G8 and NATO Summits

Julian Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd May 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman, who has great knowledge of these things, makes a series of sensible suggestions and we should look carefully at them. Let me again commend Secretary-General Rasmussen for what he has done in reforming the huge number of command posts and headquarters posts in NATO. I suspect that there is more to be done on that front, as well.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

Currently, Britain has only some 3% of the European market in services. Can the Prime Minister confirm just how important completing the services market is for British services?

[The Prime Minister]

On completing the single markets in digital, in services and in energy, each of them can add, I believe, more than a percentage point on European GDP. The services market is particularly important because it is an area that Britain excels at—not just financial services but everything, including construction and architecture. On opening up services in other countries, a number of countries are currently in breach of their undertakings, so the pressure for this, particularly in countries such as Germany, should be very great.

European Council

Julian Smith Excerpts

Monday 5th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think it will: I think completing the energy single market is good for jobs and good for growth. It is just disappointing that the Opposition have tabled motions on low carbon, and then they reduce carbon even further by sitting in their offices.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

I welcome the announcement on micro-exemptions, but will this focus on the existing stock of rules and regulations or just the flow of new ones?

[The Prime Minister]

The moratorium does what it says on the tin: it is intended to stop the further flow of regulations. I hope the sector-by-sector analysis will start to look at the stock of regulations. Part of the problem with the way the EU works is that when the Environment Ministers all get together they think about the environment but not about the costs, and when the Social Affairs Ministers get to together they think about social affairs but not about the costs. We have to get all these groups of Ministers to focus on the cost to business of what they agree to, and this is an early start down that path.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 8th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are doing everything we can to get this man out of the country. The absolutely key thing is to get an agreement with Jordan about the way he will be treated, because the European Court of Human Rights has made a very clear judgment. I happen to think it is the wrong judgment, and I regret that judgment. This guy should have been deported years ago. Nevertheless, if we can get that agreement with Jordan, he can be on his way.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

Q8. Complex employment law makes small businesses nervous about hiring new staff. Does the Prime Minister agree that we need a simpler alternative for our smallest firms on dismissal rules?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. If every small business in the country hired an additional worker, that would go a long way to curing both long-term youth unemployment and total unemployment at one stroke. We have got to make it easier for businesses to take people on. One of the key considerations for businesses is how difficult it is to let someone go if it does not work out. That is why extending to two years the amount of time that someone has to work before they get access to a tribunal will make a real difference in small business employment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 12th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

I am sure that, like me, the hon. Gentleman will welcome today’s announcement of sector-based work academies. That will apply to the whole United Kingdom, including Wales. It will give young jobseekers the tools that they need to find employment more easily.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

6. What recent discussions she has had on promoting economic growth in Wales.

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

I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues, the Welsh Government and other organisations on promoting economic growth in Wales. My business advisory group is meeting for the fourth time later this month. We discuss a wide range of issues affecting the Welsh economy, and that is fed into the Prime Minister’s own business advisory group.

[Julian Smith]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Does she agree that as well as exempting small businesses in Wales and the rest of the UK from domestic regulation, the Government must continue their radical approach to reducing red tape and regulation from Brussels?

[Mrs Gillan]

I agree with my hon. Friend. It is extremely important in this day and age, when we are up against such huge economic barriers, that we ensure that it is easy for businesses to start up and thrive in the UK, so that the UK becomes the best place to do business.

European Council

Julian Smith Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The issues of Sudan were not discussed at the European Council itself, but they will be discussed at the Foreign Affairs Council that is coming up soon. I raised the issue of Sudan with Premier Wen today, because of the close relationship between China and northern Sudan. It is important that the terms of the comprehensive peace agreement are properly stuck to and that we deliver that and the two-state solution that is being put in place, in which Britain has played a constructive part.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

May I welcome the commitment to exclude micro-businesses from EU regulations and urge the Prime Minister to continue his campaign to free up British risk-takers from Brussels’ red tape?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. As I said in my statement, so often at European Councils the Commission comes along with a list of things that countries should do, but does not ask enough, “What can we, the Commission, do to encourage deregulation and growth?” From 1998 to 2010, I think that 69% of new regulations came from Brussels. Clearly, Brussels needs to play its part in trying to exempt small businesses from at least some of those regulations. I shall keep pushing this agenda and I find growing support for it around the table at the Council of Ministers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 27th April 2011 Commons Chamber

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to increase access to Government contracts for small and medium-sized enterprises.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

6. What steps he is taking to increase access to Government contracts for small and medium-sized enterprises.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

7. What steps he is taking to increase access to Government contracts for small and medium-sized enterprises.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Maude]

My hon. Friend makes the point very well. All the measures that we are taking to enable small and medium-sized businesses to participate more fully in Government contracts will, of course, apply to the voluntary and charitable sector as well. Indeed, it is estimated that 35% to 40% of the value of the contracts recently awarded under the Department for Work and Pensions Work programme will go to organisations from the voluntary and charitable sector. We believe that that will be worth in excess of £100 million a year.

[Julian Smith]

Will the Minister take this opportunity to name and shame those Government Departments that are doing well in opening up to small businesses and those that are currently doing less well?

