The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Tag: 1993

  • Mr Major’s Speech to Charter Mark Winners – 27 October 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s speech to the Charter Mark Winners Conference, held on 27th October 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Back to Basics: Public Services

    Three weeks ago, I spoke of the need to return to commonsense values: courtesy, neighbourliness, consideration for others, and individual responsibility.

    I meant what I said. It is time to stop feeling embarrassed about wanting to do right by other people; time to stop belittling those who believe that there is something more to life than self gratification. Time to encourage and reward people who look beyond self interest to acknowledge their responsibility to others.

    It is time to say, and to say clearly, that there are some people who devote their lives to public service. Not because it pays well, not because it is more secure, but because it is more fulfilling. For them, public service is a vocation.

    They are the unsung heroes, who work as long as it takes to get the work done, who go the extra mile, who put others before themselves. And let us just pause for a moment to remember what that can mean. Think of the tragic murder of PC Dunne. There was a man devoted to his job, determined to serve his community. Every day, people like him go about their duties in a similar spirit.

    The last thirty years have shown how much we need people like these.

    The Citizen’s Charter: Promoting a Better Society

    Last week I spoke of the importance I attach to businesses and the voluntary sector working in partnership to promote a sense of responsibility to others. I also said that exactly the principles lie behind what we were trying to achieve through the Charter.

    And today, at our 1993 Charter Mark Winners Conference, we see those principles working in practice. You carry the principles of public service forward into the 1990s.

    When I launched the Charter two years ago, I was inspired by two things. First a belief that we needed to put the customer first and make public service mean just that.

    Second, that there were many thousands of public servants who wanted to do just that.

    We’ve all got stories of individual teachers, nurses, social workers or police officers who have insisted on applying commonsense and first principles. The Charter seeks to extend choice, accountability and quality in public service. But it’s also a means to deliver what the public wants and needs – an efficient helpful and professional service.

    The Charter is turning the tide. And it is giving people in the public services a new belief in change – for the better. We talk about changing the culture of service provision. But I see it as a way of giving the lead to all those public servants who have always stuck to the basic principles: those people behind counters and desks who have never forgotten what it is like being on the other side. They are people who stick by the basic truth that public services should be run for the public who pay for them and for those who depend on them.

    But these people can only give of their best if they get the best leadership. That is up to you – the managers of our public service organisations. It is for you to capture the enthusiasm, to motivate your staff and inspire them with the value of public service – and to provide better and better service to the community.

    We have all had to battle against a great deal of cynicism about the public service and the Citizen’s Charter. Today I see 93 new examples to refute the cynics and I know there are many more. It’s easy to forget just what enormous changes we are seeing in the quality and standards of our public services.

    People who used to have to set aside 3 or 4 hours for a visit to a hospital outpatients clinic now find they are given timed appointments.

    Parents are told at least once a year exactly how their child is performing at school – and can look in the paper and compare the performance of that school with others in the locality.

    People asking for a visit from the gas, electricity, phone or water company, no longer have to give up a day from work but are given a morning or an afternoon appointment.

    And who would have believed two years ago that you could not book a driving test by ‘phone or pay with a credit card? Well, now you can.

    The Charter is raising standards. And it is raising people’s expectations too. People expect good complaints systems. They expect their letters or ‘phone calls to be answered promptly. They expect clear information. They expect the person behind the desk to have a name as well as a face. And that increasingly is what they are getting.

    So I want to issue an invitation to all the journalists here today. Don’t take my word for it. Go and visit some of these 93 winners and judge for yourself the success of the Citizen’s Charter.

    Winning a Charter Mark award is a significant achievement. For delivering the Citizen’s Charter requires team work – team work from top management down to junior staff. So please take back to everyone in your organisations my warmest congratulations.

    I would also like to praise the work of the 317 organisations whose applications were not successful. They too have made a great effort to improve service and to achieve Charter principles. They may not yet have attained the level required for the Charter Mark, but they are well on the way to doing so.

    Today the Charter Mark presents us with the opportunity to highlight the best of what is being achieved. It offers a chance to show by specific examples just what the Charter movement is about.

    Let me give you a few examples from today’s Charter Mark Award winners. East Gloucestershire NHS Trust has lowered waiting times, created better access for physically disabled people, and introduced early morning physiotherapy clinics, so that patients can choose to attend before work.

    Lewisham Direct Team promise their customers that if they fail to make the normal refuse collection, they will make a collection later that night if customers phone by 7.00pm.

    MANWEB now guarantees morning or afternoon appointments. In InterCity Anglia, passengers can call a travel check line which is updated hourly. And there are many more examples.

    If you look through the achievements of today’s Charter Mark winners, you will see the same messages again and again – waiting times down, response times quicker, customer satisfaction up, standards raised.

    The Citizen’s Charter is spreading throughout the British public service. But we’re not mean – we’re not keeping it to ourselves. We’re exporting it too. In just over a month’s time delegates from every continent will be gathering here to talk about the Citizen’s Charter and

    Service to the Citizen. The Americans have acknowledged how much the UK experience with the Citizen’s Charter has influenced their own reform programme – as the Vice President told William Waldegrave this only last week.

    But ultimately it is not by the world’s eyes that you are being judged but in the eyes of the people you serve.

    I have said that I want to encourage a move back to basics. Basic values, like consideration for others and individual responsibility. I would add the value of public service. I am proud of our privatisation programme, and there is more to do. But there will always be a role for the public sector and for public service: whether it is defending our country, nursing our sick, teaching our children or policing our streets. It is to reward the spirit of public service that the Charter Mark Awards were invented. You have proved to me that many people never moved away from those basic values.

    That is what matters. That is what you are delivering. That is what we are here today to celebrate. And now, by example. spread your message to others. My warmest congratulations to you all on winning the Charter Mark Award.

  • PMQT Written Answers – 27 October 1993

    Below is the text of the written answers relating to Prime Minister’s Question Time from 27th October 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Pensions

    Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Prime Minister what recent representations he has from the north west assembly of the Pensioners Liaison Forum about retirement pensions; what reply he is sending; and if he will make a statement.

    The Prime Minister : I have received a petition. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security will be arranging for a reply to be sent on my behalf.

  • PMQT Written Answers – 26 October 1993

    Below is the text of the written answers relating to Prime Minister’s Question Time from 26th October 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

     

    Overseas Journeys

    Mr. Roy Hughes : To ask the Prime Minister what has been the total cost to public funds of his journeys abroad since 9 April 1992.

    The Prime Minister : The cost to public funds of my journeys abroad since 9 April 1992 is estimated to be £1,979,000.

     

    Yasser Arafat

    Mr. Parry : To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to meet Mr. Yasser Arafat; and if he will make a statement.

    The Prime Minister : I hope to see Mr Arafat in London before the end of the year.

     

    Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

    Mr. Dunn : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Cyprus.

    The Prime Minister : With my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, I attended the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Cyprus from 21 to 25 October. The final communique of the meeting and accompanying documents have been placed in the Library of the House.

    The emphasis of the meeting was on the practical and constructive work of the Commonwealth. Agreement was reached on a range of important subjects. The “Limassol Statement on the Uruguay Round” expressed the Commonwealth’s strong collective commitment to a comprehensive, equitable and balanced conclusion of the round by 15 December 1993. Commonwealth Heads decided to send a mission of Ministers from Barbados, Canada, Ghana, Malaysia and Mauritius to call on the GATT Director General in Geneva, the European Commission in Brussels and selected capitals to press for urgent progress in the trade talks. Nothing will do more to promote growth and jobs for developed and developing countries alike. The meeting called for additional measures to reduce the debt burden of developing countries to sustainable levels and, in particular, for the full implementation of the Trinidad terms. These discussions confirmed me in the view that the neediest countries, with a trace record of economic reform, should be offered early and sufficient reduction on their whole stock of official debt. We will continue to press for this.

