Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Margot James and Philip Hollobone

Thursday 13th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

T4. What importance does the Minister for Digital and Creative Industries attach to ensuring the digital security and integrity of elections by protecting secret ballots from digital or photographic interference?

[The Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries (Margot James)]

I think I know what has driven my hon. Friend’s question. I should like to take this opportunity if I may to apologise to the chairman of the 1922 committee. He apparently issued a rule about last night’s election, news of which did not reach me. It appears that I may have been in breach. I apologise to my hon. Friend if that is the case.

Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation

Debate between Margot James and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 20th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) for giving me the opportunity to clarify the last point he raised. Obviously private companies are subject to law and regulation. They are subject to the current laws and regulations on corporate governance, which have been strengthened by this Government in the last 18 months. I did not see that as a prime issue for the new centre, but corporations are of course subject to rules on corporate governance and so forth.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

This sounds like a good idea, but we used to have a policy of reducing the number of quangos, so which quango is the Minister getting rid of to establish this new one?

[Margot James]

I thank my hon. Friend for his helpful question. This is being done in response to a new and growing need which perhaps was not anticipated when we established the policy to reduce the overall number of advisory bodies to the Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Margot James and Philip Hollobone

Thursday 21st June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

If we take coverage from at least one provider, we see that 50% of Scotland now has mobile coverage. I accept that that is obviously not enough, but that does provide coverage for indoor voice for at least 90% of Scottish premises. However, we still have a great deal more to do.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

12. What steps he is taking to support hockey in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England.

Mobile Phone Contracts

Debate between Margot James and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 16th January 2018 Westminster Hall

[Margot James]

Although I have not come to a settled view on the matter yet, I agree with the hon. Lady that what has gone on so far—there has been an over-reliance on the mobile phone providers putting their house in order—has not worked to my satisfaction, given that 1 million people are still overpaying.

I am aware that some stakeholders would like to see the end of bundled mobile phone contracts, and want all contracts to be split, with the cost of the handset split out from the cost of services. The pricing of split contracts can be more transparent for consumers than bundled contracts, although split contracts are not without consumer issues. At the moment, providers can make a commercial decision to offer split or bundled contracts, or a choice. A number of mobile phone providers now offer only split contracts and others, such as Tesco Mobile, continue to offer both split and bundled contracts. Other groups, such as EE, Vodafone and Three, offer only bundled contracts. As I said earlier, it is a highly competitive market, in which consumers have a wide degree of choice, including in relation to whether to opt for a bundled or a split contract. However, I accept that when people who are not knowledgeable about the complexities of the market are dealing with a household name that offers only a bundled contract, that is not a great deal of help.

Consumers may choose bundled contracts because they continue to offer good value for money for many consumers. Ofcom research from last March found that such contracts are particularly good value for mobile users with medium to high usage, but such deals can obscure overcharging, as the hon. Lady so ably highlighted. We are therefore prepared to intervene if we deem that to be the only way to resolve this issue. I am committed to preventing people from paying too much by remaining on the same bundled contract after the end of the contract period. No one should continue to pay for a product that they have already paid off. Ofcom, our independent regulator, is continuing to monitor this issue closely. I expect to see movement to address this issue from the mobile operators.

I remind hon. Members that this year the Government will publish a consumer Green Paper, which will explore further ways we can help to protect, support and empower consumers, including those in the mobile communications market. I very much agree with the hon. Lady’s remark before we suspended for all the votes that mobile telephony has become a crucial utility that most people simply cannot do without.

I reiterate my thanks to the hon. Lady for securing this debate, and I thank all hon. Members who contributed to it. I will leave her a few minutes, if she requires them, to make a few closing remarks. Before that, I reaffirm my commitment to work with Ofcom, the mobile providers and organisations such as Citizens Advice to address this issue and broader issues in the telecoms market that consumers face.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

Order. I am afraid it is not in the Minister’s gift to offer the sponsor of the debate a second go during a half-hour debate.

