Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and Matt Hancock

Monday 10th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

Absolutely: I should love to visit Hackney with the hon. Lady. What is happening there is part of a wider drive to ensure that it is real employers who mentor and support young people and give them inspiration. It is part of a culture change that is starting to come about, and I look forward to working with the hon. Lady in that connection.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

Vocational education ought to be a genuinely dual system. May I invite the Minister never, ever to utter the sentence “It is for those who cannot attend university”? May I also urge him to realise that it is essential to tie in work experience with vocational training?

[Matthew Hancock]

I think that our minds are as one on this. I only wish that the hon. Lady had managed to convey the same message to her party’s Front Benchers when they were last in government. We strongly believe that it should become the norm in this country for young people to be able to enter either a university or an apprenticeship, that the choice should be theirs, and that our job is to provide excellent opportunities in both.

Apprenticeships

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and Matt Hancock

Thursday 14th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

Yes, I will.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

I served an apprenticeship, albeit in Germany. The success of apprenticeships in Germany is the result of the fact that they are not seen as an alternative for those who cannot go to university, but are seen as an alternative route to achieve the same aim. Will the Minister continue to stress that apprenticeships can be an alternative route, and that this is not just a question of either/or?

[Matthew Hancock]

I stress that as much as I possibly can, and the hon. Lady is well placed to make the case too.

General matters

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 21st December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Ms Stuart]

That is very true. Having grown up in Germany, I can vouch for the fact that the weather there is more regularly as fierce as it has been here. I would not advocate compulsion; the last thing that people want these days is to be forced to do anything more. It is a question of persuasion.

The Dutch managed to increase the use of winter tyres from 0.5% to more than 10% over 10 years through simple awareness campaigns. People here just do not think about the issue. I am glad to say that the Secretary of State for Transport seems to have changed his view between 2 December, when he thought that winter tyres were inappropriate, and now, when he says that those who can afford them should use them.

[Matthew Hancock]

The hon. Lady says that it is a matter of persuasion. After listening to her speech, I have also changed my mind. I am extremely persuaded and know what I shall ask for for Christmas.

[Ms Stuart]

I am absolutely delighted to hear that—[Interruption.] As my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington said, we approve of that provided it is a Dunlop tyre made in Erdington.

The key thing is for people to behave in a manner that is appropriate to the weather conditions and to think ahead and order a set of tyres—whichever ones they choose—now, so that they have them in the winter. People should not make a fuss about it. Such an approach will save people money, save lives and save the economy. It is the right thing to do and we all ought to do it.