Results 1-20 of 1,272 for speaker:Robert Syms

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Robert Syms: First, may I make something clear for the record? Earlier in the debate, the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr. Sheerman) seemed to think that my generally cheerful and happy demeanour meant that I disagreed with his points about child pornography and the internet. I wish to state that I felt he made some very sensible, solid and powerful points about the protection of children, with which I...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Robert Syms: A lot of Equitable Life policyholders are in great financial difficulty and quite frail. Is there a possibility of interim payments to assist them, or are they going to have to wait until the very end, when everything is done and dusted with the compensation scheme?

Bournemouth and Poole Fe College (14 Jul 2009)

Robert Syms: An apology is great, and the Minister has mentioned the good things that the college is doing, but it will not be able to continue doing them unless there is an offset to the costs that it has already committed. It may not be a 100 per cent. offset, but can he say a little more about what will happen?

Bournemouth and Poole Fe College (14 Jul 2009)

Robert Syms: The original proposal was for 80 per cent. funding, and I do not think that it would be unreasonable if there were now 80 per cent. funding of the up-front costs. I appreciate that the Minister may not be able to indicate that, but that is the sort of level that would be needed to help out Bournemouth and Poole college so that it can keep first-rate education.

Bournemouth and Poole Fe College (14 Jul 2009)

Robert Syms: It is my pleasure to have secured this debate on the future of Bournemouth and Poole further education college. First, may I welcome the Minister for Further Education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Consumer Affairs to his new responsibilities? I have a feeling that he will attend many such debates about the future of further education colleges up and down the land. I thank my hon. Friend the...

Bournemouth and Poole Fe College (14 Jul 2009)

Robert Syms: The hon. Lady makes a very good point. Although approval has been given to 13 of the 144 colleges that bid, many that have not been given approval have incurred major expenditure, and there is a serious problem with trying to tide them over, so that in one, two or three years, work on some of them can go ahead. In the short term, however, the situation has given them major problems, and many...

Bournemouth and Poole Fe College (14 Jul 2009)

Robert Syms: My hon. Friend makes a very good point, and the fact that the LSC chief executive resigned, was pushed out or whatever, is a sign that it misjudged the whole process. Further education colleges have been massively under-invested in over the past 20 to 30 years; I do not think that any of us would underestimate that. The Government's intention to rebuild many colleges is worthy, but the...

Written Answers — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Iran (30 Jun 2009)

Robert Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on developments in Iran following the recent presidential election; and if he will make a statement.

Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill: Clause 93 (23 Jun 2009)

Robert Syms: When we talk about published, what do we mean? Do we mean put on the web? How do you remove a name from the web after 12 months? Are we talking about the London Gazette or will there be a press notice every quarter? Can we have a little more information about that please?

Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill: Clause 93 (23 Jun 2009)

Robert Syms: I think that it would help the Committee if the Minister could give some indication of how many names are likely to be published. Are we talking about 10, 20, 50, 100 or 1,000 names? Also, as people who have been named might well end up in our surgeries, is there any kind of procedure to determine, for example, how many people in Poole will be named and shamed? I would just like to have some...

Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill: Clause 83 (18 Jun 2009)

Robert Syms: I understand that the hon. Member for Dundee, East has a problem with a daughter who has a broken arm, so there is a reason why he is not here.

Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill: Clause 77 (18 Jun 2009)

Robert Syms: My hon. Friend the Member for Henley is also on the Equality Bill, which is why he zips in and out of this Committee. He is a very important individual.

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

Robert Syms: Housing is an important subject for many of our constituents, and I therefore welcome this opportunity to make a small contribution to the debate tonight. I have raised questions on a number of occasions about the housing revenue account and the negative subsidy. I do not pretend that there is an elegant or easy answer to this complex and difficult question, but many areas of the country are...

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

Robert Syms: The hon. Lady made a very good point about flats. Does she agree that one of the worst things about an overarching central planning system is that it gives us lots of flats that cannot be sold, when what we need are family homes? Many families are living in very overcrowded conditions, and flats are not the solution.

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

Robert Syms: The hon. Lady makes a good point. For all political parties, need has always been the basis of housing. If there is a debate about whether some areas should have resources and some should not, there has to be some kind of compromise. General taxation is one way of doing it, but at present the negative subsidy is rising so fast that in five years most councils will not have council housing...

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

Robert Syms: Council housing remains a very important part of the housing stock. The Minister will know the importance of reviewing negative subsidy on the housing revenue account. Can he give us some indication of when the review will report and we will know what the situation is? Poole has an arm's length management organisation that is very concerned about what its future will be unless the funding...

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

Robert Syms: Will the Minister give way?

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

Robert Syms: The Minister is being very generous in giving way. Of course, his Government are taking 20 per cent. of the rents off my tenants in Poole and whizzing it into central London to Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, Camden, Islington and the other authorities. If they are such lousy authorities in central London, why take £4 million from Poole?

Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill: Clause 25 (2 Jun 2009)

Robert Syms: Would that agreement relate only to UK tax losses and reliefs? The Royal Bank of Scotland, for example, straddles several continents. Would the clause have a perverse affect on the bank if it ever got back to profitability, as one hopes it will, so that it will shelter those profits outside the UK simply because part of the agreement is that it will have to pay tax at an earlier stage under...

Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill: Clause 19 (2 Jun 2009)

Robert Syms: Clearly some of the international, Gibraltar-based type organisations that have been raising internet gambling have been hit on by the American taxman. One presumes that there might be an issue if we have what is, essentially, a British company being hit by other tax authorities. Why would we not want to say what we are actually raising? It is an interesting area to explore—if one can...