Business of the House

Jason McCartney Excerpts

Thursday 1st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Jason McCartney.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Oh, thank you, Mr Speaker. I thought you were looking at somebody else.

A lot of doom and gloom is being peddled at the moment, so in this Olympic and diamond jubilee year, may we have a debate so that Members can mention all the many positive and uplifting things happening in their constituencies? For example, in the past week in my patch I have met many young apprentices—there are 130 new ones. There is a new dye works opening, David Brown Engineering has had another investment from the Government, the National Citizen Service is being launched on Monday in my constituency and young people are engaging with the Olympics. Let us have more positivity.

[Sir George Young]

I hope that my hon. Friend continues to be called in business questions. He is right to say that there is a lot of good news around. In January, retail sale volume was up by 0.9% on December and up on a year ago. The services purchasing managers index, the manufacturing purchasing managers index and construction output are up, and in January we had a budget surplus of £11.8 billion, £2.5 billion higher than last year. I hope that he will put his name in for the debate on the Budget, when we can listen to him tell us at greater length about all the good news in his constituency and the rest of the country.

Early-day Motions

Jason McCartney Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans]

My hon. Friend raises another good point: the sheer volume of early-day motions means that many constituents do not get the outcomes they seek.

We need to be totally frank about this. We have lobbyists trying to convince their clients that they are being very influential and making progress on their issue by getting an early-day motion tabled with lots of signatures. We have Members who want to convince constituents that they really care about a particular issue and have even taken the important-sounding step of tabling or signing an early-day motion. And we have local journalists who, desperate for copy, use the press release from the Member bragging about how they are backing an early-day motion. The cycle repeats, but nothing actually gets achieved.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Like my hon. Friend I was inspired to give up signing early-day motions in August 2010 and the world has not stopped turning. He proposes some good ideas to take matters forward. For example, my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Steve Baker) and I went to the Backbench Business Committee and got a debate on Kashmir, which was a much better way to raise that issue than just tabling an early-day motion. I like the way in which my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Graham Evans) is coming forward with alternative ideas.

[Graham Evans]

My hon. Friend raises the point that there are now other mechanisms. The Backbench Business Committee is one and Westminster Hall debates, in which Ministers are held to account and have to give answers, are another. There are new avenues for Back Benchers now.

It is this frustration that led me to table my own, admittedly tongue-in-cheek, early-day motion 432, calling for early-day motions to be reformed or abolished. I believe that the other 44 Members who have kindly signed my early-day motion share my frustration—

Business of the House

Jason McCartney Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

It is not the case that the Government have done nothing about bankers’ bonuses. A moment ago, I outlined the action that was taken through Merlin to cap cash payments at £2,000 and to get bonuses on a downward trajectory. The hon. Gentleman will know that we finished consulting on executive pay in November. We hope to make an announcement very soon. His Government totally failed to take such action over 13 years.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Huddersfield Town fans, and I declare an interest as a season ticket holder, are campaigning for the return of the club’s original 40% share in its home ground, the Galpharm stadium. I hope that an amicable agreement can be reached between the chairman of Huddersfield Town football club and the chairman of the Huddersfield Giants rugby league club. May we have a debate on football governance that focuses not only on club ownership but on the ownership of football grounds and stadiums?

[Sir George Young]

I, too, hope that there is an amicable resolution. An unamicable resolution between those two formidable people would be a sight to behold. There has been a Select Committee report on football governance. I hope that in due course the Liaison Committee will propose it for debate. That might be an opportunity for my hon. Friend to raise his concerns. In the meantime, I will see whether there is anything that Ministers at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport can do to resolve the local tussle to which he refers.

