Marsha Singh: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement on the Government's policy towards small businesses. [663]
Marsha Singh: May I congratulate my hon. Friend on her appointment? Does she agree that the statutory right to interest on late payments will help many businesses in my constituency and others that are plagued by enormous cash flow problems?
Marsha Singh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money has been spent by the NHS on consultancy fees relating to proposed PFI schemes. [3478]
Marsha Singh: I thank the Minister for his reply and ask him whether he is as shocked as I am at that utter waste of public money by the previous Government. Can he confirm that, within weeks of taking office, the present Government have honoured their manifesto pledge to break the logjam in the PFI in the NHS, and does that not prove that, unlike the Conservatives, we keep our promises on health?
Marsha Singh: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what action her Department is taking in respect of the millennium compliance of computers. [10027]
Marsha Singh: I thank the Minister for her reply. Does she agree that the previous Government did too little too late on this issue and that as a result of that inaction many firms are totally unprepared for the disaster facing them in terms of the year 2000 time bomb?
Marsha Singh: Mr. Deputy Speaker, I thank you for allowing me this opportunity to make my maiden speech. I freely confess that accounts are not one of my strong points, even though I began my professional career in banking. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Mr. Leslie) who, with his enthusiasm for this topic, almost persuaded me that it was exciting. Scrutiny of accounts is essential...
Marsha Singh: Does my hon. Friend agree that the whole basis of the Tories' argument today is to ask us to break manifesto commitments? That is not surprising, because their history in government was to break promise after promise. They have forgotten how to keep manifesto commitments, but we have not.
Marsha Singh: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Marsha Singh: Will my hon. Friend give way?
Marsha Singh: In the spirit of change, will my right hon. Friend consider publishing a Green Paper on age discrimination so that the merits of voluntary codes and legislation can be debated thoroughly and we can consult widely before moving forward?
Marsha Singh: What estimate she has made of the damage caused to small businesses by the late payment of commercial debt. [31144]
Marsha Singh: Given the problems faced by small firms in Bradford as a result of late payment, will my hon. Friend consider commissioning research into best practice and ensure that the results of that research are given to small businesses in my area and other areas?
Marsha Singh: I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. I shall try to be as brief as possible, but first I want to apologise to you, Madam Speaker, and to hon. Members as I shall have to leave before the end of the debate due to a pressing engagement in my constituency. Although I have tried to change it, I have been unable to do so. I shall be opening a post office and I cannot get out of...
Marsha Singh: I apologise—I made a mistake.
Marsha Singh: It was my confusion, not the hon. and learned Gentleman's. As I was saying, the former Chancellor said about the balance being right: If it is not, many prudent people will complain that they are being treated unfairly compared with those who are unable or unwilling to save at all.To help people who have already put money aside, it was recently decided to exempt from VAT some forms of care...
Marsha Singh: If the hon. Gentleman had listened to what I was saying he would know that those thresholds were introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget statement in 1995 and by the Secretary of State for Social Security the day after the Budget statement. Those thresholds are not new, but existing ones that were introduced by the previous Government—the money was allocated in the 1995...
Marsha Singh: The thresholds and the capital limits were contained in that Budget statement—the finances were allocated.
Marsha Singh: I do not have the words to speak on the Bill as eloquently as did the then Chancellor of the Exchequer and the then Secretary of State for Social Security in the debates when the capital and income limits were introduced. Those changes were welcomed by the whole House and they should have been implemented without any problems, but local authorities began to abuse the rules in different ways....
Marsha Singh: I shall pay due tribute to Age Concern during my speech. The judge's decision led to widespread anxiety among older people, their families, their carers and organisations acting for them, such as Help the Aged and Age Concern. Thankfully, the Sefton judgment was overturned in the Appeal Court on 31 July 1997, but there is still a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety among older people and...