SportsDirect (USC Dundonald)

Iain McKenzie Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2015 Westminster Hall

[Mr Donohoe]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. The Scottish Affairs Committee is about to call that company to book, or has already done so, and has approached me to ask whether to call Mr Ashley to the Committee for what he has done to the company for which he is responsible. Do we agree with the BBC’s 2009 quote from a self-confessed asset stripper that the law in such circumstances is a pirates’ charter? I wonder whether that description could apply to Mr Ashley.

Has the Magna Carta principle that no citizen should unreasonably be deprived of their livelihood been breached by Mike Ashley and SportsDirect? Given how he has behaved on the issue, is Ashley, SportsDirect’s supremo, a fit and proper person to buy shares and give loans to Glasgow Rangers football club, and to appoint his men to the board? Should not the Scottish Football Association look more closely at this person’s credentials for involvement in a team that is not just a business venture, but a Scottish—indeed, a UK—institution? His track record, particularly his treatment of USC workers, shows that he has scant regard for anything but balancing the books and maximising profits, even if loyal staff are thrown on the scrap heap as a result.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. Does he agree that it is wholly worrying that someone of Mr Ashley’s background, employment and business practice is moving into the highly delicate area of Scottish football, especially with a football team that is having difficulties at the moment?

[Mr Donohoe]

I agree. Glasgow Rangers is an institution, and some 25% of the population of Scotland follow that team. It is wrong that that individual should be allowed anywhere close to the team. As I will request of the Minister in a moment, I hope that the SFA gets to the bottom of this and does not allow him further into the club’s business.

Will the Minister set up an inquiry into the affairs of Mike Ashley in relation to the USC Dundonald situation affecting my constituents and his interest in Glasgow Rangers? Such a move would be welcome to the former employees of USC Dundonald and, I am sure, to the great bulk of Glasgow Rangers supporters. We need to bring some transparency to the affairs of Mike Ashley and of Glasgow Rangers. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

Oral Answers to Questions

Iain McKenzie Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

I do congratulate the businesses that have been nominated and all the businesses that have contributed to a fall in unemployment in Harlow of more than 40% in the past year. My hon. Friend’s jobs fairs have contributed to that and I have no doubt that his support for small business Saturday, which all Members should support, will help to ensure that businesses can thrive in Harlow and elsewhere.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

Under this Government, small businesses have been hit by a £1,500 rise in business rates. With so many of our small businesses up and down the country on our high streets under pressure, especially at this time of year, why will the Secretary of State and the Minister not back Labour’s plans to cut and freeze business rates to help our small firms?

[Matthew Hancock]

We have gone further than that: we have cut by £1,000 business rates for all small retail premises. It is crucial to ensure that business rates work in the long term. They raise a lot of revenue and we have to be aware of that fact. There will be a review in the run-up to 2017, when there will be a planned revaluation. I understand the impact of business rates and we have to ensure that they work better.

National Minimum Wage

Iain McKenzie Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Umunna]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend, and the point he makes about zero-hours contracts shows that, in some respects, the big difference between the two sides of the House is that—[Interruption.] The Minister will have his time in a moment. From our point of view, of course people having work is the absolute priority, and having a job is of course better than not having a job, but we have got to be more ambitious than that given the nature of the work that so many people in our economy are doing.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

What does my hon. Friend think of this Government’s lacklustre approach to, and lack of enthusiasm for, naming and shaming employers who pay under the living wage?

[Mr Umunna]

My hon. Friend raises a good point, and I will come to it very shortly.

--- Later in debate ---

[Matthew Hancock]

Absolutely. I concur strongly with what my hon. Friend says. Today’s Labour U-turn on low pay policy shows that ours is the only party and this is the only coalition Government strongly supporting the national minimum wage. We are the ones who are raising the minimum wage, putting it up in real terms at record levels when compared with average earnings, while at the same time reducing taxes. It is those on the Government Benches who support the minimum wage, and it is particularly the Conservative party that is the party of the low-paid.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

I would like to tempt the Minister to say more about our proposal for “make work pay” contracts and partnership with the Government and business. Does he not think that business would embrace such contracts in order to promote investment in their employees’ skills, providing not just jobs but a career for their employees?

[Matthew Hancock]

It is absolutely true that the long-term and fundamental way to support the increase in productivity is to ensure more rigorous education and more skills, which is why we increased the number of apprenticeships. We are on track to have 2 million apprenticeships started in this Parliament, and we are clear that we will deliver 3 million in the next Parliament. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that education and skills underpin the long-term advance of prosperity for everyone in this country. I suggest that he would support the Government’s policies to strengthen education if he was truly interested in supporting a long-term increase in productivity.

We have discussed enforcement, the increase in the budget for enforcement and the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill. We have quadrupled the maximum penalty to £20,000—per worker, not per firm. As a result, the amount from enforcement has increased from £2.6 million in 2003 to £4.6 million today. We know that a strong minimum wage must be properly enforced.

My third and final point is that the true champions of the low-paid know that the minimum wage is only one tool among many. We are reforming welfare so that it supports people into work rather than trapping them in poverty, and we are letting people keep more of what they earn. Thanks to our rise in the tax threshold, a typical taxpayer already pays £700 less income tax than in 2010. The tax bill of someone working a 30-hour week on the minimum wage has been cut by two thirds. In the next Parliament, we will abolish income tax for those working full time on the minimum wage. We can do that only because we are prepared to make difficult decisions on spending.

It seems that the Labour party does not want to make those difficult decisions. Perhaps the shadow Minister will explain why all we have heard from it is taxes on jobs, taxes on business, taxes on homes, pensions, investments, taxes on driving and now even taxes on death.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jack Dromey]

The hon. Gentleman speaks in good faith. All that I will say is that timidity is the preserve of his party’s Front Bench, whereas passion and determination characterise our side of the House.

As the Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Erdington, I am proud to say that Birmingham has been taking a lead in driving the living wage, first for those directly employed by the council, then for those working in schools, and now—it is the first time that any council in Britain has done this—for those employed in all future care contracts. Birmingham is working with a range of good employers, who are coming together and saying “We believe that the success of our city can be best achieved if workers are paid properly and treated fairly.”

[Mr McKenzie]

We should pay tribute to the numerous Labour-controlled councils all over the country—and I speak for Scotland in particular—who have led the way in securing a living wage for their employees.

[Jack Dromey]

I agree. Labour councils throughout Britain are taking the lead.