Business of the House

Jason McCartney Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s question, which contained within it the answer, as he outlined a number of measures—child tax credit for struggling families, early years support for vulnerable two-year-olds, more support for child care within universal credit and increasing the number of health visitors. The Government would welcome such a debate; perhaps he would like to initiate one in Westminster Hall.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

With reference to the shadow Leader of the House’s box-set collection of TV programmes, I suspect that the shadow Cabinet is currently watching “Lost”. May we please have a debate on empty homes? There is a real paradox in my local council area in that while the council is pushing through its top-down housing targets for tens of thousands of new homes, there are 11,000 empty homes. Local people find that very hard to explain when the countryside is being dug up for new homes.

[Sir George Young]

As a former Housing Minister, I share my hon. Friend’s concern. There are about 350,000 empty houses in this country, which is an affront to those who are waiting for good housing. I commend the work of the Empty Homes Agency. In addition, the new homes bonus will apply also to local authorities that bring back into use homes that are currently empty, and other money is available within the local government budget to encourage local authorities to bring homes back into use. I commend my hon. Friend’s work on this issue, and I hope that all local authorities will do all they can to bring empty homes back into use.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jason McCartney Excerpts

Monday 25th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I reject the hon. Gentleman’s implication that there was any impropriety in the discharge of information relating to Equitable Life. The figure was given in the CSR statement by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor last week.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

3. What proposals he plans to put to the House in respect of the structure of the parliamentary calendar for the remainder of the current Session.

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

5. What proposals he plans to put to the House in respect of the structure of the parliamentary calendar for the remainder of the current Session.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David Heath)]

My right hon. Friend the Leader of the House announced the proposed parliamentary calendar until the end of 2011 last Thursday at the commencement of business questions, and I hope right hon. and hon. Members will have had the opportunity to pick up a copy.

[Jason McCartney]

I thank the Deputy Leader of the House for that answer, which will allow me and many colleagues in the House to plan our next few months in our constituencies. Can he help me plan the next four and a half years in my constituency, by giving the House an update on the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill?

[Mr Heath]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have had the Second Reading of that Bill. It should go into Committee shortly. I hope it will be able to make speedy progress, given the degree of consensus that exists across the House, and we hope it will receive Royal Assent at the earliest opportunity.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jason McCartney Excerpts

Monday 21st June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)]

9. What plans he has for the future of regional news services; and if he will make a statement.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

13. What representations he has received on the future of local and regional media; and if he will make a statement.

[The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

It is a fundamental priority for this Government to reform the regulatory structure to allow the emergence of a new generation of local media companies, including high-quality local TV companies, which we have never properly had in this country, and I have already taken steps to make that happen.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hunt]

I welcome the hon. Lady to her position—I believe that she also name-checked the Express and Star in her maiden speech. If we had Wolverhampton TV, she could name-check that as well, which she should welcome, because that is very much a part of the Government’s vision. ITV news providers are obliged to continue under the terms of their current licences until 2014, as I told the hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Miss Begg), so we have a window between now and then in which to allow for the emergence of a new generation of strong, profitable, ambitious and successful local media companies. We are doing that by modernising the regulatory framework, which unfortunately was not done by the previous Government, and which was set up in the pre-internet era. That is why so many local papers are struggling. I hope the hon. Lady supports our plans, because I think that they would be good for local papers in her area and for a new generation of TV companies.

[Jason McCartney]

May I welcome the Secretary of State and his Ministers to the Front Bench? As everybody else is doing this, may I also name-check my local newspaper, the Huddersfield Daily Examiner? As someone who used to work in ITV regional news, I know the importance that Ofcom attaches to vibrant local and regional media for local democracy. Bearing in mind the current economic climate, what definite plans does the Secretary of State have for ensuring that ITV regional news provides strong competition for BBC regional news?

[Mr Hunt]

I also welcome my hon. Friend, and particularly as someone whose background includes working both as an ITV broadcaster and as a BBC journalist, because BBC journalists have often tended to be represented more on another side of the House. The answer to his question is that we have to ensure that BBC news provision has competition. That is essential, although it is not necessarily the case that that competition must come from ITV; it might come from more local news providers. That is why the plans that we are putting forward will be so significant.