    I secured strong support for my proposal that Commonwealth countries should strengthen their co-operation in combating the international menace of financial crime. There was agreement to work towards implementation of the 40 recommendations of the financial action task force set up in 1989 at G7 initiative. The United Kingdom is the current chairman. This means that Commonwealth countries will seek to adopt best international practice in this area. Law and Finance Ministers are following up in detail. This will also help Commonwealth work on drug abuse and proceeds of illicit trafficking. I encouraged all Commonwealth Governments not yet party to the relevant 1988 United Nations convention to do so as soon as possible and put in place enforcement mechanisms.

    We agreed that the Commonwealth observer mission to South Africa was making an important contribution towards helping to stem the violence and should remain there until after the election next year. We also agreed that a Commonwealth group should observe the elections as part of a wider international presence to build confidence in the electoral process. We looked forward to welcoming South Africa back into the Commonwealth at the earliest possible opportunity after democratic elections, if South Africa decides to reapply for membership. In lifting all economic sanctions still in place, we endorsed the appeals by President de Klerk and Dr. Nelson Mandela for foreign investment in, and increased trade with, South Africa to help overcome the social and economic legacy of apartheid.

    The 1991 Harare declaration on good governance has proved its worth. Since 1991, five out of the nine Commonwealth members without democratic government then have held multi-party elections. The Commonwealth has sent observer missions to each of these countries and has provided technical assistance to help the process. Much work on fundamental political values remains to be done. We recognised that in this field the Commonwealth has its particular vocation. We mandated the Secretary-General to give it a high priority. In this context, the meeting considered Cameroon’s application for Commonwealth membership. It agreed to welcome Cameroon to membership at our next meeting in 1995, on the condition that current efforts to establish a democratic system, consistent with the Harare Commonwealth declaration, were by then completed.

    The meeting discussed a wide range of international political matters, including Bosnia and the Cyprus problem, and agreed that the Commonwealth action group on Cyprus should continue to monitor developments.

    Commonwealth Heads accepted with pleasure the Canadian invitation extended to all governments to participate in the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia during 18 to 28 August 1994.

    Commonwealth Heads also accepted with pleasure New Zealand’s invitation to them to hold the next meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1995.

     

    Lockerbie Bombing

    Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Prime Minister if he will obtain for the library of No. 10 Downing street a copy of the book, the details of which have been supplied to him, relating to the loss of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie.

    The Prime Minister [holding answer 19 October 1993]: No. A copy is already available in the Treasury library.

     

    Mr. Patrick Doyle

    Mr. Dobson : To ask the Prime Minister if he will publish a list of all meetings held and correspondence exchanged in the past 10 years between his Office and Mr. Patrick Doyle, now of AST Training; what was the nature of such meetings or correspondence; what plans he has to meet Mr. Patrick Doyle; and if he will make a statement.

    The Prime Minister [holding answer 22 October 1993] : I am unaware of any such contacts and have no plans to meet Mr. Doyle.

     

  • PMQT – 26 October 1993

    Below is the text of Prime Minister’s Question Time from 26th October 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

     

    Engagements

    Q1. Mr. Meale : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 26 October.

    The Prime Minister (Mr. John Major) : This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.

    Mr. Meale : In relation to the Bilsthorpe colliery disaster, in the light of new photographic evidence which refutes the report of the health and safety inspectorate into that disaster, will the Prime Minister now agree to a full public inquiry, as soon as possible, that is open to the public so that we can get over the whole of this nonsense which shows the difficulties that are hitting the coalfield communities of Britain?

    Mr. Major : I have not seen the photographic evidence to which the hon. Gentleman refers. I will certainly look at that photographic evidence and examine it. I believe that there has been a substantial inquiry. None the less, I will examine it and be in touch with the hon. Gentleman.

    Mr. Butcher : Does my right hon. Friend agree that one of the major impediments to reducing unemployment across Europe is high wage costs–not to be confused with high wages? We must continually draw a distinction between the high cost of employment loaded on top of paying high wages. Will he continue his efforts diplomatically within Europe to ensure that we in Britain win the argument that there is no contradiction between paying people high wages and seeking to reduce the costs of employing people generally?

    Mr. Major : I agree with my hon. Friend about that. I believe that that view is increasingly being taken by Governments and by employers right the way across western Europe and elsewhere. There is no doubt that the higher the sum total of costs, the larger the resultant level of unemployment will be both in Europe and elsewhere. At present, there are 18 million citizens unemployed across Europe. Estimates are that in Europe as a whole that may be 20 million in a year or so. We all need to look to see how we can get those costs down and people back in work.

    Mr. John Smith : I am sure that the Prime Minister is well aware of the revulsion and outrage felt throughout the whole of the nation when it learned of the appalling tragedy of Saturday’s bombing in Belfast. The violent and horrific aftermath, which has cost even more lives today, can only deepen and reinforce those feelings. Is it not absolutely clear that the response that the House of Commons must give to those who seek to impose their will by the bomb or the bullet is that they will not succeed in undermining this nation’s total commitment to the democratic process?

    Mr. Major : I am grateful to the Leader of the Opposition for making that clear. The whole House will agree with him in those sentiments, as I do without reservation. The perpetrators of sectarian violence have committed cold-blooded and premeditated murder. Let me say to the House that they will be hunted down and they will be subject to the full severity of the law. That applies equally to those responsible for the outrage in the Shankill road and to those responsible for the murders in west Belfast just a few hours ago. Such murders will have one effect and one effect only : they will deepen the bloodshed through revenge killings, and there will be more deaths, more misery and more years before Northern Ireland can return to the peaceful democratic future that everyone in the House wishes to see it have.

     

    Q2. Mr. Bellingham : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 26 October.

    The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave a few moments ago.

    Mr. Bellingham : Is the Prime Minister aware that many Conservative Members were extremely pleased that he raised the question of the general agreement on tariffs and trade during the recent Cyprus summit? Will he find time today to contact the French members of the European Commission and tell them to spend less time worrying about creating a federal Europe and more time trying to persuade their Government to sign up to GATT?

    The Prime Minister : We had a substantial discussion on the Uruguay round at the Heads of Government meeting in Cyprus over the past few days. What was striking about it was that with some 50 countries there–some large and some small, some agricultural and some industrial–from every part of the globe, there was total unanimity on the desirability of agreement in the trade talks, and agreement by 15 December this year. We agreed at the summit to dispatch a small mission of Ministers from countries in different parts of the Commonwealth to call in on a number of capitals and make it clear how important we consider the trade talks to be.

    Mr. Ashdown : The Prime Minister will know that he has the backing of those in all parts of the House in his call for restraint to break the vicious cycle of tragedy and violence in Northern Ireland. He is right in saying that no British Government should ever be prepared to speak to those who will not abandon the bullet and the bomb. But does not effective action against terrorism also depend on the proper co-ordination of intelligence? Does the Prime Minister recognise that confusion between intelligence gatherers in Northern Ireland, and the fact that there are two lead agencies, on the mainland and in Northern Ireland, may lead–as it has in the past–to rivalry and squabbling, which undermine the battle against terrorism? Will the Prime Minister address that matter?

    The Prime Minister : We keep our counter-terrorist arrangements under very close review. The Security Service now devotes around 40 per cent. of its total effort specifically to countering Irish terrorism. There have been considerable successes, although it is in the nature of these matters that the successes are not often public, whereas the failures are all too public.

    I have looked at the question again in recent months, and I must say to the right hon. Gentleman that I am not persuaded that the creation of a new single national authority would of itself enhance the fight against terrorism. There is, I think, a danger that it would add yet another link in the chain of command. But I assure the right hon. Gentleman that I consider the effectiveness of our counter-intelligence to be vital and keep it constantly under review.

     

    Q3. Mr. French : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 26 October.

