Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Luciana Berger and Lord Maude of Horsham

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

T3. The Government came to power promising a bonfire of the quangos. Will the Minister confirm, however, that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 creates more quangos than the Public Bodies Act 2011 abolished?

[Mr Maude]

No, Sir.

Party Funding

Debate between Luciana Berger and Lord Maude of Horsham

Monday 26th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. For the avoidance of doubt, explicit instructions of that nature had been given.

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

Can the Minister explain how Mr Cruddas knew about the change to the 50p rate of tax before this House did?

[Mr Maude]

I imagine he knew no more than everybody else who bought a daily newspaper.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Luciana Berger and Lord Maude of Horsham

Wednesday 8th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

9. What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of new suppliers to Government working groups in making it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to bid for Government contracts.

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

We want 25% of the value of Government contracts to be awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises, and we have made significant progress towards that. This has so far led to a more than doubling in the amount of direct spend awarded to SMEs in the first half of the current year.

[Mr Maude]

I fully accept that it will take a little time to get things fully sorted out following the mess left after 13 years of the hon. Lady’s Government, so rather than chiding us for the progress that we are making why does she not congratulate us on our progress and start apologising for the mess her Government left behind?

[Luciana Berger]

Further to the Minister’s answer, the leader of one of the Government’s own working groups, Mark Taylor, who is the chief executive officer of Sirius, has said:

“There are SMEs being taken out of procurement, not put into it.”

He said that that is “simply not acceptable.” Are not Government policies, as Mr Taylor points out, making it more difficult for SMEs to take part in Government procurement projects, rather than easier?

[Mr Maude]

No, that is the reverse of the truth. The arrangements we inherited made it incredibly difficult for SMEs to bid, because the procurement processes were so bureaucratic, so clunky and so expensive, both for the taxpayer and for bidders, that many SMEs and voluntary and community sector organisations were, in effect, excluded. We are addressing that. There is more to do, but I would be grateful for some support from the hon. Lady’s side, particularly in encouraging Labour-led local authorities.