Future Government Spending

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Wednesday 4th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

For some reason, my mind is drawn increasingly to the time that people are in particular positions, and I note this afternoon a conspicuous absence on the Liberal Democrat Benches. I think back to the early part of this Parliament, when the right hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr Laws) held the post of Chief Secretary to the Treasury for a total of 17 days, and I recall being in the Chamber when, with barely disguised glee and in a remarkable contribution that has continued in the approach of the coalition, he began the process of cutting back on investments, some of which have since been re-announced. This was at a time when the economy was beginning to grow after a long global banking crisis out of which we are only just starting to emerge. Since then, for the past five years, for the vast majority of constituents in all parts of the UK, things have been getting worse, not better. The coalition justified it on the basis of shoddy analysis of how our economy and situation was the same as that in Greece.

[Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)]

I notice that there are no Scottish nats in the Chamber at present, which is not unusual. Will my hon. Friend touch on the effect of the price of North sea oil on the economy of today?

[Tom Greatrex]

My hon. Friend makes a different point from the one I was making, but an important one. The reduction in the price of a barrel of oil has had a significant impact on revenues. If Scotland had become a separate country or was in the process of becoming a separate country, the impact on revenues would have amounted to the equivalent of the entire education budget. That much would have been wiped out in the course of the last few months, highlighting the dangers of an economy being over-reliant on what the record shows to be such a volatile commodity, and indeed, by definition, a declining one, given the amount of oil still left in the ground. This is an important point for Scotland.

The tenure in office of the current Chief Secretary to the Treasury has been slightly longer, and 1,591 days ago, the Prime Minister said:

“In five years’ time, we will have balanced the books.”

He has 63 days left in his job, and I suspect that he is not going to meet that promise.

[Andrew Bridgen]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Tom Greatrex]

No, I am going to make some progress, and I have a relatively short time.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has said that borrowing for 2015-16 is set to be £75 billion and that the Government are borrowing over £200 billion more than they planned in 2010—hardly an exemplar of a functioning economic policy.

The last five years, then, have indeed seemed long term—and they felt long term to many of my constituents, who have suffered from declining incomes and struggling to find work. During that long-term five years, they have certainly suffered real economic pain. Such economic pain might well not be appreciated by the Government Members who have chosen to turn up this afternoon, but it is real and long-term economic pain to my constituents. If Government Members were to pay some attention to the entirety of their constituencies, they would find that it is exactly the same for them.

I believe that the Government have failed their own test on the economy because they have failed the test set for them by people’s expectations. Over the last five years, they have failed to create an economy that works for the majority of people. Working people are, on average, £1,600 a year worse off than they were at the start of the Parliament. Wages are stagnant for many people, and I know that all too many of my constituents who have been able to get back into work are in low-paid, insecure work. They are regularly on contracts that make them wait for a text message at the start of the week to be told how many hours’ work they are going to get for that week. [Interruption.]

I note the hon. Member for Macclesfield (David Rutley) shaking his head in disdain, so I invite him to come to my constituency to meet people in my surgeries each week who are suffering as a result of what has been allowed to happen and because of the failure of his party to take action to tackle these types of exploitative contracts. If he thinks that that is a fair basis for our economic growth, I suggest that he is not speaking even for his own constituents, let alone the majority of people in this country.

[David Rutley]

The hon. Gentleman argues with passion; I argue with similar passion. If he looks at the statistics, he will find that it is clear that the vast majority—more than 70%—of the jobs created are for full-time, permanent work. That benefits his constituents as well as mine. It is working.

[Tom Greatrex]

Many people in my constituency who were out of work and are now in work are employed on zero-hours contracts—as I said, contracts that make them wait for a text message at the start of the week to find out whether they will get any hours that week. They have variable levels of hours from week to week. It does not involve simply doing a top-up job or an additional job. In many cases, this provides these people’s main source of income, and these contracts have increased over the last five years. That is the reality, and the hon. Gentleman should be ashamed that his Government have failed to tackle it. It is a disgrace that this is where we are in the 21st century—and that is exactly where we are at present.

[Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Tom Greatrex]

I will, but for the last time.

[Sandra Osborne]

My hon. Friend will be aware of the thousands of people using food banks in our constituencies up and down the country—and many of the people using them are in work.

[Tom Greatrex]

Indeed. My hon. Friend makes a very important point—that many of the people accessing and using food banks are the same people who are increasingly reliant on in-work benefits. They are not out of work or seeking to be in work, but the hourly wages they receive are not enough to heat their homes or put food on the table for their families. That is a notable feature of the economy at present.

[Andrew Bridgen]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Tom Greatrex]

No, I will not. I have already given way three times, and I am running out of time.

As a result of low and stagnant pay, tax receipts are more than £68 billion lower, and receipts from national insurance contributions are £27.3 billion lower, than they were expected to be five years ago. Chronic low pay only drives up the costs of welfare, and the welfare bill is £25 billion higher than it was planned to be in 2010. The problems have been exacerbated over the last five years, not solved, and that has skewed the economy towards the interests of the few rather than the many. We need a fundamental change of approach: we need an economy that is focused on ensuring that people can earn decent wages and survive. That would enable us to increase the tax take, and to reduce the benefits bill. The choice that we shall all have to make at the general election will be crucial to the future of many of our constituents.

My own constituency badly needs that change of approach. Youth unemployment is 5.7%, well above the United Kingdom average of 3.2%, and median wages last year were 10% lower than the United Kingdom average. Every week I hear from people who are concerned about the contracts under which they are employed and about their prospects, and who fear that their children will be unable to find work. To those people, the last five years have meant a Government who have failed them.

As I have said, there will be a choice to be made at the general election. The Government have demonstrated that their plan is failing. They boast of economic success, but they have created the early signs of a recovery that works only for a handful at the top. There is an alternative to a failing plan, and that is a much better plan. The economy must succeed for working families throughout Britain: it must succeed for everyone in the country. I think that, in 63 days’ time, the people of this country will succeed where the Prime Minister has failed, and will hold him to his pledge. He has failed on the economy, so they will kick him out, and it will be good riddance to a failed Government.

Low Carbon Energy Generation

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Thursday 26th February 2015 Westminster Hall

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Brady. I congratulate the hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr Yeo) on securing this debate. As he said, it is a shame that there are not more people here taking part. It is a sharp contrast with the debates that we had in the past few weeks during the closing stages of the Infrastructure Bill. Many people who seemed interested in one particular aspect of the Bill applying to energy policy are not here today, nor are Members from some of the smaller parties represented in the House. It is a shame that they are not here to take part in this debate.