    The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. French : Does my right hon. Friend agree that police officers should not be hampered in their fight against crime by the burden of excessive bureaucracy and paperwork? Will he join me in congratulating the Home Secretary on his announcement that the amount of form filling will be seriously cut?

    The Prime Minister : I can agree not only with my hon. Friend and my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary, but with the recommendations of the Sheehy report in this respect. Like all right hon. and hon. Members, I want to see police officers fighting crime on the streets, not dealing with paperwork in their offices. My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary last week accepted proposals which, once fully implemented, will cut paperwork in half. They will also put something like 2,300 policemen back on the streets, where all of us wish to see them.

    Mr. Donohoe : Will the Prime Minister explain why the Government are this week to announce the winding up of the development corporation in my constituency, at a cost of £16.5 million, given that we have had announcements of some 700 job losses at Jetstream in Prestwick this month and of some 320 job losses in my constituency today? What logic is there behind the Government’s decision?

    The Prime Minister : The hon. Gentleman will know that, uniquely in western Europe at the moment, we are now in a position where unemployment has stabilised and is gently beginning to fall. In case the hon. Gentleman has not noticed, unemployment has fallen in six of the last eight months, by a total of 84,000. It is falling against a trend of rising unemployment elsewhere across the European Community and it is now below the European average, despite the predictions of some Opposition Members some months ago. The hon. Gentleman might have addressed the reality of what is happening for once.

     

    Fishing Industry

    Q4. Mr. Steen : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make an official visit to Brixham, south Devon, to discuss the future of the fishing and shellfish industry.

    The Prime Minister : I have no immediate plans to do so. However, my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has made widespread visits to ports, including Brixham, to consult fishermen.

    Mr. Steen : The people of Brixham are well aware of the Government’s commitment to the west country, what with assisted area status for Torbay and an application to the European fund for 5b status for Brixham. But when my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister comes to Brixham, will he meet fishermen and assure them that he will not be pushed around by the Portuguese or Spanish, who want to seize our fishing stock and want more fish from our sovereign waters? Will he tell fishermen that he will not introduce a conservation measure until other European countries have similar conservation measures and until their policing of them is as good as ours? Finally, will he take a cup of tea at the Melville hotel so that he hear from Brixham’s hoteliers that if he reduced rules and regulations on the hotel industry it would do more for tourism than anything else?

    The Prime Minister : I will look forward not only to a cup of tea but, I suspect, something stronger by the time we have dealt with that agenda. I recognise the industry’s concern about access for Spanish and Portuguese vessels. The Commission’s proposals for rules from 1996 have now been announced, and we have made it clear that they must not lead to an increase in fishing effort. I attach great importance to strict observance of Community rules, including quotas. We therefore welcome the control regulations, which will help to ensure consistent enforcement. One of the areas of the Maastricht treaty perhaps not generally recognised by everyone is that it now gives greater power to ensure that everyone across the Community obeys Community regulations and can face substantial fines if they do not do so. [Interruption.] Hon. Members below the Gangway may scoff. They simply prove, as I have always suspected, that they have never read or understood the Maastricht treaty.

    Madam Speaker : I now call Mr. Jim Marshall : it is a closed question.

    Mr. Jim Marshall : Does the Prime Minister recall the speech that the right hon. Member for City of London and Westminster, South (Mr. Brooke) made on 9 November 1990, in which he said that the British Government have no selfish strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland

    Madam Speaker : Order. I indicated to the hon. Gentleman that it is a closed question. It deals with Brixham, south Devon and the fishing industry. We must move on to Mr. David Sumberg.

     

    Engagements

    Q5. Mr. Sumberg : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 26 October.

    The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Sumberg : Is my right hon. Friend aware of a proposal by the Department of Transport to build a new six-lane motorway adjacent to the existing eight-lane M62, which cuts through my constituency? This proposal would involve the demolition of more than 350 homes. It is creating widespread housing and planning blight and is regarded by me and the whole community as an environmental disaster. Will my right hon. Friend tell the Department of Transport to withdraw the proposals forthwith?

    The Prime Minister : I understand the concerns expressed by my hon. Friend and I know how vigorous he has been in expressing them on behalf of his constituents. I can undertake that the Department of Transport will take into account the views that have been expressed to me by my hon. Friend, and those of his constituents.

     

    Q7. Sir John Hannam : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 26 October.

    The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Sir John Hannam : Given my right hon. Friend’s support and commitment to the people of the south-west, can he give any encouragement to our wish to see a slowing down in the programme of implementation of EC water directives and a lowering of future water charges for the hard- pressed people of Devon and Cornwall?

    The Prime Minister : As I think my hon. Friend knows, we are seeing what scope there is to apply the directives more flexibly and to minimise the cost that would otherwise fall on the water user in the south-west. We are therefore inviting our Community partners to re-examine priorities in the detailed implementation of the urban waste water treatment directive and also to consider whether the timetable for meeting the obligations is consistent with the current economic conditions in the Community. There is no quick or simple answer to this matter, but I can assure my hon. Friend that we are continuing to explore all avenues to try to minimise the costs that would otherwise arise.

     

    Q8. Mr. Boyce : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 26 October.

    The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Boyce : The Prime Minister talks about a recovery being under way, led by this country. How can he tell us that we must face reality when, in reality, jobs are haemorrhaging in our constituencies every day? The Prime Minister is aware that a steel works is to close in my constituency, with the loss of 260 jobs carried out by the most flexible operatives in the country, if not the world. What words of comfort has the Prime Minister for those people who have been thrown on the scrap heap?

    The Prime Minister : The hon. Gentleman needs to understand that unemployment is falling in this country, whereas it is not falling in other countries. Unemployment fell last month among both men and women in every region and in every part of the country. That month’s decrease confirms the underlying strength of the economy. As the hon. Gentleman perhaps does not know, long-term unemployment has fallen over the last six months ; long- term unemployment over longer periods has fallen ; vacancies have risen ; and the work force in employment have also risen. There is still a long way to go to get unemployment at the levels we would wish to see, but those Opposition Members who were keen to forecast 3.5 million unemployment just a few months ago had better stand up and admit now that it is under 3 million and falling.

  • PMQT Written Answers – 25 October 1993

    Below is the text of the written answers relating to Prime Minister’s Question Time from 25th October 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

     

    Parliamentary Questions

    Mr. Tyler : To ask the Prime Minister who is responsible for deciding the maximum permissible cost of answering a written parliamentary question; if that cost is different for different Departments; and how often that amount is reviewed.

    Mr. Newton : I have been asked to reply.

    If an answer to any written question is likely to cost more than £450 – the current cost threshold, calculated by the Treasury – the answering Minister will decide whether to refuse to answer on the ground of disproportionate cost, or whether to answer it whole or in part regardless of cost. This threshold, which applies to all Departments, is reviewed annually.

     

    Cabinet Committees

    Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Prime Minister when he next proposes to issue the list of ministerial committees of the Cabinet.

    Mr. Newton : I have been asked to reply.

    An updated list of the ministerial committees of the Cabinet, with their terms of reference and membership, will be published shortly.

     

    Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill

    Mr. McMaster : To ask the Prime Minister what meetings the Minister for Social Security and Disabled People has had with the sponsors of the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill and representatives of the all-party disablement group in the House about the Government’s response to the Bill and their alternative proposals since the Prime Minister’s meeting with the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris) and supporters of his Bill on 23 February; what was the date and duration of each meeting; and if he will publish the papers tabled for discussion at the meetings.

    Mr. Newton : I have been asked to reply.

    There have been two meetings, on 25 March and 17 May, each lasting about an hour. No papers were tabled at either meeting.

     

    Child Migrant Scheme

    Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Prime Minister if he will consider moving total responsibility for funding the Child Migrant Trust from the Department of Health in such a way as to ensure that the various Departments with present or previous responsibility for the child migrant scheme contribute towards to the cost of the trust’s work.

