Business of the House
Greg Knight Excerpts(7 years, 6 months ago)
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Mr Lidington
On the hon. Gentleman’s last point, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions regards that Green Paper as a very high priority. It will bring together a number of approaches proposed by the Government which, I hope and believe, will command a lot of cross-party support. We certainly hope that it will be published in the near future.
On our departure from the European Union, as the plenary session of the Joint Ministerial Committee demonstrated earlier this week, the Prime Minister and the Government remain committed to the full involvement of the three devolved Administrations in the preparation of our negotiating position, and we want to maintain that engagement in the months ahead. There will be opportunities in the debate that I have announced today, and in subsequent general debates about various aspects of our EU membership, for Members from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to make all the points that they wish to make about the interests of the nations that they represent and particularly of their constituents.
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)
May we have a debate on making better use of natural resources? Is the Leader of the House aware that, in the next few days, we will go through the ridiculous ritual of putting our clocks back, thereby plunging the nation into darkness and misery by mid-afternoon? Can we look again at the benefits of using summer time in winter, which would reduce road accidents and boost tourism?
Mr Lidington
For many years, my right hon. Friend has been a strong advocate of changes to the arrangements for summer time. As he knows, there was no agreement between different parts of the UK on the way forward. On such a subject, the unity of the UK, and respecting the interests of all parts of the UK, are important. The Government have no plans at the moment to bring forward changes in legislation.
Business of the House
Greg Knight Excerpts(8 years, 6 months ago)
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Chris Grayling
I am proud to mark that anniversary, and I am sad that the hon. Gentleman feels unable to join me in celebrating a moment when this House did the right thing. Of course, he does not even like remembering that we were the party that elected the first woman Prime Minister.
The hon. Gentleman asked about working tax credits. I will simply reiterate what the Prime Minister said yesterday, which is that he will have to wait until the autumn statement. We will of course provide the House with an opportunity to question the Chancellor about the autumn statement in the usual way, just as his party did over 13 years in government. He mentioned our armed forces. Let me just remind him that this Government have strengthened the military covenant and done more than any previous Government to celebrate and look after our veterans, and we will continue to do that.
The hon. Gentleman asked about driving test centres—he also mentioned Channel 4, so he has clearly not quite got over being moved from his Culture, Media and Sport brief—and I must say that, having seen the Labour party’s complete inability this summer to do an emergency stop in its leadership contest before driving into a wall, I do not think that Labour Members should be arguing that they know all about driving test centres.
The hon. Gentleman raised the issue of fracking. We have a statutory instrument passing through this House in the normal way and it will be voted on in the normal way. Yesterday the Department launched a technical consultation. We in Government do not simply stop talking to people when a matter is being considered by the House. We are talking to external stakeholders, and these matters will be brought before this House in the normal way. He said, extraordinarily, that this House would not be able to vote on universal credit SIs. Of course it will be able to vote. This House votes on every measure that comes through it, and this will be no different. It will come to the Floor of the House in due course. Every single statutory instrument that comes before Parliament is voted on by this House and this will be no exception.
The hon. Gentleman mentioned national trustees week, and I echo him in that. He is right to mention the very good work done by volunteers up and down the country. Indeed, this afternoon I will attend a meeting of the trustees of the National Portrait Gallery. I pay tribute to those who serve that great institution and those who serve other great institutions, as well as local trustees of local charities; they do a great job of work for us.
Finally, I wish everybody who is going out tonight, on 5 November, a great bonfire night. I have to say that this place can be slightly cruel sometimes. I think it was very unfair of one of our colleagues to suggest a few days ago that the hon. Gentleman will be spending 5 November out at a bonfire of the vanities.
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)
May we have a debate on helping people to save on their use of energy, on boosting tourism, and on cutting the number of accidents on our roads? Is the Leader of the House aware that all those things could be achieved if we started to use British summer time in winter? Is it not about time that in winter we stopped plunging this country into darkness and misery by mid-afternoon?
Chris Grayling
This issue has been brought before the House on a number of occasions. I suspect that there may be a slight difference between my right hon. Friend and those on the Scottish National party Benches. It is an argument that is often made and an issue that will, I think, return to this House on a regular basis. It should be a subject of continual debate to make sure that we get it right.
Business of the House
Greg Knight Excerpts(8 years, 8 months ago)
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Chris Grayling
I understand the concern and we seek to do everything we can to further education in this country. Our colleges do a great job for many of those who sought refuge in this country, and they help them to develop English language skills. I will ensure that the Minister of State for Skills is aware of the hon. Lady’s concern, and that he replies to her letter as soon as possible.
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)
May we have a debate on coastal erosion? Although this is not a new phenomenon, it is occurring in East Yorkshire at an alarming rate. I accept that defending the coastline is not always economically viable, but the local authority needs to have sufficient resources to take whatever other action is appropriate, so it is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Chris Grayling
My right hon. Friend makes an important point, as ever, in defence of his constituency. Coastal erosion has a real impact on many constituencies. The last thing we would want is to see his constituency disappear into the sea. I commend him, because I know that he has secured a visit from the Minister with responsibility for this matter. I hope that that leads to a dialogue that will improve the situation in his constituency.
