Thames Valley Technology Sector

Debate between Adam Afriyie and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Tuesday 17th March 2015 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

No.

[Adam Afriyie]

Okay. Preferably he will have “right hon.” at the beginning of his title. Some great broadband pilot schemes are coming from the Minister’s Department, which are welcome, including the point-to-point beaming of broadband to smaller villages and hamlets around the country, but again, I would like a little more focus on using solutions that are already available to access hard-to-reach areas.

We have many great businesses in Windsor. Indigina Technologies and Imagebase Technology do software design, and Honeycomb Digital does digital marketing. When it comes to education, of course, we also have East Berkshire college and many others running new technology curriculums, giving young people practical skills in state-of-the-art classrooms and making good use of broadband locally.

I am a great believer in the power of science, technology and the digital. To be party political for a moment, I believe that the digital world is part of the Conservative vision of the world. It changes the data asymmetry between Governments and public services, enabling citizens to see the same level of data. If we use it correctly, citizens will certainly become more powerful, and the state will gradually become less powerful. It is interesting that the Thames valley is rather Conservative in the complexion of its MPs, which is a good thing—

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[The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

May I say what a pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward? I wish you a happy St Patrick’s day. As a descendent of Henry VII, Lord of Ireland, I know that this day in particular means something to you.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie) on securing this important debate. He spoke without hesitation, deviation or repetition for 37 minutes. He could have spoken for a lot longer, because he has a great story to tell about the successes in the Thames valley, including in his own constituency.

I thank the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright) for his slightly shorter, but no less potent, contribution. Were things to turn out differently, he would make a fine Business Minister. Sadly, as his party is going to lose the election, we can simply dream of what might have been.

Let be begin with some important statistics about the Thames valley, Berkshire. Business start-ups are at an all-time high. Almost 9,000 businesses started up across the Thames Valley Berkshire local enterprise partnership area in 2014, an increase of nearly 50% on the year before. My hon. Friend talked about the importance of the IT sector, and no wonder, because it represents about a quarter of the gross value added in Berkshire, compared with just 6% nationally.

As a Government, we are supporting the growth in Berkshire. As my hon. Friend mentioned, under the growth deal there will be some £100 million-worth of investment. We estimate that that could bring up to 20,000 jobs and 12,000 homes and £40 million-worth of public and private sector investment. In addition, we have supported 10,000 new homes in Wokingham with £24 million. We are investing in transport infrastructure, with £10 million for Maidenhead station. The huge redevelopment of Reading station is costing some £800 million.

I will talk about broadband later, albeit more philosophically than previously. The hon. Member for Hartlepool was right to say that I was grumpy in last week’s debate about broadband. Not that I spent any time on Twitter during my hon. Friend’s speech, but a Deloitte media and telecoms conference is going on at the moment, and the Twitter feed is all about how grumpy the BT man is during his presentation. He is obviously as fed up as I am with hearing the criticisms of the broadband programme, which has been hugely successful, particularly in Berkshire, where £6 million of investment will ensure that we reach 97% coverage by 2017. More than 6,000 homes there had broadband by the end of last year, thanks to this programme.

I will talk about education in some detail as well. My hon. Friend mentioned the £2.3 million that the Government have invested in three new solutions labs, in partnership with local further education partners, to provide science, technology, engineering and maths skills. We think that the solutions labs will bring 250 new jobs to the area, as well as 130 level 3 apprenticeships, 210 higher apprenticeships, 220 level 3 STEM qualifications and 140 STEM traineeships.

It is important to recognise the contribution of the British Business Bank in investing in British businesses, providing more than £890 million of new lending to 21,000 small businesses.

The “Tech Nation” report, mentioned by hon. Members, shows that one in five enterprises in the area we are talking about are tech companies. Indeed, as my hon. Friend said, some of the biggest technology companies in the world are based in Reading, including Oracle, Microsoft, Symantec, Huawei and Nvidia.

The university of Reading is home to a number of science and tech-based specialisms. It has just received a catalyst fund grant of almost £6 million from the higher education funding council for a multi-million pound environmental data centre.

These are all good news statistics for the Thames Valley Berkshire area. Given that I am standing in for the Business Minister, as usual—it seems to be my main role in life: it is nice to find a role after all these years—I shall use this opportunity to big up the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP neighbour, the Oxfordshire LEP, the star of which is, of course, my own constituency of Didcot and Wantage.

