Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill

James Wild Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 3rd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

My hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) has shown his dogged determination in bringing this issue back to the House once again. My constituents feel angry when they see these massive payouts, often to people who reappear elsewhere in the public sector on another six-figure salary. That is why it is right that the Government legislated in 2015, which was a long time ago.

Perhaps unusually, I will highlight the good practice of the BBC, which has put in place a voluntary cap. It is £150,000, though, which is 50% higher than the one set out in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015. Of course, the BBC did that only because it had paid £450,000 to a director-general who had been in post for only 54 days. I am sure my hon. Friend will share my concern at the figures in the latest annual report that over the past two years, the BBC has paid out £127 million in severance payments, with 430 of those payments in the bracket of £100,000 to £150,000. While part of that is about reducing headcount at the BBC, which is too large and needs to deliver much better value for the taxpayer, that is still a very high level of money.

The Government did bring forward the regulations, which were passed by both Houses back in September 2020, but regrettably, in the face of complaints from the unions and others, they were withdrawn over what counted as exit payment caps. It was quite a long list, including redundancy payments, payments to reduce actuarial reduction, payments under settlement agreements, severance payments, payment in the form of shares and payments on voluntary exits. There is obviously an issue that needs to be tackled. My hon. Friend spoke about the consultation published last August, and I think we would all be keen to hear from the Minister when the Government will be bringing forward measures and responding to that consultation, because it is time we dealt with this issue. We legislated for it back in 2015. It is now eight years on, and my constituents want to see action. They want to see an end to this high level of pay-outs.

Oral Answers to Questions

James Wild Excerpts

Tuesday 7th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

I gently say to the hon. Lady that there has been less poverty and inequality under this Government. We demonstrated that in the autumn statement, with a huge package of support—£99 billion—for houses and families up and down the country, targeted at the lowest paid.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

Given the serious condition of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, does the Chancellor agree that it would be better value for money to build a new hospital rather than to patch this one up? Will the Treasury back the plan by the Department of Health and Social Care to do just that and include it in the new hospitals programme?

[John Glen]

As we discussed when we met two weeks ago, it is a top priority for us to resolve the profile of spending for hospitals like that one, in which reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete was used and which need that urgent work. We are working on it quickly, but I do not want to steal the thunder of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who will ultimately make those decisions.

Autumn Statement

James Wild Excerpts

Thursday 17th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

As I have explained, we increased local housing allowance at the start of the pandemic—significantly—and we are keeping it at that higher level. He talks about difficult decisions. I would say that there is one difficult decision on the table today: do we do what is necessary to tackle inflation? On the Government side of the House, the answer is yes.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

I welcome the commitment in my right hon. Friend’s statement to the new hospital building programme. Given the statement yesterday by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that he would deal with the concrete cancer that means that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in my constituency has 3,000 props holding up its roof, will he reassure people in North West Norfolk that the Government will make the urgent decisions to build the new QEH?

[Jeremy Hunt]

I have visited the QEH and absolutely understand the concerns that my hon. Friend is talking about. I will write to him about what is happening, but we do commit today that we will protect the new hospital programme. We do want to spend very important money in our capital programme in the NHS.

Economic Responsibility and a Plan for Growth

James Wild Excerpts

Wednesday 19th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

Today’s inflation figures underline, once again, the very real pressures that my constituents and people across the country are facing with higher bills and the cost of living, so I welcome the action that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has taken to change major elements of the growth plan and to settle the markets. It is only with economic stability and fiscal responsibility that we can create a platform for growth and help to protect our constituents from higher inflation and higher interest rates. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor have been candid in accepting the mistakes that were made and they have rightly apologised for them. Now we need to focus on setting out a plan that sees debt falling over the medium term while delivering growth and higher living standards.

Listening to the debate, I did not recognise much of the criticism of the previous Government’s record on growth, investment or jobs. Of course, as we have said, we want the trend growth rate to be higher, but we have also had the third highest growth rate of the G7 since 2010 and the UK continues to attract high levels of foreign direct investment, as it has throughout that period.

