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House of Commons
Thursday 15 March 2012
The House met at half-past Ten o’clock
Prayers
[Mr Speaker in the Chair]
Oral Answers to Questions
Business, Innovation and Skills
The Secretary of State was asked—
Apprenticeships
2. Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con): What steps he is taking to promote apprenticeships; and if he will make a statement. [100019]
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable): The Government have prioritised apprenticeships. As a consequence, final figures show that in the full 2010-11 academic year there were 457,200 apprenticeship starts, an increase of 63.5% over the previous year. Over the past two years, the number of apprenticeships for 16 to 18-year-olds has increased by a third and that for 19 to 24- year-olds has increased by two thirds.
Matthew Hancock: May I commend the Secretary of State most warmly for what he and his Department have done on apprenticeships? In particular, may I shower praise on the absent Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, who has driven this programme forward? The number of apprenticeships in my constituency has increased by almost two thirds in the past year, so will the Secretary of State ensure that some of the pre-work training—for instance, at the British Racing School, where I joined an apprenticeship scheme on the gallops—can continue under the new scheme being set up?
Vince Cable: I am happy to be showered with praise by the hon. Gentleman, and I entirely share his appreciation of the work done by the absent skills Minister. Indeed, there has been praise from a more independent source than either of us: I believe that the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee has, rather unusually, acknowledged the considerable contribution we make through our apprenticeship programme. I am not aware of the anomaly that the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Matthew Hancock) points out, but it is an important one and I promise to investigate it.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op):
The Secretary of State knows that Labour Members like apprenticeships and welcome anything that expands
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genuine, good apprenticeships. But the fact is that if we are to end this inter-generational worklessness in our country, we need a new culture where nobody expects to go into unemployment at least until they are 25—that is the way to go. To change the culture, people need to be in training, education or work—no alternative.
Vince Cable: The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right and I do not disagree with a word he says. The culture is changing; there is a great appetite in business to take on apprentices and among young people to apply for apprenticeships. I am sure that everybody in the House agrees that apprenticeships are important—we are actually doing something about them.
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con): Is my right hon. Friend aware that the number of apprenticeships in Harlow has increased in the past year by 76%? Is he also aware that we have a very strong bid for a university technical school in Harlow? Does he not agree that university technical schools will put young people on the conveyor belt to apprenticeships?
Vince Cable: Yes, I do agree, and we need to acknowledge the contribution that Lord Baker has made. He worked on this idea for a long time before it became fashionable, and it is now being implemented. It is extremely popular with young people and with employers, and the Government are getting behind it with financial support.
Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op): I recently visited a number of apprentices in my constituency in apprenticeship week, and I commend the work of Hackney community college in this respect. Interestingly, the apprentices were doing training courses, but a lot of them had no real prospect of a job at the end of their apprenticeship. What can the Secretary of State say about the Government’s plans to convert apprenticeships into long-term employment for these young people?
Vince Cable: The whole point about apprenticeships is that they are training for people in work, which is why they are attractive to employers and to people who apply for them. The normal practice is that people are in work, they upgrade their skills and they proceed. The overall economic benefit to the economy was recently spelt out by the National Audit Office: for every £1 of taxpayers’ money that goes in, the overall economy derives a benefit of at least £18.
3. Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con): What steps he is taking to enable small and medium-sized companies to offer high-quality apprenticeships to young adults. [100020]
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable): We are making it easier and quicker for small and medium-sized companies to take on an apprentice by simplifying and speeding up the process for employers. Additionally, we are making available up to 40,000 incentive payments of £1,500 to help small employers recruit their first 16 to 24-year-old apprentice. A small and medium-sized enterprise review is under way to identify further ways of engaging SMEs in high-quality apprenticeships.
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Peter Aldous: Although the apprenticeship grant for employers initiative is welcome in my constituency, where there are many SMEs, does the Secretary of State agree that the scheme would have even more impact if the rule prohibiting the participation of companies that have taken on apprentices in the past three years was relaxed?
Vince Cable: I understand the frustration of employers who have a good record on apprenticeships and feel that they are penalised in such a way. If we had unlimited money, we would meet the hon. Gentleman’s expectations, but the scheme that I have described is restricted to new companies that are taking on apprentices for the first time. It has to be that way for financial reasons, but I would have hoped that companies with a good record in apprenticeships will have seen the benefit of them and will offer them for good commercial reasons.
Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab): Terrible youth unemployment figures were released from my constituency yesterday. Companies continue to tell me that they cannot get banks to lend them money. What representations has the Secretary of State made to his colleague, the Chancellor? He promises to ensure that more money is available for small businesses, but what representations is he making to ensure that more money is available so that such businesses can take on more apprentices?
Vince Cable: The Chancellor and I discuss this problem constantly because it is a real issue for SMEs. As a result of the Merlin agreement last year, there was a significant increase in lending to small-scale enterprises beyond what they would otherwise have had. I recognise that it is a continuing issue and I am sure the Chancellor will have some ideas in the Budget about how to extend it further.
University Applications
4. Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab): What assessment he has made of the level of applications to English universities for courses commencing in September 2012. [100021]
The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts): With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall answer this question with Question 17.
Mr Speaker: Order. The Minister will not do so, notwithstanding his extremely good intentions, as the grouping is broken for the very good reason that the hon. Gentleman in question has withdrawn his question. Nevertheless, we look forward to hearing the Minister’s mellifluous tones.
Mr Willetts: In that case, Mr Speaker, I shall reserve my answer to the question before us.
The latest UCAS figures show that 30.6% of UK school leavers applied to university, down from 31.4% the year before but still the second highest on record. This will still be a competitive year for access to university, like any other, as people continue to understand that university remains a good long-term investment in their future.
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Andrew Gwynne: I am grateful to the Minister for that reply, but what measures are the Government taking to ensure that the supply of places in 2013 and beyond matches the demand for places at English universities given the drop in applications for the 2012 entry and the confusion over student number controls for 2013 and beyond?
Mr Willetts: We will continue to offer a large number of places at university and they will continue to be very well funded. Indeed, the latest figures from the Higher Education Funding Council for England show that the funding for university teaching will go up from £8.9 billion this year to £9.1 billion next year and £9.6 billion the year after. That money is coming through in fees and loans—not fees that students have to pay up front—to ensure that we have strong, effective universities that can continue to educate many students.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD): That is welcome news, but from what my constituents have said one would not judge that from what is said at university open days. Institutions seem still to be seeking to attract students on the basis of their existing facilities, be they educational or otherwise, rather than providing information about value for money for the cost of their tuition. What is the Minister doing to encourage universities to publish data such as drop-out rates, teaching time, contact time with students and student satisfaction rates?
Mr Willetts: My hon. Friend is absolutely right that students need to have access to such information. That is why we have identified the 17 key sources of information to which students attach most importance, and that should be available on Government websites before the start of the next round of university applications.
Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab): Is the Minister aware of the double whammy faced by universities such as Plymouth that are losing hundreds of students because of a combination of two of his policies, which are to redistribute 9% of their students to cheaper universities while allowing the elite universities to have unlimited numbers of students who get two As and a B. Will he look again at that policy, which will have a serious impact on the south-west economy?
Mr Willetts: Our policy of saying that universities are free to recruit students with AAB or better without number controls puts more power and choice in the hands of students, which is one of the key propositions of our White Paper. We need to strengthen students in the system to get universities to focus on high-quality teaching and we intend to go further with that proposal.
Shabana Mahmood (Birmingham, Ladywood) (Lab): The Minister caused unacceptable confusion and uncertainty for students making applications and to higher education institutions last year through his introduction of the core and margin model. Will he take this opportunity to agree with us and to heed calls from across the sector that there should be no further changes to core and margin in the next academic year?
Mr Willetts: We are considering this in the light of the experience that universities are having, but we have made it absolutely clear that the direction in which we want to go is for more choice for students and more flexibility for universities. The timings will depend on the experience of universities.
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Inward Investment
5. Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con): What recent progress he has made in increasing inward investment. [100022]
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable): In December 2011 the Office for National Statistics reported a record stock of foreign direct investment in the UK at £731 billion. The Government are determined to continue to improve the UK business environment to make us a global investment location of choice. The recent major automotive investment by Nissan and the expansion of Jaguar Land Rover are very good examples of that.
Stuart Andrew: I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that answer. Attracting inward investment is going to be a key element of aiding our economic recovery. Will he inform the House of any figures he might have showing how the United Kingdom is doing in this area compared with the rest of Europe?
Vince Cable: Britain is the third-best attractor in the world of direct foreign investment and the leading country in Europe. That remains the case; indeed, the position has been strengthened by the decisions we have taken over the past 18 months.
Mr Geoffrey Robinson (Coventry North West) (Lab): I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. The Secretary of State knows that this news is very welcome throughout the House and that we are delighted to see new jobs and production coming to the UK. I gather that JLR is doing that at Halewood, as well as Nissan, which is great news. Is there a danger, however, that the money for the investments being supported by the Government could be coming from the regional growth fund? If that is the case, will he confirm that there will be enough funds in it? Is there a danger of the smaller companies that are applying being crowded out? It is a challenge fund, as he knows, and on those grounds even very good and worthwhile projects could be rejected.
Vince Cable: The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that the regional growth fund played an important part in key decisions such as Nissan’s decision to expand its operation in the UK. There is, of course, a limited amount of money; it is a challenge fund. It is because we recognise that the regional growth fund is a very valuable source of funding that we have extended it by a further £1 billion, and there is currently a new process of application taking place.
Alok Sharma (Reading West) (Con): We are rightly hearing a lot about the special and essential relationship between the UK and the US this week, but one of the other special and essential relationships the UK has is with India. Does the Secretary of State agree that growing inward investment into the UK from countries such as India clearly demonstrates the success of UK Trade & Investment’s inward investment strategy?
Vince Cable:
Indeed, and I am flying out to India tonight to pursue this issue—I think it will be my third visit since I became Secretary of State. I shall be making exactly that point—that Indian investment in the UK is extremely welcome. We are attracting more such investment
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and leading Indian companies such as Tata and Sahavirya Steel Industries are absolutely valuable to our economic recovery.
Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op): But it is not just about increasing inward investment; it is about retaining it. I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement about the automotive industry and the increased inward investment, but there are persistent rumours that there might well be reductions in inward investment in parts of the automotive industry. What actions is the Secretary of State taking to retain that investment and to retain jobs in this country?
