Oral Answers to Questions

Kirsty Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Martin Docherty-Hughes. I am sad to note the rather uncharacteristic absence of the hon. Gentleman. We will do our best to bear up with such fortitude as we can muster.

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

A number of small businesses in the oil and gas sector supply chain have been hit disproportionately by the oil price reduction. My hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen South (Callum McCaig) and I held a meeting last week to encourage young businesses to access different methods of capital financing so that they can grow. What are the UK Government doing to encourage such businesses to access capital finance?

[Margot James]

Although support for businesses in Scotland is largely devolved, the British Business Bank funds a vast number of companies in Scotland. It has provided £415 million of finance for Scottish companies, including through start-up loans. In addition, more than 1,600 companies in Scotland benefit from the enterprise finance guarantee scheme.

The Government’s Productivity Plan

Kirsty Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 28th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Roger Mullin]

The best thing I can do is leave that to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen South (Callum McCaig), who is an expert in these matters. He will be summing up for our party and is from that part of the country. I am aware that the Scottish Government have been undertaking considerable work on this matter. Our growth commission is under way, and part of its work deals with looking at precisely the matter the right hon. Gentleman raises. The commission is yet to report.

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

My hon. Friend would agree that the Scottish National party is doing a lot on this issue. In Aberdeen, we are holding a meeting next week with the London Stock Exchange Group so that supply chain companies can learn about alternative methods of capital financing, meaning that we can secure those industries in our city and ensure that they can continue exporting way into the future.

[Roger Mullin]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention.

I wish to move on to another area that has been addressed. I believe it was the hon. Member for Horsham (Jeremy Quin) who mentioned the importance in our society of universities, the production of higher levels of knowledge and our research capability, and how that was a tremendous attraction if we are to drive up levels of productivity. I agree entirely with him, but there is a problem that we must be willing to face. The universities are under a type of strain that they have never faced before: the threat to the research community created by the Government’s attitude towards EU nationals. I can take Members to universities in Scotland and show them people who are leaving, or planning to leave, the university and the research community because of the uncertainty created by this Government. If there is one thing the Government could do, either today or very soon after, to secure our research community, it would be to give these people absolute guarantees that they are welcome and will carry all their rights with them into the future.

Scotland has different productivity needs, one of which relates to our attitude towards immigration. I would argue that we need more immigration, of the right type. Many blockages to enhancing that immigration can be found in the Government’s policies, and I wish to give hon. Members one example. A few years ago, for the tier 1 investor visa, the Government increased the sum that people would have to have to bring into the economy to invest in British business to a minimum of £2 million. I would be very happy for Scotland to attract people with a wee bit less than that to invest in Scottish business, because they could still do a tremendous amount of good.

As the Minister knows—we have discussed this in the past—another tier 1 visa is the entrepreneur visa. Residents and citizens of England or Scotland do not need bags of cash to become an entrepreneur. Indeed, some of our most wonderful entrepreneurs started with very little but an idea. What do we say to people who want to come here as entrepreneurs? At the moment we are saying, “You have to produce, in advance, a detailed business plan to be assessed.” It is doubtless to be assessed by the Home Office. They have to produce a business plan of how they will start a business in the UK, even though they are not in the UK. That strikes me as a wee problem to begin with. Secondly, they need a minimum of £50,000 in their back pocket to bring in with them to invest here, along with the business plan. We would never ask that of people who live here domestically. There are therefore things that could be done to sort out a number of the supply-side blockages that prevent us from attracting some of the investors and entrepreneurs who could do so much to help to build capacity and improve productivity in our society in the longer run.

