Silicon Valley Bank

Greg Clark Excerpts

Monday 13th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Science and Technology Committee.

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

I strongly welcome the decisive intervention that has been described, which has saved many UK tech businesses and jobs. Will my hon. Friend consider how the responsiveness of UK regulation, which was demonstrated overnight, combined with the strength of the City of London and our tech sector, provides an opportunity to attract more businesses to do their financing in the UK and means that they do not need to go overseas to get the financing that they require to start up and grow?

[Andrew Griffith]

My right hon. Friend, who does such good work for the science and technology community through his Committee, is absolutely right. The technology and life sciences sectors want our Government to be joined up and decisive, and to remove unnecessary regulations, while still operating in a high-quality regulated environment. We now have the opportunity to go a lot further—to deliver the Edinburgh reforms and to combine our aspirations to be a science superpower with the ferocious financing strength that we have here in the United Kingdom.

IMF Economic Outlook

Greg Clark Excerpts

Tuesday 31st January 2023 Commons Chamber

[James Cartlidge]

I did not question the IMF forecast—that is not correct. I simply quoted what the IMF said, that cumulative growth over the 2022 to 2024 period is predicted to be higher than in Germany and Japan and at a similar rate to the US.

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

I remind the Minister and the shadow Chancellor that forecasts are just that. They are subject to substantial revision. I remember in 2012 the IMF downgraded the forecast, only substantially to upgrade it the following year. The key thing is to have a long-term approach. Will the Minister confirm that the Government will build on the Prime Minister’s Mais lecture and the Chancellor’s excellent speech on Friday and complement that with a clear industrial strategy so that investors can have a clear view of the Government’s business policy, as countries such as the US, Japan and South Korea are doing?

[James Cartlidge]

My right hon. Friend speaks with great expertise as both a former Secretary of State and a Select Committee Chair, and he is absolutely right. Whatever forecasts say, we have a clear strategy for long-term growth in this country that comes from supporting high-growth sectors. I am glad he mentioned the Chancellor’s speech on Friday, which spoke about the fact that we are only the third economy in the world with $1 trillion tech sector—I know the shadow Chancellor does not like that fact, but we are—and we should be proud of that. Of course we want to build further on that. That is how we will deliver strong, sustainable growth in every part of the United Kingdom.

Autumn Statement

Greg Clark Excerpts

Thursday 17th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

First, on the opportunity to be the world’s next silicon valley, I want Northern Ireland to be a central part of that. In fact, we have agreed to explore funding a trade and investment event in Northern Ireland, to attract more inward investment into the Province for that very reason. I am aware that when it comes to fuel poverty issues, it is a different situation in Northern Ireland. I have had a number of discussions with my officials, and I am aware that energy consumption patterns are slightly different. I will write to the hon. Gentleman with details on that, and I am happy to engage with him separately.

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

I congratulate the Chancellor on his meticulous and positive statement, which will be very well received in the science and technology communities. When we invest in research and development, we lay down a path to high-paid jobs, discoveries that change people’s lives and export earnings. The commitment that he has made is the biggest increase in R&D funding in the history of this country. Will he work with the Business Secretary to develop a strategy through which businesses can invest alongside the commitment he has made today, so that we can get the most out of that commitment?

[Jeremy Hunt]

There has been no stronger backer of science and research and development than my right hon. Friend, and I will absolutely make that commitment. There are a lot of elements in the industrial strategy he put together that we can learn from and weave into what we do next. He is right: this cannot happen with Government money alone. We need to work in partnership with brilliant British innovators and make the most of the incredible opportunity we have.

Economic Update

Greg Clark Excerpts

Monday 17th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

I welcome the Chancellor’s statement. If further steps are required, will he do whatever it takes to restore the UK’s fiscal credibility?

[Jeremy Hunt]

I will.

The Growth Plan

Greg Clark Excerpts

Friday 23rd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I am glad to hear the hon. Gentleman’s optimistic assessment of my growth plan, but he is entirely wrong. What we have to do is focus on growth. That is what we are doing and that is what we will be delivering.

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. He is absolutely right to focus the Treasury on growth. One of the most important sources of that is to build on our excellence in science and innovation. Will he say whether he is still committed to reaching the 2.4% international average for research and development investment by 2027 and to achieve his target of £20 billion by the end of this Parliament?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend’s tenure in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He was a great Secretary of State who really championed science. I tried to do the same in that post. I look forward to engaging with him on the science agenda going forward.

Financial Statement

Greg Clark Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I have a lot of respect for the hon. Lady, but on this matter I believe she is wrong. She has incredible hindsight to point out now issues that neither she nor anybody else raised at the time. Quite the opposite, in fact: I was told daily in this Chamber to get money out not in weeks and months, but in hours and days. Putting longer fraud checks in place would have taken weeks, so I stand by the decision that we made.

