Results 1-20 of 1,645 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Alistair Burt

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

Alistair Burt: Let's have an election and find out.

Points of Order (12 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: Further to the point of order raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr. Stuart), Mr. Speaker. Can I advise the House that Richard Summersgill is a serial offender? I had the same problem a couple of years ago, which was cured by my tabling a written question asking about his salary and bonuses. I got a phone call within three days.

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Alistair Burt: My constituents and I use both the First Capital Connect lines: the Great Northern and the Thameslink. Indeed, my constituents who were using Sandy, Biggleswade and Arlesey stations last week to go to remembrance events could not get there. As the Minister is given at least 24 hours' notice of changes in timetables, can he tell us whether there is any suggestion that there will be further...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Skills for Growth (11 Nov 2009)

Alistair Burt: As the shadow Minister responsible for further education when the scale of the individual learning accounts fiasco became clear, may I remind the Minister of one reason for the failure? That was that the drive to meet the targets meant that there were not sufficient checks on providers to ensure that they delivered the goods. Can he assure the House that that problem has been covered, and...

Energy and Climate Change: Maldives (5 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: When he last discussed with the Government of the Maldives the contribution of the UK towards reducing the risks to that country arising from climate change.

Energy and Climate Change: Maldives (5 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: I think we were all moved by, and not a little admiring of, the recent cabinet meeting held by His Excellency President Mohamed Nasheed underwater to highlight the plight of his country and show what climate change will mean to them. Following an initiative this year, when he said that his country would go carbon neutral by 2019, the President said that that in itself would not decarbonise...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: But to follow the point made by the hon. Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman), is the Minister not more concerned about the lack of connection between universities and schools in relation to science? That lack of connection means that a number of science faculties now have to run remedial courses for their undergraduates, and that an increasing number of good-quality science courses are...

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: This has been an enlightening but also frustrating debate. We have heard many things that have frightened us on behalf of our constituents, but we are frustrated because we have been here before. It is not a subject on which there are easy answers or places where we have been successful. The hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) made as eloquent a plea for a change of...

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: In my understanding of government, the Home Secretary is a Labour Home Secretary, the democracy that the hon. Lady was asking about is run by a Labour Government, and if a council is not doing something there is a democratic way of dealing with it. She was complaining about Labour policies. Who created the structure that she was kicking up so much fuss about? It was a common theme among a...

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: I think that I am allowed to do so in the Chamber.

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It was a letter to me in a different form.

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I was seeking to make the point, which the community in Sandy was making to me, that the involvement of adults with youngsters in a series of societies and groups gives those youngsters the opportunity to be mentored, to do something and to become engaged in community activity. The youngsters who need direction most are often those who will be most disadvantaged...

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: Very briefly, as I am conscious of time for others.

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. It is all a matter of greater accountability and making sure that once boxes have been ticked, a case is not pushed off to someone else and does not disappear from sight. A number of colleagues have made reference to that. I close with one final issue. It is an old chestnut, but the older I get, the more true I think it is. Once we start to deconstruct...

Perpetuities and Accumulations Bill [ Lords]: Antisocial Behaviour (2 Nov 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: Before the Minister leaves that subject—to which I am sure others will refer later—may I point out that, if we are going to get youngsters actively engaged in voluntary activities such as those, we have to allow the adults the opportunity to work with them? The pressures of extra regulation are making it more difficult for adults to get involved in this way; they feel that it is...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (19 Oct 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: Unemployment in my constituency has risen by more than 100 per cent. in a year and by some 80 per cent. since 1997. What figure is the Minister's Department contemplating as the peak of unemployment in this country, and when does it expect that to happen?

Business, Innovation and Skills: Vehicle Scrappage Scheme (16 Jul 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: Here is another case for the Minister. One of my constituents has had a car in her family for many years, but sadly, her husband, in whose name the car was registered, died a few months ago, and it appeared that the car was now outside the rules. I e-mailed an urgent inquiry to the Minister's Department on 5 June, and followed it up on 23 June and 2 July. It is now 16 July, and there has...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (15 Jul 2009) has video

Alistair Burt: Across the east of England and in Bedfordshire, the Government's policy of moving the assessment of the need for more Gypsy and Traveller sites away from local councils to a regional body is causing intense concern and threatening to disrupt community relations, making them worse rather than better. Will the Prime Minister order an urgent review of a planning policy that is increasingly seen...

Three-Tier Education (Bedfordshire) (6 Jul 2009)

Alistair Burt: Before we leave the subject of funding, may I come back to a point that I made earlier? If the Department agrees that the proposal put forward by Bedford, whether for a three-tier or a two-tier system for the improvement of schools, is appropriate, does all the money arrive up front before the election and before the clamps come down, or is the future funding in doubt because inevitably it...

Three-Tier Education (Bedfordshire) (6 Jul 2009)

Alistair Burt: With the kind permission of my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Bedfordshire (Nadine Dorries) and the Minister, may I offer a couple of comments on the debate? First, I thank and congratulate my hon. Friend on succeeding in applying for and winning this Adjournment debate on what is, as the Minister will understand perfectly well, a contentious issue. My understanding is that there is no...