Oral Answers to Questions

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

The steel industry faces a big challenge at the moment, and that is true in many other countries in the world, as the price of steel has collapsed. We have taken a number of steps to ensure the level playing field that the hon. Gentleman speaks of. First, we have taken the industry out of the energy levies that were imposing additional costs on it. Secondly, we have made sure that local areas that have had redundancies get the support they need. Thirdly, we have changed our procurement rules so that we can make sure we are buying British steel and taking into account the social impact of those steel purchases in making our value-for-money assessments. Fourthly, as I said in reply to an earlier question from him, we are working, through our partners in the EU, to make it clear that we do not and cannot support Chinese steel dumping, and that we need to take action against it.

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor will be well aware of the widespread and cross-party support for a children’s specialist accident and trauma department at Southampton general hospital, so may I urge him to give careful consideration to the bid put together by clinicians? I know they have sent it to him and are looking for support for a match funding bid.

[Mr Osborne]

I am aware of the case being made—a strong case, in my view—for the children’s facilities at the Southampton hospital. It is a case advanced by my hon. Friend and other colleagues, notably my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Steve Brine), who has pushed it, alongside her. We are looking closely at it and I will make an announcement in due course.

Equitable Life

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Thursday 11th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

I can reassure Members that I probably will not take up seven minutes.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) not just on securing this important debate, but on his tireless work on Equitable Life since he entered this place in 2010. This sorry saga has been extremely long running. The hon. Member for Angus (Mike Weir) indicated that he had been speaking about Equitable Life in this place for 15 years. I know from EMAG, which has also worked very hard and diligently provided information to Members, that every constituency has roughly 2,000 people affected by Equitable Life. I wanted to highlight that figure.

When I was first elected in 2010, I could reliably expect about 20 or 30 people to contact me about Equitable Life every time it was raised in the House. Ahead of today’s debate, the number of constituents who either emailed or came to see me in my surgery dwindled to just half a dozen. I found that interesting but also incredibly sad. There are many reasons why our constituents are no longer contacting us. First and foremost, there is the sad truth that many have passed away, and some are too frail to make contact. They might not have easy access to email. They might be in care homes or reliant on family or carers. For them, it is not simply a case of popping off a quick email. In many ways, however, the saddest cases are those who have simply given up and no longer see the value in contacting us because they do not expect anything to change. Those who were once optimistic they would recover their losses now no longer come to our surgeries because they do not expect to get anything.

Those who remain in contact, however, are forceful in their arguments. One reason they feel so aggrieved is that, as we have heard repeatedly, they acted responsibly and did the right thing—or thought they had. They made provision for their retirement and took out policies they expected to provide them with a comfortable old age and the means to support themselves in their retirement. The Government need to encourage and incentivise people to do exactly that. Equitable Life was a very sorry saga indeed, and one that has left a legacy of suspicion and mistrust. Those who invested bitterly regret their decision, but it has longer tentacles than that. Even today people point to Equitable Life as a reason not to bother saving for their future. We must not allow that to happen.

I do not intend to repeat the comments of the chair of the APPG or other hon. Members. They have already set out the case in the motion. Instead, I want to highlight the difficult circumstances of some of my constituents—good decent people saving for their retirement. For them, a foreign holiday is now out of the question. They are reliant on public transport in an area that has little of it, because they cannot afford to run a car. They expected their retirement to be comfortable; they did not expect still to be working—in many cases, well into their 70s. Eight years after the ombudsman’s report, they remain of the view that the compensation they have received is not adequate.

I know what my hon. Friend the Minister will say: he will highlight the element of the ombudsman’s report emphasising that the Government had to recognise fairness to the taxpayer as well policyholders. I do not regard £1.5 billion as “diddly squat”, as one of my constituents described it. It is an enormous sum, and I welcome the Government’s efforts to identify and compensate policyholders. My one request is that, for the sake of the Equitable pensioners, he keep the situation under review. I know the scheme is closed, but should public finances permit it, he should consider reopening it.

Financial Conduct Authority

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Monday 1st February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

I, too, would like to pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) for his hard work on this issue. Does my hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (William Wragg) agree that the real tragedy of many of the scenarios that have been played out in constituencies up and down the country is that it is not simply businesses or individuals who suffer. The suffering is also felt by a whole range of employees, whose jobs have been liquidated in this way by the banks?

[William Wragg]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that point. Too often, perhaps, we focus on the concerns of businessmen, but we should also focus on the people they employee, and who keep the economy of this country going.

