Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Hayes and Peter Bone

Monday 18th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

5. What steps schools are taking to raise awareness of the effect of human trafficking.

[The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes)]

Human trafficking is an outrage. William Wilberforce spoke of

“this bloody traffic, of which our posterity, looking back…will scarce believe that it has been suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonour to this country.”

We must be in our age as determined as he was in his to end the pain of this wicked trade in human lives.

[Mr Bone]

The Minister and the Prime Minister have shown their commitment to fighting human trafficking, but the dreadful case that was recently reported of internal trafficking within the United Kingdom shows the necessity of our schools highlighting this evil crime. Will the Minister meet me, other members of the all-party group on human trafficking and Anthony Steen to discuss how we can take the matter forward?

[Mr Hayes]

Yes, of course I will. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that schools have a vital role to play, which was why we issued new guidelines to that end. He will also know that since he last asked me about this matter—he is a doughty champion of the victims of this dreadful trade—I have, as he asked, written to charities to engage them in the process.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Hayes and Peter Bone

Monday 16th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

8. What steps his Department is taking to raise awareness in schools of domestic and international human trafficking.

[The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes)]

Tackling human trafficking is a key priority for the Government. Last October the Department for Education and the Home Office issued updated practical guidance on safeguarding children who may have been trafficked. This will help practitioners, including school staff, identify children who may have been trafficked and find support and advice. Schools may also cover human trafficking within personal, social, health and economic education if they judge that topic to be relevant to their circumstances.

[Mr Bone]

I congratulate the Government on what they have done so far, but there are a number of non-governmental organisations and charities that would like to go into schools to make pupils aware of human trafficking, the evil of modern-day slavery, and particularly internal trafficking within the United Kingdom. Would the Minister welcome such moves?

[Mr Hayes]

My hon. Friend has a noble record on this subject, as co-chairman of the all-party group alongside the hon. Members for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) and for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs Ellman), and the former Member, Mr Anthony Steen. My hon. Friend’s suggestion is most welcome. He is right. I wrote in 1998 that there is no doubt that human trafficking is today’s slave trade and that we will not rest until it is dealt with. I will write to charities as my hon. Friend suggests and invite them to do precisely what he proposes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Hayes and Peter Bone

Thursday 9th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hayes]

The hon. Gentleman is a diligent member of the Select Committee on Education, and he will have heard me say to that Committee just yesterday that I am keen to ensure that the best of what we had in the young apprenticeships scheme is carried forward in ongoing work. There were cost-effectiveness issues, as I am sure he would acknowledge, but employers, learners and parents say that there was good value in some of what the scheme did. We will take note of that and move forward on that basis.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

The issue of apprenticeships is important for the whole House, and for that reason the Backbench Business Committee has at short notice scheduled a debate on apprenticeships this afternoon. Does the Minister welcome the fact that the issue will be debated this afternoon?

[Mr Hayes]

Any opportunity that this House provides me to champion the cause of apprenticeships is to be celebrated, and celebrated this afternoon it will be.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Hayes and Peter Bone

Thursday 3rd June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Just before BIS questions, I received a phone call from the chief executive of a leading company in my constituency who is keen on apprenticeships and welcomes what the new Government are going to do. However, the company is just bigger than a small or medium-sized enterprise, and he does not feel that it gets the help and encouragement that it needs. Are we taking such companies into account as well?

[The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr John Hayes)]

Yes, we are indeed. I am having a dialogue with all the representative organisations of small businesses, and I am of course speaking to the sector skills councils, which play a key role in that regard, in building apprenticeship frameworks that are pertinent. However, as I said earlier, we need to look at the supply-side barriers and bureaucratic burdens that discourage small businesses, and we also need to offset some of the costs through our apprenticeship bonus scheme, and we will do that. We will build apprenticeships from the bottom up, for firms such as that which my hon. Friend has so nobly represented in the House today and the many others like it.