Royal Mail

Debate between Ian C. Lucas and Vince Cable

Tuesday 1st April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

There is no absolute security of employment, but the Communication Workers Union reached what I think in retrospect was regarded as a good deal with Royal Mail. There were enormous jobs losses while Royal Mail was under public ownership.

[Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)]

Hedge fund chiefs donated £1.32 million to the Conservative party between September and December 2013. Will the Secretary of State report how much each individual donor made from buying Royal Mail shares and subsequently selling them?

[Vince Cable]

I do not think that is a matter for me.

Pub Companies

Debate between Ian C. Lucas and Vince Cable

Tuesday 21st January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)]

The right hon. Gentleman is being very generous with his time. Will he confirm that he now believes that statutory regulation is necessary?

[Vince Cable]

That was the purpose of the Government consultation. Statutory regulation was necessary, and we consulted on how to do it. We are now evaluating the results of that process. The House will soon hear our conclusions on how to take the matter forward.

Let me repeat my appreciation for the work that has been done by Members from all parts of the House. I also thank the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, whose Chairman is here, and the various campaigning groups for their work on the matter. It would not be amiss to single out Fair Deal For Your Local, which is the campaign that has been mobilised by my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland). As part of his campaign, he has brought together CAMRA, the Federation of Small Businesses and the GMB union as well as various other groups. We are talking about local and national groups across industry and across the country.

Zero-hours Contracts

Debate between Ian C. Lucas and Vince Cable

Wednesday 16th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

We very much welcome this opportunity to debate this issue. It has had a lot of media coverage, and we have already had several debates on it in the House. I am happy to engage with it. I realise that the purpose of Opposition day debates is to generate opposition, but the truth is that there is quite a lot of common ground on this issue. None of us wants to see employers abusing their employees.

The thrust of the motion seems to be to ask me to do what I am already doing. I made it clear a month ago that we were going to have a consultation on this matter, and I can tell the hon. Member for Streatham (Mr Umunna) that we are aiming to clear the process through government by mid-November in order to launch the consultation formally. There is no disagreement about that.

There are elements in the motion that I could pick holes in and disagree with. There is a call for evidence, but also, slightly oddly, a series of concrete action points that have been put forward regardless of any evidence that might emerge. That seems to be making slightly odd use of evidence-based decision making. That is a quibble, but I do not have an enormous problem with the basic thrust of the motion. I guess the hon. Gentleman has to criticise the Government, however, as this is an Opposition day debate, and I will take head-on the three specific points that he has made.

First, he talked about our failure to act, but the problem has been around for many years, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) has pointed out. The trade unions repeatedly told the last Labour Government that there was a problem in this area. The 1998 White Paper drew attention to it and suggested possible courses of action, but no action was ever taken. I know that several of my Labour predecessors looked into the matter, because concern had been expressed, and while acknowledging that there was abuse in some areas, they broadly took the view that the benefits outweighed the costs.

The second criticism was that I did not mobilise a small army of civil servants to look at the problem earlier this summer, but what would be the point of mobilising the civil service to reinvent the wheel? A lot of sensible research has already been done. We have talked to 10 trade unions, all of which have done quite a lot of in-house work. We have also talked to several think-tanks, including the Resolution Foundation and the Work Foundation, both of which have done good work in this area. We did not need to reinvent anything; the evidence and the anecdotes are there and we are drawing on them. That is the direction in which we are proceeding.

Finally, the hon. Gentleman criticised the statistics. The problem is that we have one basic official set of statistics from the Office for National Statistics, suggesting that there are about 200,000 zero-hours contracts. That statistic is drawn from the labour force survey, and the hon. Gentleman was right to say that this is quite a narrow definition. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development came out with a figure of 1 million, using a different measure—in other words, what employers judge the number of zero-hours contracts to be—while the union Unite has come up with a figure of 5 million. Different people are obviously measuring this in different ways. What I have done is write to the head of the Office for National Statistics, asking him to take this problem on board. We have a very serious problem of definition and numbers, so I have asked the head to pull together the relevant people so that, from now on, we can have a proper database on the basis of which to make rational decisions.