In his wide-ranging contribution, the hon. Member for South Suffolk touched on numerous important and significant issues. Apart from some slightly more partisan points that he made, there was quite a lot with which I agreed. He will probably not be surprised by that, as we have debated many of these issues in the past five years. As he said, there is a degree of consensus on them. It is always important that we do not let consensus slip into complacency, but there are good reasons to seek consensus, because the energy and investment decisions that we are discussing will last a lot longer than any of us are likely to be in this House, and longer than any Government last. They are often long-term decisions, and it is important that we debate, discuss and scrutinise them with that in mind.

I am pleased to see the hon. Member for Wyre and Preston North (Mr Wallace) in his place again. The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for West Suffolk (Matthew Hancock) is not here. I think I might have upset him; whenever we have a debate in this Chamber or on a statutory instrument, the hon. Member for Wyre and Preston North seems to be here in his place. That is a good thing, as he is more than capable of explaining and discussing the Government’s position, and of course the Energy Minister is a busy and important man who probably has busy and important things to do elsewhere. However, he might benefit from coming to some of these debates, because they help illustrate the wide range of issues that come within his Department’s brief and that we seek to discuss.

The hon. Member for South Suffolk started by talking about climate change and the need to tackle it, mentioning the statement from the leaders of the three larger parties within the last week or so. It is important to remember that the reduction in emissions from energy, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn (Albert Owen) said, is only part of the challenge in terms of emissions; there are also challenges in relation to transport, heating and industry. However, in energy supply and electricity, significant progress can be made. The hon. Member for South Suffolk, and my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz) in an intervention, mentioned today’s announcement on the contracts for difference auctions.

The hon. Member for South Suffolk said that Britain was in the lead on offshore wind. Actually—it gives me no great pleasure to say this—it is England that is in the lead on offshore wind, because there is 20 times more installed capacity in English waters than in Scottish waters, despite the claims that are sometimes made. However, a number of projects in Scotland have been successful in the auctions, including an offshore wind project, which has been referred to. I hope that that gives us in Scotland an opportunity to make some progress. Of course, that is underpinned by the UK-wide system of support that we enjoy, which benefits Scotland hugely in terms of being able to develop renewable technologies, and which benefits everybody in all parts of the UK in terms of the power that is therefore supplied.

The discussion in the past few days on the potential closure of Longannet coal-fired power station in Scotland illustrates that we have an increasing imbalance in the energy supply in Scotland. We have to be careful to ensure that we do not end up having to import energy from England to Scotland, as is now the case for at least part of one day in six, to keep the lights on, particularly at times of high demand and when the wind is not blowing.

Members may not have been where I was between Christmas and new year, but it was very cold. There was no wind at all, and, without power from other parts of the UK coming to Scotland, the lights may have gone out, which would have been serious. That is why I maintain that we need a balanced energy mix, and that is probably the view of everybody taking part in this debate.

There are a range of low carbon technologies. Sometimes people make the mistake of assuming that low carbon equals renewable. Renewables are a significant part of low carbon technology, but not the full suite. We have had some discussion this afternoon on nuclear, which I will say a little more about shortly. There are other potential technologies, including carbon capture and storage if it can be developed, that can help to meet some of the emissions targets as we renew our generation fleet.

The hon. Member for South Suffolk touched on the attitude of business, and said how refreshing it was that in his time as an advocate of low carbon technology, the attitude of business seemed to have changed, which is to be welcomed. He will recall our debates on what is now the Energy Act 2013. We discussed various issues, particularly around longer-term targets for decarbonisation, which was advocated by non-governmental organisations with a particular interest, but a lot of businesses advocated a 2030 decarbonisation target, too. The cross-party amendment that he supported did not make it into the Act, sadly, but it was supported by people in various parties. There is need for a longer-term signal; that is significant.

Issues around the costs of offshore wind are partly to do with scale, and that is partly to do with opportunities for manufacturing and the supply chain, which require a long-term signal to invest. Although I welcome Siemens’ investment in Hull, there could be much more investment if we had a stronger sense of direction and targets that could give the certainty and predictability that Members talked about to enable investment.

The hon. Gentleman talked about lowest-cost decarbonisation. I tend to prefer best-value decarbonisation. There is value in seeking to ensure that various technologies are developed, and that we do not run the risk of missing out on technologies that can help, particularly in relation to renewables that may be less intermittent than those that are currently commercial viable. It is important that we continue, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn said, with the research going on at the university in his constituency. Just in the past few months, at the university of Hull, I have seen software development to help cut the costs of installing offshore wind without compromising safety, for example. I have seen the energy research centre at the university of Strathclyde under the leadership of Professor Sir Jim McDonald, and, in Edinburgh, the facility for testing marine technology. Those are all good examples of the great academic and research expertise that should benefit the UK more widely. Economic benefits can come from the inevitable and desirable need to move to a much lower carbon mix for our generation supply.

The hon. Member for South Suffolk celebrated the broad consensus on new nuclear being part of the mix. He may have been slightly churlish in his comments about party political support, because he will know that Brian Wilson, a former Energy Minister and Member of this House, began the process of identifying sites and agreeing the process. It is important to get that right to give the confidence that the hon. Member for South Suffolk spoke about. It is important to maintain confidence following Fukushima, but the process was established at a time when his party leader said that nuclear was a last resort, and the party of the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change was implacably opposed to nuclear. I am glad that we have got to a position where there is support for new nuclear as a low carbon-based technology in the lower carbon mix, and I hope that continues.

The hon. Member for South Suffolk was right to make the points about affordability and cost. The European Commission was able to find significant cost savings in its scrutiny of the agreement between the Government and EDF. That indicates the importance of ensuring that a proper eye is kept on costs in the nuclear sector. We do not want to compromise safety, but we want to make sure that things are done effectively and as affordably as possible. If not, we run the risk of seeking technology that seems very expensive compared with alternatives. Although those alternatives do not provide the same broad range of advantages, on paper nuclear will look much more expensive. It is important that the industry takes a role, as well as regulators and the Government, to ensure that that is done in the most efficient way possible.

The hon. Gentleman spoke about the capacity mechanism. Whoever is in government post-May will have to make important decisions in relation to applicability and how the next capacity market auction happens. I still have a degree of doubt as to why existing nuclear power should be included in the capacity market, but his points about demand-side management are well made. It seems a very small amount in the first round, and that should be addressed. I welcome the fact that the Government have moved in relation to interconnection. That is another important and potentially efficient way of being able to meet some of the objectives.

The hon. Gentleman touched on the amount of gas that we need. Members here today will know that 80% of our heating comes from gas. We will continue to need gas for heating for a significant period. We will also need gas as a source of peaking power capacity, so the debate around the sustainability of our gas supplies and where they come from is an important one. I note that the Committee on Climate Change has published new information, following the debates on the Infrastructure Bill, on how shale gas might be a part of the mix, in line with climate objectives.