Experience tells me that a much higher minimum wage, and a living wage, are good. They are good for workers and for their dignity. I remember, during a dispute here at the House of Commons, meeting one excellent African cleaner. We were going to do a photo-call outside, but he said to me “I would prefer not to, Jack.” I asked “Why not?” He replied “I do not want anyone to know that I am a minimum-wage cleaner.”

A higher minimum wage is good for the family. I also remember sitting down with a group of men and women—along with Emmanuel, one of our organisers at Canary Wharf—to talk about what it was like to have to do two, three or four jobs at once in order to survive. One of them said “Jack, I sleep on the bus from one job to the other. I never see my family.” A higher minimum wage is good for employers, because all the evidence suggests—and KPMG and others have done some excellent work on this—that it contributes to higher productivity and reductions in turnover. It is good for the economy, because if low-paid workers get more money in their wage packets, they will not salt it away in the Cayman islands; they will go out and spend it in local shops and clubs, buying goods and services. It is also good for the welfare bill, because if the low-paid are paid more, they will rely on welfare support less. It is absolutely wrong for us in our country to be subsidising, on a grand scale, employers who pay low wages.

We should be thinking about what kind of country we want to be. The International Monetary Fund recently conducted a fascinating study of the problems that are inherent in unequal societies and what they mean in terms of social cohesion, but there is more to it than that. A successful modern economy cannot be based on low pay and low productivity. That is why Opposition Members argue, unashamedly and with passion, that we must espouse the cause of fair pay for every worker, so that no worker needs to live in working poverty any longer.

Government Members must hear about this in their constituencies; Opposition Members hear about it all the time. I remember one Stockland Green mum saying to me, “Jack, I keep being told that everything is fine. Recovery? What recovery? Do them up there understand what life is like for us down here?” For us, this is a noble cause. Of course it is about work, family, good workers succeeding, the economy and bringing down welfare bills, but, dare I say it, it is a moral cause as well.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr McKenzie]

The hon. Gentleman rightly says that there is disgust over zero-hours contracts. Has he impressed on his colleagues in the Government the need for a Bill that would enable us to end such contracts?

[Alec Shelbrooke]

The hon. Gentleman has made the mistake of believing that zero-hours contracts are wrong in themselves. They offer flexibility to people. What is wrong and unacceptable is the abuse of zero-hours contracts, when an employer says “You cannot work for anyone else.” That is what is wrong. The hon. Gentleman needs to take a close look at Members in his own party who have people on zero-hours contracts. That is the problem. We must not mix up the arguments along the way, because there is positivity in some instances. The abuse is what the Government need to crack down on.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ms Buck]

I will talk about tax credits in a moment, because they are extremely important, but, as we have heard from Labour Members, there is no excuse for tax credits being a substitute for employers paying a decent wage.

The number of people paid below the living wage rose in the past year from 4.6 million to 5 million, so we have seen that problem getting worse. I want to talk a little about London, because this vastly successful city, which includes a massive concentration of wealth and some of the best paid people in the country, has a scandalous problem with low pay, and it has been getting worse. Almost one in five jobs in London are low paid and the number of low-paid jobs—those below the London living wage—increased by 45,000 last year to 600,000. The number of low-paid people in London has increased from a total of 420,000 just before the global economic crisis. In 2013, almost one in five London jobs were low paid. That figure has risen from 12% in 2009, so we have a worsening problem of low pay in London.

That problem is not spread equally across people or across all sectors. We know there is a particular problem in the retail and wholesale sector and that one in five low-paid jobs are in the hospitality sector—in hotels and restaurants. Together those two sectors account for nearly half of all low-paid jobs in London—again, that proportion has risen since 2010. We know that low pay particularly affects those working part-time, particularly women. The number of women working part-time on low pay in London has increased by 67,000 since 2009-10. Women are particularly at risk of being trapped in low pay.

Worryingly, we know that there is a particular crisis of low pay affecting black and minority ethnic communities. The Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities are at particular risk of being low paid, and that is also true of black African workers in the capital. We also know that low pay has spread from inner London, which has historically had some of the worst concentrations of poverty, out into the suburbs. They have seen the fastest increase in low pay, with the proportion of low-paid jobs being highest in boroughs such as Harrow and Bexley. They were traditionally regarded as among the more affluent communities in London, so the whole pattern is changing and, unfortunately, in the past few years it has not been changing in a good way.

What does all this actually mean? It means three things, one of which is that people are worse off. We know that, on average, working people are worse off by £1,600 a year. Paul Gregg, of Bath university’s institute for policy research, said in a report that the wages of Britain’s working people are almost 20% lower than they would have been had trend wage continued at its level before the global economic crisis hit us.

[Mr McKenzie]

My hon. Friend makes a good point about the £1,600 that people find themselves down each year in real-terms pay. That £1,600 would be spent in the local economy, thus promoting more jobs and sustaining more business.

[Ms Buck]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about that. We know that the £1,600 fall in income in cash terms and the fact that wages are 20% lower than they would have been if wage growth had been consistent with its level before the global economic crash—before 2008-09 and beyond–—means several things for the wider economy. Obviously, low-paid people invest their money in the local economy; they spend it, and that has a beneficial effect on the shops, services and communities where they live. It also means that some of those people who would have been paying tax are no longer doing so, which has a beneficial effect for low-paid people coming out of tax but means that total tax revenues are undershooting dramatically, as the Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed. Indeed, the problem of low pay and tax revenues is a contributing factor to not being able to reduce the deficit, which of course the Conservative party told us would be completed by the next financial year. That has been a complete public policy failure, with a reduction of only a third compared with a target of almost total elimination.

Other issues arise from low pay. It damages work incentives, and we hear a great deal from the Conservative party about those. It is as if it were the party that discovered the idea of work incentives and making work pay. In fact, we all want to see work pay and for that to be an incentive for people going into work. Let us accept that that is universally shared. The trouble is that the worsening scandal of low pay, including in cities such as London, means that work simply does not necessarily guarantee a route out of poverty and it traps people on benefits. That is partly because wages have fallen, as we have heard, but also because they have fallen, particularly in places such as London, relative to soaring housing costs and rising rents. The rise in rents in London means that many households simply cannot work enough hours at the kind of pay that is being offered to get free of benefit tapers. That is particularly true for lone parents and couples with children.

Let me return to the question I was asked by the hon. Member for Bedford (Richard Fuller) about tax credits. It is very important to put on the record just how crucial they are, because whatever one does about the tax threshold and taking people out of tax completely, it simply will not be enough to make sure that people with children are earning enough to make ends meet. The tax credit policy is not a substitute for tax thresholds; it is an essential complement to them, particularly for parents.