[Mr Maude]

I certainly do not want to shame the ones that are doing well. We have found a number of examples of procurement processes that are not meeting the new requirements. For example, Durham police recently issued an invitation to tender for a £50,000 leadership training contract. The pre-qualification questionnaire alone was 38 pages long and contained a request for 163 separate items of information plus a security vetting form. That is unacceptable, because it causes many smaller businesses to lose the will to live, and they simply do not apply.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Maude]

We are moving down the path of freeing up My Civil Service Pension so that it can administer in the most efficient way civil service pensions to the 1.5 million members who are dependent on them. We are exploring different ways in which that might be configured, but crucially, employees will have a meaningful stake in that entity going forward.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

T2. Fifty business leaders have got together to offer free mentoring advice to small and new business start-ups in my constituency. Will the big society Minister meet me to see how we can roll out that initiative beyond north Yorkshire?

Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis (Northampton North) (Con)]

5. What plans he has to encourage opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises to apply for Government contracts.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

12. What plans he has to increase engagement of small businesses in public procurement processes.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

14. What plans he has to encourage opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises to apply for Government contracts.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Letwin]

The short answer is yes—and abundantly so. The measures I just described are intended to do that. In addition, we are looking at the causes of delay in the procurement process because, as was mentioned earlier, that is often part of the problem. We are also requiring suppliers to pay their subcontractors within 30 days, and encouraging them to pass those payments right down the line to the smallest businesses.

[Julian Smith]

These are great measures for small business, but may I impress upon the ministerial team the need to move forward with them now, because British small business is desperate for access to these contracts? So—please, please, please—get on with it now.

[Mr Letwin]

I am happy to be able to tell my hon. Friend that that is precisely what we are doing. That is why we are publishing every contract for tender of over £10,000 on a website, enabling people to see the opportunities. It is also why we have put in every Department’s business plan the requirement to report on the percentage by value of contracts they have let to small and medium-sized enterprises. We shall measure the extent to which Departments fulfil that requirement. [Interruption.]

G20 Summit

Julian Smith Excerpts

Monday 15th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We do work hard to try to deal with the issue of tax havens, because every pound not paid in tax to the UK is a pound that we have to raise from somewhere else, and we have been working hard on that agenda. We have just done a very good agreement with Switzerland, and that will result in a huge amount of extra tax revenue being collected.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

May I congratulate the Prime Minister on the billions of pounds’ worth of deals done on his recent trip? Will he pay tribute to UK Trade & Investment’s role and please ensure that it keeps replicating that improved performance for British business and, particularly, Yorkshire business over the coming months?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right to speak up for UKTI. It does an incredibly important job linking British businesses with businesses the world over. One of the things that I have found in the past is that, while other Ministers visiting this country have always had a very clear list of the bilateral deals on which they have wanted to see progress and action, we in this country have not been as good at that. It is about time that we were, and I am making sure that that happens.

Departmental Business Plans

Julian Smith Excerpts

Monday 8th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Letwin]

The first thing that I should say is that the Government have not made any such announcement; the Government accept the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast about the net effect on public sector employment. That does not mean anything like that number of current employees losing their jobs—nothing of the kind. Secondly, of course, had this initiative been introduced now by a Labour Government —to judge by what the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr Byrne) said it might have been, and that is a delightful prospect—it would have been accompanied by various things. Large numbers of consultants would have been hired to set up complicated websites and there would have been large reviews, huge expenditure and so on—and probably great expenditure on advertising. The total that we have spent on this exercise to date is zero. We have not employed a single consultant, we are constructing the websites ourselves and we are not advertising, because we are a Government and not a magazine.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

Let me invoke the spirit of “Dragons’ Den” and ask my right hon. Friend which Department has done the best business plan?

[Mr Letwin]

I value far too highly my relationships with my colleagues to give any answer to my hon. Friend. All the business plans are excellent.

Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 20th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

2. What steps he has taken to increase the efficiency of his Department’s mechanisms for Government procurement.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

8. What steps he has taken to increase the efficiency of his Department’s mechanisms for Government procurement.

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

Procurements of major projects by the British Government have typically taken 77 weeks. They have frequently involved the extensive use of external consultants. That process is costly and wasteful, excluding small businesses, social enterprises, and voluntary and charitable organisations. That results in procurements that are too often uncompetitive, delayed, expensive and ineffective. We are taking steps to streamline the process. In the meantime, we are renegotiating contracts with the bigger suppliers to the Government on a single-customer basis, thus leveraging the Government’s buying power. That will deliver some £800 million-worth of savings in this financial year alone.

[Mr Maude]

If the last Government, including the right hon. Gentleman, had bothered to spend the time that we are spending getting into the unglamorous parts of Government spending to find out just how much money can be saved, he might not have felt it necessary to leave a note in quite the stark terms that he did, true though it was. The fact is that there is a huge amount of wasteful spending. Sir Philip Green has done a sterling service in picking up some stones and providing the evidence for that, and we will be acting on his recommendations to see how we can take costs out of the overheads of Government. That is the best way to protect front-line services and to protect the jobs of dedicated public servants, which the right hon. Gentleman claims to care about.

[Julian Smith]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that small business has been locked out of the procurement process for far too long? Will he start to give small businesses, particularly those in Yorkshire, a fairer crack of the whip?

[Mr Maude]

A big benefit arising from the changes that we are proposing to make to the way in which services are procured is that they will open the door to smaller businesses. Over-prescriptive procurements make it very expensive for small businesses to take the risk of committing to tendering, and they tend to be excluded on a self-selecting basis. We want to change that. It is our aspiration that 25% of contracts should be let with small and medium-sized enterprises. That is the direction in which we hope to go, and I am sure that my hon. Friend’s constituents in Yorkshire will take full advantage of it.