Courts and Tribunal Services (England and Wales)

Debate between Iain Wright and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 17th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Iain Wright]

Division!

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. I hope we are going to talk about court closures, rather than patting each other on the backs. It is a great love-in, but I want to hear what the hon. Gentleman is saying about courts.

Steel Industry

Debate between Iain Wright and Lindsay Hoyle

Wednesday 14th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mark Tami]

How many times has my hon. Friend been around factories to see very important machinery only to be told that it has had to be imported because it is not produced here any more, and that we used to produce it years ago but we no longer have the capability? That is very sad and shows where we are going wrong.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. The shadow Minister has been speaking for 26 minutes and there are 13 speakers after the Secretary of State. I do not want to interrupt the shadow Minister—he is making a great speech—but I just ask him to bear in mind interventions.

[Mr Wright]

Thank you for your guidance, Mr Deputy Speaker.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about making sure that we assess, in a strategic and co-ordinated way, a vision for the steel industry: how we want it to be linked in to a manufacturing sector that is vibrant and competitive, and how we can work collaboratively to ensure that that happens.

With that in mind, work is ongoing within the industry to produce a UK metals strategy. That is welcome. I am pleased that it is industry-led rather than top-down Government imposed, but its status is unclear and there is no evidence from Ministers that it will be accepted by Government. Will the Secretary of State state how he and his officials are engaging with the process? Will the strategy be given similar status to the 11 industrial sector strategies? How will the strategy develop and ensure it does not just consist of a nice launch and a glossy brochure, but then stays on the shelf and is not a real, meaningful and co-ordinated engagement to address the challenges and ensure the ongoing success of the steel industry?

Steel matters. It is vital to a modern and innovative economy. We need a Government who recognise that, and act to addresses the challenges and the opportunities of the industry. We need Ministers to champion it. We need a Government that will stand up for steel in this country. I commend the motion to the House.

EU-US Trade and Investment Agreement

Debate between Iain Wright and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 18th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Wright]

I knew that the hon. Gentleman would not be able to resist, so I will give way.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. I would just like to be of help, because the shadow Minister has taken 10 minutes so far and he said he would only take that long. He will have reached 11 minutes in a moment, so we should be careful.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

We will leave it.

[Mr Wright]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will mention one final thing and then draw my comments to a close.

Several hon. Members, including my hon. Friends the Members for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty), for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield), for Glasgow North East and for Ilford South (Mike Gapes), have mentioned the NHS. Will the Minister confirm that the free trade agreement will not be a green light to private health companies in the US to take over services within the NHS? Will he absolutely rule out that happening?

This agreement is a huge prize and the whole House is keen to see success on it. I hope that the Minister will be as ambitious as the House is on this, because the potential for jobs, growth and prosperity, on both sides, of the Atlantic is immense.

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

Debate between Iain Wright and Lindsay Hoyle

Wednesday 17th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Iain Wright]

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

New clause 25—The UK Green Investment Bank: prohibition on investment in nuclear power or the nuclear industry—

‘The UK Green Investment Bank may not engage in activities that involve facilitating or encouraging investment in nuclear power or the nuclear industry.’.

Amendment 77, page 1, line 11, clause 1, at end add—

‘(3) In undertaking investments in accordance with the green purposes outlined in subsection (1), the UK Green Investment Bank will identify opportunities in which small and medium-sized enterprises can be awarded contracts.’.

Government amendments 1 to 3.

Amendment 76, page 3, line 24, clause 4, at end add—

‘(7) Subject to the approval by the European Commission of the State aid notification concerning the establishment of the UK Green Investment Bank, the Secretary of State shall provide the European Commission with State aid notification concerning the intention to allow the Bank to borrow, including borrowing from the capital markets.

(8) The duty in subsection (7) must be fulfilled no later than 31 December 2013.

(9) It is the duty of HM Treasury and the Secretary of State to either—

(a) permit the UK Green Investment Bank to begin borrowing from the capital markets by April 2015, or

(b) to present to Parliament a report within one month of the passage of this Act giving a clear, certain, alternative date for the UK Green Investment Bank to begin borrowing, based on Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts for the public finances and advice from the Green Investment Bank on its need for borrowing powers,

both subject to the European Commission approving the State aid notification concerning borrowing.’.

Amendment 89, page 3, line 24, clause 4, at end add—

‘( ) Subject to approval by the European Commission of the State aid notification concerning the establishment of the UK Green Investment Bank, it is the duty of the Secretary of State to provide the European Commission with State aid notification concerning the intention to allow the Bank to borrow, including borrowing from the capital markets.