Procedure of the House
Greg Knight Excerpts(9 years, 1 month ago)
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Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)
I think my right hon. Friend has inadvertently misled the House. The recommendation from the Procedure Committee in 2011 that we should visit this issue and vote on whether the election of the Speaker should be by secret ballot was a reiteration of an argument that that Committee first put forward in 2009, as it felt that the decision should have been made before the 2010 election.
Business of the House
Greg Knight Excerpts(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Mr Hague
I think the hon. Lady is being a little audacious in talking about “Desert Island Discs” when the Labour party cannot even sing “Stand By Your Man” very well. When she talked about somebody being cut off from all his friends, I thought she must have been referring to the Leader of the Opposition.
The hon. Lady asked about last minute changes to business. Unusually, I have announced business three weeks ahead to 15 December. It is for the convenience of the House to have business announced as far ahead as possible, so I think that that is a good last minute change to make. She also asked about a particular item of business on Thursday next week. I can assure her that it will be very clear by next Thursday.
We have just had a statement on the Smith commission report. It is very important for the House to debate these matters further and to debate the consequences for the rest of the United Kingdom, a point made by many of my hon. Friends and Opposition Members. As the Chair of the Cabinet Committee for Devolved Powers, I intend to ensure that the Government publish the options for England in a Command Paper before Christmas, following up the work of the Smith commission. I am sure the House will want to consider that, and I will make a statement at the time.
The hon. Lady asked about appropriate time to be given for the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill. I have announced three days in Committee on the Floor of the House. There will be a clear gap between the Committee stage and Report. The Opposition wanted the Report stage to be after the Christmas recess and it will be. That will give the House time to reflect on all parts of the Bill, so I hope we have accommodated Opposition concerns on that. We have had productive discussions on this issue. The Bill is very important for our national security, but of course it needs to be properly scrutinised and considered in detail.
The hon. Lady asked about the autumn statement and poked fun at its being on 3 December. I have to remind her that autumn lasts until the winter solstice, which is normally on 21 December, or on 22 or 23 December in certain years. I can therefore assure the hon. Lady that 3 December is very much within autumn.
The hon. Lady asked about universal credit. The previous Government were left with a welfare system in which for every extra £10 some people earned, they lost £9 in additional taxes. Universal credit is being designed to ensure that it pays to work and it is likely to deliver benefits to millions of people. Yes, it is always possible to criticise the implementation of IT projects, but it was estimated that the previous Government wasted £26 billion on IT projects that did not succeed. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), made a statement to the House, so Members have had the opportunity to discuss that.
The hon. Lady asked about relative incomes. Relative poverty in the last year for which we have figures, 2012-13, was at its lowest since the 1980s. We have 600,000 fewer people in relative poverty than there were at the general election. The answer to poverty is to get people into work, and that is what the Government are achieving. She asked about a recovery for the many or the few. The previous Government left office with no recovery for anyone at all—neither many nor few. That is what the Opposition’s policies would bring about again.
The hon. Lady talked about comments within the Conservative party on various issues in the past week. It has not been a great week in the Labour party. She has made an exception of asking about the whereabouts of the Chief Whip this week. As I explained last week, he spent much time in Rochester. Really, the Opposition Chief Whip should have been there to tell members of the shadow Cabinet not to photograph people’s houses. She would have been well deployed—[Interruption.] Oh, she was there! Well, she obviously did not get to all the members of the shadow Cabinet.
After the stealth reshuffle that I think took place in September on the Opposition Front Bench, and the anti-climax reshuffle in October, we have now had the Rochester reshuffle in November. But we are pleased that the hon. Member for Wallasey (Ms Eagle) is still in place and we are absolutely delighted that the Leader of the Opposition is in place all the way to the general election.
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)
May we have a debate on wildlife crime? Is the Leader of the House aware that the trade in endangered species is being facilitated by some courier firms, which transport animal parts and derivative products without inquiring what it is they are delivering? Should we not impose a greater duty on couriers, and should we not be doing more to stamp out this vile crime?
Mr Hague
My right hon. Friend makes a very powerful point. There is a good case for a debate on this matter and I hope he will take it to the Backbench Business Committee. As chair of the ministerial committee on animal health and animal issues, I too feel extremely strongly on this issue. I believe there is more that Governments across the world can do, and I will be doing some work on that in the next few months.
Devolution and the Union
Greg Knight Excerpts(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)
It is important that today’s debate is based on fact and reality. Given some things we have heard from outside commentators, and unfortunately from some hon. Members from time to time, one might think that we had a situation in which taxpayers in England are generously subsidising those in Scotland, and that Scottish MPs have been responsible for imposing legislation on residents of England against their will. That description is vastly at variance with reality, as hon. Members will know. Of course, I accept the straightforward reality that the level of Government spending per head in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as defined by Barnett, is slightly higher than that in England, taken as a whole, but the Barnett formula does not present the full picture. Indeed, Lord Barnett never suggested that it did.
The definitions of public spending in the different nations are not necessarily like for like. For example, water supplies in Scotland are in the public sector, whereas in England and Wales they are privatised, so in Scotland spending on water is counted as public expenditure, but in England and Wales it is not. The formula does not fully reflect the public expenditure involved in some of the activities of central Government and the state that are centred here in London. The activity of the state that we see in front of us every day in London generates an immense boost to the economy in the whole of the south-east of England. That is an economic stimulus that nowhere else in the UK enjoys to anything like the same degree.
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)
Has not Lord Barnett himself said that the formula should not have continued for as long as it has?
