Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Greg Mulholland Excerpts
Thursday 10th April 2014

(10 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Vince Cable Portrait Vince Cable
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I am certainly very happy to give the hon. Lady an assurance to meet her in the House and to visit her constituency. I have been to Tyneside on several occasions and I am aware that it is a centre for advanced manufacturing. In many respects it is doing very well on the back of the growth of the oil and gas industry in the North sea. We clearly need more jobs on Tyneside and I am happy to work with her to deliver them.

Greg Mulholland Portrait Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)
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T5. Twenty-five years ago the then Government intervened in the pubs market, recognising that it was failing consumers and small brewers. However, as a result of industry lobbying, they failed to place a limit on the number of pubs, which led to the development of the large pubcos. Twenty-five years on, will the Secretary of State assure me that he will listen to the majority of MPs in the House of Commons rather than giving in to industry lobbying, and that he will introduce the market-rent-only option which is the solution offered by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee?

Jenny Willott Portrait The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Jenny Willott)
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As my hon. Friend knows, we have had a number of debates about this issue in the House, and the House has expressed its view. The Government recently held a consultation, to which thousands of responses were received. We are now considering those responses, and will issue our own response as soon as we can.