Barnett Formula

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2014 Westminster Hall

[Iain Stewart]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. There is a lot of darkness and cloud about these matters, and if we are to have a sensible debate about the fiscal balance between the component parts of the UK, we need that greater clarity.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

I think that Lancashire needs a say. In the debate that is coming on English votes and so on, does my hon. Friend agree that we need to be honest with the English people? There is a cost to being the biggest part of the Union and there is a cost to the Union. Whether we agree about Barnett or not, England will have to pay more than the rest of the component parts of the United Kingdom.

[Iain Stewart]

My hon. Friend as ever makes a good point. At the conclusion of my speech I will say a little more on that.

Autumn Statement

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I acknowledged in my statement that tax receipts are £24 billion below what we forecast for 2017-18, but I pointed out that people have focused only on the tax side, not the spending side of the equation: lower unemployment and lower inflation have an impact on welfare payments and debt interest payments—we are paying £18 billion less in debt interest than was forecast—which is of course why we have not seen the big deterioration in the public finances that he and others predicted.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

If we are to have a shale gas industry, I welcome the idea of a sovereign wealth fund. Does the Chancellor agree that northern money for northern investment could be a real game changer? When he sets up the fund, will he take into account the fact that it looks as though the majority of the gas will come from Lancashire, not Yorkshire? [Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Thursday 3rd July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I know that the hon. Lady is as excited as I am that Hull is the city of culture for 2017. It won against strong competition and has done extremely well. She is right to point out the recent announcement of additional funding from the Arts Council. It also announced that Hull will become a major partner museum, which is a significant step forward. The Hull initiative for 2017 and beyond will boost the local economy and jobs, which I am sure she will welcome. I am happy to look into what more can be done to help.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

T2. Given BT’s virtual monopoly in contracts for superfast broadband and the problems with that company that have been raised by hon. Members today and previously, is it not about time that the Government held an inquiry into its performance, or would that be better done by the competition authorities?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

The National Audit Office conducted an inquiry. I am confident that BT is doing its job incredibly effectively. We are passing a total of 20,000 premises a week with broadband, and that figure will soon be up to 40,000 a week. More than £60 million has been allocated to Lancashire and more than 130,000 homes there will get superfast broadband as a result.

--- Later in debate ---

[Nicky Morgan]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on coining the new word “Gloucesterpreneurs”, and I hope that he will campaign vigorously under that slogan over the next few months. I am happy to join him in congratulating Gloucestershire Media on its Women in Business awards. Through the work of the Minister for Cities—my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark)—and the Deputy Prime Minister, the Government are focusing on regional growth, city deals and the power of local enterprise partnerships, and on encouraging growth outside London. That is why I am particularly pleased to hear about the new female entrepreneurs in Gloucester who have set up businesses during the past few years.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

5. What recent steps the Government have taken to encourage access for, and participation by, under-represented groups in (a) grass-roots and (b) professional sports.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women and Equalities (Mrs Helen Grant)]

Sport England and UK Sport are committed to achieving equality in grass-roots and elite sport. They invest in a range of expert bodies to work with sport to remove barriers to participation among under-represented groups.

[Eric Ollerenshaw]

Does my hon. Friend agree that we might achieve even more success in international sporting competitions if our sporting authorities had deeper contacts among ethnic minorities, and were able to use their expertise in what we might consider to be minority sports, but what in their countries of origin are majority sports?

[Mrs Grant]

My hon. Friend has made an interesting point. UK Sport and national governing bodies capitalise on a wealth of diverse global expertise in order to get athletes on to the podium. Sport England also invests in organisations such as Sporting Equals to promote physical activity and diversity in all sport.

Oral Answers to Questions

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has been acting on zero-hours contracts; it is a subject that is currently under review in his Department. I have made a strong assessment of the connection between sustainable economic growth of the kind that this Government are delivering and the availability of jobs in the private sector, 1.4 million of which have been created since 2010.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

T7. Given that the autumn statement contained further encouragement for companies to get involved in shale gas production through lower taxes, is there any chance of the Government giving further encouragement to local communities to accept the shale gas industry by offering somewhat more than the 1% that is now on the table?

[Danny Alexander]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. The shale gas industry has the potential to bring jobs and growth to communities across the country. In addition, the industry will give £100,000 to communities in which fracking is taking place, as well as 1% of all production revenues. However, we will of course listen to any suggestions from my hon. Friend about how that regime could be improved.

