| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Dr. Tonge: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the tax proposals are an integral and essential part of the Bill, without which it cannot be debated properly?
Mr. Foulkes: I have given an indication--my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State also did so--of the basis of the tax proposals. All that we have not done is provide what the hon. Member for South-West Devon described as "a piece of paper". We all know the value of some pieces of paper. We have given a clear indication of what has been agreed on the tax proposals. Detailed, technical amendments--that is all that we are talking about--to give effect to what my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have said will be tabled in Committee. [Interruption.] Opposition Members can mutter as long as they like, but it will not alter the truth: we have given details of the exact tax proposals and said that amendments will be tabled in Committee.
The hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford asked some sensible questions--unlike his Front-Bench spokesman, the hon. Member for South-West Devon--on CDC finances. Some Opposition Members said that they would not want to wish this PPP ill, but then challenged and questioned CDC finances. No one underestimates the challenge that the CDC has been set to improve its financial returns while adhering both to its investment and ethical policies. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State explained why CDC returns have been modest. She also described the 1998 results.
I can tell the House, and particularly the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs. Gillan), who has been asking about this matter, that the CDC--not the Government--expects a return to profitability in 1999. I hope that the hon. Lady will join me in hoping that that is so and encouraging the CDC in its efforts--[Interruption.] I am answering the debate. The hon. Lady asked a question, and she has her answer. She should be satisfied, instead of muttering away.
Several hon. Members asked about the CDC's financial relationship with the Government. The point about the period between the CDC becoming a public limited company and the assumption of private shareholdings is important. I refer hon. Members to the memorandum of understanding between the directors of the CDC and the Secretary of State, in which it says that the Secretary of State
This has been a useful debate. I welcome all the positive contributions to it, particularly from my hon. Friends, who are notably all fellow co-operators--people who believe in ethical investment and who understand it.
Mr. Wells:
Will the Minister provide in Committee details of options available to the Government on dressing the balance sheet for sale?
Mr. Foulkes:
I shall certainly look into that, and undertake--if it is possible--to do so.
We rejected the privatisation route. Instead, we are creating a public-private partnership, which gives us the best of both worlds: responsibility and enterprise, accountability and profitability. We also rejected the offshore route--the tax-haven route which the hon. Member for South-West Devon wanted. We have come up with a neat solution to give the CDC advantages, enabling it to compete on a level playing field without siting it offshore: again, the best of both worlds.
The public-private partnership will provide a double bonus for development. All the proceeds of the sale will be ploughed back into our development budget for further work in the poorest countries of the world, helping to eradicate poverty. That is one of the bonuses; the other is that the CDC will be able to mobilise further funds from the private sector for its development work. All hon. Members should welcome that, and I commend the Bill to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Bill accordingly read a Second time, and committed to a Standing Committee, pursuant to Standing Order No. 63 (Committal of Bills).
Queen's recommendation having been signified--
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 52(1)(a),
[Relevant document: The Second Report from the Procedure Committee, Session 1998-99, on Procedural Consequences of Devolution: Second Interim Report (HC 376).]
Motion made, and Question proposed,
"will give careful consideration to requests for assistance or guarantees under sections 9 . . . and 10 . . . assessing them against their impact on the value of the public sector's interest in CDC and on development and with regard to other claims on the funds available to her and all other relevant considerations".
24 May 1999 : Column 79
For the period in question, arrangements will be exactly the same as they are at the moment.
That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Commonwealth Development Corporation Bill [Lords], it is expedient to authorise--
(1) the issuing out of the National Loans Fund of sums required by the Secretary of State for making loans to the Commonwealth Development Corporation or a company associated with it;
(2) the charging on and issuing out of the Consolidated Fund of sums required by the Treasury for fulfilling any guarantee given for the discharge of financial obligations of the Corporation;
(3) the payment out of money provided by Parliament of--
(i) sums required by the Secretary of State for fulfilling any guarantee given for the discharge of financial obligations of companies associated with the Corporation;
(ii) sums required by the Secretary of State in connection with the acquisition of, or of rights to subscribe for, securities issued by the Corporation and companies associated with it;
(iii) any increase attributable to the Act in the administrative expenses of the Secretary of State or the Treasury;
(iv) any increase attributable to the Act in the sums payable out of money provided by Parliament under any other Act;
(4) the extinguishing of liabilities of the Corporation and of companies associated with it in respect of guarantees under the Act and advances and guarantees under the Commonwealth Development Corporation Act 1978;
(5) the payment of sums into the Consolidated Fund or the National Loans Fund.--[Mr. Pope.]
