Self-Employment

Debate between John Hayes and Nick de Bois

Tuesday 24th January 2012 Westminster Hall

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

I shall be brief. I intended to make two points, but I will now make only one, in the interest of enabling other hon. Members to speak. I want to talk about the role of education and of finance and how help can be provided to people. I fully confess to being heavily influenced by a constituent of mine, who has been working under the scheme led by Virgin Media. In the past year, she has taken steps to establish a competitive business. In fact, while she was at college, she was so entrepreneurial that she decided to use some of her student loan to help to fund the website that is driving her business. The entrepreneurial spirit is to be admired. I have no idea whether she was allowed to do that, so I will not name her, but it shows that with some lateral thinking, perhaps some of the young talent that exists can be put to good use.

I myself did not go to university. I went to a technical college in Cambridge, which I am told is now a university. The business studies course that I did was a sandwich course. It struck me that the only choice that I had during that sandwich course was to go to a placement that was put to me by the college, very helpful though it was at the time. Why cannot we set up an arrangement whereby we allow a sandwich year, even in a course of reduced time length, to become an opportunity for someone, under mentoring and guidance and with the ability to use student finance at their disposal, to take their first steps towards running a business?

If we think creatively, we can not only foster the educational and mentoring skills that are so vital; we could even allow people access to finance, perhaps on the same terms as those of the student loans scheme. I suspect that it would not be able to extend its remit to do that and we may have to look elsewhere for other sources of financing. However, if we are genuinely saying, “Let’s educate and let’s motivate,” and we have students who are showing character and willingness by seeking out the courses, there could be a useful match with an existing system in order to help them. At the end of the day, the payback to them as individuals will be substantial—the payback to the economy will be vital.

I therefore ask my hon. Friend the Minister to give the initiative that I have described some consideration and not to lose sight of something that we all too glibly talk about—

[The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes)]

I have given that some consideration and I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I think we will do it. I think it is a very good idea and I will ask my civil servants to work something up.

[Nick de Bois]

I say, when you’re ahead, quit. I thank the Minister.