Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Kelly Excerpts

Thursday 17th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Prisk]

Clearly, the bank needs to work on a commercial basis. We are making very good progress with the proposals on it and we shall set them out in May.

[Chris Kelly (Dudley South) (Con)]

9. What criteria he used to determine appointments to the independent advisory panel for the regional growth fund.

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

The selection of panel members was rooted in ensuring that the independent advisory panel is mixed, with a good spread of expertise from around the country, bringing together representatives from major businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises, entrepreneurs, academia and civil society. All members of the panel act in an individual capacity under the chairmanship of Lord Heseltine.

[Chris Kelly]

I thank the Secretary of State for that answer, but can he explain why a representative of the New Economics Foundation has been appointed to the panel? That organisation has attacked the merits of economic growth and argued that Burma, Saudi Arabia and Haiti show Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom that achieving long, happy lives without overstretching the planet’s resources is possible. Might it not have been better to appoint someone to oversee the regional growth fund from an organisation that supports growth?

[Vince Cable]

The organisation is there to support growth. The suggestion that my hon. Friend mentions seems seriously dotty, but I have seen other work from the New Economics Foundation, focusing on local communities, which is very good. I can assure him that the advisory panel’s work will be overseen by Lord Heseltine and Sir Ian Wrigglesworth, neither of whom could be said to be shirking on matters of business and entrepreneurship.