On the wider debate on shale, it is important to make sure that regulation is properly robust, and that the monitoring is comprehensive, to ensure public confidence before anything takes place. Also, we need to ensure that any exploration or extraction is done in the context of the wider carbon commitments. The hon. Gentleman probably agrees with that. That is how the debate should be taken forward, although I realise that that is sometimes difficult, particularly as we get closer to the general election.

My hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn, who is a member of the Select Committee that the hon. Member for South Suffolk chairs, made several important points. He made a point about consensus—considered consensus, as I say, rather than complacency—which is important when we are dealing with long-term policy. It is right that Government policy be properly scrutinised, but we need to do that with an eye to the long-term objective that we want to meet.

My hon. Friend spoke on a number of issues that the Select Committee has touched on recently, including the debate on the generation of low carbon technology and the importance of stability in policy. As I said, stability is important if we are to attract investment and secure the maximum possible economic benefits. He also talked about issues in his area and mentioned Anglesey energy island. The Minister knows that part of the world well, and I have been there. It is a beautiful part of the world and, from what my hon. Friend said, it is a place where there is a huge amount of creativity, and where people are coming up with some potentially good opportunities in terms of energy. It is not just about the nuclear power station; it is about a number of different things, particularly decentralised energy, which he talked about.

Issues around investment and business certainty are important. My hon. Friend was on the Committee considering the Energy Bill, which became the Energy Act 2013, and he will recall that the head of energy finance at RBS gave oral evidence to the Bill Committee, saying that the 2030 decarbonisation target was

“absolutely critical from the conversations I have with potential supply-chain investors because they…point out that it is very difficult for them to take investment to their board if they really only have visibility on three or four years’ worth of work.”––[Official Report, Energy Public Bill Committee, 15 January 2013; c. 51, Q154.]

That is where we are, because we have visibility to 2020 through the levy control framework, but not beyond that. Again, that is an important issue for the next Government to address properly when taking forward the levy control framework and considering both its structure and the amounts. It is also important in respect of the longer-term decarbonisation target.

[Mr Yeo]

I omitted to say something: the hon. Gentleman is right to draw attention to the importance of long-term predictability and support. I and my Committee believe it would help if the next Government committed to an annual rolling update of the levy control framework totals, so that it is always set for seven years ahead. That would facilitate investment decisions, and would therefore tend slightly to reduce the cost of investment and consumer prices.

[Tom Greatrex]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about the cost of risk and uncertainty. Whoever is in government in a few weeks needs to look quite early on at how the levy control framework will be taken forward—at both the structure of the mechanism and the amounts. It is not just about the amounts of money; it is about the way the mechanism is calibrated and taken forward. Whoever is Energy Minister in 72 days’ time, they should have the report of the hon. Gentleman’s Committee in their in-tray to consider, among other issues.

I have touched on demand-side response. The Select Committee has done important work on that. The exchange of correspondence between the Committee Chair and the Energy Minister was interesting and indicates, I hope, that there is still some opportunity for the Government to take that matter more seriously, going forward. I hope that that is also the case for the next round of capacity market auctions, which will happen towards the end of this calendar year.

The technology that we have not really touched on is carbon capture and storage. No serious modelling of our energy mix in 2030 does not include a role for fossil fuel plants and industrial processes running carbon capture and storage. CCS is a key tool that we need to meet our decarbonisation agenda. We must use it in a way that helps sustain some industrial processes that are important for our wider manufacturing base; we must not just offshore that activity. We sometimes overlook the potential cost savings of meeting carbon targets. Hon. Members will be aware of the Energy Technologies Institute estimate that states that deploying CCS could reduce the cost of meeting UK carbon targets by between £30 billion and £40 billion, or up to 1% of GDP, by 2050. That is an important piece of work.

We in the UK have a degree of academic and expert knowledge in this area. We know that lots of work is going on in places such as Edinburgh. Two projects are currently undergoing front-end engineering design studies. On taking forward the tools and mechanisms for low carbon investment, it is important that the contracts for difference are tweaked as needed so that they are appropriate for CCS development into the future, because it would be remiss of us to have two exemplar projects funded through the competition, and for nothing else to come after that. The key to that is ensuring that the contract for difference is properly applicable to CCS, which is a differently structured investment to new nuclear or many renewable technologies. It would be good for whoever is in government in a few weeks’ time to be clear about their ambition for CCS, and to seek to unblock issues that have caused some delay in the progress of CCS.

I am conscious that there has been a lot of talk about consensus in this debate, particularly with regard to the policy tools for incentivising low carbon investments. Unfortunately, in other debates in this House over the past five years, the consensus on the need for such investment has become a little bit frayed. Having only been here for five years, my sense is that, among some hon. Members, that consensus has deteriorated. It is right that the costs of decarbonisation be properly scrutinised, and that people carefully consider the potential impact of technologies in different places, but we should all resolve the matter for the future—beyond the election, for those of us who might be here. We need to ensure that consensus again, so that we can renew our generation supply in the lowest carbon way possible, and in a way that benefits the UK’s wider economy. I hope, regardless of party political differences on other issues, that this can be taken forward in the new Parliament, because it is far too important not to be.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I assure my hon. Friend that that will be the case. The north-east is an incredibly important part of the northern powerhouse, and that is why we are investing in road and rail links there. We are also putting investment into science there, for example at Newcastle university, and of course in his constituency he has seen steelmaking begin again after it ended under the Labour Government. People will have a clear choice at the general election.

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

13. What proportion of recipients of tax credits are in employment.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Priti Patel)]

Seventy-one per cent. of households in receipt of tax credits are in employment.

[Tom Greatrex]

I thank the Minister for that confirmation that more than two thirds of people getting tax credits are in work. How can she claim to be helping working families when the Chancellor wants to cut their tax credits again, causing real-terms economic pain?

[Priti Patel]

Let us put this into some context. For a start, tax credit spending rocketed under the previous Government and throughout this Parliament we have made it abundantly clear that we support those with low incomes. Let us not forget either that the impact of Labour’s great recession is still being felt. We continue to help people with the cost of living through the increases in personal allowances, the freeze in fuel duty, cuts in council tax and, of course, by reducing the cost of child care.

Consumer Rights Bill

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

I rise to speak in support of new clause 4, which is in my name. Unlike other Members present, I was not familiar with this Bill until recently. I did not serve on the Bill Committee. The Minister may recall that I asked her an oral question two or three months ago about issues relating to warranties and additional warranties sold by retailers. My question arose not only from a specific constituency case, but from the related concerns of a number of constituents who have contacted me over the past three or four years.