Mark Lazarowicz
He did say that, but it did continue, and fairly successfully.
If one compares the relative figures for Government expenditure throughout the different parts of the UK, what is most striking is not the disparity between the averages in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as opposed to England, but the vast disparities within England. I have some sympathy with the complaint of the hon. Member for St Albans (Mrs Main) about the lack of Government spending in her constituency, because the south-east of England—her part of the country—gets two thirds less than average spending in London. London gets 20% above the average across the UK—higher than the relative advantages for Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Let me emphasise that just as I reject setting Scotland against England, I do not seek to set London against the rest of the UK. There are vast disparities of wealth within London, and the economic activity that it undertakes generates burdens as well. My point is that the Barnett formula is only part of the picture. It is a formula for spending, but not one based on a real needs assessment—that is widely accepted. For example, it does not take account of the costs for Government services of remoteness, or of levels of poverty or other social need. Nor does it take account of the contribution that different parts of the UK make to central Government revenues. Scotland is one of the highest contributors of taxation to central Government revenues—the third highest, I think, in the UK. Different areas and nations put more in; different areas and nations take different amounts out.
Let us get away from the idea that the Barnett formula is a subsidy for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. We are in a state where different nations and different parts of nations will contribute in varying degrees to Government revenue, and different nations and different parts of nations will see Government expenditure at varying levels. I welcome that, because I believe that the strength of the UK is that, with the right Government and the right policies, we can pool and share resources. Indeed, there has not been enough pooling and sharing of resources to tackle some of the real poverty that we see in communities in cities, regions and rural areas throughout the UK.
On English votes for English legislation, there is of course an anomaly. I am not for one minute diminishing the concerns that have been raised in the House, but I wonder how far they are shared among the general population of England. Obviously, MPs from England will know that better than I do.
I agree, however, with my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) that this issue can be relatively simply dealt with and does not, in any sense, justify any delay in the further devolution that was promised before the referendum. There must not be a cherry-picking of certain bits of political reform that suit the short-term political interests of one or other political party. We can all point to the history of anomalies that this constitution—this state—has had over decades. In the old days, there was the situation with Northern Irish MPs being able to vote as supporters of the Conservative party. There is the whole anomaly, to put it mildly, of the House of Lords. We have to recognise that we need political reform to deal with the alienation of so many people from our political system, but it should not just be piecemeal. It needs to address House of Lords reform. Electoral reform needs to be back on the agenda. The whole issue of regional government in England and Wales needs to be taken seriously. There needs to be root-and-branch reform that is based on respect between the various nations of the UK, and a recognition of the seriousness of the political crisis that is facing politics across the UK.
Finances of the House of Commons
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John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)
I beg to move,
That this House notes the First Report of the Finance and Services Committee, HC 757, and the draft medium-term financial plan for the House of Commons as set out in the Appendix to the Report; and endorses the intention of the Finance and Services Committee to recommend to the House of Commons Commission a House of Commons: Administration Estimate for 2015-16 in line with the financial remit set by the House of Commons Commission.
I am very grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for giving me this opportunity again to present the financial plan for the House of Commons. This is the third occasion on which the Finance and Services Committee has sought such a debate. It provides an opportunity for Members to have their say on the House’s finances and the services provided for them.
In my judgment, these debates have increased transparency. They have allowed Members to question the finances and the services that come from them. They have enabled not only questions to be asked but amendments to be made to the plans. All of that has led to a greater ownership by Members of the plans. During this Parliament, the Finance and Services Committee has been working to improve governance, including promoting better oversight of the Members estimate by Member bodies and a new Standing Order on motions with financial consequences for the House, as well as its reports and these debates.
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)
We should all strive to save money, but will my right hon. Friend nevertheless point out in his speech that some economies available to business are not available to the running of this place? In particular, will he refer the House to paragraph 26 on page 10?
John Thurso
My right hon. Friend makes a very important point, one that informed the very beginning of our first debate. Above all else, our job as a Parliament is to scrutinise Government, to legislate and to work for our constituents. The application of resource must be for that purpose. The savings we make, or the efficiency with which we undertake that operation, come as a consequence; they do not drive the way in which we seek to do our business. The overall point my right hon. Friend makes is absolutely taken and I will allude to it at various points during my remarks. I pay tribute to the fact that he has raised the point now and to his excellent contribution to the Committee.
I thank the director of finance and the other House staff for their positive engagement with the Committee, and for all their work and assistance in helping us to prepare the report and our advice to the Commission on the estimate. The finance team, led by the finance director, has undertaken very considerable improvements, including to the accounting system, management accounts, budgeting processes, management accounts and procurement systems. All are helping us to be more efficient and to get better outcomes both in terms of the costs of services and, importantly, what they deliver for us.
May I also use this moment to pay tribute to all the staff who serve us throughout the House service in all areas? I truly think, having now engaged with them for the best part of four years, that had I had such a staff in private life, I would have considered it a privilege to have had them working with me. I think they can be proud of everything that they do for us and we should be very grateful for it.
The Commission is required, under the House of Commons (Administration) Act 1978, to lay an estimate each year seeking the House’s approval to fund administration services. These include the maintenance of the estate, security, the Clerks and the Library staff who advise us, and all the other staff who look after us so well: Hansard; the printing of papers and reports; education, visitor and outreach services; and IT systems. The role of the Finance and Services Committee is to work with the management of the House to prepare a draft estimate for the Commission to consider in December.