Finally I wish to touch on skills, which has also been mentioned. Many years ago—it was 1990 or 1991—in the early days of “competence-based qualifications”, we had a body called the National Council for Vocational Qualifications, which was based in London. The people there had seen me on a television programme, so they called me to ask whether I would come down to give it some advice. Because they waved a cheque in front of me, and being a Scotsman, I readily agreed. They said to me, “We have a problem with competence-based assessment. We are unsure that it is actually delivering and accrediting people for their competence.” I did a piece of work that they subsequently published, which I have never seen refuted, in which I said that the method of competence-based assessment operating in the UK would generate a vast number of false positives—that is, a large number of people who receive qualifications but are not actually competent. That might be a contributing factor to the fact there is no evidence at all that those who come into the labour market with competence-based qualifications are doing anything to enhance productivity in our society. There is therefore a long way to go, but it has been a privilege to take part in the debate.

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[Michelle Thomson]

I am aware of that, and I have had conversations with the Minister, Macquarie and the Green Investment Bank. The fundamental concern is that, potentially, Scotland risks losing an asset in terms of the headquarters in Edinburgh. Despite the assurances of the preferred bidder—let us call it Macquarie—I will be watching this matter very carefully, because there is a risk that we will lose head office functions and the board. Going back to my hon. Friend’s point, it is building an infrastructure that enables productivity and these kind of things to succeed. If we put in public capital investment and we then do not get the value from it, that seems to me to be short-sighted and misguided. Equally, without the firm commitment to maintaining jobs in Scotland, all the productivity plans and industrial strategies in the world will not address the regional disparities that we see in Scotland, especially if we promptly roll away all these things.

On carbon capture and storage, we have spent £100 million on two competitions to try to kick start this new technology. We heard yesterday on a BEIS Committee day trip to Edinburgh that that is very difficult, and I accept that. As my hon. Friend the Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Roger Mullin) commented, we must be prepared to take risks to drive things forward for future gain. We accept that £100 million has been spent, but if we do not press ahead with some of these proposed projects, our country could once again lose its competitive advantage, and we cannot rule that out and forget about it.

I am most concerned by some of the narrow-minded views that have been exhibited in some of the debates around Brexit. They have a pervasive narrative that sounds isolationist and deeply disappointing when it comes to the wealth of opportunities of renewable energy. For example, a new interconnector between Scotland and Norway will soon allow the transfer of wind power and hydro power between the two nations, allowing them both to cut their emissions. This is not the time for retrenching and retreating. Construction has also started on a new 1 GW interconnector to France, further demonstrating our inter-dependence with our European neighbours.

Let me move away from energy and quickly dwell on some of the other issues that have been most affected by Brexit in the productivity plan. The first is the issue of international students. In the BEIS report on the productivity plan we said:

“We recommend the Government does not allow migration pressures to influence student or post-study visa decisions. It is illogical to educate foreign students to one of the highest standards in the world only for them to leave before they have had an opportunity to contribute to the UK economy.”

I have a story from my constituency of Edinburgh West. A remarkable young man, Mr Olubenga Ibikunle, won a substantial sum of money to do a PhD in civil and coastal engineering. As soon as he completed his course, he was turfed out. The level of his ground-breaking research, commitment and dedication to self-improvement means that he is exactly the sort of person that we would like to keep in Scotland.

The Prime Minister refused to consider removing students from net migration targets when she was in front of the Liaison Committee. I hope that she will reconsider her position, because international student numbers are already beginning to fall as evidenced by the latest immigration statistics. We cannot allow our position as a world leader for international students to be eroded by a dogmatic fixation on an arbitrary target of tens of thousands of migrants.

[Kirsty Blackman]

Obviously, Scotland’s higher education sector is a huge success story and does fabulous work. The Smith Commission explicitly mentioned that we should be looking at the possibility of a post-study work visa in future for Scotland. The UK Government have announced that they might consider that for some universities in the south of England, but that does not help universities in my constituency, or in the constituency of my hon. Friend.

[Michelle Thomson]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Part of the problem could be solved by devolving those powers to Scotland so that we can protect our own higher education sector.

We have also heard this month from the chief executive of Innovate Finance, Lawrence Wintermeyer, who told the BBC that

“Brexit has had a chilling impact on investment.”

