Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Vince Cable

Thursday 11th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

7. What steps the Government are taking to ensure the value of the minimum wage keeps pace with inflation and encourage firms to pay a living wage.

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

Since 2010, the national minimum wage has increased faster than average earnings. From 1 October, the adult rate will rise above inflation to £6.50, giving more than 1 million workers the biggest cash increase in their take-home pay since 2008. Last year, I asked the Low Pay Commission to look at the conditions needed for faster increases. It concluded that we are in a new phase of year on year, faster real increases in the national minimum wage.

[Diana Johnson]

Since 2010 there have been only three prosecutions for breaches of the national minimum wage law. If the Secretary of State agrees, as I think he will, that more needs to be done to enforce the minimum wage, why in January did Liberal Democrat Members vote down Labour’s proposals for tougher enforcement, including additional powers for local authorities to take enforcement action?

[Vince Cable]

Both sides of the coalition will be introducing and supporting tougher enforcement measures in the small business Bill. The hon. Lady will already know that, adding to the enforcement regime we inherited, we have introduced not just the naming and shaming procedure but the prospect of significantly tougher penalties and much larger fines.

--- Later in debate ---

[Vince Cable]

Indeed, and the world competitiveness report acknowledged that Britain ranked number four in the world in overall attractiveness in labour markets. My hon. Friend is right that the reforms we have introduced are certainly one factor in that we have had a growth of 2 million in private sector jobs since May 2010. One factor that has not been noted, and certainly has not been noted by Opposition Members, is the very large number of cases now being dealt with by ACAS that would otherwise have gone through an expensive and frustrating legal procedure.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

T2. In asking my question, I want to make it clear that I want the Scots to remain our countrymen and women and not to become our competitors. The Government set up the UK Green Investment Bank in 2012 to boost investment in green technology and enterprise across the United Kingdom. With Hull and the Humber area emerging as a major UK centre for green energy and renewables, we would have extended a very warm welcome to having the bank in Hull. However, as we all know, its main headquarters is in Edinburgh, so can the Secretary of State just confirm that the UK Green Investment Bank can only be located within the United Kingdom?

[Vince Cable]

I think we all share the views that have been expressed across the House: that the United Kingdom is better together for a whole variety of reasons. The green investment bank is functioning very successfully with its current headquarters and operations. I think it has disbursed approaching £1 billion in a wide variety of projects from offshore wind to street lighting systems in Glasgow. It is a very successful initiative of this Government and I trust it will remain so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Vince Cable

Thursday 26th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Yes, indeed. We are already doing that, and I am discussing the matter with the Minister with responsibility for care. The problem with domiciliary care is that there is almost certainly an avoidance by companies to pay the minimum wage, and that overlaps with the problem of zero-hours contracts. We recognise that there are some very specific problems for workers in that sector.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

3. What contribution the regional growth fund has made to rebalancing the economy across regions.

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

Some £765 million of regional growth fund support has been paid to companies throughout England, which has leveraged £1.8 billion of private money. This combined investment of £2.5 billion in areas that need private sector growth has already delivered or safeguarded 97,000 jobs. Round 6 was launched last week and I encourage hon. Members to support companies in their constituencies in applying for funding.

[Diana Johnson]

In paying tribute to the hon. Member for Cardiff Central (Jenny Willott), perhaps the Secretary of State could put in a good word for her to get another job—there are so few Liberal Democrat women Ministers in the coalition Government.

Humber local enterprise partnership has been among the best in showing that it needs to go further than Ministers are with Lord Heseltine’s agenda on devolved funding, distributing £30 million of round 3 RGF funding to more than 80 companies, mainly small and medium-size enterprises. The funding ends in March 2015, and the fact that future rounds will be open only to larger businesses and universities with a minimum bid of £1 million will exclude many SMEs that are vital to the future of Hull. Will Ministers look again at this matter?

[Vince Cable]

On the hon. Lady’s first point about women in senior roles in Government—of course I want to add again compliments to my colleague—she may have noticed that the last of the FTSE companies that did not have a woman on the board, Glencore, has listened to our clear advice that it should proceed, and Mr Glasenberg appointed a woman director this morning. On the £30 million, which is of course the local fund that was hitherto administered through the local enterprise partnership but will come under the local growth fund when it is available from 2015-16, the local enterprise partnership will have discretion over how to use the funding available to it. I am sure that it will, as before, continue to support development in Hull.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Vince Cable

Thursday 10th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

3. What progress he has made on rebalancing the economy across the UK.

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

The regional growth fund plays a key rote in stimulating private investment and employment in areas dependent on the public sector. Today, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has announced 50 further projects and programmes that have been awarded regional growth fund support in round 5. Together they will share £300 million of RGF support and have pledged to deliver £1.9 billion of private sector investment and to safeguard or create 37,000 jobs. We have also increased resources under the strategic direction of local enterprise partnerships to at least £20 billion until 2020-21.