In her response, the Minister drew my attention to this Bill, which was in Committee at the time, and suggested that I should look to it for comfort, so I did. I also read the Committee’s debates on warranties. My hon. Friend the Member for East Lothian (Fiona O'Donnell) is in her place and I recall from my reading of the proceedings that she raised some issues relating to electronic goods. She mentioned her experience in the past and I think she said that the situation may have improved since then. However, I tabled new clause 4 because of an experience that demonstrates that that is certainly not true in all cases.

My hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy) has already referred to the implementation group, which seems to be the catch-all for everything that is going to happen at some unspecified point in the future. I understand that the intention behind the group is that it will ensure that legislated rights are translated into something meaningful for consumers. It is entirely right and appropriate for the new clause to seek to ensure that the implementation group should provide, at a specific point after the Bill receives Royal Assent, guidance on some specific issues.

Constituents tell me that what they are actually sold often turns out to be very different from what they were told they were being sold, particularly on additional or supplementary guarantees and warranties. A retailer will often tell them that what they are being sold will enhance their consumer protection and enjoyment of the product and provide them with a safeguard. It then turns out, however, that there is nothing more in the warranty than that to which they are already legally entitled or what is included in the manufacturer’s own warranty.

[Yvonne Fovargue]

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is not just that the warranties are sometimes mis-sold, but that companies such as BrightHouse in the rent-to-own market make it compulsory for new customers to take out a warranty when they may already have their own household insurance on those goods?

[Tom Greatrex]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point about that specific market. I am also aware, as a result of talking to my constituents, that there is almost an expectation on people working for other retailers to sell these warranties, even if it is not obligatory for consumers to have them. In some cases, they even receive a commission for doing so.

That leads me to my concern about a specific case, in which what was written in the signed document was clear, but the way in which the warranty was described and explained to the consumer certainly was not clear and was very different. In that case, a constituent of mine bought a television set from a high street electrical store. He was told that the additional warranty he took out—on top of the manufacturer’s one—would entitle him to a new set if anything went wrong within the five-year period. His television set broke down during that period, but he found in the small print that he was only entitled to a repair or a replacement, which was exactly the same as the manufacturer’s guarantee. That meant that, on the basis of what he was told in the store, he had paid what for him was a significant amount of money every month for something that was effectively worthless.

Fundamentally, I believe that retailers have a duty to consumers not to sell them products that they know to be worthless, which appears to be the case if a warranty simply duplicates existing rights. Warranties very often apply to electronic goods that are significantly expensive, so we can see how a consumer could easily be persuaded to pay for an expensive warranty scheme that delivers no extra benefit, as the retailer is often probably very well aware. That is an area on which the implementation group should certainly undertake some work. Some provisions in the Bill—for example, clause 30—relate to warranties, but they do not seem to cover that point.

In that case, I took up the issue with both the company and my local trading standards office. The trading standards office was very sympathetic, but the long and short of it is that such practices are entirely legal, and there is nothing it can do other than to advise people to be more aware next time. That will not be much comfort for someone who has spent a significant amount of money on something that does not meet their expectations or provide the protection to which they think they are entitled. I of course understand that this problem is not new—it was raised several times in Committee as well as previously in the House—but the implementation group should be charged with ensuring that it is dealt with, and the new clause presents an opportunity for that to happen.

My new clause also addresses the management of deposits. I tabled it after a local small business approached me about an account held with a telecommunications firm— TalkTalk. As many hon. Members will be aware from their constituents, telecommunications contracts for small businesses often require quite sizeable deposits. My constituent was asked to provide a bond of some £900.

The size of such deposits has been a subject of interest for the regulator. I draw the House’s attention to the outcome of a dispute between Apple Telecom Europe Ltd and BT on the level of security deposit required for services, in which Ofcom stated that it was unwilling to determine what an appropriate deposit might be. In the light of that, it is clear that the regulator is not currently prepared to step into that space, but the size of some deposits places a clear responsibility on policy makers to ensure that the rights of the consumer or service user are protected.

After terminating the contract, two issues arose for my local business: first, TalkTalk was in no hurry to return the deposit; and, secondly, when it did return the deposit, it did so without any interest. On the first point, TalkTalk made it clear that it would hold on to the bond beyond the end of the agreed three-year contract. Effectively, it intended to hold on to the bond or deposit until my constituent ceased to be a customer, at which point the onus was on my constituent to write to TalkTalk to request the return of the money. My sense is that the responsibility in that scenario is the wrong way round. It places all the obligation on the consumer, and all the potential benefit of not meeting the obligation on the retailer. Because the retailer was not required to return a bond in a timely fashion, it is clear that my constituent missed out on substantial interest payments on the £900. Given that such contracts may well be for significant lengths of time and may then be renewed, the money amounts to a significant figure over time, particularly for small businesses; it is far from trivial.

My new clause addresses both concerns by requiring the implementation group to report on the length of time for which a retailer may retain a bond after the termination of a contract and on the payment of interest on the money. It would not be unduly burdensome for the company to be required to place bonds in a separate account, the interest on which could be returned to the consumer at the end of the contracted term. I am sure that the Minister is aware of the significant precedents for interest to be paid on money that is held. For example, solicitors are required to place moneys they hold on trust for a client in separate interest-bearing accounts, as is made clear in the professional code of ethics given in the Solicitors Regulation Authority handbook. Equivalent provisions cover other professions in which businesses hold money on trust—for example, an accountant who holds funds for a client to settle a forthcoming tax bill. Beyond such examples, it is clear that there is a substantial licence for abuse. There have recently been concerns in the energy market about moneys retained from excessive direct debit payments. One of the Minister’s colleagues in another Department described it as unacceptable, and said that something needed to be done about it, and the same case can be made in relation to my concerns.

I am conscious that the guidance and regulation arising from the work of the implementation group will not apply retrospectively, and so will not be of direct benefit to those involved in the two cases that I have outlined. However, their experience carries important lessons for all of us to bear in mind, and their cases might and probably will be repeated along the same lines. For that reason, I implore the Minister to look sympathetically at new clause 4. I hope that she will see that it is about enhancing the rights of consumers who, in many regards, have been and are being given poor advice and are not getting the service that I am sure she and all other hon. Members would expect.

The work of the implementation group will obviously be significant, given the number of times that the Minister has referred to it in Committee, and I am sure that she will mention it again this afternoon. It is important that the implementation group get on and deliver something, as the many people who have been following the progress of the Bill will expect. The new clause represents just one way in which there is a very clear path for the implementation group to follow in taking some action to benefit consumers and small businesses across the whole of the UK.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Jenny Willott)]

We have had quite a wide-ranging debate, which has been the case during many of the discussions on the Bill, because it covers so many issues. It is telling that the Opposition have tabled very few amendments; today, we are mainly discussing new clauses that attempt to add provisions to the Bill.