Vince Cable: The hon. Gentleman’s starting point was a positive one and a right one. I understand that production in the automotive industry has increased by 20% over the past year, and a lot of that is due to inward investors. If he is referring to uncertainties about the future, I am of course well aware of the problems surrounding General Motors. Within the Government, I am working very closely with the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, my colleague the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr Prisk). I was in the United States two weeks ago talking to the chairman and chief executive about that. I have to say that the Government, the trade unions and the British management have put forward an extremely powerful case not just for staying in the UK but for expanding.
Graduate Employment
6. Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con): What steps he has taken to encourage universities to publish data about the employment of their graduates. [100023]
The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts): Improving student information on employment to support informed choice is at the heart of our university reforms. From this September, the new key information set will provide the information that students say they want, including on graduate salaries and employment. Going to university improves job prospects overall, with 84% of graduates in employment compared with 67% of non-graduates.
Mr Wilson: I thank the Minister for his answer. Speaking as a history graduate who went on to be an entrepreneur, I should like to know whether he has a view on why only 3.5% of graduates set up their own business in the first six months after leaving university. What can we do to increase that figure?
Mr Willetts: My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we ought to be doing better on this, and that was one of the tasks that we set Sir Tim Wilson, who has just produced his excellent report. We are doubling the number of enterprise societies to which students have access and we want every university and college in the country to have an enterprise society that helps students know how to do what my hon. Friend did.
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab):
While visiting an engineering company in Luton this week, I was told yet again that companies are finding it hard to recruit British engineering graduates and are having to take
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graduates from overseas. Are the universities simply not producing enough engineering graduates, or are graduates going to other jobs and working overseas?
Mr Willetts: We are seeing an increase in the number of engineering places in universities, which is very important because it is just what the British economy needs as it rebalances. There is also a challenge on where engineering graduates go, and we of course hope that more of them will work in industry. As we see manufacturing in Britain strengthening, as it is under the coalition’s policies, I am sure that more recruits will go into industry.
Business Growth
7. Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op): What assessment he has made of the ability of other Departments to encourage business growth. [100024]
18. Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab): What assessment he has made of the ability of other Departments to encourage business growth. [100039]
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr Mark Prisk): With your permission, Mr Speaker, and assuming that both Members are present, I will answer Questions 7 and 18 together.
All Departments are assessing how they can remove barriers to growth through the growth reviews. That has led to more than 300 actions being identified, and the Cabinet has met twice in the past month to ensure that delivery of these actions is on track.
Mark Lazarowicz: The Minister and the Secretary of State might recall that over a number of months I have called for the headquarters of the Green investment bank to be located in Edinburgh, so it is only right that I record my welcome for the decision to do just that. The Minister’s Department might be supporting the green economy, but other Departments do not always seem to see its value in supporting growth. Will he have a word with the Chancellor to emphasise the importance of supporting the green economy, particularly in the light of some of his recent statements on the matter?
Mr Prisk: I am pleased that the hon. Gentleman is pleased that the headquarters of the Green investment bank will be located in Edinburgh, which is important so that we can get a genuine centre and cluster of green finance expertise, although there was a “but” at the end of his question. I can say to him that the entire Government are committed to ensuring that we develop renewables. Whether in relation to finance or technology, we are committed to making real progress, and in the past 12 months we have done precisely that.
Nick Smith: The Public Accounts Committee has found that small and medium-sized defence contracts, such as those for new armoured vehicles, are being squeezed out by big-ticket items that are over budget, such as aircraft carriers. Will the Minister ensure that the Ministry of Defence backs prime contractors and supply chains, such as General Dynamics UK in south Wales, so that British business can deliver the best equipment and the jobs that we need?
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Mr Prisk: Absolutely. Defence Ministers and I regularly discuss that. There is a clear White Paper and a strategy. The hon. Gentleman is right that we need to look at not only prime contractors, but the UK-based supply chain, on which we are making good progress, but we are alert to the danger that larger contracts can sometimes block out some of the smaller opportunities for indigenous UK businesses.
Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con): The Department currently administers 48 different business support schemes, many of which have further sub-schemes that run from them, all rightly aiming at supporting and assisting business, and other Departments also run such support schemes. Does the Minister accept that there could well be a need to rationalise some of those schemes in order to simplify the process and take out some of the inefficient bureaucracy behind them?
Mr Prisk: My hon. Friend is right. Two things need to be done: first, we have to cull the schemes that have not worked, a good number of which we inherited, I am sorry to say; and, secondly, we have to ensure that the schemes are easier for businesses to use. We have created a finance finder so that businesses, rather than having to look at which scheme to use—an equity investment, export or loan support scheme—can secure finance with a number of simple questions. We will be developing and launching that app so that every business, small or large, can apply and get the answers they need quickly.
Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con): The International Monetary Fund recently published a report stating that it expects the British economy to grow faster than those of France and Germany. Is not that down to the fact that this Government are cutting corporation tax, reducing regulation and encouraging businesses, such as Jaguar Land Rover in my constituency, to invest? We are making the difference, unlike the Labour party.
Mr Prisk: That was a tricky question. My hon. Friend is absolutely right and is a fantastic supporter of industry. I think that the Labour party, beyond the jokes, needs to remember that 1.7 million people lost their jobs in manufacturing over the 13 years it was in government.
Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab): The Secretary of State, in his leaked letter last week, wrote that “a connecting thread” in the failure to provide a “compelling vision” or economic growth is
“the need for strategic and long term thinking about supply chains and the role played in them by public procurement decisions,”
“no connected approach across Government.”
That is presumably the objective of the advanced manufacturing supply chain initiative, which was launched in December. Almost five months after the launch, however, will the Minister of State confirm that no firms have yet received help because not a jot of progress has been made? In the light of missed opportunities throughout Whitehall, whether in green technologies, feed-in tariffs, trains, Royal Navy tankers or nuclear technology, how on earth does Ministers’ dawdling help British businesses grow and win contracts? No firms helped—yes or no?
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Mr Prisk: In that diatribe—[ Interruption. ] In that diatribe, which I think we all recognised—
Mr Prisk: The point—to answer the hon. Gentleman’s question, if he would like to have an answer—is very simple: we are making good progress on skills, innovation and the supply chain. But is it not right for a Secretary of State to look at progress over 10, 15 and 20 years? Is that not what Governments should do? The Opposition need to bear it in mind, because, if the Labour party in government had looked 10 or 20 years ahead, this country would not be in the mess that we are having to clear up.
Careers Guidance
8. Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con): What steps he is taking to ensure universal access to independent and professional careers advice and guidance. [100025]
The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts): I congratulate my hon. Friend on his work as chair of the all-party group on social mobility. Social mobility is at the heart of our plans for careers guidance, and I am pleased to confirm that we will publish a document, alongside the launch of the national careers service in April, setting out everything that the Government are doing to ensure that young people and adults have access to information and advice on learning and work, and receive support to move forwards in their lives.
Damian Hinds: I thank my right hon. Friend very much for that answer. It is absolutely true that good information, advice and guidance are essential for social mobility. Will he place a particular focus on disadvantaged youngsters to ensure that their ambitions are not limited, bearing in mind that often the best advice is to “Keep your options open”?
Mr Willetts: That is absolutely correct, and often even the most disadvantaged young people have high ambitions, but they do not know the route to achieve them. That is one of the crucial things that information, advice and guidance can secure, including advice and guidance on the key A-levels that will be needed if they wish to study at university.
Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD): I thank the Government for the work done so far. May I encourage Ministers to keep pressing so that all youngsters at school have guaranteed face-to-face careers advice and guidance, and all school leavers and older people have access to careers advice and guidance in their local colleges? The Association of Colleges is very keen on schools and colleges being a place where such information can be provided to all in the community, of all ages.
Mr Willetts: I thank my right hon. Friend for his very important work in that area. The Department for Education will publish statutory guidance for schools very soon, and it will make it clear that schools cannot discharge their duty simply by relying on in-house support or by signposting to a website. My right hon. Friend is absolutely right as well about the importance of face-to-face guidance.
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UK’s Science Base
9. Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab): What recent assessment he has made of the UK’s science base. [100026]
The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts): Britain’s research base is the most productive among the G8, and the Government are committed to maintaining that world-leading position. That is why funding for science and research programmes has been protected with a flat-cash, ring-fenced settlement of £4.6 billion. On top of the £1.9 billion capital funding announced as part of the spending review, we have since announced a further £495 million of capital investment in science.
Stephen Timms: It is national science and engineering week, and the Minister and I are both taking part in a mathematics event today. Does he agree with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, however, in the letter to the Prime Minister that was reported last week, that the Government’s science policy is “piecemeal” and:
“The Technology Strategy Board…is operating on a shrinking core budget and thereby missing valuable opportunities”?
Do we not need a long-term strategy, such as the one that was set out in 2004?
Mr Willetts: The Technology Strategy Board does an excellent job and has a crucial role, and if the right hon. Gentleman looks at the board’s core funding, together with the funding that is available for its new technology and innovation centres, he will see that its funding has increased.
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con): The Minister will be aware that Britain produces tens of thousands of enthusiastic and bright science graduates every year, yet the majority of them go into non-STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—jobs. What can the Government do to ensure that more of these skilled science graduates go into manufacturing and engineering?
Mr Willetts: Ultimately, of course, these decisions must be made by individuals, but we want to make it absolutely clear that students have the opportunity to understand the options available; that is why there is going to be an enterprise society in every university. It is also very important that in the recruitment milk round during the months up until taking their final degrees, students have the opportunity to learn about work in SMEs and work in manufacturing, alongside work in the other classic recruitment areas.
Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab): Research undertaken by the House of Commons Library this week shows that our science investment is being cut by 14% by this Government, while Germany and China are increasing theirs. Moreover, it says that the UK is becoming an innovation follower, as one of only a handful of countries in Europe to cut its science investment—and the Secretary of State would appear to agree. In this science and engineering week, will the Minister finally explain why he is damaging our science and engineering base?
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Mr Willetts: Given that we had to sort out the mess in the public finances that we inherited from the previous Government, the cash protection for our science budget is evidence of the coalition’s commitment to science. We can be proud of the fact that with only 1% of the world’s population we produce 14% of the world’s most important science articles. We are increasing investment in capital. It is a great pity that the hon. Lady did down what is still the world’s finest science base.
Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) (LD): The Government’s investment in the new technology and innovation centres will allow the excellence of UK science to be used to develop commercial technologies. Will the Minister give us a short update on the setting up of these important institutions?
