Live Cabinet Office Questions House of Commons

Hello and welcome to live coverage from the House of Commons. David

Cameron will sooner face Ed Miliband in the first Prime

Minister Question Time since the new report on the help bail. A

Andrew Mitchell will make a statement on Britain's response to

disasters. MPs will then move on to the remaining stages of the well

for -- Welfare Reform Bill. Join me for a round-up of the day at

11:00pm tonight. But first we have questions for the cabinet officer

and his ministerial team. We are investing �40 million over the next

two years in infrastructure and social action. The people in a

voluntary service in my constituency what to expand their

services as part of an action plan. Can the Minister tell me whether

the new local infrastructure fund will support this kind of

initiative? I was in Wiltshire on Friday and I realise that date for

-- that they have many organisations and infrastructures

and I am delighted about the this a fund because it will try and help

existing infrastructure assets become more efficient in supporting

for a line of voluntary organisations and encourage a local

people to get involved. -- frontline. Does the Minister share

our concerns about the proposals in which individuals who are barred

from working with children can volunteer in the schools and

without the knowledge of those schools? That piece of legislation

contains very important reforms to the CRD process. This has been a

source of considerable frustration. I totally agree with the reforms

that to make the process more effective and simple. We are

committed to a maximum engagement with the unions to seek an

agreement on reforms to make public sector pension sustainable as the

previous Labour Secretary has recommended. The handful of unions

are hell-bent on pursuing a disruptive industrial action while

those discussions are continuing. We have continue -- contingency

plans to manage this destruction in the event of industrial action.

Does the Minister have a message for those contemplating a strike

action on June 30th? I strongly recommend that they should not go

in for industrial action. It is called close as a result of

teachers going on strike, -- if a school's close as a result of the

teachers going on strike, the livelihoods of children and their

parents... Other taxpayers in the private sector have seen hits to

their own pension schemes and I think people will be fed up if

industrial action goes ahead. should the government be surprised

that public sector workers, many who are poorly paid, face frozen

pay and decide to fight back? It would be dispatched -- surprising

if they did not. If the Government had not inherited the biggest

budget deficit in the developed world we might not have to take

these steps. I would just remind the Honourable Gentleman that is

also event retiring after a 40 year career will have a pension that

will cost half a million pounds to buy in the private sector. No one

in the private sector has access to pensions like that. Can I commend

my Right Honourable Friend for his engagement with the unions. He has

made it clear that he does not rule out changes. Can I plead with him

on behalf of my committee that we do this in an orderly fashion and

he should publish a Green Paper to consult about what changes should

be made so we can have a proper debate about them rather than

finding ourselves propelled into an emergency. I do not have

responsibility for changes in the law regarding a industrial action.

We do not rule out changes. A number of proposals have been made

from the outside. We think that industrial action law needs to be

reviewed. Does the Mester agreeing -- the Minister agree that people

in the public sector are seeking to protect their income is? That is

why we are having these discussions with the TUC. There is much to be

sorted out. It was the previous Labour pensions secretary who made

these pension schemes affordable for the future. That is what we are

determined to achieve. Any union contemplating strike action at the

moment is jumping the gun. We are ambitious to encourage more giving.

On 23rd May we set out a White Paper which included a range of

ways that we can offer a better support for community groups and

social enterprises. The rate of a charity giving in the UK is barely

half of that in America. What steps will the Minister take to up that

of our American cousins? We are a generous country. We do not accept

that as inevitable. We want to help people give more. The Chancellor

announced generous than centres in the last Budget. The White Paper

includes ideas for a social action find that will support a new models

for people to give up. People should be encouraged to give it to

health care charities. Are there -- can the Minister ensure that these

will be expedited? VAT continues to rumble on. We have had many

discussions with the Chancellor on this issue. Having spent 16 ears in

the fund raising sector, which he agreed -- 16 years in the

fundraising sector, would he not agree with me? I know this is

something that's requires a lot -- that requires a lot of debate.

house will let that the White Paper states that the Government aims to

support opportunities for giving but can the Minister tell us what

he will do to monitor this and if it is -- it is his intention to...

Is it a sensible strategy to fill gaps in public funding? We see a

substantial opportunity to encourage more giving in this

country. She asked about money in more deprived areas. That is the

explicit focus of our programme that is worth around �80 million in

total. It is a result of rising local people to give time and

support in -- to projects. As my honourable friend knows we are

offering... Are you seeking to group this question with questions

six? We are offering every 10,000 places for 16 year olds. Our

Minister is working hard and I hope that he has as much success with

the Prince's Trust in his area. encourage full participation in the

scheme, how can parents get involved to encourage youngsters to

take up the challenge? providers are working very hard to

engage schools and work with local media and use social network

excites including a dedicated Facebook page. There will be

details for every MP on how to fully support their constituency.

