Kevin Hollinrake
MP for Thirsk and Malton · Conservative · United Kingdom
“That issue is one of the many things that the people who signed the petition are concerned about, Dr Huq. One of the big things that the Government promised, which I agree with them about, is the need to encourage faster growth in our economy. Of course that is right, but look at where that growth is.”
“The UK economy went through many challenges, of course, some of them caused by Brexit; the reality is that a change like that was bound to have a short-term effect—but only a short-term effect. The country grew faster than Germany and France during that period of time.”
“As I said before, governing is not easy; we had many challenges ourselves, and we did not get everything right, but what we did during that difficult period of time—those 14 years—was get 1.2 million more people employed in our economy. Unemployment was halved during our time in office.”
“Of course, many Government Members supported his leadership challenge. We are here now, looking forward to a general election coming down the track. We are ready for a general election when the Government are, because, unlike them, we have a strong leader—against their weak leader.”
“I was, absolutely. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) for his excellent opening speech. He made so many good points, not least about the level of support for this petition.”
“Members on the Government side of the House also feel betrayed and angry with their own leadership, for marching them up to the top of the hill and marching them back down again on many of these issues, but they do not feel as betrayed as the businesspeople in this country in particular.”
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“We are ensuring that we have a proportionate, pro-innovation regulatory regime for AI in the UK, which will build on the existing expertise of our world-leading sectoral regulators. Our regulatory regime will function by articulating five key principles, which are absolutely key to this debate and tackle many of the points that have been made by hon. Members across the Chamber. Regulators should follow these five principles when regulating AI in their sectors: safety, security and robustness; transparency and explainability; fairness; accountability and governance; and contestability and redress. That feeds into the important points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Watford (Dean Russell), who held this ministerial position immediately prior to myself, about deception, scams and fraud. We can all see the potential for that, of course.”
“We recently announced £100 million for the Foundation Models Taskforce to help build and adopt the next generation of safe AI, £110 million for our AI tech missions fund and £900 million to establish new supercomputer capabilities. These exascale computers were mentioned in the Budget by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor. These developments have incredible potential to bring forward new forms of clean energy, and indeed new materials that can deliver that clean energy, and to accelerate things such as medical treatment. There are exciting opportunities ahead. If we want to become an AI superpower, it is crucial that we do all we can to create the right environment to harness the benefits of AI and remain at the forefront of technological developments. Our approach, laid out in the AI White Paper, is designed to be flexible.”
“However, the technology is already delivering fantastic social and economic benefits for real people. The UK’s tech sector is home to a third of Europe’s AI companies, and the UK AI sector is worth more than £15.6 billion. The UK is third in the world for AI investment, behind the US and China, and attracts twice as much venture capital investment as France and Germany combined. As impressive as they are, those statistics should be put into the context of the sector’s growth potential. Recent research predicts that the use of AI by UK businesses will more than double in the next 20 years, with more than 1.3 million UK businesses using AI by 2040. The Government have been supporting the ethical adoption of AI technologies, with more than £2.5 billion of investment since 2015.”
“As we have seen, it has AI potential to become one of the most significant innovations in history—a technology like the steam engine, electricity or the internet. Indeed, my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Damian Collins) said exactly that: this is like a new industrial revolution, and I think it is a very exciting opportunity for the future. However, we also have key concerns, which have been highlighted by hon. Members today. Although the Government believe in the growth potential of these technologies, we also want to be clear that growth cannot come at the expense of the rights and protections of working people. Only now, as the technology rapidly improves, are most of us beginning to understand the transformative potential of AI.”
“I have not actually posed that question, but perhaps I could later. This is an important debate, and it is important that we look at the issue strategically. The Government and the Labour party probably have different approaches: the Labour party’s natural position on this kind of stuff is to regulate everything as much as possible, whereas we believe that free markets have had a tremendous effect on people’s lives right across the planet. Whether we look at education, tackling poverty or child mortality, many of the benefits in our society over the last 100 years have been delivered through the free market. Our natural inclination is to support innovation but to be careful about its introduction and to look to mitigate any of its damaging effects, and that is what is set out in the national AI strategy.”