The Committee also monitors—this is a new task we have taken on recently—the Members estimate, which funds the Treasury contribution to the parliamentary contributory pension fund, Short money and Members’ ICT equipment. However, the role of the Finance and Services Committee does not extend to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority or Members’ pay and allowances, which are dealt with separately.
I am pleased to report that the savings target, which we set in 2010, has been achieved—although there are one or two loose ends currently being tidied up in the savings programme. The House is not bound by the Government’s spending plans. As I said to my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire (Sir Greg Knight), it is absolutely correct that we have the appropriate resource to undertake our work of scrutiny of Government and as legislators. None the less, it is important that we do so while taking account of the world we live in. The Commission therefore decided, before the 2010 election, that the House needed to reflect what was going on in the wider public sector and to ensure best value for the taxpayer. The Commission committed itself to a reduction in the administration estimate of at least 17% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2014-15. That meant setting a budget of £210 million for 2014-15 compared to a baseline of £231 million for 2010-11.
In December 2013, the Commission agreed an administration estimate for 2014-15 of £201.3 million. However, because of transfers between votes—most notably the merger of the House staff pension scheme into the civil service scheme and other exceptional factors—some adjustments are required to compare that figure with the target of £210 million. However, allowing for all of those factors—details are in the Committee's report—the estimate laid for 2014-15 is some £2 million below the target set in 2010. Part of that is due to a change of culture that has taken place within management and staff, and the fact that we now recognise that resource, once allocated, does not belong to a department and where not required can be returned rather than being spent to preserve the budget. I commend them for that change.
The Commission also decided that savings should be achieved, through detailed analysis of services and how they were delivered, to arrive at something better—not simply cheaper. For example, changes have been introduced in the way in which Select Committee evidence is submitted, processed and published. Less Select Committee evidence is being physically printed. That has not only reduced printing costs, but has allowed a reorganisation of staff in the Committee Office that has provided increased resources for priority areas within the Select Committee work stream.
Members will also be aware that the system for providing them with written answers has recently changed. In the past, written answers were walked across Whitehall in multiple copies—sometimes 500 to 600 answers a day in the Commons alone—and Members mostly received their answers only the following day when they were published in Hansard. They are now delivered electronically. Not only do Members receive their written answers by e-mail as soon as the answer is submitted by a Government Department, but the House will be saving nearly £800,000 every year in printing and related costs.
Sir Greg Knight
The changes to written questions are a vast improvement. In many cases under the old system, the press received the answer before the Member.
John Thurso
I concur with my right hon. Friend. It is a saving that has made life better for us, which is our objective.
Major savings have been made through reducing the amount of printing undertaken. For example, some lightly used publications are now only available online and most Committees have agreed to distribute papers electronically. The House is aiming for a “digital first” approach, and the Committee expects this to be a source of further financial savings in the coming years.
As someone who spent his professional life in the hospitality industry before entering this place, it gives me particular pleasure to report that significant progress has been made in the past few years in reducing the net cost of catering. My right hon. Friend referred earlier to paragraph 26, which relates to catering, and I fully accept that because of the hours we work and the way we need to be serviced, it is not possible to make the same profit as if we were a fully operational food and beverage operation, but that should not stop us seeking to be as effective as possible in the delivery of the service.
In 2009-10, at the end of the last Parliament, the net cost of catering and retail services was £5.7 million. In the current financial year, at an equivalent point in the electoral cycle, it is forecast to be £2.7 million. That exceeds the target set of reducing the net cost to under £3 million by 2015. I particularly compliment my right hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Sir Alan Haselhurst), the Chairman of the Administration Committee, and his Committee on all the work they have done in this area. The savings have been achieved by good old-fashioned sound management of costs and by benchmarking, and it has been achieved at a time when the House has moved to being a living wage employer and has got rid of zero-hours contracts. The staff and the unions, as well as the management, should be applauded for their help in that.
I never expected to see it in my lifetime, but we are now making great progress in working together with the other place. Under a joint procurement process, procurement for the House of Lords, the House of Commons and Parliamentary Information and Communications Technology is all operated by one dedicated service that must produce savings for all three.
The report also considers the prospects for the next four years. In June, the Commission agreed that forward plans for up to 2018-19 should be based on an assumption that the budget for core activities is flat in real terms—that, taking account of Government pay policy and the target for consumer prices inflation, the expenditure envelope for the administration estimate is assumed to increase by 1% in 2015-16 and by 2% thereafter. I stress that this is a working assumption, not a target; actual budgets will be set annually, and clearly it will be for our successor Parliament to decide what it wishes to do, but this establishes a good working base from which the management can proceed.
Even on that relatively generous assumption, it is projected that further savings will be required in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. The House service will continue to look for opportunities to make further efficiencies and ensure value for money in the delivery of services through a continuous improvement process that focuses on making services more effective by improving their quality, increasing productivity, cutting costs—or, in the best of all worlds, all three. That most often takes the form of process reviews that engage staff in a continuous review of their work and harness their own creativity to solve problems. There are numerous examples of this, but the goal is to make small savings in time and effort, while maintaining or improving services.
