Results 161–180 of 2000 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Baroness Wilcox

Finance: Equity Markets — Question (23 Apr 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: As I have said and as I am happy to repeat, this is an independent report by Professor Kay. He is able to say what he likes on the whole of this subject and we look forward to what he recommends.

Finance: Equity Markets — Question (23 Apr 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: The noble Earl is quite right. We sell ourselves short if do not invest in the future and do not look at R&D. It is an important part of anyone's balance sheets, certainly in the FTSE 100, and I am happy to agree with him.

Education: Skills — Question (14 Mar 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: My Lords, the apprenticeships provisions within the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act are compatible with the Equality Act. Employers say that basic English and mathematics are essential for apprentices. The specification of apprenticeship standards for England sets out minimum requirements for apprenticeships. Key skills are being withdrawn as they are not fit for purpose...

Education: Skills — Question (14 Mar 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: The noble Lord is an expert on this subject and I think carefully about the answers that I give him. Yes, he had already given me sight of the Question he was going to ask. There is no evidence to suggest that the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act is not compliant with the Equality Act. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is a critical friend in order for us to be...

Education: Skills — Question (14 Mar 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: That is absolutely right, and that is why it is important for us to have functional skills, which are much more accessible to people with disabilities. I would be happy to talk to the noble Lord further on that matter.

Education: Skills — Question (14 Mar 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: I am very sorry to hear this. We have just commissioned Peter Little to carry out research and recommend improvements to the accessibility of these apprenticeships. In April we will publish his report and a plan setting out exactly what we will do to improve and to help the situation.

Education: Skills — Question (14 Mar 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: Thank you very much indeed. Yes, I will get a copy.

Economy: Growth — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: The Plan for Growth, published alongside the Budget in 2011, set out the Government's plan to put the United Kingdom on a path to sustainable long-term economic growth. We are creating the right conditions to enable growth, driven by investment and exports and more evenly balanced across the United Kingdom and sectors.

Economy: Growth — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: Yes, I agree with my noble friend. That is certainly not something that we want. The Government's primary objective is balanced growth across the United Kingdom. It is worth remembering that the United Kingdom is still one of the biggest economies in the world and that our combined strength has helped us to weather the recent economic turmoil.

Economy: Growth — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: Wales is certainly receiving all the attention that we can give it. Wales has its own way of behaving and of running itself, and that is how we think it should be. I would of course mention that we are to have the Silk commission on further devolution for Wales soon, and we shall be interested to see that next year.

Economy: Growth — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: I agree that Wales needs attention; that is why we are having this new piece of work done to find the very best way forward. I hope that by next year, the Silk commission will have come back with good suggestions for Wales.

Economy: Growth — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: My noble friend is very brave. As she will remember, the Government's plan for growth is to create the most competitive tax system in the G20, and that is the path we are on.

Economy: Growth — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: I am sorry that the noble Baroness thinks that we are doing absolutely nothing in the north-east, because we are very aware of areas such as the north-east which have had industries that have closed and all sorts of difficulties to contend with. That is why the national insurance holiday until 5 September 2013 has been announced; it is why the European regional development funds were...

Economy: Growth — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: It will not be. They are a wily lot up there in Scotland, and it is for the people of Scotland to decide their constitutional future. The Government strongly believe that Scotland is better off as part of the United Kingdom, and I do not think that I can do better than quote an English visitor in 1750, Mr Amyat, the King's chemist, who famously remarked: "Here I stand at what is called the...

Economy: Growth — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: The regional growth fund has been enormously successful. We are very proud of it, as we are about the number of people who have applied for it. I am sure that it is quite obvious to the noble Lord, as it is to me, that the reason for hesitation from some people is that there has to be due diligence on every bid put forward to make sure that we are not taking taxpayers' money and investing it...

Commonwealth Countries: Trade — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: UKTI has teams in 20 Commonwealth countries, which help British companies with business overseas and to partner with Commonwealth businesses. These 20 countries represent more than 98 per cent of the Commonwealth's GDP. In addition, Ministers and officials support the Commonwealth Business Council's events to encourage intra-Commonwealth trade and to promote the UK as a trading and investment...

Commonwealth Countries: Trade — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: A vigorous approach is being taken by this country to invest in economies wherever we find them. However, to answer the noble Lord's question, yes we are doing marvellous business with the Commonwealth and continue to do so. The developed markets of the Commonwealth represent very good opportunities for United Kingdom businesses. For example, our trade with India continues to rise: bilateral...

Commonwealth Countries: Trade — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: Yes, of course. Exports of goods from the UK to Australia-the example given by the noble Lord-were up by more than 30 per cent last year. We are certainly dealing with the European Union countries, as the noble Lord said, and with as many other countries as we can.

Commonwealth Countries: Trade — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: We follow very carefully what is happening in all the organisations. I have a list of organisations to do with the Commonwealth which many Members of this House either chair, have chaired or are part of. Certainly, Commonwealth countries also make excellent springboards into other countries, so we gain not just from the countries that are in the Commonwealth but from the countries that they...

Commonwealth Countries: Trade — Question (15 Feb 2012)

Baroness Wilcox: I would have to agree with my noble friend because she is a fine and proud Australian. As I have just said, exports of goods from the UK to Australia went up by more than 30 per cent last year, so I can only presume that the goods we are turning out are of excellent quality.


<< < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >>

Create an alert

Advanced search

Find this exact word or phrase

You can also do this from the main search box by putting exact words in quotes: like "cycling" or "hutton report"

By default, we show words related to your search term, like “cycle” and “cycles” in a search for cycling. Putting the word in quotes, like "cycling", will stop this.

Excluding these words

You can also do this from the main search box by putting a minus sign before words you don’t want: like hunting -fox

We also support a bunch of boolean search modifiers, like AND and NEAR, for precise searching.

Date range

to

You can give a start date, an end date, or both to restrict results to a particular date range. A missing end date implies the current date, and a missing start date implies the oldest date we have in the system. Dates can be entered in any format you wish, e.g. 3rd March 2007 or 17/10/1989

Person

Enter a name here to restrict results to contributions only by that person.

Section

Restrict results to a particular parliament or assembly that we cover (e.g. the Scottish Parliament), or a particular type of data within an institution, such as Commons Written Answers.

Column

If you know the actual Hansard column number of the information you are interested in (perhaps you’re looking up a paper reference), you can restrict results to that; you can also use column:123 in the main search box.