UK Parliament / Open data

EU Financial Management

Parliamentary proceeding on Tuesday, 7 March 2006, in the House of Commons, led by Ivan Lewis.
Debate on a motion to take note of European Union documents on EU financial regulation and the management of the European Anti-Fraud office. (Relevant documents: The Fifth, Sixth, Tenth, Eleventh, Fifteenth and Eighteenth Reports from the European Scrutiny Committee, Session 2005–06; European Union Document No. 10326/05, Commission Communication on a roadmap to an integrated internal control framework; Report of the European Anti-Fraud Office: Supplementary activity report for the year 2004; European Union Document No. 5509/06 and Addendum 1, Communication Action Plan towards an Integrated Internal Control Framework.)
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
443 c747-93 
Session
2005-06
Department
Treasury
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors on a roadmap to an integrated internal control framework.
Tuesday, 14 June 2005
European deposited documents
Commission Action Plan towards an Integrated Internal Control Framework.
Tuesday, 17 January 2006
European deposited documents
Proceeding contributions
Ivan Lewis | 443 c755-6 (Link to this contribution) On the subject of the auditors’ inability to give a statement of assurance, they and independent rep...
Speaker | 443 c754 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind all hon. Members that we are debating EU finances.

Show all contributions (123)
David Leslie Taylor | 443 c754 (Link to this contribution) The Minister said that he recognises the gap that has grown up between people and politicians. He no...
Angus Robertson | 443 c755 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the point that the Economic Secretary is making, but does he accept that it is incumben...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c757 (Link to this contribution) I will give way one last time.
Ian Davidson | 443 c757 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is being very generous. The fact that we can have a dialogue of this kind shows the ben...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c756 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend has not yet contributed to the debate, I shall give way. Then I must make some pro...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c756-7 (Link to this contribution) I think that my hon. Friend is being a little unfair. OLAF has made a difference. We are debating th...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c752 (Link to this contribution) I agree with much of what my hon. Friend said, but there is also a history of employees in various o...
Robert Goodwill | 443 c750 (Link to this contribution) It must be true that none of the funds has been deployed wrongly by the Department for Environment, ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 443 c753-4 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a strong case. He correctly said that corruption is less common in Britain ...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c752 (Link to this contribution) I give way first to the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois), who is on the Front Bench.
Mark Francois | 443 c753 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Economic Secretary for his courtesy in giving way. He was making an argument a few momen...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c747-8 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House takes note of European Union Documents No. OJ C 301, the European Cou...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c748-9 (Link to this contribution) Had I known what effect my original reference would have, I might not have referred to the hon. Memb...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c749 (Link to this contribution) It is a shame that the consensus has broken down. To say that there is no real concern from Her Maje...
William Cash | 443 c749 (Link to this contribution) In respect of proportionality and in terms of whether a discharge is given, does the Minister agree ...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c750 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, but also to improve the situation. As I shall explain, we moved things on during our preside...
Angus Robertson | 443 c771 (Link to this contribution) While not agreeing with everything that the hon. Gentleman said, I concur with his internationalist ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 443 c771-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I agree about the commons fisheries policy. The Eur...
Kelvin Hopkins | 443 c770 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has made a helpful intervention. In the previous debate on this subject it was su...
Mark Francois | 443 c767 (Link to this contribution) If the Minister wants thanks from anyone, I shall thank him when he provides an answer to the questi...
David Leslie Taylor | 443 c767 (Link to this contribution) I should tell the hon. Gentleman that when he chases his fox to ground he will—sadly, from his point...
Mark Francois | 443 c767-8 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman and look forward to receiving his letter—which is one more than I have re...
Mark Francois | 443 c766-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is well aware that I was not in the House when those lively debates were under way, a...
David Drew | 443 c768 (Link to this contribution) : We hear about the wonderful inquiries that OLAF has conducted and money may well have been reclaim...
Mark Francois | 443 c763-4 (Link to this contribution) As usual, my right hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Part of the situation that we are in now foll...
Ian Davidson | 443 c764 (Link to this contribution) : Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Minister should tell us what will happen if, whatever the t...
John Redwood | 443 c763 (Link to this contribution) : Did my hon. Friend notice that when the Economic Secretary remarked on how things could be improve...
Mark Francois | 443 c764-5 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for an important point, and indeed a point so powerful that it has provok...
Mark Francois | 443 c766 (Link to this contribution) If I were able to see the reply, I could make a fair judgment on the Minister’s political future. I...
Keith Vaz | 443 c760 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way again on that point?
Ivan Lewis | 443 c760-2 (Link to this contribution) I agree entirely with my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz). We have led the arg...
David Drew | 443 c776-7 (Link to this contribution) I tried to get hon. Members to give examples of where OLAF and other EU apparatus have really been a...