This is about people’s businesses, jobs, homes and lives, so we must remember that while organisations such as the FCA deal with the regulation and supervision of complex financial institutions and products—subjects which most people may consider dry, and perhaps even dull—these matters have a real human cost, which my hon. Friend just alluded to, beyond just numbers on a balance sheet.

Colleagues will be aware of the report by the businessman Lawrence Tomlinson, which looked in depth at RBS’s Global Restructuring Group. Tomlinson received large bodies of evidence on RBS practices, including from its business customers. The report found

“very concerning patterns of behaviour leading to the destruction of good and viable UK businesses”,

all for the sake of profit for RBS.

Just as RBS has failed to resolve the case of Pickup and Bradbury, I am sure the same can be said of many hundreds of cases across the country. The Tomlinson report suggests, in fact, that this was a widespread and systemic practice applied to many RBS customers.

Once placed in this division of the bank, these businesses were trapped with no ability to move or opportunity to trade out of the position. Good, honest, and otherwise successful, businesspeople were forced to stand by and watch as they were sunk by the decisions of the bank. The bank would then extract maximum revenue from the business, beyond what could be considered reasonable, and to such an extent that it was the key contributing factor to the business’s financial deterioration.

The reported practices of the restructuring group, if accurate, were, on a generous interpretation, dubious and questionable, but it may be truer to say unethical and totally scandalous. It is therefore no wonder—indeed, it is proper—that, following the publication of the Tomlinson report in 2013, the Government invited the FCA to investigate the alleged actions and practices of RBS and other banks. The FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority were established by Parliament with legal powers to investigate such a situation. I am aware also that two accountancy and consultancy firms were appointed to carry out a skilled person review of the allegations against the Royal Bank of Scotland.

However, more than two years on, we are still waiting for the FCA to present its findings. In the meantime my constituent, Mr Topping, and hundreds like him across the country are unable to move on with their lives or get closure on the matter. They are unable to seek compensation or even receive an apology.

Oral Answers to Questions

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Wednesday 9th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I thought that the Labour party voted for the referendum when it came before the House of Commons. We are fighting for a better deal for Britain in Europe. The truth is that this week we have shown that we have an economic plan that is delivering for Britain. Whether it is well-funded flood defences, putting money into our national health service, backing teachers in our schools or introducing a national living wage, we are delivering security for the working people of Britain. Their economic and national security would be put at risk if the Labour party ever got back into office.

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

Q4. I recently visited the apprentice workshop of David Wilson Homes and saw at first hand the work the construction industry is doing to support apprenticeships in Hampshire. What more can schools do to promote apprenticeships as a valuable alternative to post-16 academic study?

Oral Answers to Questions

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Well, I never thought I would say, “Bring back Ed Balls.” The Labour party needs to look at the productivity of its own Front Bench after those two dismal questions. I spoke in the Mansion House about the importance of raising the productivity of the United Kingdom. It is a challenge that has existed for many decades, as the hon. Gentleman knows. We will bring forward further proposals in the Budget to tackle the productivity gap in skills and infrastructure and the regional imbalance of our economy. Perhaps the Labour party could find some credible economic spokesman to take part in the debate.

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

T5. Pensioners in Romsey and Southampton North have welcomed their new freedoms over their pensions. What evidence does my right hon. Friend have that they are taking advantage of those new freedoms?

[Mr Osborne]

Conservative Members believe that we should trust people who have worked hard and saved hard with those savings in retirement. These unprecedented pension freedoms have been widely welcomed. I can give the House the latest numbers—indeed, the first numbers—on how many people have taken advantage of the freedoms. So far, in the few weeks since they came into effect, 60,000 people have made use of them. More than £1 billion has been transferred out of people’s pension funds as a result. It is a sign that this is a real success, but we have to make sure that people get the best advice, that the market responds and that companies up their game in helping customers make use of these freedoms. We will be watching these things very carefully.

amendment of the law

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Monday 24th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Frank Dobson).

Constituents in Romsey and Southampton North have welcomed what they regard as an excellent Budget, aimed at improving the lot of doers, makers, savers and hard-working lower earners. It was a Budget that raised the income tax threshold and further shifted the burden for Government spending away from those who can afford it least and on to those who can afford it most.

The Budget also provided help to manufacturers struggling with the costs of energy, including companies in my constituency such as Michelmersh bricks, which welcomed the £7 billion support package that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced. Those of my constituents who enjoy a pint also noted the 1p reduction in beer duty. I join members of the all-party save the pub group and hope that cut will be passed on to the consumer, not kept by the pub companies. Those in Romsey and Southampton North who drive a car are relieved that the hated fuel duty escalator was abolished last year and that we have seen a further freeze in fuel duty, meaning a saving of 20%, given the rises that would have taken place under the Labour party.

