Paddy Tipping is my MP

My letter on Lebanon to Paddy Tipping

2006-08-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

I have been appalled by the recent conflict in Lebanon. What particularly got my back up was the way the Government backed Israel 100%, which seemed neither fair nor helpful. In addition, it appears that the UK was used as a conduit for bombs which were then used to destroy Lebanese power stations, bridges and other vital items of civilian infrastructure, as well as killing anyone unlucky to be underneath it. Margaret Beckett's only problem with this was that the US hadn't filled out the correct paperwork.

I decided to write to Paddy Tipping. It didn't seem likely that much would come of it. He's a loyal minister, Tony Blair has made it pretty clear that he considers the bombing a vital part of the 'War against Terror', so what can you expect. On the other hand, if we the public sit back passively, we can't expect our democratic government to do what we'd like it to.

I wrote the following letter to Paddy Tipping

Paddy Tipping raises the problem of China's contribution to climate change

2006-07-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping asked the Deputy Prime Minister about the problem of China's contribution to global warming via coal fired power stations.

With the Chinese economy growing by 13 per cent. a year and reports that a new coal-fired power station is being opened every fortnight in China, it is a major source of carbon pollution. How confident is the Deputy Prime Minister about involving China in a successful outcome, post-Kyoto?

I'm glad that Paddy Tipping has raised this, because I think it's a big problem, and I don't share Prescott's confidence. China is desperate for energy and climate change may be even lower on their list of priorities than it is in the more affluent West.

Emissions from coal are a big problem, particularly as with oil running out, the Developed World is likely to turn to coal gasification as a major source of transport energy. Although it might be possible to capture the carbon produced, it seems likely that a lot of it wouldn't be, because it's more difficult and more expensive.

Unfortunately at the end of the debate, John Prescott reveals his (almost) total ignorance of the topic when he fails to understand the question about contraction and convergence. I agree with Martin Owen's comment "God help us!". It illustrates starkly how little the Government actually knows or cares about climate change.

Paddy Tipping queries use of MoD firing range

2006-07-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping has received a Written Answer to his question:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the 14 allocated days have been used in training for the firing of the 120 mm Challenger tanks at the Warcop range in each year since 2001.

Answer:None

He also asked:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what payments have been made to the Strathmore Estates for training use of their land within the Warcop byelawed area in each year since 2001.

To which he received the classic evasion:

Payments are made by this Department to the Strathmore Estate according to the licence agreement, and reviewed every three years. I am unable to provide the amounts as this would prejudice our position commercially with other landowners in the area with whom we have similar agreements.

This really irritates me - the government uses the 'commercially sensitive' shield to hide behind in all sort of areas, including far more important ones such as how much IT systems have cost or are going to cost the taxpayer. Part of ensuring a strong democracy is that we, the public, know what the government spend our money on. If they won't tell us, how can we decide if they are doing a good job or not?

As the Warcop range isn't in the Sherwood constituency, and Paddy Tipping has little interest in defense issues, presumably this is a rambling issue (Padding Tipping is Vice-President of the Rambling Association) - the Army have fenced off a good chunk of Cumbria, and don't appear to be actually doing anything with it.

Paddy Tipping campaigns on another local traffic issue

2006-07-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

The local paper Mansfield Today, reports on a local campaign in Kings Clipstone for traffic calming measures and in the longer term a new bypass.

It contains the following:

The campaign has already been backed by Sherwood MP Paddy Tipping, who has promised to work with residents to obtain traffic-calming measures and to put pressure on highways chiefs to reduce traffic using the busy road.

Sustainable Forestry in Africa

2006-07-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

Paddy Tipping has received an answer to his Written Question:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to promote sustainable forestry in Africa.

The reply from Gareth Thomas MP was:

Poor governance and weak law enforcement hinder the achievement of sustainable forestry in Africa. Earlier this year we committed £11 million over the next four years to the Forest Governance Support Programme in Cameroon. In addition we committed £12 million over the next five years in support of Partnership Agreements with African countries under the European Union's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan.

