Financial Services

John Howell Excerpts

Wednesday 6th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. He will know that there is a long-established culture of very high fines in the US. Fines in this country have increased markedly in recent years, although none of the institutions subject to FSA fines in recent months would regard them as anything other than exacting. It is right for us to follow the practice of other jurisdictions, including the US, in having a more explicit criminal code. Our amendments to the Financial Services Act 2012 mean that criminal sanctions explicitly for the manipulation of benchmarks are available that were not there in the past. It is right to take what the hon. Gentleman says seriously and strengthen our enforcement powers, and we are doing that through the legislation that has been passed.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for the tough and swift action that he has taken on this matter, but I have a more general question about the culture change that will be required. The extent of the culture change seems to be enormous. Why does he have confidence that it is achievable?

[Greg Clark]

There are a number of reasons why I think it is achievable. The first is the contribution that regulation can make. As Members have said, it is important to have a more exacting set of regulatory standards that are intolerant of the kinds of abuses that have taken place. Secondly, it is in the commercial and strategic interests of banks to restore the reputation that they used to have for trust. Financial services depend on trust. If people do not trust the banks, they will not do business with them. I think the penny has dropped across the City, and most of the new generation of chief executives understand the connection between their future profitability and performance, and the need to provide decent services to their customers.

The third reason is a matter being investigated by the Treasury Committee and concerns a failure or subversion of the culture of banking. Banking was always associated with high standards of probity; it was a vocation for people who were thought to be of a rather conservative disposition and inclined not to take excessive risks. That was subverted by exposure to some of the practices of recent years, and because that was inadequately regulated it distorted what should be the right culture in the industry. We need to make changes to all three of those areas, and that is precisely what we have done and what we have embarked on for the rest of the Parliament.

Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill

John Howell Excerpts

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

That is not my understanding of the position. In 2010, we added a little more than £2 billion in every year of the spending review to the capital headline figures set out by the previous Government. We added to that further in last year’s autumn statement by switching some money from current spending to capital spending, precisely because of the value that we ascribe to infrastructure projects.

In addition to the CBI, the proposals are supported by the British Chambers of Commerce, which said:

“Business will appreciate the pace with which the government is moving to put its new housing and infrastructure guarantees in place”.

They are supported by the National Housing Federation, which speaks for registered social landlords in this country. It said:

“This can play an important role in helping reduce development risk, boost returns and attract investors once the development is complete.”

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

I wonder whether my right hon. Friend has seen the survey that was published today by the CBI and KPMG, which shows that 97% of business leaders see the planning system as a big turn-off to allowing infrastructure to go forward.

[Danny Alexander]

I did see that survey. I note that it was conducted before the Government announced the guarantees plan. However, a subsequent snap-shot poll showed a widespread welcome from the business community for the Bill. My hon. Friend will know that we have made significant changes to the planning system, including in the announcements last week, that relate directly to the threshold for infrastructure projects. Those will allow more projects of a slightly smaller scale to go through the national process, rather than getting tied up in local processes.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Tuesday 24th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern—he has raised this matter on behalf of his constituents a number of times. The Treasury and HMRC are always seeking to improve the system. It is in a better place than it was four or five years ago, but none the less, there are still issues. I constantly tell HMRC that we need to find ways to address problems when information is provided but not taken up and used.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

4. What progress he has made on implementation of the national infrastructure plan 2011.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

Work on the implementation of the national infrastructure plan is now under way across Government, led by the Treasury. This month, for example, the Government have approved High Speed 2 to Birmingham and are working to resolve radar interference issues that are holding up wind farm developments. We will update the House on progress at the Budget on 21 March.

[John Howell]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the national infrastructure plan is welcome and timely because it is about real investment in our infrastructure and because it shows that the Government are thinking for the long term, both of which will encourage co-investment in those projects?

