Chi Onwurah
Main Page: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)Department Debates - View all Chi Onwurah's debates with the Department for Education
(10 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Vince Cable
I praise my hon. Friend for the work that he has done. He has already taken me to his constituency and shown me the plans for the area. The Kimberley Clark closure was a major blow and it is good to hear that it is being replaced. Last week I was with the Humber local enterprise partnership when it met in Hull. We discussed some of these plans, particularly the enormous potential of the energy sector in the North sea. I am certainly very happy to visit that factory in due course.
Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)
15. What steps he is taking to promote sustainable economic development in the North East.
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Michael Fallon)
I welcome the most recent reduction in unemployment in the north-east. Across the region we have offered support of £330 million to 101 projects and programmes through the regional growth fund with the potential to safeguard or create 66,000 jobs. We are also working with the North Eastern local enterprise partnership to agree a local growth deal based on Lord Adonis’s recent report.
Chi Onwurah
The north-east has real strengths in sustainable process energy and transport industries, but lacks the funds and the skills to support them. Since the demise of the regional development authority, there has not been an effective champion to bring this about. The regional growth fund is not getting the money through quickly enough. What is he going to do to change that, so that the skills and the finances are available to industry in the north-east?
Michael Fallon
If I may say so, the hon. Lady is taking a rather pessimistic view of her region. There is plenty of money flowing from the regional growth fund to projects, two of which I have visited on the Tyne. There is plenty more support to come through the structural fund allocation, which has also gone to the local enterprise partnership, and through the invitation that has gone to the region to bid for the single local growth fund from 2015-16.