Universal Postal Service

Iain McKenzie Excerpts

Thursday 17th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Katy Clark]

Indeed—he is both a friend and a comrade. I am delighted that he is here today. He represents a very similar constituency to mine.

Members in all parts of the House represent constituencies where we know it will never be profitable to deliver mail. That is why the universal service is so important. It is also important that we ensure that stamp prices are kept at a level that is affordable in all parts of the country.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that we have seen this unfair competition before when the Conservatives were last in power and they privatised British Telecom? The other companies wanted the cities but not the rural areas, and now we see that again with Royal Mail.

[Katy Clark]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Perhaps we can enter into that debate on another occasion.

The Government are allowing TNT to cherry-pick the services in more profitable city areas, where its presence has already led to reductions of 14% to 15% in the use of Royal Mail.

--- Later in debate ---

[Katy Clark]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Of course, he has a very long track record and great expertise on these issues. If we do not take action now, then when the House considers this matter in a number of years’ time, there will be serious proposals for a reduction in the kind of service that people receive. We hope that the Government will take action now to make sure that we are not faced with that problem.

At the moment, Royal Mail still delivers 99% of mail in the UK. Our concern is that that situation could change very quickly given the current expansion plans of TNT, in particular, and perhaps other providers as well. Royal Mail itself estimates that TNT’s expansion strategy could result in a reduction of more than £200 million in Royal Mail revenue by 2017-18. The reality is that much of the most profitable section of the market, namely the business mail, is already handled by companies other than Royal Mail. Indeed, that has been the case for a considerable period. There has also been a significant reduction in the volume of letters over the past decade, which also continues to put pressure on the universal service obligation.

Royal Mail is subject to vigorous and rigorous performance standards. Its competitors are not subject to the same standards. There is also no requirement on competitors to report on service standards, as Ofcom says that service standards are driven by market forces. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) has pointed out, there are many concerns about the poor quality of service that customers receive from TNT in areas where it operates. There are also many concerns about the terms and conditions of the work force, which are considerably worse than those of the Royal Mail work force.

I believe that the motion is moderate. It calls on Ofcom to carry out a full review and to make proposals for regulation to create a level playing field in the postal services market. In particular, I ask Ofcom to consider whether a compensation fund could be established to support the provision of the universal service, which could be used to collect contributions from those that benefit from providing en-to-end service without the requirements of meeting the universal service. I also ask Ofcom to consider whether the general service conditions that currently apply specifically to Royal Mail alone should be extended to apply also to other operators.

We should also consider removing the requirement on Royal Mail to allow other operators to access its network. Hon. Members who visit the postal depots in their constituencies at Christmas will know that the work force have been raising concerns about that issue for many years. There is no doubt that that requirement to deliver mail for others has been a burden on Royal Mail.

[Mr McKenzie]

It is not only about the commitment to deliver that mail for others; often, Royal Mail also has to sort that mail before delivering it for them.

[Katy Clark]

My hon. Friend and his family have a great deal of experience in these matters, as do I. He is absolutely correct. I think that the situation is slightly less frustrating for the work force now, because the work used to be even more of a drain on Royal Mail and it made a considerable loss as a result. The financial arrangements have improved slightly, but this is very much an area that Ofcom needs to look at.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Reid]

I certainly agree with my hon. Friend. The universal service is so important for the country that I hope that any reviews or inquiries will be given a high priority and be conducted as quickly as possible, whether they are being carried out by Ofcom or the Competition and Markets Authority.

As I was saying, Royal Mail has pointed out that it has to meet all the targets that are set by Ofcom and publish its performance against those targets quarterly and annually. However, its competitors do not have to meet or publish any targets, other than the figures on complaints. Ofcom should use its powers to set targets for all operators and compel them to meet them. That would provide transparency and allow consumers to make an informed choice between operators.

[Mr McKenzie]

I fully accept what the hon. Gentleman says about the need for a level playing field. Does he accept that companies might want to produce information on targets to show that they have a process of continuous improvement and that they are providing a good-quality service?

[Mr Reid]

The hon. Gentleman is perfectly correct. A company that has any ethos at all will want to demonstrate that it is doing a good job. I therefore do not see how rival operators could possibly object to such a proposal.

In an e-mail that it sent me, Royal Mail alleged that TNT has dumped and misdelivered mail. We heard interventions from two London Members earlier who said that they had evidence of that happening in their constituencies. That backs up the need for the publication of performance statistics. Such statistics would show if mail is not being delivered and is disappearing from the system.

Ofcom has stated that before the end of next year, it will commence a review of the impact of end-to-end competition to assess any potential threat to the provision of the universal service. I do not think that it should wait until the end of next year. It should commence the review now because this is such an important service. That would be in the interests not just of Royal Mail and the consumer, but of rival operators. It is in everybody’s interests to know as soon as possible what conditions Ofcom will impose on mail delivery companies. I can see an operator such as TNT complaining if, in two years’ time, conditions are imposed on it that it was not told about before it made the investment. I see no advantage in waiting another 17 months before beginning the review.

My hon. Friend the Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine pointed out that we have been here before with Postcomm, which seemed to prioritise competition over protecting the USO. Ofcom’s most important legal duty is to preserve the USO. That was written into the 2011 Act by a Liberal Democrat Minister. I expect Ofcom to do everything possible to protect the USO. I believe that that means holding a review now. I see no purpose that will be served by waiting another 17 months. If Royal Mail is crying wolf, there is no harm in having the review now, because it will show that. However, if Royal Mail is correct in its concerns, having a review now is essential.

The universal service is essential to rural communities such as Argyll and Bute. Thanks to a Liberal Democrat Minister, the law protects the universal service. Ofcom has a duty to ensure that that legal protection is delivered. As long as Ofcom carries out its duties properly, the USO will be sustainable. However, I believe that Ofcom must carry out the review now.

Small Business Start-ups (Scotland)

Iain McKenzie Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Crausby. I thank the Minister for taking time out of his busy schedule to come to this debate. I am delighted to have secured it, because we are all aware of the importance of small businesses to our economy. Small businesses are the lifeblood not only of regional economies, like Scotland’s, but of the overall UK economy.

Scotland has at last seen much-needed growth in the small business sector and that should be welcomed, encouraged and further developed, because small businesses account for over half of private sector employment in Scotland—just over 1 million people. Today we are looking at just short of 350,000 small businesses in Scotland. A great many of our unemployed who find work do so by joining or setting up their own small business. Scotland has seen an increase in small business start-ups over the last year. As I said, almost 350,000 small businesses were operating in Scotland in 2013-14, all with fewer than 50 employees. The Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland represents some 19,000 of those.