[Margot James]

I apologise for that, Mr Hollobone.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

Apology accepted.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Margot James and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 12th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. When Royal Mail was privatised, Amazon was one of Royal Mail’s biggest customers; Amazon is now one of its biggest competitors. So he is absolutely right. More investment in technology and modernisation is required if Royal Mail is to maintain its market position.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

The posties in Kettering work extremely hard all year round and do a tremendous job, especially at Christmas. What is the value of the average postal worker’s individual stake in Royal Mail?

[Margot James]

I can confirm to my hon. Friend that the workforce own 12% of Royal Mail, which is a fact that the leadership of the Labour party should consider as it contemplates a round of nationalisation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Margot James and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 12th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

I remind the hon. Lady that this Government’s policy is to be outward-facing and achieve the best trade deal possible with the European Union, but we have to bear in mind the concerns of my constituents and hers about immigration. That has to be tackled, and it is no use the Opposition running away from that. They cannot assume that we will be able to remain in the single market indefinitely and address people’s legitimate concerns about immigration.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Average weekly earnings in Kettering are typically 5% below the national average, so anything the Government can do to cut basic levels of tax is particularly important. Does my hon. Friend agree that, because we raised the income tax threshold from £6,500 a year in 2010 to £11,500 a year, basic rate taxpayers typically pay £1,000 a year less in income tax?

[Margot James]

I very much agree with my hon. Friend’s point. I am sorry to hear about the situation with regard to earnings in Kettering, but I am sure that the Government’s commitment to improving skills and our target of 3 million apprenticeship places by 2020 will help the people of Kettering, as they will help people all over the country.

Taylor Review: Working Practices

Debate between Margot James and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 11th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

I assure the hon. Lady that no bar was put in front of Matthew Taylor; he was able to investigate as freely and as fairly as he saw fit. It is up to the Treasury to assess the tax situation and any potential loss of revenue, which of course arises due to bogus self-employment.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

To contrast the previous question, will my hon. Friend join me in recognising one of the key findings of the review: thanks to the Government’s tax policies, once tax levels and tax credits are taken into account, average take-home pay for families with at least one member in full-time employment is higher in the UK than in any other G7 country?

[Margot James]

I commend my hon. Friend for bringing that important fact to the notice of the House.

Nuclear Decommissioning Industry: Pensions

Debate between Margot James and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 21st March 2017 Westminster Hall

[Margot James]

I understand that point, which the hon. Lady also made in her speech and which I took note of. I gather that she wrote to the Secretary of State about that very point in early February and is still awaiting a reply. A reply will be forthcoming. I am very sorry that I am not able to be definitive today, but I can assure her that Ministers in my Department take her point and the point made by the hon. Member for Ynys Môn very seriously indeed. We are listening to the concerns of the workforce she represents, and, as I said, my hon. Friend the Energy Minister is in discussion with the Treasury to try to clarify the point, so that the workforce know where they stand. I absolutely sympathise with a workforce who do not know where they stand—it is an unsatisfactory situation, but I assure her that it is one that is approaching a remedy.

We recognise that nuclear decommissioning is a closure industry and many workers have devoted careers to the industry knowing that their sites may close before they retire. We are actively exploring the potential impact of the cap on workforces at sites that are being actively decommissioned and are on the path to closure, such as Hunterston A in the hon. Lady’s constituency. I will pass all hon. Members’ comments on to my hon. Friend the Energy Minister.

Once the consultation period on the pension issue has finished, the NDA will take account of the consultation responses and make proposals for Ministers to consider after that. The Government will not take a final decision before the consultation has concluded. However, we believe that the revised CARE proposal offers a fair and sustainable solution.

As the debate draws to a close—the hon. Lady will have a further say—

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

Order. I am afraid that the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Patricia Gibson) does not have a further say as this is a half-hour debate. The Minister has 10 minutes left, so there is plenty of opportunity for Members to intervene if they wish to do so, but the debate must finish no later than 4.30 pm.

[Margot James]

Thank you, Mr Hollobone. I am sorry, I thought the proposer of the motion had two minutes at the end. The hon. Lady may take advantage of your offer of further interventions; I would be delighted to give way. While I am on my feet, however, I will continue.

I reiterate that the Government recognise the concerns that the hon. Lady and other hon. Members have raised about the workforce across the NDA estate and pension reform. I emphasise that the aim of pension reform is to balance the legitimate concerns of taxpayers about the present and future costs of pension commitments with the workforce’s concern about maintaining decent levels of retirement income, to which they have contributed and which they have earned. It is right that we debate that important issue and I thank all Members for their views.