In setting the financial remit, the Commission agreed that some new activities could be undertaken without necessarily having to be financed from within the existing budget. The two main areas are, first, scrutiny and related functions—the Committee received a bid from Chamber and Committee Services regarding Select Committees that we were minded to advise the Commission to accept—and, secondly, the resource consequences of major building refurbishment.
The Commission is keen to deliver a resolution of the House passed in 2007 that there should be dedicated space for education visitors. Construction has now started on a new education centre in Victoria Tower gardens that will accommodate 100,000 children a year, as opposed to the 45,000 we can currently accommodate. In addition, the facility will reduce pinch points, such as the Portcullis House entrance, and release the Macmillan room for other uses. It is due to open, we hope, in 2015.
Following the Wright Committee report at the end of the last Parliament, Select Committees have been one of the success stories of the Parliament, and the Liaison Committee is keen that this success be built on. As I just mentioned, the Finance and Services Committee is recommending a modest increase of £900,000 in the resources available to Select Committees, either in the form of additional staff or by providing additional budget. The Committee is also due to consider a bid from the Library that would enable it to provide more research support.
Members will be aware that the two Houses need to decide how the backlog of work required on this building is to be tackled—a project known as the restoration and renewal programme for the Palace of Westminster. R and R will be a major infrastructure programme that will not start in earnest until after 2020—well beyond the time frame of the budgets we are considering today. An independent options appraisal has been commissioned and is due to be published shortly after the election. Current thinking is that the two Houses might be asked to take a decision on their preferred option in spring 2016.
In the meantime, other buildings we occupy, including 1 Canon Row, the Norman Shaw buildings and 1 Parliament street, require significant refurbishment. This work will not only tackle the day-to-day problems that many colleagues have encountered—leaking toilets, rodents and other problems—but optimise the accommodation we occupy outside the Palace and complete that work before R and R begins. I warn hon. Members, therefore, that in the next Parliament many colleagues and staff will need to move offices as work on the various buildings proceeds. Office moves by House staff to facilitate this process and to co-locate Committee and Library staff have already begun.
Although much of the refurbishment work is capital spending, it can result in quite large accounting changes, largely because heritage and security issues mean that the value of refurbishment is not fully reflected in an increase in the book value of the buildings and that therefore a charge needs to be made. The Commission’s remit does not require the substantial notional charges or other resource consequences of the building work, such as decant space, to be met from within the core budget.
Sir Alan Haselhurst
Yes, absolutely. It was purely for budgeting purposes that the two were linked.
We faced a number of obstacles. For instance, there had been a 10% across-the-board hike in prices before our Committee and, indeed, the Finance and Services Committee, had taken office, and that had an initially bad effect on footfall.
Sir Greg Knight
Does my right hon. Friend agree that some of the problems arose from the fact that decisions were made by the House of Commons Commission when it was under full complement? Does he hope, as I certainly do, that in the next Parliament the Commission will not make any potentially difficult or controversial decisions until it has a full complement of members and Back Benchers on both sides of the House are represented on it?
Sir Alan Haselhurst
I certainly agree that that would be desirable. We have tried to anticipate circumstances in which the last price review will outlive the current Parliament, so that there will be some cover while the time is taken to reconstitute Committees which may be subject to the deliberations of the Governance Committee and which may consequently take a different form.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority introduced a subsistence allowance of £15, which I think has had a malign effect on the propensity of Members to use the facilities of the House. Some told their electorates beforehand that they would not claim it, while others simply do not feel comfortable about claiming it while they are away from home on parliamentary business. That has, to an extent, reduced the uptake of facilities, especially in the Members’ Dining Room. I found IPSA’s rule that the allowance would be available only if the House’s business continued beyond 7.30 pm very difficult to understand, but IPSA has stuck to it firmly, despite all my efforts to persuade it otherwise. It seems to me that whether the House sits until 7.29 or 7.31, the fact remains that many Members who are distant from their homes will have to eat away from home. Many Members now do not eat on the estate, which has had several bad effects.
I cannot be certain whether that led to the vote to change the House’s Tuesday sitting hours, although a significant number of Members voted for the change. I have counted them out, as it were. There is a pattern which suggests that if they were no longer deemed by IPSA to qualify for help from the taxpayer for the maintenance of another dwelling close to Westminster, they would prefer to leave earlier rather than returning to, in some instances, fairly distant parts of London late at night. That has led to a disappearance of Members and a weakening of the collegiate nature of the House which I remember from the past.
The Administration Committee has tried to come up with an offer featuring the widest possible variety and appeal in order to sustain demand. However, if Members, staff and other passholders are not using our facilities for whatever reason, the Committee’s policy is to let others do so, on the strict understanding that that does not interfere with the prime purpose of the business of the House. We have encouraged third-party commercial hire; we have introduced room-hire fees, not uncontroversially; and tomorrow and the next day, members of the public will be allowed to book lunch in the Members’ Dining Room for the first time. Once that had been advertised, it was a sell-out. We shall await the subsequent report, and then consider whether the same might be done during parliamentary recesses.
The figures that my right hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross and I have given are not recognised by the media. We are constantly told that the catering and retail deficit is what it was at the start of the current Parliament, rather than what it has become since we have been introducing our new policies. Sometimes it has been rounded up to more than £6 million, and on one occasion the deficit carried by the House of Lords was included in our figures. A continual wish to denigrate does not help us to give credit to all the people who have worked so hard to be responsible, for the reasons that my right hon. Friend explained.
