Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Thursday 26th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

It is entirely fitting that my hon. Friend should conclude his parliamentary career on such a poetic note, championing a cause he has consistently championed. It relates directly to the earlier question from the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Meg Munn), who is also bringing her parliamentary career to a close by championing the same cause. We have a huge amount to do, but inspiration is the key. We need to inspire young people that engineers are the people who go out and build things and make things happen in our society. We need many more of them.

[Mr Speaker]

The right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames) has a question down on engineering. He is very welcome to come in on this matter now if he wishes, but he is not obliged.

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

13. It’s all right—it’s not a difficult one. Further to my hon. Friend’s excellent and encouraging answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire (Sir Peter Luff), whose departure from this House we will all regret, may I point out that a company in my constituency, a very successful business called Technetix that I went to visit some time ago, drew to my attention the fact that it was having to recruit engineers from abroad because it simply could not find enough here. The figures I asked for in a question show that in 2004 5,630 electronic and electrical engineer graduates appeared, but that in 2013-14 only 5,500 appeared. The Government are doing a great deal and the call for inspiration is worthy, but we need to deliver many more people to engineering.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Thursday 12th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Heath (Somerton and Frome) (LD)]

The Minister will know that the largest manufacturing industry in the country is food and drink, and that it has one of the biggest export potentials. Will he recognise that engineering disciplines that are ancillary to that industry also have enormous potential, whether it be agricultural engineering, food processing, food storage requirements or food transport? Will he look at technical education from the point of view of where the export potential is, particularly in the developing world?

[Mr Speaker]

Minister Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles.

[Nick Boles]

Mr Speaker, thank you! You have slightly thrown me off my course.

I welcome what my hon. Friend has said, and I hope that he welcomes the announcement made by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor when launching our long-term economic plan for the south-west, in which he encouraged a proposal to come forward for a university technical college specifically focused on agriculture and related industries. I hope that my hon. Friend will be involved in promoting that.

[Mr Speaker]

I apologise to the Minister, the full munificence of whose name I was simply seeking to capture for the edification of the House.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Monday 19th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

I had the great pleasure of meeting the 2 millionth apprentice, a young woman working in an extraordinary business whose work I could not understand because it was so complicated. She is doing something very clever in engineering near Oxford in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Nicola Blackwood). We are supporting smaller employers who create apprenticeships with a grant worth £1,500 and we are working closely with the fantastic apprenticeship ambassador network, led by David Meller and championed in this House by my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Andrew Jones) and the hon. Member for Burnley (Gordon Birtwistle)—[Interruption.] Not that David Mellor.

[Mr Speaker]

That is a great relief to all of us to learn.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister for Skills and Equalities (Nick Boles)]

I am aware of this long-standing issue, which the last Government also failed to correct. One of the things that I am looking into is the possibility of enabling sixth-form colleges to change their status if they are willing to link up with other schools. But that is something that has to be brought forward by sixth-form colleges themselves, and it is still subject to discussions with the Treasury, which is always pretty fierce on these matters. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Mr Campbell, calm yourself. All that hot curry in the Kennington Tandoori is making you fierier than ever. I have never known anything like it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Monday 27th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Skills and Equalities (Nick Boles)]

It is right—I think my hon. Friend would agree—to focus funding on school-aged children below 16, because that is the stage in life at which education has the most dramatic impact on the young person’s chances. That is why he is a supporter of and part of a Government who protected school funding up to the age of 16, but was unable to extend that protection to sixth forms—

[Mr Speaker]

Mr Steve McCabe.

[Nick Boles]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. You cut me off in my prime!

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Monday 30th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

I would never dare to tread into the question of people’s football loyalties, particularly not at this time. I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s frustrations, but the matter has not entirely been with the Department as we have had to refer back to parties on some complex questions. I am keen to make a decision as soon as possible, but I know that he will want that decision to hold up in court and it is therefore important to ensure that it is robust.

[Mr Speaker]

The Minister might not be an Arsenal supporter, but I most certainly am—and very proud of it.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Surely the planning Minister understands that there has been an increasing trend, particularly in urban areas, to use greenfield sites while land banking brownfield sites, often leaving them derelict in the heart of our towns and city centres. What is he doing to ensure that that land-banked land is brought into active use to provide regeneration benefits for our towns and cities?

--- Later in debate ---

[Nick Boles]

There are already rules that enable councils to resist applications that are very similar to ones that have been rejected, and it is only a shame that my hon. Friend’s local authority did not see fit to explore what possibilities are open to it.

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, Mr Christopher Pincher.

Private Rented Sector

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Wednesday 25th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Frank Dobson (Holborn and St Pancras) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Could you ask the hon. Gentleman to tell us whether he warned my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts) that he would be mentioned in this debate?

[Mr Speaker]

It is the normal courtesy so to notify. A simple nod of the head will suffice if the Minister did notify the hon. Gentleman.

[Nick Boles]

I entirely apologise—I did not know that that was the practice, and I should have. I assumed that the hon. Gentleman would be here because he is the Chair of the relevant Select Committee. I will write to him straight after the debate to apologise for having referred to him without warning him.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Monday 20th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I just say that the noun that appears to have occasioned offence following the last question from the Opposition Back Bench was I think applied to a collective, rather than to any individual? The concerns about disorder expressed by the hon. Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) are therefore, on this occasion, misplaced.

[Nick Boles]

I should like to reassure the hon. Member for Hyndburn (Graham Jones) that I would never dare to apply any such epithet to him personally—just to what he said.

Turning to the question raised by the hon. Member for City of Durham (Roberta Blackman-Woods), I find it extraordinary that she wants to talk down the high streets just when the number of empty shops is falling. The fact is that high streets are facing a secular change because of the growth of internet shopping and the change in lifestyles. The way to re-form high streets is not to place restrictions on the way in which people can make use of properties, but to encourage people to come forward with new uses for them that will revive our town centres.

[Mr Speaker]

The Minister’s ship was sailing in the right direction; there was no need to go quite so close to the wind. But there you go.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

4. What requirement is placed on local authorities to ensure that legal agreements within the planning consent for major developments include provision of funding for new schools.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Monday 25th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman needs to face the House so we can all benefit from his eloquence.

[Nick Boles]

I apologise, Mr Speaker. I hope my hon. Friend will not mind having to look at the back of my head while I answer his question. His council will of course be looking at every brownfield site to identify those ready for development. It may be the case that in some circumstances some brownfield sites require huge investment in either infrastructure or decontamination and are therefore not appropriate for development, but the preference will always be to use brownfield sites.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

I know that my hon. Friend has already met the Secretary of State about this issue and has also asked for the application to be called in by the Department. That means that one of us has to be able to decide the issue. I therefore hope that my hon. Friend will understand if I do not take up the offer of a meeting, for fear that no Minister will be left to decide.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell) will be pleased to have exhausted the ministerial team.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Monday 18th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

I would be concerned if that were happening, but it is not and so I am not concerned.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Sir Tony Baldry

--- Later in debate ---

[Laura Sandys]

Communities in Sandwich, Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate are keen to take up local neighbourhood planning. What would you say are the critical success factors, and what are you giving local authorities to support these communities develop exciting new planning?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am not giving local authorities anything for this purpose, but I have a feeling that the Minister will claim that he is.

[Nick Boles]

Indeed we are. In 2013-14, we are offering local authorities £30,000 per neighbourhood plan to help communities defray the costs of achieving their plan. The most important success factor is to involve local people, consult them throughout the process, and then remind them that an adopted neighbourhood plan will bring 25% of future revenues from the community infrastructure levy, which can be spent by the community on its priority.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Wednesday 21st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I always appreciate the Prime Minister’s gratitude.

[Nick Boles (Grantham and Stamford) (Con)]

Q12. For 10 years or more, leading Conservatives such as Lord Saatchi and Lord Tebbit have argued for working people and pensioners on low incomes to be taken out of income tax altogether. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is a thoroughly Conservative idea whose time has well and truly arrived?

Higher Education and Student Finance

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Tuesday 12th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles (Grantham and Stamford) (Con)]

It was a great hero, I believe, of the right hon. Gentleman who said:

“When the facts change, I change my mind.”

When the facts change, does not the new Leader of the Opposition bury his head in the sand?

[Mr Speaker]

I apologise to the hon. Gentleman for having to deal with this matter in this way, but questions must be about the policy of the Government and, unfortunately, that one was not.

Schools Funding

Debate between Nick Boles and John Bercow

Wednesday 7th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles (Grantham and Stamford) (Con)]

The whole House welcomes the Secretary of State’s gracious apology. However, is not the real deceit the more heinous because it was intentional—the one perpetrated by Labour Members who ran around the country during the election campaign promising school rebuilding programmes that they knew the money was not there to supply? That is a disgrace.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Let me say very gently that, in so far as one can hear everything that was said, the hon. Gentleman has made his point, and made it very clearly, but the Secretary of State is not responsible for the policies or for the behaviour of other parties. He might, however, wish very briefly to reply.