Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Nick Boles

Monday 27th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

I am certainly happy to congratulate any authority that itself takes on apprentices. We all need to set an example in all parts of Government and indeed in this House, as many Members are doing. Of course I would be happy to meet my right hon. Friend. I hope that he will welcome the traineeships programme, which was introduced by this Government specifically to provide people in that age group with a stepping stone to an apprenticeship or to a job.

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

Despite the Minister’s opening statement, fewer than one in 10 employers in England offer apprenticeships, which must surely be improved upon. Labour will ensure that all public sector contracts worth more than £1 million require the contractor to take on apprentices. That was the subject of my private Member’s Bill, which, sadly, was blocked by Ministers. Why do Ministers not wake up, smell the coffee and realise that that is the best bang for the buck of public procurement contracts?

[Nick Boles]

Well, of course I am sure that the hon. Gentleman meant to congratulate the Government on our fantastic achievement in creating far more apprenticeships. They are real apprenticeships—those that involve a job and last more than 12 months—unlike the ones that his Government produced. He is right that we need many more employers, public and private, to want to create apprenticeships. The way to do that is not to force them to do so, but to make it attractive to them to do so. That is why we are introducing new incentives through the apprenticeship grant, and why we are putting employers in charge of the standard of an apprenticeship so that they know it will be useful to them and not just some bureaucratic tick box.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Nick Boles

Monday 30th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[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?

[Nick Boles]

There is absolutely no evidence of what the hon. Gentleman has just claimed and in answer to about six questions I have just explained the multiple policies of this Government to bring brownfield land forward for use through guidance, policy, housing zones and new pots of money.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Nick Boles

Monday 3rd March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

I thank the hon. Lady and, indeed, the Opposition parties for supporting neighbourhood planning, because it is a really worthwhile endeavour. I am very happy to talk to all Departments and agencies about their responsibility to co-operate with it.

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

What happens when a local neighbourhood seeks to protect a statutory designation such as green-belt land against the wishes of a local authority, particularly in metropolitan areas where such land is at a premium?

[Nick Boles]

The protections for green-belt land in the national planning policy framework are as strong as they have ever been in any planning policy. Green-belt land can be revised to meet other needs only by local authorities through the local plan process, and it can happen only after intense consultation and in exceptional circumstances.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Nick Boles

Monday 18th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for making that point, because it is an extremely important one. That is why we changed the policy from the one adopted by the previous Government, under which there was a strong, blanket nudge to use brownfield land. We are saying that if the brownfield land is of high environmental value, it should not be a priority for development.

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

12. What recent assessment he has made of the results of Government schemes to increase house building.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Nick Boles

Monday 17th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

We want to encourage as many communities as possible, both urban and rural, to embrace neighbourhood planning. Only this morning I met a dozen neighbourhood planning groups in London, and I shall be visiting more groups throughout the country in the new year. Local authorities are responsible for providing information and support, and my officials are available at any time to answer questions and offer guidance to anyone who is interested in going down this road.

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

May I return the Minister to the issue of support for town centres? Does he accept that by including business and commercial projects in the major infrastructure regime, we risk repeating some of the planning mistakes of the 1980s, and allowing a free-for-all for developments on the edges of and outside town centres at the expense of the viability of our town centres?

[Nick Boles]

I do not accept that at all. As the hon. Gentleman will know, we have specifically said that we will exclude retail developments from the category of business and commercial schemes that might be subject to the major infrastructure regime. Town Centre First means something to this Government, unlike the last one.