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Electoral Commission
Queen's recommendation having been signified--
- That the following provision shall be made with respect to the remuneration and expenses of the Electoral Commissioners ("a relevant Commissioner") other than the Chairman of the Electoral Commission:
(1) In respect of remuneration a relevant Commissioner shall be paid £275 for each day on which he performs functions as such.
(2) A relevant Commissioner shall be paid the actual amount of his expenses incurred in connection with the discharge of his functions as such on travel, accommodation and subsistence.
(3) This resolution shall take effect from 19th January 2001.
That the following provision shall be made with respect to the remuneration and expenses of the Chairman of the Electoral Commission ("the Chairman"):
(1) In respect of remuneration for service between 19th January 2001 and 18th January 2002, the Chairman shall be paid £116,000.
(2) In respect of the period starting with 19th January 2002, the first anniversary of his appointment, and ending immediately before the second anniversary, the Chairman shall be paid as remuneration for that period the sum of £120,000 increased (where applicable) by the same percentage of that sum as the percentage (if any) or total of the percentages (if more than one) used to increase the salary of a High Court judge during the period of one year immediately preceding that first anniversary of the Chairman's appointment.
(3) In respect of the period starting with the second and any subsequent anniversary of his appointment and ending immediately before the next such anniversary, the Chairman shall be paid as remuneration for that period the sum payable during the immediately preceding period of one year increased (where applicable) by the same percentage of that sum as the percentage (if any) or total of the percentages (if more than one) used to increase the salary of a High Court Judge during the period of one year immediately preceding the anniversary at the beginning of the period in question.
(4) Where during any of the periods referred to above the Chairman ceases to hold that office, the sum to be paid to him in respect of that period shall be such proportion of the entire sum as reflects the portion of that period that he held the office of Chairman.
(5) The Chairman shall be paid the actual amount of his expenses incurred in connection with the discharge of his duties as Chairman on travel, accommodation and subsistence.
(6) The pension of the Chairman shall be broadly by analogy with the pension scheme of the staff of the Commission, thereby delivering a pension based on the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme which provides for a pension accruing at a rate of one-eightieth of salary per year of service, with a lump sum of three times the annual pension and provision for death benefits and dependants' pensions.
(7) This resolution shall take effect from 19th January 2001.--[Mr. Jamieson.]
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118(6) (Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation),
Government Trading Funds
- That the draft The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Trading Fund Order 2001, which was laid before this House on 17th January, be approved.
Financial Services and Markets
- That the draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Professions) (Non-Exempt Activities) Order 2001, which was laid before this House on 27th February, be approved.
That the draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Designated Professional Bodies) Order 2001, which was laid before this House on 27th February, be approved.
London Government
- That the draft Greater London Road Traffic (Various Provisions) Order 2001, which was laid before this House on 28th February, be approved.--[Mr. Jamieson.]
LIAISON COMMITTEE (SUB-COMMITTEE)
- That Standing Order No. 145 (Liaison Committee) be amended as follows:
Line 31, at end add--
'( ) The committee shall have power to appoint a sub-committee, which shall have power to send for persons, papers and records, to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of the House, and to report to the committee from time to time.
( ) The committee shall have power to report from time to time the minutes of evidence taken before the sub-committee.
( ) The quorum of the sub-committee shall be three.'.-- [Mr. Jamieson.]
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE
Order read for resuming adjourned debate on Question [31 January],
- That the Select Committee on Science and Technology shall have leave to meet concurrently with any committee of the Lords on science and technology or any sub-committee thereof, for the purpose of deliberating or taking evidence, and to communicate to any such committee its evidence or any other documents relating to matters of common interest--[Mr. Jamieson.]
SELECT COMMITTEES (JOINT MEETINGS)
- That Standing Order No. 152 (Select committees related to government departments) be amended as follows:
Line 40, before the word 'European' insert the words 'Environmental Audit Committee or with the'.
Line 50, before the word 'European' insert the words 'Environmental Audit Committee or with the'.