The media suggest that this is all about 650 Members of Parliament advantaging themselves. However, there are 13,000 passholders on the estate, many of whom earn much less than Members of Parliament, and the catering service is aimed at everyone who has legitimate cause to be here. As I have said, the deficit has been halved. I hope that that will be recognised, and that we will make continuous efforts to achieve further savings and improvements. I pay tribute to the director of catering services, Richard Tapner-Evans, and to the whole of his team for the way in which they have responded to change while maintaining, in my view, very high quality and the reputation of the House’s catering.
On the retail side, I think that we have seen nothing short of a revolution. When I was first elected to this House, the only branded products that were available were whisky and cigarettes. For many of us, to give a bottle of whisky on every occasion when we were asked to contribute a prize was too expensive, and even in those days we did not really think of giving cigarettes. Now we have a fine and expanding range of quality gifts and souvenirs. Across the House revenue is up 11% in the July-September quarter compared with the equivalent period last year. The new Jubilee shop opened on schedule in July. The whole area around it has been refurbished, and sales are strong. The only niggle I have is that signage to the facility should be sufficiently prominent, and we have engaged in a lively debate with English Heritage about the nature of the signage we can have to attract the eye, and I hope we are winning on that one.
The Houses of Parliament shop on the corner of Bridge street now trades on Saturdays. It is unbelievable that it did not trade on Saturdays before. It now has more engaging window displays. Clearly that outlet is directed more to tourists and general visitors to London, and, frankly, how anyone ever thought tourists were coming to London specifically to hunt down a biography of Stanley Baldwin or Ramsay MacDonald is beyond me. The gifts and souvenirs that are in there now have made all the difference in the world to the trade that is done there. In August of this year alone sales were around 40% higher than in August last year.
The Members’ shop on the Terrace has seen an increase in the value of transactions as more product lines are introduced, some of which are exclusive to that shop. The summer fair in July in Westminster Hall built on the success of last year’s Christmas fair, and the Christmas fair itself will be repeated on 2 December upcoming, with 60 new product lines available.
In the matter of encaustic tiles, I owe the House an apology—[Interruption]—and not least my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire (Sir Greg Knight). I was asked by him about encaustic tiles and the possibility of selling the ones that have been retrieved, and I am afraid I gave a very inaccurate answer on that occasion. I am glad to say that that has been triumphantly overcome, however, in that the tiles that have come out whole and satisfactorily have been marketed. They are in a splendid box with a certificate of authenticity signed by me and my opposite number in the other place, Lord Sewel. We have already sold about 100 of them, with, I hope, more to go.
Finally on the retail side, I would like to compliment Diana Christou, who was appointed as director of retail. She has brought great experience and imagination to her work and she and her whole team are to be complimented on what has been achieved.
Our other experimental activity is the introduction of filming within the Palace. This is seen by many as a remarkable location and we tested the water with the film “Suffragette”, which, of course, did have a distinct connection with this place. On the basis of that experience, we are continuing to consider other filming proposals on a case-by-case basis, but we do see great possibilities.
On tours and visitors and bringing more people into the Palace, which has an impact on the bottom line, I can tell the House that since 1 April we have welcomed 127,000 paying visitors to the Houses of Parliament, 84,000 of them over the summer recess. The House was awarded the accolade of best guided tour at the group leisure awards 2014 and a certificate of excellence from TripAdvisor.
In the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions annual benchmarking exercise the House came fourth out of 80 attractions for overall level of enjoyment. Also rated as excellent were staff helpfulness and friendliness and the guided tour and audio guide.
Commercial tours have expanded in range and availability. An extra hour has been added to the length of the commercial tour day. Audio guided tours have been introduced, including a family tour. The art and architecture tours continue to be popular and will be expanded in 2015. The tactile tours for blind and visually impaired visitors are also popular and are offered once a month.
In the light of the popularity of guided and audio tours of the rest of the Palace, it may be worth visiting sooner rather than later the issue of charging for tours of the Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben. That issue was highlighted in the House a couple of years ago, and recently 254 e-mail requests were received within the first five minutes of opening for bookings for visits to the Elizabeth Tower, meaning that places were filled within the first two minutes. Expectation from the public has shot up, and it is an expectation we are now having the greatest difficulty in meeting.
Work also continues to establish a logical visitor route, or to make the one we have comprehensible. That is coded language for saying we do the thing the wrong way round. No other tour brings the visitor in at the exit, walks them through to the start and then walks them back again. This is adding to the congestion of the Palace, which was never designed for that number of visitors. The situation at the pinch-points becomes exaggerated, of course, with those numbers going through. This is totally inefficient and unreasonable, and we must consider how we can provide the best possible experience for visitors.
I am grateful to the House for listening to this very concentrated description of what the Administration Committee has been trying to do in its contribution to the overall savings programme. Our overall rationale has been that the Palace of Westminster is a working building—the heart of our democracy—but that it also happens to be an iconic architectural masterpiece. Referring back to something my right hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross said, with the restoration and renewal project to be faced up to in the next Parliament, it is crucial that we save this building. We will be criticised very strongly if we fail to ensure that this symbol of our Parliament and our democracy is maintained to the highest level, to see through another 100 or 150 years.