However, it is not all good news on start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises. According to Scotland’s insolvency service, the number of Scottish-registered companies becoming insolvent or entering receivership increased in 2013-14. The total of recorded insolvencies last quarter was higher than the previous quarter, although when compared with the equivalent quarter of the previous year, it was slightly lower. The Scottish Government’s website acknowledges that, stating that the number of Scottish-registered companies becoming insolvent or entering receivership in 2013-14 increased. This could be because the recession has lasted so much longer than anyone expected, with the increased figures for insolvencies reflecting, perhaps, that not all Scots business owners are trying to operate more effectively in relation to the current market conditions. Alternatively it could be, as I will go on to highlight, that the quality of a start-up and support for it should be as important, if not more so, than quantity.

Although I welcome this growth in Scotland’s small business start-ups, in Scotland there are clearly many reasons for increased start-ups. Even the reduction in the number of unemployed people in Scotland has been slower than in the rest of the UK, perhaps reflecting people’s inability to find employment with bigger or established employers. It may not be so much that Scotland is finding its entrepreneurial confidence, as the fact that for many in Scotland the only route out of unemployment has been to start up their own business. Figures released recently by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor show that Scotland now has more entrepreneurs than at any other point in its illustrious history.

Whichever reason people accept for the increased number of small business start-ups in Scotland—I would not encourage increasing unemployment as a way of increasing business start-ups—SMEs now account for more than half of private sector employment in Scotland. As I said, that underlines the important role of small businesses in our economy and communities. A recent survey of Scottish SMEs found that the vast majority had an annual turnover of less than £100,000.

Across Scotland there are hot spots and cold spots for start-ups. It is not surprising that Edinburgh and Glasgow are popular locations for start-ups, along with Aberdeen. That is obviously because those are large cities with lots of other businesses, making it easier for people to trade and form associations with giants on their doorstep.

What could be the reason for the cold spots—places where there are fewer start-ups? In many areas, including my constituency of Inverclyde, it could be because of a narrow economic base in the past. In such areas, there is over-reliance on a small number of large employers as a consequence, sometimes concentrated in a particular sector. That makes these communities vulnerable to outside economic pressures, meaning that the effect of an industry-wide decision, such as the electronics industry deciding to cut costs by moving manufacturing east, is more acutely felt.

In Inverclyde, over the years, we have seen a drive to replace heavy industry with electronics manufacturers and then replace them with financial services companies. Those will, in turn, if the pattern follows, be replaced by whatever is deemed to be the next big thing. Each of these is a major global industry subject to external factors that we cannot control, but it is into their basket that we happily place an entire community’s future.

A better way would be to broaden the economic base by having a greater number of businesses operating in a broader range of sectors and crucially, for the long-term health of the economy, encouraging and nurturing more home-grown businesses with a real stake in and ties to the area. We should not just try to attract some foreign inward investment that can skip off elsewhere the first time it does not get its own way.

How could we go about broadening that economic base? What support is there at present for start-ups and SMEs in Scotland? Boosting start-up numbers has been the major priority for Business Gateway and UK Government initiatives such as the New Enterprise Allowance are to be welcomed. There are also good programmes, such as Entrepreneurial Spark, Bridge 2 Business and, of course, the extra services provided by local authorities to supplement the core Business Gateway offer.

In terms of usage, the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland’s most recent member survey found that 20% of members had used Government-funded business support, such as Business Gateway, in the last year and 11% had used other, local government-funded support. However, many had also used Entrepreneurial Spark.

Entrepreneurial Spark is a new and fast-growing incubator for start-ups, launched in January 2012 and backed by a trio of Scottish entrepreneurs. It is based in three sites: Glasgow, Edinburgh and Ayrshire. It describes itself as a business accelerator for early-stage and growing ventures. It works in a collaborative office environment suitable for building teams. Businesses receive free IT and wi-fi and also have access to business advice and support, with a pool of more than 50 specialised mentors. If there is one thing that I have learned when speaking to new businesses, it is that they value that mentoring. They also receive networking opportunities, workshops, pitch practice and more, offering greater confidence and, hopefully, opportunities to their new business.

However, still and all too often, SMEs and those thinking of starting up feel that the system is stacked against them. Businesses are struggling with rising costs and a lack of finance. The UK is the only member of the G20 without a dynamic industrial strategy. In the USA, the head of the United States Small Business Administration reports to the President. Yet in the UK no one reports to the permanent secretary in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills or is solely responsible for small businesses.

Looking at finance, 26%—a sizeable number of businesses with growth ambition—stated that it was “likely” or “very likely” that they would seek external finance to grow their business. Banks are still not lending money at a rate to support the demand to grow. That is in stark contrast to what is taking place on the continent, in Germany, where more than 1,000 banks provide about two-thirds of lending to small and medium-sized business. SMEs here are held back because they cannot obtain finance on reasonable terms. Recently, the Treasury Committee heard of a dossier of complaints from 1,000 small firms against RBS’s controversial restructuring division.

Even if they get the financial backing, there are still other problems affecting small businesses’ growth or even survival. For example, late payment was considered to be a big problem for Scottish SMEs. Big organisations can manage late payments more easily than SMEs—quite simply, late payments put SMEs out of business. More than 1,600 companies have signed up to the voluntary prompt payment code, although many are making much of their sign-up and then not actually meeting the requirements of the code. The code has been described by the FSB in Scotland as “pretty toothless”, with those who fail to uphold it subject to no rebuke; they are not even named and shamed.

Rising business rates are also putting a heavy burden on small businesses. More than one in 10 small businesses say they spend the same or more on business rates as on rent. Rising energy prices are hitting them hard, too; those can be the second biggest cost that businesses face. Even technology seems to be failing small businesses in Scotland. The ability to communicate speedily via the internet through faster broadband connection is patchy or even non-existent in some areas. Slow, old copper wire connections still exist in abundance, and many areas of Scotland are still unable to connect to a superfast fibre-optic line, which could have a major negative impact on the future growth, competitiveness and even survival of Scotland’s small businesses. What are the Government doing with the Scottish Government to get better broadband connections across Scotland?

Clearly, many things can be improved to give small businesses an opportunity to flourish in Scotland. One of the first things that both Governments could discuss is improving attitudes to entrepreneurship among Scots to help people, especially young people, realise that a career in business is a realistic option and a good thing to do. Reports suggest that encouragement to improve attitudes towards entrepreneurship is happening in some areas, but there needs to be a better focus on the cold spots for start-ups.