( ) The duty in the above subsection must be fulfilled no later than 31 December 2013.

( ) In the event the European Commission approves the State aid notification concerning borrowing, it is the duty of the Treasury and of the Secretary of State to permit the Green Investment Bank to begin borrowing from the capital markets no later than 30 June 2015, or, if State aid approval has not been received by that date, no later than one month from the date of approval.’.

Government amendments 4 and 5.

Amendment 78, page 4, line 9, clause 6, at end add—

‘(5) The Secretary of State will be required to receive independent expert review of the performance of the UK Green Investment Bank.

(6) The Secretary of State will be required to receive such a review no less than every five years.

(7) An interim review no less frequently than every two and half years.

(8) The independent expert review in subsection (5) must, in particular, include or contain information relating to—

(a) an assessment of the UK Green Investment Bank’s environmental performance in fulfilling the green purposes as set out in section 1.

(b) an analysis of the main trends and factors likely to affect the future development, performance and investments of the UK Green Investment bank,

(c) macroeconomic analysis, including assessments of demand in the UK economy and international factors likely to affect green investment and skills within the relevant industries,

(d) assessment of the competitiveness of the UK Green Investment Bank in securing competitive advantage for the UK in green and low carbon economies relative to other countries, and

(e) recommendations to improve the UK Green Investment Bank’s impact in fulfilling its green purposes in section 1.

(9) Prior to the commencement of a review in relation to subsection (5), the Secretary of State must request the views of—

(a) The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change,

(b) The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,

(c) The Committee on Climate Change,

(d) Ministers from the devolved administrations,

(e) investors and interested parties, and

(f) members of the public,

and provide a copy of the results of the consultations to the person or persons undertaking the independent review.

(10) The Secretary of State, in the capacity of shareholder, must provide such information as he considers reasonable to enable the person or body undertaking the review to fulfil the requirements of this subsection.

(11) A review made in relation to subsection (5) must be published and laid before both Houses of Parliament.’.

[Mr Wright]

Those hon. Members who served on the Committee will recall that we spent a great deal of time considering whether the green purposes of the green investment bank, as set out in clause 1, were appropriate—namely, whether they were too restrictive or limiting to prevent long-term investment in innovative low-carbon technologies or too wide or broad as to mean that high-carbon investments could not be considered by the bank. As I said, we deliberated over this issue in Committee at length.

Of the five criteria, only one needs to be met to justify the appropriateness of investment by the bank. Was clause 1(1)(b), which refers to

“the advancement of efficiency in the use of natural resources”,

sufficiently tight and robust to deal with the need to ensure that the green economy and the transition to a low-carbon economy are put into effect? In Committee, I used the example of a gas-fired power station that might be marginally more efficient in its use of the earth’s natural resources given 2012 levels, but might well be seen as hopelessly dirty and inefficient by 2030.

That is the purpose of new clause 22—to deal with concerns that investments by the bank might not be in keeping with its green purposes, or at least the spirit behind those purposes. That is why we thought that making an explicit link with the Climate Change Act 2008 would be the best way for an appropriate balance to be struck between giving the bank the flexibility to consider its investment portfolio and ensuring that it cannot and does not decide to fund high-carbon investments. New clause 22 therefore proposes that the green investment bank assesses whether its investment portfolio helps the achievement of carbon budget and greenhouse reduction targets as set out under the 2008 legislation.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Iain Wright]

I beg to move amendment 93, page 51, line 23, at end insert—

‘(1A) A representative of the company’s employees must be consulted in the preparation of any such revision.’.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 95, page 52, line 5, leave out ‘ordinary’ and insert ‘special’.

Government amendment 25.

Amendment 86, page 52, line 11, leave out subsection (b) and insert ‘(b) and annually thereafter.’.

Amendment 96, page 52, line 17, leave out ‘ordinary’ and insert ‘special’.

Government amendments 26 to 30.

New clause 27—Information about payments to recruitment and remuneration consultants in respect of directors’ remuneration—

‘After section 413 of the Companies Act 2006 (Information about directors’ benefits: advances, credit and guarantees) insert—

“413A Information about payments to recruitment and remuneration consultants

The Secretary of State may make provision by regulations requiring information to be given in notes to a company’s annual accounts about payments made in the relevant accounting period in respect of recruitment and remuneration advice relating to directors, including information specifying any fees that have been paid in proportion to the remuneration agreed for a director.”.’.