    Mr. Newton : I have been asked to reply.

    Responsibility for child welfare transferred in 1971 from the Home Office to the Department of Health and the territorial Departments. We can see no advantage in changing the Government’s responsibilities for funding this kind of activity in the way suggested.

     

    Official Hospitality

    Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Prime Minister how much was spent on official hospitality in his Department in the financial year 1992-93.

    Mr. Newton [holding answer 20 October 1993] : I have been asked to reply.

    The expenditure by the Office of my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, on official hospitality in the financial year 1992-93 was £30,023. This is a reduction of £10,953 or 27 per cent. compared with 1991-92.

  • PMQT – 21 October 1993

    Below is the text of Prime Minister’s Question Time from 21st October 1993. Tony Newton responded on behalf of John Major.

    PRIME MINISTER:

     

    Engagements

    Q1. Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 21 October.

    The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Tony Newton) : I have been asked to reply.

    My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Cyprus.

    Mr. Hinchliffe : Bearing in mind that deregulation will be the central plank of Government policy in the new Session of Parliament, will the Leader of the House comment on the case of my constituent Mr. Raymond Townend, who was killed while working on a resurfacing project on the M62 when he was knocked over by a lorry earlier this year? Is the Leader of the House as surprised as I was to learn that the lorry which reversed over Mr. Townend was not required by law to have reversing lights, to have a reversing alarm or to have the manoeuvre supervised by a person other than the driver? Can the Leader of the House understand why Mr. Townend’s widow and four children are less than impressed by the Government’s theme of deregulation and want more regulation to avoid such tragedies in future?

    Mr. Newton : I am sure, first of all, that the whole House will recognise the seriousness with which the hon. Gentleman has made that point, and will understand why he felt it right to raise it, in view of what happened to his constituent, and we extend our sympathy. While he is right to say–and I believe that the Government are right–that the Government are to make deregulation a central plank of their policies for the period ahead, there is no question whatever of that policy extending to the removal or reversal of necessary protection for the safety of people.

    Mrs. Angela Knight : Does my right hon. Friend agree with me that, if young thugs are old enough to break into homes and punch pensioners, they are old enough to be locked up?

    Mr. Newton : I very much agree with my hon. Friend. My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary’s proposals in that respect have drawn support from all round the country. As the House will be aware, he has announced plans for secure units for 12 to 14-year-old persistent offenders and to increase the possible maximum sentence for 15-year-old offenders. I repeat, as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has repeated, that we put the protection of the public first.

    Mrs. Beckett : Does the Lord President accept that national insurance contributions are a tax on income–yes or no?

    Mr. Newton : National insurance contributions, as the right hon. Lady, who is a former social security spokesman, knows perfectly well, are part of the national insurance scheme which relates to the entitlement of benefits established by the Labour Government in 1948.

    Mrs. Beckett : Is the Lord President denying that national insurance contributions are a tax on income, yes or no?

    Mr. Newton : National insurance contributions are the means by which people obtain entitlement to certain benefits, including, most notably, retirement pensions. The level of contributions is related to the demands on the fund, and the demands on the fund include the Government’s policies to increase pensions in the way that we have over the past few years.

    Mrs. Beckett : Is not it a fact that there is no effective difference between a 1p in the pound increase in income tax and a 1p in the pound increase in national insurance contributions when it comes to the effect on the pay packet? Next April, the Government, and all those now making a noise from the Government Back Benches who voted for it, are putting up both taxes on income and spending and do not have the guts to admit it.

    Mr. Newton : There is a clear difference, which the right hon. Lady has obviously missed in what I have already said : national insurance contributions are related to the provision of an entitlement at a later stage. I shall say to her–and she knows it very well–that there would have been a whole lot less difference if the policies advocated by the Opposition Front Bench at the last election had been put into force and the upper earnings limit had been scrapped, because then it would have been the same as income tax.

    Mr. Shersby : Will my right hon. Friend join me in extending the sympathy of the whole House to the family of police constable Patrick Dunne, who lost his life last night defending the lives of the people of London? Will he discuss with my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary ways in which the Metropolitan police, and indeed every other police force in this country, can be made more secure in carrying out their difficult and dangerous job? Does he agree that every police officer in this country does not have a job for life, but they frequently give their life for the job?

    Mr. Newton : The reaction of the whole House will show that everybody heard with deep regret of the death of police constable Dunne in south London last night. Everybody will share my hon. Friend’s outrage that a community constable should be shot dead in that fashion while going about his duty in a way that we take for granted. My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary, who, happily, is close to me at this moment, will have heard what my hon. Friend said and will wish to respond appropriately.

    As my hon. Friend knows, a large number of measures have already been set out by my right hon. and learned Friend, which have been warmly welcomed by the chairman of the Police Federation as being exactly on the right lines to improve the fight against crime. The House will also be pleased to know that I understand that three arrests have been made in connection with that crime.

     

    Q2. Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 21 October.

    Mr. Newton : I have been asked to reply.

    I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Jones : The Lord President will recall the answer that the Prime Minister gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Warley, West (Mr. Spellar) on Tuesday. Therefore, will he tell the House what particular cheese and wine party it was at which Asil Nadir gave £440,000 to the Tory party, and will he explain how much cheese and wine it will take to account for the £70 million missing from Tory party funds?

    Mr. Newton : I do not know that I am expert on all the guest lists for wine and cheese parties. It may be that, at this very moment, in Cyprus, Mr. Nadir is having lunch with Mr. Costa, the benefactor of the previous leader of the Labour party.

     

    Q3. Mr. Evennett : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 21 October.

    Mr. Newton : I have been asked to reply.

    I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Evennett : Will my right hon. Friend condemn those who were responsible for the violence in south-east London last Saturday at the anti -British National party march, and express sympathy to those who were injured and those who had property damaged as a result of that violence? Will he join me in congratulating the police on the magnificent job that they did on that occasion, and urge my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary to consider the whole issue of the BNP in Welling and see what can be done about it?

    Mr. Newton : Again, the House will understand why my hon. Friend raises a point of such concern in his constituency and I have a great deal of sympathy with what he said. All of us would want to deplore the violence that marred the march last Saturday just as much as we would want to deplore the policies of the British National party. With regard to the BNP headquarters, I know that my hon. Friend is well aware of the difficulties in relation to planning law. I cannot say much more about that except that I understand that Bexley council is meeting to consider the matter further tonight.

    Dr. Wright : Has the Leader of the House seen the statement this week from the heads of all the royal medical colleges in which they say that, because of the Government’s market reforms to the health service, urgent cases are being denied treatment and that the patients of fund holders are being given priority over those with clinical need? Does he understand that my constituents are being denied treatment at the Good Hope hospital because all routine admissions have been stopped except for those from GP fund holders? Is not that a disgrace? Is not that a two-tier health service? What will the Government do about it?

    Mr. Newton : I do not accept the hon. Gentleman’s suggestions. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health, in conjunction with the Joint Consultants Committee, has issued advice about the way in which emergency cases should be given priority, which does not fit with what the hon. Gentleman has said. The NHS reforms are producing a large and substantial increase in activity in the health service and in the number of patients treated, and are reducing the number of those waiting a long time for treatment. They are successful and they will be made more successful.

     

    Q4. Mr. Jenkin : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 21 October.

    Mr. Newton : I have been asked to reply.

    I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Jenkin : Can my right hon. Friend explain why some people seem to see a lurch to the right? Could it be that they keep hearing good news about the economy, such as car production up 15 per cent. in September, retail sales up in September, unemployment down in September, rising confidence in manufacturing industry and, if I may say so, 60 new jobs at Trebor Bassett in my constituency?

