Oral Answers to Questions

Greg Clark Excerpts

Tuesday 1st May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

6. What steps he is taking to ensure that the industrial strategy benefits consumers through increased competition.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)]

The industrial strategy makes it clear that a competitive UK economy in which firms compete on price, service and innovation is one that serves consumers best. Our recently published Green Paper, “Modernising Consumer Markets”, sets out proposals to ensure that consumers benefit from new technologies and, in particular, that consumers’ data must be used to benefit them and not to act unfairly against them.

[Edward Argar]

I welcome that response. In ensuring that markets work for consumers, it is important that they work for vulnerable consumers, including those with mental health issues or dementia. Will my right hon. Friend enlarge on what he is doing to ensure that the markets work for those sorts of consumers?

[Greg Clark]

It is important that providers of services take into account the struggles of people suffering from mental ill health or dementia. The Green Paper sets out proposals requiring that minimum standards be applied, especially for utilities. In that regard, I applaud the work of the Alzheimer’s Society, which has launched the dementia-friendly utility guide, in which several companies are participating. That will help to make sure that people who deal with vulnerable consumers can assist them with bills, booking appointments and suchlike.

[Nigel Mills]

Does my right hon. Friend think that the competition regime that we have in the UK is fit for purpose, and are there sufficient resources to enable it to review all the major deals that seem to keep happening?

[Greg Clark]

I do think it is necessary to keep it under review, hence the Green Paper, because with the rise of new technologies, there are new challenges for regulators and new perspectives are required on mergers. We have increased the funding for the Competition and Markets Authority. My hon. Friend will have noticed that I appointed as chairman of the CMA Andrew Tyrie, who I think everyone on both sides of the House would recognise is a good, robust champion of the consumer.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

22. One of the ways in which consumers are very often ripped off is through the practice of drip pricing in online purchases—particularly through the practice of outlaw companies such as Viagogo, for example, which uses it. What work is the right hon. Gentleman doing in relation to that and with his colleagues from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman raises a very important point. Again, this is at the heart of the Green Paper, which looks at how new technologies can disadvantage consumers. In fact, in the case that he mentions, prosecutions are in train. Very robust action is being taken against that kind of abuse.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Secretary of State come down from the clouds? He knows that the biggest damage to all consumers in this country is coming from leaving the European Union. Did he see the LinkedIn report this morning that says that talented people in our country are fleeing overseas? Is that good for consumers?

[Greg Clark]

That was an ingenious piece of shoehorning, I must say. Part of our commitment is to make sure that we have a free trade agreement with the rest of the European Union that allows us to continue to serve markets right across Europe and the world. If the hon. Gentleman looks at the success of employment, including in his constituency in recent months, he will see that companies are employing people at rates not seen for many years.

[Ben Bradley (Mansfield) (Con)]

2. What steps he is taking to support growth in the small business sector.

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[Damien Moore (Southport) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)]

Over the six weeks since our last questions, I have launched, as colleagues have heard, the creative industry sector deal, a partnership with industry to unlock growth for creative businesses across the UK. Last week, more than 50 leading technology businesses and organisations united to launch another sector deal worth £1 billion to put the UK at the forefront of artificial intelligence. Our industrial strategy is building confidence across the economy, which I saw at first hand in Luton a few weeks ago with the announcement that Vauxhall’s new Vivaro van will be made in the UK, securing 1,400 jobs and the long-term future of the plant.

[Damien Moore]

Many small businesses in my constituency of Southport are still struggling despite the Government’s various business rate relief schemes. What programmes and initiatives aimed at small business can my right hon. Friend recommend to help small business owners who are struggling in my constituency?

[Greg Clark]

I remember with great pleasure visiting a small dairy business—a milk business—with my hon. Friend. I hope that it is thriving. Since that visit, I am delighted to say that a number of loans from the Start Up Loans Company, totalling about £800,000, have benefited businesses in Southport. The Liverpool city region growth hub has been established to give advice and support to small businesses, too.

[Gill Furniss (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab)]

I welcome this morning’s news that the EU has secured a further 30-day exemption from the US’s steel tariffs. However, that merely prolongs the uncertainty facing the sector. What steps is the Secretary of State currently taking to secure a full UK exemption when the temporary one ends on 1 June, and when will his Department respond to the steel sector deal, a proposal crucial to the long-term sustainability of the sector?

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

T2. What plans does his Department have to keep Britain a global leader in artificial intelligence?

[Greg Clark]

The sector deal will help, and has had an enthusiastic reception from the industry. This country is leading the way in the development of artificial intelligence. The Alan Turing Institute is attracting scholars from across the world. One part of the deal is to ensure that we have an extra 8,000 specialist computer science teachers in schools to ensure that the next generation can reap the rewards.

[Rosie Cooper (West Lancashire) (Lab)]

T5. Will the Secretary of State make an assessment of the potential merits of placing a requirement on private businesses seeking the long-term lease of roofs for solar panel fittings to inform their potential customers of their mortgage providers’ policies on such fittings before the lease is agreed?

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[Greg Clark]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, this is why we have the Competition and Markets Authority, which is virtually certain to conduct an inquiry into this matter, precisely to look into all the aspects to which he referred. I mentioned that the CMA has a new chair in Andrew Tyrie, and I am sure that the issue will receive the most rigorous scrutiny.

[Stephen Kerr (Stirling) (Con)]

T4. The subsidy available to energy plant for burning wood is causing distortions in demand for virgin and recycled wood, which is constricting supply and increasing input costs for businesses such as Norbord in Cowie. Will the Minister meet me and representatives of the wood panel industry to hear at first hand about the issues that they are facing and the consequences?

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[Greg Clark]

My colleagues in the Department are very clear that we need to make it possible, through our agreement with the European Union, to trade not only without tariffs but with the minimum of frictions. The hon. Lady describes some elements of that. It is absolutely the purpose of the negotiations to avoid the introduction of any unnecessary frictions.

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

T9. Post Brexit, if the European Union restricts access to the Galileo satellite project, will the Minister undertake for us to restrict its access to the communications infrastructure of the Falklands and Ascension Island?

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

The Minister will know that I have Jaguar Land Rover in my constituency. What will be the impact on Jaguar Land Rover of the changes to tax on diesel engines?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman knows, and the House knows, that there has been a fall in sales of diesel engines, not just in this country but across Europe. That has been the reason for some of the termination of the contracts there. We will be setting out, as a Government, the future regulatory path to clean up our roads of emissions. In doing that, we will be consulting with the industry.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

When does the Secretary of State anticipate being able to make an announcement about the Greater Grimsby town deal?

[Greg Clark]

I do not have a date in mind, but my hon. Friend’s persistent urging of me will make sure that it will be as soon as it can practicably be done.

[Laura Smith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

Have the Government made any assessment of whether social care providers will go bankrupt this year due to the ruling on sleep-in shifts and the minimum wage, and whether this will have any impact on social care? If so, will they provide that assessment to the House?

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[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

The industrial strategy rightly sets out opportunities arising from the new technology and STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—sectors but says little about the increasing importance of skills that are unique to human beings, such as care. Does the Secretary of State recognise that part of our answer to increasing automation should be expanding employment in the care sector and the value we attach to it? If so, will he start treating this as a strategic priority?

[Greg Clark]

It is indeed such a priority. I am delighted to see a copy of the strategy in the hon. Lady’s hands. In fact, one of the four grand challenges that we have set out regarding areas in which we can be a world leader is to develop the opportunities that arise from an ageing population, and care is absolutely central to that.