I want to write to Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: ...Commission will be adequately funded. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, I am concerned about the future of forest services and the retention of its invaluable expertise if there is to be a merger. When considering budgets, I urge the Government to take a holistic rather than a silo-based approach, looking at the public benefits of our forests. In addition to the green economy, which...
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: ...on other issues there are things which we can do to address the ills which have been identified. The Enterprise Act provides for changes to be made, if necessary, to the conditions that apply in merger situations. We on these Benches have a number of proposals on these matters, as my right honourable friend the leader of the Opposition indicated at the weekend. Will the Leader of your...
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: ...of the House and through him the Prime Minister for what the Prime Minister said today. News Corporation does indeed need to concentrate more on cleaning up the mess and less on trying to secure a merger. In dropping its bid for BSkyB, we are glad that Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation are finally showing signs that they are, indeed, getting it. Following News Corporation's decision, we...
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: ...been the Government's intent-that simply does not make economic sense or for good governance-but it was the reality. Each organisation believed itself to be just two orders away from modification, merger or, even worse, abolition. The chilling factor already mentioned was mighty. If the Minister had not indicated that the Government were minded to delete Clause 11 and Schedule 7, I can...
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: My Lords, I think my noble friend has said it all. I am grateful to him for raising the proposed merger of these two bodies. Here we have two small but very important organisations that deal with related areas of law but are distinct in their functions. As my noble friend said, one is a regulator and one is an arbitrator. It is fair to say that everybody who knows the two organisations, the...
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: My Lords, the merger between the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading will come as a consequence of the Public Bodies Bill. The Minister mentioned the forthcoming consultation; does she think that it would have been more appropriate to have the consultation before the legislation is passed?
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: ...and Regulatory Reform (BERR) are committed to providing Peers with accurate and timely Answers to Parliamentary Questions. Following changes to Ministerial portfolios in the summer, and the merger of DIUS and BERR, the Parliamentary Unit was restructured and more resources were made available within the Unit to improve the answering time for Peers Questions. The Department is pleased that...