William Cash | 443 c776 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman rightly referred to the rather blunt criticisms of the Public Accounts Committee ...
David Drew | 443 c775 (Link to this contribution) I shall keep my remarks brief. The debate is time-limited and most of the points have been covered i...
Kelvin Hopkins | 443 c772-3 (Link to this contribution) I was about to say that national Governments should distribute funding according to their needs; the...
William Cash | 443 c783 (Link to this contribution) Important as this debate is, it also demonstrates the cultural inadequacy of the way in which the Eu...
Ian Davidson | 443 c779 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the parallel he drew with Staffordshire is deliberately misleadi...
Ian Taylor | 443 c779 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend asks me that question from a sedentary position. Perhaps he is getting tired of stand...
Sion Simon | 443 c784 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Angus Robertson | 443 c785-7 (Link to this contribution) While I speak on behalf of the Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru, I want to make a number of p...
Mark Francois | 443 c788 (Link to this contribution) May I take this opportunity to place on the record the fact that Chris Heaton-Harris has been absolu...
Robert Goodwill | 443 c788-9 (Link to this contribution) I endorse my hon. Friend’s comments. Whistleblowers have a sad record in the EU. Paul Van Buitenen,...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c789-91 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. The hon. Gentleman also asked me about the Government’s opinion on when the account...
William Cash | 443 c755 (Link to this contribution) The answer to the question of whether the money belongs to the EU is clear. It is stated as categori...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c754 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for giving me the opportunity to become a very famous politician overnight by...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c755 (Link to this contribution) It is important that organisations should not be in denial. It is vital that we tackle the fundament...
Ian Taylor | 443 c754 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker. However, I endorse the Economic Secretary’s m...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c754-5 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman is in the mainstream of his party on the issues that we are...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c756 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way once more, then I must make some progress. I have been incredibly generous in givin...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 443 c756 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. He talks about the individual nation states taking the...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c756 (Link to this contribution) We are trying to achieve co-operation and consensus on this matter. Of course, at some stage in the ...
David Drew | 443 c756 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. I want to be constructive and helpful to him. That marvellous...
Speaker | 443 c752 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Lady is relatively new, but interventions must be brief.
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 443 c752 (Link to this contribution) The Minister speaks about the culture in the European Union and in member states. Does he agree alth...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c751 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to comment on individual cases. There are different sides to stories about personnel ...
Ian Davidson | 443 c751-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend welcomed whistleblowing provided that it does not contravene employment responsibilit...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c750-1 (Link to this contribution) I cannot give the right hon. Gentleman a direct answer, but I can attempt to find that information f...
Angus Robertson | 443 c751 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for missing the start of the debate, which began earlier than I expected. Does the Minis...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c750 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman has raised that point with my ministerial colleagues in the releva...
John Redwood | 443 c750 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has a difficult task and I am grateful to him for giving way. The OLAF report shows tha...
Peter Bone | 443 c753 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate the Minister’s comments. I should perhaps declare an interest as a chartered accountant...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c753 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that there would be universal acclaim for the idea that accountants are the most perfe...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c753 (Link to this contribution) Of course I agree with the statement that we ought to apply those principles to Her Majesty’s Treasu...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c748 (Link to this contribution) Yes. The Government’s position is reflected in the statement that the hon. Gentlemen read out, and w...
William Cash | 443 c748 (Link to this contribution) : I have been absent for only the best part of 30 seconds of the Minister’s speech, but he seems to ...
Ian Davidson | 443 c748 (Link to this contribution) I draw to the Minister’s attention that I was motivated to come to this debate when I heard him refe...
Philip Hollobone | 443 c749 (Link to this contribution) To put this report in the context of a public limited company, were a plc to announce its annual res...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c749-50 (Link to this contribution) Yes. There is no difference between us in respect of the continuing concerns about the inability to ...
Diane Abbott | 443 c771 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that those of us who are critical of the EU construct can call ourselves g...
David Drew | 443 c770 (Link to this contribution) : I concur with my hon. Friend’s view on the CAP. Does he agree that one of the problems with the re...
Kelvin Hopkins | 443 c770-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend speaks with a great expertise on agricultural matters, and I am pleased to receive hi...
Lord Bellingham | 443 c770 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman speaks with a great deal of expertise on this subject. Does he agree that the sug...
Kelvin Hopkins | 443 c768-70 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to have a chance to speak in this debate. This is the ninth consecutive year in which I...
William Cash | 443 c772 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman refers to structural funds and suggests that we should give as much as we reasona...
William Cash | 443 c766 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether my hon. Friend was in the House at the time, but does he recall that some of u...
Mark Francois | 443 c767 (Link to this contribution) I see that the Minister is bursting to intervene. I am bursting to give way to him.