“It was interesting that leading people in the world of technology, led by Elon Musk, recently wrote a letter asking for a six-month pause while we look at how we can properly moderate the impacts of AI. I am not sure that that is a good idea, because I am not sure China and Russia would play that game. It is important that we stay ahead of the curve, for exactly the reasons pointed out by my hon. Friend.”
“Member also raised the point about how AI in the workplace has the potential to liberate the workforce from monotonous tasks such as inputting data or scanning through documents for a single piece of information. I will address the bigger concerns he has around that, but in the public sector it would leave teachers with more time to teach, clinicians with more time to spend with patients and police officers with more time on the beat, rather than being behind a desk. As was raised in a salient point by my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe, AI also has tremendous potential in defence and national security. That is absolutely critical.”
“I fully understand the points raised by the hon. Member for Birkenhead—of course, we do not want to see swathes of people put out of work because of this technology. I hasten to add that that has never been the case with other technologies. There have been many concerns over the ages about how new technologies will affect jobs, but they tend to create other jobs in different sectors. The World Economic Forum estimates that robotics, automation and artificial intelligence will displace 85 million jobs globally by 2025, but create 97 million new jobs in different sectors, which I will discuss in a second. I think the hon. Member for Birkenhead asked in his speech whether I would be willing to meet him to discuss these points; I am always very happy to do that, if we can convene at another time. The hon.”
“The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation published its AI assurance road map in December 2021, and the AI Standards Hub—a world-leading collaboration led by the Alan Turing Institute with the National Physical Laboratory and the British Standards Institution—launched last October. The hub is intended to provide a co-ordinated contribution to standards development on issues such as transparency, security and uncertainty, with a view to helping organisations to demonstrate that AI is used safely and responsibly. We are taking action to ensure that households, public services and businesses can trust this technology. Unless we build public trust, we will miss out on many of the benefits on offer. The reality is that AI, as with other general-purpose technologies, has the potential to be a net creator of jobs.”
“That is absolutely right. We will not deal with everything in the world of AI in this respect, but there needs to be overarching responsibility for preventing fraud. That is something we have committed to bringing forward in another legislative vehicle—the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, which is passing through Parliament now—but I agree with my hon. Friend that there should be a responsibility on organisations to prevent fraud and not simply deal with the after-effects. Our proposed framework is aligned with and supplemented by a variety of tools for trustworthy AI, such as assurance techniques, voluntary guidance and technical standards.”
“AI has the potential to make an incredibly positive contribution to creating a high-wage, high-skill and high-productivity economy. I very much look forward to seeing the further benefits as matters progress.”
“The best way we can help employers in any workplace is to have a strong jobs market where employers have to compete for employees. That is the kind of market we have delivered in this economy, despite some of the difficulties that surround it. I once again thank the hon. Member for Birkenhead for tabling this timely and important debate. To be clear again, we have a strong ambition for the UK to become a science and technology superpower, and AI is a key part of that. However, the Government recognise the concerns around these technologies and appreciate that, as with all new technologies, trust has to be built. We will continue to build our understanding of how the employment rights framework operates in an era of increasing AI use.”
“Reforms as part of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill will cast article 22 of the UK GDPR as a right to specific safeguards, rather than as a general prohibition on solely automated decision making. These rights ensure that data subjects are informed about, and can seek human review of, significant decisions that are taken about them solely through automated means, which was a point raised by the shadow Minister. Employment law also offers protections. The Employment Rights Act 1996 provides that employees with two years of continuous service are protected from unfair dismissal, which would encompass circumstances where employees’ article 8 and UK GDPR rights have been breached in the algorithm decision-making process that led to the dismissal. Of course, all good employers—by their very nature—should use human judgment.”
“A number of laws are already in place that apply to the use of AI and data-driven technology in the workplace, including in decision making, which was raised by the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston. The Equality Act 2010 already requires employers and service providers not to discriminate against employees, job applicants and customers. That includes discrimination through actions taken as a result of an algorithm or a similar artificial intelligence mechanism. Tackling discrimination in AI is a major strand of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s three-year strategy. Existing data protection legislation protects workers where personal data is involved, and that is one aspect of existing regulation on the development of AI systems and other technologies.”
“Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Justin Madders); and my hon. Friends the Members for Folkestone and Hythe and for Watford. It is important to see the Government’s position on workers’ rights here. We are bolstering workers’ rights, raising the national living wage, with the highest increase on record—a near 10% increase—and six private Members’ Bills that increase workers’ rights, including on flexible working and other issues. There is also the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill, which is the favourite Bill of my hon. Friend the Member for Watford, who was its sponsor prior to becoming the Minister. On the concerns many raised about workplace monitoring, we are committed to protecting workers.”
“The Government are also supporting 16 centres for doctoral training, backed by an initial £100 million, delivering 1,000 PhDs. We expanded that programme with a further £117 million at the recent launch of the Government’s science and technology framework. Last year, we invested an additional £17 million in AI and data science postgraduate conversion courses and scholarships to increase the diversity of the tech workforce, on top of the £13 million that has been invested in the programme since 2019-20. We also invested £46 million to support the Turing AI fellowships to attract the best and brightest AI talent to work in the UK. The point about protections for workers’ rights was raised by many Members in the debate, not least the hon. Members for Gordon (Richard Thomson) and for Birkenhead; the shadow Minister, the hon.”
“Our national skills fund offers to do just that, with free level 3 qualifications for adults and skills bootcamps in digital courses, including coding, AI and cyber-security, available across England. On that point, as well as the opportunities in AI, we need to look at the new opportunities in the new economy. Some jobs will be displaced, so we need to ensure that we are skilling up our workforce for other opportunities in our new economy, be it data science or green jobs with the green jobs taskforce. Recently, in Hull, there were 3,000 new jobs in the wind turbine sector with a starting salary of £32,000, which illustrates the potential for green jobs in our economy. So although jobs might be displaced, others, hopefully better-paid jobs will replace them. We want a higher-wage, higher-skilled economy.”
“That is absolutely right. There is an opportunity but also a potential threat. It is important that we continue to invest, and it is great that the UK is ahead of the game in its investment, behind only the US and China, which are obviously much bigger economies. The key thing is that we take action on skills, skilling up our workforce in the UK to take advantage of the potential of AI. Clearly, a good computing education is at the heart of that. We have overhauled the outdated information and communications technology curriculum and replaced it with computing, and invested £84 million in the National Centre for Computing Education to inspire the next generation of computer scientists.”
“I hope that Members will support the measures and their objectives. I commend the draft regulations to the Committee.”
“For example, if the individual provided their usual address as a service address, not realising that it would be displayed on the public register, the person would have to provide an alternative address to protect their usual residential address. Protected information must still be provided to Companies House and will be available to law enforcement. The changes are being made because it has become apparent that the current criteria are not flexible enough. Without these changes, there is a real risk that some people will be in danger of serious violence or intimidation following the public disclosure of their details, given the ease with which that link could potentially be made to their usual address. I emphasise that the regulations are crucial for the effective operation of the register of overseas entities.”
“Applicants must provide evidence that they or a person they live with are at risk of serious violence or intimidation if their details are publicly disclosed. Such a disclosure must result directly from their link with the overseas entity. The amending provision will remove the requirement to demonstrate the risk of violence or intimidation arising directly from the individual’s association with the overseas entity. The measure will subsequently allow applications for protection that are necessary because an individual is at serious risk. They would still need to demonstrate the risk before protection is granted, but the risk would no longer need to be linked to the overseas entity. The amendment will also allow for a relevant individual’s usual residential address to be protected.”
“In addition, the regulation specifies the information that must be included in the notice. The regulation also covers particulars of recipients’ rights and obligations under the provision. Accordingly, regulation 6 lays down the grounds for interested parties objecting to such an application. It also confirms how an objection should be made and the time limit for making one. Without these regulations, it would be impossible to know how to make an application to remove inaccurate or false information from the register, which would affect the register’s utility and accuracy. Regulation 7 sets out the details of an amendment to the existing protection regime, which covers protecting personal information from public inspection. However, as things stand, protection can be granted only on an application subject to strict criteria.”