I was delighted to hear my right hon. Friend’s announcement on changes to annuities. His proposal struck me as a policy that is as radical as the right-to-buy scheme was in the 1980s. That scheme saw the largest ever transfer of wealth from the state to the individual and enabled people to take control of their future and wealth through property ownership. This policy does exactly the same with taxed income that responsible people have chosen to save, yet are restricted from accessing because of the hand of the state. I have always believed that if someone has been responsible enough to save for their own retirement, they should have the absolute right to access their money as they wish and to reinvest or spend it as they see fit.

On the subject of pensioners, Hampshire sees 1,000 more people every year reach the age of 80, and the health and social care requirements of an ageing population are a challenge faced both by central and local Government. Local authorities such as Hampshire county council face significant challenges. The Care Bill, which I welcome, places an additional burden on local government, and estimates indicate that just assessing the eligibility of Hampshire’s residents for the new provisions of the Care Bill will run into many millions of pounds. That is not money delivered in front-line services to the elderly, but merely to assess whether they are eligible. Even for a prudent local council, that bill is large and unexpected. Counties such as Hampshire currently have a significant number of self-funders—in the region of 60%—and under the terms of the Care Bill, all of those might apply to the council to see whether they are eligible.

I am relieved that the Budget has not led to further reductions in central Government funding for local authorities, but there is no doubt that the next two years will be tough. Particularly in Romsey and Southampton North, there has been a significant problem with flooding over the past few months—perhaps not on the scale of Somerset or the Thames valley, but it is none the less devastating for the affected residents and businesses.

We know assistance is available, but what Romsey residents want to know, and quickly, is what measures will be put in place to prevent a recurrence in future. Flood defence measures do not come cheap, nor are they easily engineered and installed. We have to be as alert to inland flooding as to coastal flooding and remember that people’s lives and homes do not fall easily into mathematical equations to assess the wider benefit. I suspect that the burden of the winter’s floods will fall on local government, such as the careful, prudent Conservative authorities of Test Valley and Hampshire, and I seek reassurance from the Treasury that they will not be left to shoulder that burden alone.

That brings me to potholes. I welcome the additional funding for pothole repair, but the estimate for Hampshire’s roads is that this winter’s weather will have brought about a bill of £35 million extra, even before the water level has gone down completely and prior to any assessment of damage to bridges. I welcome the £11.5 million that the Chancellor has already committed to Hampshire and I am grateful to him for making £200 million more available in the pothole challenge fund, which local authorities are invited to bid for. I sincerely hope that he will look favourably on an application from Hampshire.

Oral Answers to Questions

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 28th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We have provided extra free child care, and we have increased the number of hours available, which has been a real help. We have also helped the parents, including mothers, of those on low incomes by extending the child care offer to younger children, and we will legislate for tax-free child care. I hope the hon. Lady can support that.

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

22. Little Bee bakery in my constituency is owned by Melissa O’Dwyer, and it is a great example of a business set up from home that has expanded into an industrial unit, employs exclusively female staff and is growing. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is an example of female entrepreneurs playing a critical part in economic growth?

[Mr Osborne]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and I congratulate Melissa on her business and her expansion plans. We are there to provide advice and support for women who want to grow their businesses. We are there to provide help, as I have set out, with tax-free child care. Above all, we are there to provide economic conditions in which businesses can grow and our long-term plan is, as the numbers show today, delivering that.

Pub Companies

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 21st January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

I shall keep my comments as brief as possible because the problems with pub companies have been well rehearsed this afternoon. I would like to thank the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Toby Perkins) for mentioning the Abbots Mitre in Chilbolton; I can reassure him that the pub is still open and doing business. In that instance, however, there have been significant problems with the tie. That caused difficulties for the local community, which then sought to establish a community buy-out to make sure that their much-loved local is still open.

There are numerous examples in Romsey and Southampton North of previously successful and popular pubs shutting their doors. Some of the closures have been temporary. I am pleased that the Hunters inn in Romsey, for example, has reopened and is doing well. I echo the hon. Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Alison Seabeck) in saying that it takes a very special type of person to make a success of running a pub. The Hunters inn is a good example because the landlord there is also the landlord of two other pubs in the immediate Romsey area. He has certainly worked hard with pub companies to make sure that he can make a go of it. I am sure that it is partly attributable to his strong negotiation skills when it comes to arranging and agreeing leases.

