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Small Businesses

My Lords, first I declare the interests that are shown against my name in the register. I welcome the Minister to his first Statement. I shall go no further than that: apparently my previous remarks in welcoming him caused three well known journalists to be sick because I went a little too far. But I do welcome him, and thank him for the advance sight of his Statement. Perhaps such thanks are unnecessary in this respect, for I heard the Statement being made in another place by his junior Minister, Mr Ian Pearson, several hours ago. The Chief Whip kindly acknowledged this earlier, but we must find a better way to organise these things in this place. I am well aware that we have different sitting hours, but there must be a way through. My main question is why this Statement was made today and not yesterday. The current edition of the ministerial code states clearly: "““When Parliament is in session … the most important announcements of Government policy should be made, in the first instance, in Parliament””." This announcement saw the light of day first when I heard it on the ““Today”” programme early yesterday. It was then the subject of one of the Minister’s departmental press releases. It then provided, I understand, the principal theme of a public appearance by the Minister, together with his new best friend the Prime Minister, recorded as it is on the No. 10 website. He also managed to ventilate these announcements before the Select Committee in another place. The willingness of the Prime Minister to find a slot in his diary, given his busy schedule, might be taken to indicate that this announcement was considered important. That being the case, why was the announcement not made in this House yesterday? If measures to help ensure the survival of small and medium-sized enterprises are not important, then what on earth is? The Minister said in this House: "““I am very well aware that I am here to toil, not to spin … I will take very seriously the accountability that I have to Parliament through this House … At this Dispatch Box, I know where my duty lies””.—[Official Report, 16 October 2008; col. 861.]" Does he remember saying that? This House is not a convenient place into which prospective Ministers can be parachuted, to give them a parliamentary platform that they can use when they deem it convenient. It is part of a bicameral system, and the rules are clear that a Statement by the responsible Minister must be made here. I draw your Lordships’ attention to paragraphs 5.04 and 5.31 of the Companion, designed to protect this House against the Executive. All I ask is that the Minister will now give the firmest possible undertaking that this apparent relegation of your Lordships' House to second-class status will not arise again on his watch. Anyway, we are where we are: we are in some sort of time loop because many of the issues we are going to debate have already been debated in the other place. Fortunately, the internet has provided me with some much needed help and support. I am indebted to the whoniverse.org website for invaluable guidance. Apparently, "““a Time Loop is a distortion in the Fourth Dimension where time folds back on itself””." That sounds familiar. Let us go through the measures already announced. There appears to be some confusion on a number of the points. We have heard of about £350 million for training. Will the Minister confirm that this is entirely new money? I am also interested in the commitment for the public sector to pay firms within 10 days. Is that an aspirational and notional target, or will it be enforceable? If so, by whom, and in what way? I was also intrigued by what the Minister said about the banks. I hope that he will recognise that it sounded somewhat complacent, because Her Majesty’s Government are now a major stakeholder in the banking sector—in effect, its owner of last resort. Does he agree that, on the basis of the recapitalisation agreement to which he referred, we should expect to see some of the larger institutions making greater efforts to ensure that an affordable supply of funds is available for the small and medium-sized enterprise sector? By the way, how anyone can judge whether they are genuinely seeking to do so at 2007 levels is beyond me, so perhaps the Minister could explain. Furthermore, much of the concern about banking practices—so superbly exposed by my parliamentary colleagues, led by Alan Duncan in the other place; by the Daily Mail in its small business charter campaign; by the Daily Mirror, and by a number of other leading newspapers—is not about the availability of new funds but about the behaviour of banks towards smaller customers with regard to existing loans. In particular, what are the Government going to do, not about the Bank of England base rate, but about real-life borrowing costs to which the base rate appears to bear no relation whatever? Those real-life borrowing costs are now approaching something close to penal rates, so something has to be done. The Government’s assertion that they will do everything they can to help would be risible if the matter were not so serious. An economic typhoon is coming. To all but Ministers, our paltry defences appear inadequate. So say many outside observers, led by the Governor of the Bank of England. Like the Minister, I believe that our job is to maintain confidence at this critical time, but the current situation demands action, not spin. I list, for example, the prompt payment from central and local government; the deferral of VAT; a cut to national insurance; a reduction in corporation tax for small businesses; and a concerted promotion of the small business rate relief to which many are entitled but for which not all apply. What about the £1 billion that the European Investment Bank is discussing with larger banks, which Mr Pearson said is not yet sorted out? When will it be sorted out? I believe that the Minister has just attended a meeting of the National Economic Council, where other solutions will have been considered. Will he share those solutions with the House? This belated Statement serves to reassure no one, exposing the hollow pretensions of an Administration who increasingly appear bankrupt, intellectually as well as fiscally.