“The regulations also define exactly what is meant by a foreign limited partnership and how an individual would qualify as a participant in a limited liability partnership. These provisions will assist overseas entities to decide who are registrable and beneficial owners under the legislation for the register of overseas entities. Regulation 4 of the instrument sets out the grounds for rectification of the register. There may be occasions when information submitted to the registrar and visible on the register is factually incorrect, forged, or submitted without the consent of the overseas entities. It therefore allows for rectification of the register through the removal of such information. Regulation 5 establishes the criteria for those entitled to receive notice on an application for rectification.”
“The regulations we are considering have three main elements: they prescribe the characteristics of a foreign limited partner for the purposes of the 2022 Act; they allow for information held on the register to be removed on application under certain circumstances; and they amend the protection element of the Register of Overseas Entities (Verification and Provision of Information) Regulations 2022. The first part of the instrument sets out the characteristics of a foreign limited partner for the purposes of the register. The regulations require that such individuals must participate in a foreign limited partnership, or hold shares or an interest, either directly or indirectly, in a legal entity that participates in a foreign limited partnership.”
“While that leaves probably a few thousand entities still to register, some of the unregistered entities are believed to have been dissolved or struck off, and others have not kept their address details up to date with the Land Registry. Companies House continues to work to increase compliance even further and is now also assessing cases for compliance action. The first tranche of regulations was laid last year. Today we are considering the first regulations in the latest tranche that are subject to the affirmative procedure. Other instruments are in preparation, and they will ensure that the register can function even more effectively.”
“The register requires overseas entities owning or buying property in the UK to give information about their beneficial owners and/or managing officers to Companies House. The register provides more information for law enforcement to help it to track down those using UK property as a money laundering vehicle. The register went live on 1 August 2022, and the deadline for registration was set for 31 January this year. There has been a relatively high rate of compliance, with more than 27,500 overseas entities registered so far. Over 700 have provided details to Companies House as they had disposed all their interests in land before the end of the transitional period. That means that over 28,000 entities have complied with the requirements.”
“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Register of Overseas Entities (Definition of Foreign Limited Partner, Protection and Rectification) Regulations 2023. It is a pleasure to speak with you in the Chair, Ms Fovargue. The regulations were laid before the House on 15 March 2023. They form part of a series of secondary legislation that is needed to implement effectively the register of overseas entities. The register was created under part 1 of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, which gained Royal Assent last year. The register will crack down on dirty Russian money in the UK and other foreign corporate elites abusing our open economy.”
“This SI is one of a number of measures we are taking forward that will make it much more difficult to use either properties or companies to launder ill-gotten gains through our society.”
“She says the Government have not acted, but as someone who has often spoken out about the need for stronger measures to deal with economic crime, I would say that Governments of all persuasions have not dealt with this issue in the past. She points to the fact that David Cameron stood up in 2015 and talked about the need for these kinds of measures. I agree with both him and her, but this country has failed to introduce appropriate measures for decades, and now we are doing so. The hon. Lady points to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine bringing this issue into public consciousness. We parliamentarians react to public concern and we have concerns in the House about the invasion, which brought these kinds of issues into stark relief and provided the impetus to deal with them. We should all welcome the fact that we are dealing with them now.”
“Where there is serious risk of violence or intimidation of that nature, which has to be proven to the registrar, the person is allowed not to disclose their address, particularly when it is a residential address, although the information is still held by Companies House and is available to law enforcement agencies. The protection regime is not a way of circumventing the purpose of the legislation; it applies in situations where there is proven potential for harm to the individual. I think the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston, was a little unfair in some of her comments. The Government have certainly never turned a blind eye to some of the corruption that goes on in society.”
“I thank members of the Committee for their valuable contributions to the debate. As the Committee knows, the Government are committed to ensuring that the register of overseas entities is robust and effective at tackling the illicit use of UK property to launder money. The draft regulations provide the mechanics that ensure the effective operation of the register. The hon. Member for Caerphilly made a very good point. Clearly, sometimes individuals are under threat from other people for a variety of reasons. For example, a celebrity or public figure may not want their identity to be public because of potential risks posed by individuals to them or their families. That might be the case for a host of reasons—stalkers, for example.”