[Mr Wright]

Amendment 93 is in my name and those of my hon. Friends. This important part of the Bill deals with directors’ pay. We rightly spent time in Committee dealing with this, and I do not want unduly to inconvenience the House by repeating the same points, but at the heart of the debate is a disconnect between executive pay and average earnings, and between executive remuneration and the performance of the companies they lead.

As I mentioned in Committee, in 1980 the median pay of the highest-paid directors in FTSE 100 companies was £63,000, and median wages were £5,400. By 2010, the median pay of FTSE 100 directors was £2.99 million, while median wages had risen to £25,900. The ratio of directors’ and employees’ median pay had risen from 11:1 to 116:1. That trend is not confined to the UK, but has been seen throughout the developed world, most notably in the US, where, by 2008, executive pay was 200 times the median household income. Despite the difficult economic times and financial misery faced by millions, average compensation for an FTSE 100 chief executive rose by 12% in 2011, while average wages rose by only 1.4%.

In that environment of growing pay, there is no meaningful correlation between high pay and high corporate performance. Empirical evidence from research carried out in 2009 concluded that companies that pay their chief executive officer in the top 10% of remuneration earn negative results of -13% in terms of both profits and share price in the next five years.

Opposition Members support some of the Government’s reforms—in the interests of cross-party agreement, I should say that they build on work done by the previous Labour Government. However, as we said in Committee, the Government could go further and be slightly bolder. That is the basis of amendment 93, which would ensure that

“a representative of the company’s employees must be consulted in the preparation of any such revision”

to a director’s remuneration package. We anticipate this ensuring that an employee representative could sit on a firm’s remuneration committee in an advisory capacity.

Academies Bill [Lords]

Debate between Iain Wright and Lindsay Hoyle

Monday 26th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Iain Wright]

I beg to move amendment 79, page 4, line 8, at end add—

‘(8) Before making an Academy order in respect of a maintained school under this section, the Secretary of State shall consult with—

(a) the local authority,

(b) any other local authority who would in his opinion be affected by the making of an Academy order,

(c) teachers and other staff at the school and their representatives,

(d) parents and pupils of the school and the other schools in the community, and

(e) such other persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.’.

[The Chairman of Ways and Means]

With this it will be convenient to discuss new clause 7—Social cohesion—

(1) Before a school makes an application for an Academy order or an Academy arrangement with an additional school the relevant local authority must be asked to assess the impact of Academy status on—

(a) admissions in the local authority area where the school is situated;

(b) funding between all publicly funded schools in the local authority area where the school is situated; and

(c) social cohesion in the local authority area where the school is situated.

(2) The impact assessment in subsection (1) should be made with regard to any existing policies the local authority or local schools forum have in relation to (a), (b) and (c).

(3) Before making an Academy order or an Academy arrangement with an additional school the Secretary of State must have regard to the impact assessment in subsection (1) made by the local authority.’.

Academies Bill [Lords]

Debate between Iain Wright and Lindsay Hoyle

Wednesday 21st July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Iain Wright]

I begin by thanking the Minister for his usual courtesy and kindness in wishing my daughter Hattie a very happy birthday. The whole Committee is welcome to join us for “Toy Story 3” on Sunday, if it so wishes.

The Minister has reassured me to some extent on clauses 9 and 10 and on the model funding agreement. That goes some way to addressing my concerns and I also thank him for clarifying some points about the FE sector. However, he has not gone far enough. As I said, there are fundamental weaknesses at the heart of the Bill, as seen in this group of amendments. Those weaknesses are on capacity and on consultation. With great respect to the Minister, he has not reassured me on those matters.

More to the point, some comments by the hon. Members for North Cornwall (Dan Rogerson) and for Hexham (Guy Opperman), and the excellent comments by the Chair of the Select Committee, showed that there is concern about the gap in the appropriate level of consultation. I understand that the Minister hopes to ponder on that issue, but I would suggest that he table a Government amendment on Report, which we could consider. I would be more than happy to discuss any such amendment with him. I suspect, however, that he will not do that.

I repeat that there are fundamental weaknesses on capacity, which amendment 20 would address, and on consultation, which amendment 33 would address. I would therefore like to test the opinion of the Committee on those amendments.

[The Temporary Chairman (Martin Caton)]

Only amendment 20 can be pressed at this time.

Question put, That the amendment be made.