My hon. Friend, who is chair of the parliamentary space committee, talked a lot about the success of the space sector. The hon. Member for Hartlepool was kind enough to point out the role of Harwell—in my constituency—in that sector. My hon. Friend will be interested to know that three years ago, there were about 200 high-tech posts in the space sector and now there are nearly 500, and it is estimated that in the next 15 years there will be 5,000 posts, making Harwell the largest multinational space complex in Europe.

Harwell is where the satellite applications catapult is based. My hon. Friend the Member for Windsor, and my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), talked about using satellites to help farmers, which is precisely what the satellite applications catapult is there to do. It is there to show lots of businesses that may not think that satellites have any role to play in their business how those can help them enhance what they do.

In the past 18 months, the UK’s space gateway at Harwell campus has grown from just over 40 to 60 organisations, and only 10 years ago there were fewer than five. This summer, both the European Space Agency’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications building and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory space environmental test building will open on the campus.

Just down the road, as part of this Thames valley success story, 1,000 additional jobs have been created at Milton Park just in the past 12 months. Of course, we remain the UK’s, and indeed the European, centre for cryogenics. All this is good news.

Let me start to address points put to me both by my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor and the hon. Member for Hartlepool. We always listen with great care to what my hon. Friend says. He has a distinguished track record in technology and science and is known in this House as a thoughtful and intelligent man. Therefore when he raises issues they are worth addressing and considering.

My hon. Friend’s first point was about data ownership. He is right to raise this issue. All sorts of metaphors can be used, including big data being the big oil of the 21st century, or whatever, but there is no doubt that data are the currency driving the 21st century technology economy and, as such, a relatively dry subject has moved up the agenda. The ownership and use of data is an important issue.

The European Commission and the European Parliament are due to conclude a data protection directive, which could be a big prize, giving Europe one data protection regime across all 28 member states. I am fond of saying that, in many respects, it may be the most important piece of economic legislation that Europe passes in the next decade, because if its final iteration is too bureaucratic or business-unfriendly, it could have a big impact on business. However, we start rightly with the principle that the citizen owns their own data and should have control over how those data are used. It is a circle that has to be squared. The citizen has to trust and understand how the data are being used, but at the same time businesses need to be able to use those data to function efficiently and provide the services that many people want.

I am sorry not to reach a clear conclusion on my hon. Friend’s contribution. I am simply acknowledging that this debate will continue.

[Adam Afriyie]

I hope that I indicated during my remarks that I was flagging the subject, not looking for a solution. I am delighted with my hon. Friend’s response about the citizen being right at the centre of control of their own data.

[Mr Vaizey]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s kind words. The other issue that he alluded to was closed shops on the internet. He is right that that will provoke debate and policy developments over the next few years. Clearly, the large tech companies play an increasingly important part in our lives, whether they are Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon or others, but it is important that we remember the first principles of open competition. The competition authorities have the requisite powers to stop any potential abuse of market power, not that I am suggesting that there is any at the moment. It is one of those debates that we will continue to have. As for the permissiveness of creativity, we have undertaken some important intellectual property reforms over the past few years. The Government remain committed to the protection of intellectual property, and that is right and proper, but we also recognise that intellectual property has to be up to date in how it is used in the digital age.

My hon. Friend talked about clusters and Tech Nation. The clusters identified in the “Tech Nation” report were in essence self-identifying and organic, but I take his point that we should be accurate when we identify a cluster, and at least use the same name consistently so that people are used to it. Tech City has done a great job in bringing together the 20 or so clusters identified in the “Tech Nation” report to share best practice. I agree that Thames valley is the largest tech cluster in Europe. When politicians say that they want to create a Silicon Valley in the UK, I say, “You already have it. If Cambridge is included, you have effectively got a Silicon Valley in and around London.” There are Silicon Valleys all over the UK, and that is the great strength of technology. In any major city in the UK, from Dundee to Brighton, there are important tech clusters, which often specialise in particular areas.

