Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether any staff employed by the East Midlands Development Agency received retention bonuses after the announcement by the Government of the abolition of regional development agencies.
Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether staff employed by the South East England Development Agency received retention bonuses after the announcement by the Government of the abolition of regional development agencies.
Jake Berry: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how much the Electoral Commission spent on public affairs consultancy firms in the last 36 months; on which firms; and for what reason in each such case.
Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much VisitEngland spent on public affairs consultancy firms in the last 36 months; to which firms such expenditure was made; and for what reason in each such case.
Jake Berry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Financial Services Authority has spent on public affairs consultancy firms in the last 36 months; on which firms; and for what reason in each case.
Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether any staff employed by the London Development Agency received retention bonuses after the announcement of the abolition of the regional development agencies.
Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will place in the Library a list of the Government Procurement Card transactions, including each transaction (a) date, (b) recipient and (c) value made by the South West Regional Development Agency in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11.
Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether any staff formerly employed by the Yorkshire Forward Development Agency received retention bonuses after the announcement by the Government of the abolition of the regional development agencies.
Jake Berry: Will my hon. Friend give way?
Jake Berry: How can we be talking about charging people for tours of Big Ben when we still have people who work in the House occupying grace and favour mansions at the taxpayer’s expense?
Jake Berry: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Jake Berry: I intervened during the previous speech on the issue of grace and favour apartments. Will the hon. Gentleman confirm whether any discussions have taken place with the Chairman of his Commission as to whether his grace and favour apartment should be surrendered?
Jake Berry: On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Could you give me some guidance as to a remedy? The hon. Gentleman did not hear what I said. I referred to the Chairman of the Commission.
Jake Berry: May I say what a privilege it is to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Central Devon (Mel Stride)? I was not originally intending to speak in today’s debate because I felt that charging people £15 to go up the Westminster Clock Tower might seem remote to the people of Rossendale and Darwen—from where it costs nearly £100 to get here on a train. I changed my mind because on my most...
Jake Berry: But that is completely different. Government is for 365 days a year and 24/7; Parliament is having an early recess to enable Members to avoid the Olympics, so surely those who work in Parliament will not be here. We are not talking about a Big Brother-style eviction; we are simply talking about the possibility of those with grace-and-favour apartments, including the Chairman of the...
Jake Berry: Well, I cannot speak for—
Jake Berry: All joking aside, it is true that we must save money, but I suspect that charging our constituents to go up the Clock Tower is in the easy pile. When we start talking about the things that are in the difficult pile—such as Speaker’s House, the grace-and-favour apartments of the Clerk and the Serjeant at Arms, and the crèche—we do not hear so many voices. It is important for us to...
Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much the Energy Saving Trust has spent on public affairs consultancy in the last 36 months; which firms received payment; and for what reason such payments were made.
Jake Berry: What steps she is taking to tackle metal theft.
Jake Berry: Rossendale and Darwen has been subjected to a spate of metal thefts, including from the mills and, on Thursday night, from a school in Lower Darwen. Will the Minister inform the House how quickly the cashless payment system will be introduced to stop this metallic crime wave?