Communications from Paddy's Party

2006-04-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

A long time ago (2004?) I clicked on a website link to submit a question for Tony Blair at conference. My question was "When are you going to release the Attorney General's advice on Iraq?". Not surprisingly it didn't make the shortlist, because the answer "When I'm forced to because it has been leaked." wasn't particularly on-message. What that did do was put me on to the Labour Party supporters' mailing list, which seems kind of bizarre given the obvious hostility of my question to the current Party Leader. Possible explanations include:

a) They were getting lots of hostile emails from Labour Party members, so it didn't necessarily mean I wasn't a loyal Party man.
b) They thought the spam equivalent of Party political broadcasts might win me round.
c) They didn't read my email at all, because it wasn't a genuine request for questions but a sham with the fringe benefit of building a mailing list.

My money's on c), but that's just a hunch.

The emails have an all-star line up, the first being from 'Tony Blair' himself. Today's offering was one from Patrick Stewart, the bald Star Trek captain. (I'm pretty suspicious that the 'author' is actually the person advertised). Would Patrick Stewart really be likely to use phrases like record investment in our schools and hospitals and '...with more Community Support Officers serving local communities'. Sounds more like a career conscious junior minister to me.

This has prompted me to dig back through the archives. The Jo Brand one sounds quite authentic in tone. There's a pretty serious howler in there though: 'A tenner to help keep the Tories out of government? It's cheaper than paying 15 per cent interest on your mortgage that's for sure.'

Jo believes that Tory policies are likely to make interest rates treble. Hmmm, I'd love to see the economic model that led her to that one, particularly given that they are now set by the Bank of England. When a sportsman extols the virtues of butter subsititute or a comedian praises a political party, you must remember that the area of expertise that made them famous has not necessarily equipped them for other areas.

EDM 641 - Sustainable Communities Bill

2006-04-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

Along with over 200 other MPs, Paddy Tipping has signed Early Day Motion 641 - Sustainable Communities Bill, which is supported by this campaign.

This is a cross party bill which is aimed at reducing the steady decline in local services - shops, bus routes, schools etc. and the attendant social and environmental problems that result from this. It also advocates more decentralisation of political powers.

Paddy Tipping is our MP

2006-03-16T13:11:00.000-08:00

Although I've been a bit more diligent of late, I don't put as much content onto the site as I would like to. I have therefore decided to throw the site open to anyone in his Sherwood constituency, as it would benefit from some different angles and opinions.

If you would like to become a contributor, then please contact me and I will give you a password to create your own posts. This offer certainly extends to Paddy Tipping and anyone on his team, and also to other candidates/parties, although I would ask them to make clear their interest.

The only other condition is that you don't contribute from a position of anonymity. When I started the blog I didn't put my real name onto the site, but I subsequently decided that it wasn't very fair to lurk in the shadows and write posts, some of which were very critical, from a position of anonymity. He has to stick his head over the parapet and use his real identity, so I think that anyone posting on this site should do the same.

Badger Culling and Bovine Tuberculosis

2006-03-10T13:01:00.000-08:00

In a recent Commons ,
question on testing cattle for TB, Paddy Tipping encouraged the examination of other options to culling badgers (who carry the disease).

Bovine tuberculosis is an increasingly serious and costly problem. The focus so far has been on badger culling, but does the Minister accept that better farm biosecurity has an important role to play in reducing the incidence of the disease?

Badger culling is a very controversial issue and there is disagreement over its effectiveness. Many argue that only complete extermination (which would be very difficult, expensive and ethically dubious), would be effective, as partial culls can increase the spread of the disease by dispersing the surviving badgers.

Nottinghamshire County Council funding

2006-03-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

There's been an absolutely flurry of activity from Paddy Tipping MP, which I am struggling to keep up with. Next up is a written question:

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much was allocated to Nottinghamshire county council for (a) 2006–07 and (b) each year since 1996–97 in (i) cash and (ii) real terms.