    Mr. Newton : As my hon. Friend’s constituency is next to mine and I live only about half a mile away from it, I welcome his last point. I hope that some of the jobs may spread across the border. I also agree entirely that the House will be pleased at the increasing flow of good economic news, particularly that to which he referred–the rise in car production, the rise in retail sales and the fact that unemployment has once again fallen.

     

    Q5. Mr. Cohen : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 21 October.

    Mr. Newton : I have been asked to reply.

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago. Several hon. Members Is it Harry? [Interruption.]

    Mr. Cohen : Thank you for that warm welcome.

    Madam Speaker : Order. I certainly recognise the hon. Gentleman and so does the entire House.

    Mr. Cohen : Thank you for those kind words, Madam Speaker. Are the Government again to cut the money for London Underground? They have already killed the management’s 10-year decently modern metro plan. Why are Londoners expected to pay more for a declining third-rate service? Under the Tories, is not the London underground going down the tube?

    Mr. Newton : As I think those on both sides of the House know very well, the amount of investment in the public transport infrastructure, rail and other, that has been advanced in recent years under what the hon. Gentleman chooses to call this Tory Government, has been at high, indeed record, levels. I am sure that we shall continue to maintain all possible investment, while taking account, obviously, of other requirements as well.

     

    Q6. Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Thursday 21 October.

    Mr. Newton : I have been asked to reply.

    I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Shaw : My right hon. Friend will recall that four years ago the IRA carried out a terrible crime in my constituency, at the Royal Marines school of music in Deal. Eleven people were killed and many more were seriously injured. I met some of them, and saw in my constituency on Saturday someone who is still suffering seriously from his injuries. The people of Deal dearly love the Royal Marines school of music and hope that it will stay there for many years to come. Can my right hon. Friend assure the House that in any review of marine and military bands, every effort will be made to create a combined military services school of music at Deal, so that we may demonstrate to the world that the IRA will never succeed in its dastardly crimes?

    Mr. Newton : I am sure that the House will understand if once again- -and this has happened several times this afternoon–I simply acknowledge why my hon. Friend felt it necessary to make that important point on behalf of his constituents and, almost as if I were answering business questions, to undertake to draw his remarks to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.

  • Mr Major’s Speech to the Percent Club – 19 October 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s speech to the Percent Club in London on Tuesday 19th October 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Mr Chairman, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen. Not since the heyday of the Two Ronnies have I seen the Humphrey and John show equalled. I am not sure whether it is going to become an institutional part of this particular occasion but I rather suspect that it well might.

    I am delighted to have the opportunity of being here today. It is around two years now since I last spoke on volunteering to business in the community. They have not, I know, been an easy two years for business. And yet despite that, despite the difficulties self-evident and not needed to be spelt out, many businesses, many present tonight have still increased their support for voluntary activity. I believe that is a very great tribute to your commitment and I want to thank you sincerely for it. It illustrates at the outset that I need not spend my time this evening seeking to persuade this audience that business should support the voluntary sector, indeed that is the very fibre and being of the Percent Club.

    A week or so ago in another place I said that over the last 30 years or so we have been in danger of losing sight of some old fundamental truths. I stand by every bit of that, I believe that very strongly, and I want to see us reassert those old instinctive values, refresh them and place them precisely where I believe they belong, at the very heart of our national character. And they are there to reawaken, because as I said also at the time, all across the country, decency, neighbourliness, consideration for others, remains there in abundance. And nowhere perhaps is that truer than in the voluntary world. About one million people are involved in managing voluntary activities. About one half of all the adults in this country take some part in organised voluntary work. Some three in four lend a helping hand to friends and neighbours, and literally millions upon millions of people have benefited from that help year after year after year.

    They are people we all know, old people who cannot get about, who depend on volunteers to do the shopping, provide a meal or give them a night out. Children at risk of violence or abuse who have been helped by Childline or by the NSPCC. Desperate people who need someone to talk to who perhaps have phoned the Samaritans or been sheltered by the Salvation Army. Victims of crime who have found comfort and help from Victim Support. Or those perhaps whose last months of life have been spent in the warmth and comfort of a local hospice.

    To the lives of each and every person touched by that form of voluntary endeavour, the work of that silent army of volunteers makes a huge difference to their quality of life. And I believe myself that the fact that that help is voluntary, not provided by state servants, adds an extra dimension of affection to the People who receive that help and who often are in bad need of affection.

    Day after day the national news brings its tales of selfishness, violence and hooliganism. But if you strip that to one side and you look at what actually happens in our communities. look at any local paper and you will find People, young and old, doing what they have always done, fund raising, volunteering, helping their neighbours and doing so on a scale myself that I believe is greater than ever before. And that is the real face of Britain, the face of Britain that is so rarely paraded for public acknowledgement, but ought to be, regularly, as an example to everyone.

    There is nothing new or odd about that help by those millions of people, and there is nothing new about business being involved either. The roots of the Percent Club go right back to the great industrial philanthropists of the 19th century, Rowntree, Cadbury, the Wedgwoods, many others, People who believe just as much in the moral and social role of commerce as they did in profits and in markets. And that is the acceptable face of capitalism, responsible capitalism.

    Those of you who are here today prove that modern business leaders have precisely the same vision in the 20th century that their forebears had so many years before. You are at the forefront of British industry’s huge contribution to the wider community. You are here this evening, but of course there are thousands more like you in each and every part of Britain.

    And what do we want to see? I believe that all of us want to see even more businesses widening the scope of their contribution to the community, not just in giving to charities, important of course though that is, but also in seconding staff to voluntary bodies and getting involved directly in voluntary work. I believe that business experience, business skills, can and should enrich nearly every aspect of society. And that is why we set up new bodies to harness the energies and skills of local businessmen and others – training and enterprise councils, local enterprise agencies, grant maintained schools, a national health service trust amongst others – they offer new challenges and new opportunities for businesses to make a direct contribution and to raise their profile locally.

    In schools for example, one of many examples one could provide, the voice of business, of experience, of practical knowledge, can make a. vital difference to the success of the City Technology College initiative, it has done in many parts of the country. A good businessman on the governing body can get the very best out of a school’s resources and he, that businessman, will know better than anyone else what work experience and skills the future job seekers are going to need. And so he uses his skills not just to enrich his company, but to enrich his community and by that I believe we all benefit.

    The last decade has been a remarkable decade but amongst the many things that are so often trotted out when one looks back through that tunnel of a remarkable 10 years, what people I believe so often overlook is the remarkable sea-change in people’s perception of private capitalism and enterprise. It was a decade of massive growth in sponsorship, sponsorship by business of the arts, of sport, of individuals, of charities, and of voluntary activities.

    More businesses now accept they have a broader responsibility to the wider community and not just to shareholders and customers. And not only do they accept it, they are increasingly ready to act upon it and speak about it and that is very refreshing indeed.

    And as a result private enterprise attracts nothing like the venom and nastiness that once it did. Today most people will recognise and acknowledge that profitable business is the foundation stone of a free and healthy society, they are increasingly aware of the contribution business makes through sponsorship and direct involvement in voluntary activities. And attitudes have changed also towards voluntary work.

    A decade ago there was a malign and malicious argument, and it went broadly like this, it was an argument that many people advanced. It was the argument that many people still saw the existence of a voluntary sector as a challenge and as a reproach to the state. I believe that was an absurd proposition. However well, however caring, however much the richest and best organised state can provide, there will always be more that can be provided by the voluntary sector. And it is not just good for the people who receive those services through that activity, I believe it is also deeply rewarding for the people who actually provide those services as well.

    The principle of service is a good principle and in every aspect of life we should encourage Parents want a more responsible society, a less selfish society, and they look to us, government and business working together, to work in partnership to try and promote that attitude. People reject the notion that we can be pigeonholed – commercial sector, public sector, voluntary sector, individuals – they are fed up with us shouting at each other from distant hilltops. Experience tells us that John Dunne was right, “No man is an island”, indeed not, but to men add businesses, government, voluntary agencies, they are not islands either and neither should they be, not islands but taking the opportunity wherever they can to work together for the common good.

