Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Charlie Elphicke

Monday 14th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

First, we should all recognise that social mobility is a long-standing generational challenge that will not be fixed overnight. It has been present in our country for many decades. In the end, the route out of poverty is to have a strong economy, coupled with strong productivity. That is why the education agenda is not just about allowing people to reach their potential, but about enabling our country and our economy to do the same.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

Parents in Dover and Deal want the choice of social mobility, with new grammar schools and new faith-based schools. They also want to thank the Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills for his dogged support of higher and further education in east Kent.

New Grammar Schools

Debate between Justine Greening and Charlie Elphicke

Thursday 8th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I am grateful for that question. I would be happy to sit down with the hon. Lady to discuss that matter further. It is incredibly important that we not only raise attainment across the board but leave no child out of the progress that we are seeing in our schools.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

Parents in Dover, Deal and Kent as a whole see grammar schools and faith-based schools as engines of opportunity and aspiration. If the Government are going to look at having new grammar schools, which I wholly support, will they also look at more faith-based schools and more skills education throughout life to give people the greatest life chances at every stage in their lives?

[Justine Greening]

I agree that it is about choice, about diversity and about having more choice for parents and a school system that means that they can find the school for their child that is tailored to their needs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Charlie Elphicke

Wednesday 17th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I should also say that I send my deepest sympathies to the victims and their families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy in Pakistan. It is unthinkable that so many children could have been caught up, deliberately, in a terrorist act of this nature. I assure the hon. Gentleman that the work the Government are doing is very much aimed at enhancing the protection of children. Only yesterday, I announced support for orphans and children affected by the Ebola crisis, but it is part of a much bigger policy agenda and investment that we undertake to make sure we support children.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

T4. What steps is the Department taking to reduce the number of refugees attempting to flee their home countries?

[Justine Greening]

We rightly use development assistance to build up the institutions and the conditions that minimise the types of conflict, instability and state failure that lead people to becoming refugees and internally displaced in the first place.

Rail Reform

Debate between Justine Greening and Charlie Elphicke

Thursday 8th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is right. We have seen huge increases in passenger demand. What we have heard today is really a battle between the Government Members representing common sense and the Opposition Members, representing the past.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s determination to put the customer first. Does she agree that for too long the railway industry has been imprisoned by provider interest, whether greedy, bank-owned train leasing companies, bonus-hungry managers or dinosaurs and luddites from the trade unions, while the previous Government walked on by? Is it any wonder that our railways are among the most expensive in Europe?

[Justine Greening]

In many respects it has been an impossible situation, and certainly one that cannot continue. We cannot allow £3.5 billion of inefficiency a year to go unchecked and always to be paid for by taxpayers and fare payers. That is what this document and this strategy are all about tackling.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Charlie Elphicke

Thursday 23rd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

To be clear, the commitment in the coalition agreement still stands, but we recognise that maintaining a competitive international hub airport is incredibly important, which is why we have agreed to publish a call for evidence alongside the new aviation policy framework in March.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

May I urge the Secretary of State in considering aircraft capacity to look first at the possibilities of expanding existing airports east of London, rather than building new ones, and at how the lower Thames crossing could assist with infrastructure?

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is right to point out two things. First, we need to look at our transport system as a whole. It is about getting around, and that can involve not only aviation but railways and roads. Secondly, the matter of the hub airport is incredibly important. It is also a medium to long-term issue. We received more than 600 responses to our original scoping document. We are considering those and will take some of them forward in the strategy document we will publish in March.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Charlie Elphicke

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Lady says, “Just do it!”, but she should know that that is simply not legally possible. She fully understands that. The reason that the Opposition are talking about that is that the fuel duty rises that are coming through were legislated for by Labour, so they are desperately looking for something to say about an issue that they themselves created. She knows that her policy on the VAT rise is illegal, totally unworkable and completely unfunded. Labour wants to take seven years to support motorists; we want to see what we can do to support them now.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

Will the Minister tell us by how much duty has risen in recent years, and whether the person who put the duty up is in the House today?

[Justine Greening]

When the Labour Government came to power in 1997, fuel duty was 36.86p per litre. By the time they left office, it had risen to 57.19p per litre. As I am sure my hon. Friend is aware, one of the architects of those tax rises was then the chief economic adviser to the Treasury; he is now the shadow Chancellor.

Fuel Prices and the Cost of Living

Debate between Justine Greening and Charlie Elphicke

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In fact, the EU directive on VAT states:

“Member States may apply either one or two reduced rates…The reduced rates shall apply only to supplies of goods or services in the categories set out in Annex III.”

That annex does not include road fuel, and other amending articles do not permit a reduced rate or exemption to be applied to transport fuel. That in is European Council directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, at article 98 and annex III.

[Charlie Elphicke]

In the light of what my hon. Friend has just said, is not the motion before the House a shamelessly opportunistic preying on the justly held fears of the British people about the cost of fuel?

[Justine Greening]

That is absolutely what it is, and it is something else as well—it is a smokescreen. The Labour party has no plan whatever to tackle the deficit, and this Opposition day debate is all about trying to divert attention from that. It had no plans when it was in government, and it has no plans now it is in opposition.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Charlie Elphicke

Tuesday 13th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

Many people would consider that a bit rich coming from a member of the last Government, given that manufacturing declined at a steeper rate under them than under the previous Conservative Government. We aim to support manufacturing and, indeed, companies throughout our country through a robust and ambitious corporation tax package, through progress on national insurance, and through largely getting rid of the jobs tax that the last Government would have introduced. What we would like to hear from the Opposition is more constructive discussion about how to improve our exports.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

In relation to export growth and other forecasting, will Ministers consider establishing a dynamic tax unit in the Treasury?

[Justine Greening]

One of the reasons why we set up the Office for Budget Responsibility was to ensure far more independent and transparent forecasting in relation to not just exports but all economic indicators. I am sure that over time the OBR will continue to develop that forecasting to make it even more effective. Let us make no mistake: setting up the OBR was a huge step forward in terms not just of transparency, but of robust data on which the public can really rely.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Charlie Elphicke

Tuesday 8th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The previous Government managed to raise a number of children who were just below the poverty line just above it, without tackling the fundamental causes of why they were in that position in the first place. What is particularly depressing is that it is as if nothing has been learned from the experiment of the past 13 years. Clearly, we need to look more broadly, rather than just at giving households in poverty money. We need to help them to get back into work. It has to be wrong that in this country, the marginal tax rates for those in low-income families who are going back to work can be in the 90th percentile range. We would never dream of taxing people who are rich that much, but we tax people who are poor at those rates.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

10. What recent assessment he has made of the level of growth in the UK economy compared with those of other OECD countries.