Mr Nicholas Baker: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 23 July. [36989]
Mr Nicholas Baker: Will my right hon. Friend condemn from the Dispatch Box the politically motivated strikes by London underground drivers and postal workers? Will he confirm that he has no plans to introduce legislation to give trade unions increased powers or to increase the powers of strikers, which is precisely what is on offer from the right hon. Member for Sedgefield (Mr. Blair)?
Mr Nicholas Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the incidence of escapes from Her Majesty's prisons and from prison escorts since April 1993. [34521]
Mr Nicholas Baker: Will my hon. Friend accept the congratulations of the House for the entire Prison Service? Is it not justification for the policy of contracting out services therein; and is that not yet another way in which prison works, because according to a secret document that has come into my hands, a copy of which should be placed in the Library, new Labour believes that the Tory policy of prison works...
Mr Nicholas Baker: I disagree with some of the lessons that the hon. Gentleman mentioned. He has, however, left out one important lesson that has been learnt, with which I think he would agree because he has observed it himself—the need not to rouse hysteria by violent and wild political pronouncements. He has avoided doing that in a way that the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms Harman) has not. The county council...
Mr Nicholas Baker: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking (a) to reduce the extent of regulation on the UK food industry and (b) to increase its global competitive ness. [32364]
Mr Nicholas Baker: The Government's activities on deregulation and the market task force are to be welcomed. I hope that my hon. Friend will do what she can to increase those activities, because they benefit the food industry, which is well poised to take advantage of world markets, not least as the common agricultural policy fades. Will my hon. Friend take action to discourage and prevent the over-zealous...
Mr Nicholas Baker: Does my hon. Friend think that representatives of the probation service will recommend to him a curfew of children under 10, as recommended by the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw)?
Mr Nicholas Baker: If the hon. Member for Carmarthen (Mr. Williams), who I believe is a distinguished scientist, can make a speech based on so little attention to the scientific evidence and containing so much mere speculation, I am not surprised that, when he asks his farmers to be resilient, they look the other way. It is undoubted that the BSE crisis has affected the beef industry and the rural community...
Mr Nicholas Baker: I shall make some progress, if I may. The European and worldwide ban has undoubtedly had a dramatic effect on consumer confidence. I add my support to the efforts that my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister of Agriculture is making to have the ban removed. As long as there is progress in the negotiations, he is right to proceed with them. The reasoning behind the bans is...
Mr Nicholas Baker: I am sorry. I know that many others wish to speak, and I do not want to be distracted at the moment. My hon. Friend the Minister of State is playing a directing part through his daily industry meetings, as he explained to us. He should not hesitate to bang heads together when necessary. He has no absolute control, as some hon. Members would like, but he has influence, and he controls some of...
Mr Nicholas Baker: Will my right hon. and learned Friend encourage, from that Dispatch Box, consumer representatives to ask retailers and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom to stock that safest of products, British beef? To that end, will he also do everything he can to speed up the implementation of the 30-month cull and to increase the flow of information from his Department to the beef industry?
Mr Nicholas Baker: I understand what the hon. Gentleman is after, but how can he establish whether a generally available advertisement is directed at people under 16? Would it not be more straightforward to say that he really wants to ban advertisements of all kinds?
Mr Nicholas Baker: Will my hon. Friend ignore the filibustering attempt of the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael), who is clearly trying to disrupt the argument? There is a distinction between United Kingdom national costumes, such as the Scottish costume and the equipment that is worn with it, and the national costumes of other countries. Is subsection (4)(d) an attempt to protect Greek...
Mr Nicholas Baker: Does my right hon. Friend agree that following the excellent package on BSE that the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announced on Tuesday and the welcome news that the Euro ban is to be challenged, there is a case for a debate on this matter, on the particular issue of how to restore confidence in British beef and the eating thereof? Does my right hon. Friend agree that such a...
Mr Nicholas Baker: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Sir J. Spicer) on securing this debate on local government in Dorset. The debate is timely and urgent. I associate myself with his remarks about BSE and its effect. I endorse his wish to restore confidence to people in Dorset, who eat beef, I am glad to say, and to the farming community. His remarks were timely and they have my...
Mr Nicholas Baker: The answer to the hon. Lady's suggestion that I have not been in touch with the chief executive is that I received a written report from him in the past week. She has anticipated the next part of my speech. I requested a report on the current situation of the local government review. I was glad to receive the reply, but it was less than satisfactory. Necessary progress in achieving economies...
Mr Nicholas Baker: Yes; my hon. Friend is, of course, quite right. I think that it was explained to the county that, if it changed its mind in that way, there would be very severe financial implications for the administration and bureaucracy, which had to be attacked. We received an assurance that they would be attacked, because of the point that my hon. Friend rightly made.
Mr Nicholas Baker: No; I am sorry, but I have given way once, and I have other things to say. My hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset described the Liberal Democrats' U-turn—supporting the landfill site at Holnest and then abandoning it when it proved unpopular, which unseated a distinguished and respected Conservative councillor—to achieve control of the county council at the election. That they...
Mr Nicholas Baker: I am sorry, but I cannot give way. I must not shut out other hon. Friends, or I shall be lynched. The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Urban Regeneration has made it clear that he would like a debate to be held on the precise needs of each county, as well as an examination of the capability of each county to absorb increased development. I am pleased that he has also stated the aim...