Syria and the Use of Chemical Weapons

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Thursday 29th August 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the reasons why many of our constituents are so opposed to this debate taking place is that they believe we are about to vote on military action? Of course, that is not the case, as the Prime Minister made clear today.

[Dr Wollaston]

The point is that agreeing to the legality of military action inevitably sucks us closer to the cliff’s edge. That is why I will oppose the motion.

Tributes to Baroness Thatcher

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Wednesday 10th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

Just a year after the momentous Conservative victory of 1979, a newly elected MP, having won a Labour seat with a fairly slender majority, thought it would be a good idea to invite the Prime Minister along to his constituency. The newly elected MP was my father and the constituency was the one I represent today. I thought it would be interesting to look at the local paper’s report.

The Prime Minister undertook a walk-about in Rugby town centre, much as the current Prime Minister was to do 30 years later. The 4 July 1980 edition of the Rugby Advertiser tells us that there were some hecklers in Rugby town centre. As a conviction politician, she attracted opposition. The paper tells us that some of the people were star-struck. There were emotional tears from supporters, and others asked, “Is that really her? Are you sure it isn’t Janet Brown?” As some Members will remember, that was the comedienne impressionist of that time. The paper tells us about Mrs Thatcher’s caring side—she signed the plaster cast of a lucky seven-year-old. And finally, it tells us something about her humility. The final sentence in the report is:

“As a delighted PM got into her car outside Rugby School—more than an hour late for her next visit to Daventry—she remarked: ‘There were even more people here than I expected’.”

I have asked my father about his recollections of Lady Thatcher from his time here, and much of what hon. Members have said today rings very true. He told me how supportive she had been when he talked about the concerns of a local manufacturer at Prime Minister’s questions. She invited him into her office to discuss what more could be done to support that company. He also told me about the late-night votes that took place at 2 and 3 o’clock in the morning. Members in this intake apparently have it easy, with our votes at 7 and 10 o’clock. He told me how Mrs Thatcher would appear at 2 or 3 o’clock—not a hair out of place, as fresh as paint and full of life—to keep up the spirits of the parliamentary party.

Many Members have spoken about Lady Thatcher’s input into their political careers. Her effect on my career related more to the business sector. In 1982, when I was in a secure job as a sales manager for a successful company, I heard her speeches referring to the provision of fair incentives and to rewards for skill and hard work. That kind of environment sounded good to me, and those speeches helped me to decide to risk my future by setting up and running a small business.

I eventually decided to aim for a political career, however, and my finest moment was when I joined one of the small groups referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth West (Conor Burns) and had the opportunity to meet the great lady herself. It has been a great honour for me to pay my tribute to her today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Wednesday 16th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

There will be a very simple choice at the next election. If you want to stay out of the single currency, you vote Conservative; if you want to join the single currency, you vote Labour. If you want to take power back to Britain, you vote Conservative; if you want to give power to Brussels, you vote Labour. That is the truth. What we see from the right hon. Gentleman’s position is that he wants absolutely no change in the relationship between Britain and Europe, and that he does not believe that the British people should be given a choice.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

Q15. The Prime Minister has rightly focused the Government on growth. The development of new housing plays a key part in the provision of that growth, as well as the provision of much-needed new homes. In my constituency, two developments will provide 8,000 new homes between them. Will the Prime Minister join me in praising Rugby borough council’s attitude to new development, and perhaps visit Rugby to see how we are going about it?

[The Prime Minister]

I should be delighted to visit my hon. Friend in Rugby. He is absolutely right to say that we need to build more houses in our country. That is because, unless they have help from their parents, first-time buyers are now, on average, in their thirties. We need to build more homes in order to allow people to achieve the dream, which so many have already achieved, of getting on to the housing ladder.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Wednesday 14th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

1. What assessment he has made of the potential effects of planned changes to Government procurement on UK businesses bidding for contracts.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

6. What assessment he has made of the potential effects of planned changes to Government procurement on UK businesses bidding for contracts.

[Mr Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con)]

7. What assessment he has made of the potential effects of planned changes to Government procurement on UK businesses bidding for contracts.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Pawsey]

It is the small businesses that often have the greatest difficulty in accessing Government contracts, and that is because of a regulation from the European Union. Will the Minister tell us what steps he is taking to reform EU regulations to make it easier to secure contracts with Government both at a national and local level?

[Mr Maude]

The first thing that we are doing is trying to ensure that the way in which we implement the European directives is sensible and not overly bureaucratic and legalistic, which it usually is at the moment. The European Commission is introducing proposals to streamline and simplify the procurement directives, which we welcome. I was talking to Commissioner Barnier in Brussels two or three weeks ago, and he was very open to that happening.