    And of course voluntary effort does not stand alone, it cannot be divorced from other aspects of life. An ability to look beyond narrow self-interest is fundamental to a healthy society, it lies behind the ideals of public service that the Citizen’s Charter promotes and it is fundamental to each and every business that wants to keep its workforce loyal, innovative and alert to the needs of their customers. And as you yourself have argued in the Percent Club, for businesses ethical values are not just a passing fashion, they are a long term recipe for success.

    So let me say a word or two about what we in government are doing to promote volunteering and announce perhaps one or two new initiatives. Over the past 14 years the government has transformed the climate in which the voluntary sector operates. Our direct support for charities amounts to nearly half a billion a year, an increase of some 150 percent even allowing for the impact of inflation. We have established a new legal framework for charities to give the public confidence in their management and in their accountability and we have increased incentives through the inheritance, income and corporation tax systems for people and businesses alike to increase giving to charities … behind the tax concessions that we have made to the voluntary sector, I was responsible for some of them. I saw a recent report that suggested that some of them might be withdrawn. Well there are many things that I might say about that proposal, though this is after all a charitable occasion. So let me say simply this. It is the privilege of everyone to submit reports to government departments, but it is the right of government Ministers to reject those reports. And this Prime Minister does precisely that, I want to make absolutely clear that tax relief for charitable giving is here to stay in the long term and not just in the short term.

    Giving to charity of course is one thing, volunteering time to help others is equally important. I said earlier this year that I wanted to see wider and more explicit recognition for volunteers in future Honours Lists. You will see the first results of that in the New Year’s Honours List on 1 January. The formal review of the number of honours is nearly complete and I will announce the outcome very shortly. But I can tell you now that within the existing lists I plan to recommend more than double the number of awards that recognise voluntary service in all its forms from around 150 in the recent past to over 300 in the future. And on that basis many more people who have devoted their life to voluntary service for others will have their work recognised by the award of an honour.

    Now to achieve that does of course require a fine flow of nominations, I asked for them earlier this year and I am delighted that the new nomination forms I introduced are proving a great success. So far, and it is not very long for this to have happened in, so far around 8,000 nominations have already been received, very many for voluntary service. Some of those will be awarded honours in the New Year List and others in future lists.

    Mr Chairman, we are also asking public services to take a far more positive attitude to involving volunteers. Recently, for example, Michael Howard announced a new drive to recruit an extra 10,000 more special constables, volunteers who work as policemen in their spare time. They should not be derided as second-class policemen, they should be praised as first-class citizens. And we are looking too for new parish constables and because we recognise the value of voluntary work to unemployed people we have made it easier for them to take on voluntary commitments.

    Volunteers give a range of support in a vast range of areas. In the Health Service 60,000 volunteers have been recruited under the Department of Health opportunity for volunteering scheme; a further 60,000 work on over 2,000 conservation projects across the nation; and there are 2,000 or so volunteers abroad in support of development projects. Thousands more work in social service.

    Doubtless more could be done and I hope that those who manage those services will set explicit targets to increase the involvement of volunteers.

    We want also to work in partnership with other bodies that support volunteering. All the evidence points to the fact that if you give or help when you are young then you will continue to give or help right the way through your active life.

    Take for example the Prince’s Trust. It does superb work with volunteers. 2,000 young people a year already take part in the Trust’s community programmes. They now want to expand that to take 25,000 volunteers a year within 3 years, 25,000 young people undertaking a vast range of projects within the community from helping in residential care homes to working with children, And the Trust have asked us to help them by encouraging more secondments of public sector staff with the skills and with the enthusiasm to support or lead the Prince’s Trust teams. Already departments are helping, among them the Home Office, the Department of Employment and the Ministry of Defence, and Michael Howard will be meeting the Prince’s Trust next week to offer further support and I strongly commend the scheme to you as well.

    Furthermore, we want to strip away some of the unnecessary obstacles that stand in the way of voluntary work. That means in this instance deregulation. When you have to obtain more than 10 different licences or permits just to run the village hail, when you spend more time sending off environmental health officers, social workers, fire officers, than giving the service you want to give then no wonder many people wonder whether it is worthwhile seeking to help, they give their time for free and they do not expect to see it wasted by unnecessary bureaucratic demands.

    So we have set up a special deregulation force, a force to look specifically at the burdens placed on the voluntary sector, it is no holds barred, it is right across the whole spectrum of regulation. I have asked that task force to report around Christmas and it has already identified 50 areas where there is potential for reform. If you have not yet been approached by them, approach them. If you have been approached and you have not told them what you think then please do so. But this will not be just one more piece of Whitehall paper, it is intended to lead to real action to assist the voluntary sector and to do so soon.

    Finally, let me add a further point. I said earlier this year that we should use the resources and power of government, not to replace voluntary activity on the ground, but to make it more visible both to would-be volunteers and also to people who need the support and help that volunteers are willing to give. We can give that volunteering publicity, we can help spread ideas, we can provide a point of focus, we can ease access and widen participation and you too can help by publicising the work your companies already do in the community.

    Today as a first step I can announce a new initiative to encourage more people to put themselves forward for voluntary work, we are launching an award scheme to recognise the best of the many excellent voluntary projects that exist around the country, local groups, local partnerships, all will be able to bid for grants for projects which will make a difference in the local community by increasing the scale and impact of voluntary effort. We will present the first awards next summer, any voluntary group will be eligible regardless of whether or not they already receive government support. And the proposals we have in mind have this purpose, the purpose is to help in some way to unlock voluntary effort and to link those who want to give help to those who need the help. And we will be looking for projects which genuinely add to those that are already available, not ones which replicate or replace good things that are already happening.

    So what sort of projects do I have in mind? The sort of things I have in mind might be setting up new or improved databases for volunteering opportunities, information points or campaigns targeted at particular groups, the young, older people, ethnic minorities, local helplines, and all against a background of closer cooperation and coordination between existing and new players. Businesses as well as voluntary agencies must play a part in carrying through this scheme so I am delighted that business in the community and its leadership team under Ian McAlister are already involved.

    The thinking behind this initiative is very simple. I believe there is an enormous reservoir of goodwill out there waiting to be tapped. And I know also that there is still an ocean of need, of isolation and of vulnerability, and too often the one does not know about the other. We should be working together to try and create bridges between the need and of people who can help to alleviate that need. And that is why eventually I want to go further, I would like to see a build on what we have and create a national network of local points of reference for volunteers and those looking to help.

    Many of those local points already exist and are doing valuable work but we need many more with the right tools for the job. In some places this will be a voluntary group, in some places a church, in other places perhaps even an energetic individual, but they would all be more accessible if they shared the same basic telephone number, they would all be more accessible if they shared the same basic means of contact. That must be a long term objective but Intend that it will happen and in doing so I look for help from business, from churches and from voluntary bodies to try and make that hope a reality. There are huge reserves of commitment out there, we need to bring them out of reserve and into use and the sooner we can do that the better.

    And perhaps the best way to do it is to encourage people to come forward, not to hang back and believe that someone else can do it better than them, but to encourage them to come forward and remove the impediments and disincentives that so often seem to stand in their way.

    So let me summarise. We will continue to help charities with favourable tax treatment; we will raise the profile and the recognition we give to volunteers in the Honours List; we will work with the Prince’s Trust to increase the number of young volunteers; we will cut down the fussy rules and regulations that so frequently and so frustratingly hamper the voluntary effort; and we will work towards the creation of a national network for volunteers, starting with a grant scheme for projects which encourage more people to put themselves forward for voluntary work.

