Gideon Amos

Defence Readiness

In the south-west where I come from, 96,000 jobs relate to defence, so it is a huge sector. In my town, SMEs are key to those jobs. Despite welcome changes, with the Defence Office for Small Business Growth from the MOD, portals are still unnavigable for many small businesses. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the MOD should do more to make contracts available for our small businesses and SMEs?

Defence Readiness

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Defence Readiness

Will my hon. Friend give way?

Business of the House

I am sure we all share the objectives of the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000, but they are having the effect of denying access to public service vehicles for any child who buys a place on a council school bus. Can we have a debate in Government time on the implementation of those regulations and the support that local authorities need, so that children in my constituency and across Somerset are not being denied places on buses that have not yet met the accessibility regula

Community Infrastructure Levy: Homeowners

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He makes the excellent suggestion that not only should we have guidance, but the regulations themselves need to be changed, in many of the ways that other hon. Members have already mentioned.

Community Infrastructure Levy: Homeowners

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Turner. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Godalming and Ash (Sir Jeremy Hunt) on bringing this important and overdue consideration of CIL to Westminster Hall. We have heard some powerful contributions, and it is clear that there is a widespread and serious problem. Families are facing bills of £40,000 to £70,000—in some cases over £200,000—for what often amounts to a missing form. That is an awful and unacceptable situation, and it can b

Community Infrastructure Levy: Homeowners

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that residents need redress. I will simply place on the record again that the nature of the errors or mistakes in charging can be different from one authority to another, which was very much the case with West Berkshire, where the nature of the charges being made wrongly was a different procedural error and therefore a different remedy could be applied. I hope that, in the spirit of being non-tribal with which he began this debate, he will accept that

Community Infrastructure Levy: Homeowners

The amount of flexibility that can be exercised depends on the nature of the error in the process that is being discussed, so not every council can operate the same redress in the same situation. The hon. Gentleman confirms that it was a Conservative administration that drew up the CIL charging schedule, the forms and all the processes that underlie and guide—in fact, not just guide but narrowly dictate—how the council exercises control over CIL. Where the hon. Gentleman is right is that the rul

Community Infrastructure Levy: Homeowners

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the Government should do that. There have been opportunities to do something about this; there are opportunities to change the law. He seems to have read the later part of my speech, and is quite right to mention our hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon), who not only made that point in respect of that Bill but brought it to the attention of the Select Committee last year. Liberal Democrats in Parliament have been trying to get resolution and a ch

English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

I will be brief, as most of the arguments have already been well stated. We acknowledge the Minister’s argument yesterday that this Bill represents a step forward, not the final destination, and that consistency is needed to make the system function, but it is important that, in seeking that consistency, we do not lose the very flexibility that makes devolution truly meaningful. We remain supportive of our Liberal Democrat colleagues in the Lords and their efforts to strengthen the Bill. I place

Animal Testing

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) for opening the debate and for her ongoing commitment to this issue. I thank the petitioners —including 201 from Taunton and Wellington—for raising it, and other Members for their speeches, which have shown the sincerity on this issue across parties. The petitioners are right that the current system is failing on welfare, on science and on the pace of change, but it wo