Annual Energy Statement

Debate between Gareth Thomas and Ed Davey

Thursday 6th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

May I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who has done an awful lot in this regard? The Government have listened to many of his arguments, as I believe has the independent regulator, Ofgem. There has been a reduction in the number of tariffs—frankly, they led to obfuscation and got in the way of competition, on which the previous Government failed to take any action—and bills have become simpler, which all helps to promote competition. The fact that energy companies now have to tell their customers whether they have a tariff that could save them money is another step forward.

[Mr Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Energy co-operatives such as Baywind Energy in the Lake district or Brixton Energy Solar in south London make a small but important contribution to meeting our energy needs and to reducing CO₂ emissions. Given that a number of other countries have a far larger energy co-op sector, what further steps will the Secretary of State take to encourage the growth of energy co-ops in the UK?

[Mr Davey]

I strongly agree with the hon. Gentleman. We have very much been going down this path. I urge him to read Britain’s first ever community energy strategy, which I published in January. Later, I am going to meet community energy groups, co-operatives and others that are working with the renewables industry on something called the shared ownership taskforce, which is launching its report today. With that we are ensuring that there is an option for communities to buy in to renewable projects in their area, thus extending the options for new types of energy co-operatives.

Opportunities for the Next Generation

Debate between Gareth Thomas and Ed Davey

Tuesday 13th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Thomas]

If the hon. Gentleman aspires, as he says, to high-quality apprenticeships, why is he part of a Government who have abolished the apprenticeships guarantee?

[Mr Davey]

We are doing a lot better than under the apprenticeships guarantee. The hon. Gentleman should have apologised for his motion, because, as my right hon. Friend the Minister for Universities and Science clearly showed, it does not tell the real story—the success story—about apprenticeships by suggesting that it is a negative story. The truth is that the absolute number of all apprenticeships is up, as is the absolute number of young people on apprenticeships.

I am afraid that there was some misunderstanding of that success story, despite the support for our overall policy. That is not surprising, in a way, because Labour’s record is surprisingly poor in this respect. As my hon. Friends the Members for Wirral West (Esther McVey) and for Solihull (Lorely Burt) said, under Labour youth unemployment increased by 40%, and the number of NEETs increased. One of the most surprising facts is that as the number of NEETs was increasing under the Labour Government, it was falling internationally, so we fell behind Hungary, Greece and the Slovak Republic in what we were doing for the most vulnerable young people in our society. That is not a record for Labour to be proud of.

Co-operatives and Mutuality

Debate between Gareth Thomas and Ed Davey

Thursday 30th June 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Thomas]

rose—

[Mr Davey]

There are two colleagues who want to intervene. I will take the interventions in order, first taking the intervention from the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie)—I think that that is his constituency, these days.

[Mr Davey]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, I am not the Minister responsible for Northern Rock and my Department is not responsible for it either, so I would be ill advised to go into detail about it. I have tried to ensure that the Members attending this debate received some answers about that issue and I believe that I have fulfilled that obligation, but he may need to attend Treasury questions to probe further on the issue.

I will now give way to the hon. Member for Harrow West, although I hope that he will bear in mind the answer that I have just given to his hon. Friend.

[Mr Thomas]

With all due respect, I would have expected the Minister to have been briefed on these questions.

[Mr Davey]

I have been briefed.

[Mr Thomas]

And I would have expected the Minister to have given a better answer than the one he has just given. At the very least, will he commit to write to those Members who have taken part in this debate with the answer to the question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie)?

[Mr Davey]

I am quite surprised by the hon. Member for Harrow West, because he has been a Minister and he will absolutely know that there are areas that a Minister does not go into when they are the responsibility of another Department. As I instructed the hon. Member for Nottingham East, I believe that he needs to attend Treasury questions and ask Treasury Ministers about this matter.

[Mr Davey]

In a moment. I think that I have given a good answer to the question that was put. I am happy to answer a question put by the right hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Alun Michael), as he is a very experienced former Minister.

[Mr Thomas]

This has been a major issue for some time and the Minister should have been better briefed on it.

[Mr Davey]

Let me help the right hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth and the hon. Member for Harrow West, who has twice interrupted me from a sedentary position, by saying that the decisions have not been made yet. If a lot of decisions had been made, I would be very happy to tell right hon. and hon. Members about them and let them ask questions about them.