I have the honour of chairing the Administration Committee, and I want to thank in passing all those who help us most closely in our work. We are a working building and also a visitor attraction and we consider them to be complementary roles. We have been determined in all we have sought to do to preserve the essential purpose of this place, while promoting access to the public, who take great pride in this building and what it means. I have seen the emotion of many people who have come here for the first time in their lives, sometimes in their elderly years, and it is clearly a great experience for them. I do not regard it as in any way cheapening this Palace for it to be more welcoming to visitors, and I know Mr Speaker is anxious that we should make sure that that welcome is warm, while, of course, guarding our security. These are difficult issues to reconcile at times, but the Committee has the interests of this Parliament and this Palace at the very forefront of its considerations, while at the same time trying to ensure that we are responsible in governing its finances and the facilities it contains.
Business of the House
Greg Knight Excerpts(9 years, 6 months ago)
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Mr Hague
I am grateful to the hon. Lady. I absolutely concur with her opening words on our sadness about what happened yesterday in Ottawa and our strong solidarity with the Government and people of Canada. They were very much in our thoughts as news of the incident broke yesterday. Of course, we will continue to work closely with Canada and many other nations on countering terrorism and protecting our own and their national security.
The hon. Lady asked about the Committee stage of the Recall of MPs Bill. I certainly agree that recall should be about the conduct of Members, rather than the opinions of Members. The House will be able to make its own decisions in Committee. The Standards Committee does a very good job. It currently has 10 MPs and three lay members, and it is for the House to consider whether there should be any change. Proposals may be put forward by any Member of the House.
I congratulate the hon. Lady on mentioning the deficit this week. Last week, we were waiting for mentions of the deficit. It is brave of her to mention it on the day when the Institute for Public Policy Research has shown that, under Labour’s plans, there would be £28 billion of additional deficit and additional borrowing. That is the scale of the black hole that has been described by a left-leaning institute. It raises a set of additional questions that Labour has to answer. The Chancellor has emphasised all along that, although the deficit has fallen by more than a third under this Government, there is more work to do. That has to be recognised by Labour Members as well.
The hon. Lady asked about the return of foreign national offenders. There was an urgent question to the Home Secretary on that earlier this week, so the House has discussed the matter in some detail. Under this Government some 22,000 foreign national offenders have been removed. Numbers are now going up again, and we are taking additional action to reduce the number of appeals.
On the European arrest warrant, as the hon. Lady knows, the Government have exercised the opt-out from justice and home affairs measures following votes in both Houses. That will bring about the biggest return of power from Brussels to Britain since we became a member of the European Union. That is an entirely welcome development, but it is important that our law enforcement agencies have the powers they need to bring serious international criminals, such as members of paedophile rings and human traffickers, to justice. That is why we are negotiating to rejoin a smaller set of measures. Those negotiations have not yet concluded, but once they have we will return to the House. The protection of our national interest and fighting crime are obviously prime considerations, as well as the independence of the country and our freedom to decide things in this House.
The hon. Lady asked about a number of party matters, and I assure her that we are not pandering to anybody—[Interruption.] She is always fascinated by the whereabouts of the Chief Whip, and I assure her that he is gainfully employed in many different ways—[Laughter.] Gainfully was the word, just so Hansard is correct, rather than “gamefully”. In a similar vein, I congratulate the hon. Lady on still being in post following the first stealth reshuffle in the history of Her Majesty’s Opposition under any party. It was trailed in advance by the New Statesman as something that would bring back “the big beasts” to the Opposition Front Bench. The biggest thing we can identify is the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East (Mr McFadden) becoming shadow Europe Minister. That does not constitute the return of the big beasts growling at us from the Opposition Benches, but it is possibly the first ever reshuffle that hardly anybody in the country has noticed. We wonder whether the people who were reshuffled have yet noticed that they were reshuffled because we have not seen much spark of life from them, but we are happy to see the hon. Lady in her position today.
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)
May we have a debate on making better use of natural resources? Is my right hon. Friend aware that within a few days we will be undertaking the flawed ritual of putting our clocks back, thereby plunging the nation into darkness by mid-afternoon? Can we examine the benefits of having summertime in winter and double summertime in summer? If, as I suspect, the only objectors are a handful of Scots, can we say to them, “You want more powers for your Parliament, so we will give you powers to set your own time zone”?
Mr Hague
The House has debated this issue over the past few years. I am not sure that Scots are the only objectors, as in North Yorkshire we would also be plunged into darkness quite early in the morning. There are many different views on the matter around the House, but it is, of course, open to my right hon. Friend, who feels strongly about it, to pursue it. There have been private Members’ Bills on the issue in the past, and I have no doubt that there will be in future.
Business of the House
Greg Knight Excerpts(10 years, 3 months ago)
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Mr Lansley
The House will recall that the Prime Minister said that the data the previous Government used to measure child poverty related to relative poverty and that, on that measure, it has come down. The figures for 2011-12, the latest period for which data are available, show the number of children in relative poverty to be 2.3 million, a fall of 300,000 from 2009-10, when the figure was 2.6 million. The latest data from this Parliament show that the number of children in relative poverty has fallen by 300,000.
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)
May we have a debate on transport? Is the Leader of the House aware that the Government, at a time when they are seeking to spend billions of pounds to enable a few trains to run faster, have bizarrely announced that they want to lower the speed limit on certain sections of the M1 motorway, and for reasons other than road safety, which is without precedent? We already have the lowest road speed limits in Europe, and only 8% of travellers choose to travel by rail, so will the Government announce a new initiative—HSM1?
