative programmes with our allies, joint procurement, be handled in the GOCO world? What cognisance will the GOCO take of regional employment issues and the need to encourage SMEs rather than support our major national contractors? What are the attitudes of our allies to our going down the GOCO route? An article in the Financial Times on 7 May headed “MoD outsourcing plan stokes US anxiety” refers to the United States’ concern that shared information between the two forces could be at risk. We are told that the UK and US have agreed to,

“establish a joint, bilateral, inter-agency team to explore”,

the new situation. Could my noble friend confirm this? Is it currently at work?

With regard to single-source contracts, where there is no competition for whatever reason, what would the interface be between the new Single Source Regulations Office to be implemented in 2014-15 and the GOCO? Will the GOCO’s remuneration be varied, dependent on whether a particular contract is single source or competed for? As I understand it, to facilitate the original shipbuilding merger between BAE and Vospers, a programme of future naval work was guaranteed. How long does that run on for, and how will it work if the GOCO is established? How will cancellations of major programmes be dealt with between MoD and the GOCO, such as the Nimrod disaster or the carrier aircraft fiasco—initially STOVL, then cats and traps, then back to STOVL? To put it bluntly, who pays? Who picks up the pieces?

On the delicate area of the revolving door, with MoD personnel and members of the Armed Forces being recruited by defence contractors it is already difficult enough to police. What is the future position going to be in the new GOCO world? Will any restrictions be insisted on?

We now come to the very important area of national emergencies and urgent operational requirements. Our defence contractors have a very proud record of responding to our nation’s needs, as we saw in the Falklands, Afghanistan and, more recently, in Libya, with financial considerations being put to one side to be sorted later. Will our Armed Forces and the MoD be free to go direct to defence contractors in such circumstances, or will they have to go through the laborious route of the GOCO?

Finally, given the inevitability of disputes between the MoD and the GOCO, with changes of specification, extras, variations in quantities and so on, will it not be necessary to establish some form of independent arbitration—perhaps an Office of Defence Procurement Arbitration—to handle disputed issues?

Outsourcing MoD activities has provided very lucrative revenue streams for the private sector. A GOCO is a major opportunity for the private sector but, I would suggest, a huge risk for the taxpayer and our Armed Forces. Many questions need to be answered. My noble friend Lord Levene, who was Chief of Defence Procurement and, of course, drove the defence reform agenda, has considerable misgivings—I spoke to him yesterday—and so do I.