“I think it is fair to say that if somebody is determined to avoid the rules by giving false evidence, they will do so, but there are significant penalties for doing that, which are a key part of the legislation. The register of overseas entities provides a novel approach, and it is important to recognise that we are setting a new global standard. By setting up a register and introducing transparency, we are at the front of the pack with the legislation, so although the Opposition constantly put forward a fair challenge by saying that we are not going far enough, we are going further than any other jurisdiction I am aware of.”
“There are meaningful measures in place to restrict the use of land and property, which is important. Companies House is also preparing cases for enforcement, which is another important message that we send to people who have not complied with the legislation. I am keen to make sure that the measures are taken forward as quickly as possible, and I am prepared to take personal oversight of making sure they are properly implemented. The hon. Lady asked about how the measures can be avoided, such as by sharing ownership between a family of six. A beneficial owner is a beneficial owner regardless of how the ownership is distributed, and even if there are proxies. We had this discussion on the economic crime legislation, too.”
“We are in violent agreement on moving things forward more quickly. I absolutely agree that we should have moved more quickly, but we are where we find ourselves. We have the momentum to act now, so let us make the best use of that opportunity. The hon. Lady asks what Companies House is doing. As far as I am aware, 7,000 entities have not complied with the legislation. Some of them will no longer be entities that we need to worry about—they may well have closed down, and an address may have changed because there is no more purpose to an entity—but we are clearly keen to find out such information. Companies House has written to tens of thousands of organisations to ask them to register and to point out that there are now restrictions on being able to rent or sell land.”
“The laying of the draft regulations complements the measures in the Bill to ensure that the register is as effective as possible, and I commend them to the Committee. Question put and agreed to.”
“The Bill will introduce amendments to the Act that provide further operational detail to the register of overseas entities. For example, new measures in the Bill will require more information about overseas entities, including the title numbers of the properties held by overseas entities, and put in place minimum age limits for managing officers, to ensure that details of a person over 16 years of age must always be provided. The Bill will also make further provisions for registrable beneficial owners in cases involving trusts, and it includes an anti-avoidance mechanism to ensure that those in scope of the register at the time that the Act was first published as a Bill to Parliament cannot circumvent the requirements.”
“We think it is at the appropriate level. We can perhaps have a discussion about it at length on another occasion, but as I say, the idea behind this is that the beneficial owner is disclosed. I will probably write to the hon. Lady to clarify this, but as I understand it, even if somebody put a proxy or nominee in place for the ownership of a property, it would still not get them off the hook in terms of whether they are actually the beneficial owner of the property. Perhaps I can write to her to confirm that. The register is a crucial part of the Government’s fight against illicit finance. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, which is before Parliament, features substantial changes to UK company and partnership law, and complements the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022.”
“I am listening carefully to the hon. Member’s speech, and he is making some very valid points. I agree that such behaviour is egregious. Is the £3 billion he quotes for unpaid work trials or unpaid work? There is an important difference between the two.”
“Those are all things that we are doing to strengthen workers’ rights and make the workplace more attractive.”
“Those Bills include measures to ensure workers get full allocation of tips and service charges; to protect neonatal care for new parents who have difficulties with a newborn, ensuring more leave—up to 12 weeks; to entitle everybody to at least a week’s carers’ leave, which could help many people in the workplace look after dependent relatives; and to ensure redundancy protections pre and post maternity, which, again, is a welcome change. A further change, and a key measure in the Taylor review, to which the hon. Gentleman referred, is the right to request predictable terms and conditions. It will give people on, for example, zero-hours contracts the right to request predictable hours. We support legislation on that, and on making flexible working something that people have the right to request on day one.”
“It is the right thing to do. We are putting in place other measures that reinforce our point that we are absolutely protecting and indeed strengthening workers’ rights. The hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens) made an interesting point about finding parliamentary time; we are effectively finding parliamentary time for a number of pieces of legislation, including six private Members’ Bills for which I am personally responsible.”
“We should pay tribute to the vast majority of businesses and employers who—I think we all agree—are decent, do the right thing and do not engage in these scandalous practices. It is really important that we reiterate that, as well as the fact that lots of businesses are already struggling in the cost of living crisis, not least because of high energy bills, for example. They are suffering because of numerous cost pressures, and their paying this increase in the national living wage will not only affect the people on the bottom rung of the pay ladder, but have a knock-on effect on others in their workforce. We are determined to build the high-skill, high-wage economy that most people would like to see. We have further ambitions. We want the national living wage to reach two thirds of median pay by 2024. That remains our ambition.”
