Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 27th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concern, and I was delighted to hear about what happened. We are putting more resources into apprenticeships and the enterprise allowance scheme. We have made a change this week to the amount of time young people can spend on work experience without losing access to benefits and we are introducing the new Work programme. I hope that we can reduce the large number of young unemployed that we inherited from Labour and encourage them to become entrepreneurs.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend ask the Chancellor to make a statement on deficit reduction, which would give the House an opportunity to hear what progress is being made? It would also give the shadow Chancellor an opportunity to clarify his Bloomberg speech and state clearly whether he remains a deficit denier.

[Sir George Young]

It is very important that we establish whether the shadow Chancellor is on the same wavelength as his leader on deficit reduction. On that point, I was interested to see that the former Chancellor under the last regime said that the key to getting growth in the long term is first to get the deficit down. That is not exactly what the Leader of the Opposition said yesterday.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I well remember the exchange that I had with the hon. Gentleman last week, when I think I apologised for any discourtesy. I will make urgent inquiries today and ensure that he is put in the picture. I am sorry if he has not heard anything between last week and today.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend make time for a debate on the Public Accounts Committee report when it is published, particularly following the evidence given yesterday by Sir Nicholas Macpherson that under the previous Government spending across a range of Departments was out of control? That would give the House the opportunity to hear how the Government are going to fix the problem and give the Opposition an opportunity to apologise for the mess they made.

[Sir George Young]

I am sure that many hon. Members share the concern expressed by my hon. Friend. Yesterday the PAC was told:

“There was a point in the last decade when the Ministry of Defence lost control of public spending…We put Defence on special measures.”

I think that that loss of control explains why we are facing such a huge financial deficit. I welcome the publication of the PAC’s report on this important matter, and I hope that it will be possible to find time to debate it.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 13th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

The governance of Network Rail is an extraordinary constitution, and of course it is right that it should be exposed to full audit. I will raise with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport whether we have any proposals to change the governance of Network Rail that may solve the problem, or if we have not, whether we have any other proposals to make sure that its accounts are looked at properly.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend ask the Chancellor to make a statement about the number of representations that he has received calling for an increase in employers’ national insurance contributions, and incidentally, will he tell us how many have been made from people in Hull?

[Sir George Young]

As my hon. Friend knows, we took the view that the last thing the country needed at this time was an increase in national insurance employer contributions, and that was the right decision to take. As to whether the shadow Chancellor is at one with the rest of the shadow Cabinet on the subject, I do not know, but I hope that he will welcome any increase in employment in his constituency as a result of the actions that we took.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 9th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

It was a private visit. It is open to the hon. Gentleman, as it is to all hon. Members, to apply for a debate in the pre-Christmas Adjournment debate by doing so before 4 o’clock on Monday. That would be a suitable opportunity for holding a debate on war crimes.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend find time for Ministers to make a detailed statement about the announcement by the CBI lobby group that 25% of manufacturers report greater than normal exports this month, which is the best survey showing since 1995? Does not that show that the Government’s economic strategy is bearing fruit? The House should know about it.

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Manufacturing has a vital contribution to make to exports and to reducing the high unemployment that the Government inherited. The latest CBI monthly industrial trends survey suggests that manufacturers expect output growth in the sector to accelerate in the next three months, and the CBI’s output expectations index rose to plus 13 in December from plus four in November. That is encouraging, and indeed signals that the Government’s economic policies are working.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 14th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Lady raises a legitimate point about whether the loss of child benefit will have an impact on the entitlement to a state retirement pension in the wife’s own right, and that is something that we will want to consider.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Thanks to a bizarre decision by the Planning Inspectorate, next year Tamworth faces the prospect of severe traffic chaos and potentially long-term congestion thereafter. Will my right hon. Friend give an indication of when it will be the business of this House to abolish the Planning Inspectorate and devolve power to local planning decision makers? In the course of that debate, will we be able to discuss and review some of the decisions made by the inspectorate that have yet to be implemented?

[Sir George Young]

My hon. Friend will have an opportunity to address those concerns when we reach the localism Bill. We have no plans to abolish the Planning Inspectorate, which allows individuals a right of appeal against refusals by local authorities, but against that background we want to push down decisions, such as those that were previously taken by regional bodies, to a local level.

Business of the House

Christopher Pincher Excerpts

Thursday 8th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

That issue was covered yesterday to some extent. It was precisely to redress the imbalance between north and south that we set up a £1 billion regional development fund. I hope that the hon. Lady will encourage her constituents to apply for resources under that fund.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that although the development of high speed rail services is vital for our national economy, depending on which route is chosen, there will be a significant impact on many local communities, including Hints, Weeford and Drayton Bassett in my constituency? Does he agree that we should discuss in the House the best mechanism, depending on the method and route chosen, by which to maximise the use of existing infrastructure and brownfield sites to minimise the impact on green spaces?

[Sir George Young]

As a former Secretary of State for Transport with a real commitment to the railways, I agree that where it is practical so to do we should use existing track and routes rather than new ones. Where a new route is necessary, there should be the fullest consultation before that route is finally decided on.