Mark Francois | 443 c768 (Link to this contribution) I have given one example of an attempt to perpetrate a fraud—one that, ironically, used the name of ...
Mark Francois | 443 c765 (Link to this contribution) Are not Ministers being complacent in seeming so willingly to crow about only one third of the accou...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c766 (Link to this contribution) How does the hon. Gentleman know? He hasn’t seen the reply.
Keith Vaz | 443 c759-60 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for giving way, and I apologise for not having been present for his opening r...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c760 (Link to this contribution) First, may I express my gratitude to my hon. Friend for attending this debate? My other hon. Friends...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c760 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way once more, and then move on.
Ian Davidson | 443 c760 (Link to this contribution) Who was the Minister for Europe then?
Keith Vaz | 443 c760 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful for my hon. Friend’s generosity. Does he agree that the impetus for the reform ag...
Ian Davidson | 443 c777 (Link to this contribution) Few hon. Members attend such debates because we hold the same debate year after year about the iniqu...
David Drew | 443 c777 (Link to this contribution) I agree—it is a tragedy that so few hon. Members are present. If one gives people a doorstep to scru...
Angus Robertson | 443 c777 (Link to this contribution) Why does the hon. Gentleman think that only 14 or 15 hon. Members perceive the issue to be important...
David Drew | 443 c775-6 (Link to this contribution) I need say no more than that I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. I should like to do some textual...
Kelvin Hopkins | 443 c775 (Link to this contribution) I draw my hon. Friend’s attention to developments in the past week or two in France, where Monsieur ...
Baroness Kramer | 443 c773-4 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for not being in the Chamber at the start of the debate. I did not for a moment believe ...
Ian Davidson | 443 c781-3 (Link to this contribution) I begin by paying tribute to the Minister’s generosity in giving way so often during his opening rem...
Ian Taylor | 443 c779-81 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman clearly has a deep admiration for the people who work for the county of Staffords...
William Cash | 443 c779 (Link to this contribution) What about the Court of Justice?
William Cash | 443 c778-9 (Link to this contribution) On my hon. Friend’s point about Venus and Mars, may I point out that I would rather adopt the positi...
Ian Taylor | 443 c777-8 (Link to this contribution) I came to the debate with a light heart and a racing pulse. The excitement was undimmed by the 1,000...
William Cash | 443 c785 (Link to this contribution) I agree—on which note, I shall sit down.
David Drew | 443 c785 (Link to this contribution) Is not the problem the way in which we debate these issues in the House? It is not acceptable that t...
William Cash | 443 c784-5 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way for the moment, if the hon. Gentleman does not mind. In other words, the accoun...
Robert Goodwill | 443 c787-8 (Link to this contribution) I was fascinated to hear the Economic Secretary say that he believes in the EU. I know that it is in...
William Cash | 443 c784 (Link to this contribution) I hear what my hon. Friend says, but I must mention again what I have said on a number of occasions....
Ian Taylor | 443 c784 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend also note, however, that the president of the Court of Auditors said that the co...
William Cash | 443 c784 (Link to this contribution) I shall certainly give way to my hon. Friend, whether he comes from Venus, Jupiter or Uranus.
Ivan Lewis | 443 c791-3 (Link to this contribution) When I realised that one of my responsibilities during the past few months was linked to the EU budg...
David Drew | 443 c791 (Link to this contribution) Given the words in the Order Paper, on which we may either be voting or not this evening, what progr...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c789 (Link to this contribution) With the leave of the House, I shall respond to the debate. Elements of the debate have been good—I...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c754 (Link to this contribution) Since I have been spending time in the European Union, I have certainly found that some people’s ins...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c748 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to give way to the hon. Gentleman, having referred to him earlier in his absence.
Mark Francois | 443 c762-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to be called to speak on behalf of the Opposition in this debate, which encompasses...
Ian Taylor | 443 c779 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that we Conservatives are always united on these matters. I agree that the failure of...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c752 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt). It is true that much of the problem is conn...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c767 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman pass on to the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) our thanks for the fact that...
Mark Francois | 443 c765-6 (Link to this contribution) The Minister says no from his sedentary position. We shall see what he says when he winds up, but wh...
David Drew | 443 c777 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps some of us should be more willing to scrutinise and to draw a line in the sand. We are all p...
Kelvin Hopkins | 443 c771 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. On the point of internationalism, those of us who take a critical view of t...
Ivan Lewis | 443 c757-9 (Link to this contribution) That may be so, but I think it unfair to suggest that there is no desire or attempt, as part of the ...
Subjects
Fraud
European Union
EU budget
EU economic policy
Regulation
European Scrutiny Committee
European Court of Auditors
European Anti-Fraud Office
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk
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