Enterprise Bill [Lords]

Flick Drummond Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)]

I am grateful to be called to speak at this time, Mr Speaker. This is a good Bill, because any Bill dealing with enterprise should be removing shackles and this one does so, to a large extent. I therefore welcome it, but some aspects need to be discussed in more detail, one of which is the small business commissioner. I welcome that role, because some small businesses in my constituency complain frequently about payment problems and this allows me to reassure them and, in particular, the Federation of Small Businesses, that meaningful action has been taken. The Bill says that the commissioner will be giving out advice, and that is a good thing. I am not sure about the scope of this “advice”, but it has to include encouraging small businesses to grow and advice on how that growth might take place. This should be within the context of an interesting speech made by Andy Haldane, the chief economist at the Bank of England, who has noted that we need to ensure that firms think about long-term planning and strategic investment, rather than just exit routes, dividend payments and so forth. The Government should be thinking about how this commissioner might start moving firms in that direction.

Let me pick up a point made by my fellow Select Committee Chair, the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright), who compared this commissioner’s role with that of the Small Business Administration in America. That is a worthy comparison to make and we should be thinking about it. We need more long-term planning and more strategic investment, potentially encouraged by some form of advice through the small business commissioner, in line with the Bank of England’s thinking.

The second question we should be considering is that of apprenticeships. It is absolutely right that an apprenticeship should be saluted and should be a cast-iron position. We must ensure that all 3 million apprenticeships that we hope to have in the course of this Parliament have a quality hallmark beneath their name and are successful. That is imperative. As for the institute that will be created, which should be up and running in April 2017, we should ensure that it has the capacity to ensure that the apprenticeships are of cast-iron quality. I hope that the Minister will be able to tell us that that is the case. Although it will be an arm’s length institution, it should not lose sight of other organisations in the world of education. We must ensure that we think not simply about universities and apprenticeships but about everything else that forms part of the process. It is all interlinked. I must put in a shout for the further education colleges, because they have an important role and we must ensure that that continues.

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Portsmouth South) (Con)]

rose—

[Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)]

As the grandson of a shop keeper and as someone who ran a small haulier business, it will come as no surprise that I support the Bill. As the Secretary of State said earlier, although Napoleon used the phrase “a nation of shopkeepers” as an insult, the British public took the phrase under their wing and treated it with great affection. Small independent businesses have been the lifeblood of our country for centuries and we must do all we can to keep enterprise alive and well. It is enterprise that enables our country to grow, our small island to bat well above its weight on the international stage, and our young people to aspire to a brighter future.

In my constituency of Bath, independent small businesses keep our city alive. Without them, thousands would struggle to find employment and it would be a much less dynamic place to live. Given my own background in helping to start up a small business and having first-hand knowledge of the challenges that start-ups face on a daily basis, I was delighted to see that this Government are driving through an Enterprise Bill. We should be doing everything we can to ensure that enterprise is the driving force at the heart of our economy. That is why I am pleased to see the introduction of a small business commissioner and all the powers that come with it. Changes to late payment of insurance claims, the sale of Government shares in the Green Investment Bank, and grants or loans towards electronic communications facilities are welcome. All these changes will help Britain to continue to be the best place in Europe to do business. It is disappointing to see how few Labour MPs there are on the Opposition Benches. That shows that the Conservative party is the party of true enterprise.

As I have worked alongside the NHS and other public sector bodies for over seven years in my career before entering the House, I will concentrate in the short time available on last year’s announcement that the Government intended to end six-figure exit payments for public sector workers. Constituents will no doubt be shocked to hear that between 2011-12 and 2013-14 the cost of exit payments in the public sector was around £6.5 billion. More than £1 billion of that came as a result of exit payments costing more than £100,000. Indeed, according to the response to a freedom of information request by the TaxPayers Alliance, Haringey Council in London spent £12.6 million on pay-offs in three years.

Six-figure exit payments that are far in excess of those available to most public sector workers and others in the wider economy are not fair and do not offer value for money for the taxpayers who fund them. I therefore welcome clause 35(1), which introduces a cap of £95,000 on the total value of exit payments. The scope, level and design of the cap has been out to consultation, and I look forward to hearing more from the Minister about the specific technicalities. I hope she will also update the House on the consultation regarding the calculation of compensation terms and employer-funded early retirement in circumstances of redundancy.

During the seven years that I worked alongside the public sector, I saw numerous examples of permanent employees being shifted to a new role and getting a double pay-off. That is why I am pleased that the Government are ensuring that exit payments do not exceed £95,000. However, although I am pleased that the Bill will cap public sector exit pay-offs at £95,000, is the Minister considering whether to prevent public sector workers who receive a pay-off from being able to set up a limited company, apply for an interim role within the same department, receive a large daily rate and thereby effectively circumnavigate the reduced exit payment scheme? If we are to keep a lid on public sector exit payments, I strongly suggest that that is considered in Committee.

At the general election, this Government promised to create 3 million new apprenticeships. The fact that 2.3 million were created in the previous Parliament is a fantastic achievement in itself. I pay tribute to the amazing work of my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on- Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), who is no longer in his place, in championing apprenticeships. When discussing apprenticeships, we often forget the superb benefits that they give to people’s lives. Not only have they provided new skills; they have turned around the lives of many and given new opportunities to millions of young people in the UK.

[Mrs Drummond]

Does my hon. Friend agree that older people and people with disabilities should also be allowed to take up apprenticeships?

[Ben Howlett]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend, who makes her point well. Apprenticeships should be available to older people as well as younger people. I hope the Minister will address that in her summation.

Apprenticeships have delivered that deeply Conservative belief of aspiration—something that an entire generation lost when I was at school from 1997, just as Tony Blair took the leadership of the Labour party, to 2003.