“It is absolutely our case that all workers should be fairly rewarded for their work. Most people think that. Who would not agree with the point that a fair day’s work should mean a fair day’s pay? We are all on the same page on that. We are also all on the same page on a related and very important point. As Minister responsible for national living wage policy, I am pleased to see the largest ever increase to the national living wage: a 9.7% increase to £10.42. That applies from Saturday. It is great to see it go over that £10 mark. Some 2.9 million people across the country will benefit from that measure, including 210,000 in Scotland and 160,000 in Northern Ireland. It is a very welcome move.”
“It is a pleasure to speak with you in the Chair, Mr Hollobone. I congratulate the hon. Member for Glasgow South (Stewart Malcolm McDonald) on introducing this important debate, and on his persistence. I think it is his seventh year of talking about this issue. He rightly feels strongly about it. He, like me, the rest of Government and probably every parliamentarian, absolutely believes that people who are at work should get paid the national living wage. I am delighted to be the Minister responsible for national living wage policy and workers’ rights. Broadly, I agree with the points the hon. Member made. As others have said, if employers are engaging in the behaviour to which he referred—I accept that there is some evidence that some are—that is a scandalous practice.”
“We updated the guidance in 2018, probably prompted by the work of the hon. Member for Glasgow South. The guidance is clear on the time that someone is allowed to have a work trial for. It says: “in the Government’s view an individual conducting work in a trial lasting longer than one day is likely to be entitled to the minimum wage in all but very exceptional circumstances”. Employment tribunals, for example, have a basis on which to make a judgment, and there are other bases.”
“Member for Glasgow South raised, there are two things that the Government would question about his policy: is it necessary, and what is the extent of the problem? It is important that we reflect the actual extent of the problem. He said that there is £3 billion of unpaid work; clearly that is a different issue. Following my intervention, he clarified that unpaid work trials are an element of that. The figure of 29% is also about unpaid work; the hon. Member for Glasgow South West said that among the 29% of employers that use unpaid work, work trials were a factor. The extent of the problem is not clear. I would describe people who are abusing the system as rogue employers, rather than something to benchmark. Anybody who is defined as a worker should receive the national living wage.”
“I do not want to get too distracted from the issue at hand, but I am happy to address that point in detail afterwards. We think those measures strike a balance. The recommendation from Matthew Taylor was not that there be a right to insist; it was the right to request. The employer could reject that request only on one of eight grounds, and in doing so, has to adhere to a process. We think that strikes a balance and meets the needs of businesses. For example, businesses can refuse a request in order to ensure that they have the right customer service availability and are not put under an undue burden. Those criteria have been set out, and I am happy to have that discussion with the hon. Member after the debate. On the issue that the hon.”
“I do not have access to that data. The hon. Member refers to a survey that was done some years ago. It is our belief that unpaid work trials are not widespread, and there are measures to deal with the problem, which I will set out shortly. As the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Justin Madders) said, there are six criteria applied to unpaid work trials.”
“If we said, “This categorically is the perimeter of work trials,” rogue employers may well take advantage. There needs to be a balance of judgment, rather than exact criteria. The Government think that work trials can be a legitimate recruitment exercise at times, which is why we are not legislating in this area and do not intend to. I know the hon. Member disagrees, and I respect his opinion, but we do not think it is right to legislate further in this area. What we already have strikes the right balance.”
“If the worker is observed, the work would have less value, because somebody has to observe them, and they might as well be doing the work themselves. All those things are taken into account in judging whether that shift should be paid. There are reasons for having an unpaid work trial; for example, a teacher might be required to do a model lesson. It might be appropriate to ask teachers who are being interviewed to show what they would do in the actual situation. It would not be right to ban the practice altogether. On having more specific guidance, which the hon. Member for Glasgow South mentioned, the problem is that being too specific in guidance could result in a race to the bottom by some employers—something that he is looking to clamp down on.”