In my constituency of Inverclyde, our education team has been engaging with secondary school fifth-year pupils to encourage awareness of entrepreneurship and business careers. In our “The Recruit” programme, which is established along the lines of “The Apprentice” television programme—the only difference being that our local businesses say, “You’re hired”—students begin a year-long intense introduction to business.

Once people have taken the plunge and started their business, we need to help them sustain those businesses and assist more in helping them grow. We know that the key stages in any business’s life—or, rather, the major hurdles to growth—are becoming an employer and employing the first member of staff, and moving out of the home office or garage and into the first premises. Targeted help, such as using some of the retail space lying empty in towns as incubator space for businesses, would be a good idea.

Assisting in the promotion of SMEs through events such as small business Saturday encourages people to buy local and small. The idea of small business Saturday started as a US shopping event held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, one of the biggest shopping periods of the year. The event helped to put $5.5 billion into the pockets of independent shops and local service providers in the US. The small business Saturday idea was replicated in the UK in December 2013, just before Christmas. The initiative had cross-party support from more than 200 MPs, including the Prime Minister, and the day was backed by a third of all UK local authorities. We need more regular events that support and promote small businesses.

My Labour-controlled council in Inverclyde currently offers a marketing grant to SMEs, which is open to companies with registered offices in Inverclyde that have been trading for at least six months. The scheme provides free marketing advice and up to £1,000 of funding to cover 50% of marketing costs. I am glad to say that, to date, 48 companies in my area have benefited from the grant. Advertising helps local businesses across the country to reach new customers, increase sales and grow. It would help if start-ups received support for advertising and marketing. What steps will the Minister take to help start-ups and smaller companies to advertise?

Labour believes that business is the solution to achieving continued economic success. We must back businesses and support our wealth creators as part of the race to the top. To achieve that, Labour has promised a freeze on energy bills until 2017, which we believe will benefit small businesses across Scotland, and continued help by reforming the energy market. Both those promises are important, as energy costs are one of the largest overheads for businesses. Let us also support small businesses by cutting business rates in 2015 and freezing them in 2016, rather than going ahead with the Government’s corporation tax cut for the largest firms. That will help every SME and start-up across Scotland.

What more can be done? We need to improve access to finance for SMEs. Small businesses constantly rank access to finance as the biggest barrier to growth. Labour has committed to creating a British investment bank, along with a network of regional retail banks with a responsibility to boost lending in their areas. We also believe that “make work pay” contracts will share with small businesses the tax benefits to the Government of a living wage. We will address the exploitation of workers through zero-hours contracts, bogus self-employment, agency working loopholes, blacklisting and other practices that help bad employers gain an unfair advantage.

The Government need to encourage more SMEs to bid for Government contracts and become part of their supply chain. Development of both ease of tendering and relationships with SMEs through procurement would, hopefully, assist more SMEs to bid for and win Government contracts. I believe all those measures will help good SMEs to compete and grow, and they will also aid and encourage further small business start-ups across Scotland.

[The Minister for Skills and Enterprise (Matthew Hancock)]

It is a pleasure to respond to this debate. The hon. Member for Inverclyde (Mr McKenzie) thanked me for being here, but that is my duty, not least because, as the Minister for Skills and Enterprise, I am responsible for small business. I take particular umbrage at his criticism that nobody in the Government is responsible for small business. Indeed, rather than small business being supported through an independent agency separate from Government, it is at the heart of the Government’s agenda here in the UK, hence the plethora of measures over the past couple of years to make life easier for small business.

I start by reflecting, acknowledging and supporting the figures that the hon. Gentleman mentioned on the growth of small businesses. There are more entrepreneurs in Scotland than ever before, and they are building on Scotland’s historical strength in exporting entrepreneurs the world over. It is good to hear that that, which has been going on for centuries, continues.

As someone from a family with a small business background, I am passionate about strengthening the small business environment across the whole UK. Of course, some of these issues are devolved, but the UK Government have been taking steps to strengthen the position in Scotland. I will set out some of those steps, and I will also respond to some of the points that the hon. Gentleman raised.

The hon. Gentleman called for a British investment bank, and I am delighted to say that in the past 12 months we have opened the British business bank. Of the £782 million of loans to and investments in smaller businesses, £35.4 million was in Scotland—a £20 million increase in support compared with the previous year. The British business bank brings together the management of all Government lending and investment programmes into a single, commercially minded institution that includes some of our most popular schemes.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned the new enterprise allowance, which is important in helping unemployed people to start businesses. The start-up loans and the enterprise finance guarantee schemes have been benefiting start-ups and small businesses across the country, including in Scotland. We launched the start-up loans programme in Scotland in March, and it has already helped nearly 300 entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses, with a total investment of just under £1 million. In the Inverclyde constituency, nine individuals have benefited, with more sure to follow.

Likewise, since May 2010, 850 Scottish businesses have been supported by the bigger enterprise finance guarantee scheme to the tune of £109 million, with just under £1 million of that sum going into the Inverclyde constituency. The enterprise finance guarantee is for slightly bigger businesses, whereas start-up loans are targeted at people at the very start of building their business. Some 7,500 people have signed up to the new enterprise allowance in Scotland.

Those are targeted schemes. We have also improved the tax system for small business that applies across the whole UK. That includes the launch of the seed enterprise investment scheme, which incentivises people to invest in smaller and growing businesses. We have also expanded the enterprise investment scheme for slightly bigger businesses. Those schemes are hugely popular, and we announced in the Budget that the seed enterprise investment scheme will be made permanent—we introduced the scheme for a few years as a trial—in part because of its popularity and its impact on ensuring that Britain is the best place to start and grow a business. That is our goal.

The hon. Gentleman talked about the breadth of sectors—an important point—and growing home-grown businesses and businesses that come from the communities that serve as their customer base. The best thing that the Government can do in that is support the ideas that people have, rather than trying to give direction, by supporting all small businesses to start and grow—not only by reducing regulation, taxes and barriers to growth, but by putting in place the infrastructure, skills and support necessary to help them.

[Mr McKenzie]

Will the Minister not also say something about the mentoring factor, which I have already highlighted? A lot of small businesses need that in the initial stages of set-up and afterwards, to take them past the many pitfalls and hurdles that they will encounter.

[Matthew Hancock]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. The start-up loans scheme has mentoring built into every loan. The reports we get back show that the mentoring is as important as the money in helping businesses to expand. There are mentoring schemes on a local level—he mentioned his local authority—at the level of the Scottish Government and at a national level.