My hon. Friend concluded by talking about the importance of access to broadband. I was disappointed to hear that he had only just got superfast broadband, but given the size of his estate, it is not surprising. The huge amount of engineering and the massive length of fibre that had to be rolled out to reach his study will have taken years of digging. I am glad that BT has finally made it past the ornamental cannon to the front door, through the scullery and into the study. He is a passionate supporter of satellite. I have never been against it; my only point throughout the entire debate has been that satellite does not provide the mass market solution. It will be appropriate in certain places. One of the pilots to identify how to bring broadband to the most difficult areas—what we call the last 5%—has been a satellite pilot. It is not beyond the wit of man to speculate that satellite may well prove to be one of the solutions put forward to reach the final 5%. His point was well made.

The shadow Minister expressed his concerns, which the Government share, about skill shortages. It is important to stress that every country in the world and every developed nation in the world is aware of skill shortages. The debate is happening in America and in the major economies of Europe. How do we upgrade people’s skills to cope with a fast-moving technology economy? The shadow Minister and my hon. Friend were right to say that virtually every business is a digital business, whether it is a very small business that needs its own website and e-commerce software or the largest businesses that rely on data management software to manage the work force and stock and so on.

We have made great strides. Not only have we put coding on the curriculum, which is a long-term investment, but we are beginning to properly audit further education and higher education courses to ensure that they are fit for purpose. We have launched degree apprenticeships, which are effectively employer-led degrees where people will spend as much time working with an employer as they will at university. That is a fundamental change that has been brought about by technology. The world of work and the world of study will necessarily have to blur, because, funnily enough, it will be the world of work that has the most up-to-date technology and a much greater understanding of how that technology will be used in the real world. There is also our huge push on apprenticeships, where we focus on technology apprenticeships. In Didcot, for example, I was pleased to meet six apprentices at Harwell last Friday. I am pleased that Didcot university technical college is due to open in September. UTCs are another innovation that recognises the need to develop the proper skills required for the work force.

We welcome “The Scale-Up Report” by Sherry Coutu. It made a valuable contribution to the debate. We are not planning a formal response to it, but Sherry Coutu remains an important adviser to Government and politicians of all colours. Her passion is for the technology sector, and she has been a great advocate for it. She pioneered “Silicon Valley in the UK”, where tech companies from Silicon Valley came over to meet tech companies in the UK. We are taking forward a lot of her recommendations. Many were already in train. Baroness Joanna Shields has pioneered the Future Fifty, where 50 fast-growing companies in the UK are identified. The Government work with them and offer mentorship in the belief that they should stay in the UK, eventually float in the UK and grow to be significant British businesses.

The shadow Minister rightly mentioned aviation, which is not part of my brief. The Davies report will be important and will drive the debate forward. When it is published after the election, I am sure all parties will study its recommendations. I have covered broadband and why it makes me grumpy. So far as long-term science funding is concerned, all I can say is that we clearly have a Chancellor who is passionate about the science base and who recognises that scientific research is an incredibly important and fundamental starting point for our leadership in so much of the technology sector.

The shadow Minister also mentioned procurement. I do not have the exact figures in front of me on the Thames valley businesses that have succeeded in getting procurement services from Government, but I will happily write to him on that. As he well knows, the Government are committed to opening up Government procurement to small businesses. We have launched an improved Contracts Finder website. We have made the process far less bureaucratic, for example by redrafting the pre-qualification questionnaire. We have also improved our record on late payment by ensuring that the public sector will pay undisputed invoices in 30 days.

Finally, we talked about the digital single market, which could be a great prize for this country and for Europe. We often talk about Europe in very negative terms, but a digital single market where UK tech companies can sell their wares to a marketplace of 500 million consumers with uniform consumer protection, uniform terms and conditions and secure delivery and carriage would be a great prize that we can work towards together as a family of European nations. I know that you, Sir Edward, will take that closely to your heart. On that note of hope and aspiration, it is time to conclude my remarks.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Adam Afriyie and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 26th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)]

T7. I do not know if it is the same for you, Mr Speaker, and other hon. Members, but quite often late at night or in the early hours, my spouse looks at me quite suspiciously when she notices that I have been online.

[Mr Vaizey]

Where is this going?

[Adam Afriyie]

Absolutely. I am delighted that in Old Windsor and across the constituency, 2,000 more people are now connected to superfast broadband. Will Ministers continue the roll-out and, in particular, focus on satellite technology, which can bring a better experience, even when we are doing constituency correspondence?