Finances of the House of Commons
Greg Knight Excerpts(10 years, 5 months ago)
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John Thurso
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that point and he and I have corresponded on the matter. It was precisely to ensure the robustness of the decision that the Commission decided to look for external professional assistance with no optimism bias, internal bias or anything else. I have a private view on what the result will probably be, but it would be quite wrong of me to state it publicly before we have seen the results of the work. If we get the best experts we can to consider the issue completely dispassionately and judge it against the criteria we put forward, we must wait and see what they say. I will not prejudge the outcome of their work. It will take a little time to do the report and I suspect that the decision will therefore be one for the next Parliament—although probably for very early in that Parliament. That is probably the correct way forward.
Let me now turn to the education centre. In the last Parliament, a decision was made on the recommendation of the Admin Committee to create a dedicated education centre substantially to increase the number of school visits to Parliament. In the light of the likelihood of the restoration and renewal programme’s going ahead and the financial conditions prevailing at the time, the Commission decided not to proceed with the full-on version but instead to proceed with a more modest approach, which is that being proposed at the moment. The proposal is for a demountable building to be placed on Victoria embankment. It will comprise five education rooms with appropriate facilities for looking after schoolchildren and a dedicated security entrance. The latter, of course, will have the added benefit of meaning that they will not have to come through security at Portcullis House. I know that occasionally there is a clash between the interests of Members and those of the education centre, so that is a happy bonus.
Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con)
I am grateful to my noble and hon. Friend for giving way. Will the separate entrance to the proposed building have annual security cost implications? Is not the estimate for maintaining security at the education centre almost £500,000 a year?
John Thurso
Indeed. I would say to my right hon. Friend, who also serves on the Finance and Services Committee, that I was about to bring out the proper concerns he and other members of the Committee hold on that point. I will deal with them fully in just a moment.
The plans I have outlined will allow an extra 55,000 pupils a year to visit us. The current number is 45,000, so it will more than double. I emphasise that quite a lot of research has been done that makes it very clear that engaging with schoolchildren by getting them to come and see this place first hand and be shown how we work is by far one of the most effective ways of securing engagement in politics. I therefore set out not only to defend the education centre, but to advocate it robustly—we ought to be very proud of it.
The plans will depend on a number of factors, one of which is planning permission, which probably will not be dealt with until January or February. I thought it appropriate to draw that to the House’s attention today, as with a bit of luck, a fair wind and planning permission children could be using the new education centre this time next year.
Some Members have made the valid point that perhaps we should put the education centre on hold until renewal and restoration have taken place, but I respectfully argue the exact opposite. The centre will allow twice as many children to come here, so if we were to wait the likely five to 10 years for R and R it could be 12 to 14 years before the additional children came here, by which time several generations of schoolchildren would have missed their chance completely, so it is very important.
The costs involved—about £7 million in capital costs and approximately £1 million in running costs—are quite appropriate and proportionate to what is proposed. My right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire (Sir Greg Knight) is correct that a substantial chunk of the running costs—£470,000 or thereabouts—is for security, but the House’s total security costs are about £25 million, so in context it is not a particularly large sum. My point of view—I happily recognise that it is purely personal—is that £1 million, which we hope their lordships will consent to share with us, would be a suitable and proper investment in the education of our children and in getting them engaged with politics.
Sir Alan Haselhurst
We give constant thought to these things and will continue to do so to make sure that we have broadly categorised people correctly. I do not want to get into a mini-debate about some of the functions. I attend many of them and they do not always seem to me to be quite how they are painted, in terms of who patronises them and so on. Often the number of Members attending may not be quite as large as the event organisers were hoping, but we will look at the matter.
My hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Mr Bacon) raised the question of political dining. The change that was made was instigated by two hon. Members who are still Members of the House. It was thought improper that profit should be made by a political organisation, be it a party or a trade union, through having access to these facilities. For many people that has seemed unduly restrictive, but I have always taken the view that if we were to be more relaxed about that, it would have to be on an understanding among the parties in this House that no one was seeking to gain an advantage over another. It is odd, is it not, that those who perhaps take the closest day-to-day interest in political affairs are the ones for whom it is now slightly more difficult to come here in the way they used to.
The other matter to which we have given attention because we believe it is capable of great improvement is how to achieve greater revenue from retail sales. I will admit to being a retailer at heart. My dad kept a shop and I served behind the counter from an early age to earn my pocket money. I have always had a desire to see how I can sell things to people. There is a tremendous opportunity. The people who come here appreciate the fact that there are things they can buy as a souvenir, and we could be much more effective in that regard.
Sir Greg Knight
I regularly show visitors around this building but I was shocked recently, going into St Stephen’s Hall, to see that it looked rather like a building site, with workmen hacking up the floor, removing the old tiles—I presume to be destroyed—and replacing them with new tiles. On the subject of increasing sales, why are those old floor tiles not being marketed for sale?
Sir Alan Haselhurst
I think I can give my right hon. Friend a definitive answer. There are aspects of the tiles that would make them an unacceptable item for sale. Some of them are to be re-used. We are examining the possibility that reproductions of the original be considered for sale. They will not contain any noxious substances or sharp edges. It might be a very good sales item. I assure my right hon. Friend that I take his point.