Mr Willetts: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We will be setting up seven such centres, which will tackle the long-standing problem that we have excellent science in Britain but do not always make the connection between research and its commercial applications. These new centres, all across the UK, will bridge that gap and strengthen our economy as a result.
Employment Protection Law
10. Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab): What representations he has received on the potential effects of his proposed reform of employment protection law. [100029]
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable): I receive a wide variety of different representations on employment law reform, including from business groups and trade unions that I meet on a regular basis. The reforms aim to give business greater confidence to take on staff, while protecting fairness for employees.
Nia Griffith: Will the Secretary of State confirm that his consultation on no-fault dismissal has been delayed because, as one Lib Dem put it, “Conference delegates will go mental”? If even his own party members are against it, why does he not stand up to Downing street and reject this despicable policy?
Vince Cable: Actually, it is proceeding today.
Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset) (Con): Does my right hon. Friend agree that countries with flexible labour laws have the best growth and those with inflexible labour laws have the highest unemployment; that the more we can do to ease employment by reducing regulation the better; and that this should be done as a matter of urgency, especially in the context of Europe?
Vince Cable: My hon. Friend’s basic premise is correct. I am sure that he has read the recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which said that Britain has the second most flexible labour market in the OECD, and that is what we want to retain.
Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab):
First, I congratulate the new Minister for employment law, the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb). I am disappointed that he is not answering this question, but let me put it on record that he has been
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courteous and constructive in his role so far, and I wish him at least a modicum of success.
[
Interruption.
]
That is as far as my generosity goes, I am afraid.
With no plan for growth and consumer confidence at its lowest in decades, the Government are trying to make it easier to fire, rather than hire, people. There is an ongoing pitched battle between the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Downing street, with the Secretary of State being dragged kicking and screaming to a no-fault dismissal consultation on which, indeed, a written statement was issued only 10 minutes ago. The new Minister said in October:
“I think it would be madness to throw away all employment protection in the way that’s proposed, and it could be very damaging to consumer confidence”,
and suggested that it was crazy. Does the Secretary of State agree with his new Minister?
Vince Cable: The interesting thing about this controversy is that we are being attacked with such vehemence from the left and the right, which suggests that we are just about in the right place.
Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD): We welcome the publication of the Beecroft report today. Leaks reported in the media suggest that something of a fire-at-will culture will be instilled. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, at a time when many employees are suffering an uncertain future and feel vulnerable, that would do nothing for good employment relations or, indeed, for productivity?
Vince Cable: The so-called Beecroft report had a series of recommendations, most of which were sensible and unobjectionable, and are being implemented. Indeed, we are championing some of the recommendations, for example those on visas, in Government. So far, there is one area of disagreement, which relates to the no-fault dismissal issue. We want to strike a balance between making it easier for micro-companies, which have genuine difficulties with staff management because of their small scale, and the danger of creating general insecurity in the labour force. I will proceed on the basis not of ideology or vested interests, but of evidence. That is why we are calling for evidence today.
Traditional Craft Industries
11. Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con): What steps he is taking to promote the status of traditional craft industries. [100030]
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Greg Clark): Our craft industries contribute £3 billion a year to the British economy and are an important source of new apprenticeships. As they have been neglected in the past, the Government have formed the craft skills advisory board to ensure that practitioners have a voice in Government, and have established the craft awards to give our craftsmen and women the national recognition that they deserve.
Sajid Javid:
In his absence, may I commend the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning for the passion that he has shown for our traditional crafts? May I also thank His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales for the interest that he has shown in
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this area? Does the Minister agree that we should do all we can to encourage more young people to work with their hands as well as their brains, which will not only allow them to earn a decent income, but build their self-esteem?
Greg Clark: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. On the subject of traditional craft skills, the enthusiasm and support of my hon. Friend the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning are matched only by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. Indeed, I understand that the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning granted an audience to the Prince and that the main topic of their conversation was the importance of traditional craft skills for the future. On that, I think there is complete agreement.
Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill
13. Mr Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Lab/Co-op): When he proposes to bring in the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill. [100032]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Norman Lamb): I hope to introduce the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill into Parliament as soon as parliamentary time allows. The Leader of the House confirmed on 15 December last year that it was a strong candidate for the second Session of this Parliament.
Mr Bailey: Given that the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills was asked to carry out pre-legislative scrutiny on the draft Bill before the summer recess last year, and that over the past six months we have had the lightest legislative programme that I can remember, what reassurance can the Minister give to suppliers that the Government are still committed to introducing the Bill, in line with their manifesto commitments?
Norman Lamb: I can give absolute reassurance to the hon. Gentleman that the Government remain completely committed to implementing the Bill, and that we will do so as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con): The Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has taken some compelling evidence from growers who have virtually no protection from month to month in their agreements with supermarkets. Will the Minister assure the House that the adjudicator will have powers of investigation and the power to levy fines on those who do not obey the code?
Norman Lamb: The adjudicator will have powers of investigation. On the question of fines, there will be a reserve power in the Bill. However, the Government take the view that the other powers, particularly the power to name and shame supermarkets, should be sufficient to have a significant effect on behaviour. If they do not have that effect, there will be the reserve power to introduce fines.
Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP): Will the Minister ensure that when the Bill emerges, it has the necessary legislative consent motion from the Northern Ireland Assembly, so that it can apply across the jurisdiction?
Norman Lamb: I will certainly look into ensuring that it does.
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Industrial Strategy
14. Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab): Whether his Department plans to develop an industrial strategy; and if he will make a statement. [R] [100033]
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable): Yes, I am developing an industrial policy, and I will continue to work closely with my ministerial colleagues on that important work. In speeches on 27 February and 6 March, I set out what that policy should be and where our future industrial capabilities should lie.
Angela Smith: In his leaked letter last week, the Secretary of State said:
“Where we know big investment decisions are going to be made…we need to put in place a strategy actively to plan how we will strengthen the supply chain”.
Does he therefore agree that a good start would be to work towards ensuring that the new Ministry of Defence tankers are built in Britain, not in Korea, and that our new nuclear reactors are made in Sheffield, not in France?
Vince Cable: A great deal of progress is being made in developing British supply chains that were whittled away to a disastrous extent with the decline of manufacturing under the last Government. If the hon. Lady looks at what is happening in the car and aerospace industries, for example, she will find that a lot of supply chains are coming back to the UK. As for her last point, on the nuclear industry, I think she is aware that the company that she represents is a regional growth fund recipient.
19. [100040] Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central) (Lab): The Secretary of State will not know this, but a high-tech company in my constituency that spawned out of Manchester university was told by its would-be venture capitalists that unless it moved from Manchester to within the golden triangle of Oxbridge and London, it would not obtain finance. Will he look into that financial gap, which has been around for a long time and prevents the dynamic growth of industry, particularly in the northern regions?
Vince Cable: As it happens, I was in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency yesterday, and I met groups of businesses with similar concerns. He is right that there is a long-standing financing gap, particularly for small and medium-sized companies looking for risk capital. The business growth fund, which is a private sector initiative rather than Government money, is already beginning to fill that gap. It is headquartered in Birmingham but, I think, has substantial outreach into Manchester.
Village Post Offices
15. Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab): What his policy is on the retention of post offices in villages. [100035]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Norman Lamb):
Government funding of £1.34 billion is in place to modernise and maintain a national post office network of at least 11,500 branches,
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with particular regard to retaining village post offices in recognition of their important social and economic role in the communities that they serve.
Michael Connarty: The Minister will recall that we went over this in some detail on Tuesday, relating to the closure of the sub-post office in Torphichen village. Can he assure me that he will contact Paula Vennells, the chief executive, and her counterpart in Scotland, Sally Buchanan, and make it quite plain that when they intend to close a post office or change the service to a Post Office Local, they must have the courage to meet the public and discuss with them what they intend to do within a month of any change becoming apparent? It appears that at the moment they are hiding from my constituents.
Norman Lamb: First, may I say that I appreciated the kind words of welcome from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray)? I guess that wishing me a modicum of success is about as good as it will get, so I thank him for that.
I appreciated the chance to debate the issue of post office closures, and particularly the temporary closure, because of the sudden resignation of the sub-postmaster, in the village of Torphichen in the constituency of the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty). I absolutely confirm that Post Office Ltd will always abide by the code of practice to ensure that action is taken quickly to restore post office services wherever possible. In his village community, everything is being done to restore those services.
Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD): I welcome my hon. Friend to his new position.
Under the last Government, post offices closed in my constituency in Courthill, Auchinairn, Westerton, Killermont and elsewhere, so I very much welcome the Government’s £1.3 billion of investment in the post office network. Will the Minister outline what the next steps will be in modernising the network so that we can all be certain that it will have a secure and sustainable future in all our constituencies?
Norman Lamb: I thank my hon. Friend. I am proud of the fact that the Government are investing £1.34 billion in ensuring that we retain the post office network, in marked contrast to the Labour party, which spent public money on closing down great chunks of the network. There is a lot of work to be done, and we particularly need to ensure that the post office becomes the front office of both local and national Government services. Post Office Ltd has already had significant success in that regard.
Companies Act 2006
16. Alun Michael (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op): What steps he is taking to promote observance of section 172 of the Companies Act 2006. [100036]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Norman Lamb): Directors’ duties were codified in the Companies Act 2006, providing legal clarity for directors and raising awareness of their duty to have regard to long-term factors in promoting the success of the company. A variety of guidance is available to directors to help them observe their legal duties.
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Alun Michael: I thank the Minister for that reply. He spells out the need for directors to make judgments that look after the long-term interests of the company in accordance with section 172. Will he take this opportunity to confirm that specific regulatory requirements, which are very often referred to as tick-box requirements, in no way trump, or have to be regarded as superior to, the responsibility of directors to make the sort of judgments referred to section 172, to which he referred in his reply?
Norman Lamb: I can confirm that the duty in section 172 is absolutely clear. The evidence of surveys shows that the duty is well understood, and it is important that directors abide by it.
Small Businesses (Access to Finance)
20. Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab): What steps he plans to take to improve access to finance for small businesses. [100041]
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr Mark Prisk): The Government are providing a comprehensive package of finance support, whether it be debt or equity funding, financial support for exports, or indeed a Business Angel co-investment fund. Next week, the Chancellor will launch the national loan guarantee scheme.
Mr Bain: With just 136 net business start-ups in Glasgow North East in the last year, and with net bank lending having fallen in every quarter of 2011, when will firms in my constituency benefit from credit easing? It is more than five months since the Chancellor first announced it.
