Coinage (Measurement) Bill

Tom Brake Excerpts

Friday 4th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mark Lancaster]

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Indeed, the coins will be for sale, and there is an opportunity for doing what he suggests.

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

The hon. Gentleman is making a serious case. Has he had any discussions with vending machine manufacturers about whether they would want to use the coin?

[Mark Lancaster]

There will be coins in the range that vending machine manufacturers may want to use, but I am not sure whether they will want 1 kg coins. That could prove something of a challenge and perhaps rather expensive.

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[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

Having made a rather facetious intervention on the hon. Member for Milton Keynes North (Mark Lancaster), I thought I should make a brief but serious contribution to the debate as well. I am in favour of his Bill, although, like the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy), I am slightly intrigued by the thought process that he must have gone through to arrive at this as his choice of private Member’s Bill out of all the subjects that he could have run with.

I want the Olympics to be the event of a generation, and I am sure that the hon. Gentleman does as well. The coins that he has described will be unique and widely sought after by collectors, and I am sure that they will contribute to making the 2012 Olympics an event to be proud of and one that we will all remember for the rest of our lives. I hope that all hon. Members will allow his Bill a swift passage, so that we can see those coins minted and available in small numbers, if not in a vending machine near you.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North (Mark Lancaster) on bringing forward the Bill. It might not have generated many e-mails—in fact, I have not received any at all on the subject—but that does not detract from its merit. I rise to support it and I wish it well at the start of its long parliamentary journey.

The eyes of the world will be on the United Kingdom next year as we host the 2012 Olympics. Great as the games will be, however, they will be over in two or three weeks; after all the hype and the years of planning, I am sure that they will pass all too quickly. It is therefore right that we should concentrate as much on the legacy that the games will leave behind as on the games themselves, and a crucial part of the Olympic legacy will be the sale of commemorative coins. If there is one item that people are likely to save and treasure, it is a commemorative coin. I can see such items being left in people’s wills as legacies to future generations, perhaps for centuries to come.

We know that the 2009 “Countdown to London 2012” coin collections sold out due to the huge demand for them. On 1 April last year, more than two years before the start of the games, the Royal Mint confirmed that the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic commemorative coins would be the best-selling coins in the history of the Royal Mint. That is testament to the great work that the Royal Mint has done in the build-up to the Olympics. In addition to ensuring that the country is left with a great sporting legacy following the Olympics, it is important to ensure that the games and the legacy provide value for money. As my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North said, the Royal Mint contributes considerably to the Treasury coffers, and this commemorative coin will add to that revenue.

Among the existing coins available on the Royal Mint website, there is already a “Countdown to London 2012” £5 silver proof coin, available at £65.99—a snip. Also awaiting stock are a gold three-coin set—in a four-coin case, for some reason I do not understand—at £4,499, and a gold proof £5 coin at £1,599. Perhaps Members will be more interested in the 50p coins available at £2.99, which are provided for all 29 individual sports: shooting, taekwondo, table tennis, judo, volleyball, table tennis, handball and so on. Alternatively, if people want to splash out they can get a bumper pack for all 29 sports, plus a free album, for £85.

When the coins were issued, the Royal Mint’s director of commemorative coins, Dave Knight, said that they will

“become treasured mementos of the biggest sporting event to happen on UK shores for over half a century and we hope will encourage a new generation of collectors.”

I am sure that they will. His view was backed up by an Olympic gold medallist, Rebecca Adlington OBE, who, when launching the “Countdown to 2012” commemorative coins, said that the Olympic games is just around the coiner—[Laughter.] A Freudian slip there. She said:

“The Olympic games is just around the corner and this coin is a great way for the British public to show its support for the sports men and women who are already preparing for this ultimate sporting challenge.”

The issuing of gold coins representing the ethos and history of the Olympic movement has been a key part of the build-up to the Olympic games for centuries. To celebrate the 30th Olympiad, the Royal Mint has already begun issuing its gold coin collection, with the distinction of being the only coins to feature the Olympic rings as part of their design. The complete collection will eventually contain nine coins, comprising three separate three-coin sets inspired by the famous Olympic motto, to which we have already heard reference, “Citius, Altius, Fortius”—faster, higher, stronger. The Faster series, inspired by the classical heritage of the Olympic games, presented in a luxurious hardwood walnut case, is already on sale and available. Each of the three coins features a different Roman god, representing and inspired by the classical heritage of the Olympic games. The 1 oz coin features Neptune, god of the sea, who will look after the sport of sailing. The ¼ oz coin features Diana, goddess of hunting, who will look after the sport of cyclists. The other coin represents Mercury, the god of speed, who will look after the athletes.