[Ian Lucas]

Is not the difficulty the fact that the Government have acted by removing the rights of employees to enforce their employment rights by doubling the qualification for unfair dismissal and by introducing what appear to my constituents to be huge fees to initiate industrial tribunal or employment tribunal proceedings? The right hon. Gentleman is undermining the taking of such action by legislating to take away employees’ rights. How liberal is that?

[Vince Cable]

There are still significant opportunities for people who are subject to unfair dismissal. We reformed the system because we considered that it provided a very significant barrier to small and medium-sized growth companies and thus to employment opportunities with them. We think we have got the balance right.

--- Later in debate ---

[Vince Cable]

I cannot give the hon. Gentleman a concrete date. The consultation will be launched in the middle of November, and such consultations normally take several months. The level of feedback will determine how quickly the Government can respond, and that in turn will dictate how quickly we can introduce legislation, if that is what is required. I am happy to co-operate with him and his Committee, which I am sure has specific Scottish insights.

I want to enumerate some of the positive and negative aspects of zero-hours contracts that our review has revealed so far. There are some groups of people for whom such contracts provide a useful and appropriate kind of employment, regardless of sector. For many people, for example, who are at or beyond retirement age and want to keep in touch with the labour force but do not want permanent employment or even an agreed part-time employment contract, such contracts are quite an attractive proposition. There are other people, in industries that are subject to quite a lot of volatility, who want to remain connected with the labour force but do not want to be in a position where they have taken on permanent employment and are then made redundant. The car industry provides a good example. One reason the car industry is successful is that our labour market has a mix of people, some of whom are on zero-hours contracts. When I went to the United States to negotiate with people in General Motors, who were deciding whether to come to Britain or Germany, one factor that weighed heavily in favour of the UK was our flexible approach to employment, including zero-hours contracts, along with the fact that the unions, mostly Unite, had been constructive in putting those arrangements in place.

[Ian Lucas]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Vince Cable]

I will finish my list of points.

Another group is students, some of whom are looking for work experience, and most of whom want to be in a flexible arrangement that reflects the fact that their timetable varies. Another group—a very important one—is people with family and caring responsibilities. For someone in that position, the most important attraction of a job is to be able to say no when work is offered, without facing disciplinary procedures, and to be on a contract that explicitly acknowledges that work can be declined.

Pub Companies

Debate between Ian C. Lucas and Vince Cable

Wednesday 9th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

The hon. Gentleman is right. One of the problems that has occurred in the past is that any concession on beer prices would be offset by rent or vice versa. He is right that areas such as insurance are important elements of the package, and they would certainly be covered by the adjudicator.

The proposed adjudicator will be based on the model of the groceries code adjudicator, which was approved by the House recently. I propose that the adjudicator will have the following powers and functions: to arbitrate disputes between large pub companies and their licensees; to carry out investigations based on complaints received; to have wide-ranging powers to require information from pubcos during an investigation and, when an investigation finds that a pub company has breached the code, to impose sanctions on it, including financial penalties in the case of severe breaches; to publish guidance on when and how investigations will proceed and how the enforcement powers can be used; to advise pub companies and licensees on the code; and to recommend changes to the code. The consultation will propose that the new adjudicator, like the groceries code adjudicator, be funded by an industry levy—in this case on the pubcos—with those who breach the code paying a proportionately higher levy. In order to place the most proportionate burden on business, my current thinking is that the new regulatory regime should apply to all pub companies with a tied estate of more than 500 tied pubs. As I have indicated to the House, we are currently talking about six operations.

[Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)]

Just to be clear, will the funding come from a levy only on the pub companies to which the code applies?

