Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Clegg and Eric Ollerenshaw

Tuesday 24th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

T13. Given the announcement that Anglican bishops will remain in the newly reformed House of Lords, does the Deputy Prime Minister have any ideas about representation for other Christian groups, and indeed other faiths?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

One of the options that we have set out in detail in the draft Bill is indeed continued representation, if on a much reduced numerical basis, of what is after all the established Church in England. That is clearly what distinguishes it from other faiths in England.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Clegg and Eric Ollerenshaw

Wednesday 10th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As I said earlier, I think every Member agrees that the funding for universities should be a mixture of direct support from the state and contributions made by—[Interruption.] As soon as we came into government, we looked exhaustively at the option of a graduate tax, which was proposed by some Labour Members and by the National Union of Students, but we discovered that that would be much more unfair and would allow particularly high earners to opt out of the system altogether, compared to the progressive system of graduate contributions that we are proposing now.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

Q8. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has a business payment support service, which has helped many businesses in my constituency that have met short-term problems to achieve a delayed payment of taxes—sometimes the taxman can help, apparently. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is a valuable service and that HMRC, alongside every other part of Government, should provide as much flexibility and support as possible for business, if we are get out of the recession left to us by the previous Government?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. I think that HMRC’s business payment support service is indeed, as he says, a very valuable and important service, and it remains in place. By the end of September this year, 371,200 arrangements had been granted, worth £6.38 billion. That is extraordinarily valuable to small and medium-sized enterprises, which are indeed struggling and deserve all the support they require to power us out of this difficult economic environment.