There are many exciting opportunities for young people.

Would the Minister agree with me that we need to find ways of

increasing access to the scheme in the most deprived areas in

constituencies by using innovative ways and means? He raises an

important point. One of the key benchmark saying this scheme is

about creating the right social mix. It is about creating a budget fees

for young people to meet people -- creating opportunities for young

people to meet other young people they may not have had an

opportunity to meet before a. the Minister agree that his

government needs to do much more to prevent a repeat of the 80s so near

Rio where so many loyal people ended up on the scrapheap? -- the

80s situation where so many young people ended up on the scrapheap?

reject that thesis. I would point the minister to our apprenticeship

schemes. We want to transform young people's cent of what they can

achieve. -- sense of what they can achieve. I would like to ask about

the pilot projects were young people have been charged �99 in

some of the cases. Would he agree that charges of this level would be

a disincentive to people in some We have made it a very clear to

every single provider that money should not be a barrier to pass if

patients. We are doing it has pilots. We're experimenting with a

range of people's willingness to put a value on it. Money should not

be a barrier to participation. national fraud Authority has

estimated that �21 billion is lost to fraud and the public sector each

year. The counter fraud task force has overseen a serious in recent

months of small-scale pilots that have made immediate savings of �12

million and when rolled out will save �1.5 billion a year over the

future years. I thank the Minister for his response. In comparison to

the previous Labour governments targets, the Bennett -- the benefit

fraud reduction, the minister's reply signals an unambitious

approach to tackling this serious problem. Why is that? There's one

thing to have a target but another to do it. I would point out to the

honourable gentleman that the �21 billion of public sector fraud

which the national fraud Authority has identified is after the

Government of the party which he is a member of has had its ambitious

target. We are doing things which are identified where there is fraud,

where there is error, stopping it going out of the door so hard and

taxpayers' money goes to the vulnerable people and the important

public services where it is needed. It does not sound like a modest

savings, it sounds an extremely worthwhile saving, everything comes

out of people's pockets. How soon will he take forward savings

towards the 21 billion total, we need this in the public sector,

what can we do about it? I should make it clear this is only the

beginning. It is not just about benefit fraud, not just about tax

fraud, there is procurement fraud and the transport secretary is

undertaking a pilot on supply of fraud in the Department for

transport which is already yielding significant returns. If the last

Government had been as concerned as a red kicking -- a red the crating

fraud as we are we would not be in the mess we're ring. -- eradicating.

I hope to take the this in conjunction with Number 11. And

delighted to say we are making good progress in establishing the Big

Society bank. Sir Ronald Curran and Nick Donohue have put an outline on

the website and working with the finance secretary and the

administration of dormant accounts and in order not to waste time will

wait for state aid clearance, we have established a high calibre

investment committee in the big lottery fund to begin work

immediately. Could he add to it and tell me what

safeguards are in place so that once more charities seek to access

funds on intermediaries, they will be making it worthwhile investments

and not causing charities to fall into significant and debt.?

point he makes is a good one. It is important that the voluntary

charitable sector does not get into debt spiral and the Big Society

bank's plans involve trying to promote risk capital which will

allow the Trinity sector to expand its activities without being in

financial peril. Does the Minister agree with me that the Big Society

bank will provide the vital backing required to investors in our social

sector organisations so they can continue to support local people

dedicated to making kiwi cities better places to live? Are I agree.

It is extremely important to point out that the purpose the Big

Society bank under Sir Ronald Cohen direction is to go beyond the

traditional sources of finance and persuade those a larger charities

that have considerable investments to start reinvesting those into the

voluntary community sector so they can get the returns on things like

social impact funds? How long will it take to get funds from the Big

Society bank to reach the front line? That depends on the state a

process which he will know from his own experiences, is not something

we can totally determine. Not to waste time, the Investment

committee set up in a big lottery funds will be able to dispose funds

from the dormant accounts as soon as they are made available. I hope

that will be happening in a few months. At the recently month --

meeting of the public administration committee, so Ronald

Cohen said the Big Society bank we have to change its name because it

is not a bank. If it is not the Bank? What is it? A reminded of the

dictum of a man has asked about the International Monetary Fund and

World Bank and he said the World Bank is a kind of fund and the IMF

is a kind of bank. There are these oddities in the naming of things,

shall we call it the BSP and what about what it does rather than its

name. We are better informed! bill has completed a tortuous but

constructive passage through the House in the other place and were

hoping for a second reading in this place soon and in the meantime the

Cabinet Office and other relevant the Palmers are holding information

sessions for colleagues who want to discuss this important bill.