[Vince Cable]

Yes, that is the intention. Our approach would target the companies with the greatest buying power and exempt smaller companies, about which very few complaints have been received. This, too, is a matter we want to pursue in the consultation.

One issue that I would like to clarify relates to the beer tie. Some campaigners, and the motion under debate today, suggest that in order to be effective, we must mandate that all pub companies must offer a free-of-tie option with open market rent review. As I have just indicated to my opposite number, we have an open mind on that matter and will be happy to look at it during the consultation.

Office for Fair Access

Debate between Ian C. Lucas and Vince Cable

Monday 20th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Both the Chairman of the Select Committee and I have already answered the hon. Gentleman’s question. We treat the Select Committee’s report and the legislature with respect. Criticisms have been made and they will be addressed through the Select Committee. This is a good process and we will continue to uphold it.

[Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)]

Between 2006 and 2010, five students only from Wrexham were admitted to Oxford university—regrettably, there was no right of appeal to the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills. Does the Secretary of State agree that admission by interview prevents transparent consideration of admissions criteria and of the effect of those criteria?

[Vince Cable]

I do not want to get into criticising universities. I have already made it very clear that they are independent bodies responsible for their own admissions policies. The access agreements that they sign will improve access—that is why those agreements are in place and that is what Professor Ebdon is there to do. I do not, as a Minister, want to lecture universities on how they admit particular students.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian C. Lucas and Vince Cable

Thursday 14th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

The proposals are at such a stage that they are being referred to the European Union for state aid approval. Legislation will follow, but in the meantime the Department will be able to make available loans and other forms of investment under the green investment bank, as we originally envisaged.

[Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)]

Clear regulatory frameworks are essential to facilitate green investment. The construction industry, which is flat on its back at the moment because of the Government’s policy, is desperate to take forward the green deal but it does not know the rules of the game. When will it have some clarity from the Government to facilitate investment and build jobs and growth?

[Vince Cable]

The answer to that question will be included in the green economy road map that will be announced at the end of this month. It involves a process of collaboration across Government by my Department, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in discussion with business and trade unions that will provide a consensus framework within which such decisions can be pursued.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian C. Lucas and Vince Cable

Thursday 9th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

The hon. Gentleman has already described his scheme to me, and it sounds an exciting project. I have identified several potential candidates in my constituency, and it sits alongside many other very good initiatives that are taking place, including for example the engineering prize, which is being launched with the support of leading UK companies.

[Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)]

I join the Secretary of State in welcoming the tremendous news this week of the excellent investment from BMW Mini and Nissan. That of course builds on the initiatives of the Automotive Council, which has been so successful and was set up by the previous Labour Government. Also set up by the previous Labour Government was Manufacturing Insight, an organisation dedicated to bringing young people into engineering and manufacturing, which this Government have scrapped unfortunately. Why did the Secretary of State make that decision?

[Vince Cable]

I am not sure I should take lectures on manufacturing industry from a representative of the party that presided over the biggest decline in manufacturing of any major country, but none the less the hon. Gentleman is right that there are some good legacies. One of them is the Automotive Council, which works extremely well and contributes very positively to the supply chain. I welcome that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian C. Lucas and Vince Cable

Thursday 18th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Ian Lucas]

But companies such as Nissan, Toyota and Sharp Electronics in my constituency are investing in the UK and bringing teams to train British workers in new green technologies. The prevention of inter-company transfers is stopping them investing in British business, so why is the Business Secretary supporting the Tory immigration cap that he opposed at the general election?

[Vince Cable]

The hon. Gentleman did not listen to my previous answer. The Prime Minister was quite explicit on this, and I will repeat what he said:

“things such as inter-company transfers should not be included”

in our proposal for the immigration cap. I have spoken to Nissan and other companies, and the Government are well aware of the needs of business. We are open to business and we welcome foreign investors. The proposal on the immigration cap will be pursued, but not in ways that damage those companies.