Mr Prisk: It will be launched next week.
Topical Questions
T1. [100043] Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab): If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable): My Department has a key role in supporting the rebalancing of the economy and business to deliver growth while increasing skills and learning.
Paul Blomfield: As the Government have stumbled from the tuition fees debacle, through the uncertainty caused by core and margin and AAB, the reputational damage of international student visa policy, and the failure to develop policy on postgraduate education, will the Secretary of State admit—he has rightly identified this in other areas of Government policy—that the Government lack a compelling vision for UK higher education, and that that is behind today’s fall in our international reputational rankings?
The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts): We set out our approach to higher education in our White Paper. It shows how, even when public expenditure has to be reduced, we have been able to ensure that our universities remain well financed. It ensures that we still have more young people applying for university than in any year of the previous Labour Government. We are backing our universities.
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T2. [100044] Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con): Given that we now know that the new Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult centre will be in Glasgow, with a base in Blythe but with no regional hubs around the country as originally envisaged, will the Minister outline how the considerable expertise and resources found on the East Anglia coast can be best utilised?
Mr Willetts: The Government recognise the strong energy and offshore renewable sector in East Anglia. It is the intention that the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult will provide a national capability that will be available fully to companies from all the English regions.
Mr Chuka Umunna (Streatham) (Lab): May I congratulate the Secretary of State on his leaked letter to the Prime Minister? I know he had some choice words to say about the Opposition, but the letter describes the Government’s action to promote growth as “frankly rather piecemeal”. I could not have put it better myself. When that was put to the Prime Minister last Wednesday, he said that the Secretary of State was wrong. I think it is grossly unfair that the Prime Minister should have the last word on this, so will the Secretary of State explain why the Prime Minister is mistaken?
Vince Cable: I am delighted the hon. Gentleman is focusing on that issue. As far as the leak is concerned, I am sure he is aware that it emerged from a Government Department—not mine—and was given to the Labour party, which gave it excellent publicity. If he ever finds himself out of a job, he is welcome to apply to be a press officer in my Department.
The letter had many choice words on Labour’s record in government, but it makes a strong case, which my colleagues in the Government share, and which I have set out in more detail in a couple of long speeches, for the need to get behind successful British companies and sectors, as we are doing through our training, our innovation policy and our support for supply chains. That will happen to a growing degree as we proceed.
Mr Umunna: Well, let us look at the support. The national loan guarantee scheme, also referred to as credit easing, has already been mentioned. Last October, Ministers said that they would urgently implement the scheme, yet they only submitted it to the EU Commission for approval on 10 February—more than four months after it had been announced. At our small and medium-sized enterprise lending summit in the House yesterday, RBS told us that the scheme would make little difference, that the benefits in the main would not be felt by SMEs and that the promised reduction in the cost of borrowing would be insignificant. If this is what the country’s largest bank is saying about the scheme, why should we believe it will make a blind bit of difference?
Vince Cable: The hon. Gentleman needs to wait until the Chancellor announces the scheme. It is a very, very large scheme, far exceeding other forms of Government support. The detail clearly needs to be got right, and we clearly need EU state aid approval, but I believe, as does the Chancellor, that it will make a significant difference to the terms on which small companies can borrow. He should be a little patient and wait for the Budget next week.
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T4. [100046] Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con): There are almost 4,000 small businesses in my constituency, in towns such as Alsager, Congleton, Sandbach and Middlewich, and many of them are micro-businesses. What are the Government doing to support micro-businesses and to enable them, when they want to, to develop and grow?
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr Mark Prisk): Alongside helping with things such as bank lending and the new equity schemes, I would point most obviously to the business angel co-investment fund, which is crucial to plug that equity gap for micro-businesses—not the larger equity businesses but the ones looking for funding of between £200,000 and £2 million. It is a £50 million package, and I commend it to my hon. Friend.
T3. [100045] Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab): Recent evidence has shown that those from a lower socio-economic background make up only 14% of those applying for medicine and dentistry, whereas the figure is 29% to 30% across other courses. Will the Minister say what steps he is taking to ensure that those from a lower socio-economic background are not priced out of the courses where, as Professor Sir Les Ebdon has said, they are needed most?
Mr Willetts: It is important that we have true meritocracy in access to our universities, including to medical courses. I am a great admirer, for example, of a programme run at King’s College London, linked to Guy’s and St Thomas’, that provides an extra foundation year for young people who have an aptitude for medicine but not the necessary A-levels. That is a good example of how access funding can be used to improve social mobility.
T5. [100047] Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con): Many people in South Staffordshire are concerned when they see the directors of large public limited companies awarding themselves large pay increases despite the fact that the companies are not performing. Will my right hon. Friend assure my constituents that the voice and votes of shareholders will be listened to when it comes to remuneration packages?
Vince Cable: Yes, that is absolutely the direction in which the Government are going. Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that we intend to proceed on binding votes, I announced a set of detailed proposals that will give shareholders a significantly enhanced role in the setting of pay and which will, I hope, have the moderating effect that the hon. Gentleman described.
T6. [100048] Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab): I am still receiving numerous complaints from small businesses across Denton and Reddish facing problems accessing finance for their viable business propositions. Given that the economic forecasts are continually being revised downward and the quarter 4 gross domestic product figures are showing a contraction, will the Secretary of State now act and get the banks lending to viable small businesses in my constituency?
Mr Prisk:
Although two thirds of businesses seeking a loan get it, I fully understand, having run a business myself, that for those who do not it is immensely frustrating. That is why we have extended the enterprise
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finance guarantee and saw a 13% improvement in bank lending under Merlin. But is there more to do? Yes. The Chancellor will deal with that next week.
T7. [100049] Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con): Does the Minister agree that Newcastle upon Tyne, with its great industrial heritage, will be the ideal location for a university technical college, which will provide exactly the sort of technical education that can cure youth unemployment and help meet the needs of modern manufacturing and engineering employers?
Mr Willetts: The coalition is keen to see more of these university technical colleges. They are an excellent way of linking universities and schools, and I am sure that his eloquent bid will have been noted.
Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab): Given that UK companies are sitting on some of the highest levels of cash reserves of any western nation, what steps will the Secretary of State’s Department take to release those funds for the much-needed investment in British industry?
Vince Cable: Perhaps I should say that because of the problem of large piles of liquidity in the big corporates—this is not a new problem: it has been building up over the last decade—I asked Tim Breedon, who was formerly the chief executive of Legal and General, to look at practical ways of dealing with it, such as building up supply chain finance and new forms of trade credit. It is a serious problem, but we need business to invest, and the cash is there in many companies.
T8. [100051] Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con): I was reassured earlier to hear my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State describe the work that he is putting in with GM to help protect the future of Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port. In his discussions with GM, will he remind the company that Ellesmere Port is one of its most productive plants in Europe and ideally placed to build its next-generation cars, such as the all-electric Ampera?
Vince Cable: My hon. Friend touches on the core argument. We are talking about a very productive plant, which reflects well on the management, and also on the labour force, who have been consistently co-operative. Currently the plant does not operate at full capacity; the issue for the company is how to use that production in a way that minimises excess capacity. We are confident that the UK has a strong case in ensuring that existing production—but also new models, as he said—is secured in Ellesmere Port.
Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab): The Business Secretary has just described himself as being under attack from left and right on his proposals to weaken employment protection laws. Where on that spectrum would he put Fiona Dawson, the managing director of Mars UK, who has said:
“I would like to see something that makes it easier for the workforce but it’s got to be fair. So I would not support employees’ rights being removed. I think we’ve got to make sure that it is fair, not just for businesses but for employees as well”?
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Vince Cable: It is precisely for that reason that we are having a call for evidence, and the company that the hon. Gentleman has mentioned and others can contribute to it.
George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth) (Con): There is currently complete inequality between the bargaining position of small businesses and that of their banks. Many small businesses find themselves threatened with receivership unless they concede to higher interest rates or new charges. What can the Government do to rebalance the law in favour of enterprise?
Mr Prisk: We can do what good Conservatives do, which is to introduce competition. That is why we are ensuring that we get new entrants into the market, so that the four or five that take the view that they have an opportunity to dominate the market are unable to do so. Let us get the new entrants in. I am proud that, as a coalition Government, that is precisely what we are doing.
Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab): The most successful defence-exporting countries procure and buy from their own home-grown industries. How will the approach that the Ministry of Defence is now taking—buying off the shelf in open competition, without any regard for British firms—help us to export more to the rest of the world?
Mr Prisk: We need to ensure that we get the very best value for money on behalf of the taxpayer, but do we need to ensure that procurement contracts reflect good indigenous British businesses? Yes, and that is exactly what is reflected in the White Paper. That is the approach we want to take.
Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con): Does the Minister agree that when a company goes into administration, wages owed to its staff should be the top priority? Will he take steps to ensure that redundant Thamesteel workers in my constituency take priority over all other creditors?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Norman Lamb): I certainly agree that the interests of workers should absolutely take priority, and I would be happy to look into the case that my hon. Friend has raised.
Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab): I was very disappointed that despite an invitation, no Minister from the Department was on the Treasury Bench when I moved a motion to introduce the Eradication of Slavery (UK Company Supply Chains) Bill. Will one of the Ministers in the Department meet me to discuss the Bill’s ambition to eradicate slavery from the supply chains of large UK companies, following legislation in other countries?
Norman Lamb: I would be happy to meet the hon. Lady.
Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con):
I welcome this week’s report by Cranfield School of Management, which shows an increase in the number of women on company boards. Does my hon. Friend agree that this shows both how success can be achieved without imposing
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quotas and how much further there is to go before British industry can access the much-increased pool of talent that including women will reveal?
Norman Lamb: The initiative taken by the noble Lord Davies has been remarkably successful. Some 26% of appointments to directorships of FTSE 100 companies over the last year have been women. That is a dramatic improvement on the previous position, and we have every confidence that it will have a continuing improving effect in the boardrooms in this country.
Mr David Lammy (Tottenham) (Lab): Given that the Higher Education Funding Council for England is predicting more mergers and turmoil in the higher education sector, and that Asian universities are overtaking UK universities for the first time in our history, will the Minister come to the Dispatch Box and reassure the sector that it has a future?
Mr Willetts: I have absolute confidence in the future of our universities. Indeed, the Higher Education Funding Council has produced a report in the last few days that confirms that our universities are in a very healthy financial position. The extra income that they will receive through fees and loans should also increase in the years ahead. We inherited from the previous Government plans for a reduction in university science funding but, fortunately, those plans have not had to be implemented.
Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con): Does the Minister agree that, regardless of the success of the one-in, one-out policy, the fact that European Union regulations are not included in it means that the overall burden of regulation on businesses is likely to increase?
Mr Prisk: We are alert to that danger, which is why we have ensured that we have the agreement of the Commission that, for the first time that I can recall, micro-businesses will be exempt from future European directives. I hope that my hon. Friend will welcome that change.
Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab): An inquest is taking place this morning into the tragic death of 22-month-old Joshua Wakeham, who died after becoming entangled in a looped curtain cord. Sadly, such events are not rare; there were three in one month recently, and 360 in America in a 15-year period. Joshua’s mother has fairly asked why no one warned her of the danger. A campaign has been mounted by my hon. Friend the Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (Gordon Banks) and other Members to expose the danger of those cords. Will the Minister agree to meet Joshua’s family, so that we can discuss the dangers and the need for an advertising campaign so that everyone knows about the 250 million such cords in this country?
Mr Speaker:
Order. It sounds as though that matter is strictly sub judice. The hon. Gentleman has been felicitous in the way he has worded his question, but I know that,
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in response, the Minister will want to focus on the broad issue, and possibly on a meeting, rather than on the details of a sub judice case.
Mr Prisk: With your guidance, Mr Speaker, I would say to the hon. Gentleman that the broader issue is clearly one that we should all be concerned about. In the light of your advice, I would certainly be happy to look at that broad issue on behalf of the Department.
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con): I applauded the Secretary of State’s announcement, back in 2010, that the Government would cease the practice of gold-plating European Union regulations, but the vast majority of businesses in this country would like to see him take a more backward-looking stance and review the 13 years of gold-plating that took place under the previous Administration. Can the business community rely on the support of the Secretary of State in that regard?
Mr Prisk: My hon. Friend is clearly thinking along exactly the same lines as the Government. We are going to look at precisely that problem, by going back through the stock of regulations that were introduced by Labour during those 13 years.
Mr Geoffrey Robinson (Coventry North West) (Lab): The Government will be aware that this is national science week, and that the Big Bang Fair is taking place at the national exhibition centre in Birmingham. I am sure that the Minister will be pleased to hear, as I was, the good news that Coventry schools have more finalists in those events than any other schools in the country. Will he find time to join me at the national exhibition centre, where we hope Coventry will win some of the prizes in the finals when those decisions are taken?
Mr Willetts: On this occasion, I can confirm that I should be delighted to accept the hon. Gentleman’s invitation. I plan to be at the science festival in Birmingham on Friday, and I look forward to meeting him there. It will be a celebration of the strength and excellence of science in Britain.
Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con): Small and medium-sized enterprises in Harrogate and Knaresborough have been telling me about the charges they face for late payments. This is a broader, national issue as well. Will the Minister please update the House on what he is doing to tackle the issue?
Mr Prisk: As we have learned, the Labour Government introduced legislation on this, but it is not working. We want to do more. We want to ensure that the Government lead by example, and we are working with business on that. We also need to reflect on the fact that half of all business transactions are entered into without any prepayment agreements. There is therefore a fundamental problem with how business is transacted. I want to look at that, rather than simply reaching for the legislative button at the first opportunity.
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Business of the House
11.34 am
Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab): Will the Leader of the House give us next week’s business?
The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young): The business for the week commencing 19 March will be:
Monday 19 March—Consideration of Lords amendments to the Protection of Freedoms Bill, followed by a debate on a motion relating to the waste water national policy statement.
Tuesday 20 March—Consideration of Lords amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill.
It may be helpful if I remind colleagues of your statement, Mr Speaker, in which you set out the arrangements for Tuesday 20 March. The House will meet for prayers at 9.45 am and the sitting will then be suspended until 2.30 pm in order to facilitate the attendance of the two Houses on Her Majesty in Westminster Hall for the presentation of Humble Addresses.
Wednesday 21 March—My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will open his Budget statement.
Thursday 22 March—Continuation of the Budget debate.
Friday 23 March—Continuation of the Budget debate.
The provisional business for the week commencing 26 March will include:
Monday 26 March—Conclusion of the Budget debate.
Tuesday 27 March—Motion relating to assisted suicide. The subject for this debate has been nominated by the Backbench Business Committee.
Colleagues will be aware that the House will meet at 11.30 am on Tuesday 27 March.
The provisional business for the week commencing 16 April will include:
Monday 16 April—Second Reading of the Finance (No. 4) Bill.
I should also like to inform the House that the business in Westminster Hall will be:
Thursday 19 April—Debate on regeneration.
Ms Angela Eagle: Last weekend, the Liberal Democrat spring conference voted against the health Bill. This week, Liberal Democrats in Parliament voted for the health Bill. It could not be clearer: the Liberal Democrat leader now takes his instructions only from the Prime Minister. Would the Leader of the House join me in congratulating the five Liberal Democrats who defied their leadership and voted against the health Bill? Does he not agree that when the legislation returns to this House next week, the Government must publish the transition risk register, as they have been ordered to by the Information Commissioner? Much better still, the Government should just drop the Bill.
This week at the Leveson inquiry we learned further details about how the deputy Mayor for Policing in London put pressure on the Metropolitan police to drop their investigation into phone hacking. The Met say that they had to remind him that the police are
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operationally independent of politicians and that operational decisions are taken by police officers, not the Mayor’s political appointees. It is especially worrying when it is a Conservative deputy Mayor pressurising the police on an investigation that involved one of the Prime Minister’s senior aides, Andy Coulson. Will the Leader of the House therefore arrange for the Home Secretary to make an urgent statement about how such inappropriate interference by the Mayor’s political staff can be stopped?
We now know that the Prime Minister is fond of going horse riding with his old school friends—when they are free. As it is the Cheltenham festival at the moment, may I suggest some horses that Government Members might want to back? As the Prime Minister is conveniently out of the country when unemployment reaches another high, he could back American Spin in the 2.40 today. With the Health Secretary’s career in terminal decline after his disastrous mismanagement of the NHS, his horse is clearly Final Approach. The Education Secretary, who is doing everything he can to undermine the Leveson inquiry, will no doubt want to put his money on Time for Rupert. And the only possible horse for the Deputy Prime Minister is running today in the 2.05: Palace Jester.
The Deputy Prime Minister has been keeping himself busy floating various suggestions for the Budget in the media. Clearly bored with hearing from him, the Chancellor decided to follow Steve Hilton to America. As his economic strategy has unravelled, the Chancellor, rather like the Prime Minister, has been increasingly reluctant to come to the House. Could the Leader of the House confirm that he is actually planning to turn up for the Budget?
I raised last week the Chancellor’s proposals to cut child benefit. The Leader of the House said that the Government’s view was clear. He said the Government’s view was clear three times, but by some strange oversight, he forgot to tell us what the Government’s view actually was. Perhaps the Leader of the House could clear up this issue. Is it fair that a household in which one parent works and earns £43,000 a year will lose child benefit, while a household in which both parents work and take home £84,000 will not? Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on fairness before the Budget? The debate on the Budget within the Government has been a shambles.
Are the Government in favour of a mansion tax or not? The Business Secretary thinks it is a good idea; the Local Government Secretary thinks it is a terrible idea. Conservative Back Benchers want a tax cut for the top 1%; meanwhile, Liberal Democrat Cabinet Ministers and Back Benchers wander around claiming that while the Tories favour tax cuts only for the rich, they themselves do not. The truth is, however, that every member of the Government has voted for Budgets that take the most money from those who have the least.
Can the Leader of the House find time for a debate on families? It is families who have been hardest hit by the Government’s Budgets, and what families want from this Budget is not Government in-fighting, but real help now to reduce the squeeze on their living standards and get the economy moving again.
Perhaps, while he is in the United States, the Chancellor might ask why the economy there is growing and unemployment is falling, while in Britain the economy
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is flatlining and unemployment is rising. The Government's economic strategy is failing, and the Cabinet cannot agree on what to do next. No wonder the Business Secretary thinks that the coalition lacks a “compelling” case, and no wonder the Prime Minister decided that he was better off out of the country on the ides of March, as far away as possible from the Mayor of London.
The right hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr Laws) has taken to warning about Government paralysis. His heart may still be in the coalition, but there is only one horse for Liberal Democrat Back Benchers now. It is running in the 2.05 this afternoon, and it is called Get Me Out Of Here.
Sir George Young: We welcome the new career that the hon. Member for Wallasey (Ms Eagle) is developing as a tipster. It will be interesting to see how well the horses that she has commended to the House actually perform.
The hon. Lady raised—yet again—the subject of the Health and Social Care Bill. It is interesting: we have had three Opposition day debates on the Bill, and I still have not the faintest idea what the Opposition’s policy is on health. Nor, apparently, does the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown). He turned up the other day to support the amendment tabled by a Back-Bench Liberal Democrat, but disappeared when the time came to vote on the Labour party’s own motion. Perhaps he had not realised that the negotiations with the Liberal Democrats had ended, some two years ago, in failure. Perhaps he, and indeed the hon. Lady, should heed the wise words of his former Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, who wrote today:
“Labour will get back into government by having a better plan for the future, not by opposing changes which are working well.”
[Interruption.] Lord Adonis clearly thinks that they are working well.
The hon. Lady asked about the risk register. As she knows, we are awaiting the detailed judgment of the tribunal before deciding what further action the Government might take.
The police are operationally independent of politicians, and rightly so. The Home Secretary will be at the Dispatch Box on Monday, when she will be happy to answer questions.
As the hon. Lady may have noticed, the Chancellor will be making a Budget statement on Wednesday. I think that the best thing to do is to put to one side the speculation in the papers about what he may or may not do, and then come along on Wednesday and listen to the real thing.
The hon. Lady mentioned child benefit. Is it fair for someone earning £20,000 a year to pay, through his or her taxes, for the child benefit of someone earning five times as much? That is the question that she needs to address. As for growth, she will be aware that the International Monetary Fund has pointed out that growth in this country this year is three times that in France and twice that in Germany.
Finally, the hon. Lady always obsesses about the relationship between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, but when even The Guardian reports, as it does today, that Labour is in “turmoil”, we know
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something must be going very badly wrong with the Opposition, and when another report uncovers that morale at Labour HQ is
“even worse than the dark days under Brown”,
we have to wonder how bad it has to get before the hon. Lady stops worrying about the coalition and starts to focus more on the chaos in her own party.
