Infrastructure Bill [Lords]
Debate between John Hayes and Duncan Hames(9 years, 11 months ago)
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Mr Hayes
We are doing it on the grounds of practicality. The hon. Lady and I, during a recent session of the Committee she chairs, exchanged thoughts on the issue of emissions. She will know that there is always a balance to be struck. She refers in her intervention to the preferred threshold of 10 units, but as I say there is always a balance between inhibiting or even preventing development at all and achieving our desired outcomes on carbon. I am happy to hear representations on all these matters, as I want this Bill to be as good as it can be. We are trying to strike that balance, which is the frank answer to the hon. Lady—and I am known in this place for giving straightforward and frank answers.
Duncan Hames
The Minister speaks of striking a balance, but I wonder whether he will help us by saying what assessment has been made of the overall impact of the Bill in its entirety on the Government’s ability to meet their legal obligations under the fourth carbon budget?
Mr Hayes
The hon. Gentleman will be familiar with the impact assessment. I have a copy here and I would be happy to let him read it. It is available and if he looks at that impact assessment he will be able to gauge how far we have performed the analysis he describes. If he feels that we have done so insufficiently, I shall be more than happy to correspond with him directly on the matter. I know that he always brings fresh thinking to the consideration of this House.
The Bill will enable communities to be offered the chance to buy a stake in new, commercial renewable electricity schemes in their local area, so that they can gain a greater share in the associated financial benefit. We would consider using this power only if the voluntary approach to community shared ownership in renewable energy did not bear fruit. A right to buy would give communities the opportunity to have a real stake and sense of ownership in projects happening in their area. The Shared Ownership Taskforce recently launched its voluntary framework, and we brought forward an amendment to the Bill in the other place in order to provide greater certainty on the minimum time scales for this voluntary approach to take effect. We are proposing, too, to allow changes to the renewable heat incentive to provide more flexibility in financing arrangements for renewable heating systems.
Let me come on now to what I described as the exciting part of my speech, which deals with the Wood review. We recognise that increasing renewable energy sources is important, but we realise that a dynamic and flourishing oil and gas industry remains important, too. It can contribute to our energy security and to the economy, supporting around 450,000 jobs and showing record capital expenditure in 2013 of around £14 billion.
The Government agreed with the findings of Sir Ian Wood’s independent report, which concluded that changes to the recovery and stewardship regime in the North sea could deliver around £200 billion of additional value to the UK economy. We intend to deliver all of Sir Ian’s recommendations, but further work is required with stakeholders on a number of detailed aspects and parliamentary time is scarce. We are therefore starting by introducing two measures: one will put into statute the principle of maximising economic recovery of petroleum from UK waters; and the second will introduce a power so that the costs of funding a larger, better resourced regulator can be paid for by the industry rather than through general taxation, as is currently the case.
We need to explore all our energy options. This is the age of increasing costs, uncertainty and insecurity in overseas energy suppliers. The shale gas industry in the UK is at an embryonic stage, and the changes in the Bill would simplify the procedure by which onshore gas and oil and deep geothermal developers can obtain underground drilling access, and are accompanied by the industry’s commitment to pay communities in return for the right to use deep-level land. We do not yet know what is commercially viable, but we are encouraging exploration. These provisions will help us to address this question to ensure that the regulation is compatible with these new methods of underground drilling.
