Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Caroline Dinenage and Adrian Bailey(5 years, 8 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Lab/Co-op)
In a debate on 24 January in this Chamber, many contributors outlined the dangers of using graded exercise therapy in treating ME. What conversations has the Department had with NICE on that issue before the proposed publication of the revised treatment guidelines in October 2020?
Caroline Dinenage
There are ongoing conversations. As the hon. Gentleman knows, NICE is updating existing clinical guidance on the diagnosis and management of ME and chronic fatigue syndrome. That guidance will be published in 2020.
Manufacturing and SMEs
Debate between Caroline Dinenage and Adrian Bailey(11 years, 2 months ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Mr Bailey
My right hon. Friend raises a valuable point. I talked about the risk profile. A huge body of evidence demonstrates that banks are excessive in the security they demand in order to lend to businesses, and that is one of the main barriers to businesses wanting to apply for loans. If there is a criticism of the Government, it is that while the Government have provided cheaper money for banks to lend to businesses, I do not think that has addressed the obstacles that are far more significant in terms of getting the money out where it is needed, into investment in small businesses.
Caroline Dinenage
I apologise for interrupting the hon. Gentleman’s brilliant speech. Does he agree that it is also up to the local community to look at ways in which they can help businesses grow and invest? In my area, the local newspaper, The News, made a regional growth fund bid, which they used as a “bridging the gap” fund for small start-up businesses and those that wanted to grow, as a way of helping them to get access to the finance that they needed. Will the hon. Gentleman join me in welcoming that sort of initiative?
Mr Bailey
I certainly join the hon. Lady in welcoming that. In fact, one of the unintended, beneficial by-products of the problem has been the resourceful and inventive ways that communities and businesses have got together to overcome it. Peer-to-peer lending is an example of that. In my area, we have the Black Country Reinvestment Society, with which my fellow west midlands MPs will be very familiar. However, the scale of the entrepreneurial alternative lending sources still does not match what is needed for our manufacturing base as a whole.
I turn to a specific issue that applies not only to my constituency, but to the whole of the west midlands and the black country—other west midlands MPs may refer to this, too. First, I pay tribute to the Tata brothers for their investment in Jaguar Land Rover, which, I think it is fair to say, has transformed manufacturing prospects in the west midlands in a way that we have not known for 30 years. It is an indication of the value of our relationships with the Indian subcontinent and that growing market and growing access of capital, and of the historic association between the Indian diaspora in this country, and of course, the native India.