Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Sajid Javid and Tessa Munt(9 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Sajid Javid
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, who has taken a strong interest in this matter. I have heard him speak in the House on behalf of his constituents on a number of occasions, and once again he comes up with an excellent idea, which we shall follow up.
Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)
The Government’s own figures show that Somerset’s rate of access to superfast broadband is only 41%, which hardly meets the needs of rural businesses and residents. Connecting Devon and Somerset allows bids from other suppliers in the Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks, but I understand that, because of the reason of screening of information, only BT, as a monopoly supplier, will be able to bid for the second phase. I have written to the Competition and Markets Authority; will the Secretary of State do the same and investigate exactly what has happened?
Sajid Javid
As my hon. Friend raises a specific issue, I will have to take a closer look at it. I am glad that she has written to the Competition and Markets Authority, but if this is a competition issue, it should be dealt with by the independent regulator. However, if there is more that she thinks I can do, I shall take a closer look.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Sajid Javid and Tessa Munt(10 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)
The hon. Gentleman is right to raise this issue. Lending to small businesses has been a matter of concern to this Government. There are potentially some issues of competition in the market, and that is why we welcome today’s update by the Office of Fair Trading on its SME market study. The funding for lending scheme has helped. It has increased net lending by the participating banks by more than £10 billion during its first phase, and I think we are right, in its second phase, to focus it on SMEs only.
Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)
I am sure that Members of this House will welcome the overwhelming support in the European Parliament this morning in voting in favour of open public registers of company beneficial ownership and voting against exempting trusts from public disclosure. Will the Minister apply pressure to his colleagues to ensure that the Council adopts the same rigorous position as Members of the European Parliament?
Financial Products (Mis-selling)
Debate between Sajid Javid and Tessa Munt(10 years, 10 months ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Sajid Javid
Yes, I can bear that in mind. My hon. Friend makes a characteristically good point. Throughout this debate, he has raised a number of important issues, but I hope that he accepts that the FCA is an organisation that needs a degree of strong independence so that it can make robust decisions and not be influenced for the wrong reasons.
Tessa Munt
Will the Minister consider this particular situation? If a company has gone into administration because of the mis-selling of an interest rate hedging product, it is by definition excluded. If it is in administration, only the insolvency practitioner can represent the interests of that company, but the insolvency practitioner is often appointed by the bank and is extremely loth to sue the bank for redress, and if it does, it has a direct interest, which means that there is a conflict of interest in that sort of situation. The company can never get redress because, effectively, the company owner has gone down the pan—his house will be gone and so on. It is an appalling situation. Will the Minister address that point for me?
Sajid Javid
The hon. Lady raises an important point. The issue of insolvency, insolvency law and our approach to that is, as she will know, looked at in great detail by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Given the connection between that issue and the one we are discussing, I will make sure that my right hon. Friend the Business Secretary is aware of it and responds accordingly.
Let me reiterate that the Government take extremely seriously the abuse that has taken place in many cases and I am determined that these wrongs will be put right. I want to see a quick solution to the mis-selling of interest rate hedging products to allow those businesses to continue to operate and contribute to the ongoing recovery of the UK economy. Once again I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for North Herefordshire on securing this debate.