---

Norfolk, Suffolk and Devon (Local Government)

Secondary information

Type

Parliamentary proceeding

Reference

506 c205-29WH 

Session

2009-10

Department

Department for Communities and Local Government

Chamber / Committee

Westminster Hall

Proceeding contributions

Gary Streeter | 506 c216WH (Link to this contribution) indicated dissent.

Baroness Browning | 506 c216-7WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend disagrees with me; he will no doubt make the case for Plymouth. Ideally, we need a c...

Show all contributions (55)

Speaker | 506 c215WH (Link to this contribution) Order. May I point out to those Members who wish contribute to the debate that I intend to start cal...

Baroness Browning | 506 c215WH (Link to this contribution) The Government originally set five criteria for unitary status: strategic leadership, neighbourhood ...

Keith Simpson | 506 c214WH (Link to this contribution) There has been no real test of opinion in Norwich. A survey was done about three years ago by the Ea...

Charles Clarke | 506 c214-5WH (Link to this contribution) With respect to the hon. Gentleman, I think that I am in a better position to comment on that than h...

Keith Simpson | 506 c213WH (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that, as a consequence of the proposals, the May elections are...

Charles Clarke | 506 c213-4WH (Link to this contribution) I do not concede that in any way. For a long time, Labour's view in Norwich has been that it is bett...

Lord Swire | 506 c218WH (Link to this contribution) Is it?

Gary Streeter | 506 c217-8WH (Link to this contribution) I shall be mercifully brief, Mrs. Humble. I refer to a letter of 10 February 2010 sent by the Minist...

Keith Simpson | 506 c209WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is quite right. There are so many contradictions in the proposals. When I lectured Ar...

Charles Clarke | 506 c209WH (Link to this contribution) Fifteen minutes into his speech, the hon. Gentleman has not identified one single respect in which t...

Keith Simpson | 506 c209-10WH (Link to this contribution) As an old student activist, I recognise the right hon. Gentleman's concern that he is on a sticky wi...

Lord Swire | 506 c210-2WH (Link to this contribution) I do not wish to detain right hon. and hon. Members for too long, because my colleagues are well rep...

Geoffrey Cox | 506 c207-8WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend find it as astonishing as I do that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media an...

Keith Simpson | 506 c208WH (Link to this contribution) Yes, I find that incredible, given that the permanent secretary wrote to my hon. Friend the Member f...

Lord Swire | 506 c209WH (Link to this contribution) I hope to enlarge on this later, but is my hon. Friend aware of the fact that most of Exeter's predi...

Geoffrey Cox | 506 c212-3WH (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is wrong, in the light of the remarks that he has just m...

Charles Clarke | 506 c212WH (Link to this contribution) I apologise for having a cold today; I hope it does not spread to too many Opposition Members. Perh...

Charles Clarke | 506 c213WH (Link to this contribution) I have not seen the remarks that the hon. and learned Gentleman refers to, so I will not comment on ...

Richard Bacon | 506 c224WH (Link to this contribution) May I invite the hon. Gentleman to suggest another reason why other constituents could be affected b...

Dan Rogerson | 506 c224WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has made the point that, if unitary authorities are created that are ineffective ...

Charles Clarke | 506 c223-4WH (Link to this contribution) I was trying to make the point that, if Members argue that there are effects on their own constituen...

Dan Rogerson | 506 c224WH (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has made that point before, and it is clear that representatives of other p...

Lord Risby | 506 c218-9WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Norfolk (Mr. Simpson) on introducing the debate. I...

Richard Bacon | 506 c219-20WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to have the opportunity to take part in this debate. I want to focus on the narrow iss...

Dan Rogerson | 506 c220-1WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Jones. I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid...

Lord Swire | 506 c221WH (Link to this contribution) Given what we have heard the permanent secretary say and given the fact that the Conservative party ...

Dan Rogerson | 506 c221WH (Link to this contribution) My view is that, having had a process that has been dragged out and having had a timetable that has ...

Charles Clarke | 506 c221WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman confirm that, in the case of Norwich, this process was initiated some years ...

Dan Rogerson | 506 c221-2WH (Link to this contribution) The point that I was making, in response to the previous intervention by the hon. Member for East De...

Baroness Browning | 506 c222WH (Link to this contribution) I noticed that the hon. Gentleman's party colleague, the hon. Member for Torbay (Mr. Sanders), sugge...

Gary Streeter | 506 c218WH (Link to this contribution) I like to give people a fair chance. Even after 18 years in the House, I have not come across such a...

Dan Rogerson | 506 c222-3WH (Link to this contribution) I have always had reservations about the idea of elected mayors. When I served as a local councillor...

Keith Simpson | 506 c205WH (Link to this contribution) May I make a little progress and then of course I shall let the right hon. Gentleman in? Let me bri...

Charles Clarke | 506 c205WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Keith Simpson | 506 c206WH (Link to this contribution) I am genuinely surprised that someone as experienced as the right hon. Gentleman, who has been an MP...

Charles Clarke | 506 c206WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has not so far addressed in what respect the proposals would damage the interests...

Keith Simpson | 506 c205WH (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mrs. Humble. Although it is also a pleasure...

Lord Bellingham | 506 c206WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that part of the chaos was completely self-inflicted by the Government and...

Keith Simpson | 506 c206-7WH (Link to this contribution) Yes, I absolutely agree. Indeed, in September 2008 three Norfolk councils launched a High Court acti...

Lord Swire | 506 c207WH (Link to this contribution) I do not want to prejudge what my hon. Friend will say, but does he not find it incredible that the ...

Keith Simpson | 506 c207WH (Link to this contribution) Yes, I agree absolutely and I shall expand on that point briefly in a few moments. I want to flag up...

Robert Neill | 506 c224-5WH (Link to this contribution) Welcome to the Chair, Mr. Jones. You have joined a lively debate and we are delighted to have you wi...

Charles Clarke | 506 c225WH (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman saying he believes that a Norfolk county council covering 85 per cent. of its ...

Richard Bacon | 506 c228WH (Link to this contribution) When the Minister says that what happened "is part of the normal administrative process", is she say...

Barbara Follett | 506 c228WH (Link to this contribution) I am not saying that such a situation occurs routinely, but it is part of the normal administrative ...

Robert Neill | 506 c225-7WH (Link to this contribution) No, I am saying that that would make life significantly more difficult for the efficient and admirab...

Barbara Follett | 506 c227WH (Link to this contribution) I have only 10 minutes left and have a dreadful cold, which I am more likely to have got from the ho...

Richard Bacon | 506 c228WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady give way again?

Keith Simpson | 506 c228WH (Link to this contribution) The Minister is generous to give way. She mentioned a point that I raised about whether the advice t...

Barbara Follett | 506 c228WH (Link to this contribution) I have to make some progress. I regret not being able to give way, because the hon. Gentleman made s...

Lord Swire | 506 c228WH (Link to this contribution) Given that the Minister says nothing was leaked and that the permanent secretary behaved in an entir...

Barbara Follett | 506 c228WH (Link to this contribution) The advice was in the form of the many representations that the Secretary of State, the Minister for...

Barbara Follett | 506 c228-9WH (Link to this contribution) I shall decline that opportunity, as I do not even know what remarks the Secretary of State for Cult...

Subjects

Devon Ipswich Exeter Local government Local government services Norfolk Norwich Standards Unitary councils Suffolk

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk