amendment of the law
Debate between Lord Pickles and Mark Menzies(10 years, 8 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Pickles
I am not sure whether I was aware of that. I am surprised but not shocked by the revelation. It is a good job that we have had an opportunity to make that difference to the British economy.
Enterprise zones have led the way in creating jobs all over the country as well as in helping the UK to become a world leader in a range of technologies and for inward investment. The existing 24 zones have created 7,500 jobs, and multinational companies have been tempted to the UK thanks to our business rate and simplified planning offers and other financial benefits.
To sustain that momentum, we have extended the business rate discount to 2018, offering up to £55,000 off business rates a year for five years, and extended the enhanced capital allowances incentive for those zones that have it. That includes Northern Ireland’s first enterprise zone, which is being established close to the university of Ulster campus near Coleraine. That measure comes on top of the business rates announcement in the Budget for small firms and local shops. By backing new and developing businesses and offering exclusive packages to entice new investment, we are confident that enterprise zones will carry on creating jobs and specialist local economies.
Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)
I thank my right hon. Friend for the work that his Department has put in on the Warton enterprise zone to ensure that there has been joined-up thinking in Government with regard to the Preston city deal. Will he assure me that Lancashire and Warton will remain at the forefront of his Department’s thoughts?
Mr Pickles
I can assure my hon. Friend that, as an ethnic Yorkshireman, Lancashire is rarely out of my thoughts. That is also true of the enterprise zone, and I look forward to visiting it very soon and seeing him there.
The Budget has ensured that areas all around the country will benefit from steady growth. The Mersey gateway bridge has been guaranteed to the tune of £270 million, the Cambridge city deal will accelerate 33,000 houses, and the second phase of city deals will bring improved transport links and employment opportunities to 15 places around the country.
The Budget will build a more resilient economy. Working through our long-term economic plan is the only way to deliver what the British people want, which is the economic security that comes with a good job and the prospect of a better future for all. That plan has delivered economic stability and low mortgage rates for hard-working families, and it has laid the foundations for a sustainable economic recovery. I commend the Budget to the House.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Pickles and Mark Menzies
Mr Pickles
We have put in an extra £7.2 million, but the hon. Gentleman makes a reasoned point. I feel that the reforms in the national health service and giving local authorities more responsibility for health should enable us to get a much better and much more closely co-ordinated and integrated process. The movement from hospital into care or into a person’s home needs to be better organised. The Government will certainly produce a White Paper soon to deal with this. I hope that it will meet some of the problems that the hon. Gentleman mentioned.
Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)
T6. Ahead of the London elections, do Ministers share my concerns over alarms raised by local councillors in Tower Hamlets about alleged voting fraud? What steps are being taken to ensure the integrity of the ballot?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Pickles and Mark Menzies
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
My Department has been championing a series of measures to promote local economic growth. For example, our proposals for the local retention of business rates will reward councils for working with business, and will provide new incentives to drive growth. The 22 enterprise zones will generate new businesses and jobs in a targeted way across the country, from Newcastle to Newquay.
Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)
I thank the Secretary of State for his leadership in developing the enterprise zone at Warton. What steps is his Department taking to drive it and similar enterprise zones forward, and to create jobs for the people of Lancashire?
Mr Pickles
I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s kind remarks. I do not want us to become a mutual admiration society, but although my hon. Friend was initially unsuccessful in securing enterprise zones, he continued to lobby, made a very good case for them, and managed to form a coalition of the willing in industry that Opposition Members would do well to emulate. Following the announcement on 3 October, when the Chancellor invited the Lancashire and Humber local enterprise partnerships to put together a scheme, my officials worked with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Lancashire councils to produce something of which the people of Lancashire will be very proud.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Pickles and Mark Menzies
Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)
1. What steps his Department is taking to encourage local authorities to provide weekly refuse collections.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
The public have a reasonable expectation that their household waste, in all its various forms, will be collected weekly. That is why we have already ditched the last Government’s policy of imposing fortnightly collections, and we are now going to work with local councils to increase the frequency and quality of rubbish collections. We want to make it easier to recycle.
Mark Menzies
Does my right hon. Friend agree that by stopping Labour’s planned bin taxes, we are saving hard-working pensioners and families a lot of money?
Mr Pickles
My hon. Friend is absolutely correct about abolishing Labour’s plans for bin taxes, which would have hammered hard-working families. They were also ridiculous because they would have led to an increase in fly-tipping. The Keep Britain Tidy group has remarked that people would simply have dumped their garbage illegally in a bid to avoid the taxes. It seemed to me to be utterly unreasonable to pit neighbour against neighbour.