That this House approves the Second Report from the Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons on Sittings of the House in Westminster Hall (House of Commons Paper No. 194).--[Mrs. Beckett.]
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael J. Martin):
Madam Speaker has selected the amendment tabled by the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth) and the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton), at end add
'except for paragraphs 17 and 24, and considers that the new sittings should be known as the Commons Committee; that the Wednesday morning sitting devoted to private members' business should not be transferred to Westminster Hall; and that the seating plan to be adopted should be as set out in Appendix 2 of the Report.'.
I also understand that it will be for the convenience of the House if we debate motion No 4:
That in the next Session of Parliament the Standing Orders and practice of the House shall have effect subject to the modifications set out below:
24 May 1999 : Column 82
(1) On days on which the House shall sit there shall be a sitting in Westminster Hall--
(a) on Tuesdays between ten o'clock and one o'clock;
(b) on Wednesdays between half-past nine o'clock and two o'clock; and
(c) on Thursdays beginning at half-past two o'clock and continuing for up to three hours (and in calculating that period no account shall be taken of any period during which the sitting may be suspended owing to a division being called in the House or a committee of the whole House).
(2) Any Member of the House may take part in a sitting in Westminster Hall.
(3) Subject to paragraph (12) below, the business taken at any sitting in Westminster Hall shall be such as the Chairman of Ways and Means shall appoint.
(4) The Chairman of Ways and Means or a Deputy Chairman shall take the chair in Westminster Hall as Deputy Speaker; and the House may appoint not more than four other members of the Chairmen's Panel to sit in Westminster Hall as Deputy Speaker.
(5) Any order made or resolution come to at a sitting in Westminster Hall (other than a resolution to adjourn) shall be reported to the House by the Deputy Speaker and shall be deemed to be an order or resolution of the House.
(6) If a motion be made by a Minister of the Crown that an order of the day be proceeded with at a sitting in Westminster Hall, the question thereon shall be put forthwith, but such motion may be made only with the leave of the House and may not be made on a Friday.
(7) The quorum at a sitting in Westminster Hall shall be three.
(8) If at a sitting in Westminster Hall the opinion of the Deputy Speaker as to the decision of a question (other than a question for adjournment) is challenged, that question shall not be decided, and the Deputy Speaker shall report to the House accordingly; and any such question shall be put forthwith upon a motion being made in the House.
(9) If any business other than a motion for adjournment is under consideration at a sitting in Westminster Hall, and not fewer than six Members rise in their places and signify their objection to further proceeding, that business shall not be further proceeded with in Westminster Hall, and the Deputy Speaker shall report to the House accordingly, and any order under paragraph (6) above relating thereto shall be discharged.
Madam Speaker has selected the following amendments tabled by the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst: the first to paragraph (7), leave out 'three' and insert 'six'; the second to paragraph (9), second line, leave out 'six' and insert 'three'.
(10) At the end of each sitting in Westminster Hall, unless a question for adjournment has previously been agreed to, the Deputy Speaker shall adjourn the sitting without putting any question; and proceedings on any business which has been entered upon but not disposed of shall lapse.
(11) The provisions of Standing Orders No. 29 (Powers of chair to propose question), No. 36 (Closure of debate), No. 37 (Majority for closure or proposal of question), No. 38 (Procedure on divisions), No. 39 (Voting), No. 40 (Division unnecessarily claimed), No. 41 (Quorum), No. 43 (Disorderly conduct), No. 44 (Order in debate), No. 45 (Members suspended, &c. to withdraw from precincts), No. 45A (Suspension of salary of Members suspended) and No. 163 (Motions to sit in private) shall not apply to sittings in Westminster Hall.
(12) The House shall meet on Wednesdays at half-past two o'clock, and paragraphs (1) and (2) of Standing Order No. 9 (Sittings of the House) shall have effect on Wednesdays; and Standing Order No. 10 (Wednesday sittings), so far as it relates to business taken before two o'clock, shall apply only to sitting in Westminster Hall, and shall have effect as if paragraph (3) were omitted.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |