Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[David Mundell]

It is not clear what the SNP understands in relation to fiscal matters, but I agree at least with the new hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Tommy Sheppard) that fiscal autonomy for Scotland would be “a disaster”.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

3. What recent discussions he has had with business groups in Scotland.

[The Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise (Anna Soubry)]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and other UK Ministers and officials meet business groups in Scotland regularly. I am pleased to say that one of my first visits in my new role will be to Aberdeen.

[John Howell]

The UK Government are committed to reducing the burden of red tape on businesses. The Scottish Government have some powers in this area. Is it not a good idea for them both to work together to reduce the burden of regulation on businesses full stop?

Recall of MPs Bill

John Howell Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

This is very difficult, because we are necessarily debating what the circumstances would be, but I have been struck by speeches arguing for amending the Bill on the basis that it will all be all right on the night. Well, legislation is not like that. Legislation is like writing a contract; if we write a contract with somebody—in this case with the electorate—we have to know how it will be used and what will happen when it starts to go wrong. It seems to me that at the moment the defences against those potential problems are not there in the alternative Bill proposed.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

Surely the evidence my right hon. Friend is looking for is in the bit of the Bill that is covered by the amendments. I have not been e-mailed by a single member of the public who is not also a member of 38 Degrees.

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend will recall that I am not enamoured of 38 Degrees, but it is interesting to make that distinction.

My hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park and his colleagues have constructed the proposition that one must physically go to one of four places in a constituency in order to disempower 38 Degrees and those who would try to create petitions on an online basis. If we start down this path, that is where the pressure will come. People will say, “In this modern age we should not be dependent on physically having to go somewhere”, in the same way that they blithely talk about electronic voting and so on. It will rapidly get to the point where it is not about visiting particular physical locations but about generating large numbers of electronic signatures on online petitions. Then we will see a substantial change in the relationship between Members of this House and their constituents.

I have no problem with the idea that I should engage fully with my constituents and listen to them. In practice, we have moved subtly in that direction. Anybody who cares to remember, as I can, the debate in 2003 before the invasion of Iraq and the debate that took place last year on the intervention in Syria will recognise that last year more Members were responding in short order to substantial online representations, in larger numbers, from their constituents. In 2003, I got a very large number of letters, but they were actual letters, and overwhelmingly individual, not template, letters. A lot of Members felt burdened by the weight of opinion that was coming to them on the Syria vote.

Ukraine (Flight MH17) and Gaza

John Howell Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I do not accept that we have done nothing. Britain is one of the largest donors to the Palestinian Authority, and we repeatedly meet and work with the Palestinian leadership. We have been staunch in our view that the settlement activity is illegal, and we have done a huge amount to try to bring about a two-state solution. But in the end, we cannot want it to happen more than the parties themselves want it to happen. They need to negotiate.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

The Prime Minister is right to highlight Hamas’s refusal to end rocket attacks as a fundamental block on ending the conflict. All international efforts to broker a ceasefire have failed. What will it take to bring Hamas back to the table?

Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I cannot fail but to bear it in mind, having visited my hon. Friend’s constituency—he brought a stellar delegation of local businesses and civic leaders to make precisely that point. I received it loud and clear and look forward to the negotiations of the growth deal.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

3. What discussions he has had with the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership on devolving powers and responsibilities to that partnership.

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Greg Clark)]

I was in Oxfordshire on 30 January to launch the Oxford and Oxfordshire city deal, where I visited the Diamond synchrotron particle accelerator at Harwell. The city deal in Oxfordshire supports innovation through projects as well as investment in skills and transport improvements. I am delighted to see that the latest draft of the growth deal is going to reflect the comments made by my hon. Friend’s distinguished predecessor, the former Member of Parliament for Henley, Lord Heseltine.

[John Howell]

It will come as no surprise to my right hon. Friend the Minister that the Oxfordshire LEP has tried to contact me for the very first time in the last couple of days in view of my question. Notwithstanding that, will he join me in urging it to do more than simply talk and to turn a blank area on the map into something a little more active?

[Greg Clark]

I would say to all local enterprise partnerships that they should engage with their Members of Parliament. My view is that MPs have a pretty keen view as to what are the economic priorities of their areas and LEPs would do well to take into account what they have to say. I think it would be almost as unwise to ignore my hon. Friend’s comments as it would be not to take into account the views of his neighbour, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron).

Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Wednesday 12th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

The position on bankers’ bonuses is entirely clear. In respect of the banks in which the Government have a shareholding, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has already said that there will be no cash bonuses of more than £2,000 at RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, and that the Government will veto any proposals to increase overall pay—that is, pay and bonus bills—at RBS.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

2. What recent assessment he has made of employment trends in Wales.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Stephen Crabb)]

Our long-term economic plan is working, and it is working for Wales. The economy is growing, and there have never been more people in work in Wales as unemployment continues to fall. I want to see all parts of Wales share in that positive trend.

[John Howell]

Can the Minister confirm that, because of the difficult decisions the Government have made, Wales has seen a larger fall in the rate of economic inactivity than any other UK nation?

Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has asked the Low Pay Commission precisely the question about the merits and the economic knock-on effects of increasing the minimum wage by a higher rate than in the past. That is what the Low Pay Commission is about and why we have asked that question. We have asked that question; it was not asked by the Labour Government.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

6. What recent discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues on the role of decentralisation in the implementation of the Heseltine review.

