Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and James Morris

Wednesday 5th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

I have had discussions with the federation of postmasters and we are very alert indeed to the desirability of more business being available, but the federation understands that there is a need for Post Office Ltd to improve its activities and productivity. I know that that is under way.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

T5. Over the summer, I had the pleasure of hosting a visit by a group of young people as part of the National Citizen Service, organised by the Challenge Network in the black country, which was a fantastic success. Will the Minister outline his plans for the further roll-out of the NCS next year?

Civil Service Reform

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and James Morris

Tuesday 19th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. In whatever we do, we need to focus on what we are trying to achieve rather than on whether we are undergoing an agreeable process, and that needs to be done with pace.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

I welcome the statement. Does the Minister agree that one of the most important things the modern civil service needs to do is look at new ways of delivering public services, particularly given the challenges of the digital era?

[Mr Maude]

Yes. When we said we wanted those services that can be delivered online to be delivered only online, we meant it. It is not easy to do this, but it can be done, and my hon. Friend, who has considerable expertise in this area, will no doubt support the aim.

Party Funding

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and James Morris

Monday 26th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

I have no reason to suppose that they were.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

I do not detect an appetite among the public for increased public funding of political parties. Does not that make it more imperative that we should have cross-party agreement on the future funding of political parties?

[Mr Maude]

I genuinely hope we can achieve that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and James Morris

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

I certainly do not know the details of that procurement, but I am confident that it would have followed all the rules to the letter.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

2. What progress he has made on the establishment of public sector mutuals.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

9. What progress he has made on establishing public sector mutuals.

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

I announced last week that every Department will put in place “rights to provide” for public sector workers to take over the running of their services. The first wave of 12 pathfinder projects was launched in August this year. Leading organisations in the sector, including Local Partnerships, the Employee Ownership Association and Co-operatives UK, have come together to launch an information and support service for public sector workers interested in mutualisation. I hope that Members on both sides of the House will encourage and support these worker co-operatives.

[James Morris]

Many public sector organisations and employees in my constituency are interested in this idea. Will my right hon. Friend clarify whether he sees these policies applying more to local community organisations, or whether he envisages organisations on the scale of, say, NHS trusts being able to take on mutual status?

[Mr Maude]

I do not think that we should be prescriptive about how large or small, or how local or broad, these co-operatives could be. The pathfinders range enormously in size: I think that the smallest has only three potential employees or members, while the largest has 1,100, and it is possible to imagine them being even larger. I hope that groups of public sector workers from right across the sector will consider whether this could be a good route forward for them to take, and we will make it as easy as possible for them to take it.