[Danny Alexander]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The national infrastructure plan sets out a medium-term plan for £250 billion of much needed investment in this country’s infrastructure. Alongside that, we brought forward plans at the autumn statement for £6 billion of further investment in capital projects in this Parliament and announced a scheme working with pension funds to get £20 billion-worth of pension fund investment into infrastructure. Those are all the right things to ensure that in the long term, we rebalance our economy and make our infrastructure stronger.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Tuesday 1st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

Clearly the news from Haverhill is very encouraging, and I am delighted to hear it. I agree with my hon. Friend’s comment; it is striking that youth unemployment started increasing in 2004, at a time when the economy appeared to be in good shape.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

14. What recent representations he has received from the IMF and the OECD on UK economic policy.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Mark Hoban)]

The International Monetary Fund and the OECD regularly hold frank bilateral discussions with each member country. When Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, visited London in September, she stated:

“In the United Kingdom strong fiscal consolidation is essential to restore debt sustainability, given the UK’s very high structural budget deficit and large financial sector relative to GDP.”

Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the OECD, said yesterday of the UK:

“You were successful. You cleared the markets. The package was credible…The markets never discuss the quality of the rating of the UK.”

That is a consequence of the actions this Government have taken to tackle the mess left behind by the previous Government.

[John Howell]

I thank the Minister for that reply, but what advice has he been given on the consequences of our failing to pay our IMF subscription?

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend asks a very good question. It is a sad indictment of the state of today’s Labour party that it voted against the increase in the IMF subscription negotiated by the—

Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Tuesday 8th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

5. What assessment he has made of recent trends in the size of the structural deficit.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

11. What assessment he has made of recent trends in the size of the structural deficit.

--- Later in debate ---

[Danny Alexander]

That is a very good question. The previous Government were running a structural deficit from 2001-02, with a structural deficit of 2.6% in 2007-08, the largest, as the hon. Gentleman says, in the G7 in 2007. They were deficit deniers then, they are deficit deniers now, and that is why they have no answers to the problems of our country today.

[John Howell]

My right hon. Friend will be aware that Tony Blair has said that

“from 2005 onwards Labour was insufficiently vigorous in limiting or eliminating the potential structural deficit”.

How would my right hon. Friend assess the effect of that failure on the current trend in the structural deficit?

[Danny Alexander]

Clearly, we as a Government are having to clear up the enormous mess that the previous Government left. That is why we have had to embark on some very difficult decisions on public spending and, indeed, taxation, but it is just worth listening to the OECD, which states that

“the UK was unique in its need for fiscal consolidation, because the deficit had gone completely out of control.

Crown Currency Exchange

John Howell Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt]

I hope so, because so many people were taken in by the idea that they had some security, and Barclays probably should have done something. I understand that there was a meeting between one or two company directors and their bankers, Barclays, on 21 July, and that there were concerns at the time about the company’s solvency, yet for some months afterwards people still tried to put their money into the company, without any results.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree with a constituent of mine, who wrote to me to say:

“I think everyone would agree that if one is registered with the FSA it implies that that actually means something—it didn’t”?

[Tessa Munt]

Absolutely. Alarmingly, the FSA website states:

“We keep an up-to-date record of all FSA-regulated firms, bodies and individuals doing business in the UK. Our register is available to the public, so you can search for more information on all of our authorised firms.”

The problem is that the FSA seems to use “registered”, “regulated” and “authorised” almost conversationally, but in legal terms those definitions should not be bandied around on its website in such a way.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Howell Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)]

7. What steps his Department is taking in respect of payment of compensation to Equitable Life policyholders.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

9. What steps his Department is taking in respect of payment of compensation to Equitable Life policyholders.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

15. What steps his Department is taking in respect of payment of compensation to Equitable Life policyholders.

--- Later in debate ---

[John Howell]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his previous answer, but he will be aware that many of us have had to put in place our own means of keeping constituents who have got caught up in Equitable informed of what is happening, so poor has been the Government communication programme. So will he say a little more about his plans to keep that group of people informed as the payment scheme goes through?

[Mr Gauke]

I suspect that one of the reasons why the previous Government were so poor in communicating progress was that there was very little progress to communicate. As I mentioned earlier, we are keen to ensure that there will be progress, that we have the independent commission in July, and that we will have the conclusions of Sir John Chadwick’s report; we intend to make progress there. I hope that we will have more information to give my hon. Friend in mid-July. This is a matter that has caused enormous anxiety for many people, and it is right that we keep people up to date with exactly what progress we are making.