Mr Archie Norman: I draw the House's attention to my declaration in the Register of Members' Interests. In the 25 years of my business career and my 18 years serving on the boards of major British companies, I do not think that there has been a single year in which the burden of regulation has lessened. Throughout that period, business has complained about the growing problem of regulation. Lucy Neville-Rolfe...
Mr Archie Norman: My right hon. Friend makes a profound point. We operate in a global market and there is no point in exporting quality jobs that become low-quality jobs elsewhere in the world. It should not be a matter of debate between us whether regulations have increased under the Government. There have been 23,322 new regulations. A substantial proportion of them have come from Europe, but the figure...
Mr Archie Norman: There is a role for exemptions for small businesses, and we have seen some, in the form of the audit exemptions, for example. I believe that they can be taken much further, both in the framing of the regulation and in the way in which it is enforced. At the same time, however, we need to recognise that competitiveness is not just about small businesses, and that creating peculiar regulatory...
Mr Archie Norman: The Minister may know that the Minister of State wrote to me on exactly this issue last month. I am grateful to him for his letter, which was constructive. Does the Minister agree that the Department's current position is that there will be some money, sometime—we do not know how much and we do not know when—to make railway stations disabled friendly? Will he give the House some idea...
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress he has made on reducing transport delays after road traffic incidents.
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the current members of the Panel for Regulatory Accountability.
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether tax matters considered by the Chancellor in the course of normal Budget processes may in any circumstances require clearance from the Panel for Regulatory Accountability.
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to prevent contra-indication prescription errors when electronic prescriptions are introduced.
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what provision has been and will be made for publicising (a) the decision by the Panel for Regulatory Accountability whether or not to clear a given regulatory proposal and (b) the grounds on which the decision was made; (2) what provision has been and will be made for publicising the decisions of the Regulatory Impact Unit regarding whether a...
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Prime Minister what meetings of the Panel for Regulatory Accountability (a) he has attended since March and (b) he is scheduled to attend in the next 12 months.
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether additional resources will be made available to general practitioners using the EMIS system to migrate to the new Care Records Service.
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many applications for research and development grants there have been under (a) the Smart scheme, (b) the grant scheme and (c) regional competitions; (2) what the (a) success rate for applications and (b) value of the average award are for research and development grants under (i) the Smart scheme, (ii) the grant scheme and (iii)...
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) clinical and (b) non-clinical NHS staff had access to e-mail and web browsing by (i) March 2003 and (ii) March 2004.
Mr Archie Norman: The Secretary of State will know that the publicly-owned South Eastern Trains has performed reasonably well since it came into being under the stewardship of Michael Holden. Does he know that there are sinister rumours of a possible delay in the franchising process because of the disputes about timetabling in mid-Kent? Does he agree that the franchising process is already inordinately long...
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the end-user groups being consulted in the National Programme for Information Technology in the NHS.
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the dates of (a) past and (b) planned future meetings of the clinical consultation group to the National Programme for Information Technology in the NHS are.
Mr Archie Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated cost is of training (a) clinical staff and (b) non-clinical staff to use the information systems developed by the National Programme for Information Technology in the NHS.
Mr Archie Norman: I am delighted to have a second bite of the cherry on this issue, having had a chance last week to speak in a constructive debate on housing in Westminster Hall. I am particularly delighted because it will also give the Minister a second bite of the cherry. In doing so, I hope that she will apply her razor-sharp intellect to the serious critique that has been advanced by hon. Members on both...
Mr Archie Norman: Of course there is demand for larger homes and family homes in some parts of Britain. In others, there is demand for accommodation for elderly or young people. All demand is local. It needs to be locally defined, and local authorities should be obliged to meet local needs. This is a hard problem to solve nationally, and not one that is susceptible of national, global solutions imposed on...
Mr Archie Norman: My time is limited, but I will give way briefly.
