Results 1-20 of 1,229 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:David Gauke

[Mr. Bill Olner in the Chair] — Financial Services Regulation (10 Nov 2009)

David Gauke: I am grateful to the Minister for reiterating that point. Can she explain why the Commission came up with proposals in September that do not appear to respect the agreement made by ECOFIN earlier in the year?

[Mr. Bill Olner in the Chair] — Financial Services Regulation (10 Nov 2009)

David Gauke: It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship again, Mr. Olner. May I, too, congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) on securing the debate and on speaking so eloquently on this subject? The debate is well-timed for two reasons. First, we are clearly still living with the consequences of the turmoil of the past two years within the financial...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New Clause 24 — Powers of National Assembly for Wales: Auditor General for Wales (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: The Minister says that the delay was due to a technical difficulty. Will he reassure the Committee that it was not due to Wales being forgotten? We know that the Government's relationship with the Principality is not what it was—Labour is no longer the most popular political party in Wales—and I fear that this is an example of Welsh neglect.

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: New Clause 24 — Powers of National Assembly for Wales: Auditor General for Wales (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: I shall make a less partisan point. Does this measure have any budgetary implications and, if so, where are the resources coming from?

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 40 — Remuneration package of the Comptroller and Auditor General (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: I am grateful to the Minister for providing the information about the current CAG. Given that he was previously a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, I suspect that he has taken a substantial pay cut to perform this role. Nothing I say is meant to suggest that Mr. Morse has acted improperly. However, given that we are legislating on the set-up for the CAG, it would be helpful to specify on a...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 40 — Remuneration package of the Comptroller and Auditor General (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: I beg to move amendment 57, in clause 40, page 20, line 20, at end insert— '(10) All remuneration, allowances and expenses in relation to P must be published monthly online.'. In relation to the clause and the amendment, P refers to the Comptroller and Auditor General. As we have heard, the reform of the governance of the CAG has largely been driven, or provoked, by the difficulties...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 40 — Remuneration package of the Comptroller and Auditor General (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: The Father of the House makes a good point—the CAG is further ahead. On the whole, we believe there should be greater transparency in public spending, and the CAG could be yet further ahead. I accept that he submits expenses to the Father of the House in his role as Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission, but by putting them in the public domain we would prevent any repetition of...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 38 — Status of the Comptroller and Auditor General etc (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: Clause 38 deals with the status of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Subsection (8) highlights and signposts the provisions in clause 43 and schedule 6, and in clause 44 and schedule 7. It may be helpful to the Committee and reduce the time that we need to debate subsequent points if we address some concerns that have been expressed about the new governance structure. Those concerns have...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 38 — Status of the Comptroller and Auditor General etc (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: Indeed. The Father of the House states the essence of that case. The alternative case, as advocated by Professor Heald, is that there is still a body that has influence with respect to the provision of resources in establishing the strategy for the NAO, and that that body could be used to influence. The Father of the House rightly makes the argument against that and I suspect that the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 37 — The Comptroller and Auditor General (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: Can the Minister explain, therefore, why the Government have, in recent years, refused to publish the whole of Government accounts? For the past two years the work has been done but the information has not been released—I believe that we are going to have to wait until 2010 for it.

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 37 — The Comptroller and Auditor General (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: I am grateful for my hon. Friend's intervention. That would be an interesting structure, although I would be reluctant for the CAG to perform that role. Although the CAG and whoever would be in charge of the office for budget responsibility would play an important role in budget responsibility, I would not want to complicate the role of the CAG because it is a substantial job in itself....

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 37 — The Comptroller and Auditor General (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: I am grateful to my hon. Friend, and I am sure that his points will be noted. Both roles would be important. It is helpful to the Committee highlight the significance of the office for budget responsibility, and I think that we agree on the significant role that it would play—I hope—in addressing the current huge levels of borrowing. I hope that it would be important, just as the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 37 — The Comptroller and Auditor General (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: I thank the hon. Gentleman for tabling these amendments and the new clause. I suspect that the question whether it is necessary to reassert such objectives in this Bill given that the 1983 Act, which also states them, is not being repealed, will be addressed in a moment, but the CAG's objective of carrying out examinations of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public bodies is, as...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Clause 37 — The Comptroller and Auditor General (4 Nov 2009) has video

David Gauke: In which case, Sir Alan, I shall make those points now. This part of the Bill, as the Father of the House has said, is predominantly to do with the governance of the NAO and the CAG, and there is a combination of continuity and change in the new arrangements. I think it would be fair to provide a little background on how we got into this situation and why there was a need to look again at the...

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

David Gauke: Last month we saw a record fall in bank lending to smaller businesses, with a 40 per cent. drop in lending to manufacturing firms. The CBI and members of the Monetary Policy Committee have highlighted lack of credit as a major impairment to the recovery, but at lunchtime today Lord Myners told "The World at One" that there was "no problem with the availability of credit". Does the Minister...

Bill Presented — Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill: Child Poverty Bill (20 Jul 2009) has video

David Gauke: We have had an interesting and thoughtful debate with contributions from all parts of the House and all parts of the United Kingdom. We heard 13 contributions from the Back Benches, and I would particularly like to thank my hon. Friends the Members for South-West Devon (Mr. Streeter), for Henley (John Howell) and for Beverley and Holderness (Mr. Stuart) for three excellent speeches. My hon....

Bill Presented — Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill: Child Poverty Bill (20 Jul 2009) has video

David Gauke: My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. That is exactly the concern. I hope that we will be able to examine that issue. The situation will partly depend on how the powers given to the Secretary of State are applied, but there is clearly a concern. We believe that logically there is a role for local authorities; a lot of problems relating to poverty are local in nature, so clearly local...

Bill Presented — Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill: Child Poverty Bill (20 Jul 2009) has video

David Gauke: Again, my hon. Friend makes an interesting point. I do not know whether we should take that as his application to be on the Public Bill Committee, but it sounds as though he has a host of good ideas that he will want to bring to the Committee. We support the aspiration behind the Bill, but the Bill shares some of the less attractive characteristics of the Government. It looks bureaucratic,...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Schedule 34 — Real Estate Investment Trusts (8 Jul 2009)

David Gauke: I am grateful to the Minister for his comments about continuing to look at the stock dividend issue. I am still not entirely convinced by his view that his amendment is better than ours, but we should be grateful that we at least have an amendment. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Amendment made: 47, page 290, line 24, at end insert—...

Care Homes (Domestic Pets): Schedule 34 — Real Estate Investment Trusts (8 Jul 2009)

David Gauke: I beg to move amendment 17, in page 289, line 23, at end insert— 'Stock dividends 3A (1) Section 107 (conditions for tax-exempt business) is amended as follows. (2) In subsection (8) omit "(a) by way of dividend, and (b)". (3) After subsection (8) insert— "(8A) In this Part and for the purposes of section 973 of ITA 2007, a distribution of the profits of the property rental...