Core Cities

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

This is one of the proposals that I expect to come from Bristol. The Government recognise, in this document, that cities include their surrounding area, and indeed that is how local enterprise partnerships defined themselves. One of the criteria for the deals is to ensure that all the connections in the area in and around the city are reflected in what is proposed, so I expect that to be part of the discussion that we will have with the authorities in my hon. Friend’s area.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

What the Minister’s paper shows, in what it says about LEPs and skills, is that Ministers are having to reinvent the wheel on what RDAs did. Belatedly, they are giving powers to LEPs, wasting 12 months in the process. Does he accept that, as Members on both sides of the House have said, these powers and opportunities should also be available to second-level towns, coastal towns, rural areas and suburban areas on the edge of cities? Will he also look at the need to combine a skills strategy with localism in those areas—something that his colleagues in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and across the Government have so far failed to do?

[Greg Clark]

That is explicitly referred to in the document. We want to give the opportunity for cities to engage in skills strategies and help to equip the next generation of workers to enable businesses to prosper. I have been clear in what I have said: while we are starting with the core cities, this should by no means be seen as an exclusive process and I want to extend these principles beyond that.

On the point about the ability to do this through LEPs, I think that the identity and strength of cities were submerged under the regional structure that we inherited. Having swept away the regional approach, we are giving life to the potential of these cities, as is being increasingly recognised.