Airbus

Debate between Lord Skelmersdale and Lord Henley

Tuesday 26th June 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, as the noble Lord would expect, I reject virtually all of what he had to say. I agree that it is important that we make it clear to business that we listen to its voices and concerns.

[Lord Skelmersdale (Con)]

My Lords, noble Lords and business are demanding clarity, as my noble friend well knows. Will he accept that there will be no clarity until there is a positive interaction with the European Council and other European authorities?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, my noble friend is right to point out that we are in the middle of negotiations with the Commission, and it is important that we get those right. Obviously, there will not be clarity until negotiations are completed.

High Street Retailers

Debate between Lord Skelmersdale and Lord Henley

Wednesday 25th April 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

I will leave that to my right honourable friend and he will respond as is appropriate. The point I want to stress—as I did in my original Answer and in the one I just gave—is that this is a changing environment. The noble Lord no doubt buys things online. There is an increase in people buying things online; that is quite simply what is happening. I cited the figures: 4.5% of retail was online 10 years ago and the figure is now 17%. That trend will continue. The retail sector must look at ways of adapting. Having said that, the noble Lord should not think that all online trade is necessarily going to Amazon and other warehouses; a lot of online business is conducted by the shops themselves. It is a varied picture, but it is up to the sector itself to adapt to those changes.

[Lord Skelmersdale (Con)]

My Lords—

Whistleblowers

Debate between Lord Skelmersdale and Lord Henley

Monday 27th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I would be more than happy to look at that matter. Of course, as I made clear, the FCA is conducting a further review, but there are the protections within the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended—as the noble Lord will be aware—by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. Whether under those two pieces of legislation gagging orders would be prohibited or would in fact apply needs looking at.

[Lord Skelmersdale (Con)]

My Lords, I urge my noble friend to have some caution in this area. It is one thing to concentrate on whistleblowers as result of activities at work, but we have seen recent cases—not least in that of a former Prime Minister—where a whistleblower has cost the police vast of amounts of money to no effect whatever, as far as I can see.

[Lord Henley]

My noble friend makes an interesting point which goes slightly beyond the Question, but we should bear it in mind. We are looking here at the protections offered by the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

Personal Independence Payment Regulations

Debate between Lord Skelmersdale and Lord Henley

Wednesday 15th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, there would be considerable financial implications in allowing the decision of the Upper Tribunal to stand. It would not be right or proper for the department to do that. For that reason, we brought forward the new regulations and they come into effect tomorrow. We then referred those to SSAC and we have received its comments on them. My honourable friend the Minister for Disabled People responded to SSAC and no doubt SSAC will want to make that letter available in due course. We believe that we have achieved parity with the new regulations—but, as I said, we are more than happy to continue consultations in the usual manner.

[Lord Skelmersdale (Con)]

My Lords, the objective of PIP has always been to subsidise people who are disabled, whether mentally or physically, for the extra costs of living. Surely the answer to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, is that if those conditions have not changed, there is no earthly reason why the individual should not continue to get their PIP.

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, individuals will continue to get their personal independence payment and will continue to be able to apply for it in the usual way. It is just that we have new regulations that bring clarity, as I am sure my noble friend will be aware, to the lack of clarity that the Upper Tribunal complained of.

Oak Processionary Moth

Debate between Lord Skelmersdale and Lord Henley

Wednesday 27th April 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, the first point to make is that we do not know that this disease has come from overseas; we do not know where it has come from. Secondly, my advice is that it affects oaks, but I will write to the noble Lord if it affects other trees as well. Thirdly, there is no question of budgetary constraints affecting the fight against this particular menace. I have spoken to the Forestry Commission today and it was perfectly happy to assure me that they had all the resources it needed to fight the problems of the processionary moth. The simple problem is that there are an awful lot of them in a confined area and there are an awful lot of oaks around, and finding all the eggs, larvae and so on is very difficult indeed. Money is not in question.

[Lord Skelmersdale]

My Lords, my noble friend in his last supplementary answer said that the Government do not know where this moth originated from. Does he know whether the moth affects oaks in other countries more seriously than it does here?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, there are bad outbreaks in other countries. My noble friend Lady Kramer referred to the problems in the Netherlands. As I said, we cannot be certain as to how it got into the country. It is as likely as not that it came in from imports via the plant trade, but we simply do not know. We will do what we can to continue the fight, but, as I said, it will be one of containment rather than eradication.

Japanese Knotweed

Debate between Lord Skelmersdale and Lord Henley

Thursday 24th June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is quite right to say that it is a good news story. That is why I was trying to offer some praise to the party opposite for the work done, particularly by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath. We will continue our research on the fungus that the noble Baroness mentioned and, in due course, I hope that I will be able to tell her how that is getting on. I have nothing further to add to what I have said today, but we will continue with both avenues as appropriate.

[Lord Skelmersdale]

My Lords, would it not be quite a good thing if this bug, the name of which I cannot pronounce either, were to mutate and attack the oilseed rape seedlings that are desecrating our waterways and creating quite a large eyesore around the country?