I want first to pause for a moment to reflect on the Bill, which has generally been accepted across the House as a good piece of legislation. It will benefit consumers—all consumers—and by setting out key consumer rights in one place, it will empower consumers. As we discussed several times in Committee, well-informed and confident consumers can experiment and shop around, which drives innovation, boosts competition and creates growth. The entire suite of consumer law reforms are estimated to be worth more than £4 billion to the UK economy over 10 years. Including the impact on consumers, business and the public sector, the Bill will generate £1.5 billion and the associated secondary legislation will generate more than £2.7 billion of benefit.

Some public services will attract rights and remedies under the Bill, as we discussed at length in Committee. That will be the case if there is a contract between the consumer and a public body for the provision of products that are within its scope, because the definition of a trader is wide enough to capture the activities of any Department and local or public authority. Consumers of public services provided under a contract will therefore benefit from clearer rights, clearer remedies and, ultimately, better outcomes. I think that we would probably all agree that that is a good thing.

What we are not doing—in a moment, I will explain why it is right and proper not to do it—is to change which public services are covered by consumer law. Public services that are currently subject to the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and the Sale of Goods Act 1979 will be covered by the Bill. I will now turn to public services that are not covered by its provisions because such services are not provided under contract to a consumer. They include most NHS care, state-funded education and law enforcement services.

Let me be very clear: those consumers are nevertheless protected, and in a way that will often provide more tailored, specific and appropriate safeguards, designed to fit the particular service. Many of the tailored regimes already incorporate just the sort of protections that Opposition Members are pressing for—independent advocacy, regular reporting and established ombudsman schemes. In some cases, the protections already in place are similar to those provided by the Bill. For example, the rights that are consolidated in the NHS constitution are very similar to those in general consumer law, but are tailored for the provision of health care.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jenny Willott]

Obviously, I cannot comment on the situation in Croydon because I do not know the details. However, the Government are committed to freedom of information and, in a moment, I will talk about the access to data and information that we are supporting in the private and public sectors.

We fully recognise that sometimes more intensive support is needed, above and beyond the advice that is given by Citizens Advice. That is why the patient advice and liaison service offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters. There are already independent third-party adjudicators in the public sector, for example at HMRC. Those systems exist to support consumers, often the most vulnerable, in making a complaint and having their voice heard.

There is a serious danger that mandating others to provide a service that overlaps what is in place will confuse, rather than strengthen, the landscape. We need to continue to make public services more responsive to end users, not dilute the central role of Citizens Advice and hinder its ability to act as a key advice agency by creating bureaucracy. We all share the vision of public services provided to a high standard, where consumer feedback and consumer choice work to push up standards. However, we do not need to bring them all within the ambit of the Bill to achieve that.

The transparency of data in the public sector, which has been raised by hon. Members, is a priority for the Government. In many areas, transparency is much more advanced in the public sector than in the private sector. Consumers of public services have access to a wealth of data, such as crime statistics and educational standards. Those all work to empower consumers, promote choice and accountability, and, ultimately, raise standards.

Let me make it clear that the Government support the principle that the public should have access to the data that are held on them. That is in line with our open data policies and activities, and with the approach that we are taking to the negotiations on the European data protection regulations. We embrace the principle that where social benefits can be obtained from anonymised data sets—so-called “big data”—that should be supported. That is why, alongside the midata programme, which is concerned with commercially held data, we are exploring how the data that are held on individuals by Departments might be made available to those individuals in a useful way. That work is in its early stages, but it is designed to address just the sort of issues that we have been discussing today.

As the hon. Member for Walthamstow said, we have been reviewing the progress with the voluntary approach that has been taken to the midata programme so far. I plan to announce the results of the review shortly, but in the meantime I can report that there was an encouraging development in March. In the personal current accounts sector, which was raised by the hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds), we have secured a commitment from the big banks to provide customers’ transaction records—their midata—as downloadable files with a consistent format. That has been called for by Which? and the comparison sites. It is encouraging that by the end of the year the vast majority of current account holders in the UK will have access to their midata files. I hope that that reassures the hon. Gentleman on the points that he has raised.

We are working with all the parties involved to ensure that tools are available to use those files. We are confident that this approach will help consumers to compare more easily what is on offer in terms of price and service. As was highlighted by the hon. Member for East Hampshire, there is clearly a lot more to be done to encourage consumers to switch. We hope that by providing the information and working with comparison sites, we can ensure that that happens more often.

Our central objective is that the Bill should deliver rights that are much easier for consumers to understand and use. It is a vast improvement in terms of the simplicity of the language and the consistency of approach. However, we recognise that traders need to know their forthcoming responsibilities in good time before the Bill comes into force, and consumers need practical guidance with real-life examples of how the legislation works. Achieving that quality of communication is a significant challenge and requires planning, which we have been doing.

As hon. Members have highlighted and as we discussed many times in Committee, we have been working with an implementation group to develop appropriate guidance and effective channels of communication. The group is making progress and we will publish a timetable later this year setting out when the parts of the work will be done. We intend to have guidance for businesses available soon after Royal Assent, and it will be available for consumers when the legislation comes into force to ensure that people are able to access and understand their rights.

[Tom Greatrex]

Will the Minister confirm whether the implementation group is looking at the specific issues that I raised: the retention of bonds and interest payments for small businesses, and additional warranties that are sold by retailers that do not provide any additional benefit to the consumer?

[Jenny Willott]

If the hon. Gentleman will bear with me, I will come to those matters later in my speech and address the points that he raised.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jenny Willott]

The issue is whether extended warrantees provide anything over and above the statutory rights provided under the law. If companies charge more just to provide statutory protection, that would be prohibited under consumer protection regulations. A purchase that somebody would make, such as a hire purchase or whatever, would depend on the terms of their contract. If the contract contains terms that are unfair, they may well be on the grey list—we will come to that in future discussions on the Bill—and such terms may be challengeable in the courts on grounds of fairness. If the hon. Lady is concerned about specific terms in the Bill, she might raise them at that specific point in our debate to see whether they would be covered.

[Tom Greatrex]

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way again but I raised another point, to which she did not respond. It concerns what happens if a consumer buys a product with a manufacturer’s warranty and is then sold a supplementary warranty by a retailer, which does nothing more than the manufacturer’s warranty. Is that an issue on which the implementation group will be able to provide information for consumers?

