Nuclear Power

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Monday 4th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

We have decided to enter a period of negotiations and consider the NAO and PAC recommendations. This is an announcement about this particular project. The House will see me make an update as we progress with the negotiations.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

One of the consequences of the Labour party’s prevarication on the nuclear industry has been the deskilling of that industry. Will my right hon. Friend expand on his plans for skilling up our workforce, particularly our young people, so they get the opportunity to work in this thriving industry?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I had the pleasure of visiting the National College for Nuclear in Somerset a couple of weeks ago. Seeing the opportunities that will be available to the next generation of nuclear engineers is an inspiring sight. I am pleased that this is now available for them.

Taylor Review: Working Practices

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 11th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

I am aware of the independent union of self-employed workers; it has been a force and has contributed to the inquiry. However, I will be only too pleased to meet the hon. Lady and her Community organisers as part of my consultation.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

There is a marked difference between people who set up a business and take risks, including the risk of self-employment, and a few unscrupulous employers who force workers to go self-employed. In response to this excellent report, what will my hon. Friend do to ensure that people who are genuinely self-employed continue to receive benefits, but the unscrupulous employers do not?

[Margot James]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. We do not want to stand in the way of the incentives for people who genuinely take a risk by starting a business. They are the majority, and we do not want to do anything that upsets that balance. At the same time, as my hon. Friend will realise, we need to end the scourge of fake self-employment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 13th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

A bit of optimism on the part of the hon. Lady would not go amiss, especially in this Christmas season. In fact, there is huge enthusiasm in businesses right across the country and huge engagement with us in developing our long-term policies. Perhaps she has been distracted by some of the events in her party in recent months, so let me summarise the things we have done since July. We have given the go-ahead—she may have missed this—for some very important strategic infrastructure projects: Hinkley Point C, the third runway at Heathrow and the next phase of HS2. We have secured investment in Nissan, close to her constituency, as we announced a month ago. We have ratified the Paris agreement, and we have secured the extra investment that my hon. Friend the Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation talked about. We have done more to put our industrial future on the right footing in five months than the previous Government did in 13 years.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

4. What assessment his Department has made of trends in the number of businesses in the UK.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Jesse Norman)]

To turn from Marley’s ghost stalking the Labour Front Bench, the number of businesses in the UK continues to grow: at the start of 2016, there were a record 5.5 million private sector businesses, which is an increase of 97,000 since 2015 and 1 million more than in 2010.

[Bob Blackman]

This weekend, small businesses in my constituency held a Christmas market in Belmont Circle to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Eye 2 Eye opticians, which is doing a brilliant job locally. What more can my hon. Friend do to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses prosper and grow in this country?

[Jesse Norman]

My hon. Friend is right to recognise the central importance of small and medium-sized businesses to our economy. The Government have been supporting that vital sector of our economy through: the extension of small business rate relief; our support for the British Business Bank, which has dealt with more than 51,000 small businesses; the new productivity council, which was announced in the autumn statement; and the new patient capital review.

--- Later in debate ---

[Margot James]

The situation with RBS is under review and I am sure proposals will be made in the near future.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T9. Now that the future of Hinkley Point is secure, what further plans does my right hon. Friend have for nuclear energy to form a key part of our energy supply industry?

[Greg Clark]

It is important that nuclear energy should form a key part of that. One of the pieces of neglect of the previous Labour Government is that they presided over the forecast closure of our nuclear fleet without making any plans to replace it. When I made the statement about Hinkley Point C, I also said that this would be the beginning of a new era of civil nuclear power in this country, and that is absolutely right.