There has been a great deal of unfounded scaremongering on the environmental impacts of shale gas, much of it based on examples from other jurisdictions. The Bill does not alter the involvement of local authority planners; nor does it erode in any way the strength of our regulatory regime, the effectiveness of which has been demonstrated over 50 years of development, which is one of the strictest and safest in the world.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between John Hayes and Duncan Hames(11 years, 9 months ago)
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Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
The prospect of managing a contract for difference is no trivial matter for the small organisations often involved in community energy initiatives. Will my right hon. Friend consider pleas from those on the Liberal Benches to continue the now familiar feed-in tariff for small-scale prospective community energy generators?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between John Hayes and Duncan Hames
Mr Hayes
My hon. Friend will know that, since I became the Minister, we have called for evidence on both the community benefit and cost of onshore wind. It is critical that communities see that benefit and feel a sense of ownership over developments that affect them. During the process we will of course allow the normal expressions of interest by both proponents and opponents of onshore wind and will then consider them, as the Prime Minister said yesterday. When we have met our current targets, we will have to consider what to do. I suggest, as the Prime Minister has done, that all parties need to have that discussion.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
11. What outcome he will be seeking on climate finance at the UN climate talks in Doha in November 2012.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between John Hayes and Duncan Hames(12 years, 6 months ago)
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Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
8. What recent assessment he has made of the employment circumstances of apprentices on completion of their placement.
The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes)
My Department has recently led an extensive survey of 5,000 apprentices. The results, published on 15 May, show that 85% of the apprentices who completed their apprenticeships in the past 12 months are employed; 4% are self-employed and 3% are in further education or training.
Duncan Hames
That is very welcome news. The success of apprenticeships will be judged not just by the growth in their number but by the difference they make to apprentices’ future employment. Reports on the future jobs fund found that 14 months after starting their placement, nearly half the participants were back on benefits. Will the Minister ensure that he continues to conduct evaluations of the new apprenticeships?
Mr Hayes
Absolutely. The survey that I have just mentioned—the biggest survey, producing the best ever results in terms of satisfaction—showed that 92% of apprentices were satisfied with their apprenticeship, and that 88% of the businesses that took on apprentices felt they had gained a business benefit. That information is critical to guiding our policy, described last week by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, which I went before dutifully, as a flagship. My apprenticeship policy: our victory.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between John Hayes and Duncan Hames(13 years, 1 month ago)
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Duncan Hames
3. What his policy is on the inclusion of financial education in the mathematics GCSE.
The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes)
I should have more than a normal spring in my step today, because my son, William, passed his 11-plus, and I heard about it this weekend.
The Government are currently reviewing the national curriculum, which will go out to public consultation in the new year. We will await the outcomes of that work before making any decisions on the content of GCSE mathematics, to ensure that it aligns with the new national curriculum and reflects the core mathematical knowledge and skills that young people need.
Duncan Hames
Only in this place could three follow one.
Having taken as many maths qualifications as I possibly could when at school, I certainly appreciate the eternal beauty of geometry, but does the Minister not accept that, for many school leavers in today’s world, it is more valuable to understand the true value of a compound annual growth rate on an investment or, more likely, the annual percentage rate on a loan?
Mr Hayes
The hon. Gentleman is right that finance education matters. Indeed, as a governor of the George Ward school in his constituency, he will take seriously the role that core mathematical education plays in providing people with those applied mathematical skills necessary for their well-being and our collective well-being. The Government take that seriously, and we will certainly work to ensure that maths does the job that it should.
Independent Debt Advice
Debate between John Hayes and Duncan Hames(13 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Hayes
I will deal with that specifically in the second part of my speech.
The OFT survey, as the hon. Lady said, points out that many players in the field are less than scrupulous, and that must be dealt with. Finally, we are looking for evidence on how the regime should work. We have called for evidence, and much has been received. I invite the hon. Member for Makerfield, who has expertise on this issue because she managed the CAB in St Helens, and others to play their part in the review.
On the specific measures, the House will know that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has been responsible for face-to-face debt advice on behalf of the Treasury for about five years. I am sure the House also knows that the financial inclusion fund, which provided funding for that project, was always due to close in March 2011. I understand the worry about the decline of face-to-face advice, which all contributions today seemed to reflect. Face-to-face advice must support online and telephone advice, and we will look at how to reinforce that.
Funding of £1 million has been confirmed for next year for the National Debtline, as has been acknowledged. We need further work on how to support some form of continued additional face-to-face guidance. I will ask the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton, to clarify as soon as possible, in a statement to the House, precisely how, when, why and whether that might happen.
