Results 1-20 of 885 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Clive Betts

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Capital Projects (3 Nov 2009) has video

Clive Betts: Is my right hon. Friend aware that at a recent meeting of the Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Committee, representatives of the CBI, the chambers of commerce, the Engineering Employers Federation—the EEF—and the Federation of Small Businesses all welcomed the Government's stimulus package, including the bringing forward of capital projects? They said that although the economy...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Capital Projects (3 Nov 2009) has video

Clive Betts: Those organisations questioned whether it was right to withdraw the stimulus package now and whether doing that would have a disastrous effect on economic recovery.

Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government: Contingency Arrangements (Fire Service) (27 Oct 2009) has video

Clive Betts: Reference has been made to the dispute in South Yorkshire, where we have had one day's strike and more are threatened. I am sure that my right hon. Friend will agree that, however good the contingency arrangements, they cannot give the public the same protection as a fully functioning fire service. Will he therefore publicly encourage both sides to take a step backwards, the management to...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Clive Betts: In the hon. Gentleman's comments so far, we have been given a very general picture. He has said that the Opposition are in favour of more social housing and that we cannot have a top-down approach, but I have not heard him say how, if there are going to be spending cuts under a future Conservative Government and if health and education spending will be completely protected, funds will be...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Clive Betts: I was waiting in expectation for a commitment to fund social housing. Apart from the incentive for local communities, I did not hear one. Is there a commitment on the number of social houses that will be funded? Despite the hon. Gentleman's lack of love for top-down targets, a future Government would presumably have a target. What will happen if these bottom-up local initiatives do not...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Clive Betts: Does the hon. Gentleman accept that many tenants are rather pleased that the new authority is taking the time and trouble to listen to what they think? When it puts its monitoring arrangements in place to monitor what standards have been achieved by housing associations, arm's length management organisations and others, it will surely want to ensure that those monitoring arrangements are...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Clive Betts: I begin where the Chairman of the Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes, South-West (Dr. Starkey) left off—with the Homes and Communities Agency. Obviously, the agency was not created to deal with the present crisis, but thank goodness that it was created. Along with the Tenant Services Authority, it has been proactive in at least ameliorating the damage that has been...

[Joan Walley in the Chair] — Housing and the Credit Crunch (16 Jul 2009)

Clive Betts: We met with the CML for a briefing this week, and several interesting points came out about the rescue scheme. First, it took some time for people who might benefit but also local authorities to become aware of it. Certainly my own authority, Sheffield, to begin with denied any knowledge of the scheme or that it should be involved in it. That has taken a bit of time. Secondly, people almost...

Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government: Social Housing (7 Jul 2009) has video

Clive Betts: Will my right hon. Friend confirm that giving more priority to people with local needs is not about race but about trying to help people such as Katie Wilson, in my constituency, who has been on the waiting list for 17 years and simply wants to be housed in the community where she was brought up, where her family and friends are? It is about allowing people to move near grandparents so that...

[Mr. Jim Hood in the Chair] — Railways (North of England) (1 Jul 2009)

Clive Betts: I am sorry that I cannot be with my hon. Friend for the whole of this debate. I congratulate her on succeeding in securing it. As well as the reduction of congestion and the benefits to the economy, does she accept that there would also be major benefits to the environment from two of those projects? First, electrification of the midland main line would result in a cleaner railway and,...

Oral Answers to Questions — Transport: Motorway Congestion (25 Jun 2009) has video

Clive Betts: I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Speaker, and hope that I shall catch your eye on many future occasions. I am sure my hon. Friend is aware that one of the most congested parts of the motorway network is the M1 south of Sheffield, where a large number of accidents occur. Steps are being taken to widen the M1 between junctions 25 and 28, and consideration is being given to either widening it or...

Opposition Day — [13th Allotted Day]: Business Rates (15 Jun 2009) has video

Clive Betts: When I saw that the Opposition had raised the question of business rates, I thought we would be having a thoroughgoing, wide-ranging debate on the principles behind business rates and how we might do better. Instead, we had a niggardly and rather empty proposal criticising various aspects of the mechanics of the current system. I was surprised that the party that is now supposed to believe in...

Opposition Day — [13th Allotted Day]: Business Rates (15 Jun 2009) has video

Clive Betts: I am sorry, but I have not got time to give way. I normally would, but I had only five minutes and have only one minute to go. Revaluation is just another red herring. The hon. Member for Putney (Justine Greening) simply does not understand. Revaluation is not a way of raising in total additional money for Government or anyone else. It is simply a way of ensuring that, in light of current...

Opposition Day — [13th Allotted Day]: Business Rates (15 Jun 2009) has video

Clive Betts: Will the hon. Lady give way?

Opposition Day — [13th Allotted Day]: Business Rates (15 Jun 2009) has video

Clive Betts: Can the hon. Lady explain her party's policy on transitional relief? By definition, at some point that comes to an end. Is she saying that it should always last for five years, instead of four? Does she accept that, given the ability to defer part of the rate increase, 60 per cent. of the transitional relief, which ends in the fifth year, can be deferred to the next two years?

Opposition Day — [13th Allotted Day]: Business Rates (15 Jun 2009) has video

Clive Betts: Surely the hon. Lady recognises that, at the end of the day, the effect of the revaluation is neutral. It is simply a matter of distributing the total business rate to be collected between the various properties. The fact that the revaluation was carried out during an economic boom will not lead to more money being collected in rates.

Opposition Day — [12th Allotted Day]: Housing (9 Jun 2009) has video

Clive Betts: I welcome my right hon. Friend to his new job, and I welcome the Government's commitment to make money available for councils to start building houses again. I hope that that is just a first step towards a much larger programme. I do not know whether he has yet had a chance to read the comments of Sir Bob Kerslake, the chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, to the Select...