Duncan Hames

Topical Questions | Oral Answers to Questions - Justice | Commons debates

TheyWorkForYou.com — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Throughout the 18 months to the end of September 2011, consistently more than half of appeal cases relating to employment and support allowance took longer than six months to be decided by the Courts and Tribunals Service, meaning that more than twice as many people as the service�s own target are waiting that long. What action is the Minister taking to ensure that they receive their decisions in good time?

Individual Savings Accounts | Treasury | Written Answers

TheyWorkForYou.com — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the individual annual limit on investments in Individual Savings Accounts was in each tax year since their introduction.

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Topical Questions | Oral Answers to Questions - Communities and Local Government | Commons debates

TheyWorkForYou.com — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

I thank the Minister for that answer and note that a quarter of the recommendations in the Portas review were suggestions that had been put forward under the Sustainable Communities Act. When bringing forward those regulations, will he ensure that town and parish councils have the right to make suggestions directly to the Government under the Act, rather than having to depend on county councils to act as unnecessary gatekeepers?

Child Poverty | Oral Answers to Questions - Treasury | Commons debates

TheyWorkForYou.com — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Grandparents often play an important role in supporting their children’s children. So why is it that the Government’s welcome commitment to a more generous state pension bizarrely has...

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Child Poverty | Oral Answers to Questions - Treasury | Commons debates

TheyWorkForYou.com — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Grandparents often play an important role in supporting their children’s children. So why is it that the Government’s welcome commitment to a more generous state pension bizarrely has...

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Duncan Hames stands up for Wiltshire Town Centres

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:02:18 +0000

Duncan Hames MP spoke up for Wiltshire residents in a House of Commons debate on the future of town centres and high streets on the 17th January.

Duncan referred to the recent cases of Chippenham’s Sainsbury�s planning application and car parking charges in the town and pressed home the point he made to ministers before Christmas, that Councils should help town centres realise their potential.

Duncan said, �The future of town centres lies not in rolling them back to the way they were decades ago, or even in maintaining them just the way they are today, but in giving them the freedom to redefine their role according to local strengths and opportunities, and then in ensuring that the public bodies in the local area co-operate with that ambition.�

Duncan also drew the attention of the House to the Pre-Submission Draft Core Strategy for Wiltshire which went before the Council Cabinet on the 17th January, explaining that the advice provided to councillors by Council officers was �simply wrong�. Guidelines stated that the pre-submission draft needs to be �in conformity with the Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West unless new up-to-date evidence indicates otherwise.�

As far back as 2010, Duncan gained assurances from ministers that inspectors should now consider unadopted Regional Spatial Strategies as immaterial. During the debate, Duncan asked the Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, for further reassurances in light of the guidance issued to Cabinet members.

Mr Shapps explained that: �I can therefore tell my hon. Friend that policies and proposals from the once-emerging regional spatial strategies should carry very little weight indeed in the minds of anybody involved in our planning system today.�

Duncan said: �The scale of development in the Chippenham area should meet the changing housing needs of local people, rather than the dated targets from the last government and should not instead aim to attract more people here from elsewhere.�

Click here for Duncan’s speech.

Click here for Duncan’s question to Housing Minister, Grant Shapps.

Youth Unemployment and Bank Bonuses | Opposition Day - [Un-allotted Day] | Commons debates

TheyWorkForYou.com — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:23:00 +0000

The hon. Lady is making a typically impassioned and impressive speech. On the question of whether the Government broke the deal, would she not, given her experience before coming to the House, acknowledge that youth unemployment has been rising consistently since 2004? In my constituency, unemployment trebled in the previous Parliament, so the Government need to be prepared to look at proposals and solutions other than those that did not work in previous Parliaments.

Youth Unemployment and Bank Bonuses | Opposition Day - [Un-allotted Day] | Commons debates

TheyWorkForYou.com — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:23:00 +0000

Executive Pay | Oral Answers to Questions - Work and Pensions | Commons debates

TheyWorkForYou.com — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:32:00 +0000

As we have heard, some hon. Members argue that nothing should be done to put at risk a light-touch, risk-based regulatory regime. In my right hon. Friend’s attempts to achieve cross-party...

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Executive Pay | Oral Answers to Questions - Work and Pensions | Commons debates

TheyWorkForYou.com — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:32:00 +0000

As we have heard, some hon. Members argue that nothing should be done to put at risk a light-touch, risk-based regulatory regime. In my right hon. Friend’s attempts to achieve cross-party...

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