Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation Bid for BSkyB

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Wednesday 13th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Edward Miliband]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about this, because those people are key figures in the newspaper industry, and indeed the whole media industry in Britain, and they should not be above the Select Committee. It is absolutely right—I am sure that this view will be shared in all parts of this House—for them to come before the Select Committee.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

rose—

[Edward Miliband]

I am going to make progress, but I will give way to the hon. Gentleman.

[Christopher Pincher]

Was the right hon. Gentleman saying those things to Rupert Murdoch when he was eating his canapés three weeks ago?

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

Let me say to the hon. Gentleman, who is new to this House, that this is an opportunity for the House of Commons to speak with one voice on these issues. That is what we should do today.

I was about to say that the issues we are discussing are about the integrity of people working at News International. The Chair of this House’s Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport says that he was misled, the head of the Press Complaints Commission says that she was lied to by News International, James Murdoch has admitted serious wrongdoing in the company, and there are now, of course, allegations that News International knew that phone hacking was widespread as long ago as 2007.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 7th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I think the hon. Gentleman is somewhat unfair. My right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General was intervening in a debate and speaking about his own responsibilities. He generously took questions that related to another Minister’s responsibilities and, in answering them, he sensibly took advice. As the Prime Minister has said, Ministers in this Government talk to each other.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

One of the most difficult educational problems we face in Tamworth is that not enough young people aspire to go to university. May we have a debate on the pupil premium and how over time it can drive up aspiration among our most disadvantaged young people and encourage more of them to go to university?

[Sir George Young]

There will be Education questions on Monday, but my hon. Friend is right, and I hope that the pupil premium will enable more pupils from low-income families to aspire to university. The figures at the moment are deeply depressing, and I hope that as the pupil premium feeds through the education system, more children who would not otherwise have considered a university education will find it accessible to them.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 30th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

In taking the difficult decisions that we had to take to get the deficit under control, we have sought to protect vulnerable members of the community—people who suffer from disabilities, the elderly and the sick; we protected the NHS budget—and in our reforms to welfare, we are also seeking to protect people such as Frankie. Inevitably, some reductions in public expenditure have had to be made and it would help if the hon. Lady’s party would at some point indicate how it would have responded to the fiscal challenge that we inherited.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

From today, victims of the Equitable Life scandal—in Tamworth and around the country—begin to receive justice as the compensation scheme begins to pay out. Following years of vacillation from previous Governments, may we have a statement or a debate to mark that milestone?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is right. In 13 months we have done more for Equitable Life pensioners than the previous Administration did in 13 years. It is indeed the case that, as we said, the first payments would be made in the first half of this year. Those first payments are now going out, so we have honoured the commitment we made to providing a transparent and fair system of compensating those who lost money in Equitable Life.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 9th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I gently remind the House that questions to the Leader of the House at business questions should specifically seek either a debate or a statement?

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on NHS funding? Constituents of mine have highlighted to me the importance of mental health services provision, so a debate on the £3 billion of further investment that this Government are putting into the NHS this year would be timely and welcome.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. There will be time for a debate on the NHS when the Health and Social Care Bill returns to the Floor of the House. He reminds the House that an extra £3 billion is being invested in the NHS this year—an investment that Labour would have denied it.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 19th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

We have just had Energy and Climate Change questions; I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman had an opportunity to ask that question then. I will certainly undertake to ensure that any submission is made in good time, and I will pass on his concerns to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the role of the private sector in job creation—an issue that goes to the heart of the Government’s strategy for sustainable growth? Given that the Office for National Statistics has announced 77,000 more jobs in the private sector, it seems a timely moment to discuss the progress being made to rebalance the economy.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend raises an important issue. Private sector employment increased by 449,000 between December 2009-10, and public sector employment fell by 132,000, so that rebalancing is beginning to take shape. If my hon. Friend looks at the Office for Budget Responsibility report, he will see that it forecasts an increase of 900,000 jobs over the next four years, with 1.4 million in the private sector, which more than counterbalances the fall in employment in the public sector. Rebalancing is on its way.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 12th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am very much in favour of young people standing for local government. The Deputy Leader of the House tells me that a 19-year-old in his constituency was recently successful, as was a 21-year-old in my own constituency. The more young people who stand for local authorities and, indeed, for this place, the better.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