    And what is to be your role? I want business, I want you to come with us as partners as we continue to spread that message of social responsibility, a message of responsible capitalism. We are I know asking you to do a great deal, we are asking for time, for money, for the use of company facilities, for your expertise and for a commitment which stretches from the Chief Executive’s office right down to each and every cart of the company. I know it is a lot but I believe there is a great will and a great capacity amongst people to respond to that and to work together to meet a common end. And I believe also, profoundly, that it is good for business. I do not mean good for business just in the sense of making the tills turn over, I mean it is good for business in a much wider sense. As your Chairman. Neil Shaw, said recently, and I quote: “By working in the wider community business can help to build the social environment it needs for long term wealth creation.” I am utterly sure that that is right.

    I suppose you might call it a long term investment, good for you, good for us all and good for our country. The point about long term investment is surely this, if it is a good investment it pays off. I believe this social investment is a good investment and with your help I have no doubt it will pay off and pay off richly.

  • PMQT – 19 October 1993

    Below is the text of Prime Minister’s Question Time from 19th October 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

     

    Engagements

    Q1. Mr. Mandelson : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 19 October.

    The Prime Minister (Mr. John Major) : This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.

    Mr. Mandelson : Does the Prime Minister agree that the task of the Budget is to raise revenue without preventing recovery? Does he also agree that at least £5 billion worth of revenue is being avoided by individuals, companies and wealthy foreigners who are abusing the tax system? As that is twice the amount that would be raised if VAT were applied to fuel, will he give an assurance this afternoon that, in the forthcoming Budget, he will ensure that the interests of pensioners and families are put before those of tax dodgers?

    The Prime Minister : We have done a great deal in recent years to try to cut out tax avoidance. In each and every Budget my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor will examine that matter to see whether there is more to be done. It is right that that should be done ; it will be done.

    As for the recovery, I think that the hon. Gentleman will concede that it seems to have taken root–the evidence for that is becoming unmistakable. The hon. Gentleman does not dispute that, but if some of his hon. Friends care to dispute it perhaps they should look at the forecasts by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, by the International Monetary Fund and by the European Commission–quite apart from domestic forecasts.

     

    Q2. Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 19 October.

    The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Sir Thomas Arnold : Can my right hon. Friend assure the House that the deregulation Bill that the Government propose to introduce in the next Session of Parliament will be both tough and effective? Is not that the best way to strengthen the successful supply side measures of the 1980s?

    The Prime Minister : Yes, I agree with my hon. Friend about that. We made great strides in the 1980s in supply side changes and in making the economy more competitive, and we now have to build on them both at home and abroad. I can confirm that there will be a deregulation Bill in the next Session ; a Bill which I believe is of the utmost importance for British business and in particular for British manufacturing industry.

    We know that the route to more jobs is less regulation and less Government red tape, and we propose to introduce legislation to achieve that.

    Mr. John Smith : Does the Prime Minister have the remotest appreciation of the overwhelming hostility throughout the nation to imposing VAT on domestic fuel? In addition to its obvious unfairness, is there not now evidence that the Government’s tax increases imperil consumer confidence and any hope of a recovery? In these circumstances, will the right hon. Gentleman now abandon these foolish proposals?

    The Prime Minister : I think that the right hon. and learned Gentleman knows–both I and my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer have made the position clear–that the extra VAT is a vital part of our policies to reduce public borrowing, but we will offer help to vulnerable people.

    If the tax is as obnoxious as the right hon. and learned Gentleman claims, why did the Labour conference vote

    “for a general shift in taxation towards energy resource use”. What is that other than VAT?

    Mr. John Smith : Let me remind the Prime Minister that during the last election campaign he claimed that the difference between the parties was that he would not increase taxes ; in particular–he must remember this point–he would not increase or extend VAT or impose taxes on income.

    Does he deny that he has now imposed swingeing increases on VAT, and is increasing national insurance contributions from 9 to 10 per cent? If the latter is not a tax on income, what is? Will the Prime Minister now apologise for the Conservative party’s deceit at the last election?

    The Prime Minister : The right hon. and learned Gentleman has been caught out, and everyone will have noticed that he did not respond remotely to my question.

    It is high time that there was a sensible debate on the issue, during which the Opposition could tell the public the truth about their policies on VAT and domestic fuel. As the Labour party’s own journal made clear in summer, the party has been quite clearly considering

    “energy tax and taxing polluting activities”.

    However much the right hon. and learned Gentleman wriggles to make cheap party political points, he cannot escape the reality of his party’s commitments.

    Mr. John Smith : Will the Prime Minister explain how he has escaped from the reality of his promise to the public that there would be no tax increases when, within months, he has increased them? Does he accept that a result of the Government’s tax increases is an increase in the burden on ordinary families by £8.50 per week? Why does he not close tax loopholes that cost billions of pounds before he puts burdens on ordinary families?

    The Prime Minister : The right hon. and learned Gentleman is slipping around a little this afternoon, and he has been slipping around rather a lot on this policy for a few months. However, he cannot wriggle out of the fact that what I have quoted to him was Labour party policy. It was only after we introduced the policy that he opportunistically changed his mind and his policies and moved to an all-purpose attack on politics generally. We need to cope with the fiscal deficit and we have the courage to do so.

    Rev. Ian Paisley : The Prime Minister will remember that, time and time again, he has emphasised in the House and elsewhere that he would not negotiate with those who engage in or support violence. He will be well aware today that the IRA violence is continuing and that Gerry Adams last weekend became an apologist for that violence. Why has the Prime Minister of the Irish Republic announced that the right hon. Gentleman will engage in discussions with the Taoiseach at the end of the month concerning the agreement reached between IRA Sinn Fein and the hon. Member for Foyle (Mr. Hume)?

    The Prime Minister : I know nothing of the details of the agreement reached between the hon. Gentleman and Gerry Adams. Whatever statement may have been made by the Taoiseach in the Irish Parliament has not been cleared with me. I have had regular discussions with the Taoiseach covering a wide range of issues. If the Taoiseach wishes to raise with me matters that he believes will bring the violence in Northern Ireland to an end, I am compelled to listen.

    I repeat to the hon. Gentleman and to the House that we do not negotiate with terrorists or with people who deal with bullet and bomb. We will not surrender to their violence, either now or in the future.

    Mr. Ashdown : As the Prime Minister is personally responsible for intelligence matters, will he tell the House whether the Minister for open government was correct in his statement that intelligence on the sale of British arms and equipment to Iraq went into the state machinery but did not appear to come out at the right place?

    The Prime Minister : As the right hon. Gentleman knows, I set up a very wide-ranging inquiry under Lord Justice Scott to look at the whole question of United Kingdom arms exports to Iraq, including the use of third countries as channels. While that matter is under discussion and consideration by Lord Justice Scott, it would be prudent for me and the right hon. Gentleman to wait for the outcome of that inquiry.

     

    Q3. Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 19 October.

    The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Evans : Does my right hon. Friend agree that a platform on law and order which included the policies of fining the victims of crime, legalising dangerous drugs and keeping criminals out of prison would find a suitable home only in the Monster Raving Loony party, perhaps led by one of our High Court judges?

    The Prime Minister : I do myself believe, as I have made clear, that prison is effective. I certainly support its use, where appropriate. None of us seeks an antiquarian prison system, but I want an effective prison system. [Interruption.] Unlike the hon. Member for Newham, North- West (Mr. Banks), who undoubtedly cried out, “Oh, oh”, I believe in prison as a punishment as well as a deterrent. I am far more worried about innocent people having to barricade themselves in at night than I am about the guilty being locked up. That, I must say to the hon. Gentleman, is not only my view and that of the police. I think that it is the overwhelming view of people in this country.

     

    Q4. Mr. Spellar : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 19 October.

    The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Spellar : When does the Prime Minister intend to stop hiding behind procedure and come clean about the secret sources of Tory party funding?