We have put various safeguards in place. We have blocked £2 billion of bounce back loans—60,000 because of the checks at Companies House. The National Investigation Service and the National Crime Agency are in the process of successfully prosecuting dozens of people. We are striking people off from Companies House and we are investing more today in the NCA, NATIS and the British Business Bank so that they can work on the interventions that we know are doing very well. I think it is wrong for hon. Members to pretend now that they wanted to do something at the time, when they did not.

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

I congratulate the Chancellor on a tax-cutting, deficit-cutting, tax-simplifying statement that is very much in the tradition of Nigel Lawson. He mentioned research and development tax credits. Are we on track for our target for investment in R&D across the economy to reach 2.4% of GDP by 2027? When will the changes to R&D tax credits come into effect so that further progress can be made?

[Rishi Sunak]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his support; I know that this is an area of particular interest and concern for him. The 2.4% comprises two things: what the Government spend and what private businesses spend. I can reassure him that we are more than on track for the Government bit of it: we already spend the OECD average on the 2.4%, and that spending will go up by 50% over this Parliament, so the Government are doing our bit. As I said in my statement and in the Mais lecture, the private sector lags significantly internationally in how much it spends.

The changes that we are making to R&D will all come into effect in the spring next year and will be announced finally in the autumn Budget. My right hon. Friend wrote the foreword to a very helpful report on this topic. I look forward to working with him, with his Committee—the Select Committee on Science and Technology—and with others so that we get these changes right and drive up private sector investment in R&D.

Budget Resolutions

Greg Clark Excerpts

Wednesday 27th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell). I do not know whether his offer to the Chancellor has advanced or impeded his prospects in the future, but I am sure that he will look forward to the dinner none the less.

No one can be in any doubt about the central importance of science, innovation and technology to the future wellbeing and prosperity not just of this country, but of every country around the world. Yesterday, my Committee —the Science and Technology Committee—was privileged to hear from Professor Sir Andrew Pollard who, with Dame Sarah Gilbert, was one of the scientists who developed the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against covid. Their work is saving millions of lives in this country and around the world, and allowing life here and around the world to resume. The vaccine would not have been possible had it not been built on sustained research conducted by world-class scientists in Britain over many years. It is not just in vaccine development, but in almost every field of human endeavour that research and science are transforming the world, from battery technology and energy storage, as we move to net zero, to the role that satellites play in monitoring agricultural matters from space to get the best crop yields around the world.

At this most exciting and transformational time for science and technology since the first industrial revolution forged in Britain, it is obvious that our future must be even more science and innovation focused than ever.

In the industrial strategy that we launched in 2017, the then Prime Minister and I committed the UK to invest 2.4% of our GDP in research and development within a decade—the OECD average—and then to move on to 3% thereafter. We increased the public science budget from £9 billion to £12 billion a year by 2020—then the biggest ever increase. I mention this to underline the remarkable fact that this Budget will increase the national investment from public funds in research and development not from £9 billion to £12 billion, but to £20 billion a year by 2024-25.

However, the Government had previously committed in the manifesto to invest £22 billion by that year, so, clearly, it is a source of regret that the Chancellor has not been able to keep that commitment. Having said that, had the original commitment been to £20 billion by 2024-25, it would still have been regarded as a remarkable transformation in our science funding and warmly welcomed. None the less, there is a cost to commitments that are not met in terms of the confidence of investors, who are investing alongside the Government.

Having said that, the Committee and the science community were very concerned that there might be a stop-start approach to meeting this commitment because of the current fiscal difficulties, with future increases deferred until later in the Parliament and therefore more uncertain. Witnesses to my Committee talked about the importance of a sustained increase in funding rather than famine first and feast later. I welcome very strongly the fact that the increases are not just in the later years, but that there is steady progress throughout the spending review period that will give great confidence to the science community. In fact, the later increases to get to £22 billion are somewhat less than the early increases that are being made, so I hope that it might prove possible in future Budgets to find the £2 billion required to get to the target earlier than 2026-27.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

Last week, in my constituency, I met representatives from the Glasgow School of Art, who raised concerns that the creative industries were part of the original industrial strategy, but that that now seems to have been lost given where the Government are going now. Does the right hon. Gentleman share my concern that much economic activity can come from the creative industry—innovation as well as other things—and that perhaps it ought to form a larger part of the strategy?

[Greg Clark]

The creative industries play a crucial role right across the country. The creative industries cluster in Glasgow has given a great deal of boost to that city and that has been matched by a lot of private sector investment. I pay tribute to Sir Peter Bazalgette who led the creative industries review that resulted in that. The money is there now as a result of this settlement and I very much hope that the faith placed in successful programmes such as that will be maintained.