Investment is vital to industrial strategy and productivity. Wintermeyer backed up his statement with figures that show venture capital investment in FinTech firms, which is vital for my city of Edinburgh, has dropped in the UK from £970 million in 2015 to £632 million in 2016. In objective 12 of the productivity plan, the Government used Innovate Finance’s investment figures as a measure of success.

Finally, the productivity plan wanted to

“help deliver a Europe that is more dynamic and outward focused...by accelerating the integration of the single market, completing trade agreements, and improving the quality of regulation.”

Industrial Strategy

Kirsty Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 20th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Hannah Bardell]

If only it were as simple as that; the arrangement might be somewhat more complex.

The steel sector in England and Wales has been crying out for support, yet the Government were flat-footed in their response. In contrast, the SNP-led Scottish Government worked tirelessly to find a new operator for the Dalzell and Clydebridge plants. Our First Minister said she would leave no stone unturned and that is exactly what she, her Government and the Scottish steel taskforce did.

What next for industrial strategy? We are all wondering and waiting with bated breath. When the Prime Minister created the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy she brought together two of the most significant Government Departments. It is good to see a sharper focus on industrial strategy, even if only in name. As we all know, this Government are expert in meaningless rebranding. Of course, there are two areas missing from the departmental name—innovation and skills. The Minister touched on those aspects and it is vital that we continue to focus on them.

We see as key to a successful strategy sustainable and inclusive growth which closes the gender gap and ensures that women and people of all backgrounds across our society are welcomed and included in our workforce. We need to be seriously more ambitious about a diverse workforce. In March this year the Equality and Human Rights Commission published a damning report which said that women were being held back by the old boys’ network. It stated, as the BBC reported, that

“nearly a third of the UK’s biggest companies largely rely on personal networks to identify new board members”,

and that

“most roles are not advertised”.

An EHRC commissioner was quoted as saying:

“‘Our top boards still remain blatantly male and white’”.

The study, which looked at appointment practices in the UK’s largest 350 firms, which make up the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, found that more than 60% had not met a voluntary target of 25% female board members.

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

On that point, does my hon. Friend agree that the studies that came out recently about the motherhood penalty are particularly concerning, and something the Government need to tackle as soon as possible?

[Hannah Bardell]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. These issues transcend party politics, and I know the Conservatives are doing their best, but, unfortunately, it is just not good enough, because in 2012-13 and 2013-14—the period of the study—fewer than half of the companies increased their female board representation. The Equality and Human Rights Commission said the problem was particularly acute with executive roles, where nearly three quarters of FTSE 100 companies, and 90% of FTSE 250 companies, had no female executives at all on their boards during the time covered by the study. Despite the fact that there are no longer any all-male boards in the UK’s FTSE 100 companies, the Equality and Human Rights Commission said very clearly that the “headline progress” of Britain’s biggest companies was “masking the reality”. Closing the gender pay gap, at which Scotland is already outperforming the UK, should also be a key priority.

Skills and innovation must be at the heart of the UK Government’s approach to industrial strategy. A statement released by the Prime Minister on 18 July outlined that apprenticeships and skills will now be under the jurisdiction of the Department for Education. The new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy deals with business, industrial strategy, science, innovation, energy and climate change. I and others fear that removing apprenticeships and skills from matters of industrial strategy as part of that shift may lead the Government to lose focus on the skills agenda. We look for certainty that that will not happen.

We have seen a strong focus on those areas in Scotland as a result of the Scottish Government’s labour market strategy, which will provide up to half a million pounds to support the fair work convention; double the number of accredited living wage employers from 500 to 1,000 by next autumn; and provide £200,000 to Business in the Community. The strategy also encourages innovative ideas about how to bring business and Government together to form a fairer, more inclusive society.

