Business and the Economy
Debate between Chuka Umunna and Danny Alexander(12 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Danny Alexander
The hon. Lady has made an important point about the use of European regional development funding, which we have been considering in connection with the regional growth fund. I am afraid that I cannot give her an update on funds for the north-east, but I will ensure that the Minister responsible for such matters writes to her with one.
Mr Umunna
The facts that I gave earlier about the regional growth fund came straight out of the National Audit Office report. Am I right in saying that the Chief Secretary has denied that the report said that only about 41,000 jobs could be created under the scheme? Was I also wrong in stating that the report was very clear about the fact that, in some cases, the cost of each job would be up to £200,000?
Danny Alexander
If the hon. Gentleman will stop heckling from a sedentary position and listen to the answer for once, I will do my best to deal with his question.
In the individual case in which the £200,000 figure was given, it was given before the due diligence phase, as a Member whom I could not identify has just pointed out from a sedentary position. If the project reaches its final stages, it will involve a cost per job much closer to the average. The 41,000 figure was a mechanical estimate for which a model was used, whereas the 328,000 figure that I gave is based precisely on information provided by successful applicants on the number of jobs that will be created and safeguarded by the regional growth fund. I think that, rather than sneering at the fund, the hon. Gentleman should recognise the important contribution that it is making, and the important contribution to economic recovery that is being made by the private sector businesses that it is supporting.
Danny Alexander
I will give way once more, but then I must make some progress.
Danny Alexander
I do not have that information to hand. However, the point I made earlier, which he ignores, is that in many cases where the regional growth fund has been awarded, the private investment takes place well in advance of the public funds being needed. The measure he seeks to use of who has received public funds is therefore not necessarily the best measure of the investment that has taken place, quickly stimulated by the award of regional growth funds. If he looks around the country, he will see many examples of private sector businesses that have been awarded moneys from the regional growth fund and have started their investments well in advance of public funding arriving, because that is how their projects have been planned. If he were doing his job properly, he would understand that that is the way in which many businesses operate.
We have also heard a number of comments about the banking Bill. Indeed, strong support for that Bill was expressed on both sides of the House, and there was support, too, for the strong recommendations of the Independent Commission on Banking.
Public Spending
Debate between Chuka Umunna and Danny Alexander
Danny Alexander
The hon. Gentleman has asked about four questions in one. I will answer the first. As he knows, the risks facing the country have changed over the past few months. Any survey of the evidence across the world suggests that the risks of sovereign debt crises are huge in other countries. That is reflected in the G20 communiqué, which agreed that faster fiscal consolidation was what was needed in major economies. I think that that is right. Only the Labour party is out of step with that international consensus.
Mr Chuka Umunna (Streatham) (Lab)
Again and again, the Chief Secretary, his predecessor and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions come to the House and assert that the future jobs fund is an ineffective scheme. How can the Chief Secretary say that when the Department for Work and Pensions has not collected the data concerned? The first cohort of young people to take part in the scheme have only just finished, and the data are not yet available.
Danny Alexander
According to my information, the programme represents poor value for money and is not delivering on the objectives set out for it, and our Work programme—which the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions will be announcing—will give people a more effective, quicker and more direct route back into work by paying providers by results, and ensuring that people receive the support that they need.