Oral Answers to Questions

Lindsay Roy Excerpts

Wednesday 25th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con)]

6. What recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive on dealing with the legacy of the past.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

8. What recent discussions he has had on dealing with the legacy of the past.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

10. What recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive on dealing with the legacy of the past.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Paterson]

My hon. Friend is quite right to comment on the HET, whose satisfaction levels have been extraordinarily high, with some 90% of families being either satisfied or very satisfied. I last spoke to the Chief Constable about this a few weeks ago and he was confident that on his current track the HET would complete on time.

[Lindsay Roy]

What discussions has the Secretary of State had with victim and survivor groups, how often has he met the Commission for Victims and Survivors and what have been the positive outcomes?

[Mr Paterson]

As I said in my opening answer, my right hon. Friend the Minister of State and I have met the local parties and numerous groups around Northern Ireland since we came to power, seeking a way forward on the issue of the past. We do not own the past, however. We can help facilitate, but ultimately the solution is very much in local hands and depends on local groups and local parties reaching consensus. Sadly, we have so far not found consensus.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend speaks very powerfully about this issue, which is why a benefit cap is fair. It is also very important to recognise that we are excluding from that benefit cap those entitled to working tax credit, as well as households with someone receiving disability living allowance. As we have always said, there will be a hardship fund, a grace period and a way of helping those families to cope with the cap, and to make sure, where possible, that we actually get people into work. The real shame is that there are so many millions of children who live in households where nobody works—and indeed, that number doubled under the previous Government.

[Lindsay Roy (Glenrothes) (Lab)]

Q9. The Prime Minister has said that it would be “a personal betrayal if banks failed to increase lending to businesses”.Yet last week the Bank of England stated that businesses are still not getting the investment that they need from the banks. Have the banks betrayed the Prime Minister, or has the Prime Minister betrayed businesses?

[The Prime Minister]

What I have done is put in place the Merlin agreement, which actually led to an increase in bank lending last year. What we now have in place is a massive credit easing programme, which the Chancellor announced in the autumn statement, that will kick in this year and make sure that banks are doing what banks ought to do in a free enterprise economy, and lending to businesses large and small.