I end on one small point of concern about the Bill: the reference to a “kilogram”. Although I support the Bill and its intentions, I would much prefer it to refer to 32.1507466 troy ounces, because gold is normally dealt with in troy ounces.

[Tom Brake]

Does the hon. Gentleman not agree that that is precisely why it will be a 1 kg coin?

[Mr Nuttall]

I do not accept that point. I see no reason why coins could not be minted in troy ounces, as gold bars are. There is no difficulty in selling gold bars.

With that one small point, I commend the Bill to the House and wish it well through the parliamentary process.

Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc. Bill [Lords]

Tom Brake Excerpts

Monday 15th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

Yes. As I have said, we have issued a number of licences, which I understand run alongside the regime that is in place. That is why I do not think the hon. Gentleman will find reference to a general licence on legal aid in the Bill. This runs in parallel to the legislative framework in place.

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

The Minister will be aware that Lord Wallace of Tankerness said that

“the general presumption is that where a licence is requested to pay for legal costs, it will be granted.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 6 October 2010; Vol. 721, c. 174.]

Does the Minister think there any circumstances in which a licence would not be granted to cover legal costs?

[Mr Hoban]

I do not want to get into giving hypothetical answers to hypothetical questions. If the hon. Gentleman has a particular concern and wishes to write to me about it, I shall be happy to respond appropriately.

Finally, part 1 sets out the obligations on the Treasury to appoint an independent reviewer and the penalties attached to breaches of the asset-freezing provisions. Part 2 makes minor amendments to the Treasury’s financial restrictions powers under schedule 7 to the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008. Those powers are an important part of the Government’s toolkit to deal with risks posed to the UK by money laundering, terrorist financing and the development or production of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons. They also enable the Government to take action where the Financial Action Task Force advises that counter-measures should be taken because a country poses a money-laundering or terrorist-financing risk. The risks that those powers address are of a serious nature and it is imperative that we have effective financial tools to tackle them. We have identified a small number of technical amendments to these powers.

First, we are introducing a prohibition on the intentional circumvention of any restriction issued under the powers in order to ensure that a restriction cannot simply be bypassed. That will prohibit anyone in the UK financial services sector who has to comply with the requirements of a restriction from intentionally rearranging their business to circumvent those requirements.

Secondly, we are introducing a provision to allow restrictions to be targeted against subsidiaries of companies based in the country of concern. Thirdly, we will clarify the point that, when the Government direct a UK financial or credit institution to implement a restriction, that restriction can apply across its branches, wherever located. Fourthly, we are making provision for the transfer from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland to the Financial Services Authority the responsibility for ensuring the compliance of Northern Ireland credit unions with the requirements of a restriction.

This Bill, when passed, will create a secure legislative footing for an important and necessary counter-terrorism power. The Government recognise that such powers are not to be created lightly, and I am confident that the safeguards in the Bill strike the right balance between national security and the rights of the individual. This is the right course of action to protect our national security, to protect the freedom of our citizens and to prevent future attacks, and I commend this Bill to the House.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Tom Brake Excerpts

Thursday 28th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Ms Eagle]

Yes, according to the OBR. We saw the undisguised glee of Members opposite as they celebrated the hardship and misery that the Chancellor proposes to inflict on so many people in our society. These are not just numbers; they are police constables, care workers, teaching assistants and dinner ladies. In the private sector, they work in small businesses which rely on public sector contracts at a time when order books are empty. All those people are being asked by this Conservative-led Government to shoulder the burden of a crisis made in the banks and the dealing rooms.

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

Will we hear anything concrete from the Opposition today about their alternative proposals?

[Ms Eagle]

Well, the hon. Gentleman could take a look at the March Budget, which was presented to the House before the general election, and the Red Book that was published subsequently. We went into the election with far more detail about what we would do had we been re-elected than either party opposite, and at least we did not flip-flop immediately afterwards so that we could get into government.

These are not just numbers; they are the people being asked by this Conservative-led Government to shoulder the burden of a crisis that was made in the banks. It is not those who caused the crisis who will now suffer as a result of the Chancellor’s reckless gamble with jobs and growth. It is the 490,000 ordinary men and women serving in the public sector whose jobs will go, and it is the 500,000 jobs in the private sector that PricewaterhouseCoopers has calculated will also be lost as a direct result of the spending review. Redundancies on the scale now threatened are not inevitable, but are the result of the Government’s choice to cut further and faster.