Ensuring that there is simplicity in the communication of the available schemes is important, and we are bringing those schemes together to try to ensure that the various offers that the Government have to support businesses to grow are clear. Smaller businesses in particular do not have time to navigate through the large bureaucracy inevitably involved in government. It is our job to ensure that the offer is consumer-focused and focused on and responsive to the needs of individual small businesses.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned the industrial strategy, and it is a great credit to this country that we now have an industrial strategy that covers many different sectors and brings together the players across the country, including the Government and various Government agencies, as well as businesses large and small in different industries.

For too long, Britain was an outlier in not having a proactive approach to industrial strategy, with the view that the Government should not have a say. That was in the heady days of new Labour and seemed to be the religion of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and its various forerunners. That has changed over the past few years, and there is now strong cross-party support for industrial strategies that actively support the growth of businesses and sectors and that try to improve the links between Government and business—they are inevitable in almost any sector—to support growth and jobs.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned prompt payment, a vital part of the effectiveness of the business environment. We have recently consulted on strengthening prompt payment to improve transparency and on putting the prompt payment code on a statutory footing. We have also asked whether we should go further and say that there should be a statutory limit on the length of payment terms. We will publish the results of that consultation shortly.

We put all options on the table and we had a large number of responses. The goal is to improve not only the length of payment terms, but the certainty around them. There are two slightly different issues with prompt payment: one is how long payment terms are and the other is how frequently payments are made on the agreed terms. In both cases, failure by a client can have a negative impact on a small business.

[Mr McKenzie]

Does the Minister agree that some of the larger, more household high street names have been pushing out their payment terms? Although they have signed up to prompt payments, they have now pushed their terms well beyond that and are taking advantage of being associated with it.

[Matthew Hancock]

That is exactly what was looked at in the consultation, and we will publish the response to it shortly. The hon. Gentleman also mentioned small business Saturday. We saw the success of small business Saturday in the USA. The President of the United States is a passionate advocate of it, and we listened to him and introduced small business Saturday last year. I can tell the hon. Gentleman that it will take place on the first Saturday in December. I very much hope and fully expect that there will be cross-party support, as there was last year, to strengthen the institution and take it on to a higher level with even broader awareness. The awareness of small business Saturday in its first year was pretty amazing. It was high last year, and I hope that it can be higher still.

[Mr McKenzie]

Perhaps the Minister would consider holding two or three small business Saturdays a year.

[Matthew Hancock]

It could be said that too much of a good thing might be a problem. One for the time being is probably the right approach. The date was chosen because it is the busiest shopping day of the year. The run-up to Christmas is an important time, especially for retailers.

There is one important issue that the hon. Gentleman did not directly mention, although I am sure we are on the same page on it. The Union is an extremely important element in the support of small business across Scotland, not only in supporting exports—UK Trade & Investment supports exports right across the world—but because ensuring that we can trade within the United Kingdom without international borders is a huge strength to the Scottish economy just as it is a huge strength to the economy of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Other parts of the UK buy 70% of Scottish exports, which is more than Scotland exports to the rest of the world and four times as much as Scotland exports to the European Union. Borders matter. They reduce trade and labour migration and disrupt economic and cultural links. I very much hope that the hon. Gentleman is as supportive as I am of the larger UK economy, which provides Scotland with jobs, stability and security. The Union is absolutely vital and we will be passionately arguing for it in September.

[Mr McKenzie]

I share the Minister’s commitment to keeping the United Kingdom together and to having that larger trading area for businesses, be they small, large or even bigger enterprises. Does he believe that one of the benefits might be the linking up of supply chains from larger organisations in the rest of the UK with smaller businesses in Scotland? That would be put in jeopardy if the Union was not preserved.

[Matthew Hancock]

There are huge advantages to the Union in supply chains. I put it in a positive light: this great trading union has been very successful over a long period, and we want that success to be built on, rather than put at risk. When we think about small businesses in Scotland and how we can support them, an important element of that is supporting free trade within the United Kingdom.

The economy is growing and unemployment has come down throughout the country in the past year. There was good news today with the Bank of England’s forecasts for the UK, which were increased again. That shows that there is growing confidence in small business in Scotland and across the country. We know that the people of Scotland are passionate and tenacious in their support for and execution of business, whether large or small. We are equally passionate about helping them achieve their ambitions.

Whether businesses are large or small, they are all driving in the direction of trying to increase prosperity and jobs. It is not right to try to split off large and small businesses and propose tax increases for one part. It is far better to support the growth of all businesses and the incomes, jobs and economic security they bring to the people who run them and the people who are employed because of them.

I hope that this debate has been an effective airing of the support that the Government have for businesses in Scotland, as well as in the rest of the United Kingdom. Finally, I have no doubt that although we have done a lot to improve the environment for business in Scotland, there is much more to do.

Cyber-bullying

Iain McKenzie Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

That was my error in omitting to mention that Facebook is on the board of UKCCIS, and we regularly engage with social media. However, I think that we can—and should—do more, and I will come to that in a minute.

As I was saying, the UKCCIS board considers what companies can do to help to address cyber-bullying and to develop robust policies. It has been working with the industry and social media companies to look at the ease with which users can report abuse on their sites, and how those reports are dealt with. The Government have been clear that we expect social media companies to respond quickly and effectively where behaviour contravenes those policies. It is also important to emphasise—I do not know how well this will go down with certain elements in the Chamber—that that work is also happening at European Union level. I think it is worth convening a meeting in the new year with social media companies and interested Members. If any Member in the Chamber wishes to participate, I would be happy to facilitate it.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

Does the Minister believe that any legislation brought in by the Government must cover all those who participate in the bullying? That is not just the initial person who put up the bullying or slanderous message, but those who repeat it online and spread it around, as they are equally to blame.

[Mr Vaizey]

A fundamental principle of law is that what is illegal in the physical world is illegal in the online world. If someone participates in an assault or in bullying in the physical world, they should be equally susceptible to whatever law they would contravene were they to do that in the online world. Someone repeating a libel online is not exempt from being sued because they have simply repeated what somebody else has said. That is the case with bullying and cyber-bullying as well.

I repeat my offer to facilitate a meeting in the new year. The industry must understand that we need to make things as easy as possible for users. There may be common ground here. I think we considered this issue when we were tackling inappropriate content online and protecting our kids, and it goes back to what the hon. Member for Upper Bann was saying about teaching parents in his constituency. Someone might be sitting in their headquarters thinking, “Well, we’ve got robust policies. We’ve got this, we’ve got that,” but it must be clear to all users and across different platforms that whatever social media someone participates in, they should expect certain key principles such as the ability to make a complaint or receive a rapid response. I will facilitate that meeting.