Secondly, the Government are working with the Consumer Financial Education Body to provide better advice on debt. As hon. Members know, it will shortly be renamed the money advice service. It was set up to take over responsibility from the Financial Services Authority to promote understanding of the financial system and raise levels of financial capability across the UK. It is funded by a levy. We will launch the new service in spring. That preventive approach is critical to stop people getting into difficulties, with the results we heard about today.
The Government will also review the framework for financial services regulation. Two new regulators will replace the FSA: one focused on prudential issues with the Bank of England and the other on markets and consumer protection—the Consumer Protection and Markets Authority. We see this as an opportunity to improve how consumer credit is regulated and to create a simpler, more responsive regime.
As Members know, we have also launched our review of consumer credit and personal insolvency. It is taking an end-to-end view of consumer credit and personal insolvency, from the decision to borrow money through to how we support people in difficulty and help them to resolve their debts.
The feature that characterised most contributions to the debate was the CAB. As a constituency Member of Parliament, I am very aware of its work. I visited the CAB in Spalding to discuss these issues. Indeed, one of the many virtues of our system of parliamentary representation is that Ministers are also constituency MPs. I heard what was said today about the CAB and its importance in providing not only debt advice, but a holistic approach to advice that reflects the connection between debt, well-being and the wider range of challenges that many people face.
Duncan Hames
I welcome the announcements the Minister has made, but does he see that it is somewhat incongruous for a Government who are, rightly, concerned about getting their own debt under control to cease funding for voluntary sector support to people to get on top of their own debt?
Mr Hayes
Indeed. I think of John 8:7,
“he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone’”.
As the hon. Gentleman said, it is right that we should be consistent.
I shall make one further commitment on the CAB: as a result of representations received, and this debate, we commit to looking at what to do about the CAB on a cross-governmental basis. Ministers and Governments should be responsive to these debates and to arguments, which were sometimes well put, although at other times slightly partisan. They were no doubt put with a passion that reflects constituents’ concerns. On that basis, there will be a cross-departmental examination of what to do about the CAB.
Local Enterprise Partnerships (South-West)
Debate between John Hayes and Duncan Hames(14 years ago)
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The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes)
It is a pleasure to speak on this subject and I congratulate the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) on securing this debate. I think that he and I first faced each other many years ago when he was fisheries Minister. In those days, he was in government and I was in opposition, but to the relief of fishermen, their friends and many other people, the boot is now on the other foot.
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for drawing these important matters to the attention of the Chamber. Creating the right framework for local economic growth and renewal in the south-west and throughout the whole country is an important issue that the Government take seriously. Indeed, it is one of our core priorities. As my Department—the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills—is the Department for growth, I am pleased to be able to respond in that spirit.
It is important to understand that as we manage growth, and as we stimulate business to deliver the additional growth that we need to move from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity, we take account of the economic profile of different parts of the country. Contrary to what was at least suggested in the right hon. Gentleman’s remarks, this issue is not a matter of disagreement among the coalition partners. The two partners in the new coalition Government are both committed to the principle of having a local, regional and sub-regional structure to stimulate growth; we have been committed to that principle before and after the election.
Local enterprise partnerships are a vital element in the broader reforms that we are implementing to create the new framework for local growth. They are underpinned by three important principles, which I shall outline at the outset. The first principle is that the economic geography of our country is not fixed, but changes as the character of the economy changes. It is widely understood that as economies advance, their needs—for example their skills needs—also advance. However, it is not so often said that economies also become more dynamic as they develop, and our prospects for growth will depend on creating the right framework to facilitate and stimulate that dynamism.
The second principle is that economic prospects can be transformed when enterprise is free to innovate. That additional freedom is about creating the right conditions in which entrepreneurs, businesses and commerce can thrive. I think that it would be vulgar to make too many narrow party political points, but I am not sure that even the greatest advocates of the last Government would argue that they had created the right environment for business to thrive.