Line 52, at the end insert the words:--
'(4A) notwithstanding paragraphs (2) and (4) above, where more than two committees or sub-committees appointed under this order meet concurrently in accordance with paragraph (4)(e) above, the quorum of each such committee or sub-committee shall be two.'.--[Mr. Jamieson.]
PETITION
Guisborough Swimming Pool
10.29 pm
Dr. Ashok Kumar (Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East): I have great pleasure in presenting a petition signed by more than 5,000 constituents from Guisborough, a market town in my constituency, who demand the improvement or the total rebuilding of the town swimming pool. The petition was organised by Susan Johnson, the secretary of the local amateur swimming club. The petitioners are concerned
- "that the existing facilities are ageing and desperately need improvement."
-
The petition has already resulted in the setting up of a group, including the swimming club, the local authority and Tees Valley Leisure, which operates the pool on behalf of the local authority.
- The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to take such measures as lie within his power to improve facilities for swimming in Guisborough.
Education Funding (Wiltshire)
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.--[Mr. Jamieson.]
10.30 pm
Mr. James Gray (North Wiltshire): This is only the fourth occasion during my parliamentary career that I have secured an Adjournment debate, which demonstrates the importance of the subject. I very much welcome the fact that my right hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Mr. Ancram) has joined me to give his support from the Back Benches, although I regret that no Liberal Members, who claim to be such an important force in Wiltshire, have bothered to stay for the debate.
I also speak on behalf of my hon. Friends the Members for Westbury (Mr. Faber) and for Salisbury (Mr. Key) who, with my right hon. Friend the Member for Devizes, joined me recently in an Adjournment debate in Westminster Hall on the bed blocking crisis in Wiltshire, which, like the crisis in education funding that I shall describe, is also caused by the chronic underfunding of Wiltshire county council.
The crisis in education funding should come as no surprise to the Minister for School Standards. After all, five months ago I brought a delegation of children from Colerne primary school in my constituency and their head, Ann Orme, to deliver a petition to the Prime Minister, which was signed by the heads of all the primary and secondary schools in the county. That petition, incidentally, had nothing but the briefest of acknowledgements from No. 10, despite the fact that I also raised it during Prime Minister's Question Time in November. The right hon. Gentleman might at least have had the decency and the courtesy to acknowledge the children's efforts in delivering the petition to No. 10. Perhaps the Minister will pass that message to her colleagues in No. 10 Downing street.
In the absence of any reaction to that petition, the Wiltshire Association of Secondary Heads wrote to the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, via me, on 12 February this year, formally requesting a meeting to discuss the crisis. That letter similarly went without so much as an acknowledgement--or at least until this morning, when--surprise, surprise--a letter arrived from the Minister. Only two months after I had written to the Secretary of State about this urgent crisis, the Minister finally responded this morning simply because--I suspect--the Adjournment debate was to be held today.
In the absence of any reaction from the Government, the chief education officer, the vice-chairman of education, the chairs of the primary schools, secondary heads and four Wiltshire MPs held a crisis meeting last Tuesday, attended by the shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment, my hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May). As a result, we wrote again to the Secretary of State--again we received no acknowledgement. That is why it has been necessary for me to call this Adjournment debate.
It should not have come to this. It should not have been necessary for Members to demand an Adjournment debate to obtain any kind of reaction from the Government to what the people of Wiltshire perceive and believe to be a very real crisis in education. I very much regret that, and hope that the Minister will apologise to the people of Wiltshire for not having reacted sooner.
Every year until now, Wiltshire schools have met their targets and raised their levels of achievement. However, at the same time, the financial settlement--year after year--has been below the increased costs that schools face. As a result, their purchasing power has been reduced by about 10 per cent. during the past seven years. It is no longer possible to maintain that progress unless the haemorrhaging of funds is stopped; otherwise, the implications for the children of Wiltshire will be extremely serious. Schools will face a stark choice: either they will have to set a deficit budget, or they will have to try to make the budget balance by reducing staff.
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