Science Research

Debate between Adam Afriyie and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Wednesday 10th November 2010 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

I am grateful for the chance to speak under your chairmanship, Mrs Brooke. The last times I spoke in a debate, I had the full might of the Welsh Labour party ranged against me, so 50,000 students making noises off is slightly easier to deal with.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Nicola Blackwood) on securing this important debate. One of the great advantages of having new Members of Parliament is that those of us who have been in Parliament for merely five years get the chance to patronise them, so let me say what a pleasure it was to be at her parliamentary birth, at the Abingdon leisure centre on that momentous night when she became the Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon.

I put on record what a hugely successful job my hon. Friend is doing—slightly too successful, as my Conservative association in Wantage keeps asking whether we can have her to speak instead of me. Also, almost all the companies in my constituency seem to want her to come and visit them. In fact, she mentioned one that I, too, visited on Friday—she had got there before me—Nexeon, in Milton park in Didcot.

If my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South (David Mowat) wants to know what the future is, he should resign his seat and go and work for Nexeon. It is making extraordinary lithium ion batteries, which are another example of British scientific expertise. The discovery was about the use of silicon, which stores more energy, and Nexeon’s way of putting silicon into batteries promises the future—houses powered by batteries, apparently.

One of the great pleasures of representing my constituency is that I wish I had won the lottery and could invest in almost every company that I go and see there. One is literally “The Man in the White Suit” company—coat a shoe or shirt with its material and water literally drips off without leaving any damp patch at all. However, I digress, and we do not have much time.

We have had a fantastic number of excellent contributions to the debate, such as those from the Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Andrew Miller), and from the hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert), who reminded us why it is so important to have scientists in the House, because of his chalk-face experience, if I may put it that way, and his ability to talk us through what happens with scientists on the ground.

Another such contribution came from the right hon. Member for Oxford East (Mr Smith) who, as I have said many times before, is only in the House because I was the press officer of the Oxford university Conservative association when he was fighting Steve Norris in 1987. However, what is absolutely true is that he, I, my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon, my hon. Friend the Member for Henley (John Howell), the Prime Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry) all work well together on Oxfordshire interests, even if we might clash on national policies.

My hon. Friend the Member for Croydon Central (Gavin Barwell) made a valuable contribution to the debate, and I have renewed respect for him now that I know he is a theoretical physicist, while my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South has a distinguished degree in engineering, although he left it for accountancy. I propose a twinning arrangement with my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South: I would certainly like to see his facilities in Daresbury, if he will come and see my facilities in Harwell.

The debate covered a huge range of subjects. We even got on to housing shortages, nimbyism and transport networks. However, what it boils down to—stating what I regard as the highlights—is essentially: the myth and reality, as it were, of the science budget; the need to engage young people in science, even those in primary schools; concerns about whether the coalition Government’s immigration policy will impact on scientific research in the future; and some specific Government policies, notably on technology and innovation centres.

[Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)]

May I bring the Minister’s attention to another point that was raised? In my time as the shadow Minister for Science and Innovation, I was keen to have a chief scientific adviser in the Treasury. Can he shed any light on that matter or on any progress that might be taking place in that regard?

[Mr Vaizey]

If I can make a career-ending response to that, in my short experience as a Minister I have discovered that the Treasury thinks it knows absolutely everything, so the idea that it needs to be advised on science or, indeed, any other subject would clearly be anathema to it. That, I am sure, is why it is resisting the appointment of a chief scientific adviser—I shall turn to the role of the Government’s chief scientific adviser in a minute. I also congratulate my hon. Friend, because he was a distinguished shadow science spokesman for us. I have no doubt that, behind the scenes, he influenced the Government’s approach to the science budget.

To give credit where it is due, however, the Minister for Universities and Science, my right hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Mr Willetts), who cannot be here because he is flying the flag for UK plc in India, I think, ought to be hugely credited with securing the important settlement that we have had for science.

I would like to say that I played a role in that settlement. There was a moment when I was in the Secretary of State’s office and I noticed a paper on the Diamond synchrotron, so I said to his private secretary, “You really want to sort out the Diamond synchrotron because they have a really effective MP and you don’t want to cross him.” He looked at me and said, “Who’s that?” So, I am not sure how much influence I had, although as a politician I would like to take the credit.

Other issues raised were the allocation between specific research councils—the charity research fund referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon—and the capital funding. The debate was not partisan and has been conducted on a good cross-party basis.

One of the things that I note about science, which we should all treasure, is that people from different places work together. [Interruption.] That is probably my right hon. Friend the Minister for Universities and Science ringing—