    The Prime Minister : I must let the hon. Gentleman into a secret. There are a great many secret sources and they are all cheese and wine parties up and down the country.

     

    Q5. Mr. David Evans : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 19 October.

    The Prime Minister : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Evans : Is my right hon. Friend aware that, in stark contrast to the shambles of the lot opposite at their conference, we want to congratulate our leader on a brilliant speech at our conference? Could he tell me whether members of our Front Bench are all sponsored by unions and whether it was our conference that voted to reintroduce nationalisation? If it was not us, was it the lot opposite, led by the buddha from Monklands, East?

    The Prime Minister : I can certainly undertake to my hon. Friend that, so far as I am aware, none of my hon. Friends is sponsored by the trade unions in the manner of the Labour party. But I believe that at Brighton we saw the true face of the Labour party : in favour of clause 4 and seeking to abolish grant-maintained schools and GP fund holders, to renationalise the water industry, and to scrap Trident. The leader of the Opposition gave the trade unions everything that they asked for. A minimum wage–he did it. Wages councils–he would keep them. The social chapter–he would adopt it. More Government spending–he wants it. For what? The unions still control 70 per cent. of the Labour party’s policies, one third of the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s election and 100 per cent. of the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s policy.

     

    Q6. Mrs. Roche : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 19 October.

    The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mrs. Roche : As the Institute of Management survey has found that three out of four managers do not believe that the recession will end in 1994, will the Prime Minister tell the House why British managers do not accept his Government’s economic policies?

    The Prime Minister : The hon. Lady was obviously otherwise engaged a few moments ago when I stated in reply to an earlier question the number of external sources that now say quite clearly that the recession ended some time ago and that the recovery is proceeding. To remind the hon. Lady, I shall add to that list. She may have missed the latest survey from the London Chamber of Commerce, the 3i survey, the fact that unemployment has fallen again, the OECD survey, the Commission report and the IMF report. If she has missed all that, I am surprised, but I hope that others have not.

    Sir Anthony Grant : Is my right hon. Friend aware that the Select Committee on Trade and Industry has just visited west Germany where we heard again and again complaints that high social costs were causing rising unemployment there? We also heard again and again how wise Britain was under my right hon. Friend’s leadership to opt out of the wretched social chapter.

    The Prime Minister : I think that it is clear right across Europe that people want decent social provision. That is not the point at issue. The point at issue is whether social provision is increased to such an extent for those in work that it keeps others out of work and renders the whole of Europe uncompetitive with the Pacific basin, Japan and the United States. Everybody who criticises the Government’s stance should bear in mind that, with the same amount of growth in the last quarter of a century the United States has created four times as many jobs as have been created across Europe. Those who care about employment would do well to ponder that statistic.

  • PMQT Written Answers – 18 October 1993

    Below is the text of the written answers relating to Prime Minister’s Question Time from 18th October 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

     

    Correspondence

    Ms Ruddock : To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 13 June, Official Report, column 317, when he now expects to be able to reply to letters of 8 February, 31 March, 4 May and 21 June from the hon. Member for Lewisham, Deptford.

    The Prime Minister : I have done so.

     

    Human Rights (Jamaica)

    Mr. Kaufman : To ask the Prime Minister whether, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, he will raise the question of human rights in Jamaica with specific reference to men held on death row.

    The Prime Minister : I have no plans to do so. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs visited Jamaica from 6 to 10 September and discussed capital punishment with Jamaican Ministers, who are aware of our concern.

     

    Business Opportunities

    Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Prime Minister what steps have been taken by Her Majesty’s Government since the Earth summit in June 1992 to work with industry to create business opportunities from environmental protection and enhancement.

    The Prime Minister : The Government established the joint DOE/DTI environmental markets unit in late 1992 in response to a recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment. The unit’s objective is to increase awareness among United Kingdom firms of the huge and growing markets for environmental goods and services and to help and encourage United Kingdom firms to exploit such opportunities.

    In March the United Kingdom launched a technology partnership initiative aimed at encouraging greater co-operation in technology between businesses in the United Kingdom and those in newly industrialising countries. This will include technology for environmental protection and will open up commercial opportunities for United Kingdom companies.

     

    Nuclear Trade

    Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Prime Minister what matters in regard to nuclear trade and the thermal oxide reprocessing plant at Sellafield were discussed during his visit to Japan in September.

    The Prime Minister : During my visit to Japan I discussed a wide range of bilateral trade issues.

     

    Chlorofluorocarbons

    Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Prime Minister what meetings he has had or plans to have with officials of the Institute of Refrigeration regarding the phase-out of CFC use in refrigeration.

    The Prime Minister : I have no plans to meet the institute. However, I understand that my hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment and Countryside is arranging a meeting with refrigeration industry representatives, including the Institute of Refrigeration, in order to discuss all aspects of ozone-depleting substances.

  • Mr Major’s Speech at the IPEC Community Police Officer of the Year Awards – 13 October 1993

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s speech at the IPEC Community Police Officer of the Year Awards, held on 13th October 1993.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Thank you for your warm welcome. I am extremely delighted to be here for three reasons. First because it gives me an opportunity to offer my sincere congratulations to Sergeant Alan Evans on becoming Community Police Officer of the Year. Remarkable achievement. Second, an opportunity to congratulate the other 35 officers who were nominated for this prestigious award. The number of nominations indicates the high quality of policing we often take for granted. 36 nominated – but many more could have been.

    Being here also allows me to pay my personal tribute to the very many police officers – and their civilian colleagues – up and down the country, who do so much each day to serve our communities.

    Last week I pledged there would be no compromise and no excuse for crime. I said it was time to sweep away the fog of fashionable theories and get back to basics. Time for everyone in Britain to stand up and say what the whole police force has always known. Crime can never be justified.

    Michael Howard’s announcements on crime last week were warmly welcomed by Police bodies. That is good news. The police are at the forefront in the battle against crime, and they know the measures needed to tackle it.

    Others have taken a different view and question the role prison has to play in our criminal justice system. I welcome a debate but only in as much as it leads to constructive measures to combat crime.

    No-one denies that prison is expensive and criminals coming out of prison often offend again. But those who make such points must not miss two simple facts.

    – First, while criminals are in prison they cannot commit crimes;

    – And second, the existence of prison, as a sanction against criminals, deters many others from committing crimes.

    In short, prison does work.

    We must continue to do what we can to ensure that criminals are rehabilitated while they are in custody. And we must continue to do what we can to ensure that there are humane conditions in our prisons.

    As the Home Secretary has said, conditions should be decent, but austere.

    We have introduced programmes to make criminals confront their behaviour. And we have succeeded in cutting overcrowding by one half.

    Above all the first duty of any Government, above anything else, is to protect the public. That means the courts must be able to imprison those criminals who pose a threat to their communities.

    The public, quite rightly, demand that protection. And the Government, quite rightly, is determined to provide it. I reject outright any proposal that would penalise the victims of crime rather than the criminal. We need to consider victims more, not less.

    Tonight, I am glad to pay personal tribute to those tens of thousands of police officers who do so much for communities up and down the country each day. Good policing and safe communities need a partnership. And all sections of the community must take their share of responsibility, alongside the police, for stopping crime.

    I know that across the police service there is a clear recognition of the need to work closely with the broader community.

    But good policing also needs the full backing of Government. The police have that wholehearted commitment. That is why last week we announced new powers, a reduction in red tape, new measures to make investigation easier, and new sentences for a wide range of crime.

    I make this promise – Michael Howard’s measures are the start, not the end, of a renewed drive on crime.

    In finishing, let me pay tribute to Victor Green and to IPEC for their initiative in establishing these awards and to thank them for their continuing support of them.

    And let me once again offer my congratulations to the contribution made by the police officers around the country to the communities they serve. On behalf of the people of Britain, thank you.