Andrew Bridgen: Many participants in pension liberation schemes pay extremely high interest rates on any loans that are taken out, and residual funds are invested at the discretion of the trustees, which can lead to insecure or poor investment decisions. Does my hon. Friend agree that that is in no one’s long-term financial interests?
Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department spent on indoor and outdoor plants and trees in each year between 2005 and 2010.
Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department spent on indoor and outdoor plants and trees in each year from 2005 to 2010.
Andrew Bridgen: The widely disputed economic benefits of HS2 may or may not be realised in 20 years’ time. However, the blight, fear and anxiety the project generates hit my constituency on 28 January with the announcement of the extended route. I now have constituents who cannot sell their houses, businesses uncertain about their future and the potential loss of a £500 million private sector investment...
Andrew Bridgen: What sanctions or actions is the Minister willing to take against schools that are illegally excluding pupils?
Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons NHS Trust chief executives who have left their positions since 2005 were issued with suppression orders.
Andrew Bridgen: On a day when the Royal Bank of Scotland announced a further £5 billion of losses, it is pertinent to call for a debate on the ongoing losses—currently around £20 billion —being suffered by the taxpayer as a result of the previous Government’s handling of the bank bail-outs in 2008. Mr Michael Cohrs, a member of the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee, stated recently that...
Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations (a) he and (b) his Department have received for a full public enquiry to be held into events at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust prior to May 2010.
Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what meetings his Department has had with the National Federation of Sub Postmasters to discuss the effect that (a) the award of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Front Office Counter Service contract to the Post Office and (b) the implications of the installation of Cogent camera equipment will have on smaller post offices.
Andrew Bridgen: Will the hon. Lady give way?
Andrew Bridgen: I thank the hon. Lady for giving way. Does she not recall that a pledge was slipped into and hidden away in the Labour manifesto to cut capital spending—that is, infrastructure spending—by 50% had her party formed the next Government?
Andrew Bridgen: Will the shadow Minister give way?
Andrew Bridgen: Is the shadow Minister aware that more than 265,000 people in the east midlands are employed in manufacturing and that that is more than in any other region?
Andrew Bridgen: I, too, would like to congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood (Mr Spencer) on securing the debate. I very much enjoyed the evident passion and pride in his speech and his enthusiasm for manufacturing, quite rightly not only in his constituency but across the whole east midlands. I had better declare an interest, Mr Hollobone. I am the non-executive chairman of a fresh food...
Andrew Bridgen: Absolutely. In North West Leicestershire we are a pioneering a bi-local campaign whereby local companies can register, and not only will the local authority look to procure from local firms offering services, but that website facility is then open to other companies in the district, and it is hoped that they will join in. However, I bring the hon. Gentleman back to the point that we cannot...
Andrew Bridgen: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments, but I will not allow him or any other Labour Member to rewrite history. The fact is that under the previous Labour Government, manufacturing as a proportion of GDP in this country fell by 50%. It is not a record that I would be proud of if I were sitting on the Labour Benches. The hon. Gentleman should think on that. It is this Government who will...
Andrew Bridgen: The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Public sector workers do vital work, but the answer is that all the wealth creation comes from the private sector. We cannot ask 50% of the economy to support itself and the other 50%. That is why we need to rebalance the economy. It is simple maths and it is why we have a deficit. In the 1980s, following the closure of the coal mines, we needed to rebalance...
Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what advice he has received on the (a) safety and (b) viability of creating a tunnel under East Midlands airport.
Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of banks' willingness to provide basic bank accounts.
Andrew Bridgen: Has my right hon. Friend received an apology from the shadow Chancellor, who, as we were reminded, said in the Chamber last October that the Government had failed to build the alliances needed to deliver a real-terms EU budget cut?