Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Pugh and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

The employment rate, the number of people in employment, is higher than it has ever been. The employment rate is getting near to its record high again.

[John Pugh (Southport) (LD)]

That is good news, but what proportion of new jobs are in London and the south-east? Do we not need to do even more to rebalance the economy?

[Danny Alexander]

Employment levels are rising in every part of the United Kingdom, but my hon. Friend rightly draws attention to the fact that there is a great deal more work to be done to invest in infrastructure and expand our investment in apprenticeships. The growth deals and city deals benefit every part of this country, and the industrial strategies taken forward by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills are helping to grow manufacturing and exports in a way that was lamentably absent from the previous Government’s plans.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Pugh and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[John Pugh (Southport) (LD)]

13. What assessment he has made of the role of community budgets in improving the efficiency of public expenditure; and if he will make a statement.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

I am a strong supporter of community budgets because, by joining up public services locally, we can save money and get better outcomes for our constituents. The troubled families programme is using the community budgets approach to turn around the lives of 120,000 families by 2015. Building on its success, I announced yesterday that the Government would put £200 million towards expanding the programme to work with a further 400,000 families from 2015.

[John Pugh]

Ernst and Young estimates that between £9 billion and £20 billion can be saved by the national roll-out of community budgets. Given that the pressure is on us, should that roll-out be sooner rather than later?

[Danny Alexander]

Yes, it certainly should, and I urge my hon. Friend to listen carefully to the Chancellor’s statement tomorrow.

Public Service Pensions

Debate between John Pugh and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 20th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I join the hon. Gentleman in expressing gratitude for the hard work that prison officers do for the country, and in recognising the physically demanding nature of some of that work. There is a specific outstanding issue in the arrangements relating to mechanisms allowing prison officers to retire before reaching the state pension age, and we are continuing to engage in discussions with the Prison Officers Association to deal with precisely the point that the hon. Gentleman has made.

[John Pugh (Southport) (LD)]

Should not something be done about the destructive polarisation of the public and private sectors that this issue encourages?

[Danny Alexander]

I agree that, while we are securing very good pensions for public service workers, we must not neglect the fact that many millions of private sector workers have no pension provision at all. That is what the NEST scheme is intended to address. The opt-in arrangement for a new basic pension scheme, which will be rolled out over the next five or six years, will enable those millions in the private sector who currently have no provision to build some up for themselves. I hope that, in due course, my hon. Friend will join us in promoting that scheme to constituents.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Pugh and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 10th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[John Pugh (Southport) (LD)]

T2. What financial stress test will the Treasury impose before allowing the Department of Health to authorise general practitioner or clinical consortia?

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question, which raises a very important issue. It is a key part of the Treasury’s engagement with this to make sure that the process for authorising GP consortia ensures that those organisations are fully financially capable, as well as clinically capable, of meeting their objectives before they are authorised on whatever timescale.