Contributions
2,186 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Sixth sitting)For the sake of completeness, and with your indulgence, Ms Nokes, I go back to the question about why the threshold in clause 38 is set at £725,000. As part of the consultation…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Sixth sitting)The clause sets out how a subsidy given through the minimal financial assistance and service of public economic interest exemptions is to be treated following a merger or…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Sixth sitting)Duly noted. Question put and agreed to. Clause 39 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 40 Mergers and acquisitions Question proposed, That the clause stand part…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Sixth sitting)The previous clause establishes the SPEI assistance exemption and the value threshold for awarding subsidies under the exemption. This clause sets out the procedural requirement…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. Clause 32 sets out the obligation for the Secretary of State to provide a database for subsidies and subsidy schemes,…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting): I will try in my remarks to develop some of the issues with public authorities and their statutory duties. We have made minor improvements since the database came online in…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)Effectively, it is for the challenge. It is a loose framework. It is not like the state aid regime, where permission has to be sought and waited for before going ahead with a…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)It is as with every statutory duty placed on a public authority. The Bill contains a statutory obligation on public authorities to upload subsidies on the transparency database—in…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)First, on cronyism, the starting point for the thresholds—as I will come to in a minute—were based on EU state aid, which we have had for the best part of 40 years.02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)The scheme that we are referring to was created under the state aid rules—under an entirely different regime when we were still a member of the framework. It is additional…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)The clause requires the provision of the subsidy database to ensure that the subsidy control regime is transparent and facilitates compliance with our international commitments.…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)I thank the hon. Lady. We agree on useability. We will look at making the changes to the database, not least because of the Committee’s reflections and those in further…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)There has been a great deal of interest in the thresholds at which the transparency obligations apply, so I will explain some of the detail and logic of those thresholds.…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)I do believe in transparency, that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and in the importance of this database being as accessible as possible. As I will come on to say, the…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)As I say, it is the cumulative costs that, in many ways, were the starting point. As a matter of principle, we should not seek to add duplicative red tape for public…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)First, moving the subsidy control scheme from pre-notification and pre-approval will mean that the subsidies can actually get to those businesses and interests at the right time,…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)I shall come back to that, if I may. Let me deal first with consultation. The Government’s proposed approach to transparency was set out in the consultation on subsidy control,…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)The challenge will be to the scheme itself, not to the subsidies within it.02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)A public authority awarding something that it believes will be a subsidy below that will have to publish a letter demonstrating that it is adhering to minimal financial…02 Nov 2021HANSARDSubsidy Control Bill (Fifth sitting)All I will say is that if the public authority is issuing something that it believes to be a subsidy, albeit under MFA, it will publish a letter to explain to the recipient why…02 Nov 2021