Results 1-20 of 2,452 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Mark Harper

Business, Innovation and Skills: Topical Questions (12 Nov 2009)

Mark Harper: May I ask the Minister for further education about the National Star college, which he will know is in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) and on whose behalf he has been campaigning assiduously? The college has a national remit to help young disabled people, but its capital programme was not funded. It recognises the tough economic climate that we...

[Mr. Edward O'Hara in the Chair] — Sex Discrimination (Religious Organisations) (11 Nov 2009)

Mark Harper: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. O'Hara. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (Robert Key) on securing this important debate. It is a not debate about what instructions we should give to the Church of England, but a spirit of inquiry from my hon. Friend, who represents a part of the Church, just to test the matter and have the Minister be clear about...

[Mr. Edward O'Hara in the Chair] — Sex Discrimination (Religious Organisations) (11 Nov 2009)

Mark Harper: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I think that really is the nub of what my hon. Friend is saying—that because the Church of England has said that there is not a specific requirement to be a man in order to become a priest or bishop, the specific exemption in equality law, current sex discrimination law and the Equality Bill is not triggered. For that exemption...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 31 — relevant services (10 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: The Minister will not be surprised to know that the amendments in the group have the support of the Opposition. I am pleased that the Government accepted them in the other place and worked closely with Baroness Campbell of Surbiton on co-producing them. The Government have effectively done what we urged them to do when we debated the issue in the Commons. The Minister will know, because he...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 31 — relevant services (10 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: Yes, I must call them trailblazers. That is an important use of language, because it suggests to those running the schemes that that is how we want things to happen—it is important to recognise that there is cross-party support for the initiative. The trailblazers are being introduced to work out how best to do that; they are not pilot schemes that may or may not be successful. For...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Report on operation of travel authorisation amendments (10 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: I will be brief, Madam Deputy Speaker. I want to discuss Lords amendment 50 in relation to the travel authorisation provisions. I welcome the amendment from the Government. It follows a similar amendment that was tabled by my noble Friends, Lord Freud and Lord Taylor, on Report. There was a good debate on that occasion, in which Ministers made a commitment to return with a Government...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 25 — Contracting out functions under Jobseekers Act 1995 (10 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: The Minister will know from reading the report of the debate in Committee that we were very supportive of the Government's proposals in this area and agreed that this is a significant problem. The Minister outlined the numbers—350,000 people on out-of-work benefits who are problem drug users for whom that is a barrier to moving into work. That is clearly a problem that people expect us...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 1 — Social security (10 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: I do not want there to be any lack of clarity. I understand why the Government needed an amendment. The Social Security Administration Act 1992 gives the Minister the power to lay an order only if there has been a general increase in prices. For the Minister to lay an order in the first place, there has to have been an increase, so if inflation is negative he does not have the power. The...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 1 — Social security (10 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: I was distinguishing between the pension increase, which, as the Government have lately set out, will be 2.5 per cent., which we welcome, and other social security benefits. They have been silent about how much social security benefits might be increased by if they use the same power. I wanted the Minister to lay out the sorts of things that they would take into account. Of course he will not...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 1 — Social security (10 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: For the avoidance of doubt, will the Minister confirm that what his predecessor, the right hon. Member for Harrow, East (Mr. McNulty), told the House when he made the benefits uprating statement in December 2008—that the power to uprate the basic state pension by at least 2.5 per cent., even if inflation was zero, was in the Pensions Act 2008—is not correct?

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 1 — Social security (10 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: I will not outline our excellent policies in great detail, because that would be straying away from the amendments, but the hon. Gentleman will know the impressive proposals that we have published in our work programme, such as getting people back to work and investing the savings that result. I am therefore confident that within the budgets that we have available, we will be able to fund...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 1 — Social security (10 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: As the Minister said, this is a miscellaneous group of amendments—and I shall speak to a few of them. Lords amendments 1 and 24 deal with pilots. I agree with the Minister that the need for those pilots has been superseded by a change in legislation, but I want to press him in one area that may provide a lesson on how Ministers conduct pilots in future. The pilots were originally...

Welfare Reform Bill (Programme) (No. 2): Clause 1 — Social security (10 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I will be able to state our position at the end of my remarks, and I think he will be pleased with the answer. When we debated this matter in the Public Bill Committee— [ Interruption. ] I hear the right hon. Member for Stirling (Mrs. McGuire) chuckling away; I will refer to our exchanges on Report as well. In Committee, the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Topical Questions (9 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: Rural areas such as mine often have slower broadband speeds than in urban areas, which damages consumers and business. The Secretary of State's solution is a broadband tax. We do not support that, but since he does, can he confirm that the £150 million or so that it will raise each year means that it will take some 20 years to pay for the necessary investment?

Points of Order (5 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. The House will know of the importance you attach to answering written questions. The Government have issued new guidance to Ministers that the reply saying that it has not been possible to answer a written question ahead of Prorogation should be used only for those questions tabled in the two weeks before Prorogation. As of last Thursday, more than 1,500...

Business of the House (5 Nov 2009) has video

Mark Harper: May we have a debate about how to measure accurately the difference in pay between men and women? In one of her other guises, the Leader of the House is always very fond of quoting just one figure, but the Office for National Statistics made it clear yesterday that pay rates are an important but complex matter, and that a range of measurements should be used. According to one of those...

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

Mark Harper: What assessment he has made of the level of risk of power cuts arising from insufficient electricity-generating capacity over the next 10 years.

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

Mark Harper: The Secretary of State has said that the Government need to take more of a role in delivering security of supply. Given that he acknowledges that we must replace one third of our generating capacity in the next 10 years, why have the Government left things so late?

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

Mark Harper: The Chancellor will be aware of the terms of the deal that has been hammered out between the Treasury and Lloyds Banking Group, which fortunately will safeguard for the moment the future of the Cheltenham & Gloucester branch in my constituency, and the 1,200 jobs in Gloucester. I understand that the terms of that deal have to be finalised by the college of Commissioners in the European...

Business of the House: Social Care Green Paper (29 Oct 2009) has video

Mark Harper: I agree about portability and the disability movement, but what is important to note is that this is not a national care service, but an England care service. We must not get more portability within England and then make the borders between Wales and Scotland real barriers to people who might want to move about our United Kingdom.