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[Ms Eagle]

I think we know who to believe. There is a great deal of real worry out there about the effects of the draconian cuts in public expenditure that have been announced in the spending review.

I will tell the Deputy Prime Minister and anyone else on the Government Benches what they cannot hide about fairness. There is nothing fair about cutting 10% from housing benefit for those who are out of work for more than 12 months when there are already five people chasing every job vacancy—and that is before the Government add another million to the dole queue. There is nothing fair about expecting children to play a bigger part than the banks in getting the deficit down. There is nothing fair about failing to carry out a legally required equality assessment that would have shown that the Budget had a disproportionate impact on women, who often do the lowest paid jobs in the public sector. When it comes to the cuts under this Government, it really is women and children first. Let us have no more of these ludicrous claims of fairness from the Government.

As for the idea that the Government are cutting less than we had planned to do, there is something distasteful in a Chancellor who is prepared to skew his spending decisions, cutting an extra £7 billion from the social security budget, just to get a cheap one-liner at the end of his speech. There is nothing so cynical as a Chancellor who begins his speech by claiming that Britain has been saved from the brink of bankruptcy by his savage cuts, only to conclude it by claiming that Labour would have cut even more. He knows that he cannot have it both ways, and he knows that he has cut £30 billion more from public expenditure than we planned to do. He knows that, in doing this, he has totally failed in his pledge to protect the most essential front-line services. It is now clear that his promises are unravelling, and that there will be a major impact on our schools, our hospitals and the police.

Schools up and down the country are facing cuts in funding, thanks to a budget settlement that takes no account of rising pupil numbers; and before the Liberal Democrats start getting excited about the pupil premium, I am sorry to have to tell them that the Education Secretary has now admitted that it is simply a con. In June, the Prime Minister pledged:

“We will take money from outside the education budget to ensure that the pupil premium is well funded”.—[Official Report, 2 June 2010; Vol. 510, c. 432.]

But at the weekend, the Education Secretary finally came clean and admitted:

“Some of it comes from within the Department for Education budget, yes.”

It is not new funding after all; it is just money being moved around within the Department to disguise budget cuts.

The IFS calculates that 60% of primary school pupils and 87% of secondary school pupils will see a real-terms funding cut to their schools as a result of the new funding formula. We knew that the Liberal Democrats supported recycling, but we did not realise that this was what they meant. We were also repeatedly told that health spending was to be protected, yet £1 billion has been raided from the NHS to make up for some of the shortfall caused by the huge cuts in local government spending. With this settlement, the Prime Minister’s promise of real-terms increases in health spending will not be met.

There has been no commitment to front-line policing either. The Police Federation tells us that as many as 20,000 police will be sacked. The thin blue line has become a casualty of the thick red pen. For schools, the NHS and the police, there will be no protection for front-line services.

[Tom Brake]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Ms Eagle]

No. I have given way to the hon. Gentleman before.

No priority is to be given to the services that we rely on, day to day. That is the choice that the Government have made. Let us have a serious debate about the differences between us, and let us have no more nonsense from the Government about the four myths on which their entire defence of the scale of their cuts is based. Let us hear no more nonsense about the deficit being the result of the decision of one party or the fault of spending on our public services, rather than the inevitable result of a global economic crisis and the greed and recklessness of the banks.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Brake Excerpts

Tuesday 12th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I have concluded that it is very sensible for the serving Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day not to comment on the value of currencies.

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

T10. When the Chancellor and the Chief Secretary consider how to address the huge budget deficit they inherited from Labour, will they not lose sight of the importance of investing in affordable housing, specifically to ensure that homes meet the decent homes standard?

[Danny Alexander]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. We will make decisions on spending and announce them on 20 October in the spending review statement. The point he makes is important, and I very much take it to heart.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Brake Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I have had several conversations with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on this issue and on the broader issues of welfare reform. I broadly agree with the point that the hon. Gentleman makes—he made it forcefully in the last Parliament—that support for children in the early years can yield real results later on. We will bear that in mind as we conduct our spending review.

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

T2. While the Chancellor is reviewing the projects agreed by the previous Government since 1 January, may I commend to him the Better Healthcare Closer to Home programme and the plans that it has for St Helier hospital? May it draw it to his attention that the plans were very enthusiastically endorsed by the new Secretary of State for Health when he visited my constituency just a couple of days before the general election?

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question and pay tribute to his assiduous campaigning on the issue over many years. He will know that we are carefully reassessing the projects agreed by the previous Government between 1 January and the election, and we will make an announcement shortly. He will also know that it is right that we are making sure that each and every one of the many projects that were announced is affordable and represents value for money.