To which Phil Woolas, ODPM minister returns a number of figures, which you can see
here

The gist of his covering blurb is that due to changes in funding methods, and allocation of responsibilities, you can't compare like with like.

Presumably what's behind Paddy's question is the growing problem of council tax rises and funding.

Paddy Tipping lodges question on claims handling

2006-03-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping continues to pursue the cause of local miners with written question

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what organisation she intends to select to regulate claims handlers.

Bridget Prentice (who?) (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs) replies

The Compensation Bill provides a power to designate or set up a Regulator to ensure we have maximum flexibility to safeguard consumer interests. It also allows the Secretary of State to regulate directly if necessary.

My noble Friend Baroness Ashton of Upholland will be announcing further details on the Government's proposed approach at Report Stage in the House of Lords.

This has presumably been prompted by the issue of solicitors charging Nottinghamshire ex-miners to handle claiming from a government compensation scheme. The details are a little obscure, but in essence the solicitors appear to have offered a paid service to the miners without telling them that a similar service had already been funded by central government and would therefore have been free. They have not broken any law by doing this, but the common interpretation would be that they have grossly abused the trust of their clients. Perhaps worse still, union officials, who put the miners in touch with the solicitors, appear to have personally profited from participating in cheating the people whose interests they have a duty to protect.

A46 campaign continues

2006-03-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

Nottinghamshire MPs struggle to get improvements made to the A46 continues in a cross-party effort. Hucknall Today quotes Paddy Tipping as follows:

"I had an informal discussion with Stephen Ladyman following the debate.

"He convened a meeting with officials to look at the budget position of the A46. He accepts that there is a problem and is talking to officials about a variety of ways forward.I'm confident he is taking the matter seriously and hopeful that we'll get a reasonable outcome.

"I use the A46 a lot and it is a very dangerous road with a bad accident record.
The whole of the rest of the road has been upgraded and it just makes sense to do this."

Paddy Tipping argues for devolution

2006-03-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

In a recent debate Paddy Tipping asked

Does the Chief Secretary accept that one important way to make efficiency gains is for central Government to have a more strategic, slimmed-down role, with resources devolved to local level, so that local solutions can be found for local problems?

Des Browne (Chief Treasury Secretary) replied

Absolutely—[Interruption.] Let me just make the point that, in the whole of my public and political life, I have been arguing for and supporting devolution. Certainly, no Back Bencher needs to persuade me of its importance, or of what it has delivered for Scotland. The most important thing for my hon. Friend and his constituents is not only that decisions are made at the appropriate level—and some of them ought to be devolved - but that we devolve jobs out of the south-east. Part of the process of the efficiency agenda involves moving jobs from London and the south-east to the regions of England, Scotland and elsewhere, and we have been successful in doing so.

(Note the way Des changes topic dramatically half way through, and uses the word devolution incorrectly. Relocating civil servants isn't devolution unless you also transfer control of them from central to regional level.)

This is not the first time Paddy Tipping has spoken in favour of devolution, for example this long speech back in 2001

Paddy Tipping presses for more UK coal production

2006-02-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping contributed to a debate on energy prices with the following:

Reliable indigenous affordable fuel supplies can reduce costs. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to support UK Coal? In particular, when will he make an announcement on the loan guarantee application at Harworth colliery?

Paddy Tipping is understandably concerned about the extreme reliance of the UK on gas as an energy source. With North Sea gas running out rapidly, this is increasingly imported, and as recent shortages have shown, the countries across which it is transported are likely to use it to meet their own needs first. One solution that Paddy Tipping is keen on is to encourage (subsidise) UK coal production. Coal normally would produce considerably more CO2 than gas, when used for electricity generation, but new 'clean coal' technologies can offset this.

Lack of GNER services raised by Paddy Tipping

2006-02-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

In a recent parliamentary debate on Network Rail, Paddy Tipping MP asked the Transport Minister Derek Twigg to investigate:

Does greater co-operation include discussions with the Office of the Rail Regulator? Will my hon. Friend look particularly at services on the Great North Eastern Railway main line, where the Office of the Rail Regulator has blocked plans from GNER to deliver the extra 12 services promised in its franchise?

