Equitable Life (Payments) Bill

David Davis Excerpts

Tuesday 14th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

I shall give way to my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis)—[Interruption.]

[Mr David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con)]

I take the noise from Opposition Members with a great pinch of salt, given the way in which they behaved.

My hon. Friend rightly cited the ombudsman, and in the central recommendation of her report she set the following criterion:

“The aim of such a scheme should be to put those people who have suffered a relative loss back into the position that they would have been in had the maladministration not occurred.”

Does my hon. Friend believe that he can get there—or close?

Equitable Life

David Davis Excerpts

Thursday 22nd July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. This is a very important statement, and a lot of hon. and right hon. Members wish to take part in the exchanges on it, but there is also very important business to follow, so there are pressures on time. What is now required is brevity.

[Mr David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con)]

First, I congratulate my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary on achieving so much in two months. He said that he had done more in two months than Labour did in two years, but he underestimates it. He has done more in two months than they did in 10 years.

Nevertheless, there is a great deal left to be done, as my hon. Friend himself said. Halfway through next year is still a long time to wait for many of the more elderly policyholders. Can he give the House an undertaking that he will stick to that timetable so that those policyholders receive their compensation before they die, in many cases? He said that he was still considering Sir John Chadwick’s proposals. Will he ensure that not only he but the independent commission takes representations from EMAG, and do so quickly?

[Mr Hoban]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for welcoming the statement. I am committed to the process taking place as quickly as possible. There are some challenges in the design of the scheme that we will need to think about when it comes to payments, but I am determined to ensure that payments start at the end of the first half of next year.

I want EMAG and others to take part in the debate about the scheme, and I am very happy for them to make representations to the independent commission that will help to draw up the detail of the scheme. I think we have a programme that will deliver justice in a way that is more robust, transparent and open than the process set out by the previous Government. I would also say to my right hon. Friend that we would have been in a better place if the previous Government had acted sooner to tackle the problem rather than trying to kick it into the long grass.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Davis Excerpts

Tuesday 13th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

The independence of the OBR is not in question. That was made clear by Alan Budd in his evidence to the Treasury Committee today. This is a good idea that was brought forward by this Government, and it will be established in legislation. I do not think it was even part of the former Chancellor’s secret plans before the election, alongside a rise in VAT, a cut in corporation tax and a cut in income tax. Those are measures he should be supporting in this Budget, because he came up with them in the first place.

[Mr David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con)]

T4. When the Exchequer Secretary answered the hon. Member for Edmonton (Mr Love) earlier on capital gains tax, he quite properly justified the increase in CGT on the basis of a dynamic model of both income tax and CGT. Will he publish that model and its supporting evidence?

[Mr Gauke]

If I may help my right hon. Friend, at the time of the Budget we did publish our Budget policy costings, setting out the exact details. That information is available to him, and it was, indeed, touched on in last night’s debate.