I thank the Minister for his reply and his hard work an excellent job

he's doing on this bill. In this bill, corporations like British

waterways will be reformed and become mutuals, have ministers

concerned other public bodies, for inclusion in the bill? I understand

talks about the pace of progress about people to take over the port

of Dover. In large part to reflect the localism and Big Society

agendas and it is right for that consultation to conclude. Thank you

very much indeed, Mr Speaker. In March this year the Minister of

Cabinet Office claimed he would make �30 billion worth of savings

from his quango reform programme embodied in the public bodies bill

and so that he could, protect jobs and front line services. However,

my freedom of information request shows that nearly 25 bn-Pounds of

this �30 billion is indeed from front line cuts to housing and to

our universities, teaching and research. Will the Minister for the

Cabinet Office apologise for these misleading statements about

protecting front line services? No. I'm surprised by the line of

questioning because this programme, and overdue from to the very

complex landscape of Quangos goes exactly with the grain of the

reforms proposed by the previous Government what we are doing is go

further in trying to deliver much greater accountability in

Government and on the way delivering what we believe would be

around �2.6 million in administrative savings over the

spending review period. Topical questions.

As minister for the Cabinet Office I'm responsible for the public

efficiency and reform group, industrial relations, Government

transparency, civil contingencies, civil society and cyber security.

Does he know why public sector unions have decided to ballot their

members on strike action now when talks regarding reform are still

ongoing? Only three of the unions have done

that, the majority are continuing to engage in good faith with the

discussions still going on and it is our determination that public

sector pensions at the end of their reforms proposed by Lord Hutton,

Labour pension secretary, will continue to be among the best

available and we ask people to work longer because they are living

longer and pay bit more to have a better balance between what they

pay and what other tax payers pay. How can he possibly justified the

announcement on the Number Ten transparency website that since

November be spent over �5 million that in up offices in what whole,

including �680,000 in Number 10 Downing Street. How can he justify

that money when he is laying of nurses, policemen, servicemen and

so on? Willie now publish a line- by-line account of how that money

was spent? Number one, if we have not gone in

for fall transparency in what the government is spending, he would

not know anything about this. Number two, we inherited a massive

programme of very wasteful refurbishment of Government offices

from the last Government. It includes some unbelievably bad

negotiated PFI contracts. If they had taken the same care we're

taking with taxpayers' money we would not have the biggest budget

deficit in the developed world which we inherited from his

Government! Does my right honourable friend

think that responsible members of this House, on all sides, should

condemn irresponsible strike action that puts children's education at

risk and diminishes public services? Order... It will be good

to hear the opposition front bench joining us in urging the trade

unions to stay up with the discussions which have a great

distance to go to secure what will still be very best pension schemes

available. If schools closed out it is not just children's indication

that is disrupted, it is the livelihoods of millions of parents

who depend on schools been open so they can go to work, to earn the

money to pay the taxes and support public sector pensions. There is

far too much noise in the chamber. Too many private conversations, I

want to hear both the questions and Answers of the Minister. By 2014,

civil society will be losing �2.9 billion a year in lost revenue. The

same as the amount in corporation tax by big companies in the UK, why

is the Government being so soft on big business and so tough on

charities and voluntary sector? reject that statement. He is

pulling number out of the air in terms of lost income to the

charitable sector and ignores the volume of public sector contracts,

not least the recent programme worth �100 million here and in big

business, I would refer to a speech by the Prime is the called every

business commit. He will be aware in my constituency we are holding a

national sporting event in the next fortnight and the enjoyment of

which will be undermined by strikes proposed by the unions. Would my

right honourable friend agree the strikes are a necessary and confirm

the Government's commitment towards, to ensure these strikes do not

happen? We are committed to continuing these discussions and we

had further discussions yesterday and there will be more next week,

as much still to be resolved and it is Lord Hutton, the former pension

secretary who recommended these changes and in order to make public

sector pensions sustainable for the future, we need to drive these

reforms through. Order! On what date did the government

instruct Parliament council to draft amendments in connection with

the NHS Health and Social Care Bill following the consequences of the

NHS Future Forum? I would recommend the gentleman to

ask the question of the Secretary of State for health.

During 2011, I will be launching a new social enterprise, the

Northamptonshire project, what assurances can my right honourable

friend give me that commissioners will be encouraged to provide

medium term contracts with charities such as this providing

essential support services? I want to congratulate her on the

fantastic work she do with that organisation. It is tackling natal

depression and of course the gunmen provides formal the funding whether

that is appropriate and local compacts are matter for local

decisions but I strongly encourage her council to offer a multi-

Will the Minister be making a statement on the neutral path

finder? Wiener that there is -- we know that there is an opportunity

for companies to come together to carry out and deliver public

services. These deliver huge increases in productivity and lower

To what extent does the Minister expect any strike action to have an

impact on our vital services? will wait to see what the ballot

this afternoon but I hope that civil servants that are imbued with