Bernard Jenkin: Is there not a slight irony in what the hon. Gentleman is saying about compulsory redundancies? No one likes the idea, but even the Labour party has to implement compulsory redundancies. Is there not an element of hypocrisy when councils posture in front of their electroates and buy off the consequences of compulsory redundancies, at the expense of the taxpayer, of wealth creation, and...
Bernard Jenkin: I wish to place on the record my congratulations to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on an excellent autumn statement, which was realistic, tough and especially good for small businesses. Included within it was the abolition of car tax, the extension of first year capital allowances, and many other measures that will help small businesses, not least the reduction in...
Bernard Jenkin: I beg to move, That this House recognises the vital importance of small and medium-sized businesses in the wealth-creating process in this country: welcomes the Government's initiatives in lifting the burdens of excessive taxation and regulation which stifle enterprise; and strongly endorses the Government's clear commitment to the creation of the right climate for sustainable growth, in...
Bernard Jenkin: The important point to remember about the tragic closure of pits throughout the country, and the scars that their closure leaves, is that British Coal Enterprise plays an important role in placing people in new jobs. If I recall correctly, BCE has an 86 per cent. success rate in placing British Coal employees.
Bernard Jenkin: I may be wrong, but that is the figure I recall. Moreover, I remind the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) that we were given doom-laden forecasts about steel towns such as Consett and Corby and told that their economies would be devastated, but in those places the culture of enterprise has transformed, and new businesses—which have a future, create wealth, bring revenue and...
Bernard Jenkin: I pay due regard to the hon. Gentleman's point that, in future, it will be more difficult to deal with black spots in the British economy because we are in the depths of recession. But it ill befits Labour Members to give the Government lectures on how to rejuvenate the economy as a whole and unemployment black spots. After all, faced with the same problem in the 1970s, the Labour Government...
Bernard Jenkin: I agree with my hon. Friend 100 per cent. I remember hearing the forecasts of the Cambridge Economic Policy Group during the 1970s. We were told that we would have 6 million unemployed by the mid-1980s. That did not happen because small businesses created jobs and filled the gaps left by the old and dying industries. I should find it more encouraging if Labour Members were interested in...
Bernard Jenkin: I agree with my hon. Friend that we might have more respect for the Labour party and the unions if there were an organisation called NUM Enterprises, but there is not. During my preparations for the debate, I sought input from local businesses in my constituency and from local business organisations. From the submission of the North and Mid-Essex chamber of commerce, it seems that...
Bernard Jenkin: I accept my hon. Friend's point; and I will comment on VAT later. The second most common complaint is related to the problem of late payment of debt, which involves rogue directors. My local chamber of commerce complains that fraudulent operators are able to circumvent the law, walking away from debts and continuing to trade in the same premises, with the same people in the same line of...
Bernard Jenkin: My hon. Friend has made an interesting and illuminating point which I am sure my hon. Friend the Minister has taken on board. I want now to consider the VAT regime. The year-on-year increases in the VAT threshold have been very welcome and have enabled 50,000 businesses to stay out of paying VAT. I also welcome the fact that Customs and Excise is presently conducting a wide-ranging review...
Bernard Jenkin: My hon. Friend has made an interesting and valid point. It is something of a relief that the banks appear to be responding to public pressure to alter their minimum lending rate policies. The National Westminster bank and Barclays have announced revisions to their policies so that they can continue to pass on the full benefit of base rate cuts to their small business borrowers. No doubt...
Bernard Jenkin: I add my congratulations to my right hon. Friend on the full uprating of all social security benefits. Does he agree that it is a bit rich for the hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) to spread fresh rumours about the erosion of the value of pensions in the future when the only Government ever to massage the real value of pensions downwards was a Labour Government? [Interruption.]
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.
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: 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: 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: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action is being taken to improve training in tourist-related services.
