Mr Christopher Hawkins: Is the hon. Lady making a pledge that the Labour party will find the money to increase the training budget?
Mr Christopher Hawkins: Did I mishear my right hon. Friend? Did he say that the rules for people who qualify for rebate may be changed if they move house? If so, will he elaborate? Nothing causes more ill feeling and resentment in my patch than the fact that people lose their right to rebate solely because they move house.
Mr Christopher Hawkins: I accept that there must be some time limit, on safety grounds. What if the men were happy to work four nine-hour shifts rather than five seven and a half hour shifts, and the unions agreed to that? Currently, that is illegal. Is not that nonsense?
Mr Christopher Hawkins: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I have been listening carefully to the debate on this subject, in which I take a considerable interest. I have not yet heard one line of the hon. Lady's speech which relates to the regulations.
Mr Christopher Hawkins: rose—
Mr Christopher Hawkins: If the Government do not intend long term to exercise the shareholders' duties of restraint in such matters, should they not consider relinquishing their shares so that others can fulfil those duties and act as a restraint? There is something exceedingly curious about the British. When really high incomes are paid to pop singers, tennis players, top footballers and television presenters, that...
Mr Christopher Hawkins: It is regarded as a second income.
Mr Christopher Hawkins: On £28,000 a year.
Mr Christopher Hawkins: rose—
Mr Christopher Hawkins: I hope that my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State will also hear what I have to say. If the simplistic and absurd formula, which is currently used for the costing of schools, used the average cost of a teacher instead of the actual cost of a teacher, the cost would average out over the nation—or the county —as a whole. There would not then be the problem of an individual...
Mr Christopher Hawkins: That was what I thought I said.
Mr Christopher Hawkins: I think that they can earn more than that.
Mr Christopher Hawkins: What does the hon. Gentleman mean by "returning to negotiating rights?" I do not believe that he means returning to Burnham. If my memory serves me rightly, the Burnham negotiating machinery agreed on a settlement only about three times in a couple of decades. It was a major forum for disagreement. I should have thought that a review body was a better way of solving problems.
Mr Christopher Hawkins: Then what?
Mr Christopher Hawkins: I completely support the proposals of my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science and his comments about strikes. However, does he agree that pay review bodies are a better and more important defence for groups which typically do not have political clout and do not go on strike? In a recent written answer to me, it was revealed that university teachers...
Mr Christopher Hawkins: How would the Government react to building societies' participating in schemes to recycle repossessed properties into the private rented sector, making them available for letting to priority groups?
Mr Christopher Hawkins: I know that the hon. Member would not want to mislead the House. He knows that I share his concern, but a couple under 75 with savings of £16,000 —a tariff income of £52 a week—can receive the state pension and still qualify for community charge rebate in any area where the community charge, or poll tax, is more than £300.
Mr Christopher Hawkins: Not a single person—a couple.
Mr Christopher Hawkins: The hon. Gentleman is aware that I, too, am keen to sort out the anomalies on this issue. I am not sure why he wants to raise the amount of capital that is disregarded, because that would create further anomalies by making people with those amounts of capital have their benefit assessed on the basis of too low an income for them. At present, the problem is that people with high amounts of...
Mr Christopher Hawkins: I said a moment ago that I would not speak again, because I was conscious of the guillotine, but I had not realised that no one else wanted to speak. I greatly welcome the fact that the Chancellor responded to representations by raising the capital limit to almost £16,000. It is now important to get the DSS rule on the interest implied in the capital changed. Sympathetic as I am to what the...