For nearly four years, I worked with the NHS and saw at close quarters the huge bureaucracy in the connecting for health programme, in the national programme for information technology, in strategic health authorities and in primary care trusts. May we have a debate on the progress that has been made to reduce Labour’s bureaucratic legacy and to increase the numbers of clinicians, which is what our constituents really want?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend reminds me that the number of doctors has increased by 2,478—[Interruption.] They may have been trained, but they had to be paid for by somebody. At the same time, more than 3,500 full-time equivalent managers have been cut. That is in stark contrast with what happened under Labour, when the number of managers increased six times as fast as the number of nurses.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 28th April 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am not sure whether the hon. Lady was present during Culture, Media and Sport questions, but it strikes me that that would have been an appropriate question to have put during that session. I will pass her suggestions on to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport and see whether there is any role for him, the local authority, the Arts Council or some other funding body to play.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Can we have a debate about local government finance? My local councils, including Staffordshire county council, have succeeded in freezing the council tax while protecting front-line services, yet people throughout the country are rightly concerned about those councils—and we know which party runs them—that are cutting public services while sitting on a huge cash reserve.

[Sir George Young]

I agree that the purpose of reserves that local authorities hold is to see them through difficult and challenging times such as these. I have noticed that authorities such as Manchester and Liverpool have been cutting services while sitting on very substantial reserves, but I commend the performance of my hon. Friend’s local authority.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 31st March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

As I said in response to the shadow Leader of the House, we will keep under review the need to recall the House. We have kept the House in the picture on Libya, with regular statements and debates in Government time, and there will be another opportunity on Tuesday to address the situation there. I believe that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development, who will open that debate, will update the House on the position, and if the hon. Gentleman is here on Tuesday, he may have an opportunity to speak in the debate and to develop the point that he has just made.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

A number of small to medium-sized enterprises in my constituency, Alcon, Forensic Pathways and Aspire to name just three, have raised concerns about the excessive bureaucracy that they have faced in the past, so will my right hon. Friend arrange for a debate about the reduction of bureaucracy for SMEs, so that we can learn more about what the Government propose to do to help such businesses to do more business?

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who will know that the issue was covered to some extent in our debate about the Budget. We want SMEs to be the drivers of growth in this country, and there was a deregulation package in the Budget. We have extended the small business rate relief holiday, increased the SME rate for research and development tax credits and created enterprise zones, so I think that the Government are doing a lot to encourage SMEs to grow and develop.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 24th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Hon. Members]

Hear, hear.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker; I know my place.

Many of my constituents have raised concerns about clinical services in local hospitals, notably Good Hope hospital. May we have a debate on NHS staffing levels, so that we may learn about the progress being made in increasing the number of doctors and nurses and reducing the number of bureaucrats so beloved of the last Government?

[Sir George Young]

Since we took office, the number of managers has fallen by some 3,000, I think, and the number of doctors has increased by some 2,000, so help is on the way.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am anxious that my hon. Friend should not lose any sleep over this issue. I do not want to give an off-the-cuff answer to his question—I should prefer to reflect on it—but I will say that it is for the Prime Minister to decide what should happen if he could no longer perform his duties.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Given this week’s welcome news that £1.5 million is to be made available to introduce ex-military personnel to the teaching profession, will my right hon. Friend arrange a debate on that innovative proposal so that we can discuss the ways in which it will enhance teaching and discipline in our schools?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the £1.5 million that has been donated to SkillForce to encourage those who are leaving the armed forces to take up a career in education and bring the necessary skills of leadership and discipline to schools. I should welcome such a debate. I cannot arrange one in Government time, but either the Backbench Business Committee or Westminster Hall might provide an opportunity. The troops to teachers programme is designed to bring the skills of service leavers quickly to our schools, and I think that many would benefit from those skills.