Income Tax (Charge)

Jane Hunt Excerpts

Thursday 4th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jane Hunt (Loughborough) (Con) [V]]

Yesterday’s Budget came at a critical time for our country. The Chancellor placed a strong emphasis on jobs and livelihoods, announcing schemes and programmes to help people get back into work. Simultaneously, the Budget focused on keeping businesses alive, with a forward view of getting them working again, introducing restart grants—something that I had previously raised with the Chancellor—providing additional discretionary funding to ensure that businesses have the vital capital needed to kickstart operations, as well as further funding to support their employees until they are back at work.

I have previously discussed social mobility and the issue of people staying in low-paid employment in my constituency with the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Mims Davies) who shared with me the ABC concept of improving social mobility: any job, better job, career. To that end, we are using advanced town deal Government funding to establish a careers and skills hub with Loughborough College, which will be the vessel for skills, courses and training, delivering apprenticeships, traineeships, kickstart, and the lifetime skills guarantee. Working with work coaches and youth workers from Jobcentre Plus and the Department of Wonderful People, of course, it will help local young people looking for their first employment help and the unemployed of any age, giving them the ability to get back into work. It will also help the already employed who are looking to upskill or reskill, so that they can advance in their careers. My own life skills project, working with Barclays, Communities that Work and East Midlands Housing, will support the unemployed and low earners in work to gain additional skills locally, feeding local people into the hub.

The careers and skills hub will run alongside the Government-funded T-level centre at Loughborough College, which will also help to provide local residents with the skills needed by local businesses, leading to better-paid jobs. In addition, we hope to gain funding for an institute of technology shortly as well as to secure the £25 million of town deal funding to provide the infrastructure for businesses, jobs and growth in the town. This is a shining example of local organisations and experts capitalising on a matrix of support from the Government, creating a foundation for skills and enterprise and increasing social mobility at a local level.

Speaking of job creation and growth, I was delighted by the announcement yesterday that our bid for a freeport at East Midlands Airport was successful. This will create a centre for business and promote jobs and growth not only at the site itself, which is easily accessible to my constituents, but in local business clusters in my constituency, such as the science and life science businesses at Charnwood Campus and the Science and Enterprise Park. What a massive opportunity for the whole region and, importantly, what great news for Loughborough.

I call on businesses thinking of expanding or even starting up to please consider coming to Loughborough. Not only is it a fantastic place in which to live and work but it has the infrastructure and highly skilled workers that they need to succeed.