Mr Greg Knight (East Yorkshire) (Con): May we have a debate on avoiding false economies? Has the Leader of the House seen the report released this week that states that at the current rate of progress it will take local authorities some 11 years to complete the backlog of road repairs? Is he aware—he ought to be—that potholes are dangerous for cyclists and damage car suspension systems? What more can the Government do to ensure that local authorities complete roadworks diligently and speedily?
Sir George Young: As a cyclist, I am all too aware when there is a pothole on my route into the House of Commons. My right hon. Friend may have seen a recent statement by one of the Transport Ministers that said that, following last year’s severe winter, additional resources were made available to local authorities to address the pothole issue, and I think I am right in saying that the resources for local authorities over the next three years are higher than in the preceding three years before we took office. I shall, of course, pass on my right hon. Friend’s concern to the Secretary of State for Transport in order to see what can be done to make my right hon. Friend’s ride around his constituency more comfortable than it clearly is at present.
Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab): On Monday, 186 Members voted against all-House elections to the Backbench Business Committee. Of those, 119 were payroll Members. Without those Front-Bench votes, Back Benchers would have secured all-House elections by 38 votes. We all saw the pain on the face of the Leader of the House on Monday night. Can he explain the tortuous logic by which he squares the coalition’s promise to give more powers to Back Benchers with Monday’s Front-Bench intervention?
Sir George Young: My hon. Friend the Deputy Leader of the House set out in his speech on Monday the reasons why he and I believed the House should support the amendment in question. As the hon. Lady knows, all we have done is bring the Backbench Business Committee into line with all the other Select Committees and ensured that, for example, the Conservative party cannot choose which Labour Members serve on her Committee. That would be an abuse, and the House agreed, through a Division in the normal way, with the proposals put forward by my hon. Friend—and supported by the hon. Lady’s Front-Bench party colleagues. We have had that debate, and the time has come to move on.
Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD):
Two years ago, the Speaker’s Conference recommended that we should have a review of sitting hours, and one year ago the Procedure Committee launched an inquiry into that. It has been very thorough, with both written and oral evidence having been taken, and there was
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then a further consultation exercise, which closed three months ago. When does the Leader of the House think we will have the chance to vote on options for reform?
Sir George Young: There is a missing ingredient in the equation, in that we have to wait for the report from the Procedure Committee. I understand from the Chair of that Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire (Mr Knight), that good progress is being made. I have given evidence on this topic, and I am sure my hon. Friend has, too. When the report is placed before the House—I do not know whether that will be before the end of the Session—it will be important to find time so that the House can reach a decision on whether to stay with the existing sitting hours or to make changes. In the first instance, however, my hon. Friend’s question should, I think, be addressed more to the Chair of the Procedure Committee than to the Leader of the House.
Jim Sheridan (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab): Even at this late stage, will the Leader of the House use his good offices, and his significant influence with the Chancellor, to make a special plea to him to reflect again on the proposed 10% increase in air passenger duty? I fully accept that that duty was introduced by the last Labour Government, but it has risen significantly, and is now the highest in the world. If this tax goes ahead, we will be totally uncompetitive in relation to our European partners, and there will be job losses and impacts on tourism, especially in Scotland. I therefore ask the Leader of the House to speak to the Chancellor about this important issue.
Sir George Young: The hon. Gentleman makes a last-minute submission to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor as he puts the finishing touches to his Budget, and he will understand that I cannot give any undertaking whatsoever. However, there will be a number of days in which to debate the Budget measures, when the hon. Gentleman may have an opportunity to develop his case at greater length.
Mark Lancaster (Milton Keynes North) (Con): May we have a debate on local government finance? Wolverton and Greenleys town council has applied for grant funding under the Portas pilot project but has been told that if—and, we hope, when—it is successful, it is not deemed to be a suitable authority to handle the money. Given the Government’s commitment to localism and the fact that the local town council is deemed competent to raise the precept, is this situation not slightly odd?
Sir George Young: My hon. Friend may know that section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 says that a Minister can make a grant to a local authority, but the definition of “local authority” excludes the body to which he has referred—the town council. If the bid is successful, I see no reason why the money should not be “laundered”, if I may use that word, through the district council, which would be an intermediary between the Government and the town council. That may offer a way through.
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab):
Equity member Michael Sheldon recently provided a reference for a passport application for his daughter’s boyfriend, but
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the application was turned down because the passport office apparently said that acting was “not a proper job.” Will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on the massive contribution to our economy, and to the world of culture and entertainment, made by the many fine and great actors produced by Britain?
Sir George Young: Acting is a proper job, and many Members in the House prove that on a day-to-day basis. I will draw the hon. Gentleman’s concern to the attention of the Home Secretary, who will be at this Dispatch Box on Monday. I pay tribute to the acting profession, which is an important invisible earner of foreign exchange. This country leads the world in providing high-quality actors, and, indeed, some of them have been Members of this House.
Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con): May we have an early debate on the Government’s perverse and bizarre definition of equality? Why are they saying that same-sex partners should be able to have access to marriage while denying the opportunity for heterosexuals to have access to civil partnerships?
Sir George Young: As my hon. Friend knows, we have just published a consultation document with the proposition that access to marriage should be available to same-sex couples. We have already made some changes to civil partnerships; there is now access to services in church. During the course of the consultation on that document, my hon. Friend will be able to develop his argument for extending the opportunities in the way that he has just outlined, but the debate has just been launched by the consultation document and the written ministerial statement published a few moments ago.
Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab): May we have a debate or a statement from the Education Secretary on the implementation of the Government’s academy schools policy, following revelations that the first school in Exeter to apply for academy status pays its head £10,000 more than the Prime Minister and employs the head’s wife as the deputy head, as well as allegations about a company car and trips abroad on school expenses? Does that not show that there is real risk and a real accountability problem with the Government’s academy policy?
Sir George Young: The right hon. Gentleman says that it is the Government’s academy policy, but it is actually his own party’s academy policy which we are building on and strengthening. The regime for academies was developed by his party and, if I may say so, we are building on one of the successes of the previous Administration.
Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con): May we have a debate on why Southend-on-Sea, the finest seaside resort in the country, was not granted city status yesterday? The word on the street is that we were robbed, and I agree.
Sir George Young: I would hope that my hon. Friend will be broad-minded about this, in that there was success for Essex—
Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD): No there wasn’t!
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Sir George Young: I do not want to get drawn into a battle between the various tribes in Essex. I understand the sadness in Southend, but this is not a matter for the Leader of the House. I just join in commending the towns that were successful on their graduation to city status.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP): Will the Leader of the House arrange for a statement or a debate in this House on the control of raptors—birds of prey? In parts of the United Kingdom, the number of birds of prey has increased, to the detriment of songbirds, as the statistics show. Will such a statement address a review of the occasional licences to control raptors, as in parts of the UK the control of raptors is urgently needed?
Sir George Young: I understand the concern that the hon. Gentleman raises, and I will share it with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, where responsibility for that rests, to see whether we should review the current legislation in view of the damage—the extinguishing of songbirds—to which the hon. Gentleman has referred.
Brandon Lewis (Great Yarmouth) (Con): The figures published this week show a growth in private sector employment, and the enterprise zones, which promise even further employment and growth in the private sector, will start in April. I am thinking, in particular, of new enterprise zones such as New Anglia’s in Great Yarmouth, which really is the best seaside town, because we have leisure and business in one place. With these zones coming into force in April, may I ask that we have a statement from the relevant Minister to reinforce and reaffirm the excellent opportunities that they offer?
Sir George Young: My hon. Friend reminds the House that 24 enterprise zones will be providing real opportunities for inward investment and fresh jobs in those particular areas. The Budget debate will provide an opportunity to develop this further. He also reminds the House that the figures that came out yesterday show that the increase in private sector employment more than outweighed the decrease in public sector employment, and we all hope that trend will continue.
Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab): May we have an urgent debate or statement about the shortage of branded prescription drugs in pharmacies? Early-day motion 2801 states:
[That this House is deeply concerned that prescription drugs intended for UK patients are being sold abroad; notes that a recent survey of pha rmacists found that 85% were very concerned that patients were being adversely affected by shortages of such drugs; further notes with alarm research that found 40 % of pharmacists had seen patients hospitalised because of the problem; and calls on the Government to hold urgent discussions on what can be done to combat this immoral activity with devastating consequences.]
Given that figure of 40%, could we please have an urgent debate on the subject?
Sir George Young:
There will be an opportunity to discuss that on Tuesday week, when my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health will be at the
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Dispatch Box answering questions. In the meantime, I will draw his attention to the shortage of certain branded prescription drugs and the very unfortunate consequences to which the right hon. Gentleman has referred, to see whether there is any action that the Government can take to ensure that supplies are available where they are needed.
Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con): I welcome the introduction of neighbourhood planning, which will allow local communities to help shape a vision for their future. May we have a debate to encourage the take-up of neighbourhood plans, as councils such as Labour-controlled Nuneaton and Bedworth borough council have failed, thus far, to engage in empowering eager constituents of mine who want to embrace neighbourhood planning?
Sir George Young: I hope that many parish councils, town councils and, indeed, neighbourhoods will take up the opportunity to which my hon. Friend referred and draw up neighbourhood plans, which will ensure that the views of local people are taken on board as the local authority then produces its district plan. We are committed to publishing our response to the national planning policy framework consultation exercise shortly, and there may be an opportunity subsequently to have a broader debate about the planning regime.
David Wright (Telford) (Lab): Unemployment continues to rise, and it now stands at 7.2% in Telford. May we have a debate entitled “Unemployment: the Government’s strategy and how it is failing”? Perhaps the Prime Minister could lead the debate and he could tell us about what is happening in the United States.
Sir George Young: Again, there will be an opportunity in the context of the Budget debate to talk about such issues. However, it is worth putting on the record the fact that employment is also up. Women’s employment was up by 10,000 in the past quarter, long-term unemployment was down by 12,000 and the number of vacancies was up by 15,000. It is important to put things in context, and to remind the hon. Gentleman of the measures the Government are taking to develop sustainable growth and ensure that unemployment comes down.
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con): The Range leisure outlet, which began life in Plymouth in 1980 on a market stall, is about to open an outlet in Tamworth, creating scores of new private sector jobs. That is the sort of entrepreneurial spirit we need to see more of, so could the Leader of the House grant a debate on how the Government can help entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, create more private sector jobs and rebalance the economy?
