Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Jones and Vince Cable

Thursday 8th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

14. What steps he is taking to increase the number of engineers.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

The Government are making a series of interventions to increase the number of British engineers—from trailblazer apprenticeships in engineering, manufacturing and automotive sectors to national colleges in advanced manufacturing, high-speed rail, nuclear, oil, gas and wind, with £30 million of funding to address employers’ skills shortages in engineering and £200 million of capital investment in science, technology, engineering and maths teaching facilities in higher education.

[Andrew Jones]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. What more is he doing to inspire younger people, particularly younger women, to take up engineering careers?

[Vince Cable]

I am aware of my hon. Friend’s interest in the issue. Harrogate college recently benefited from significant investment in vocational education. He asks how we promote the message about engineering, particularly to women, who are massively under-represented in the sector. I pay tribute to the STEM network of volunteers; there are about 28,000 of them, and 40% are women. We hope that through that process of campaigning, and visits to schools and education institutions, we will gradually turn this unsatisfactory situation round.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Jones and Vince Cable

Thursday 20th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

On the basis of that quick précis, it sounds as if it is. As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have seen a rapid expansion of apprenticeships, which we are very proud of, as they are fundamental to meeting the demand for skills, particularly higher skills. I would be interested to hear more about his local programme and to see what we can do to help.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State join me in welcoming the recent news that record amounts of British food and drink are now being exported—something that I was doing before I came to this place—and that great British food is now available in more than 150 countries?

[Vince Cable]

Yes, it is often forgotten when we talk about manufacturers that the food and drinks sector is the largest by a considerable measure. It is a considerable success and we are supporting it, not just through the work of UKTI, but through our work on agri-tech industries, innovation and the skills strategy.

--- Later in debate ---

[Vince Cable]

I do not press regulators on this or other issues. The simple truth is that the USO is embodied in law. It would have to be changed by both Houses of Parliament. Royal Mail was put in the private sector to enable it to compete, and although it was little observed at the time, for the first time in decades it has been able to raise hundreds of millions of pounds in the bond market to reinvest. There is a success story there.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

The latest Office for National Statistics bulletin showed that manufacturing production had increased by 2.9% over the same time last year. These are encouraging figures. What more can I tell manufacturers in my constituency about further action that will be taken to support them?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Jones and Vince Cable

Thursday 11th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

5. What support he is providing to pubs.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

The Government have introduced a number of measures to support pubs, including ending the beer duty escalator and cutting beer duty. We are supporting pub tenants through the introduction of a statutory code of practice to govern the relationship between pub-owning companies and their tied tenants, with an independent adjudicator to enforce the code. The measures will be introduced through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill.

[Andrew Jones]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Pubs are often the hubs of their communities, but in Harrogate and Knaresborough we have had a spate of local pubs being converted into supermarkets. Will my right hon. Friend work across Government, particularly with the Department for Communities and Local Government, to see what more can be done further to support pubs, and keep them open and at the heart of local communities?

[Vince Cable]

My hon. Friend is right, and I believe that his constituency houses the Pub is The Hub voluntary organisation that plays an extremely important role in that respect. I think it receives significant funding from my colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Plunkett Foundation, and I encourage my hon. Friend to support that organisation in its work.

Royal Mail

Debate between Andrew Jones and Vince Cable

Wednesday 10th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I think the hon. Lady has a poor memory, although she might remember that this was the first major Bill that this Government introduced—a fact that I recall because I introduced it.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I worked for a newly privatised company in the 1980s and the commercial transformation was fantastic, so I welcome this statement. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that Royal Mail will enjoy the broader commercial freedoms that allow other companies to compete? For Royal Mail, that means access to capital and the freedom to seek broader commercial opportunities, such as its European business, to make the business stronger for the future.

[Vince Cable]

I believe that my hon. Friend’s experience was with the National Freight Corporation, which was one of the many successful privatisations that nobody would dream of reversing. He makes the specific point that there are major opportunities for Royal Mail in international trade through logistics. That market is now opening up. One of our central objectives in the single market negotiations is to lift the barriers to e-commerce, and Royal Mail has the potential to benefit substantially from that, provided it invests substantially. This action will enable it to do that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Jones and Vince Cable

Thursday 13th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

A great deal is happening on the payday loan front. The Office of Fair Trading is coming to the end of its investigation, which will result in action that is appropriate to the competition authority. Responsibility will shortly pass to the Financial Conduct Authority, which has more powers and can be more active in that field. We are looking, in particular, at how we can deal with misleading and dangerous advertising in that area.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

At my surgeries I have met residents who have come to see me because they are anxious about having been ripped off or having been victims of mis-selling. What will the proposals do to help them get their money back?

[Vince Cable]

They will considerably improve the rights of redress, and there is a whole series of specific measures in the Bill, which will be debated at length, on how to achieve that. When we aggregate all the redress elements, we estimate that it will probably be worth something in the order of £4 billion over 10 years to consumers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Jones and Vince Cable

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will come back with me to Markham Vale in his constituency, which I visited at his suggestion—[Interruption.] Real regeneration is taking place there with Government support.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I have raised the issue of interest rate swaps with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State before, and I am grateful for the action he has taken. However, the problem is still hurting businesses in my constituency, so will he keep the issue firmly on his radar and work with colleagues across government to bring it to a conclusion as swiftly as possible? [Interruption.]

[Vince Cable]

I am sorry; I did not catch the hon. Gentleman’s question.

[Mr Speaker]

I am sorry if the hon. Gentleman’s words were lost; let us hear them.

[Andrew Jones]

I have raised the issue of interest rate swaps with Ministers before and have been grateful for the action taken, but this issue is still hurting businesses in Harrogate and Knaresborough. May I ask the Secretary of State to keep this issue on his radar and to work across government to try to resolve this as quickly as possible?

[Vince Cable]

Yes, the hon. Gentleman is right: interest rate swaps were a major scandal. The Financial Services Authority has, as he knows, already set in train a process for remedies. I am working very actively with it, but it is very much in the hands of the FSA and the banks to produce a just solution. [Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Jones and Vince Cable

Thursday 20th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

The inquiry that the Department is now carrying out will be into the conduct of the directors, and various consequences will flow from that. We cannot investigate the wider social consequences, but the hon. Gentleman is quite right that severe loss has been suffered, not just by the workers but by the Government, who are having to make up the redundancy pool.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

Companies in my constituency have contacted me about how interest rate swap product mis-selling is threatening their very futures. May I urge my right hon. Friend to work with colleagues across the Government to try to resolve this issue as quickly as possible?

[Vince Cable]

I have already been working closely with the Bully-Banks group and the Federation of Small Businesses, which is deeply concerned about the problem. The scale of the scandal is becoming larger by the day, as more cases are uncovered. It is clear that the banks—or some of them—behaved extremely badly in the sale of such products. I am not fully satisfied that they are yet conforming with the spirit of the FSA’s advice on the matter; indeed, yesterday I met the chairman of the new regulatory authority to discuss with him how we can support small business more actively.