[Jenny Willott]

That is the point I just made. If a warranty provides no more than the statutory rights and there is a charge associated with it, whoever is selling the warranty may well be in breach of consumer protection regulations. When shops sell goods and the warranty is purchased at the same time, the full cost must be disclosed and consumers must be informed of their statutory rights. Consumers also have the right to cancel the extended warranty within a set period, and those rights must be made known to the consumers when they purchase the warranty. That is covered under consumer protection regulations, and there are also rights in this Bill. The circumstances that the hon. Gentleman highlights would be covered.

The other issue raised today is nuisance calls, which is a priority for the Government. I am sure that all hon. Members have had constituency casework on that, but there is no silver bullet to eradicate the problem. That is why in our action plan of 30 March we set out a range of measures to address the issue. They included work that is already under way to improve call tracing, making it easier to disclose information between Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office, and setting up a taskforce led by Which? to review consumer consent issues. We will also consult on making it easier for the Information Commissioner’s Office to tackle nuisance calls as part of amending the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Although I understand the intention behind the new clause, the Government are taking a lot of action in this area. Changes will be introduced in the next months, and we are consulting on more actions. I hope that I have covered the issues raised by hon. Members, and I therefore ask the hon. Member for Walthamstow to withdraw her new clause.

Amendment of the Law

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

That is right, and the industrial strategy we are following across government gives particular priority to the aerospace industry, and I know my hon. Friend’s part of the country has benefited considerably from the development of the aerospace supply chain.

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Secretary of State touched on the compensation scheme announced yesterday. For the sake of clarity, will he inform the House how much of the compensation scheme announced in November 2011 and which was due to come in in April 2013 has so far been paid to energy-intensive industries?

[Vince Cable]

The element that relates to the European emissions trading scheme has already been paid. The companies have already received the cheque. The sums are not large because the ETS scheme proved to be pretty ineffective, but none the less the compensation is being paid and it is now being extended to a wider range of costs. [Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman seems to be indignant, but I think he should talk to his local manufacturers who have expressed full satisfaction with what we are doing.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

I want to touch on a couple of issues in the brief time available.

The first of those is the changes to the carbon price floor, on which I intervened on the Business Secretary earlier. I probably should not be surprised, but I am concerned, that he did not appear to know that the compensation scheme for the carbon price floor announced in November 2011 and due to come into effect in April last year has so far paid out precisely nothing to energy-intensive industries. When energy-intensive businesses such as the brickworks, steel plant and glass fabricator in my constituency hear that there will be a compensation package in relation to the renewables obligation and feed-in tariff, it is not surprising, given that it seems highly unlikely that the back-dated scheme that they were previously promised is going to be delivered, that they are dubious about whether they will ever receive this benefit.

There is, overall, a supreme irony in the Government’s moves to limit the impact of the carbon price floor, characterising it as a green tax. At last year’s Conservative party conference, the Energy Minister, the right hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Michael Fallon), referred to it as “assisted suicide” for manufacturing industries, seeming not to realise that it was his Chancellor’s policy and that his party voted for it, whereas we opposed introducing it without an assessment of the impact on manufacturing industry.

The Chancellor was at it again yesterday when he implied—the hon. Member for Clacton (Mr Carswell), who is no longer in his place, said this in his speech, too—that the answer is shale gas and that it could have the same impact in the UK as it has had in the US. That is a simplistic and highly misleading extrapolation of the US experience, given the different geology, land rights and, crucially, the US’s inability to export shale gas. Those simplistic extrapolations are either ill informed or spectacularly and deliberately ignorant.

The Office for Budget Responsibility figures for oil revenues are not just a salutary warning against the danger of over-reliance on a resource that is by definition declining and by record volatile. The Scottish National party is engaged in a process of taking the most optimistic assessment of gross value and suggesting it as state revenue in order to seek to persuade my constituents and others to vote to leave the UK, but the lesson from the figures is that the pooling and sharing of resources is a much more stable proposition with regard to maximising economic recovery from what Sir Ian Wood’s report, whose recommendations the Government seem to accept, rightly refers to as a mostly mature basin.

The Chancellor also referred yesterday to the extension of the film tax credit, which is welcome, but many British films today are co-productions. Indeed, the critically acclaimed “Under the Skin”, which was filmed in and around Glasgow, stars Scarlett Johansson and was released last week, is just one recent example of a stunning co-production from Britain and other countries. The marginal extension of the tax credit has been hindered by the news that just last week Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs issued a clarificatory note stating that co-productions are excluded from access to funding from the enterprise investment scheme. I asked the Minister responsible for the arts, the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey), about this during Culture, Media and Sport questions last week, but he did not appear to know anything about it. A theme is developing of Ministers not knowing the impact of their own policies, and that is a concern.

I want briefly to refer to changes to gambling. Increasing the tax take from fixed odds betting terminals does nothing to deal with the adverse effects those machines have on many communities up and down the country. Indeed, it may have the opposite effect and put the Treasury in the box of those defending the vested interests in high-stakes, fast-pay gambling machines that are ruining many lives.

Finally, I welcome the change to the bingo tax, but the Tory party chairman—who will, I am sure, shortly be promoted to a senior ministerial position—let the cat out of the bag last night with his post, infographic or whatever he is trying to call it referring to bingo as something that “they” enjoy. I say to the Financial Secretary that I am a fairly frequent visitor to the Mecca bingo club in Rutherglen, which is a very good community institution to which many of my constituents enjoy going to interact socially as well as to gamble as a leisure pursuit. They tell me that what they wanted from this Budget was some real action on energy bills, particularly given that they have gone up by £300 at a time when, latterly, gas wholesale prices have been largely stable. They want to know why it is that the bankers bonus culture has been extending and deepening in this country. They want to know why it is that the primary act of this Chancellor and his ministerial team is to institute a tax cut for millionaires rather than for hard-working people. For them, this Budget has precious little.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

Whenever there is a vacancy on the MPC, the Government look at encouraging women to apply and will often invite women to apply to ensure that we can make our best efforts to increase diversity.

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

7. What plans he has to enhance the role of the Office for Budget Responsibility.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

The OBR has a broad remit, set out in the charter for budget responsibility, to examine and report on the sustainability of the public finances. Autumn statement 2013 announced that over the course of 2014 the OBR will be initiating an external review of its core publications. Following the outcome of the review, the Government will hold their own review of the OBR at the start of the next Parliament.

[Tom Greatrex]

I thank the Minister for his reply, but as the Chief Secretary’s own leadership manoeuvres now require him to suggest a different policy from his Conservative colleagues in government, and after more spurious and out-of-touch attacks by the self-styled Bromsgrove bully boy, please will he explain precisely why he objects to the OBR undertaking an audit of all party manifestos prior to the election?