On the subject of employee participation in industry, I welcome the remarks the Prime Minister made when launching her campaign to be Conservative party leader about putting employees on company boards. I hope she honours that commitment. I am a big supporter of employee contributions to company decisions, and particularly of co-operatives. Having spoken previously about the benefits of co-operatives not just to their businesses but to the engagement and success of employees themselves, I hope the Minister intends to follow through on that promise. Will he also look specifically at the apprenticeship levy and its application to co-operative companies? I have spoken to a number of companies, including companies such as John Lewis, that are concerned they are being treated unfairly under the apprenticeship levy.

At this early stage, while the strategy is still being formed, let us remember what truly drives a fair and productive industry: investing in a diverse, skilled workforce, from apprenticeship to pension; working together with business, local and international; and encouraging innovation from the bottom of the workforce to the top executives. The Government need to get a grip.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

I have spent a lot of the past two days in the Chamber, and it has been pretty instructive. Yesterday I learned the word “contemporaneous” and today the word “oligopoly”, which I had not heard before, so I feel as though I am learning things. The thing that I have not yet learned is what an industrial strategy is, because everybody in the entire Chamber has come up with a different idea of what they think it is and what it should be. I am not going to break with that; I am going to say what I think an industrial strategy should be.

As Members would expect me to say, oil and gas should be top, front and centre of the UK Government’s industrial strategy. It is, without question, the most important industry in the UK. Over the five years from 2008 to 2013, the average annual tax revenue from the oil and gas industry was £9.4 billion. That figure represents direct production taxes; it does not include all of the economic benefits to wider economic areas that the UK Government have also seen.

The industry is not having the best of times: the oil price is low and we are struggling and losing jobs. Things are not all that much fun in Aberdeen and the north-east, which is why it is even more important that this Government commit to ensuring that the oil and gas industry is right up there in the industrial strategy. The oil and gas industry has a bright future, but we need to ensure that Members in this place in particular understand what is happening in the industry and take positive action to secure its long-term future.

Aberdeen city, Aberdeenshire and, indeed, the UK as a whole are the absolute gold standard for the oil industry across the world. If a technology is being used on the UK continental shelf, companies know that it will be accepted anywhere across the world and they will say, “That’s brilliant. It’s the gold standard and we should do that.” The Government need to ensure that that continues.

There is no doubt that we will be taking oil out of the North sea for a long time yet. People can have a discussion about exactly how many billion barrels of oil are left, but everybody agrees that there are billions left. We need to ensure that we maximise the amount of oil that we extract from the North sea, and that our supply chain companies are supported to continue to do the brilliant work that they do on the UKCS and in exporting. It is an export industry. In 2013, Aberdeen had the fourth highest number of patents per head of population of any city in the UK. It was not quite the highest, but we have done an amazing amount of innovation in our city, and we are acknowledged to be a centre of excellence. It is impossible to overstate how valuable that has been to the UK Treasury. We have paid taxes to it for years and we will continue to do so.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Until we are independent.

[Kirsty Blackman]

Absolutely. We need to ensure that we get UK Government support now and that companies are incentivised to invest. If they stop investing, the industry will not have a bright future. Some companies are struggling with cash-flow issues. The UK Government need to inspire confidence in the industry by ensuring that private equity people invest and that banks continue to do so. The industrial strategy must express the UK Government’s confidence in the future of the oil and gas industry. That is really important for Aberdeen, the north-east and the wider UK. So many jobs are indirectly linked to oil and gas, and we need to keep them.

I want to address a couple of the things that were mentioned earlier. On apprenticeships and the young work force, Aberdeen has an initiative called “Developing the Young Workforce North East”, which is a brilliant piece of work linking industry with schools. It resulted from Ian Wood’s 2014 report, “Developing the Young Workforce”, which was presented to the Scottish Government. We are making really positive moves and it is being widely welcomed and recognised. The UK Government should consider incorporating it into the industrial strategy.

I thank the Minister for listening and ask him please to make sure that the oil and gas industry is at the top of the industrial strategy.