Supermarkets: Pricing

Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Baroness Gardner of Parkes

Monday 14th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware of the problem for older people, or people in single family units? The advantageous deals are three for two, or buy two and get one for a much cheaper price. While I think that is very desirable for people who have large numbers to feed, it is definitely a disadvantage for people who want smaller quantities. Quite a lot of food must also be wasted, because people cannot use it. Will he take up with the supermarkets the possibility of providing these large super-deductions, but also providing things that can be bought in smaller helpings?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

My noble friend makes a good point, and it is one of the issues that we are discussing earnestly with the supermarkets. However I should point out that “buy one, get one free” deals represent a small proportion of supermarket promotions, the majority of which are temporary price reductions. We are also in discussions over the Waste and Resources Action Programme, which works with retailers to encourage alternative promotions for perishable goods.

Payday Loans

Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Baroness Gardner of Parkes

Wednesday 26th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I welcome the noble Lord’s mention of the summit and am delighted that this will be an opportunity for the Government and regulators to take stock of progress in delivering on actions set out on 6 March. It will provide a firm forum for discussion of what more is needed to address the outstanding concerns, and I look forward the results. The announcement was made by my honourable friend Jo Swinson.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that there is a great lack of financial understanding among a lot of ordinary people, such as me, as to exactly what rates of interest are being charged? I then read in today’s paper of the worry about the shortfall that might occur with all the young people getting mortgages. The reason is the same: if interest rates go up they will find that they are out of pocket. Does he not think that it is terribly important for us to try to see that everyone has a degree of understanding of what they are letting themselves in for? People get terrible shocks with this payday lending in particular.

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Baroness Gardner of Parkes

Monday 22nd April 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter. This is a great personal success on her part. She has been persuasive. She has managed to encourage us all by winning that important amendment, and without that we would never have got to this point where people have really looked at things and decided that something can be done.

As the noble Baroness said, this is not something that we are going to let die, or lie, because there is still so much more to be done. Another hopeful thing has been the new Minister for Housing. With experience and work in the field as a surveyor, he knows what we are talking about, and this has made a big difference, particularly when we have had various round-table meetings. People have adopted the attitude that they want to look into things further. We have been given hopes that that they will look into everything much further later in the year, and I will be pressing that in my questions. As you know, I am particularly interested in reducing the percentage of people required to have commonhold instead of leasehold, because that would solve a lot of problems, but everyone agrees that 100% is an impossible requirement.

I pay tribute to the two Ministers. My noble friend Lord Younger has done a great deal, and it is marvellous that he has allowed housing to come into this, which was such a BIS affair. I cannot speak too highly of my noble friend Lady Hanham, who knows the housing issue so well. It is due to her persuasiveness that we have managed to get things to this point and have received notice today of these amendments. As has been said, perhaps they do not deal with everything, but they go a long way and are a huge first step. That is what we need, and again I am delighted to welcome these changes.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

My Lords, I am grateful for the contributions to this short debate. We have heard a small number of contributions today on the amendment on the letting and managing agents. As we know, this is a practical measure that can be taken forward rapidly to make a real difference to the experiences of landlords, tenants, freeholders and leaseholders.

In an attempt to answer my noble friend Lord Sharkey’s question, although the timetable is unclear at the moment I am not out of step to say that we fully expect orders to be brought forward by the end of the summer. It might be earlier.

In conclusion, I commend this Motion to the House.

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Baroness Gardner of Parkes

Wednesday 16th January 2013 Grand Committee

[Lord Lucas]

My Lords, I recognise a Treasury reply when I see it. I should be most grateful if the noble Lord would justify the first sentence of his reply by writing to me with the evidence on which that statement was based—that having this amendment passed would result in higher costs for consumers and a diminution in respectable firms in the market. That is just Treasury boilerplate. I very much doubt that they have done the work to justify that but I eagerly await the Minister’s letter to show me that I am wrong. In the absence of that, I very much hope that on Report we will deliver to my noble friend his first defeat as a Minister in the House of Lords. As he knows, this will not be a defeat for his department but merely for the Treasury and therefore one in which we shall all rejoice.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

My Lords, we would all like to see that reply and I hope that it will be made readily available to everyone.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

Not only will I be very pleased indeed to reply to a letter that I might receive but I would be delighted to meet to discuss these matters fairly and fully.

National Lottery

Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Baroness Gardner of Parkes

Tuesday 18th December 2012 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I do not have the answer to the noble Lord’s question but I will certainly get back to him. However, given that the National Lottery does not bite too much into the Health Lottery, I would hazard a guess that EuroMillions does not have too much effect.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

Can the Minister tell me whether all the money from the Health Lottery really goes to health charities, and can he confirm whether my noble friend Lord Naseby is right that no money goes to the Exchequer? These days, when we are trying to see that money does go to the Exchequer, why is that?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

First, I just wish to clarify that no duty is paid to the Exchequer from the local society lotteries and the Health Lottery. To answer the first question, “Health Lottery” is an over-arching description of 51 other lotteries which focus on a range of good causes, including some health charities.

Broadband: Street Cabinets

Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Baroness Gardner of Parkes

Monday 22nd October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I can understand the noble Lord's concerns. However, the changes to the formal planning process do not mean that broadband providers have carte blanche to install street cabinets or poles wherever or whenever it suits them. They must still notify planning authorities of their siting plans and consider requests for changes to be made. In exceptional circumstances, planning authorities can remove permitted rights to develop by using an Article 4 direction. The main broadband suppliers have agreed to develop a code of practice with DCMS whereby the siting of cabinets must have regard to proximity to any existing street furniture, minimising the visual impact and of course ensuring optimum safety on the streets. Sensitivity to locals is the byword, with planning and assessment made in advance.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

For the benefit of the whole House, for those who do not know, is the broadband cabinet the equivalent of a walk-in telephone box or is it, as I understood from the supplementary question, a container for equipment? If it is a container, what size of object are we speaking about?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

To pick up the last question, the new cabinets will be 1.6 metres high and 1.2 metres wide. They will be green and will be taller and deeper than the models currently being used on the street. They are not as such designed, having perfunctory casings, but they will blend in where possible.