Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sajid Javid and Mike Kane

Tuesday 3rd May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the importance of trade with Iran. She will know that that is why the Government have announced a trade mission that will take place soon. If more people in the UK speak Persian, that will help. I will happily take up the matter with my right hon. Friend the Education Secretary.

[Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

T4. I welcome the fact that BHS administrators have entered consultation with USDAW, the retail union, for the lack of consultation was in part to blame for the pension fund going from a £5 million surplus to a £571 million deficit. In the light of that, will the Secretary of State consider the case that there should be enhanced employee rights, in particular in this aspect of companies law?

[Sajid Javid]

As I said earlier, it would be wrong of anyone to jump to conclusions about the pension fund and the reason for the deficit. The right way forward is for independent regulators to take a look.

UK Steel Industry

Debate between Sajid Javid and Mike Kane

Monday 11th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

When it comes to tariffs, what I am interested in is what actually works. I encourage the hon. Gentleman to study the results—to look at the action the EU has taken and then to look at the result of that action. He will find that, in almost every case, there has been a reduction in imports of more than 80% and sometimes, as I mentioned earlier with regard to rebar, some 99%. As I have said, and I will say it again, if the hon. Gentleman has a particular idea that is focused on steel—because that is the real issue in British industry right now, and that is what I and he want to focus on— I am willing to listen to him.

[Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

More than half of UK steel exports go to the European Union. Does the Secretary of State, who is now a fervent Europhile, I think, agree that exit from the European Union would be devastating to the industry?

[Sajid Javid]

Where I agree with the hon. Gentleman is that we have to do everything we can to help British industry and British manufacturing, and I think that the long-term interest of the British economy is to remain in the EU.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sajid Javid and Mike Kane

Tuesday 15th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

5. What steps his Department is taking to support businesses which export.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade (Sajid Javid)]

My Department is leading a cross-Whitehall work programme to support exports. For example, UK Trade & Investment connects UK businesses with export opportunities throughout the world. Over the next year, the UKTI export hub will travel around the country to give face-to-face assistance to first-time exporters.

[Mike Kane]

Feedback from businesses in my constituency suggests that there needs to be more support for small and medium-sized enterprises that export less than half a million pounds’ worth of goods. It suggests that once they are in the bracket of Government support, that support is short-lived, and is complicated by red tape. How would the Secretary of State respond to those businesses?

[Sajid Javid]

I agree that we should always try to do more to help small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular, to export more. The hon. Gentleman may know that I recently led one of our first regional trade missions, the northern powerhouse trade mission, to the far east. It included not only the Greater Manchester chamber of commerce, but companies such as Televic Education, which is in his constituency.