The Opposition’s motion makes no mention of the Government’s record on jobs—I wonder why. Perhaps it is because the latest figures show that unemployment is at its lowest level for nearly 50 years. In my North West Norfolk constituency, more than 500 people have moved from unemployment benefits into work in the past year. When I talk to employers in my constituency, I hear that the biggest challenge that they are facing is a labour shortage. Given the high number of vacancies, and the people looking for work, I endorse the great work of my local Jobcentre Plus team, who help to match people with those jobs so that they can move into the security of having a job and their own wage. Another reason that the Opposition did not refer to jobs may be that no Labour Government have left office with unemployment lower than when they came into power—my hon. Friend the Member for Broadland (Jerome Mayhew) mentioned that, but it bears repeating as often as possible.

The motion does refer to the profits of energy companies. Due to Putin’s illegal war, companies have been making exceptional profits and it is right that they should help to fund the energy price guarantee for my constituents and businesses, and other support for people, given the real cost of living pressures. Contrary to many of the contributions, however, including from the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Mr Perkins), they are doing so: over the next four years, the energy profits levy is expected to generate £26 billion of revenue—£26 billion in a windfall tax. I welcome the comments from my right hon. Friend the Chancellor earlier this week that nothing is off the table with regard to further potential steps on those excess profits, while being mindful of the need to continue to encourage investment in clean and other technologies.

As the Chancellor prepares his medium-term fiscal plan, I return to the issue that I have raised most frequently in this House since I was elected, which is familiar to my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury—the need for investment in a new Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. It is the most propped-up hospital in the country, with 2,500 timber and steel supports holding up the concrete cancer roof.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and I, along with other hon. Friends, including my hon. Friend the Member for Broadland, have campaigned for that capital investment. Indeed, I raised it when I met the Prime Minister yesterday morning and I have pressed the case with the new Minister of State, Department of Health and Social Care, my right hon. Friend the Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick), who understands the real safety issues involved. I look forward to the new Health and Social Care Secretary visiting soon to talk to patients and staff about the impact that is having on care. Given the pressing need and the value for money of the case, I urge the Government to confirm that QEH will be one of the new hospital schemes and part of the planned capital investment programme for the new hospital programme.

Over the past decade, Conservative Governments have demonstrated their commitment to delivering economic stability, growing our economy, boosting employment and attracting investment. As we move forward, we must maintain that focus to drive growth while protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

Economy Update

James Wild Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

With the big increases in energy prices and other bills, my right hon. Friend is correct to bring forward these further comprehensive proposals to help the most vulnerable people. This response is rooted in Conservative values, and is better targeted at those most in need than the proposals put forward by Labour. Will he bring that strong focus to delivering the investment, growth and supply-side reform that we need?

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend is right that this intervention accords with our values by supporting those most in need at a time of acute distress, but he is also right to focus on the long term. The best way to help people over time and sustainably is to ensure that we have a growing economy with more jobs, higher wages and better skills. That is what we will deliver.

Oral Answers to Questions

James Wild Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

The Government are looking at tightening up the rules around second homes and council tax. We would be very happy to engage with the hon. Gentleman on the matter.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

4. What steps he is taking to increase funding for capital investment in the NHS.

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

14. What steps his Department is taking with the Department of Health and Social Care to help ensure scrutiny of NHS trusts’ capital spending.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Simon Clarke)]

It has just been announced, through the spending review, that the NHS will receive: over £12 billion of capital funding for investment in and maintenance of the NHS estate; £5.9 billion for diagnostics, technology and elective recovery; £4.2 billion for at least 70 hospital upgrades and 40 new hospitals; and funding to eradicate mental health dormitories. That is on top of £500 million of additional capital funding given for the second half of this year to help tackle the elective backlog. It means that NHS capital budgets will have increased by over 8% year-on-year above inflation since the start of the Parliament.

[James Wild]

I welcome the funding for the new hospitals programme, and highlight to the Minister that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, with 200 props holding up its structurally deficient roof, has a compelling case to be one of the new schemes. Given the inevitable need to rebuild the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, does my right hon. Friend agree that it is far better to have a properly funded new hospital using modern methods of construction, rather than its being an unplanned cost, with emergency funding constantly being needed to prop up its failing building?