I mentioned education, and the whole drive against cyber-bullying must be considered as part of a broader drive to tackle all forms of bullying. The Government have sent a clear message to schools that bullying in any form is unacceptable and should not be tolerated. For schools there is a mixture of education and legislation, as well as greater freedom and more accountability. For example, as part of the national curriculum, the Government will ensure that children are educated about the dangers of the internet. Although schools are required by law to have a behaviour and bullying policy, they have flexibility in how to implement that policy, while at the same time they are held to account by Ofsted.

Vocational Education

Iain McKenzie Excerpts

Tuesday 4th June 2013 Westminster Hall

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray. I will take your direction about this debate, in the knowledge that education is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin) on securing the debate, which, in the current economic climate for young people, is very welcome. The subject is dear to my heart. I have been working with companies locally in Inverclyde and encouraging them to start thinking about increasing apprenticeships and to reach out to young people in our community, in the knowledge that apprenticeships—perhaps, the original “earn as you learn”—include a commitment to vocational and further education.

For too long, we have not paid enough attention to the 50% of our young people who do not go on to higher education. Those young people have suffered, and our economy has suffered. The central question is how to reform an education system, so that it equips young people with the skills and knowledge that they need to play their part, both as active citizens and as future business leaders and entrepreneurs.

It is not that our education system in Scotland is without problems and does not require improvements. Let me highlight some steps implemented to address some of the points that I have just raised, regarding active citizens, future business leaders and entrepreneurs. There is partnership between the schools and colleges, but unfortunately, as we have seen in Scotland, our colleges are under threat, as is our vocational education, because of the Scottish National party Government’s commitment not to charge fees for university places.

[Mr James Gray (in the Chair)]

Order. I had a word with the hon. Gentleman before he spoke. Inverclyde is, of course, in Scotland, and this is a devolved matter. The debate is on future of vocational education in England and therefore he must address all his remarks to that question. He may not divert into the Scottish national Government or any other matter to do with Scotland. He must talk about vocational education in England.

[Mr McKenzie]

Thank you, Mr Gray. I will take that direction.

Of course, the curriculum had to change to reflect what business was advising us about problems with employing school leavers. I have spoken to my local businesses and the chambers of commerce about what they required when hiring young people leaving school. The reply was always the same, and perhaps it is the same across the country. They said that they receive young people into the employment world, unready and lacking in the skills to contribute immediately to their business from day one.

Businesses need employees who can apply initiative and solve problems and innovate with limited supervision. There was, more than often, no prepared equation that could be applied to projects. Young people were looking for an equation to populate to get an answer for business. We had to change that and apply a process that would stimulate innovation and initiative when learning.

Business leaders and the entrepreneurs of the future have to be identified. In my constituency, we have pioneered an association with business employers and school leavers based on “The Apprentice”. With numerous employers, we have put in place a six-month programme called “The Recruit”, which provides vocational qualifications and involves tasks set by employers, who evaluate participants for potential hires at the end of the course; it is the longest interview a young person will have. The programme continues to be supported by many local employers, and it has been replicated by many local authorities. It has been a great success, and it regularly secures many jobs for school leavers who want to earn while they continue to learn. The course identifies and develops leaders and those with entrepreneurial abilities.

Our schools also link up with those in the third year of secondary school, offering basic skills in traditional trades that go towards an apprenticeship. The need for apprenticeships has never been greater. Too many young lives are being wasted on the dole queues. Long-term unemployed young people are the most vulnerable, with many trapped in a vicious cycle of joblessness, anxiety and depression. We desperately need to get our young people into training and apprenticeships. The 50% of our young people who do not go to university need every chance to improve their skills and to get good jobs.

[David Simpson]

I agree with the vast majority of the hon. Gentleman’s comments, and we certainly need to encourage our young people. However, the research papers we received for the debate state that some schools now charge parents to send their children on work experience. Surely, that is wrong, and it will not help us target areas of deprivation or encourage young people whose parents cannot afford to pay for them to go on work experience.

[Mr McKenzie]

I share the hon. Gentleman’s concern about charging for work experience. I represent an area whose population is not over-wealthy, and people would find it extremely difficult to pay for work experience. We are therefore fortunate that many employers offer work experience free of charge.

We need a highly skilled, highly educated work force to meet the challenges of tomorrow and to compete with other advanced nations. The economy needs value-added skills to compete with the economies of Brazil, India, China and other emerging nations. Apprenticeships are a valuable way to give young people skills, training and jobs. They also offer on-the-job learning opportunities and, of course, further education. They enable young people not only to learn about their chosen trade or profession, but to do so on the spot. They also enable them to talk to colleagues who are already skilled and experienced. Apprenticeships and vocational education can offer so much, and there is no reason why they should not be expanded to cover a wide variety of jobs and professions. If that is to happen, however, we need to engage more of Britain’s companies and to bring them on board.

We can plan for apprenticeships. Any company wanting to provide goods or services to the public should be required to have an apprenticeship scheme before it can win a contract. Labour’s jobs-for-contracts scheme would increase the number of apprenticeships by thousands and give immediate help to many of the 1 million unemployed under-25s. That simple idea—creating apprenticeship places through public procurement—would provide immediate help with alleviating youth unemployment and would strengthen the vocational sector. It works: the Labour council in Inverclyde has been using it for many years, and the number of those in the NEET category in Inverclyde stood at seven last year—not 7%, but seven pupils.

Today, Britain risks losing the global skills race. We need to be as strong as Germany and Switzerland on vocational education, and as competitive as Singapore and Japan on maths. Britain’s future national competitiveness is at stake and so is our young people’s future. We need to engage employers in designing high-quality apprenticeships, giving them a greater say in spending the £1 billion of funding available to target apprenticeships at our young people.

Apprenticeships

Iain McKenzie Excerpts

Tuesday 12th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

As we have heard today from Members on both sides of the House, the debate is extremely welcome in what is currently a tough economic climate, especially for young people. I shall refer not only to this apprenticeship week but to the apprenticeship week that we shall celebrate in Scotland in May, so I shall get two bites at the cherry.

