Results 1-19 of 19 for speaker:Lord Burns

Economy (3 Nov 2008)

Lord Burns: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Myners, for introducing the debate and join other noble Lords in welcoming him to the House. We are former board colleagues at a well-known retailer, and I warmly welcome him to his position as Minister for the City. I am sure that he will enjoy the Treasury a great deal and I wish him well in that role. Given the nature of the debate, I should remind...

Hunting Bill (12 Oct 2004)

Lord Burns: My Lords, since completing the report on hunting with dogs in the summer of 2000, with an inquiry that I had the great privilege to chair, I have restricted my comments on this contentious issue to only two occasions. The first was during the debate in this House in 2001; the second was in giving evidence to Alun Michael's committee in September 2002. Since then, I have kept out of the debate...

Stability and Growth Pact (EUC Report) (4 Jun 2003)

Lord Burns: My Lords, my remarks will be directed to the report of the Economic Affairs Committee on the MPC. I, too, express my thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Peston, for his chairmanship of the committee. I include myself unambiguously in the group of people who regard both the design of the MPC and the execution of the remit that it has been given as a success. That is not to say that it cannot be...

Globalisation (4 Jun 2003)

Lord Burns: My Lords, along with others I would like to say what a great pleasure it has been to be member of the committee, chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Peston, and that is not only because of the constant chatter about football in the margins of our meeting. We also enjoyed robust debate. We considered challenging topics and, to our greater surprise, we even reached some conclusions at the end of...

Civil Service Act (1 May 2002)

Lord Burns: My Lords, I join other noble Lords in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Holme, for introducing this debate. I am encouraged that there is much agreement today about the role of Ministers, political advisers and civil servants and about the need for clarity. It goes without saying that I agree about the enormous value that we derive from a non-political permanent Civil Service that includes...

Monetary Policy and Economic Affairs (12 Jul 2001)

Lord Burns: My Lords, it has been a great pleasure for me, too, to participate in the committee and I also pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Peston, for his chairmanship. I am sure that he will understand if I say that his style often has challenging aspects. Sometimes I am not sure whether we are taking evidence or helping the noble Lord to give witnesses a tutorial. Sometimes our deliberations take...

Hunting Bill (12 Mar 2001)

Lord Burns: My Lords, I am grateful for the kind remarks that have been made about the work of the hunting inquiry. I pay tribute to the other members of the committee, including the noble Lord, Lord Soulsby, for their insight and contribution to the work of the committee. I am also grateful for their delightful and stimulating company as we conducted our many visits to hunting events around England and...

Wild Mammals (Protection) (Amendment) Bill [H.L.] (9 Mar 2001)

Lord Burns: My Lords, I support the Bill. I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Donoughue, for giving us the opportunity to debate this issue. In taking that view, however, I should like to make two points by way of introduction. First, I shall limit my remarks to the relevance of this Bill to hunting with dogs, because I am afraid that I have even fewer qualifications to speak about anything else....

Financial Services and Markets Bill (13 Apr 2000)

Lord Burns: My Lords, I support the general tone adopted by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, and support both Amendments Nos. 11 and 16. It is not surprising that he and I see eye to eye on this matter to some degree. We have been discussing it for the better part of 12 months. Indeed, I believe it is more than 12 months ago that we first discussed this measure in the Joint...

Financial Services and Markets Bill (20 Mar 2000)

Lord Burns: I too want to support the amendment. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey. It is a puzzle that we are debating this matter. Just over a year ago, on, I believe, 16th March--I stress that date--in evidence to the Joint Committee, Howard Davies put the case for the regulation of long-term care better than I could. He took the committee through the methodology he wanted to deploy in looking...

Financial Services and Markets Bill (20 Mar 2000)

Lord Burns: I support the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Turner of Camden. When the issue was discussed in the Joint Committee a variety of views was expressed. However, the majority decided in favour of including mortgage advice. We recognised that a timetable for implementation would be required. The costs could be high. It might be a problem for the FSA to implement it quickly. Nevertheless,...

Financial Services and Markets Bill (20 Mar 2000)

Lord Burns: I want to join with those who have expressed their admiration for the Comptroller and Auditor General. In my previous life I worked closely with him. I have been scrutinised and audited by him. Sometimes such a process went well and sometimes not so well. I can vouchsafe for his dedication and skill. I join with the noble Lord, Lord Barnett, in questioning whether it is necessary to give him...

Financial Services and Markets Bill (20 Mar 2000)

Lord Burns: I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. Does he agree that subsection (5)(b) simply allows the authority to say, "We disagree"? As the Minister says, I have spent a good deal of my life answering some of these questions. The skill, as we know, of some of my former colleagues in giving an answer without giving an answer is one of the things we are brought up to do. That is my worry.

Financial Services and Markets Bill (20 Mar 2000)

Lord Burns: I intervene briefly to speak in support of Amendment No. 74A, which proposes that the authority should give reasons where it disagrees with the practitioner panel or the consumer panel. That follows a recommendation made by the Joint Committee. When we were taking evidence, I was impressed by how often we heard witnesses state that one of the most frustrating aspects of any form of...

Financial Services and Markets Bill (16 Mar 2000)

Lord Burns: I did not go into the issue of the complaints procedure and looking at this from the side of the party that was regulated. My comments concerned depositors and the people who carry out business with the financial institutions and the relationship they have with them. If, at any stage, anything were to go wrong with one of the financial institutions that was being regulated, there would...

Financial Services and Markets Bill (16 Mar 2000)

Lord Burns: I too support the remarks of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Donaldson of Lymington, and the noble Lord, Lord Bagri. During the course of the Joint Committee's investigation I was fully persuaded of the case for statutory immunity on the grounds of the dangers of over-regulation. Financial supervision requires a lot of difficult judgments and if everything the regulator does is to be subject...

Financial Services and Markets Bill (16 Mar 2000)

Lord Burns: I find myself in considerable agreement with what has been said by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin of Roding. As the noble and learned Lord, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, has pointed out, this is not a black-and-white issue; rather, it is quite a difficult issue. We spent a good deal of time debating it in the Joint Committee. As a number of noble Lords have pointed out, the FSA is a big and powerful...

Financial Services and Markets Bill (16 Mar 2000)

Lord Burns: My view would not have changed. The response might have been, "They would say that, wouldn't they?" I am not sure that that is necessarily the group of people from whom at this stage one would be wanting to take advice in relation to the organisation in the longer term. I do not want to give the impression that the debate was that finely balanced. We came down clearly on the side that in the...

Financial Services and Markets Bill (21 Feb 2000)

Lord Burns: My Lords, I shall also begin by declaring my interests as set out in the register. I am a non-executive director of Legal & General Group and I am also an adviser to Prebon Financial Consulting. At one point, Howard Davies suggested that this Bill was, "following an unusual and scenic route from the Treasury to Buckingham Palace". Indeed, perhaps I may say that at various stages I seem to...