[Mr Gauke]

I might refer the hon. Gentleman to what his colleague the noble Lord Eatwell said when this matter was debated in the House of Lords on 8 November 2010. [Hon. Members: “Who?”] Labour Members are saying, “Who?” He is actually the Labour spokesman in the House of Lords. Lord Eatwell said:

“we on this side agree…to confine the activities of the OBR to consideration of the impact of government policies alone. I am sure it is right that the OBR should not become embroiled in political controversy.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 8 November 2010; Vol. 722, c. 16-17.]

Co-operatives

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd July 2013 Westminster Hall

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship again, Mr Hollobone. I declare my interest as a Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament. As I will speak about football co-operatives and mutuals, I should put on record that I am the founding chair of the Fulham Supporters Trust.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Islwyn (Chris Evans) on securing this debate during co-operatives fortnight, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) said, and on giving a good and comprehensive summary of a range of current co-operative and mutual issues. I will not repeat the points that my hon. Friend the Member for Islwyn made, but I will touch on a couple of the issues that he raised.

First, my hon. Friend rightly highlighted what the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change said about the need for a co-operative energy revolution. It was a cause of some frustration during consideration of the Energy Bill that we were unable to convince him to turn his words into action on a community energy strategy and regarding the threshold for the feed-in tariff for community energy projects. My hon. Friend talked about the extent to which people have an interest in energy, and feel a sense of ownership towards it, as a result of community energy projects. There are a number of such projects across the country, but most are relatively small, and if we are to develop them further, we need to change the threshold.

When the Secretary of State was asked about that during the Bill’s pre-legislative scrutiny, he said, “There aren’t any community energy projects above 5 MW.” Well, that is because that is the threshold, so his argument is self-defeating. Earlier in the debate, I was looking at the amendments that the Government have tabled to the Energy Bill in the House of Lords—obviously, I was listening intently to what everybody was saying, but I was multitasking—and I am pleased to say that there is one that will increase the threshold for community energy projects from 5 MW to 10 MW. Those of us who sought to persuade them can reflect on the fact that our argument was well made and will have an impact, unless the Government decide to vote against their own amendment. The change will be a significant step towards helping to meet the challenge that was rightly identified earlier in the debate.

I also want to touch briefly on housing and housing co-operatives. I am pleased and proud to have the West Whitlawburn housing co-operative in my constituency. Obviously the Minister is familiar with Rochdale, but I would not necessarily expect him to be familiar with parts of Cambuslang, in my constituency. On all the neighbourhood statistics available, Whitlawburn is among the most economically deprived neighbourhoods in Scotland. Figures on health conditions, educational attainment, employment and income are collected slightly differently in England—and, I presume, in Wales—but Whitlawburn would probably also come pretty high up any list measuring those things across the UK.

Several years ago, the West Whitlawburn bit of the housing estate in Whitlawburn became a co-operative, and there is a striking contrast between the standard of the housing in that co-operative, given the capital and energy-efficiency improvements that have been made, and the standard of the other housing, which is literally across the road. That is partly because of the real impetus that has come from those who came together to form the co-operative, which is about not only the mechanisms involved in driving investment but, just as importantly, the attitude and ethos that have become apparent. Just last week, along with a colleague from the Scottish Parliament, the local MSP James Kelly, I was pleased to be able to talk to the members of the very engaged management committee, who are all tenants and members of the co-operative. They take their work very seriously, and their attitude is all about what they can do to improve housing in their co-operative and to maintain that improvement, as opposed to expecting somebody else to do things for them. That makes an important point about the ethos of co-operatives.

The area is relatively small, however, and the co-operative is not immune from the impact of Government policies. The bedroom tax or the spare room subsidy—whatever label the Minister uses—is having a considerable impact in West Whitlawburn, where 67% of tenants are on housing benefit. The housing association has found—it has been able to do so because it is relatively small— that 30% of its tenants, or 200 people, are affected by that measure. Its housing stock consists mostly of accommodation with two or three bedrooms, and there is a problem of people needing to move from three bedrooms to two, or from two bedrooms to one. People of pensionable age are not impacted, however, so we have the bizarre situation of the housing association almost considering seeing whether people who are in receipt of state pension and live in one or two-bedroom accommodation will swap with working-age tenants living three or two-bedroom accommodation. The policy will have a significant impact on the housing co-operative as a result of rent arrears. The co-operative does not want to evict its members—nobody wants that—but the financial effects of the policy could have a significant impact on what it is trying to do.

The third issue I want to touch on is football supporters’ trusts, which are an important form of mutual activity. People will be aware that the trusts were born out of the co-operative movement with the support of Supporters Direct. There are now several supporters’ trusts throughout the country, and there are good examples of trusts that are completely or partly in control of running clubs in Wimbledon, Portsmouth, Swansea and Manchester. In other cases, football supporters’ trusts are trying to take a role in running clubs, including Heart of Midlothian in Scotland. In every case, supporters’ trusts have tried to take a role in the ownership and running of clubs when those clubs have been in crisis and everyone else has walked away.

However, I want to draw the Minister’s attention to the example of the trust in Swansea, given its economic impact. Swansea was basically a bankrupt club, and it was sold on for £1. The supporters’ trust was formed and took a role in the club’s ownership, and it has been an integral part of the club since then. Over a couple of seasons, the club has gone from 90th out of 92 in the league to being an established premiership club. It has won the league cup, and it will be playing in Europe next season. All that involved a role for supporter ownership and supporter control, which is a form of co-op.

There have been many debates about football governance—I have spoken in most of them—so I do not want to repeat any points about that, but I do want to talk about clubs’ economic impact. Football clubs have a significant local economic impact—directly and indirectly. When Hull was first promoted to the premiership, people there would have talked about the impact on the city of visiting supporters and the attention that comes with having a top-level club. The same happened when Blackpool was in the premiership, and the same has happened with Swansea. However, when clubs are driven and run by people who are involved in the local community, they are more inclined to ensure that some of their spending power and economic activity benefits that community. Trusts reinforce local economic activity, so they should be encouraged, treasured and nurtured.

Although this is not part of the Economic Secretary’s brief, he will know that the coalition agreement included a commitment to encourage and foster fan involvement in, and ownership of, football clubs. The Minister for Sport, the right hon. Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Hugh Robertson), has mentioned that commitment a number of times, and he has tried to persuade football authorities to act on it, although I think we are getting towards the end of that road, given the intransigence of the authorities. If the coalition wants that commitment to come to fruition, it might have to take action by forcing the football authorities to do what they seem not to want to do. The coalition should encourage fan involvement for the good reason that it will not only sustain football clubs, but encourage the economic activity that happens when trusts are involved in the management structure, as we can see from the examples I cited. I hope that the Economic Secretary will reflect on that, even though it is not his direct responsibility.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

Our next speaker might be dangerously overqualified because he comes from Desborough, one of the famous co-operative towns in Northamptonshire, which now lies in the Kettering constituency.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

9. What recent assessment he has made of the effect of the Government’s fiscal policies on the level of long-term youth unemployment.

