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Government Investment
12. Rob Marris (Wolverhampton, South-West): If he will make a statement on planned levels of central Government capital investment in Wolverhampton, South-West in 2003–04. [132067]
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Paul Boateng): Wolverhampton will benefit from its share of total capital spending by central Government of some £25.2 billion in 2003–04. Investment decisions made by central Departments and regional agencies will be made in accordance with local priorities and the needs of the people of Wolverhampton.
Rob Marris : I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that answer and for the capital investment that is coming into my constituency to address 18 years of under-investment in capital projects in the 1980s and 1990s. An example of that under-investment is a school
about a mile from where I live, which has a flat roof. So much water was standing on that roof that ducks were living on it. Will my right hon. Friend give an indication of what the effect on constituencies such as mine would be if the Conservatives' policy of 20 per cent. cuts were to be put into effect?
Mr. Speaker: Order. That is not the responsibility of the Minister.
Millennium Development Targets
13. Ms Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley): What recent discussions he has had with African Finance Ministers on debt and the millennium development targets. [132068]
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gordon Brown): I have in the last month had meetings with African Finance Ministers in which we promised them that, in return for reform and tackling corruption, the international finance facility could help to ease their debt burden and raise extra billions a year for Africa. The needs of Africa will be at the centre of the UK's G7 presidency in 2005.
Ms Munn : I thank my right hon. Friend for his answer. Did he discuss the millennium development goal of all children having a primary education, and does he agree that that is an important factor for developing countries? The Government have given priority to education in this country, and if developing countries are to have a long-term future the education of their populations is enormously important.
Mr. Brown: I am grateful to my hon. Friend and I thank her for the work that she does in this area. Throughout the world, 120 million children are not going to school today, and most of them are in Africa. A child in Africa has only a one in three chance of completing primary school education. That is why it is urgent that additional funds go to education, why we set up the Commonwealth education fund, why aid to Africa is now rising to £1 billion a year—bilateral aid from the UK Government—and why we need the additional resources that the international finance facility will provide to meet the millennium development goal that every child should have the chance of primary school education.
North Sea Oil and Gas
14. Mr. Bob Blizzard (Waveney): When he expects to complete the review of North sea oil and gas taxation. [132069]
The Paymaster General (Dawn Primarolo): The consultation on levels of exploration activity in the North sea, which considered whether there were any cost effective measures that could be taken to improve the situation, has now ended. Officials from the Treasury, the Inland Revenue and the Department of Trade and Industry have taken evidence from representatives across the industry which will be considered by a joint working group. The Government
will, of course, make announcements on this matter when the review of the items raised in the consultation is completed.
Mr. Blizzard : I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Does she accept that the oil and gas industry is a major source of employment in many coastal communities such as my constituency? We may be only halfway through our reserves of oil and gas, but what is left is harder to find and involves greater commercial risk. Very few exploration wells have been drilled in recent years. Will my right hon. Friend do everything possible in the review to ensure that a new era of exploration is stimulated to sustain the vital employment in those coastal communities?
Dawn Primarolo: I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who has done a great deal, in the House and outside it, to raise the important issue of exploration, particularly in the difficult fields. He has also raised many points with my officials and me regarding the east of England economy. The review is looking precisely at this issue, and at whether further assistance can be given. I know that my hon. Friend understands that the Government are involved in a dialogue with the industry, and that he accepts that, before we commit taxpayers' money to further investments to assist the industry, we have to be sure that the return produces the type of results that he suggests. That is precisely what the consultation is addressing.
Business of the House
12.30 pm
Mr. Eric Forth (Bromley and Chislehurst): May I ask the part-time Leader of the House to give us next week's business?
The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Peter Hain): The business for next week will be as follows:
Monday 20 October—Remaining stages of the Courts Bill [Lords].
Tuesday 21 October—Second reading of the European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill.
Wednesday 22 October—Opposition Day [19th Allotted Day]. There will be a debate entitled "The Need for a Judicial Inquiry on Iraq" on an Opposition motion.
Thursday 23 October—A debate on Defence Procurement on a motion for the Adjournment of the House.
Friday 24 October—The House will not be sitting.
The provisional business for the following week will include:
Monday 27 October—Opposition Day [20th Allotted Day]. There will be a debate on an Opposition motion. Subject to be announced.
The House will wish to know that the Standing Committee on the Intergovernmental Conference will meet on Monday 20 October at 5pm. Further meetings are scheduled for Monday 10 November and Monday 1 December. Members will also wish to know that at the time of next week's business statement I shall publish the calendar for the next Session.
I thought it would assist the House if I outlined the Government's intentions in relation to Lord Hutton's report. When the Government receive the report, we shall publish it to Parliament, and ministerial statements will be made by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. The Government will also ensure that both Houses have an opportunity to debate the report once Members have considered its content.
Mr. Forth: I am grateful to the part-time Leader of the House, but can he tell us why his prediction of business stops rather mysteriously on Monday week? Is the Government's business now in such complete chaos that the part-time Leader of the House cannot even look that far ahead? Perhaps he will give us an explanation. If he is able to give us the calendar for next year, why can he not give us the calendar for the week after next?
Has the part-time Leader of the House any plan to change his title to "part-time gaffer"? I say that because a recent headline stated "Hain fails to deliver anti-US speech". I would expect the part-time Leader of the House to want to grant himself a debate in the House, enabling him either to deliver the speeches that he failed to deliver or to tell us why he failed to deliver them. We do not really know his views on the United States, as was reported in the press. Perhaps he could tell us—although that would pre-empt the debate for which I am asking.
Who drafts the right hon. Gentleman's speeches? Does he read them before he releases them? Does the Foreign and Commonwealth Office block them? We need to know. [Hon. Members: "Why?"] The right hon. Gentleman's parliamentary colleagues are not even interested in what he has to say, and I do not blame them.
Yesterday the hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart) asked the Prime Minister whether he would
- "share with the House his views on what kinds of qualities he will be looking for in those who he wishes to see appointed"
We were rewarded with what I consider to be one of the most revelatory things that the Prime Minister has said in a long time, which will return to haunt him. He replied:
- "So far as Labour Members are concerned, my preference . . . would be for ones who would actually support the Government."—[Official Report, 15 October 2003; Vol. 411, c. 107.]
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