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

7. What progress he has made on implementing the recommendations of the Heseltine review.

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Greg Clark)]

The Government published its response to Lord Heseltine’s report in March 2013. We accepted its proposition that more funding and powers, currently held centrally, should be available at local level. Some £2 billion a year has been taken from central Government Departments and is available for that purpose. I look forward to assessing proposals during the weeks ahead.

[John Howell]

Decentralisation, as outlined by my noble predecessor’s review, can help to promote private sector business. In this context, what progress is my right hon. Friend making with the Oxfordshire growth deal?

[Greg Clark]

I am delighted to say that there has been very good progress. A city deal for the city of Oxford and the surrounding area is being negotiated and we hope to complete it shortly. I will meet the representatives of Oxfordshire to go further than that by devolving more power and resources to the county to further private sector growth.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Wednesday 5th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Letwin]

I certainly do not want to get into any partisan repartee across the Dispatch Box on a matter that ought to command considerable cross-party agreement and support. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the remarks he has made on the record in the past about supporting the principle of regulating lobbying. I should, however, point out that his party was in government for a very long period during the whole of which issues were raised about this subject and at no time did that Government issue a paper or consult on it, or move towards serious regulation of it. If he feels that this should have been done immediately, the question arises of why it was not done from 1997 onwards. To help him, the answer is, of course, that it is an extremely complicated and difficult subject, which is why the Select Committee and respondents to the consultation had many things to say. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will, on mature reflection, agree that we should consider this in an unpartisan spirit and try to get it right.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

2. How much money was saved as a result of his Department’s cross-Whitehall spending controls in 2012.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)]

To deal with the enormous budget deficit that the coalition Government inherited from the Labour party opposite, in the days after the general election in May 2010 we introduced tough new spending controls. In the year to March 2012, those controls helped to save the taxpayer no less than £5.5 billion, on top of the £3.75 billion that we saved the year before.

[John Howell]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on those figures and ask him whether he agrees that this shows just how wasteful spending was under the previous Government.

[Mr Maude]

I am afraid that that is the case. It was open to the Leader of the Opposition, when he sat in my position in the Cabinet Office, to introduce the same kind of controls, but it is very unglamorous hard work; one needs to get into the detail. It is a pity that he did not do it; if he had done, we would not be in quite the fiscal mess that the coalition Government inherited two years ago.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Wednesday 12th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

2. What discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues on inward investment in Wales.

[The Secretary of State for Wales (Mrs Cheryl Gillan)]

I am keen to attract more inward investment to Wales, as that is crucial to the recovery of the Welsh economy. I am working closely with ministerial colleagues, the Welsh Government and business to create an environment where companies choose to come to invest. One of our best adverts for Wales is our fantastic Welsh rugby team, and we all wish them well for their game at the weekend. They are a powerful advert for inward investment in Wales.

[John Howell]

Inward investment can be materially helped through enterprise zones. Does my right hon. Friend therefore regret the Welsh Administration’s delay of six months in making a decision on enterprise zones?

[Mrs Gillan]

My hon. Friend is right, and echoes what I have said on many occasions. I work as closely as I can with the Welsh Government and I encouraged them to introduce enterprise zones, but we had six months of wasted opportunities. There is every indication that the enterprise zones might look similar to those that have been announced across the border in England. Two tranches have been announced in England and just the one in Wales, but I am delighted that the Welsh Government have finally announced enterprise zones for Welsh businesses.

Public Confidence in the Media and Police

John Howell Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Edward Miliband]

Who is next, Mr Speaker? I give way to the hon. Gentleman.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

I have been listening to the passion with which the right hon. Gentleman has been making his case, but if that passion for reform really is there, can he tell me why the previous Government did nothing but talk between 2002 and 2007 about reform of the Press Complaints Commission?

[Edward Miliband]

The hon. Gentleman is completely right that we did not do enough and we should have done more. I am absolutely clear about this. Of course this was a collective failure on both sides of the House—[Hon. Members: “Ah!”] I do not know why hon. Members say, “Ah.” I take our responsibility for this—of course that is right. Part of what is required is that we all account for our actions. That is absolutely right.

Open Public Services White Paper

John Howell Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Letwin]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Consumers, patients, pupils and all the other users of services cannot possibly be expected to make the choices we are going to enable them to make on an informed basis unless there are standardised data. That is why we are going to produce standardised satisfaction data in each public service so—[Interruption.] Yes, so people can see what is being provided and how happy, or unhappy, people are with the results. For example, patient-reported outcomes in the NHS are a vital component in patients making choices about where to go for their treatment, but information on that has been lagging for years. I know the previous Government were in principle in favour of that, but we will now bring them into action across the public services, as well as objective data in standardised form.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

May I refer back to the question of my right hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Mr Dorrell)? I used to advise the Gorbachev Government on glasnost and perestroika, and what was missing then was innovation from the grass roots up. Will my right hon. Friend the Minister therefore say a little more about the extent of the innovation that he is expecting to come from this?

[Mr Letwin]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that there is no point in a system that does not allow genuine innovation. My hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth West (Conor Burns) rightly made it clear in a previous question that the recent productivity record of the public services has been lamentable; their productivity has not increased commensurately with the increase in investment. Part of the reason for that is lack of innovation. In the most effective services across the world, there is continuous innovation, and that often comes from new small entrants. That is why the thrust of the White Paper is to promote and enlarge the scope for new entrants with new ideas to create innovations and more productive methods of doing things, which will, of course, result in the public’s money being used better in providing the services people want.