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24 Mar 2009 : Column 63WH—continued
We believe that the future success of British industry will be based on a highly skilled work force. Where production is being reduced, we help businesses to train their work forces to ensure that they emerge from the downturn in the best possible shape to compete in the future. The crisis in the economy is, above all, a credit crisis, and we are implementing packages designed to
address that problem directly by offering specific solutions. We are providing real help for the economy and business in a way that meets the UK’s circumstances.
We will continue to look at ways of extending help. I know that Yorkshire Forward is working on training subsidies with Jobcentre Plus, and we are looking at what more the Government can do. My hon. Friend mentioned the Welsh ProAct initiative. That programme provides training for employees who have been put on short-time working, and offers an alternative to redundancy through retraining on days that are not being worked. It also includes support to ensure that apprentices complete their training.
Colleagues at the Welsh Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills—DCELLS—have been in discussions with a number of Corus companies. Those include Corus Strip Products, Corus Distribution & Building Systems and Corus Colors, which are preparing business case applications for ProAct support. They have also been briefed on the support available to employees through the Redundancy Action Scheme, ReAct, mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon (Dr. Francis).
Mr. Cawsey: As I mentioned, during Prime Minister’s Question Time, the Prime Minister has indicated that he was looking for ways to push a scheme such as ProAct out across the country. I accept that the Minister might not be in a position to answer that point today, but perhaps he could write to hon. Members to let us know what progress is being made.
Although I agree with the general point about subsidy and the dangers of dead-weight, does the Minister not accept that in the TUC and Federation of Small Businesses proposal, dead-weight is specifically addressed? That can be avoided through careful control, to which my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough (Ms Smith) alluded. We can get the benefits without the disadvantages. It is about subsidy and links to training, which we need while people are in work rather than on jobseeker’s allowance.
Ian Pearson: I understand my hon. Friend’s point. The Government have talked to Welsh colleagues about the ProAct scheme. We are familiar with how it operates and we are aware of the request that was made in the submission to which he referred. He mentioned the comment made by the Prime Minister about the ProAct scheme; that issue is currently being discussed in other Government Departments. Our position has always been that a general wage subsidy scheme would not be appropriate for the UK’s economic circumstances. However, we are keen to look at how we could provide further support, principally through selective training assistance. My hon. Friend will be aware of a number of things that we have already done, such as introducing greater flexibilities in the Train to Gain system.
By the end of August 2008, Train to Gain had helped more than 100,000 employers and 570,000 employees in England to get training, with over 290,000 learners achieving a qualification. We have supported more than 1,000 steel company sites this academic year, ranging from producers of basic metal to manufacturers of fabricated metal products. I appreciate the point that my hon. Friend made about the strategic importance of steel and the importance of the supply chain.
Dr. Kumar: I recognise the difficulties that the Minister highlights. Has he sat down with the management of Corus and said, “Given all the problems and difficulties that you have, how else can we help?” Has he had any discussions with Corus at board level?
Ian Pearson: There have been a number of meetings between officials in my Department—and in other Departments—and Corus staff. Those have been about our responsibility in terms of the United Kingdom, but as I said, there have also been meetings between Welsh officials and some of the Corus Welsh plants. Some Corus subsidiaries in Wales have been preparing business cases for future support and the ProAct scheme. We have been talking to them through the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills about the flexibilities available in the Train to Gain programme.
Dr. Francis: Have those discussions included the trade unions?
Ian Pearson: I understand that the discussions have included the trade unions. It is important for the UK to ensure the continued success of the steel sector as it goes through difficult economic times. We seek to provide what support we can through training packages, and we continue to be in dialogue with the steel industry and the supply chain about that.
I want to point out other measures that the Government have introduced, such as the enterprise finance guarantee scheme and support for companies in the supply chain that need help with cash flow during these difficult economic times. We will continue to explore with Corus and other employers in the steel industry whether we can offer more practical support. I recognise that these are serious issues for my hon. Friend’s constituency and for those of all hon. Members who have intervened during this short debate. We will continue to discuss those important matters and to provide what sensible support we can at this time.
University for North Northamptonshire
1.30 pm
Mr. Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con): It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Williams, and I thank Mr. Speaker for granting me this important debate. The issue is extremely important to my constituents in Kettering, as well as to those of my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone), who is in the Chamber, and of the Minister of State, Department of Health, the hon. Member for Corby (Phil Hope).