[Diana Johnson]

In 2011, Hull voters kicked out the Lib Dem councillors who had delayed setting up the Humber LEP. From then on, the Labour council, MPs, local businesses and the LEP took the lead in working together to bring to the city Siemens, City of Culture, and rail electrification. Does not that show the potential of real devolution to the regions? Why does the Secretary of State block the plans that are set out in the Heseltine review?

[Vince Cable]

I certainly welcome devolution and the cross-party approach that we have adopted to attracting Siemens. I remember going to Hull in 2010 and 2011, when an excellent Liberal Democrat council was laying the foundations for the bid for Siemens that is now happily realised.

Office for Fair Access

Debate between Diana Johnson and Vince Cable

Monday 20th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Yes, that is a very good summary of the conclusions that the Minister for Universities and Science and I reached after interviewing Professor Ebdon and the other candidates.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

What message does the open political split in the Government send to universities, given their responsibility to provide the reality of fair access to all our youngsters?

[Vince Cable]

I think that universities will be greatly reassured that they have an excellent man to lead OFFA in future, as Sir Martin Harris has done in the past. It has been a good process, we have a good outcome, and universities have absolutely nothing to be afraid of.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Vince Cable

Thursday 2nd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

How hard did Ministers press the case for British business with their colleagues in the Ministry of Defence, who yesterday produced a written ministerial statement which said that the Government will no longer prioritise UK suppliers when purchasing defence equipment? That is another kick in the teeth for all of us who are fighting to prevent British BAE Systems jobs from being exported, at a cost of £100 million to British taxpayers.

[Vince Cable]

Of course we have discussed those issues extensively with the Ministry of Defence, and if the hon. Lady actually reads the statement, she will see that it is absolutely clear that in defence, as in other areas, public procurement will operate on a strategic, long-term basis, not as it did under the last Government when narrow contractual arrangements involved purchases off the peg.

Executive Pay

Debate between Diana Johnson and Vince Cable

Monday 23rd January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I do not accept that there is a dichotomy between diversity and performance. All the evidence suggests that particularly the drive to get more women on boards has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with improving performance.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

A few months ago the Secretary of State said that the Government could intervene to stop bankers’ bonuses if they so wished. Does he stand by that? If he does, why is he not dealing with the RBS situation?

[Vince Cable]

I remind Opposition Members that the semi-publicly owned banks, including RBS, are managed on an arm’s length basis under an arrangement devised by the previous Labour Government. This Government have made it clear that we expect restraint in bonuses in the banking system and in RBS in particular, and we will see what happens.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Vince Cable

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Yes. UKTI does an excellent job. Like all other parts of the Government, it is having to do more with less, but it does so through refocusing and strategy. I have not yet been to that country, but I look forward to doing so.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

T8. Does the Minister of State really think that sending a letter to Members whose constituents are affected by the potential redundancies at BAE Systems stating that those people could move to other parts of the country to get jobs shows any understanding of the regional economy and the need for skilled manufacturing jobs, particularly in the Humber area?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Vince Cable

Thursday 14th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

The starting point of the hon. Lady’s question is absolutely right, and I congratulate her on the effective pressure she brings to bear on the issue. Her central point is that having more women on boards has nothing to do with political correctness; it is about sensible economics, good business and tapping into the potential that women can bring. The force of her argument is reinforced by the statement made at the beginning of the week by leading institutional investors that they will punish companies that do not make progress in this area. I will certainly receive her CV for the green investment bank if that is what she has in mind.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

15. What recent assessment he has made of the state of the construction industry.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Vince Cable

Thursday 31st March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

There is a long-term plan for science funding. The hon. Lady obviously has not followed the comments that were made by the Royal Society and many others in the science community welcoming the flat-cash settlement and the ring-fencing of the science budget.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

15. How many universities he expects to charge less than £7,500 in tuition fees from 2012.

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

No university wishing to charge over £6,000 yet knows for certain how much it will charge, since no university has yet signed an access agreement with the Office for Fair Access. We expect there to be a wide range of charges, and those institutions discussing higher charge levels all look set to include substantial waivers for students from poorer backgrounds.

[Diana Johnson]

Hull university is reported to be planning to charge up to the £9,000 limit. Combined with this week’s announcement about the slashing by two thirds of the education maintenance allowance support to students, how will this help to attract more students from areas such as Hull to university, bearing in mind the excellent progress that was made under the Labour Government?

[Vince Cable]

As the hon. Lady knows, and as we have discussed many times in this Chamber, the introduction of graduate contributions at the level we have will ensure that universities are indeed properly funded and maintain funding at world-class levels.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Vince Cable

Thursday 18th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I have a long queue of engagements, but I shall add that to the list. It sounds a very promising opportunity.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Based on the equality impact assessment that I am sure the coalition Government have carried out on their higher education proposals, what will the impact of cutting the higher education teaching grant by 80% be on women?