Results 1-20 of 2,970 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Tim Boswell

Petition — Equitable Life (Daventry) (5 Nov 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: I have the honour to present a petition on behalf of residents of the constituency of Daventry in respect of the parliamentary ombudsman's report on Equitable Life. The petitioners state that they are, represent or support members, former members or personal representatives of deceased members of Equitable Life Assurance Society. I should declare to the House that a member of my family is a...

Prayers: Autism Bill (19 Jun 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: The congratulations expressed to my hon. Friend, as well as to my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Angela Browning) and to Government Front Benchers, are well deserved. However, will she reflect on the fact that, although we can legislate here—that is what we do—introducing mere legislation, even with all-party and Government support, to issue guidance is...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Tim Boswell: It is a personal pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Cardiff, North (Julie Morgan), for two reasons. First, as she will be aware, I, too, have some interest in Wales. Secondly, I am an officer of the all-party Gypsy and Traveller law reform group to which she has just referred. I strongly confirm her impression that the situation for Gypsies and Travellers in education and health, for...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Tim Boswell: Not in detail, but I think we got to the right outcome in the end. I felt that there was a certain naiveté on the part of the right hon. and learned Lady in assuming that legislation could somehow automatically eliminate any difficulties. At one point I was moved to intervene on her—I aborted the attempt—to ask whether the absence of a public sector duty was somehow directly...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Tim Boswell: I am quite sure that there will be cost savings in the long run, and that the situation will settle down. There is a difficulty in the short term, however. I want to turn to public sector bodies. Even if we drop the argument that the pursuit, in one clause, of socio-economic equality amounts to socialism, as I have heard it described, it does provide a charter for politically motivated...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Tim Boswell: I am most grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way; she is most gracious. Does she accept that the lack of detail on some of those matters makes it difficult to compute the impact and compliance costs for business and others? We simply do not know at this stage.

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Tim Boswell: I hope the right hon. Lady will not be surprised to know that I agree with many of her comments, including her specific recommendation in favour of the single equality commission. On balance, I think that has been right, but will she concede that in these discussions—it has been rather under-represented in the debate so far—we need to be very sensitive to the needs of disabled...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Tim Boswell: Will my right hon. Friend give way?

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Tim Boswell: I am most grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way. Just for the record, is she aware—I suspect she is—that my own seat, from which I retire at the next general election, is to be split in two, and as a result of the well-conceived A-list system that we have come up with, there are to be two candidates who are both of very high quality, one of whom is a man, while the...

Members' Allowances (30 Apr 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: In the course of more than 20 years in the House, I have never felt the need to speak about Members' allowances, and I do so only as I approach retirement. I am conscious, as we all are, that almost anything we say will be misconstrued or interpreted in the opposite way to how we intended to put it. However, I should draw the House's attention to concerns that have been expressed to me by...

Members' Allowances (30 Apr 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: The short answer is that we need to tell the truth about what is happening. Above all, we do not need to distort our arrangements and our relationship with our staff to meet a tabloid headline. Sometimes we have to take a stand. I should like to raise one or two more general points that are, in a sense, indicators or markers to the Committee on Standards in Public Life. My hon. Friend the...

Members' Allowances (30 Apr 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: That is hugely beneficial, but nobody should ever think that mere compliance with the rules represents the sufficient discharge of their responsibilities to the House or to their constituents. We must be absolutely straight in our dealings, but we must largely be the judges of that. We need independent input, first, on advice, because I am not sure that we have always received as much advice...

Bill Presented: New Clause 14 — Inquests in camera (23 Mar 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: The Secretary of State spoke about the conditions under which special counsel would be appointed, and I thought that I heard him say that if protected evidence was withheld from the family, for example, special counsel would automatically be available to that family. Can he confirm that that is the case?

Bill Presented: Coroners and Justice Bill (Programme) (No. 3) (23 Mar 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: My hon. Friend is making a very good case. That is exactly the point: our constituents expect us to be debating the issues, and they do not understand why we do not get around to doing so because of some incompetence on the Government's part, and some procedural motion that prohibits proper discussion.

Prayers: Scottish Banknotes (Acceptability in United Kingdom) Bill (6 Mar 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: I am listening to my hon. Friend's argument with a great deal of sympathy. He will be aware that there has been much discussion in recent days about quantitative easing. Given the particular position of the Scottish banks, in that they are primarily agents of the United Kingdom Government, will he comment on the likely implications of his measure for quantitative easing? Would it ease it or...

Bill Presented — Northern Ireland Bill: Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill (23 Feb 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: rose—

Bill Presented — Northern Ireland Bill: Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill (23 Feb 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: Not many hon. Members will know that the hon. Lady and I share a birthday, although not the same year. Let me take her back a little in history. When the FE sector was taken away from local authorities, for the first two or three years, the emphasis on capital investment had to be directed towards urgent health and safety. There was not much available for all the other capital investment,...

Bill Presented — Northern Ireland Bill: Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill (23 Feb 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: May I begin with a brief tribute to Lord Dearing, to whom I referred in my intervention? I had some experience of working with him and of his working for me during the 1990s, and I thought that he was an exemplary public servant: calm, rational and clear. He always had an underlying sense of values and decency that was greatly appreciated by all those from every party who came in touch with...

Bill Presented — Northern Ireland Bill: Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill (23 Feb 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: I strongly endorse that comment. I have never been happy about the split. I know that there are reasons for it, but it has just created another difficulty. It could be argued that the somewhat arbitrary decision to divide the Departments has driven some of the changes in the Bill—changes made in order to mirror those departmental changes. I now come to my main comments on apprenticeship...

Bill Presented — Northern Ireland Bill: Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill (23 Feb 2009) has video

Tim Boswell: I notice the Minister nodding; I think that we might have reached a common understanding. There is a need for great articulation between the diploma system, which one hopes will lead on to apprenticeships, and further progression to higher education. I have seen outstanding apprentices, and I hope that many of them will proceed to higher education, perhaps as mature undergraduate students or...