More information on this issue can be found in this article. Since this debate, the Regulator is reconsidering their decision to favour services by Grand Central at GNER's expense as reported in Rail News, which notes there have been "reports of strong pressure from the government and GNER", part of which has evidently been applied by Paddy Tipping.

Nottinghamshire crime

2006-02-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping gets a mention in this Times article for his request in Feb 2004 to the Home Office to investigate the high levels of crime in Nottinghamshire.

Paddy Tipping supports full smoking ban

2006-02-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping voted against excluding private clubs from the smoking ban.
I agree with this for a couple of reasons:

1) Employees of private clubs should have equal protection to employees of pubs. If the private club didn't employee anyone, and those behind the bar were volunteer members, then that would be a different matter, but that wasn't what was proposed.
2) The number of private clubs is very significant. A failure to extend the ban to them could make it difficult for pubs to compete.

I'm not entirely comfortable with the principle of a ban at all, however. As a non-smoker, I must admit welcoming it from a personal, selfish point of view, but it's hard to justify limiting other people's freedoms for my benefit. OK, there's a health consideration, but I don't have to go in pubs at all - it's a free choice, and it's also more or less a free choice to work in them.

Paddy Tipping joins other Nottinghamshire MPs in pressing for A46 improvements

2006-02-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping tackles a local Sherwood constituency issue
in this debate on improving the A46

The debate consisted of a cross-party group of a number of Nottinghamshire MPs ganging up on the Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman and trying to squeeze some cash out of him.

Since then there has been another massive crash on this road which has been nationally reported. (In this particular case, however, the cause of the accident seems to have been not so much the inherent dangerousness of the road, but a driver overtaking like a madman).

Dementia prescriptions questioned

2006-02-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping put a question to Jane Kennedy (Minister of State (Quality and Patient Safety), Department of Health)

If she will make a statement on the prescribing of drugs to Alzheimer patients experiencing dementia.

Her reply was

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is consulting on draft guidance on the use of drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The consultation ends on 13 February.

He followed up by a pointed question

Does my right hon. Friend accept that the early prescribing of Alzheimer's drugs can lead to savings in both community and residential care, and is she confident that the methodology that NICE uses adequately reflects the cost of that care?

Which Jane Kennedy replied to with a defence of NICE

NICE has taken account of the costs of full-time care in its current draft guidance on drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. It has looked at a range of costs, as opposed to a single figure that critics had previously claimed was too low. I stress that the consultation is still underway and NICE will listen to all the representations that it receives.

No doubt he is referring to this controversy

Paddy Tipping defends tail docking

2006-01-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

This Telegraph article (registration required), reports that Ben Bradshaw (the animal welfare minister), will be including a full ban on tail docking in the animal welfare legislation.

Paddy Tipping, however, is in favour of an exemption for working dogs because docking avoids the potential for more harmful damage to tails later in life. From a position of considerable canine ignorance, this sounds sensible enough to me, but apparently 90% of vets are in favour of a ban. (Wonder where this figure came from).

The article also quotes a spokesman from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) who put the case for a working dog exemption. Interestingly on the BASC website, you can see this picture of Paddy Tipping at their 2004 fair.
.

He doesn't list shooting as an interest, but it frequently crops up in his questions and activities. Perhaps he is even a BASC member.

Paddy comments on WTO meeting in Doha

2006-01-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping spoke at a debate on the Doha Round of the World Trade Organisation talks.

An important but complex process must be resolved over a short period. Does my right hon. Friend accept that not just agriculture issues, but the opening up of services, are important in this context? Is there not a possibility of some trade-off involving those two modalities.

Modalities are specific commitments (involving rules and formulae) made by countries to get reduce subsidies and improve access to markets for other countries.