The Government launched their university challenge in March 2008. In response, a local partnership was formed in north Northamptonshire comprising all four borough and district councils, the county council, Tresham institute of further and higher education, the university of Northampton, Northamptonshire Enterprise Ltd, North Northants Development Corporation and the Learning and Skills Council. That partnership has pledged its commitment to preparing a business case for the university challenge proposals for a multi-site, dispersed higher education centre that will provide a full offer of higher education in response to student demand.
Tresham institute currently offers a small number of higher education programmes in Kettering, Wellingborough, Corby and east Northants, but it would be able to deliver a wider range through its three existing campuses in Kettering, Corby and Wellingborough if the university challenge application were successful. A large local petition is supported by the local Evening Telegraph and has attracted thousands of signatures. The partnership submitted an expression of interest to the Higher Education Funding Council for England in October 2008, and I am delighted that the scheme has been shortlisted as one of the 27 that are being put forward for the 20 available places. Consultants acting for the partnership are preparing our business case, which the partnership intends to submit to HEFCE by June 2009.
The university challenge project is one of the Government’s better ideas. When it was announced, Ministers said that they believed that
“a local high quality higher education centre can open up the chance of higher education to more young people and adults who previously may never have thought about a degree while helping drive local economic and social regeneration. Economists estimate that every extra job a university creates is matched by another elsewhere in the economy.”
When launching university challenge, the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills said:
“In these challenging economic times never have universities and colleges been more important to education, economic development, regeneration and the cultural life of our rural areas, towns and cities.”
I could not agree more. Indeed, a delegation from Kettering, Corby and the rest of north Northants went to see the Secretary of State in his office in June 2008. After that meeting, he said:
“I thought it was an impressive presentation. The team that came to see me have really understood the main points of the university challenge and how they can bring economic development to”
Under the rules of the university challenge project, an expression of interest has to be made by a sponsoring university. The university of Northampton is heading the bid to HEFCE for a university in north
Northamptonshire and it is strongly supported by the second sponsor, the university of Bedfordshire. The expression of interest, which was submitted in 2008, said:
“The Secretary of State’s...‘New University Challenge’ was warmly welcomed by local authorities in the north Northamptonshire area, by Tresham Institute of Further and Higher Education (TI) and by The University of Northampton (UN)”
and others, because it provides
“both a stimulus and an opportunity significantly to enhance, extend and deepen access and wider participation to higher education in the north of the county.”
“UN has been developing its relationship with TI to this end, but the Secretary of State’s paper has generated a multi agency commitment to and support for the establishment of (a) formally recognised Higher Education Centre(s) to serve the needs of both young and mature HE learners in the Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and East Northamptonshire Boroughs”
and districts. It went on to say:
“The initiative also has the full support of Northamptonshire County Council (NCC), the Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited (NEL), the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and the North Northamptonshire Development Company (NNDC). NNDC has agreed to provide overall leadership and co-ordination of the preparation of a bid, via The University of Northampton, and the University of Bedfordshire has expressed its willingness to join the partnership.”
I want to point out early on that the bid is a unified and united one. Whatever the political differences between elected representatives in north Northamptonshire from time to time, they have all signed up to the bid. Everyone has put their signature on the same bit of paper, and there is no difference between any of us, because this issue is so important to the future of our local area, particularly for economic growth.
Mr. Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con): My hon. Friend makes a powerful case, as always, on behalf of not only his constituents, but the constituents of all north Northamptonshire Members. We certainly welcome the idea of the university, but is my hon. Friend concerned about the Government’s commitment in this area? The further education college at Tresham institute was due to expand—approval had been given in principle—but the Government have since rowed back, and there does not seem to be the same commitment as before. Is he concerned that that might happen with the university as well?
Mr. Hollobone: It is an uncertain time for Tresham institute, which is one of the colleges whose application for funding has been caught up in the crisis at the LSC. The chief executive of that organisation resigned only yesterday, and I very much hope that the Department will get on top of the issue soon, because it would be a sad day for north Northamptonshire if Tresham institute had to put its plans for expansion on hold due to a central Government funding mix-up.
North Northamptonshire is located in the biggest growth area outside the capital city in terms of future housing development. It is a designated Government growth area, and its population of 310,000 is due to increase by 30 per cent. to 400,000 by 2021. Some 52,000 new homes will be provided, as well as, we hope, 47,400 new jobs, although rather more might be required due to the economic recession. It is the largest and
fastest growing housing growth area outside London, and the combined area will become the size of Bristol or Nottingham, and larger than Milton Keynes or Peterborough. However, all those other places have higher education centres, while north Northamptonshire does not, and no plans have yet been approved for higher education to be expanded in our local area.
