Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Barry Sheerman and Mark Prisk
Mr Prisk
Absolutely. It is important to remember that in many of our towns, that job is often the first one that young people get. That is why we are cutting the business rates for the smallest firms and ensuring that from next April, the payroll taxes for many of those firms will be reduced. That will help young people in my hon. Friend’s constituency.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
Is the Minister aware that towns such as Huddersfield and cities such as Leeds need massive investment? What is the point of spending more than £50 billion on High Speed 2 at a time when, if there were a poll in all the big cities in this country, people would want to spend the money not on that but on regeneration of our cities and towns?
Mr Prisk
I thought the Labour party wanted us to invest in infrastructure—that is what it spent most of the spending round debate talking about. I am committed to ensuring that our high streets can compete, which is important. High street innovations, empty properties being brought back into use and helping small shops will all help Huddersfield and elsewhere.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Barry Sheerman and Mark Prisk(12 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Prisk
Progress on the red tape challenge is very important. We have now reviewed some 1,500 regulations, and Ministers have agreed to scrap or substantially overhaul 59% of them—some 887 regulations. That will make a real difference to businesses in Wimbledon and, indeed, elsewhere.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
Will the Minister take it from me, as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on management, that we must stop feeding this anti-regulation red tape movement and concentrate on good management of small businesses? Forty-three per cent. of managers in the country are rated as poor. Let us do something about management, rather than going on about red tape.
Mr Prisk
We cannot ignore the fact that 11,000 elements on the statute book impose a burden on many businesses. We need to tackle that, and I am sorry that the last Government failed to do so. Indeed, they produced six new regulations on every working day. But is the hon. Gentleman correct in saying that we need to think about the calibre of management of small businesses? Yes. Bad regulation and red tape need to go, but we need to think about the wider issue as well, I shall certainly take that from the hon. Gentleman, as he asked.
Sheffield Forgemasters
Debate between Barry Sheerman and Mark Prisk(14 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Prisk
The right hon. Gentleman knows perfectly well that Ministers receive a wide range of different advice. He knows that perfectly well. The issue, as I have said time and time again, is affordability. That is what I am dealing with.
Let me move on from the machinations of the Labour party and deal with the economic issues, which I think are the crucial ones. There has been some good news for Sheffield Forgemasters in the last few days. It has recently signed a £30 million trade agreement to oversee the development of power generation forgings with the Indian state-run power equipment maker, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. It is important here to bear in mind—I know that the local Members will be concerned about this—that the venture will be operated as a technology transfer agreement, and it will see BHEL buy both the technology rights and share Sheffield Forgemasters’ specialist engineering knowledge. That is an important issue. It is a 10-year agreement and it will help to strengthen and protect future markets for Sheffield Forgemasters in the Indian subcontinent. Also important is that the agreement will mainly serve India’s rapidly growing domestic market for turbine and power generation products, including the nuclear power plants.
Forgemasters specialist forging skills are in demand in markets around the world, and that will continue to be so. It will continue to play a part in the emerging UK nuclear supply chain, not least through the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, which the Government continue to support.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The Minister alleged earlier that there were all sorts of people here who were not from Yorkshire. There are many Yorkshire Members of Parliament, and one on the Government Benches has just been wheedled into the Chamber.