However, this afternoon I want to focus on a slightly less happy example: the Stoneham Arms in Bassett, which closed in the middle of last year. I fear that what I am about to say is almost inevitable: the pub was owned by Enterprise Inns and is due to be converted to a Co-op store, although there is already one just a few doors away. I have no doubt that there is a sound business model to add to the existing retail offer in Bassett Green road, because otherwise the Co-op would not be seeking to do that, but the Stoneham Arms as a pub provided a meeting place for the community, and there are precious few such facilities left in Bassett. We often talk about the need for more community cohesion, but pubs can and do provide ideal meeting places.

I know that pub companies often cite a lack of interest on the part of potential future tenants as one of the reasons why they are obliged to consider alternative uses. Enterprise Inns informed me that the Stoneham Arms had been marketed on extremely competitive terms in an attempt to find a new publican, and that, in its words,

“not one serious enquiry was received to operate the premises as a public house”.

However, we cannot know how competitive those terms were, or, indeed, what other bars there were to people seeking to run the premises as a pub. Nor can I judge how significantly the beer tie acted as a deterrent to potential publicans, but I am convinced it played a part. The tie, the nervousness with which publicans regard possible abuses of it, and the general uncertainty that exists in the industry as a whole have come together to present a very bleak picture.

As we have heard repeatedly this afternoon, publicans just want to be able to earn a decent income—and must work incredibly hard to do so—and I believe that regulation is necessary to make that a possibility. Those in the trade seek certainty, fairness and reassurance that the Government are on their side, to ensure that they can run their business models.

Time is of the essence. As we have heard, 26 pubs are closing each week, and the Stoneham Arms is just the latest in a long list of pubs in my constituency that have either been lost or come under serious threat. The Woodman, also in Bassett, is now a Tesco Express, and in the villages of my constituency many pubs have been boarded up. I do not pretend that that is just because of pub companies and beer ties. Indeed, a pub in my own road is currently being marketed, and as far I know it did not have a contract with a pub company. However, we know from CAMRA that the rate of closures is increasing, and that many in the trade are looking to the future and considering their positions very carefully.

I realise that the Minister has heard a great many exhortations about timely action today. I welcome the amendment and the fact that it is supported by the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland), whom I have always regarded as something of an expert on this issue. As he has said, it has and deserves cross-party support. We have heard from the Secretary of State that statutory regulation is needed, and there is agreement on that among Members on both sides of the House, but it is vital that when that is done it is done well, so that it works for the whole of the licensed trade and, indeed, its customers.

Sixth-Form Colleges (VAT)

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 17th December 2013 Westminster Hall

[Lisa Nandy]

Absolutely. I pay tribute to the work done by my hon. Friend and many of the other Members present. The fact that there are so many Members here for such a short debate should tell the Minister that there is huge strength of feeling throughout the House on this issue.

All of this would make more sense if the sector were failing, but taken as a whole, sixth-form colleges are not only lean and efficient institutions, according to the National Audit Office; they are also among the best existing provision for 16 to 19-year-olds. Some 80% of them are rated as good or better, and they consistently rate higher than other types of provision in terms of added value. I know that St John Rigby college in my constituency does tremendous work with young people from deprived backgrounds and outdoes almost every other type of provision in getting those young people to university.

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this important debate. Does she agree that 16 to 19 provision in further education colleges—outside a school setting—can sometimes provide the impetus that 16-year-olds who might not have done well at school need to enable them to achieve their GCSEs and then go on to A-levels?

[Lisa Nandy]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. I am grateful to her for raising that issue. The culture in sixth-form colleges is enormously beneficial to such young people, and the staff are obviously passionate and determined to ensure that those young people reach their potential.

In conclusion, Ministers have accepted that this situation is unfair, so will the Minister who is here in Westminster Hall today take steps to create a level playing field for sixth-form colleges?

Oral Answers to Questions

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

T10. Trojans sports club in my constituency is a brilliant example of a multi-sports club that encourages participation in a wide range of sports. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to help multi-sports clubs, which sometimes feel disadvantaged compared with single-sports clubs?

[Nicky Morgan]

The Government want to support all sports clubs and encourage as many people as possible to participate in grass-roots sports, which is why we recently announced changes to the community amateur sports clubs regime that we hope will benefit up to 40,000 sports clubs in this country. I hope that the club in my hon. Friend’s constituency will take advantage of that. One of the best things we have done is extend corporate gift aid so that local businesses that donate to sports clubs will be able to offset their donations against their corporation tax bill, which I hope will make a real difference to their income.