Let me say a brief word about the fact that the Budget and the spending review provide the necessary funding for our association with Horizon Europe, the European funding system. There are many advantages to that association, as science is inherently international, but we are facing difficulties with the Commission ratifying our application for association. I do worry that the delays are already leading to British research institutions not being included in bids that are being put together for some of the funding that will be available over the next seven years. As every month goes by, the attractiveness of association diminishes.

The Chancellor has confirmed to me personally that the Horizon subscription that is listed in the Red Book is guaranteed, available and set aside. It is £1.3 billion this year and rises to £2.3 billion in 2023-24, and more thereafter. We no longer get more out of Horizon than we put in, which was the case when we were a member of the European Union. We also have to pay an administration fee, which I understand to be about £200 million a year, which is about twice the administration cost of running our own domestic innovation programme. Given that and the delay, it seems to me that the science community will want to assure itself that it would not prefer the budget that the Chancellor has guaranteed to be in the hands of UK universities and research establishments so that they can deploy themselves in international collaborations.

Science is inherently international, so I share the welcome of my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield for the prospects of resuming the 0.7% target on official development assistance. I particularly welcome the increase in the Red Book for ODA funding of science, even within the spending review period. In fact, that will nearly double. The cuts to science programmes that were funded by ODA were a big blow to science, so it is good to see that funding increase.

A major theme of this Budget is levelling up. British universities and research institutions all across Britain are often the most important institution in their area for driving prosperity. I therefore hope that, with a substantially rising tide of funding, it will be possible to keep faith with the programmes of excellence that we have, while strengthening the contribution made by the regions and nations of the United Kingdom. As Professor Richard Jones of the University of Manchester said in evidence to my Committee, that is literally levelling up—advancing the prospects of the nations and regions without diminishing the investments that we already make.

The science and research community and my Committee will look in detail at what has been proposed, but we recognise this substantial commitment to science—the biggest ever increase in the science budget. Even if we regret that the £22 billion that was scheduled may be two years late in being delivered, we are relieved that there will be sustained and steady progress towards it. If the economy recovers even more strongly in future years, we hope that we will be able to get there as planned, as originally set out.

Future Relationship with the EU

Greg Clark Excerpts

Thursday 10th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

At the moment efforts are on securing a deal, and the deal that is there—the component parts of it—is in the best interests of the people of the United Kingdom and in the best interests of the citizens and businesses in the member states of the European Union. That is very clear and that is what we are all hoping for and all working towards. The question is: will the EU accept that?

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

We end 2020 with Britain as the first country in the world to be protecting its citizens against covid with a properly authorised vaccine. For millions of workers in the manufacturing sectors—automotive, aerospace, food and drink, pharmaceuticals, chemicals—to end 2020 with a free trade agreement will be a huge relief and boost to confidence, so can my right hon. Friend reinforce with the Prime Minister the opportunity for 2021 to be a very much better year for Britain than we might have expected a few months ago, and to use all his personal efforts, energy and creativity to secure a deal in the remaining days ahead?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that and assure him again of the Prime Minister’s resolve to leave no stone unturned to get the Canada-style arrangements that we would all hope for. I would say to him that, as well as a boost for our own manufacturers and scientists and everyone else in the United Kingdom, securing such a deal would be a boost for the world economy and I hope that that focuses minds over the next few days.

Covid-19

Greg Clark Excerpts

Monday 11th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

In the dark, our first instinct is to search for light. In pandemics such as this, data is light. How many people have the virus? How quickly is it spreading? What kinds of people have contracted it? How old are they? What other conditions do they have? Where do they live? Where do they work? What symptoms do they experience? Do they perhaps have no symptoms? The only reliable source of data to illuminate those essential questions comes from testing.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Ministers at the Dispatch Box used to speak of the leadership of British scientists in helping to develop tests for the presence of the virus, yet while countries such as South Korea immediately introduced high levels of testing in 79 laboratories across the country, the UK took a deliberately different approach. In evidence to the Science and Technology Committee, Public Health England said that it had considered the South Korean model, but rejected it. The alternative course that we followed saw not only a low number of tests, but a number that was falling at a point in March when the spread of the disease in this country was rampant.

We have had an extensive debate about whether 100,000 tests a day is the target. It is worth remembering that, on 10 March, only 1,215 tests were carried out—fewer than two for each parliamentary constituency represented in this House. Tests were rationed, community testing was abandoned and tests were restricted to hospital patients. We turned off the light on being able to see the detailed nature of the course of the infection in this country. The Government’s chief scientific adviser told my Select Committee that that was a mistake.