Mix 96 (Digital Radio Switchover)

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Thursday 28th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Gillan]

I was pleased that, early this year, the Minister provided certainty to some small stations by listing those that would be permitted to stay on FM. That removes any requirement for those stations to pay to broadcast on FM and DAB, but a cost-effective digital solution for small stations still needs to be identified. Otherwise, the stations hon. Members have mentioned could face extinction, because advertisers might, at some point, believe that it is not worth paying to reach those who continue to listen to FM stations.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing the debate. Given the size of my constituency, I have two local radio stations to plug: The Bay covers Morecambe bay and Radio Wave in Fleetwood covers the Fylde coast. What happened to the Conservative principle of gradualism? Why this sudden move when, as I understand it, only 15% of radios are digital and the market has gone down recently?

[Mrs Gillan]

We can always prove everything with statistics, but that statistic—that the rate of purchase of digital radios has decreased—was certainly put to me and there is no doubt about that. At the same time, I want to acknowledge how advanced the good companies are that provide digital technology services: I think that there are British components in 45% of digital broadcasting devices around the world. However, the hon. Gentleman is right.

Even while FM remains commercially viable, there is a worrying lack of certainty from Ofcom on how long those stations’ analogue licences would last. It is widely expected that the Minister will soon confirm—I have no idea whether he will—the switchover to digital radio, but he needs to address seriously the concerns of our local stations. Although they will not be required to upgrade from FM to DAB, they need a cost-effective option to do so when the time is right for them.

A private company, with the blessing of Ofcom, ran a recent trial on a proposed DAB solution for small stations, but that did not provide a proven solution for local broadcasters such as Mix 96. I hope, therefore, that the Minister is not going to rely on that example to bolster his case. Perhaps he could encourage Ofcom to fund further trials as soon as possible, as I understand that there are frequency, software, regulatory and signal delivery issues that make the solution from that trial a poor and inadequate replacement.

The Minister should ask Ofcom to provide small stations with greater certainty regarding the duration of their FM licences. If the Minister can assuage the concerns of small stations such as Mix 96 and say that there will be a cost-effective place for them in radio’s digital future, he can provide the certainty on digital radio switchover that the industry as a whole is looking for. It is important that the transition to digital is, as my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) said, consumer-led and carefully managed. If it is mishandled by his Department, he will incur the anger of consumers who will suddenly find that they will have to find hundreds of pounds to upgrade their car radios and household sets simply to listen to the radio.

Two out of three radios purchased in the UK today are not DAB and less than 10% of vehicles have a DAB radio. As 21% of radio listening happens in cars, and, as it stands, DAB is not available even on smartphones or mobile phones in the UK, a lot of people would be affected by the plans as presently proposed. As it is, I understand that the Minister receives more complaints about DAB radio than anything else, while the existing FM radio transmission system achieves 99% UK population coverage and is both robust and cost effective. I understand that there is no proposed alternative use for the FM radio spectrum. There is, therefore, no digital dividend to be gained by the Government. I hope the Minister will address that point.

I want to make it clear that this is not about cancelling the digital programme for radio; it is about finding a solution that protects and accommodates our small local radio stations. Many more points could be made, but I hope that the Minister now has the flavour of a widespread problem and will respond with positive news for Splash FM, Minster FM, KLFM, Sun FM, Pirate FM, High Peak Radio, MKFM, The Bay, Radio Wave—I hope I have not missed anybody’s radio station—and our very own Mix 96 and all their loyal listeners, our constituents and all my colleagues who have come here today to represent similar views from around the country. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say.

Oral Answers to Questions

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Tuesday 10th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

On planet earth, we inherited an economic mess, and we are putting it right. As I say, if Labour Members are serious about advocating an alternative economic plan, perhaps they would tell us today—perhaps someone will stand up and tell us—whether they oppose our spending cuts and would reverse them. We have not heard that today.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

T9. Will my right hon. Friend continue his support for specific major infrastructure projects such as superfast broadband, rail electrification and High Speed 2, which should begin to address the divide between north and south that grew so much wider under the previous Government?

