Government Efficiency and Reform

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Andrew Bridgen

Monday 23rd March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

I agree with every part of what the right hon. Gentleman says except the last part, but I am grateful for what he says and the work he has done on this issue. He is a very experienced former Minister himself and he has seen very vividly how we can do these things better. We have made a start but there is much, much more to be done.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

As my right hon. Friend has stated, public sector productivity flatlined between 1997 and 2010, but what assessment has he made of improvements in civil service productivity since 2010?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Andrew Bridgen

Wednesday 6th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

T9. What monitoring arrangements for taxpayer-funded trade union representatives did my right hon. Friend discover after the general election, and what is his policy on this matter?

[Mr Maude]

Rather surprisingly, we found no arrangements whatever in place for monitoring the cost to the taxpayer of paid time off for trade union representatives. It had been allowed to spiral completely out of control under the previous Government and we are at long last bringing it under control.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Andrew Bridgen

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

6. What progress he has made on his plans to place civil service pensions on a sustainable footing.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)]

We are committed to ensuring that the reform of public sector pensions means that public servants will continue to receive pensions that are among the very best available. These now provide a fair deal for public service workers while being an affordable deal for the taxpayer and a good deal for the country that is sustainable in the long term. We have spent months negotiating a new scheme that was put to the civil service unions some months ago. I am pleased that four unions have now accepted the proposals.

[Andrew Bridgen]

I am sure that the 85% of the work force in my constituency who work in the private sector will welcome that response given that their pensions are, on average, far less generous than those available in the public sector, which they are also expected to fund. Will my right hon. Friend give the House an estimate of the sum that the taxpayer would be expected to pay for public sector pensions over the next 25 years if these reforms did not take place?

[Mr Maude]

It is perfectly clear that the reforms that we put in place across the public sector will save the taxpayer tens of billions of pounds over coming decades. The Office for Budget Responsibility will make a more precise calculation in its next long-term outlook.

Party Funding

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Andrew Bridgen

Monday 26th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

I imagine he knew no more than everybody else who bought a daily newspaper.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that we need much greater transparency in the way political donations are solicited, including the £1 million in cash that Labour solicited from Andrew Rosenfeld, a former tax exile and a man whose firm left Allders pensioners high and dry?

[Mr Maude]

I think transparency is very important. As I have said, Mr Rosenfeld is someone I knew when I was chairman of the Conservative party. We turned his money down.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Andrew Bridgen

Wednesday 21st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

Not only will we, but we have. We have more than halved—I stress, more than halved—the cost of consultancy to the taxpayer. Under the previous Government, such money was spent incontinently, and the result was bad value for money and the serious undermining of the self-esteem of professional civil servants, who like being asked to do difficult things and are very good at doing them.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that every Government need the best possible policy advice available, and that sometimes it comes from within the civil service, and sometimes from without?

[Mr Maude]

As the new Cabinet Secretary said the other day, the civil service has in the past had a monopoly on policy advice, and he and others feel that it is something worth questioning. I am sorry that it is only the Opposition who seem to have closed minds on the issue.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Andrew Bridgen

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

That is why we are engaging in discussions with the TUC at its behest. The discussions continue, and there is much still to be sorted out. I remind the hon. Gentleman that Lord Hutton, Labour’s Work and Pensions Secretary, recommended the reforms to make public sector pension schemes sustainable and affordable for the future. That is what we are determined to achieve. Any union or public servant contemplating strike action is jumping the gun. There is a long way to go yet.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

3. What steps he is taking to encourage increased levels of giving.