Bernard Jenkin: My constituency is as relevant to the debate as any other—although it may not be as obviously relevant as the constituency that I fought in the 1987 election. Glasgow, Central is still emerging from a form of feudal Stalinist oppression in regard to housing. North Colchester is such a diverse constituency that, if the Government have a problem relating to a particular issue, it is likely...
Bernard Jenkin: I apologise. Experience of the civil war made Colchester a town of religious and political tolerance and diversity. It has become a town where a man can come from, for example, Northern Ireland, and few will worry whether he be a Catholic or a Protestant. Sir Antony taught me not merely that it would be a privilege to sit here but that it would be a privilege to represent all the people of...
Bernard Jenkin: In seeking to create employment opportunities in the United Kingdom and in resisting, rightly, the European "shirking" hours directive, will my right hon. Friend consider using all means at her disposal and will she help the House to defy the European Court if necessary?
Bernard Jenkin: Following my right hon. Friend's meeting with Members of the European Parliament last week and in the spirit of subsidiarity and our right to govern our democratic processes, is the Prime Minister able to assure the House that the European elections in 1994 will be conducted under the present voting system?
Bernard Jenkin: How much would the hon. Gentleman be happy to add to the costs of British industry by accepting the social chapter of the Maastricht treaty?
Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of recent trends in manufacturing productivity; and whether he will make a statement.
Bernard Jenkin: Does my right hon. Friend agree that our successful economic policies during the 1980s promoted a vast improvement in manufacturing investment towards that end of the decade? What positive conclusions does he draw from that and from his reply?
Bernard Jenkin: The hon. Gentleman has described a number of areas in which we need a large volume increase in housing available for rent and for purchase. That will mean either a big expansion in public spending, as the hon. Gentleman obviously recommends, or, as Conservative Members would prefer. a big expansion in the amount of private sector finance attracted to those types of housing. Is not the problem...
Bernard Jenkin: I apologise. Madam Deputy Speaker. I was about to finish.
Bernard Jenkin: Does the Minister agree that it is rather sad that councils such as Colchester and Tendring in my constituency do not do more to help themselves by transferring their housing to housing associations and releasing the capital to repay their debt so that they can invest more in housing?
Bernard Jenkin: I welcome in particular my right hon. Friend's assurance that the Post Office will assist management and employees in their potential bid for a management buy-out, but will he ensure that management have free access to advice and to investors, and that management and investors can talk freely to the vendors? That would avoid the situation that arose in previous privatisations when management...
Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action is being taken to improve training in tourist-related services.
Bernard Jenkin: Does my hon. Friend agree that training the work force is as important for the tourist industry as it is for any other industry? Are the Government laying enough emphasis on training?
Bernard Jenkin: Will my right hon. Friend confirm that more than 5 million interest-free loans have been made since the establishment of the social fund, amounting to £700 million over that period? Does that not clearly demonstrate the Government's commitment to social policies?
Bernard Jenkin: On the patients charter and the objectives being set by the "The Health of the Nation" White Paper, is there consultation between my hon. Friend's Department and the Department of Health to ensure that we do not empower patients to rush around the country for unnecessary treatments such as tattoo removals and breast enlargement, to the detriment of those whose rights are being affected by the...
Bernard Jenkin: Is the purpose of the civil service to provide a good service to the public or is it to employ large numbers of people doing rather inefficient things? [Interruption.]
Bernard Jenkin: It does not surprise any Conservative Member that the official Opposition have chosen to oppose the Bill. Inherent in every Labour speech that we have heard is the fact that the party does not understand the concept of producer dominance—the concept that a service can be ruined by the fact that it is dominated by the producers, rather than by the customers or clients. At the risk of...
Bernard Jenkin: The hon. Gentleman should be ashamed of himself. He knows that competitive tendering in the health service and in local authorities has saved millions of pounds. When I fought the 1987 general election, one of the problems experienced by the Conservative party in Scotland—particularly in Glasgow, Central—was the fact that, although a huge amount of competitive tendering had proved very...
Bernard Jenkin: I apologise, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The philosophy behind the Bill is surely about better enabling the best practices of business and the private sector to be brought to bear on the problems of the public service. The civil service—by no means all of it, as was suggested earlier, but the generality of it—used to offer only three real perks: virtually total job security, complete anonymity...
Bernard Jenkin: The agency status of DVLC in Swansea has transformed the management, and I totally agree with what the hon. Gentleman says. But it is the agency status that has achieved that.