[Mr Osborne]

I strongly agree with what my fellow north-west MP has said. I think that investment in infrastructure is important, whether it is investment in superfast broadband for rural areas in Lancashire, investment in the northern rail hub—which, although it was campaigned for by parties on all sides in the north of England for years under the last Government, did not happen then, but is happening under this Government —or, indeed, investment in High Speed 2, which will help to change the economic geography of the country, and will ensure that all parts of it benefit from the economic recovery. I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend: those things need to go ahead.

amendment of the law

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Monday 25th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

I am grateful to follow the hon. Member for Coventry North West (Mr Robinson). I think it was the late Harold Macmillan who talked about economists telling people this and that, and about statistics. However, there are some realities in this Budget, which other Members have referred to, and I will also do so in terms of the impact on my constituency.

Let me begin with the general point about the £10,000 income tax threshold for next year. That is reality; that is not statistical. It means that next year, 4,000 individuals in my constituency will not be paying tax. More important for hon. Members to understand is the fact that the average total family income across Lancashire is approximately £26,600, and next year those people will pay no tax on their first £10,000 of income. To me, that is a huge selling point in increasing confidence. People will be able to go out to work and the Government will promise that we will not touch the first £10,000. It seems remarkable that we are in such a state that we can say that that is marvellous, but compared with what has gone on before it is extremely good news for constituents across Lancaster and Fleetwood.

Fuel duty has been frozen. In a huge rural area such as my constituency, where people have no choice, whatever their income, but to be dependent on their car to travel to work and to the shops, the ending of Labour’s plans to increase fuel duty provides massive support for the local economy.

There is the new employment allowance. Most businesses in my area are small, made up of two or three—if not six—people. The national insurance promises in the Budget will be a massive fillip to new employment and to encouraging people to get out there, set up their own business and start moving with the support of this Government.

Hon. Members will bear with me while I discuss a local theme that they would expect me to mention: shale gas. Many hon. Members have looked at shale gas as the great nirvana and something that will fill the energy gap, but that will affect Lancashire. Let me underline yet again that we in Lancashire are still not satisfied that the regulatory regime is right. We welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to an office for unconventional gas and the tightening up of those regulations, but people in Lancashire need to see that the regulations are thorough and tight. Given that farmers still take water directly from the water table through boreholes, Members will be able to imagine the worries in parts of my constituency.

More important than that is the question of who will earn money from shale gas. Lancashire people are quite generous, like me, in their commitment—[Interruption.] Well, we are far more generous than the people from the other side of the Pennines. We are generous in our commitment to the United Kingdom and in our willingness to support it, but as the law stands, the people who own the land, including the farmers on whose land this fracking might—I still say might—take place will earn precious little from it.

[Mr MacNeil]

Is the hon. Gentleman advocating an equivalent to a sovereign wealth fund for Lancashire? That was the source of the reason why all Norwegians feel they own the oil; is there a similar feeling in Lancashire towards this gas?

[Eric Ollerenshaw]

The hon. Gentleman anticipates me and for once—in fact, not for the first time—we agree. If Lancashire is to be used to fill the energy gap and if Lancashire will see fracking across the county, we need to understand that it is not Texas and landowners in Lancashire do not own the mineral rights. The Chancellor will gain through the tax system, companies will gain through their profits and, presumably, the Duchy of Lancaster or the Crown Estate will gain through the tax on mineral rights, but the local councils will gain precious little. I was pleased that the Chancellor said in his Budget that there would be specific proposals to allow local communities to benefit, but I tell the Ministers on the Front Bench that Lancashire expects more than one or two parish hall roofs to be fixed. We want to see something that will return money to Lancashire when the gas has been fracked, if that fracking is to go ahead. I need to make that clear.

Finally, on infrastructure, hon. Members talked about growth. For me, the key point was the Chancellor’s phrase about “clearing the economic arteries”. In the north-west, that means something substantial and we have had that from this Government. We have had the biggest investment in rail for the last 30, 40 or 50 years. It was all right Opposition Members saying that that would happen in future—it is happening now. I point to my own station in Lancaster, where £8.5 million is already being spent to vary the signalling so that trains can turn around in Lancaster and more platforms can be used. That is the small-scale work. Only last week, the Department for Transport finally agreed the M6 link road, which will be a bypass for Lancaster to the port of Heysham. It will bring thousands of jobs through a scheme for which the first plans were produced in 1948—that is perhaps a lesson to us all. It has taken this coalition Government to agree the money to get things moving and get the growth.

