Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Christian Matheson Excerpts
Tuesday 16th June 2015

(9 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Greg Hands Portrait Greg Hands
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The hon. Lady makes a reasonable point, but that is why in the previous Parliament we increased spending on innovation, including on the new catapult centres and on a whole host of other projects, and we look forward to doing more in this Parliament.

Christian Matheson Portrait Christian Matheson (City of Chester) (Lab)
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15. What assessment he has made of the level of productivity in the economy.

David Gauke Portrait The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)
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The UK’s productivity has been lower than the G7 average since OECD records began 45 years ago. In the previous Parliament, we took a number of steps to increase the UK’s productivity in the long run, including cutting the corporation tax rates to the lowest in the G20 and investing in skills, infrastructure and science. The Chancellor will set out what further action this Government will take to boost productivity in our productivity plan to be published before the Budget.

Christian Matheson Portrait Christian Matheson
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I thank the Minister for his reply. In Chester, the number of people on apprenticeships continues to decline, and I am talking about Conservative-style cheap and cheerful apprenticeships with little added value at the end. Was the creation of a low-skill, low-wage economy an intention of the Government, or was it an unintended by-product?

David Gauke Portrait Mr Gauke
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On the subject of Chester, unemployment fell over the course of the last Parliament by 49%, which is something I would have expected the hon. Gentleman to welcome. The reality is that we are investing in apprenticeships; we saw 2.2 million people undertake apprenticeships in the previous Parliament, and we will increase that to 3 million in this Parliament.