The third principle is that lasting economic renewal requires civic and business leaders to feel empowered to shape their own community and its economic interests. That principle has long been embedded in our assumptions about the role of local government. At district, unitary and county level, local government has long had an economic purpose: to produce an economic development strategy and to ensure that that strategy married with the wishes and desires of local business people, as well as those of the wider population, in the interests of the common good.
I believe that private enterprise is the dynamo that will power our future prosperity and fuel the innovation that will underpin our future global competitiveness. The White Paper on local economic growth, which was published on 28 October, sets out our detailed proposals, as the right hon. Gentleman acknowledged. Those proposals are designed to promote economic development and spread economic opportunity right across the country, and they rest on four foundations.
The first foundation is the strengthening of national economic leadership for the activities that enable the UK to compete internationally: trade, inward investment and innovation. At the risk of digressing—I know that you will not let me digress too much, Mr Weir—I also will add the issue of skills, which was referred to in the previous debate by the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey). Skills are critical for driving economic growth, because if an advanced economy is to become more dynamic, its skills needs also need to become more dynamic and advanced. That is why we are putting so much emphasis on skills, and I hope that I will be forgiven for repeating the fact that we are making apprenticeships the pivot of our skills policy, with substantial additional investment. Indeed, many business people have written to the national press today to celebrate that fact.
The second foundation of our proposals is investing in crucial infrastructure such as broadband and high-speed rail. As you know, Mr Weir, the Government have already said much about that. The third foundation is establishing the regional growth fund to support jobs and growth, which is worth £1.4 billion over three years.
The fourth foundation of our proposals is to create local enterprise partnerships, which is the central issue of this debate. However, before I deal with the specific matters on which the right hon. Gentleman understandably concentrated, let me set out the case for local enterprise partnerships before I say a little about their application in the south-west.
If we are to succeed in rebalancing the national economy and kick-starting local economies, including in the areas that the right hon. Gentleman mentioned, we need a framework that recognises the economic geography of the country rather than one that is twisted to fit arbitrary administrative structures. I think that I can warmly support what the right hon. Gentleman said in that regard. I believe he said that the system should match “real” areas of economic growth and economic interest rather than being an artificial construction.
The role of LEPs in those terms will be to build genuine and effective partnerships of local business and civic leaders. Once again, I do not think that there is any disagreement between us on that point. I have already mentioned the long-standing commitment of local government to economic planning, and indeed to economic development. That idea is central to what I think is our shared understanding of the role of these new LEPs. It is absolutely right that civic leaders who identify with their area, share an ambition to grow the local economy and believe in creating jobs, wealth and so on should play a part in ensuring that measures taken by Government and other agencies match the priorities of their local area.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
Given those requirements, will the Minister tell us what the Government consider should be included in the bid for an LEP, including what requirements the bid for a Wiltshire LEP is yet to meet? Will he also explain to us the timetable for the announcement of further LEPs?
Mr Hayes
The hon. Gentleman knows that I will not go into details about a timetable because he also knows, given his interest in the particular matter to which he refers, that that is very much under discussion. Indeed, representations that have been made in that area are being considered in detail by my Department. As he is probably aware, there is an ongoing discussion between the locality and the Department. However, it is reasonable to say that we do not want any undue delay in establishing the parameters of each area, because to do so would create uncertainty. The right hon. Member for Exeter is right that we need to establish the parameters within which people are going to work clearly and reasonably speedily so that we can then move forward to the next stage of development. I will therefore not give the hon. Member for Chippenham (Duncan Hames) a definitive answer now, but I think that he will understand the emphasis that I have placed on dealing with the perfectly proper intervention that he has just made.
Let me go on to talk a little about how we will assess success, because I think that that issue relates directly to the hon. Gentleman’s intervention.