Spending Review 2020 and OBR Forecast

James Wild Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend knows this well, from his own business experience, and he is absolutely right. What businesses have been asking for is more flexibility on how levy funds are used. I am pleased that we can deliver that today. It means businesses can transfer their unspent levy funds down the supply chain easily, in bulk, to small and medium-sized companies. We are going to create a matching service for that to happen, and we are also going to allow employers, in certain industries at first, to front-load some of their training funding, which is what they also wanted. Those obviously will be funded by the Government—all those changes that happen as a result of our getting less in the levy funding—but we think they are the right thing to do. They will support business and support apprenticeships, and he is right to raise it.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

The focus on the NHS and infrastructure is welcome. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn is on the frontline of dealing with covid, and it is 40 years old but was built to last only 30 years. Will my right hon. Friend look seriously at the compelling case for QEH to be one of the eight additional hospitals to be built on top of the 40 announced today?

[Rishi Sunak]

I look forward to hearing from my hon. Friend about the plans and the ambitions he has for his local hospital. The Secretary of State for Health will also be interested. My hon. Friend will know how committed we all are to improving our hospitals and having new ones across the UK. There is funding for that today, but I am happy to discuss it further.

Lockdown: Economic Support

James Wild Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

Not least through the eat out to help out scheme, one can see the Chancellor’s support to this sector. Also, VAT was cut from 20% to 5%, and many within the sector have benefited, particularly from the wider universal package of schemes such as the furlough scheme. The exact health advice, as I said to my right hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes), is a matter for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. I will relay the hon. Gentleman’s concerns to him, but this is driven by the epidemiology and the health data; it is not a question of the Treasury acting arbitrarily, as he says.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

The Government’s financial support has included the very welcome £200 million for hospices. However, the Norfolk Hospice in my constituency has warned that the national restrictions and the closure of charity shops will result in a loss of income of £100,000, so will my right hon. Friend ensure that when the Care Minister meets the sector tomorrow, a package of urgent support can be put in place for hospices, their patients and their families?

[Steve Barclay]

My hon. Friend raises an issue that unites the House. The huge value of the work done by the hospice movement was recognised as part of the package of measures put in place by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor, with £750 million of support for the charity sector and with the hospice movement being specifically identified. I am happy to continue working with my hon. Friend as we work together, and we recognise the importance of that sector.

Covid-19: Economy Update

James Wild Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I am pleased to tell the hon. Lady that the tier 2 grants that I announced today will be backdated, so that her businesses and local authority will receive funding that is backdated to when they entered tier 2 restrictions. I think those grants worth up to £2,000 over a month will be of enormous support to businesses in her constituency, at what I appreciate is a difficult time.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

Although Norfolk remains in tier 1, the additional support for hospitality, tourism and other businesses is welcome. As well as the short-term measures in this plan for jobs, looking longer term, will my right hon. Friend bring forward proposals in the spending review for tourism zones, including one for Norfolk and Suffolk? Will he accelerate the roll-out of gigabit broadband for businesses in North West Norfolk, so that they benefit sooner from greater connectivity?

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend regularly reminds us all about the importance of digital connectivity in rural areas such as his, and indeed mine, and he will know, as I do, that the Government are committed to bringing both gigabit-capable broadband and mobile phone networks to all the parts of our country that otherwise might not have as strong connectivity as they would like. I know he will join me in welcoming that, as it will make an enormous difference to the local economy in his and other rural areas.

Future Relationship with the EU

James Wild Excerpts

Tuesday 9th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The best way to protect the Belfast/Good Friday agreement and to implement the protocol is to take a pragmatic approach that always has at its forefront jobs and the economy in Northern Ireland. That is why it is our policy that there should be no new procedures, no new customs infrastructure and no tariffs on internal UK trade, and that remains our policy.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that even the five months that Monsieur Barnier talked about on Friday for finalising legal texts on an agreement on the level playing field, fisheries and other matters is possible, provided that the agreement reflects the fact that we have left the EU? Is not what is needed here the flexibility in the EU mandate that we saw when the Prime Minister successfully renegotiated the withdrawal agreement?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I agree with my hon. Friend wholeheartedly. Remember, we are not starting from scratch; there are many precedents and it is perfectly possible for us to make progress. I sincerely hope we do so.