Hugo Swire: Would the hon. Gentleman regard as incestuous the fact that Howard Davies was made chairman of the FSA without much consultation?
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the proposed role of community support officers.
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the letters sent to her on 12 and 21 March written on behalf of Devon County Council regarding the reinstatement of the Ash Moor mass burial site, the Ascott Farm pyre and holding site and the intended holding site at Westlake Farm.
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when her Department will make a decision regarding the future use and full restoration of (a) the Ash Moor site, (b) the Arscott Farm pyre and holding site and (c) the intended holding site at Westlake Farm.
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if a Minister from her Department will meet Devon county council to discuss the future use and full restoration of (a) the Ash Moor site, (b) the Arscott Farm pyre and holding site and (c) the intended holding site at Westlake farm.
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what procedures her Department has in place to monitor companies accused of ignoring Government guidelines regarding employment law; and what action she is taking to review the effectiveness of such procedures.
Hugo Swire: Will the Minister give way?
Hugo Swire: Will the Minister reverse up a bit and address the point made by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Howard)? What is important is not that the bilateral agreement got between 150 and 200 people back to France, but that it sent out a message that Britain is not a soft underbelly on immigration and that we had agreements in force that meant that we would...
Hugo Swire: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Hugo Swire: Given the question of animals in need of testing, is my hon. Friend convinced that sufficient resources have been given to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to deal with the crisis and cope with the backlog of cases?
Hugo Swire: Is my hon. Friend aware of the resources that have been given to collate information from other countries, especially Ireland, which has done much research? Does he think that the Government should make putting resources behind the scheme a priority?
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received from business groups regarding the effect of the 2002 Budget on the (a) competitiveness and (b) productivity of UK businesses.
Hugo Swire: If he will make a statement of the number of final salary schemes that have closed since 1998.
Hugo Swire: We are now witnessing the demise of the final salary pension scheme with the day-to-day closure of more and more of those schemes. Do the Secretary of State and his Government accept that the increasing burdens they have placed on such schemes since 1997 include the disastrous abolition of advance corporation tax relief, which is responsible for the precarious situation in which many of...
Hugo Swire: As the hon. Gentleman does not wish to interfere in other regions, or zones, of the United Kingdom, does that mean that when the Bill comes before the House he and his hon. Friends in Scotland will play no part in its deliberation?
Hugo Swire: If, for example, the north-east voted in a referendum for a regional assembly but the south-west voted against, how should the funding be decided? The costs of the reorganisation for the north-east would be huge. The running costs for a regional assembly would be an additional burden on the taxpayer and the figures for other associated reorganisations would be high. Should the south-west be...
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what targets her Department uses to measure productivity in the UK (a) for year on year growth, (b) in comparison with other EU countries and (c) in comparison with other G7 countries.
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has received from businesses regarding the 2002 Budget statement; and if she will make a statement.
Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has received from businesses regarding the competitiveness of the UK in comparison to (a) EU countries and (b) G7 nations.
Hugo Swire: If the Government truly intend to move on in their relations with the farming community, they need to regain some of the confidence that they have lost among that community. On reflection, I believe—and this view is almost universally shared in the west country—that it was a mistake on the part of the Secretary of State to dismiss rather haughtily the findings of Professor Mercer's...