Open-cast Coal Sites (Restoration)
Debate between Nia Griffith and Matt Hancock(9 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Matthew Hancock
I saw it for the first time this week, and it is under active consideration. I would expect to be able to respond in a matter of weeks, certainly before the Dissolution of Parliament.
As the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) said, restoration bonds are not only about open-cast coal mining; they are also about deep mining, as well as things like the fire in his constituency that raged for months and that he and I have discussed before. It is vital to get restoration liabilities and restoration cash tied together better.
The hon. Member for Hartlepool quite reasonably asked about questions of the past and questions of the future. In getting the future right, it is vital that we have a regime, including depositing money in escrow accounts and restoration bonds, that is watertight. On privatisation in 1994, the calculation of the costs of restoration was part of the decision as to how much companies paid for the opportunities they bought when they bought rights to a site. That was taken into account at the time. It is therefore not reasonable to say that money was put into a fund, with the taxpayer paying for the restoration at the end of the process. The money paid to the taxpayer for the coal that was bought, which was then in the ground and was going to be extracted, had set against it the future costs of restoration. That was encapsulated in the cost at which the companies purchased.
Nia Griffith
What mechanism did the Government put in place to ensure that the money was then used for restoration? That is what seems to be missing.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Nia Griffith and Matt Hancock(9 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)
T5. Consumers in both south and north Wales face higher electricity costs than most of the rest of the country. In his response to my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn (Albert Owen), was the Minister really suggesting that this is just too difficult to tackle, or will he now tell us more about what talks he is having with regulatory bodies on this problem and what his commitment is to trying to get a fairer system right across the UK?
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Matthew Hancock)
It has long been the position that the higher costs of distribution in some areas of the country are in part paid by those who live in those areas. Actually, we have reduced the gap in costs between the most rural areas and the areas where it is cheapest to distribute electricity—that gap has shrunk. Whether we go to a single position across the whole country is worth considering. There may be benefits to remote areas that have the highest cost now, but there would be a cost to others because it has to be paid for.
Tata Steel
Debate between Nia Griffith and Matt Hancock(9 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Matthew Hancock
In the question lies part of the answer. We have great capacity for production in the UK of products that require steel. There is, therefore, a strong market. Through our industrial strategies, we make sure that we are taking a broad approach to bringing together suppliers in different industries and making sure that all of those opportunities are available. I return to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin). We cannot close the borders, but what we can do is make sure that UK companies are in a good position to bid for those contracts.
Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)
This year has seen a dramatic increase in imports of steel products that are in direct competition with some of those made in the factories that are being transferred to Klesch. Will the Minister tell us what he is doing in response to the evidence we have that the quality and traceability of some of those products is not up to standard? What is he doing to support the work of the Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels to ensure a level playing field for UK producers and to ensure safety in the construction industry?
Matthew Hancock
We have introduced an industrial strategy that allows us to take account of all these issues. In particular, the metals sector is developing a strategy that I am sure can consider all the points the hon. Lady makes.
Low Pay
Debate between Nia Griffith and Matt Hancock(10 years, 6 months ago)
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Matthew Hancock
Yes, of course. As the Skills and Enterprise Minister, everyone would be amazed—I would not be doing my job—if I did not support that argument, which I do.
Nia Griffith
As has been rightly pointed out, whether with tax credits or universal credit, there is an issue about tapering. More importantly, there is also an issue about the public purse. Whatever the history—which, in my opinion, shows that when the national minimum wage was introduced, it was opposed by certain parties, so it had to be brought in at a compromise level—the issue remains that, unless we look seriously at raising the minimum wage at a faster rate, we will continually have to top up from the public purse.