I served a formal indentured apprenticeship. That meant that I was tied to my employer for the first five years of my working life, for which I received an extra £5 a week. I am therefore well aware of the value of an apprenticeship, and I believe that it means more than just learning a skill or trade. Like many other Members, I have been working with companies in the constituency, encouraging them to consider taking on more apprentices and starting apprenticeship programmes themselves. It has been successful to a degree, and it is one of the reasons why we in Inverclyde have so far escaped the worst ravages of youth unemployment. That, however, is not the case in Scotland overall or, as we have heard, in the United Kingdom as a whole, where youth unemployment has never been higher. The country’s youth continue to bear the brunt of the lack of jobs in the UK. We desperately need to get our young people into training and apprenticeships. They must be given every possible opportunity to improve and hone the skills that they require in order to obtain jobs in the future.

As we have heard, the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, in a report published in the autumn of 2012, gave its backing to public procurement to boost apprenticeships. That would create tens of thousands of jobs, and would help to alleviate some of the vast youth unemployment that is currently rife throughout the UK. I implemented a procurement policy in 2007, when I was leader of my council in Inverclyde, and that may be where the Government got the idea. When we were renewing our school estates, we saw the need not just to have new schools but to secure jobs and apprenticeships for the pupils, and we wrote that into our terms and conditions. It was very successful, which is one of the other reasons why youth unemployment is being kept low in Inverclyde. It fell then by over 20%. We asked firms not only to take on apprentices, but to commit themselves to a percentage of local labour.

In the private sector, I have been supporting technology, most recently the 4G network. This week our local mobile phone company, Everything Everywhere, announced the launch of 13 modern apprenticeships. It is committed to continuing to employ young people, and to introducing an apprenticeship programme that we hope will run for many years and give them long-term jobs.

Another initiative that has been extremely successful in Inverclyde is our award-winning Recruit programme. As we have heard from many Members today, schools need more than just brief career advice from industry. We brought schools and industry together, and young people gave up their time to participate in what was probably the longest interview that they would ever have. The initiative has been running for more than five years and has been extremely successful, putting tens of young people into jobs and giving them the best possible start in life. It has been replicated by some neighbouring authorities, and has been seen across Scotland as a trail blazer.

Engineering Careers

Iain McKenzie Excerpts

Wednesday 13th February 2013 Westminster Hall

[Nadine Dorries]

My hon. Friend makes his points very eloquently, as usual. I fully endorse the point that it would be fantastic if female role models went round schools to promote engineering as a career path for young women. He mentioned bigger companies such as EDF. One problem for Autotech in my constituency is that it does not have the budgets or the reach of so big an organisation as EDF. People in my constituency do not even know that Autotech is there; neither did I until recently. It does not have the advertising and marketing budget to reach out and sell itself to young people, whereas EDF is fortunate enough to be able to do the milk round and offer a global package. I want to focus on the problems faced by small companies that need to grow and are growing, and that are receiving orders that they cannot fulfil because they have not yet reached the dizzy heights of organisations such as EDF, with all the accompanying infrastructure and finance. Autotech is not quite there yet, although it has grown from 200 to 350 employees in a short space of time.

On top of the problems in education, students simply do not see engineering as attractive. They see media studies and many other courses as attractive. In preparation for the debate, I looked at the university courses for which the most people apply through UCAS, and engineering is way down the list.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this important debate, to which I am listening with great interest. Does she agree that engineering suffers from an image that is out of date? The image that girls, in particular, have of engineering is being clad in a boiler suit and working with heavy vehicles, engines and oil. Those things would not attract a woman to the industry. We have to change that. Much as I am fascinated by the English education system, in Scotland we have taken an approach called the curriculum for excellence, which brings engineering into schools. It has certainly proven useful.

[Nadine Dorries]

I agree with everything that the hon. Gentleman has said, particularly the necessity of disabusing young women of the notion that engineering is about getting their nails dirty, or about carrying an old rag or wearing a boiler suit. Mechanical engineering has moved on from that, and it is now much more about electrical engineering. It is much more sophisticated and high tech. It is much more about the sort of thing that Autotech does, which, as I said, I cannot really explain in any great detail.

I put Autotech in touch with the Wootton Academy Trust in my constituency, which is currently applying to establish a science, technology, engineering and maths academy. As we touched on in the first half of the debate, it would be fantastic to see STEM academies and schools linking up with smaller businesses. As well as the big businesses that such schools will be attracted to because they provide sponsorship and—for want of a better word—the sexy image that goes with engineering, schools would do well to link with smaller businesses. The tendency will be for schools to work with bigger organisations.

Last summer’s Olympics, High Speed 2—although it is not popular with some Members—and Crossrail prove that we can do big engineering projects in this country. There will be a forward market for engineers, hopefully, if we can embrace engineering at the root, in schools and in small businesses. It is a feeding market, because if pupils train in small businesses, they might move up to bigger projects. There will always be a good living to be had in engineering, and there will always be good employers.

One thing that concerns me is that over the next decade, salaries across the world will level out as companies and countries compete with each other on a much more global stage. When young people choose a career and when they go to university or enter apprenticeships, they must keep their eye on what will employ them in the future and what will allow them to earn a living in the marketplace and progress as individuals. That is why organisations such as Autotech need help. We need to do what we can to incentivise schools. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is already working hard in the area, but I hope that the Minister will tell us what the coalition can do to help link schools and small businesses to make engineering a much more attractive option for young people. In particular, I want to know what the coalition can do to help businesses such as Autotech to reach out to young people and let young people know that they are out there and that they offer good career opportunities.

Life-saving Skills in Schools

Iain McKenzie Excerpts

Thursday 22nd November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

It will come as no surprise that Scotland has had voluntary engagement with pupils in schools for some time. In Inverclyde, we offered it to children in their lunch break, and we were astounded by how many came forward to learn these skills.

[Valerie Vaz]

I agree with my hon. Friend. As we have heard, different parts of different countries are doing this on a voluntary basis, but we are calling for something more: for it to be compulsory as part of education.

I had the privilege of administering CPR during the last conference recess. Most Members—certainly of my generation—will know the tune of “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. That is the kind of rhythm one should use to administer CPR. [Interruption.] I will not sing it, although I can hum it. I want to bring that up to date. I do not know, Mr Deputy Speaker, if you have seen this hit song on YouTube, but “Gangnam Style” has a similar beat, and in fact the first movement of the dance is similar to that required for administering CPR—as long as the person uncrosses their hands. Imagine teaching that in schools. How wonderful it would be to engage children in that way.

The British Medical Association has said that almost 60,000 people suffer from out-of-hospital strokes, and evidence shows that CPR can triple the rate of survival. I urge the Government to take that onboard, to listen to Back Benchers—for a change—and to include training on it as part of the curriculum. It is compulsory in Norway, Denmark and France. Let us embed it in our children’s psyche, engrain it and make it part of their DNA. After all, it is a matter of life and death.