Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Fuller and John Bercow

Monday 11th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I did not study geography at university, but the hon. Gentleman’s constituency is a little way away from East Anglia.

[Richard Fuller]

indicated dissent.

[Mr Speaker]

I am in a generous mood. I have known the hon. Gentleman for 30 years, and if he wants to persuade me that Bedford and Kempston is a hop, skip and a jump away from the constituency of the hon. Member for North West Norfolk (Sir Henry Bellingham), he has a taxing task, but let us hear it.

[Richard Fuller]

I am very grateful for your indulgence, Mr Speaker. As a lifelong watcher of Anglia Television from the heart of Bedford, I can say that we are very proudly members of East Anglia. In Bedford, a small town, we have only small employers—we do not have a large private sector employer. What steps are the Government taking to encourage small businesses to take on young people and others who are unemployed?

[Mr Speaker]

I would never have done anything like what the hon. Gentleman has just done when I was a Back Bencher.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Fuller and John Bercow

Tuesday 10th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, I call Mr Richard Fuller.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

Worse than the shadow Chancellor’s talking down of the British economy is the Labour party’s love of the jobs tax, which reduces employment, depresses wages and discourages enterprise. Will my right hon. Friend think about what he will do with the employment allowance next year, and see whether he can reduce it further so that we can reverse those trends?

Public Service Pensions Bill

Debate between Richard Fuller and John Bercow

Monday 22nd April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is talking about some welcome changes that the Government have made, but there is another party to this contract on pensions. The taxpayer will foot the bill for the unfunded part of the obligations of public sector pensions. Will he assure me—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Will the hon. Gentleman resume his seat? I do not blame him, in the first instance, because the trouble, the mischief, was started, however inadvertently, by the Minister, who is looking at me with an innocent expression belied by the reality of what he was saying in the debate. This is not a generalised debate; these are narrowly defined matters, and we are considering the relevant amendment, to which, to put it kindly, the hon. Gentleman’s remarks were not altogether adjacent.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Fuller and John Bercow

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We are grateful to the Minister.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

I commend the Government for their actions following the consultations on taxation and charitable donations, but may I urge the Minister to look again at the gift aid structure, and perhaps to consider a transfer to a system whereby individuals can deduct their charitable donations from their tax directly?

Immigration Queues (UK Airports)

Debate between Richard Fuller and John Bercow

Monday 30th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, but the question I was going to ask has already been asked.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman is in danger of setting a real precedent: that because it has already been said, it does not need to be said again. That really is setting a new precedent in parliamentary practice! I call Mr Stewart Jackson.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Fuller and John Bercow

Wednesday 1st February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Patience rewarded: I call Mr Richard Fuller.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

APASENTH, a group with 20 years’ experience of working with adults with special educational needs in London, will shortly visit Bangladesh to see whether it can use its expertise to establish a centre there for people with autism. Will the Secretary of State agree to meet me and members of APASENTH after its visit to see how his Department can help that initiative?

Education Bill

Debate between Richard Fuller and John Bercow

Monday 14th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

Although some of us are very focused on the duty of schools to co-operate with the local authority, some of us are focused on local authorities’ duty to co-operate with academies and free schools. Will my hon. Friend advise me what in the Bill will enable us to be sure that local authorities provide the same extent of co-operation to free schools and academies as they do to maintained schools?

[Mr Speaker]

In responding to his hon. Friend, I know that the Minister will not wish to be led astray and that he will have at the forefront of his mind the fact that he should focus on the merits or otherwise not of the Bill as a whole, but of Lords amendment 1.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Fuller and John Bercow

Tuesday 25th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. That is enough material for an Adjournment debate. We are very much obliged. We have heard enough, Minister. We are extremely grateful to the Minister, but the answers are simply too long.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

T9. While rightly celebrating the elections in Tunisia, may I draw the Minister’s attention to the other geographic end of his responsibilities, to Kashmir? Will the Minister meet the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, who is visiting the United Kingdom this week, and will he make the case for self-determination of all Kashmiri people within an independent Kashmir state?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Fuller and John Bercow

Monday 7th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am very grateful.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

Bedfordshire Orchestral Society has an enviable record of promoting music in schools, but it is reliant on funding from two local authorities. Even ahead of today’s good news from the Secretary of State, Bedford borough council has committed funding, so will my right hon. Friend join me in encouraging Central Bedfordshire council to do likewise?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Fuller and John Bercow

Tuesday 21st December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman is to resume his seat. He has come in on the wrong question I am afraid; we are talking about bank bonuses.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

While the Minister reviews the undoubtedly well-stuffed stockings of certain bankers to determine whether they have been naughty or nice, will he acknowledge the significant amount of tax that they pay, and the institutions that choose London as their domain? Will he recognise that, as far as their choice of domain is concerned, the airports of this country will not always be closed?