Sir George Young:
I am delighted to hear what is happening in my hon. Friend’s constituency. I can grant such a debate—indeed, I have announced such a debate for four days of next week when we can explain that we are encouraging the enterprise to which my hon. Friend has referred, by cutting corporation tax, extending the small business rate relief holiday to small and medium-sized enterprises and making it harder to make vexatious
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claims for unfair dismissal. We want to encourage yet more firms to set up shop in my hon. Friend’s constituency.
Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP): This Saturday, the Royal Irish Regiment and the Irish Guards will be holding a number of St Patrick’s day parades in Northern Ireland. Following on from the excellent news that the city of Armagh will be awarded a lord mayoralty in this diamond jubilee year, can we look forward to the statement that St Patrick’s day will become an official public holiday in the United Kingdom?
Sir George Young: Speaking from memory, I believe that I have seen a response from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if not to the right hon. Gentleman then to one of his colleagues, that explains the issues that surround the declaration of new public holidays. I think it is best if I draw the right hon. Gentleman’s attention to that letter, which is somewhere in the system.
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con): May we have a debate on supporting local newspapers? In my area in recent years, we have gone from having three local newspapers to having one, so will my right hon. Friend lobby the Department for Transport to ensure that they continue to push for transport notices to be published in local newspapers, to ensure that people who do not use the internet can see the adverts and to create a level playing field?
Sir George Young: I am surprised that there is any space in the Harlow Star for anything other than reports on my hon. Friend’s activities in the House of Commons. We are consulting on proposals that would devolve to local authorities responsibility for deciding how to reach their target audience, and I am sure that my hon. Friend’s local authority will bear in mind the importance of a vibrant local newspaper when it decides how to place advertisements in the future.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op): I remind the Leader of the House that at no time in the history of this country have power, influence, employment and wealth been more dominated by London and the south-east. Is it not about time—or is it too late—to influence next week’s Budget so that we can start to redistribute some of the wealth and power to the northern and midland regions that make this country what it is?
Sir George Young: I hope that the hon. Gentleman will recognise some of the steps that we have introduced, such as the regional growth fund and the exemption from national insurance employers’ contributions for those outside the key areas to which he has referred and the launch of enterprise zones. I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor is alert to the importance of bridging the north-south divide to do more to help areas with high unemployment. The hon. Gentleman should await my right hon. Friend’s Budget statement.
Sir Robert Smith (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD):
Following the tragic news from Afghanistan about the loss of those brave soldiers’ lives and the murder of many civilians by an American soldier, and the discussions coming out of the United States about the future of Afghanistan, will the Leader of the House look in the forward programme and find time for a full debate in
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the House on our strategy in Afghanistan, both in the military and in development, and on the long-term future for Afghanistan?
Sir George Young: We are committed to making regular quarterly statements on the position in Afghanistan. I think I am right in saying that one of those quarterly statements is due quite soon and there will then be an opportunity to ask my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State about those issues. I agree on the broader question and I hope that, if not in the immediate future then at some point in the new Session, we can have a broader debate about foreign policy in Afghanistan—and in Iraq, Syria and other places.
Phil Wilson (Sedgefield) (Lab): May we have a debate or a statement on the state of public transport in Country Durham, which even the Minister responsible for employment has called poor? Things are now so bad that the Jobcentre Plus in Newton Aycliffe is considering purchasing bicycles so that people can get to work. Is it now the Government’s policy to purchase bicycles so that people can get to work rather than providing public transport?
Sir George Young: I think I am right in saying that the previous Government introduced a scheme whereby employers could make bicycles available on preferential terms to their employees, so there is a precedent. I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern about the poor quality of public transport in his constituency, and I shall raise it with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport to see whether she can take any action to relieve that problem.
Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con): With more than 300,000 school governors in this country, may we have a debate to celebrate the work they do for their schools and communities and, secondly, to highlight the need to change and adapt their role to respond to the welcome changes in our school policy, particularly on academies?
Sir George Young: That would be an excellent subject for a Westminster Hall debate; I commend my hon. Friend on his work in setting up an all-party parliamentary group on education, governance and leadership. He is right that as the school system develops and we have more academies, it is even more important that there is good local leadership and that we recruit good-quality governors to remove unnecessary burdens and distractions for schools. We need to get the right people in the right position with the appropriate skills, abilities and experience, and I think that a debate in Westminster Hall would do exactly what my hon. Friend has recommended.
Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab): May we have a debate about the mixed messages from the Government, who are telling people from the north to move to the south for jobs and people from the south to move to the north for housing? How will that help rebalance the economy?
Sir George Young: That is a travesty of the Government’s policy. We want to grow more jobs in the north, where people are, and the news that Nissan is creating 2,000 new jobs in the north-east is something that I hope the hon. Lady would welcome.
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Dan Byles (North Warwickshire) (Con): Coal continues to play a key role in our energy mix, accounting for a third of our electricity generation. May we have an early debate on the importance of domestic UK coal production in energy security, particularly in the light of yesterday’s worrying news that the Daw Mill colliery, which borders my constituency and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Mr Jones), might shortly close, with a devastating impact on the 800 men and women who work there, resulting in an increase in coal imports to the UK?
Sir George Young: My hon. Friend is right that we need a balanced energy policy, and there is a role for coal. We have put resources on one side to promote clean coal technology, and if we can overcome the environmental problems associated with the traditional coal-fired power stations, I am sure that coal can play an important role in the future supply of this country’s energy.
Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab): To mark the re-establishment of the all-party group on folk arts, following the sad death of Alan Keen MP—I was elected chair, by the way, and the vice-chair is the be-knighted Member for the town of Colchester—may we have a debate on the importance of folk arts to the economy, and in particular on the Government’s position on representing the folk traditions of the nations and regions of these islands in the Olympics opening ceremony?
Sir George Young: The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, and I am sorry if I misconstrued the same point when it was made a fortnight ago by my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell). I congratulate the hon. Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) on his election to the chair of that important group; I am sure it was done by secret ballot of Members from all parties and I commend the group for its work. It is important that the opening ceremony for the Olympics is taken as an opportunity to portray all that is good about the United Kingdom, and I agree that the elements the hon. Gentleman has identified should be part of that ceremony.
Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD): The population of England is 52 million and the combined population of the other three countries in the UK is 10 million. Over the part 12 years, 11 places have been granted city status but only four have been English towns. May we have a debate on this discrimination against England and the extraordinary criteria used by the committee that came up with the conclusions, bearing in mind that in Wales, with only two applicants, a town with a population of 130,000 was deemed not appropriate to become a city of the 21st century whereas a small community with a population of 3,500 was? Where is the logic and sanity behind that decision?
Sir George Young: There are some questions that the Leader of the House is totally unable to begin to answer, and the turf war that has broken out in Essex is something that I do not want to venture into. I understand my hon. Friend’s disappointment that his town was not recognised, but I am sure that his town is proud that he now has a knighthood.
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Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab): Let me follow up the question asked by my namesake, my hon. Friend the Member for Telford (David Wright). The Leader of the House might recall that two or three weeks ago I asked for a debate on unemployment in the north-east, but he was somewhat dismissive, in his usual courteous and gracious way, about the impact of Government policies on jobless totals in my region. Given yesterday’s publication of figures showing that 4,678 people in Hartlepool are unemployed—a rise of nearly 10% year on year—and that the north-east is still the worst region in the country for unemployment, will he rethink his position, and may we have an urgent debate on unemployment in Hartlepool and the north-east?
Sir George Young: I commend the way in which the hon. Gentleman fights for more jobs in his constituency, and I am sure that no discourtesy was intended when I last replied to his question. However, I think the answer is the same as I gave to his hon. Friend. We are going to have a Budget in a few days’ time, the Government have made it clear that we want growth to be a key part of our agenda, and I can only suggest that the hon. Gentleman should wait for the Budget and take part in the Budget debate. I very much hope there will be something in the Budget that he is able to welcome and that will help his constituency.
Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con): One thousand schoolchildren in Biddulph in my constituency have each designed a unique footprint to mark the “Take a Step for Fairtrade” campaign. Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate on the important subject of Fairtrade and other initiatives that help to support those in the greatest poverty in developing countries?
Sir George Young: I commend what the schoolchildren in my hon. Friend’s constituency have done to mark Fairtrade fortnight. This issue would be an appropriate subject for a debate in Westminster Hall. Through the Department for International Development, we are a committed Fairtrade partner, and DFID provides support to Fairtrade International—some £12 million over four years—helping to strengthen the Fairtrade certification scheme, broaden its scope and deepen its impact. I commend what is happening in her constituency.
Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab): The recent terrible events in Afghanistan have convinced 73% of the public that our troops should be brought home immediately. Similar public opinion in the Netherlands and Canada convinced those countries to bring their troops out of that combat two years ago and one year ago respectively. Should we not reflect public opinion and have a debate and a vote in this House so that we can say what the public are saying—that our brave troops should not be asked to continue a mission impossible and risk their lives for a single day longer than necessary?
Sir George Young:
The hon. Gentleman has put this view forward consistently over a period of time and I commend him for his persistence. Such a matter would be for the Backbench Business Committee to find time to debate, but he might have seen in reports from my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s visit to America about the timetable for withdrawal that we will have
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withdrawn from the combat role by the end of 2014. Also, there will be regular statements on a quarterly basis updating Members on the position in Afghanistan; he might want to ask a question in response to one of those statements.
Guto Bebb (Aberconwy) (Con): A report in last week’s Sunday Telegraph highlighted the mis-selling of complex interest rate swap products to small businesses, such as a hotel in my constituency owned by Mr Colin Jones. Those businesses clearly did not have the financial expertise to understand the risks to which they were being subjected as a result of signing the forms. The cases that have been highlighted are merely the tip of the iceberg, so may we have a debate about this issue and about the reluctance of the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Ombudsman Service to get involved in this mis-selling and protect the businesses in question?
Sir George Young: There might be an opportunity for my hon. Friend to raise this issue when the Financial Services Bill returns to the Floor of the House having completed its Committee stage. In the meantime I shall raise it with my hon. Friends at the Treasury. I would say, however, that anyone who is thinking of investing in such products should take independent professional advice before signing any contract.
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab): Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency figures show that requests from private car park operators for vehicle registration data have increased dramatically—by more than 300%—in recent years. Those data are used to issue fines to motorists, and more than 1 million motorists have received fines in the past year. Transport Ministers say that new measures coming on stream will tackle this problem, but they will not. Motorists deserve a fair deal, so may I press the Leader of the House again for a debate on car parking management?
