Results 1-20 of 184 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:John Howell

Business, Innovation and Skills: Small and Medium-sized Businesses (12 Nov 2009)

John Howell: What progress he has made on ensuring increased access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses.

Business, Innovation and Skills: Small and Medium-sized Businesses (12 Nov 2009)

John Howell: Picking up the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) made, I wonder whether the Minister agrees with her new noble Friend Lord Sugar, the Prime Minister's enterprise tsar, who said that those small businesses that are trying to seek credit are merely moaners and living in Disneyland.

Oral Answers to Questions — Wales: Economy (11 Nov 2009)

John Howell: What recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues and Welsh Assembly Government Ministers on the state of the Welsh economy.

Oral Answers to Questions — Wales: Economy (11 Nov 2009)

John Howell: The three contenders for Rhodri Morgan's job appear to have only one idea between them for the economic recovery of Wales, which is tapping into Welsh universities. Although that is important, does the Secretary of State think it is a sufficiently comprehensive approach to the Welsh economy, or an example of Labour's inadequate response to Wales in a recession?

Opposition Day — [20th Allotted Day]: Local Spending Reports (28 Oct 2009) has video

John Howell: I thank the Minister for that remark, although I am not sure that praise from someone on the Government Front Bench has done my career any good. May we look forward to the abolition of as many of the ring-fenced grants to local government as she can achieve?

Opposition Day — [20th Allotted Day]: Local Spending Reports (28 Oct 2009) has video

John Howell: I think that I am the only hon. Member to speak who was not here when the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 was introduced. At that time, I was doing pioneering work as a county councillor in Oxfordshire to try to work out how spending could be allocated and understood in terms of my own division and the major settlements within it. Although that information was not readily available in the...

Opposition Day — [20th Allotted Day]: Local Spending Reports (28 Oct 2009) has video

John Howell: The hon. Lady is right. My point, to reinforce the comments that have been made, is that it is necessary to decide and to be open about the criteria that are used. The need for such information is even more crucial in an age of partnership. Many of us who were in local government when the partnership regime came in were quite cynical about it and about the democratic deficit, but having lived...

Opposition Day — [20th Allotted Day]: Local Spending Reports (28 Oct 2009) has video

John Howell: Does the Secretary of State not understand that councils, particularly during this recession, are trying to develop policies to help local people get back into jobs? The absence of figures for regional development agencies and Jobcentre Plus is not only a disincentive in itself, but fundamentally works against the notion of partnership that is needed for such activities.

Women and Equality: Equality and Human Rights Commission (22 Oct 2009) has video

John Howell: What recent discussions she has had with the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission on the commission's co-ordination of its work on different strands of discrimination.

Women and Equality: Equality and Human Rights Commission (22 Oct 2009) has video

John Howell: Given that the Minister for Women and Equality talked on the "Andrew Marr Show" about the need to be able to see the different strands of discrimination, rather than about having an amorphous, overarching human rights concept, will the Minister of State admit that the Government got it wrong in how they set up the Equality and Human Rights Commission?

Opposition Day — [18th Allotted Day]: Economic Recovery and Welfare (19 Oct 2009)

John Howell: It is a great pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies), whose passion came through eloquently. I want to pick up on a comment made by the Ernst and Young ITEM Club: growth depends critically on recovery in exports. Despite the weakness of sterling, I have yet to be convinced that we are making the most of the opportunity that it offers. Indeed, 46 per...

Opposition Day — [18th Allotted Day]: Economic Recovery and Welfare (19 Oct 2009)

John Howell: Does my hon. Friend accept that, as others have said to me, one or two job losses in any particular company in the SME sector have a devastating effect because of the size of the company, whereas one or two in a bigger company might not?

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Child Care (12 Oct 2009) has video

John Howell: What recent assessment he has made of the sustainability of provision in the child care sector; and if he will make a statement.

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Child Care (12 Oct 2009) has video

John Howell: My constituents, like those of others, benefit from a mixed market in child care provision, which includes state, private, voluntary and independent providers. Will the Minister therefore not show some shame for the way his and the Government's policies have plunged a third of providers into the red and left parents, other providers and the sector as a whole in a great state of uncertainty?

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

John Howell: I echo what has been said about the importance of this subject, and the need to tackle child poverty, but I have concerns about the approach in the Bill. I shall start with the implications for local government. The Bill lays a duty on local government to devise a local strategy to reduce or mitigate child poverty. My first disappointment is that although that hints at wider definitions of...

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

John Howell: The hon. Gentleman nods, and I well remember his comments on this subject in the Committee on the Equality Bill, on which we both served. We can see from the list of partnerships that I read out, each of which has its own strategy, that we now have strategy overload. As my hon. Friend the Member for South-West Devon (Mr. Streeter) said, the Bill sets out a bureaucratic model—but a...

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

John Howell: The hon. Gentleman is making an interesting point, with which I happen to agree: a lot of the effort should be local rather than central. However, why then does he agree with a Bill that is so rigid in its central planning diktat for local government?

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

John Howell: Given the case that the right hon. Lady started to make—that there are many factors involved in deprivation—can she tell us why the targets that she has chosen are simply income-based? Surely they should be broader.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Secure Accommodation (16 Jun 2009) has video

John Howell: How many secure accommodation places for young people there were in the criminal justice system at the latest date for which information is available.

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Secure Accommodation (16 Jun 2009) has video

John Howell: Given that the Government are cutting the number of Youth Justice Board places, which could lead to the closure of four homes, including one that covers London and the south-east, are they backing off from their commitment to children who need secure children's home places?