--- Later in debate ---

[Margot James]

The hon. Lady makes a good point about the difference in the nature of the public-private definition. The industry has had £15 billion of Government and taxpayers’ support, so it sits where it sits. My officials will reflect on the views that all Members have given today, as we consider further the options for NDA pension reform. The Government will set out the next steps following the NDA consultation on pension reform.

Question put and agreed to.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

Order. At this point I would have gone on to the next debate, but the rules of engagement are that the Minister has to be present as well as the proposer of the motion. I intend to start the debate as soon as the Minister walks into the Chamber. The sitting is suspended until that point.

Retail Store Closure: Boxing Day

Debate between Margot James and Philip Hollobone

Monday 12th December 2016 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Margot James)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Moon. I congratulate the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) on introducing the debate on the closure of retail stores on Boxing day. I must be of a similar vintage, because I can recall when there was no shopping whatever on Boxing day. I have great sympathy with some of her comments on the many changes that our society has undergone since those days.

Even in those days, however, people still worked on Boxing day. People in retail might not have worked, but I remember going to my first football match, Chelsea versus Ipswich, on Boxing day. That match employed a lot of people, as do horse racing and many other sporting events that used to take place on Boxing day, and still do.

Also like the hon. Lady, I can attest to the exhausting nature of work in the retail sector. I would hardly call my time in retail a career, but I worked in a shop for about six months—obviously a great deal less than my hon. Friend the Member for Morley and Outwood (Andrea Jenkyns), who colourfully described her extensive career and experience in the retail sector. Retail is an exhausting occupation on any day of the year. I completely agree that it is particularly exhausting in the run-up to Christmas, and I have great sympathy with workers who, as the hon. Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson) said, work until late on Christmas eve and have to be back at work on Boxing day, sometimes as early as 3 o’clock in the morning. When he asks what sort of Christmas that is, I agree with his sentiment.

Christmas is a time for family, which is why one of my constituents, community worker Julie Lees, signed this petition. She is fed up of losing some younger adults in her family to the world of work on Boxing day. There is no doubt that there is considerable feeling about the issue, as expressed in the debate. That feeling prompted the e-petition, which has now reached more than 140,000 signatures. I understand those who feel it unnecessary for shops to be open so soon after Christmas. Many points have been made about other sectors that are busy working straight after Christmas and about online trade, which I will address in a little more depth.

For a number of reasons, the Government do not support an outright ban on shops opening on Boxing day. Boxing day is a bank holiday, and the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 specifies which days are to be bank holidays and contains provisions for appointing additional or substitute days. Additional bank holidays, including those created after 1971, are appointed by royal proclamation in early summer each year for the coming year. Bank holidays are so called because the Act makes provision for banks to close for business by deferring the placement of bills of exchange until the next appropriate day. However, there are no other statutory restrictions on trading associated with bank holidays; in fact, we have few legislative constraints on trading hours at all. There are no constraints on online retail trading, and few constraints apply to small shops.

[Mr Hollobone]

The Minister’s remarks are of great interest. I think that the general public do not fully appreciate that point; I certainly did not. A bank holiday is not a public holiday. Lots of employees have bank holidays off not because the Government say they should but because their contract of employment says that they should. She would serve the public well if she put what she just said into plainer English, so that everyone could understand it.

[Margot James]

I thank my hon. Friend for doing what he asked me to do by making that point simply. It would be good if more people were aware of it.

The Sunday Trading Act 1994 restricts the opening of large shops to a maximum of six consecutive hours between 10 and 6 on a Sunday. The Act also recognises the religious significance to Christians of Easter Sunday by obliging large retailers to close. By comparison, Boxing day has little if any religious significance. Neither the Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004 nor the Sunday Trading Act contain provisions for varying their terms, so any additional constraints on retailers would require new primary legislation.

Although the House has considered changes to the Sunday Trading Act numerous times since 1994, it has always considered that the Act strikes a good balance between the rights of workers and those of retailers and consumers. My hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone) mentioned that he voted against the watering down of the Act; he will be pleased to hear that the Government have no plans to make changes to it in the coming years.