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

15. What recent assessment he has made of the effect of the Government’s fiscal policies on the level of long-term youth unemployment.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)]

The UK labour market is showing some signs of recovery. There are more people in work now than ever before, and youth unemployment is at its lowest since 2011. The Youth Contract was launched in April to support up to 500,000 young people into employment, and the Work programme has been under way since 2011.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sajid Javid]

I know the hon. Lady takes this issue very seriously, which is why I believe she took her right hon. Friend the shadow Chancellor to Queen Mary university recently to discuss it with young people. I hope that they told young people that under the previous Government youth unemployment was created as a problem—up 72% in 10 years. I hope she also told them that youth unemployment has fallen by 62,000 in the last quarter because of the Youth Contract, the Work programme, investment in apprenticeships and other Government policies.

[Tom Greatrex]

Long-term youth unemployment in my constituency in the past two years has increased by 188%. Rather than flinging back his low-grade abuse, could the Minister explain to the House his objection, as we approach bank bonus season, to implementing a bank bonus tax to help fund jobs for those young people?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Gentleman will know that the Government have introduced a permanent tax on bank balance sheets, which will raise far more than a bank bonus tax. If he is interested in the fiscal action the Government are taking to create jobs, maybe he can tell his constituents about the brownfield allowance the Government introduced for North sea oilfields a couple of months ago. A few weeks later there was investment of £1.6 billion, creating up to 2,000 jobs in Scotland and beyond.

Air Passenger Duty

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)]

I was first alerted to the air passenger duty issue about four years ago, long before the fair tax on flying campaign. A large number of constituents were writing to me. Many of them, like the constituents of my hon. Friends the Members for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) and for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty), had family in the Caribbean. They were concerned about the quantum level of the charging—and if they had known that the income from APD was going to double between 2010 and 2016 from just over £2 billion to almost £4 billion, they would have been even more concerned—but they were more concerned about the unfairness and the fact that under the ridiculous banding system, the capital city system, it costs more to fly to the Caribbean than to Alaska or the west coast of America.

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

There is another impact of the banding. Alan Glen, who runs an independent travel agency in my constituency specialising in long-haul destinations, is finding that people trying to get these fares is having an impact on his business.

[Mr Slaughter]

I am grateful for that intervention. I was just going on to talk about the effects not only on families, which is often devastating, but on commercial organisations, and not just those in this country, but, to continue with an earlier example, in the Caribbean as well. I got to meet the Caribbean Tourism Organisation and Ministers from Caribbean countries—sadly, it was here rather than there, but there it is. We share a long historical tradition and we have not just family and cultural ties, but economic ties with the Caribbean. There was and still is a strong feeling that this country was letting the Caribbean down. It came up in many debates under the last Government, particularly during the passage of what became the Finance Act 2009. I found myself in the unusual and uncomfortable position of agreeing with the then Opposition Front-Bench team more than my own. I went to see the then Chancellor with a number of my hon. Friends, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), who took a strong stand on this issue. When we debated the Finance Bill, I was perplexed that the then Opposition did not push the issue to a vote, as I thought they might have won. I was a little suspicious about why they did not press it then.

Let me remind the present Government Front Benchers what their equivalent numbers were saying at the time, as it bears repetition. The hon. Member for Canterbury (Mr Brazier), who was a shadow Transport Minister, gave an interview to The Daily Telegraph in late 2009. He said that his party supported

“a per plane tax rather than the existing one based on passengers”

and that

“whatever tax is employed if the Conservative Party wins the next General Election, the ‘absurd capital cities rule’ of APD banding would be abolished.”

On 15 April 2010—some three weeks before the election—the hon. Member for Chelsea and Fulham (Greg Hands) gave a fuller interview to the Travel Trade Gazette, in which he outlined details of the plans for the first time. He said that the Conservative Government

“would scrap the much criticised system of distance bands, which have led to people travelling to the Caribbean paying more than those to the west coast of the US, which is further from Britain. A replacement system possibly using more bands and based on actual distance rather than distance between capital cities…would be introduced.”

He said:

“the reform would change APD to tax aircraft rather than passengers, apply to transfer passengers who are now exempt, and charge a lower rate for newer, more fuel efficient aircraft.”

Finally, he said the aim of the reform was to

“properly tax the environmental impact of aviation, not raise more revenue.”

Let us have a look at how many of those promises, made just three weeks before polling day, have been kept. Those same promises appeared in the manifestos of both coalition parties and in the coalition agreement. We are perhaps used to over-promising, particularly from this Government, but this is over-promising on a tuition fees scale. What happened as a consequence? We had the review during the Government’s moratorium on an increase, but after a year of engagement with the industry, the Government decided not to change the tax’s banding structure in regard to different classes of flights or in respect of the application of APD to the regions. The Government’s only proposed reform was to extend APD to business aviation from 1 April 2013. That may be welcome, but it will raise only about £5 million a year, without addressing the central issue that all hon. Members who have spoken today would, I think, wish to see addressed. The dismay that this has caused to those who lobbied so hard and were promised so much is very clear from a press release put out at the time the consultation was published by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation. It said:

“Today’s announcement on the APD is a slap in the face for all Caribbean people. It dismisses all of the research and information CTO has provided to the British Government over the past three years, and it contradicts the message sent by the UK Chancellor…in March 2011 when he cited the discrepancy between the USA and Caribbean APD rates as one of the reasons for holding a consultation on reform of UK APD. The Caribbean is the most tourism-dependent region of the world and the British Government’s decision totally ignores the negative effect that APD is having on our economies and the Caribbean’s business partners in the…travel industry.”

Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Tuesday 26th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

It is standard practice for the Bank to announce its own monetary and liquidity schemes. That is what it did with the liquidity proposals, and the Governor of the Bank was answering questions about them this morning before the Treasury Committee in this House. When we have further details about the funding for lending scheme, we will of course come to the House and make that announcement, but I hope that my right hon. Friend will allow me to continue to make Mansion House speeches as Chancellors have before.

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

The counter-party proposal and the levy control mechanism fall within the ambit of the Treasury. Within the past hour the Energy Secretary has told the Energy and Climate Change Committee, which is undertaking pre-legislative scrutiny of the Energy Bill, that he would welcome a Treasury Minister going before it to explain those proposals. Why is the Economic Secretary refusing to do so?

[Miss Chloe Smith]

In correspondence with the Chairman of the relevant Select Committee, I have articulated that there is no precedent in the records that we can find for a Minister from one Department to assist in the scrutiny of another Department’s legislation.