Paddy Tipping questions Tony Blair over World Trade Organisation

2006-01-19T04:52:00.000-08:00

At Prime Minister's Question Time, Paddy Tipping asked:

Although real progress was made last year towards making poverty history, the results of the World Trade Organisation discussions in Hong Kong were disappointing. What steps is my right hon. Friend going to take to give impetus to the process, so that we can move towards fair trade?

Tony Blair's answer was somewhat woolly:

We are in discussion with our principal allies, in Europe, America and elsewhere, about how we push the WTO talks on. It is important that the offer in those talks is bold and ambitious. The talks are about trade and services, as well as agriculture. We need Europe and America, as well as the emerging countries such as Brazil and India, to do more in terms of opening up their markets. The benefits of a successful trade round for all of us, not just the poorest people in the world, will be considerable. I assure my hon. Friend that we will continue to do all that we can to achieve that.

He frames out the problem - a particular point to note is his reference to trade and services. Because of existing tariffs, the Developing world tends to be forced to export only primary products such as agricultural ones. The more profitable parts of product processing are therefore carried out in the Developed world, perpetuating the disparity in wealth. What the PM omits is to answer the actual question - 'what steps is he going to take?'

Paddy Tipping supports animal welfare bill

2006-01-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping made a lengthy speech in support of improved animal welfare, one of his key political interests.

Read full text at theyworkforyou.com

Can't fault anything he puts forward, it's about time we tightened up laws on animal cruelty, particularly in the area of mistreatment of pets which is notoriously difficult to prosecute and attracts what seem to be to be derisory penalties. However, I think it's time that a bit more attention was turned to permitted farming practices, which affects so many more animals than many of the classic animal welfare issues such as hunting, circuses and pet maltreatment.

Paddy Tipping speaks on police restructuring

2006-01-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping MP spoke at a recent debate on restructuring in order to support the government's proposals to amalgamate a number of police forces.

Her Majesty's inspectorate and the Home Secretary will know about the difficulties that Nottinghamshire police face: serious crime and high rates of homicide. Is that not a typical example of why we need to increase resilience to tackle the way in which the face of crime has changed over the past 30 years? Change is necessary now.

He is clearly referring to the problems which Nottinghamshire police have had in resourcing significant cases, such as the shooting of schoolgirl Danielle Beccan, and the disruption that this has caused to their other duties. Presumably by closer integration with regional forces, it might be a bit easier to transfer resources from one force to another. However, are any forces currently conspicuously over-resourced? In addition there are limits to the flexibility of individual officers. Police are likely to perform better if they know the area, and few would want to commute across the entire East Midlands area, for example, on a case by case basis.

Later he interrupts David Davis to say

The right hon. Gentleman has a distinguished record as a former Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. Given that there are 43 different police authorities and forces, is he really telling the House that there is no scope for efficiency savings? Surely we should examine such efficiency savings carefully and look at bigger organisations. Yes, there will up-front costs due to reorganisation, but he must accept that such a way forward could reduce costs in the long term.

Amalgamation doesn't always bring efficiency gains - note the 'could' in his last sentence. I would be very sceptical about the ability of such reorganisation to deliver real savings - certainly we would never be able to measure them.

Mining Claims Solicitors criticised by Paddy Tipping MP

2005-12-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

Paddy Tipping comments on the ongoing scandal of mining compensation claims in this article on the BBC website.

I feel we are lining the pockets of solicitors, lawyers, trade unions and professional advisors - they are doing well out of the scheme while men who are sick and old are still waiting for their money.

Malcolm Wicks, the energy minister was rather more ambiguous in his statement to the Commons

But the report equally suggests that in some cases, claimants appear to have been invited to agree to make such contributions without it being crystal clear to them that such donations were a matter for their choice and that other solicitors would not seek to make them.

I find it rather difficult to believe that retired miners with chronic illnesses would voluntarily make donations to solicitors' practices, so it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the solicitors worked these vulnerable people for every money they could get, even though they knew their clients would be losing money by using them rather than another more principled solicitor. Very professional.

So, good on Paddy Tipping for voicing his concerns.