Results 1-20 of 510 for in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates' speaker:George Mudie

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Heart Surgery (Leeds) (15 April 2013)

George Mudie: Does the Secretary of State not accept that Sir Roger’s unacceptable remarks, which came 24 hours after the court decision confirmed the review as flawed, unfair and unlawful, have dented severely the credibility of the Safe and Sustainable review in the eyes of the public? The Secretary of State has suggested that he will wait until the configuration board comes back with a...

Probation Service — [Mr David Crausby in the Chair] (13 March 2013)

George Mudie: I am delighted to have secured this debate, but I am more delighted to have the opportunity to introduce it under your distinguished chairmanship, Mr Crausby. You have already informally warned me to behave, and I promise that I will. This is an important debate that will be of vital interest to Members, whatever their constituency. I intend to direct my remarks to the consultation paper,...

Probation Service — [Mr David Crausby in the Chair] (13 March 2013)

George Mudie: I will touch on that later in my speech, but I am interested in the Minister’s comments. It is interesting that the private sector will be commissioned, not locally by the individual probation trusts, but from Whitehall. The Government justify decimating this 105-year-old, well regarded service—which has received all the commendations I have read out—at considerable risk to...

Probation Service — [Mr David Crausby in the Chair] (13 March 2013)

George Mudie: My hon. Friend has taken a page out of my speech, to the great relief of everyone present. Levels of trust and information exchange are key, and they have grown bit by bit as the relationships, and the benefits of those relationships, have grown. That is now to be swept aside, with private sector firms being forced on the trusts.

Probation Service — [Mr David Crausby in the Chair] (13 March 2013)

George Mudie: The hon. Lady anticipates page 2, which I am just about to start.

Probation Service — [Mr David Crausby in the Chair] (13 March 2013)

George Mudie: My hon. Friend has taken the second part of page 2 by making an important point that I was just about to address. It is no secret, and it is accepted, that reoffending rates are high. The figures for the period between April 2010 and March 2011 show that more than one in four criminals reoffended within a year, which is a reoffending rate of 26.8%, marginally up from 26.3% in the previous...

Probation Service — [Mr David Crausby in the Chair] (13 March 2013)

George Mudie: My right hon. Friend raises a number of points that I hope I will have time to touch on. They are all valid, not because they are in my speech but because they are important points about the attack on the probation service. Any real scrutiny of the Ministry of Justice figures demonstrates that the reasons for our disappointing reoffending rates are complicated and numerous, but it is wrong...

Probation Service — [Mr David Crausby in the Chair] (13 March 2013)

George Mudie: I agree with my hon. Friend; this is a bad example of a politician and a Department feeling right in proceeding on such a sensitive matter involving so much public risk. If the Minister feels that I am being unfair, the Select Committee and I would welcome it if he produced the evidence to justify the risks inherent in the policy changes. The more the proposals are scrutinised, the more...

Probation Service — [Mr David Crausby in the Chair] (13 March 2013)

George Mudie: It is a very harmful thing. My hon. Friend makes a valuable point and allows me to take further chunks out of my speech. I will not go further into the relationships, but I worry about how the contracts will be procured and the effect on the existing small companies and voluntary organisations that work with the probation service. I warn them that small companies and voluntary organisations...

Probation Service — [Mr David Crausby in the Chair] (13 March 2013)

George Mudie: My hon. Friend makes another page of my speech unnecessary, which is a blessing. One of the main things that we want the Minister to consider is the question of commissioning from Whitehall. The urge to privatise and to bring in the big companies is distorting the remaining parts of the service and causing real questions to be asked, one of which is about procurement. Why are the contracts...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Tax Avoidance (12 March 2013)

George Mudie: Two years ago Christine Lagarde gave the Treasury 6,000 names of UK nationals using Swiss bank HSBC to avoid paying tax. Two years later, one of them has been convicted. Is the case closed on the other 5,999, and if so, why?

Business without Debate — Deferred Divisions: Financial Services and Markets (27 February 2013)

George Mudie: As a member of the Treasury Committee, I hear it said all the time that we have the ability to scrutinise, and that people are accountable to us. That carries little weight with me; it does not impress me. This is ultimately a question of who takes the decisions when a Minister or a Chancellor—such as the last Chancellor—going through a crisis meets an unelected Governor and asks...

Business without Debate — Deferred Divisions: Financial Services and Markets (27 February 2013)

George Mudie: I rise to put two points to the House. First, I object to the statutory instrument on a matter of principle, which I will outline. Secondly, I want to ask the Minister why he included residential property among the first prudential tools. Some of the tools make sense—including commercial, and, obviously, investment and financial services—but the residential property one does not....

Business without Debate — Deferred Divisions: Financial Services and Markets (27 February 2013)

George Mudie: I see the Minister nodding. I am sure that he will explain, but that is the sort of thing I am talking about. If the loan-to-value ratio had been in this statutory instrument—if the interim FPC had stuck at it—I think this place would have been full and the Minister would have had little choice but to allow the thing through. None of us could have tabled an amendment stating how...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Financial Services (6 February 2013)

George Mudie: The Minister has referred to a need for cultural change. One culture that it is necessary to change is the banks’ unwillingness to lend to small businesses. The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has spoken today about RBS and the lack of lending to small businesses, even with the recent initiatives. Have the Government given any thought to using the 350 RBS branches...

[Mr George Howarth in the Chair] — HM Revenue and Customs (5 February 2013)

George Mudie: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) on securing this important debate. I want to start by asking why it is necessary to deal with some of the problems. In an age of austerity, particularly, every pound matters and every pound not collected means front-line cuts in operating Departments, such as the Department for Education, the Home Office and...

[Mr George Howarth in the Chair] — HM Revenue and Customs (5 February 2013)

George Mudie: Does my hon. Friend agree that closing offices is a false and unfair economy, because it limits the opportunity for face-to-face discussion in settling complex tax matters, which now have to be decided by either calling a call centre, going online or writing?

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Crime and Courts Bill [Lords] (14 January 2013)

George Mudie: I want to speak about the withdrawal of family reunion visas. The Government propose to do away with recourse to an independent judge, in place of which they say that a fresh application should be made to the same people who turned down the application in the first place—an additional paper might swing the case. I have 20 years of personal experience of visa work in my constituency. In...

Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Crime and Courts Bill [Lords] (14 January 2013)

George Mudie: In all fairness to the applicants, the Home Secretary should withdraw the word “abuse”. Is it not true that the independent commissioner for the UK Border Agency continues to show concern about applicants being turned down for not sending in documents that they were never told in the first instance were required? If she continues to say the applicants are abusing the system, then...

Financial Services Bill (Money) (No. 2): Clause 1 — Deputy Governors (10 December 2012)

George Mudie: Both the Treasury Committee and the Joint Committee on the draft Financial Services Bill were concerned about the important parts of the Bill that will be delivered through statutory instruments. That means a discussion in Committee for an hour and a half, with no provision for amendment. We would either have to accept the whole instrument or vote against it, and we would not have a majority...