Public Disorder

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are going ahead with the Myplace youth centre programme, which is seeing vast and very well-funded youth centres built in places such as Islington and Hackney and across some of the most deprived parts of London. I do not accept the hon. Lady’s point about causation and that somehow a budget change in youth services leads inexorably to the sort of looting and rioting we saw on our streets.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

May I congratulate the Prime Minister on his diligence and energy in remaining at the Dispatch Box for two and a half hours and welcome the measures he is bringing forward to compensate victims of the mindless violence we have seen? One group with concerns are people who own vehicles that have been torched by thugs and who have only third-party insurance. Will he provide some comfort to those innocent victims?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for what he says about these long sessions at the Dispatch Box; I am beginning to get used to them. Uninsured businesses are able to claim under the Riot (Damages) Act. That is what the Act is there for, and, as I have said, the Home Office will want to stand behind police forces that are adversely affected by it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Wednesday 27th April 2011 Commons Chamber

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

6. What steps he is taking to increase access to Government contracts for small and medium-sized enterprises.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

7. What steps he is taking to increase access to Government contracts for small and medium-sized enterprises.

[Amber Rudd (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

8. What steps he is taking to increase access to Government contracts for small and medium-sized enterprises.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Maude]

I certainly do not want to shame the ones that are doing well. We have found a number of examples of procurement processes that are not meeting the new requirements. For example, Durham police recently issued an invitation to tender for a £50,000 leadership training contract. The pre-qualification questionnaire alone was 38 pages long and contained a request for 163 separate items of information plus a security vetting form. That is unacceptable, because it causes many smaller businesses to lose the will to live, and they simply do not apply.

[Mark Pawsey]

I am the former owner of a small business supplying products to the public sector. When applying to be added to a new tender list, I was often frustrated by the amount of red tape required. Will the Minister confirm that in future fewer company policies and statements will need to be provided to participate in the tendering process?

[Mr Maude]

We want to strip away all that nonsense. Under the last Government, there were 6,000 pages of guidance for some kinds of procurements. It is not surprising that smaller businesses just did not bother to apply; they knew that they were going to be excluded. There were turnover requirements and requirements for a track record of doing exactly that kind of work. The truth is that that is very bad for small businesses and we want to make things much better.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It is worth listening to both serving and retired police officers. The hon. Lady might want to listen to Jan Berry, who for years led the Police Federation, who said:

“With unnecessary bureaucracy being added at every tier of policing from the local to the national . . . I estimate one third of effort”—

one third—

“is either over-engineered, duplicated or adds no additional value. This is unaffordable in the current climate and”

we need to give consideration to how we can realise savings in time and energy. As in so many areas, we inherited a police service completely inefficient and not properly managed by Labour.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

Q4. There is an independent committee that ensures that once they have left office, former Ministers act appropriately in their subsequent employment. It is reported that Lord Mandelson, Baroness Symons and Adam Ingram have worked for the Gaddafi regime. Will the Prime Minister ensure that these reports are thoroughly investigated?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point, and I am sure that those ex-Ministers will want to refer themselves immediately to that committee so that their links can be looked into.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It is important that we make sure that disability living allowance is paid consistently to people who are in hospital and to people who are in care homes, and that is what we are doing. As I understand it, the Labour Front Bench supports this change—yes? Nod? On a previous occasion, the leader of the Labour party said that he supported our changes to disability living allowance—or is this another area where it is back to the blank sheet of paper?

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

Now that the Government have brought forward details of their new homes bonus, will the Prime Minister join me in applauding councils such as Rugby borough council, which is proceeding with proposals for substantial development?

[The Prime Minister]

I do think this is important. For years, we were spending lots of money on housing but not building any houses—why? Because there was no incentive for local authorities and few incentives for house builders. We are changing that so that even though the resources are limited, a lot more house building will go ahead.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Pawsey Excerpts

Wednesday 20th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

10. What steps his Department is taking to share best practice in procurement among Departments.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)]

Procurement of basic commodities was carried out without any effort to leverage the scale and buying power of the whole Government—[Interruption.]

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

Order—[Interruption.] Order. In so far as we could hear the Minister, I think we have got the drift of it.

[Mark Pawsey]

I thank the Minister for his reply in as much as I heard it. It is sound commercial practice to maximise buying power by adding together the purchases of all bodies within an organisation and to use that to drive down prices from suppliers, yet Sir Philip Green found waste arising from huge variation in the prices paid by different Departments. What steps will the Minister take to co-ordinate Government procurement in future?

[Mr Maude]

We will be mandating that all of central Government should buy through centrally negotiated contracts. That will save £500 million in the current year alone, and will drive savings running into billions of pounds in the years that lie ahead.