Local Government and Social Care Funding
Debate between Philip Dunne and Andrew Gwynne(5 years, 7 months ago)
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Andrew Gwynne
I will give way to the right hon. Gentleman in a second, if I can answer my hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Gloria De Piero) first. It is worse than that, because those are the headline figures. We know that that local authority will have shifted money that was allocated to neighbourhood services to prop up the people-based services of adult and children’s social care, so although social care has been cut in real terms, it would be far, far worse were it not for neighbourhood services bailing out the gaps.
Mr Dunne
The hon. Gentleman is being generous in giving way. He talks about unfairness. Does he not recognise that it was under the previous Labour Government, in which he served, that the unfairness was introduced through the funding formula allocations, which shifted resources from local government in shire counties into metropolitan areas such as the one he represents?
Andrew Gwynne
The right hon. Gentleman has made the case for me. Let me dumb it down for him—I do not wish to appear condescending, but it really is as simple as this: there has always been a recognition by Governments of all colours that not every area has the same baseline. Some areas have greater need and often those areas have less of an ability to raise income locally. Because of that, there has been a mechanism, or a formula—for example, whether that was the rate support grant that became the revenue support grant—to ensure that resources from the centre followed need. What we have seen under his Government is a 60% cut to the revenue support grant. Sixty pence in every £1 for the two councils in my constituency, Stockport and Tameside, is a lot of money. A 60% cut to a very small revenue support grant is different—a number of Conservative Members’ councils have only small revenue support grants, or no revenue support grants in some cases. Sixty per cent. of nothing is nothing and that is the unfairness. A 60% cut to my area cannot be filled in by council tax rises, so it means rises in council tax for poorer services. Cuts are cuts—it is as simple as that.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Philip Dunne and Andrew Gwynne(8 years, 8 months ago)
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Mr Dunne
My hon. Friend is right to identify that the threats we face are growing in scale, complexity and concurrency, and a failure to meet this commitment would have a significant adverse impact on our ability to deliver the capability we need to face those threats and would send a very wrong message to our adversaries. Our commitment to spending 2% of GDP on defence enables us to deliver one of the most capable armed forces in the world; to spend more than £178 billion on equipment and equipment support over the next decade; and to fund an increase in the number of regular personnel for both the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, and of reservists for the British Army.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
19. But the Minister cannot pull the wool over our eyes on this one, because we all know that defence spending was set to fall below 2% of GDP, but for the Government including things that had never been included in the NATO analysis before, such as war pensions and the pension contributions of MOD civilian staff. Will he now come clean? Will he have to resort to these sorts of accounting gimmicks to be able to assure NATO that in future we will maintain 2% spending?
Mr Dunne
The hon. Gentleman, in characteristic style, is looking for smoke where there is no fire. We use the NATO definition to make the calculation of our proportion of GDP spent on defence, and it assesses the figure and then publishes it. We have done that in the past under previous Administrations and we will do it again under this one.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Philip Dunne and Andrew Gwynne(11 years ago)
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Mr Dunne
Clearly, BAE System’s decision to extract itself from shipbuilding in Portsmouth will have a significant impact locally, but my hon. Friend will be well aware that more than 11,000 people will continue to be employed on the royal naval base at Portsmouth, which will maintain vital jobs for SMEs throughout the supply chain.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
What role can unmanned aerial vehicles play in filling the maritime capability gap, and has the Minister considered the use of UAVs by both Europe and the United States of America for maritime surveillance and intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Philip Dunne and Andrew Gwynne(11 years, 11 months ago)
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Mr Dunne
I was pleased that my hon. Friend was able to accompany me on my visit to the firm in his constituency to which he referred. I have been appointed the SME champion in the Ministry of Defence. Where possible I am seeking to raise the emphasis on procurement —both direct and through our prime contractors—towards SMEs, given the source of innovation that they so often provide. The next SME forum, which I shall be chairing shortly, will focus its activities on how we can improve export prospects for SMEs.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
Notwithstanding the Minister’s answer that he is an SME champion in the MOD, does he not see it as incompatible with his Government’s default position to buy off the shelf rather than seek greater exports from British industry? Will he commit to giving extra effort and support to UK sovereign companies?
Mr Dunne
As the hon. Gentleman will appreciate, some larger procurements within the MOD cannot, by definition, be directed towards SMEs—the contract size is such that if it were awarded, the company would cease to be an SME. That said, the White Paper published in February last year made a specific pledge towards open procurement and to encourage the purchase of matériel through competitive process. That is the best way to maintain a fit industrial base in this country that is capable of exporting and winning orders through competition. Alongside that was a commitment to increase the proportion of goods purchased from SMEs.