Testing capacity was taken as a given, as an operational constraint. Social distancing measures advised by SAGE were predicated on that low level of testing capacity. Rather than strategy driving testing capacity, the lack of testing capacity drove strategy. It was not until the personal initiative of the Secretary of State that testing increased to the level that other countries had had for many weeks.

A lack of testing has caused a lack of data, which has meant that too many of our policy decisions have been taken with a self-imposed blindfold. It is vital that the lesson is learned that we need to get ahead of need, not trail behind it in the various decisions that are to come, yet there are still some signs that that has not been fully recognised. The excellent national statistician Sir Ian Diamond told my Committee last Thursday that the major study of the prevalence of the virus that he is now conducting was commissioned not in January, February or March, but on 17 April. The failure to get ahead of the need for testing has deprived us of the information that we need to make well-informed decisions about not just the health of individuals—such as those in care homes to whom the previous two speakers have referred eloquently—but the reproduction and infection rates within population groups. This leads to later and cruder decisions than we could take if we had better data. That must be remedied so that in future, decisions can be taken not in the dark but with all the information that we need to make choices that represent a detailed knowledge of the situation in which we find ourselves.

Coronavirus: Employment Support

Greg Clark Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about support for the wages of employees.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Glen)]

This is an uncertain time for our country, but the Government are clear that they will do whatever it takes to protect our people and businesses from the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out further steps in the Government’s economic response, building on the initial response he outlined in the Budget last week, which included standing behind businesses, small and large, with an unprecedented package of Government backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses through this crisis. I have been working very closely with him and the banks, and they are very clear about their responsibility to make these measures work. The Government have made available an initial £330 billion of guarantees, equivalent to 15% of our GDP. That means that any business that needs cash to pay salaries will be able to access a Government-backed loan on attractive terms. The Government will do whatever it takes to support our economy through this crisis and stand ready to provide further support where necessary. As the Chancellor announced, we will go much further to support people’s financial security working with trade unions and business groups. Following his appearance at the Treasury Select Committee yesterday afternoon, the Chancellor spoke to the trade unions, and he will today be meeting the TUC, the CBI, the British Chambers of Commerce, and the Federation of Small Businesses. This will be with a view to urgently developing new forms of employment support to help protect people’s jobs and incomes through this period. I am sure that you will appreciate, Mr Speaker, that these are unprecedented times. The Chancellor has said that he will look at further steps to help protect jobs and incomes, and he will announce further details in due course.

[Greg Clark]

For much of yesterday, like many Members of the House, including the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey), with whom I have been working, I was speaking to businesses in our constituencies who are facing a crisis. With revenue collapsing and no knowledge of when normal trading can resume, they see no choice but to lay off workers now. The loan scheme that the Chancellor announced on Tuesday is not enough to prevent that. These businesses have no idea when they will be able to pay back the debts they would incur and it provides no reason to keep staff employed. In fact, the reverse is true because, the smaller the wage bill, the less would have to be borrowed. On Tuesday, the Chancellor promised that there would be employment support, but as each day goes by, businesses are making decisions that will be irreversible and if the Government do not act immediately, large numbers of people will be unemployed and registering them will put huge pressure on the welfare system. Vital skills will be lost and good businesses, which will themselves be the customers and suppliers of other businesses, will cease trading.

There is a straightforward and immediate solution. All employers have an account with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to pay tax for employees through pay-as-you-earn. The monthly wage bill is known to HMRC. Instead of firms paying PAYE to the Government, that flow should now be reversed, with the nation paying the wages of people for the next few weeks if, and only if, they continue to employ their staff. Separate arrangements would need to be made for the self-employed, but at a stroke this would save people’s jobs, save businesses and put an immediate end to the risk of contagion and help to save the economy. This is a crisis the like of which we have not seen for 100 years. It requires a response that is immediate, effective and equal to the scale of the problem. The Chancellor said that he will do whatever it takes, and do so urgently. He now needs to make good on that without delay.

[John Glen]

I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend for raising this matter. I made clear in my response the urgency of the Government’s deliberations on this—it is absolutely at the top of everything we are doing. Ministers are working flat out, 24/7, to look at all the options.

My right hon. Friend raises the specific anxieties of businesses. I recognise that the package of measures that we have put out—with respect to statutory sick pay, easier access to universal credit and employment and support allowance, the business rates relief, the small business grant facility, the local authority hardship funds and the HMRC forbearance measures—will for some not feel sufficient at this point. However, he will also know from his experience in government that it is very important that when the Government announce the measures that we wish to take to assist with supporting employees, they need to be effective and need to work. So I say to the House and to my right hon. Friend: be in no doubt that all options are being examined. We are looking at models that exist in other jurisdictions and when, very imminently, the Chancellor comes to the House, we want to be sure that what we announce will be effective.