Financial Guidance and Claims Bill [Lords]

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Esther McVey

2nd reading: House of Commons
Monday 22nd January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ms McVey]

When people call seeking advice and support, they may be doing so for themselves or for the household—for example, they may need respite for all the family—and if so, they will invariably be looking for help not just for themselves, but for their family in its entirety.

[Mr Edward Vaizey (Wantage) (Con)]

May I welcome my right hon. Friend to her new position? As the former Minister with responsibility for telecoms, I was involved in trying to stamp down on cold calling. It may not be necessary to ban cold calling entirely, but I certainly welcome the fact that the Bill has been amended to take account of the knock-on effects of claims management companies on cold calling. I hope that the Secretary of State will comment on the need to make it explicit that the new regulator must consult Ofcom on some of these issues. Ofcom is the body charged with cracking down on cold calling. We often forget that when we introduce measures that are consumer-friendly—rightly, to allow people to have redress—that can, unfortunately, inspire some of the less scrupulous to up their game in terms of cold calling.

[Ms McVey]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his intervention. No one knows more about this subject than him, and I am glad he has put that on the record. These are all things that we need to consult on to make sure that we get the new regulation right.

BBC Local Radio

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Esther McVey

Wednesday 26th October 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Vaizey]

I thank my hon. Friend for that contribution. I asked him earlier whether he was sitting behind me because he was acting as my de facto Parliamentary Private Secretary, but he replied that it was because it was the only seat left in the Chamber. He is right that the BBC’s commercial income needs to be reinvested in programming. BBC Worldwide is a great success. It ran into trouble in this place because of some of its decisions, but it is run by a supremely effective executive, John Smith. I gather that an additional £40 million from BBC Worldwide will be going into programming.

[Esther McVey]

I want to make a clear and specific point: let us save the local radio stations and make savings on BBC 3 and BBC 4.

[Mr Vaizey]

We will all have views on where we can make savings. I was intrigued to see that “Newsnight” alone, which has about 250,000 viewers, has a budget of £8 million.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Esther McVey

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for that question. In the spirit in which he asked it, I pay tribute to the work of the previous Government in establishing the music standards fund and taking music education so seriously. The Henley review has enabled the close co-operation between the Department for Education and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to continue.

[Esther McVey (Wirral West) (Con)]

The Liverpool city region is a cultural hub, and that was cemented when it won the capital of culture. It is imperative that the area has a local television station. Will the Secretary of State work with the city region to ensure that a bid is taken up in this area?