On statutory leave entitlement, although there is no statutory entitlement to time off on Boxing day, almost all retail workers, like those in other sectors, are entitled to a generous statutory paid leave entitlement of 5.6 weeks per year, which equates to 28 days a year for someone working five days a week. That is more than the 20 paid days of annual holiday a year mandated under EU law and ensures that workers in the UK get at least four weeks’ paid leave on top of bank holidays, assuming that they have leave on those bank holidays.

An employer has the right, whether or not it is explicitly reflected in the employment contract, to require a worker to work on a public holiday. It is common in industries such as retail or emergency services. We have also heard from hon. Members about other sectors such as hospitality, sport and leisure. Employers can determine when workers take their leave—for example, to cover an annual shutdown at work—and can refuse to give leave at a certain time, but they must give workers the opportunity to take their leave at some point during the leave year. The entitlement should give all workers sufficient time to see their families over the year, although I accept that Christmas and various other times of the year are absolutely associated with spending time with family.

In addition, there are special provisions for shop workers who do not wish to work on Sundays, at least. All shop and betting shop workers can opt out of Sunday working, unless Sunday is the only day they have been employed to work. A shop worker can opt out of Sunday working, even if they agreed in their contract to work on Sundays, by giving three months’ notice.

In putting the legal case before hon. Members, I am sympathetic to the fact that, in practice, many workers, fearing for their jobs, might find it more challenging to give effect to their legal rights than I find it to read them out. I regret that, but staff who opt out of Sunday working are protected from being treated unfairly. If an employer needs shop workers to work on Sundays, they must tell the employees in writing that they can opt out within two months of starting work.

In terms of the potential impact on retailers, the Government recognise the huge importance of the retail sector to both national and local economies, and the pressures under which it labours. The sector generated £91.7 billion in gross value added in 2015, and accounts for 5.6% of the UK economy and more than 3 million jobs. Boxing day sales are extremely popular; we have debated whether it is the busiest day of the year. House of Commons Library figures indicate that although it is not the busiest day, it is certainly very busy with consumers. Last year, an estimated £3.7 billion was spent with retailers, around 22% of it online. If we were to ban high street outlets from opening on Boxing day, that would result in a significant loss of business for them to online retailers, which would particularly disadvantage retailers without a strong online presence. We must bear that in mind, as my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering and a number of other hon. Members pointed out.

[Mr Hollobone]

The Minister is making an interesting speech. She has basically said that she is not in favour of a Boxing day trading Act to ban retail shops from opening on Boxing day, but she has also said that the Government have existing provisions to allow retail employees to opt out of working on a Sunday. There are 52 Sundays in a year. Why would the Government object to allowing retail employees to opt out of working on Boxing day, which is just one day a year?

[Margot James]

It would be interesting to look at the picture when Boxing day falls on a Sunday. Presumably that would give people greater rights, at least on those rare occasions. Any changes to the legislation that I have mentioned would require primary legislation. I would hope that there were other ways to afford shop workers some protection without recourse to primary legislation. The law is a balance that Parliament has accepted, and the Government are reluctant to disturb that balance. To change the law would risk opening new disagreements; new primary legislation would create new demands and new risks.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Margot James and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 13th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

I was shocked to hear about the serious fire in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and understand his concerns about the safety of tumble dryers. However, the advice provided by Whirlpool is based on a full risk assessment of the product that has been agreed with Peterborough City Council trading standards, which is the lead enforcement authority for Whirlpool. Trading standards will continue to monitor the situation and has powers to order further action if appropriate.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

There are three tumble dryer fires each day in this country—almost 2,500 since the start of 2012. Will the Minister ensure that fireproof labels containing make, model and serial number are attached to all tumble dryers, so that machines can be traced to the manufacturer when fires do occur?

[Margot James]

Although there have been serious fires, they represent less than 0.2% of the total number of tumble dryers sold, so we must keep things in perspective. Lynn Faulds Wood’s review provides an overview of the current consumer product recall system, and the independent recall review group, composed of industry safety experts and the Chief Fire Officers Association, will complete the work on the recommendations.