Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Tuesday 14th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

12. What steps his Department is taking to increase public sector productivity.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

15. What steps he is taking to help ensure value for money in public spending.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Laura Trott)]

My hon. Friend is rightly very focused on making sure that every single pound of taxpayers’ money is spent wisely, and I can assure him that the Government share that goal. In June, the previous Chief Secretary to the Treasury launched the public sector productivity programme, and we will provide an update at the autumn statement.

[Laura Trott]

My hon. Friend is right that public sector productivity must be improved. That is exactly what the review is looking at and what we will address. I look forward to talking to him more about it in due course.

[Alex Cunningham]

I welcome the fact that the taxpayer has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on remediation work at the Teesworks site in Redcar. I do not welcome the fact that the assets, including 90% of the operating company and tens of millions of pounds of scrap, have been handed over by the Tees Valley Mayor to two private companies, whose owners are laughing all the way to the bank. Is that really good value for taxpayers’ money?

[Laura Trott]

I think these claims have been addressed by the Mayor, and I will not have anything further to say about them.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jeremy Hunt]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s expertise in this area, which is of great benefit to the House and to me as I consider fiscal measures. As we are so close to the autumn statement, I would say that the way that we treat costs in our investment and pension funds industries is not optimal, and we need to reform it.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

T5. A short time after the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen), said he was “alarmed” by the amount of tax people are paying, he was out of a job. Was he sacked for highlighting the Government’s tax burden, the highest for 70 years?

[Jeremy Hunt]

My right hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (John Glen) did an excellent job and we all salute his brilliant work. If he were here now, he would remind the hon. Gentleman that we have the lowest tax burden of any European country in the G7.