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Mrs. Beckett: I and the whole House recognise the long and vigorous campaign that my hon. Friend has waged on behalf of his constituents. In that sense, I do not think that the House can be accused of standing
idly by--my hon. Friend has made extensive use of the opportunities available to Back Benchers to make his concerns known on behalf of his constituents.My hon. Friend will be aware that the Government have not stood idly by either. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has taken his representations very seriously and has explored the matter thoroughly. My hon. Friend will also be aware, however, that the Director General of Fair Trading advised my right hon. Friend that he--the director general--was not in a position to refer the merger. Following my hon. Friend's representations, the matter was re-examined, but the advice was that even the fresh information that had been made available did not justify reopening the case or changing the previous advice. My hon. Friend will be aware that my right hon. Friend has agreed to abide by the director general's advice--there are many precedents for that.
Mr. Peter Brooke (Cities of London and Westminster): Has the irony struck the Leader of the House that the as yet only partially reformed ancien regime in the other House is allowed infinite time to generate 1,000 amendments on three Bills, while this lower, elected Chamber is subjected to the privations of Robespierre when we come to discuss those same 1,000 amendments?
Mrs. Beckett: I am not sure that irony is the word. The right hon. Gentleman's question perhaps casts light on the different management of affairs in the House of Lords, but it has always been the practice in this country that the Government expect to get their legislation--as we do--and it has increasingly been the practice that we seek to manage our business in this Chamber more effectively. Whether those in another Chamber seek to do so is a matter for them.
Dr. George Turner (North-West Norfolk): Do the Government accept that if they are to deliver the urban regeneration referred to in the White Paper, they will have to address--probably by legislation--the balance of power that exists between developers and the communities for whom they are developing? I raise that issue because of the intense anger and frustration in my constituency at the latest breakdown between the lead developer, Threadneedle, and the third party involved. That follows years of delays in rebuilding the shopping centre that needs to be rebuilt for my constituents, yet Threadneedle can exclude the borough council that represents them from what is going on with the third parties involved. Is there not a real need for the community to have a greater say in what is happening to its shopping centre in King's Lynn? No doubt that is happening elsewhere. Will the Government consider whether we need to change the law to ensure responsible behaviour and more openness from developers?
Mrs. Beckett: My hon. Friend makes an important point about the balance of power. He will know that the purpose of the urban White Paper is to try to place people at the centre of such decisions. Although I understand the importance of the case that he is making, I shall, for once, take the advice of the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth) and recommend that he seek a debate in Westminster Hall.
Mr. Roy Beggs (East Antrim): I again draw the attention of the Leader of the House to early-day motion 850, which calls on the Government to reduce VAT on incontinence products, and to the fact that 128 right hon. and hon. Members support it.
[That this House welcomes the proposal announced in the Budget to lower VAT on women's sanitary products to 5 per cent. from 1st January 2001; agrees that women's sanitary products are not luxury consumer products; notes that continence products also classify as sanitary products and are not luxury consumer products; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to ensure that their definition of sanitary products will allow for the lowering of VAT to 5 per cent. on continence products, which are required, according to Government estimates in Good Practice in Continence Services, by up to 20 per cent. of the female population aged under 65 years, 40 per cent. of women aged over 65 years and between 7 to 10 per cent. of men aged over 65 years.]
The Leader of the House will be aware that a Standing Committee is meeting today to approve a reduction in the VAT on women's sanitary products to 5 per cent., but the order that will implement that measure does not provide for a similar reduction in VAT on incontinence pads. Although there is provision for the users of incontinence pads to reclaim the 17.5 per cent. VAT, they find that difficult and end up paying 17.5 per cent. more than they should. Will the right hon. Lady find time to debate that matter further so that VAT on incontinence pads will either be zero-rated or reduced to 5 per cent.--the rate imposed on women's sanitary products?
Mrs. Beckett: I will certainly draw the hon. Gentleman's remarks to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor. The hon. Gentleman drew attention to the fact that incontinence products purchased through the NHS, or by people living in their own homes, are zero-rated. I take his point entirely: it is difficult for people to reclaim that VAT, which is why he requests a zero rate. Nevertheless, I hope he will be aware that it is not now open to the Government to zero-rate a product that is already subject to a positive VAT rate. Of course it is sometimes possible to alter the rate, but the mechanism to which he refers and the difficulty that people have in reclaiming such payments would still exist. I will certainly draw his remarks about the different rates of VAT to my right hon. Friend's attention, but I fear that, as a result of an agreement made by the previous Government, it is not open to this Government to zero-rate those products.
Mr. Dale Campbell-Savours (Workington): Can we have a debate on the disastrous operations of Railtrack? If my right hon. Friend is able to oblige, will she write to the Leader of the Opposition and ask him to field in the debate the Conservative party's chief spokesman on transport and the regions, who happens to have been a director of Railtrack during the years when it failed to invest in Britain's rail network, and who is in many ways culpable for the disaster?
Mrs. Beckett: My hon. Friend makes an important point. He is right to say that it would be right and proper for the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mr. Norman) to take part in such a debate. Although I understand the indignation of my hon. Friend and of all our constituents about the
current operation of Railtrack, I fear that I cannot undertake to find special time for a debate. Westminster Hall is available, but he may find that other opportunities will arise, and I am sure that he will take them.
Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham): May we have an early statement or debate on this Government's decision to close more than 500 acute hospital beds over the past year and to preside over the closure of more than 15,000 nursing home places? As we did not have enough beds last winter, why have the Government taken the callous decision to close more? I do not want a history lesson; I want to know about this Government and why they are making the problem worse.
Mrs. Beckett: I might have tried to deal with the right hon. Gentleman's question more seriously, but he has told me that he does not want a history lesson, so all I can tell him is that because, in 1997, we were still hearing about the record of the previous Labour Government in 1974, he cannot expect to be let off the hook for another 20 years at least.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien (Eddisbury): May I press the Leader of the House on when we will have a statement on the publication of the rural White Paper? Last week, when the Deputy Prime Minister was sitting next to her, she assured us that he had always intended the urban and rural White Papers to be published separately. However, on 19 April he gave evidence to the Select Committee on the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs. The Chairman asked:
- You will be looking to publish the two at the same time?
- Yes, I think it would be unfortunate and misinterpreted if you produced one and not the other. People would say you were giving preference to one rather than the other.
Mrs. Beckett: Perhaps there has been a slight misunderstanding between the hon. Gentleman and my right hon. Friend. Whatever the exact words that my right hon. Friend used, he always envisaged that the two White Papers would be published at about the same time--I do not think he ever seriously envisaged that they would be published on the same day, because then one would clearly not be able to examine both.
As the hon. Gentleman rightly said, my right hon. Friend was here last week, when he told me that it was never the intention to publish the White Papers on the same day. However, it is his intention to publish the rural White Paper soon.
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