Mr Gordon Wilson: ...Upper Nithsdale (Mr. Lang), who has recently taken up office and who made the excuse about oil jobs. Of course, the Minister is quite right to point out what is happening in the offshore and the onshore oil industry. However, when will he or the Secretary of State for Scotland do something about it? There has been no action by the Government to help increase oil prices, to restore...
Jim Wallace: ...debate, albeit at a somewhat early hour of the morning. His fortune is certainly better than my own, having twice drawn second place in the ballot for private Members' motions on a Friday only to find the first motion being debated until 2.30 pm. It is to be welcomed that we can debate the Montgomery committee's report even at this late stage. As the right hon. Gentleman has said, much...
Jim Wallace: ...McQuarrie) rightly pointed out, we should not lose sight of the implications of a much reduced TAC for the processing industry. That industry is important in providing employment around our coasts. Onshore jobs are important, and, clearly, if the volume of the catch is to be considerably reduced in 1987 it will have implications for the processing industry and the continuity of employment...
Dr Michael Clark: ...and equipment for alternative energy sources, such as windmills, wave machines and barrages across rivers. Contractors have a part to play, not only in offshore oil and gas production, but onshore, where exploration is taking place, as it has done in my county of Nottinghamshire for many years since well before the war, and now in the south of England on Wytch Farm and elsewhere. Coal...
...tax purposes, including for VAT. In conjunction with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy, I propose to restructure the tax regime for the new generation of southern basin and onshore fields so as to relate tax liability more closely to profitability. Accordingly, my right hon. Friend will shortly be bringing forward legislation to abolish royalties, from 1 July, for all...
Alex Salmond: ...training that was required by the legislation. Support for training in the fishing industry is under pressure in the Sea Fish Industry Authority — first, because it is extending training to the onshore sector, which hon. Members will agree is a valuable exercise. Secondly, the authority is under pressure because support under the authority's development programme is not guaranteed by...
Simon Hughes: ...safety standards as a result of the privatisation of the electricity industry. Nirex is investigating all the options. It took a preliminary view that there should be deep disposal storage, either onshore or offshore, as opposed to on-site storage. In some respects deep disposal storage may be safe, but it is less safe from the view of geological movement. That is a risk whether one...
Hon. Peter Morrison: ...North field. That development represents an investment of £600 million in 1·25 trillion cu ft of gas reserves which would not otherwise have taken place. The Bill will also end royalties for new onshore fields. That will provide a useful encouragement to onshore development. That aspect was also foreshadowed by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor in his Budget. While talking about...
Mr Andrew Bennett: ..., operating independently, are expensive, prone to obsolescence and lacking in credibility as a deterrent. What better description of the United Kingdom's independent nuclear deterrent could one find than expensive, prone to obsolescence and lacking in credibility"? I want to mention another aspect of this lack of credibility—command, control and communications. We should all know that...
Frank Doran: .... Gentleman ignored the thrust of my speech, which concerned not so much legal powers and provisions as the way in which they could be used to threaten the work force in a way that would not arise onshore. I do not resile one bit from my comments then. I should be delighted to note what response the hon. Gentleman gets from the Lord Advocate, but that still does not mean that the work...
Ian McCartney: ...of the work force—in excess of 100—had made arrangements with British Rail about their concessionary passes. They were informed by Cork Gully that they must return them within 24 hours or find themselves in legal difficulties. I approached British Rail about the passes. Mr. Reid, the new chairman, immediately recognised the problems that had arisen because Parkfields plc had failed...
Frank Doran: ...means of representation for offshore workers on such matters is through the trade unions, and I shall say more about that later. They have the resources to commission studies and to present findings to the HSE. All the trade unions involved with the HSE onshore have developed technical departments that can give advice to work forces. Certainly, offshore that advice will be crucial and...
Frank Dobson: ...staff necessary for the job. Such a guarantee must be made in public before the HSE takes on the job. However, money may not prove to be the biggest problem. The biggest problem is likely to be finding enough staff with the experience and qualifications to perform the various tasks required. The tasks demand the application of complicated analytical techniques which will have to be...
Tony Blair: ...that I am right in saying that about two thirds of those working on the Piper Alpha platform were contractors not directly in the employment of the companies themselves. We can have the very best onshore safety procedures in the world, but they are useless unless they are followed by managers offshore, down the line. It should be said that there is still considerable concern among the...
Mr Dave Nellist: ...just those reported—suggests that that is only half the actual number. On average, a member of the public is killed by construction activities every month. Search our thesaurus as we may, we can find no other words to bring to bear on this than scandal, horror and carnage. In the five years to 1990–91, 742 people were killed, 496 of whom were legal building employees and 183—a...
William Hague: .... British Gas is the sole owner of the national gas pipe grid. It seems to be charging excessive amounts for gas transmission, thereby encouraging the generation of gas-fired electricity near the onshore terminals rather than near the demand for electricity. I realise that I have raised a wide range of issues, but they are all interlocking and crucial to consider before my hon. Friend and...
Alistair Darling: ...the companies, which will decide what to do with it. That is statable case, but there is an overarching, strategic view that the Government have to take on behalf of the people. No doubt it would find favour in most parts of the Committee if I said that companies might be encouraged to search for large fields under the new system, whereas they might have been less enthusiastic under the...
Alex Salmond: ...from Scotland, men from the Ministry or bureaucrats from Brussels. Surrounded by all those "dark forces", I must say that it is miraculous that his family firm has managed to survive. If he ever finds out who is running this shambles of a country with regulations that have inflicted so much disaster on companies in his constituency, he should tell the House. It is highly appropriate that...
Mr Jerry Wiggin: ...Although it appeared to be a good idea at the time, the failure to administer it in a universal and even-handed manner throughout the northern fishing countries has led to the mess in which we now find ourselves. The fact remains that, despite the figures given, our fishing stocks are still declining. Far from simply imposing the proposals, much more urgent and stricter measures will be...
Mr Philip Oppenheim: ...to deregulate only where burdens on industry and business are unreasonable and where the result of those burdens would be to reduce employment. If the hon. Gentleman looks at the record, he will find that, particularly with regard to construction sites, we have tightened up and are significantly tightening up regulations in many areas. Health and safety regulations are now, in almost all...