Sir George Young: I understand the issue that the hon. Gentleman raises, and I shall touch base with my right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary on this, but he will know that we are banning cowboy clampers. I hope that will bring some consolation to the motorists to whom he refers.
Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con): Given the interest on both sides of the House, may we have a debate on the labour market? As the Leader of the House has acknowledged, the statistics published this week show, beneath the headline figures, a fall in long-term unemployment. They also show that while there has been a 380,000 reduction in public sector employment since the general election, the private sector has created more than 630,000 jobs.
Sir George Young:
As my hon. Friend says, we are seeking to rebalance the economy so that there is less cost in the public sector, which is being downsized, with that being compensated for by growth in the private sector. The figures he has mentioned outline the progress we are making in that regard. He also underlines a point that was made in earlier exchanges about having a well-educated work force. The investment we are making
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in apprenticeships is part of the process of giving people the skills they need to find work in the private sector as it grows.
Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab): Given the very belated statement we had last week on Remploy factory closures and the point-blank refusal of the disability Minister, the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the hon. Member for Basingstoke (Maria Miller), to take up the offer of the Welsh Government to take over responsibility for Remploy factories in Wales and put in expertise to improve their viability, may we have an urgent debate on the Floor of the House about strategies for making Remploy factories viable?
Sir George Young: My hon. Friend the disability Minister made a statement to the House on this last week, and then answered questions. I point out that the party of the hon. Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) closed 28 Remploy factories, and that there is a change in the way we are helping disabled people. There is more and more emphasis on finding work in mainstream employment for those with a disability, and less reliance on places of employment such as Remploy, which is sometimes referred to as being segregated. The money saved by the closure of Remploy factories is being diverted into giving more personal help to people with a disability to find work in mainstream employment. We are not saving any money at all; indeed, we are putting £15 million more into the access to employment scheme within that budget. I would welcome a debate on the future of Remploy, but I honestly believe that the policy on which we are embarked is in the best long-term interests of those with a disability, and it has been supported by most disability organisations.
James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con): Conservative-led Dudley council has launched a £1 million new business loan fund. Given the figures that were published yesterday showing that 60,000 more people were in work in the west midlands than at the time of the election, could we have a debate on how local initiatives can help to drive jobs and business growth?
Sir George Young: We can indeed have such a debate: on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and—[Hon. Members: “Saturday?”] No, not Saturday—on Monday. We are doing everything we can to support businesses through this difficult time, and I was interested to hear about what is happening in Dudley. We also have the business growth fund of £2.5 billion—a bank-led investment scheme without any Government money—investing in businesses across the country in return for a 10% equity stake. My hon. Friend might like to promote that scheme in his constituency.
Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP): Can the Leader of the House arrange for a statement or debate about the appointment of an independent oversight team to watch over current live police investigations? Does the Leader of the House not find it peculiar that one of the members of the team is a political appointee and a Member of the other place? Should not the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland make a statement about this matter, especially as it has national security implications because some of the murders involve key witnesses in national security cases?
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Sir George Young: I understand the sensitivity of this matter and its importance in Northern Ireland. I will relay to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State the concerns that the hon. Gentleman has expressed and will ask him to write to the hon. Gentleman responding to these serious issues.
Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con): In April last year Conservative councillors on Pendle borough council created a business start-up grant scheme, which over the past year has supported 76 small businesses, created 21 jobs and brought four vacant premises back into use. Given that other Government initiatives have helped to create more than half a million new jobs in the private sector since the general election, may we have a debate on the role that local initiatives can play in supporting the Government’s initiatives on job creation?
Sir George Young: I am delighted to hear about what has been happening in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Local enterprise partnerships have a key role to play in delivering this policy and helping to grow jobs in particular areas. This is part of the process, to which other hon. Members have drawn attention, of creating extra jobs in the private sector to compensate for the necessary decisions we have taken to downsize the public sector. I am delighted to hear about the rebalancing taking place in his constituency.
Mr Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab): May we have a debate on the fact that the chief constable of Gwent police has embarked on a programme of draconian spending cuts at the behest of the Home Office without any consultation whatsoever with elected representatives, the police authority or, indeed, members of the public?
Sir George Young: There will be an opportunity to raise the matter on Monday, when the Home Secretary will be at the Dispatch Box. Many police authorities, certainly in England, have been able to manage with the reduced budget available to them and ensure that front-line services remain unaffected. They have secured the necessary economies through joint purchasing and by pooling resources and moving people from back offices to the front line. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is now forewarned that the hon. Gentleman is on the war path.
Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con): In the light of yesterday’s welcome news that there has been a 70% increase in job vacancies in West Worcestershire, and a 22% increase in the west midlands as a whole, may we have a debate on the wonderful role played by our network of jobcentres, which are working so hard with local private businesses to add vacancies to the database?
Sir George Young:
I agree entirely with my hon. Friend and know that colleagues on both sides of the House regularly visit their jobcentres to see at first hand the heroic work being done to find suitable jobs for those currently out of work. She reminds the House that jobcentres are notified of around 10,000 new vacancies every day, and over the past 12 months Jobcentre Plus has received more than 4 million vacancies. The figures released yesterday show that the number of vacancies is
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up, so jobcentres have an important role to play in ensuring that those vacancies are taken up by people currently out of work.
Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con): The UK’s triple A credit rating is essential to our economic recovery. Will the Leader of the House agree to a debate on the logic or otherwise of the argument, presented by some Members, that the way to get out of a debt crisis is simply to borrow more money, and on the implications that would have on employment prospects?
Sir George Young: I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, who might like to catch your eye, Mr Speaker, during the Budget debate. It is important that we maintain our triple A status. A 1% increase in interest rates would cost the average family with the average mortgage £1,000 more a year, which is the last thing they want at the moment, and it reminds us of the importance of sticking to the deficit reduction strategy.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con): May we have an urgent statement on the operation of London transport during the London Olympics and Paralympics? All tube workers have been offered an £850 bonus because they will be required to work at short notice and possibly for longer hours, but members of the Unite union have rejected this and are calling for a no-strings-attached bonus just for turning up for work. May we have a debate so that we can expose this intransigence?
Sir George Young: It is important that the Olympics are a great success, as I am sure they will be, but it is equally important that the presence of the Olympics is not used to make wholly unreasonable demands. I think that I am right in saying that the issue my hon. Friend raises is more a matter for the Mayor of London than for the Government, and I am sure that Boris will have listened to what he has said. I hope that there will be a sensible resolution of the dispute between Unite and Transport for London so that we can get ahead and everyone can enjoy the Olympics and get there and back on public transport.
Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con): This morning The Times carried an encouraging report that there might be some movement on the extradition arrangements between the US and the UK. Given this, and the presence of the Scott Baker report, will the Leader of the House require a statement from the Home Secretary on when the House will hear the Government’s conclusions and recommendations?
Sir George Young: As I mentioned a few moments ago, the Home Secretary will be at the Dispatch Box on Monday, and I am sure that she will respond to my hon. Friend during topical questions. The Scott Baker report was published in October and my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is reflecting on it, together with the debates that have taken place. My hon. Friend refers to the statement issued after the US President and the Prime Minister met yesterday, which indicated that their teams will now get together and look at how the extradition arrangements are operating. The Prime Minister has made it clear that he would prefer more cases to be tried in the UK, rather than in America. I hope that the Home Secretary will be able to give a more authoritative reply on Monday than I have done.
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Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con): May we have an urgent debate on the state of the construction industry? The industry is not only of huge importance to the UK economy, but of particular importance to my constituency, where we have some of the largest brick factories in the country, and many companies involved in the supply of building materials. I am sure that Members on both sides of the House will be heartened to hear that growth in the construction sector is at an 11-month high, and I hope that they would all agree that that is something we need to build on.
Sir George Young: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. He reminds the House that under Labour, house building fell to its lowest peacetime rate since the 1920s. He will have seen the announcement by the Minister for Housing and Local Government on Monday about the NewBuy scheme, which will give new purchasers the opportunity to buy their first home without having to find a huge deposit. I hope that this will help to kick-start the building industry, and that builders will buy lots of bricks manufactured in his constituency.
Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con): A Westminster Hall debate this week debunked a whole string of myths about the Government’s work experience programme. May we have a debate in Government time on how we can move on, grow that programme, get more employers on board and, crucially, give Opposition Members an opportunity to break the Labour party’s eerie silence and express their support for helping young people on the road to work?
Sir George Young: I agree with every word my hon. Friend has said. It is worth remembering that some 50% of those who do work experience then find a job. We all have a role to play in our own constituencies by encouraging more employers to offer work experience to constituents who are looking for jobs, and I welcome the fact that more and more employers are offering work experience. I would welcome a debate, which might take place in the context of the Budget and would provide Opposition Members with an opportunity to show their hand and, on reflection, hopefully support the initiatives that the Government have introduced.
Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con):
May we please have a statement on how the one-in, one-out policy on
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regulation applies to private Bills? This week the London Local Authorities and Transport for London (No. 2) Bill received its Third Reading, and there are two further private Bills in the pipeline, all of which will add more to the mountain of regulation.
Sir George Young: Repealing regulation might require a Bill to be introduced, so it would be somewhat perverse if a Bill that introduced deregulation counted as more regulation, but I take my hon. Friend’s point, which he has developed—at some length—during debates on private business. We are determined to reduce the burden of regulation. He mentioned the one-in, one-out policy. There has been a review of regulation, and I hope that we can announce more progress on relieving businesses of the burden of red tape in due course.
Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con): We learned this week that the trade deficit for January was better than expected, one of the factors being strong exports of cars to the United States and to Brazil, Russia, India and China—the BRIC countries. We have also learned some further encouraging news from the automotive sector, with increases in production for Land Rover and Nissan, and data published this morning suggest a sector-wide production increase of almost 20% year on year. Of course, the vast majority of cars made in this country are exported. May we please have a debate on the progress we are making on rebalancing our economy towards manufacturing and exports?
Sir George Young: My hon. Friend reminds the House of the encouraging news about the motor industry, particularly our success in export markets. We had the good news about Nissan and about Land Rover providing more jobs in Merseyside. I hope that in the Budget debate he will be able at greater length to give examples of success in regenerating the manufacturing sector and getting a more healthy balance, with less reliance on financial services and more reliance on manufacturing, engineering and industries of that nature.
Mr Speaker: I am grateful to the Leader of the House and to colleagues, whose succinctness enabled 44 Back Benchers to question the Leader of the House in 43 minutes of exclusively Back-Bench time.