Amendment of the Law

Jeremy Lefroy Excerpts

Monday 23rd March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

It is a great honour to follow the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Meg Munn). I entirely agree with her on two matters. The first is the need for more engineers, particularly women engineers. I saw that when I visited Alstom in my constituency recently and met women engineers, all of whom came from outside the UK. They are very welcome there, but with one exception, there were no British female engineers. The second is her call for a new model for health and social care funding, which the next Parliament will have to look at. At the moment, what we have from most—in fact, all—of the major parties is a sort of patchwork of funding for health and social care, but that is not enough to meet the demographic needs of the future.

In May 2010, the number of jobseeker’s allowance claimants in my constituency was 1,530, but it is now well below 600, the lowest figure since the current series of records began. However, there is absolutely no room for complacency. Not only are we working for full employment in Stafford, we want wage levels to rise in real terms. I will give a few examples of where the additional jobs have come from.

On Friday, I visited Turner Construction, which specialises in civil engineering works, house building and fitting. It plans to more than treble its turnover and work force between now and 2018, having already trebled its work force since 2009. That reflects two things: one is people’s increasing confidence in the performance of the economy, which means that they are investing in extensions and new kitchens; and the other is that house building is picking up again. Figures from the National House Building Council show that the number of homes started in my constituency has increased from 317 in 2013—compared with a national average of 188—to 473 last year. That includes a welcome increase in social house building, particularly through Stafford and Rural Homes. The increase is partly owing to the arrival of 1,000 servicemen and women and their families from this year. That has brought Stafford an investment of £150 million in military facilities and homes, and should provide a permanent boost of at least £15 million annually to the local economy, as well contributing greatly to community life.

Last month, I attended the opening of the Risual academy at Stafford college. Risual is an IT business, which was established in 2006, and now employs 120 people, with much of its increase having come in the past three years. It, too, intends to expand its staff considerably in the coming years, but it has run up against a skills shortage, as other hon. Members have mentioned. That is why it has decided to work with the local college to train young people to take up such positions.

If businesses are to expand or modernise, they need the space to do so. That is why Staffordshire county council has invested in a new business park to the north of Stafford. The wisdom of doing so was shown when Alstom announced in late 2014 that it would build its new world-class research and manufacturing facility for automation at Redhill, despite the fact that, as an international company, it could have chosen to go elsewhere. Its large transformer factory, which is the only one in the UK, has a full order book, almost all for exports. The Perkins engine plant in Stafford has also invested in the past few years, both in plant and in apprentices, and it too makes a considerable contribution to the UK’s balance of payments.

If we are to continue that story of successful job creation and investment, there is much we need to do. First, we need to improve careers guidance and advice. That issue has been raised with me by students and employers, and it is part of the manifesto of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, of which I am a member. Secondly, the increase in apprenticeships during this Parliament to more than 2 million needs to be maintained. I welcome the pledge to increase the number of apprenticeships to 3 million, but we need to work continuously to improve their quality. Thirdly, we have to continue to increase investment in infrastructure. Fourthly, we need to improve productivity. As hon. Members have mentioned, we still lag well behind our competitors. There is no simple solution: better training, more spending on research and development and greater investment in plant and equipment will all help, but education about work and working effectively at school are also essential. Finally, we need to maintain the drive to improve exports. UK Export Finance has been expanded, and the UK’s diplomatic network has been put at the service of exporters, but we need to do far more if we are to reach our target of £1 trillion of exports by 2020.

In conclusion, I want to address the opportunities in the heath sector. In Stafford, we are very aware of the importance of our national health service. We have been through extremely difficult times, but we have worked together as a community to ensure that we retain an excellent district general hospital with an accident and emergency department, when some people told us that it would be closed or privatised, or would become a cottage hospital. We are still campaigning for a return to 24/7 A and E with paediatrics and consultant-led maternity, and we will continue to fight. At the same time, however, I welcome the investment being made in refurbished wards, operating theatres, the expanded A and E department, chemotherapy and dialysis. In Stafford, we are building the district general hospital of the future, with an emphasis on acute care for the frail and elderly, alongside first-class general services for children and adults. I am determined to work with everybody to make that dream a reality.