As the Secretary of State mentioned, there is still a great deal more for local councils to do. I am pleased that the Conservative councils in my area, Wyre borough council and Lancashire county council, have kept the council tax frozen. Not only that, but Lancashire has cut it by 2%—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order.

Jobs and Growth

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

I am grateful to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow North (Ann McKechin). She mentioned an industrial policy, which we are of course looking at, but the problem she must face is that Lord Mandelson’s industrial policy came far too late. The north-west experienced 13 years in which her Government allowed the gap between north and south to increase, and it increased according to any survey chosen. Ultimately, the only investment that came into the north-west was rapid public sector investment in either construction—the so-called affordable housing that turned out to be one or two-bedroom flats, not real houses for families—or an ever-expanding regional development agency that could do nothing about the expansion of London and the south-east, when compared against the contribution of the north-west or any other region. I am pleased that this Government, through part of the Queen’s Speech, are consolidating the missing links and dealing with the failure to invest in infrastructure over 13 years.

[Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Eric Ollerenshaw]

I would love to, but I have less than three minutes. I am sorry.

This Government are committed to: an M6 link road around Lancaster, which has been on the stocks since 1948 but nothing was done about it in 13 years of the Labour Government; the northern hub investment, which will improve connectively between the northern cities and enable them to compete; and investment in broadband through Broadband Delivery UK. People talk about superfast broadband, but a third of my constituents do not have access to normal broadband, and that is the failure of real investment over the past 13 years. I believe that the Government are now doing something about that and that things are happening to build that environment and infrastructure so that the north can compete like any other region of the country. Labour Members talk about a lack of vision, but the vision came from the coalition in the very first months. The commitment from my right hon. Friend the Chancellor was that we deal with the deficit but, at the same time, attempt to restructure and rebalance the country not only between sectors, but between regions. That is the vision of the coalition.

[Karl Turner]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Eric Ollerenshaw]

I have no time to give way.

Members have talked about the regional growth fund, which is now committed to making the majority of its spend in the north. That will add to the balancing out through real jobs for real factories. At the same time, while the Government are listening, I suggest that too much of the regional growth fund is still concentrated on metropolitan areas. There is a lot more to the north-west than Greater Manchester and Merseyside, and many businesses need to access the fund, so I hope that it will increase as it develops.

I also look forward to the Local Government Finance Bill returning to the House, because I believe that the freedoms that that will give local authorities through business rate retention will be a truly local way of improving investment and contributing to businesses. I welcome the commitment that the Local Government Association and my county council have made to looking at local government bonds as a way of raising investment for local businesses. The key is to unleash the regions and give them the infrastructure to compete not only on the national stage, but on the international stage, and that means superfast broadband and the ability to use our own money to invest in our own business. I congratulate the Government on what they have done about this so far.

Static Caravans (VAT)

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Thursday 26th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Stuart]

That is why I am grateful to Ministers for agreeing to listen to the evidence before reaching any definitive decision. Such a definitive decision has not been made, and I hope that when it is, it will be made in the right way.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

Caravan park owners in my constituency want to know why, after 39 years of VAT, there should suddenly be an anomaly, given that there is a clear distinction in law between a travelling caravan, a residential caravan and a static caravan.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

Oral Answers to Questions

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Tuesday 6th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We are seeking to use the same amount of money in a better way, and it is a very sensitive issue, which hon. Members from all parts of the House are concerned to ensure we get right. We are working very closely with disability charities to come up with a future that is right for the people who have disabilities and want to work.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

In 1997 the gross value added difference in the national economy between the north and London was some 70 points. By 2010 it had gone up to 86 points. What more can my right hon. Friend do, or what will he consider doing in the next Budget, to add to the Government’s drive to narrow the north-south divide, which increased under the previous Government?

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The gap between the economic performance of the south of England and the north of England and, indeed, all parts of the UK increased under the Labour Government, so all those policies for regional development agencies, The Northern Way and all that led to an increase in disparity in our country, and manufacturing as a share of our national economy halved. We have introduced the regional growth fund, and we have enterprise zones and major transport schemes such as High Speed 2, to shrink the gap between the north and the south and to make sure that all parts of our economy benefit—[Interruption]—so that we have a better record than the one when the right hon. Member for Morley and Outwood (Ed Balls) was sitting in the Treasury.