Local Enterprise Partnerships

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Baroness O'Cathain

Wednesday 11th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, as always, the noble Lord asks a very good and detailed question, and I will follow up in writing—but £125 million of the £1 billion growth deal recently announced is addressed to skills capital, and a further £26 million to particular apprenticeships. By bringing business and local authorities together, and by looking at growth and what is needed—skills represent a particularly important constraint—the LEPs can really help to achieve our ambition of having more apprenticeships, and raising the numbers from the 2.1 million that we have had in this Parliament to 3 million in the future.

[Baroness O'Cathain (Con)]

My Lords, may I suggest that people write to Birmingham City Council and ask for details about how its LEPs are organised? As part of the team from European Union Select Committee Sub-Committee B, as part of our unemployment study, we visited Birmingham City Council and we also went out to some of the organisations funded by it and through the LEPs. That was quite revelatory. Of all the witnesses to that inquiry, those people were by far the best, and they had new ideas about how to get ex-cons and young people who had never had a job, and would not get out of bed to get one, into particular areas. Please let us not condemn a body such as Birmingham City Council, in view of the reality on the ground and the fact that the witnesses’ evidence was so good.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I thank my noble friend for drawing attention to all this and look forward to hearing fuller details. I do not think that any of us is condemning LEPs. There are always good and bad things about such organisations. My own view is that they are making a great drive forward in helping local people choose the projects we should support with government funding and matching funding from business and others.

Digital Technology: UK Labour Market

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Baroness O'Cathain

Tuesday 9th December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, as someone who used to campaign for the rollout of broadband, I am glad to say that good progress is now being made in the rollout of superfast broadband. In November, 1.5 million premises had access to it, and the number of homes and premises gaining access has doubled from 20,000 per week to 40,000 per week in August. Rural broadband has had a special scheme, which has allowed an extraordinary degree of investment in some very important rural areas, including Northumberland, where I holidayed, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Cumbria.

[Baroness O'Cathain (Con)]

My Lords, this is a wonderful story about how skills will be increased, and how various businesses will have access to broadband. What about the 1.7 million people who do not have access to broadband and do not have access to a computer? The fact is, no matter how skilled they become and however many digital lessons they have, they will not be able to use those skills. Can we just have a programme for the extension of broadband so that everybody in this country has this opportunity?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, I have talked at length with my noble friend during the passage of the recent Consumer Rights Bill on this very issue. Of course, alternative means of access—including paper—remain extremely important.

EU: Research Budget

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Baroness O'Cathain

Tuesday 2nd December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness O’Cathain]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the creation of the European Commission’s New Deal, what steps they will take to protect the European Union research budget.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Baroness Neville-Rolfe) (Con)]

My Lords, European Commission President Juncker made a statement about the investment plan last week. We are seeking to clarify details of the proposal, including any implications for the EU research budget, which is so important to the United Kingdom.

[Baroness O’Cathain (Con)]

The new deal will provide €315 billion in an attempt to improve the economy of some nation states that are still in economic slump. It is reported that the current €81 billion research and innovation budget is going to be, as the Daily Telegraph says, “gutted” and included within the new deal. I ask Her Majesty’s Government what will happen to the projects that have already been started, plans that are already made and teams that have already been drawn up to use part of the €81 billion for the research and innovation budget. The UK benefits hugely from that money. I just wonder what will happen to the academic staff and the scientists if that is completely gone.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, my noble friend is right. Horizon 2020 has been indentified as a possible source of €2.7 billion financing for the investment plan. Further detail is required from the Commission. However, it is proposing that the plan will make existing funding for research go further through leveraging private sector financing, which could deliver better value for money. However, of course the noble Baroness is right to express concern. We will be keeping an eye on the detail and the existing research teams to which she refers.

Consumer Rights Bill

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Baroness O'Cathain

Wednesday 26th November 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I thank my noble friend for his intervention and indeed for that suggestion. The whole business of costs, benefits and so on in this changing world is a very important one and the obvious answers are not always the right ones. I was trying to say that the savings are considerable and, with direct debit in particular, there are savings on both sides. In fact, 50% of those in fuel poverty use direct debit to spread the costs—so there are advantages. I do not want to discourage firms from innovating to protect and empower consumers in different ways. I do not want firms to get the message from this House that we are the enemies of progress. We have to be careful about that.

[Baroness O'Cathain]

The figures my noble friend gave us about the cost savings of doing it online in comparison with paper bills did not take into account the cost of installing broadband and buying computers to be capable of going online.