Future employment and inward investment opportunities in north Northamptonshire will require a talented work force with higher vocational skills and qualifications than we currently enjoy. The need and demand for vocational higher education in north Northamptonshire is strong. The existing skills base in the northern part of the county is lower than it could be, and the accessibility of locally situated higher education campuses in Kettering, Corby and Wellingborough is the key to unlocking local talent.
I should like to read from a letter that I have received from Jim Hakewill, the leader of Kettering borough council. It says:
“Congratulations on securing this debate which relates to a vital part of our intention to create sustainable communities in North Northamptonshire...Some six years ago a non-retractable deal was struck with government that if we”—
“were to accept being part of the government’s sustainable community's strategy, the sequence of events would be Infrastructure - Jobs - Homes. Local people expect no more, or less, from their community leaders to deliver on this deal.
As soon as the opportunity to bid for the expansion of University education, available to all, was announced we (local government and education partners) set aside any political or geographical barriers and embraced the opportunity to bid for this investment in our and our children's future...The North Northamptonshire University locations will enable people who otherwise would have no opportunity to gain these qualifications to do so, throughout their lives, not just as they leave school or college.
Drawing down infrastructure investment and bringing the skills and opportunities required to enable University education to be available in North Northamptonshire is a pre-requisite for fulfilling existing and future employers' investment in our area. It is therefore also a crucial factor in the ‘deal’ made with government to accept growth in our towns and villages. Since those first expressions of interest the position has become even more crucial with the economic crisis the country faces and the obvious impacts on our existing local economy. There are particularly young people whose families cannot meet the cost of their children moving away to gain a university education.”
Councillor Hakewill goes on to state that through Kettering borough council’s
“membership of Milton Keynes and South Midlands leadership group we have been asked, not least by minister Iain Wright MP”—
in the Department for Communities and Local Government—
“to put forward projects that can be quickly brought to completion and which will help boost the economy. I can see few better opportunities to achieve both the government’s and local people’s ambitions for North Northamptonshire than to fast track the decision-making process and allocate the relevant funding to establish this much needed educational opportunity.”
This is surely the point. Under the Government’s sustainable communities plan, it is intended that 47,400 new jobs will be needed in north Northamptonshire by 2021. However, even before the economic recession got a grip, current trends suggest that it is not yet clear from where at least 19,000 of those jobs will come. Although manufacturing accounts for 22 per cent. of the north Northamptonshire economy— compared with just 11 per cent. in the UK as a whole—the area is starting to move
away from the traditional industries of the 1980s and it needs relevant high-level skills to accommodate change. At the moment, a local higher level skills shortage is restricting future potential growth.
Mr. Bone: Wellingborough is faced with an unusual situation in that unemployment is more than 50 per cent. higher than in 1997. Some 17 per cent. of the adult population have no qualifications at all, compared with the national average of 13 per cent., so there is a real need to improve the skills level in Wellingborough.
Mr. Hollobone: My hon. Friend is right. One of the important things about the university challenge bid is that the locations for a further education offer are already in place in Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough. A university could be bolted on to such locations. The template exists locally in the three major towns in north Northamptonshire to provide doorstep access to higher education for many local people who currently do not aspire to it. If people do aspire to higher education, they currently have to go further afield to access the higher education that they seek.
Tresham institute is already developing its higher education offer. However, if the university challenge bid were successful, it would provide some rocket fuel to those ambitions. Tresham institute’s concept and approach to higher education in north Northamptonshire includes:
“The validation of Higher Education and Higher Level Skills that relate to the economic and skill needs of the community of North Northamptonshire.
Significant opportunities to attract ‘new learners’ who might not have previously considered Higher Education and Higher Education Progression.
Diploma line developments and a linked line to Higher Education and Higher Education Progression Opportunities from the schools sector”,
“employer engagement and enabling part-time flexible upskilling.”
This year, Tresham is establishing higher education programmes in business and fine art, and level 5 in accounts. Next year and in 2011, there will be further higher education programmes in health and care, sport, public services and additional education programmes. A further seven higher education programmes are planned for 2011 to 2013.
In the guidance that HEFCE has issued on what will make a successful bid, it lists among the criteria some of the following, all of which are met by the bid from the north Northamptonshire education partnership: increasing higher-level skills, particularly for those with no previous experience of HE; the creation of a highly skilled work force, with relevant skills for the local business community; supporting appropriate progression arrangements; supporting a sustainable demand for studying; stimulating a sustainable demand for studying; collaboration between higher education institutes, and between HEIs and further education colleges; and strong, coherent support for local partners. In addition, it also states that a new higher education centre would contribute to meeting the needs of local, regional and national employers.
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