Oral Answers to Questions

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 10th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

9. What recent estimate he has made of the effect of fiscal policy on the level of child poverty.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

11. What recent estimate he has made of the effect of fiscal policy on the level of child poverty.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)]

The Government have protected vulnerable groups as far as possible while urgently taking action to tackle the record deficit we inherited. Work remains the best and the most immediate way out of poverty, and the Budget took action to support families and make the tax and welfare system simpler, including further increases in the income tax allowance to take 2.7 million people on low incomes out of tax altogether.

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[Sajid Javid]

Work remains the best and the most immediate way out of poverty. The hon. Gentleman will be concerned that his constituency saw a 72% rise in unemployment during Labour’s last term in office. It has now fallen under this Government. He is rightly concerned about workless households, so he should welcome the fact that the number of children living in workless households is at an all-time low—the lowest since records began in 1996.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

Thirty-two per cent. of Nottingham children live in poverty compared with a national average of 20%, and we have the worst affected local authority in the east midlands. For all the Government’s warm words on early intervention, the city’s early intervention grant has been cut by £2.8 million. Is it not the case that across the country this Government’s policies are making child poverty worse?

[Sajid Javid]

I have taken five questions from Opposition Members so far, and not one of them has mentioned plan B; I wonder why. It is not very nice for Mr B. The best way to deal with poverty is by tackling the causes of poverty, and work remains the best way out of poverty. The hon. Lady should welcome the fact that jobs are growing at a record rate in our country, with 1.3 million jobs generated in the private sector in three years and more people employed than at any other time in our history.

Living Standards

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Nandy]

Again, I would really like to send the hon. Gentleman on a history course. If he looks more closely at what happened under the previous Government, he will see not only that youth unemployment fell, but that at the one point in the mid-2000s when it rose it was because there were more young people compared with the number of jobs. It was due to an increase in the number of young people, not a shortage of jobs. The previous Government immediately took action to reduce youth unemployment, something I hope Ministers revisit and learn from in view of the problems we have now.

I was talking about the widespread exploitation of people on zero-hours contracts. Whole sectors are now dominated by this. I represent women in my constituency who work in the home care sector, and I have heard appalling stories about the way they are treated. One woman was forced to take eight hours of shifts on no notice whatever. She has two young children and had to take them with her and lock them in her car while she tended to older people. I would be really grateful if the Minister stopped laughing for a moment, because this is very serious. When the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson), responded recently to a debate in Westminster Hall packed with Labour MPs raising similar concerns, she did not say very much. However, it cannot be beyond our wit to bring in some kind of statutory code or regulation and ensure that it is enforced. I take the Minister’s point that some people like zero-hours contracts, but, given the widespread exploitation of people in that situation, surely it is time to take action.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Lisa Nandy]

I am sorry but I will not, because I have only a short time left.

Women, in particular, are affected by zero-hours contracts. We should take this seriously, because women are increasingly important to low-income households. In 1968, men in low-income households contributed 71% of the household income. By 2008, that was just 40%. The contribution made by women had doubled, yet female unemployment remained stubbornly high. We lag eight percentage points behind OECD leaders such as Iceland, Norway and Sweden in the re-employment of women with children. We should celebrate a fall in unemployment whenever it occurs, but we need to look seriously at what is happening to women; otherwise we will fail to solve the problems for families.

We should also take seriously the fact that for many women part-time work is not a choice. One third of women with children were found recently to be in part-time work through lack of choice. We should first address the high cost of child care, which is rising by 5% a year. As my hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) pointed out, that far outstrips affordability, especially for those on the minimum wage.

Finally, we should take immediate action to tackle low pay. We have seen a long-term trend of falling pay and rising profits. There is no pressure from the Government to take action against multinationals such as Tesco, which made huge profits last year. It employs many women in my constituency on below the living wage. I say to Ministers that low pay is not a ladder for most people. They are trapped in low pay, which is why we need action on the living wage. It is not just important for individuals and their families; it is important for the local economy. If people are not spending, small and medium-sized enterprises fold and the cycle continues. I ask Ministers this: where is the pressure? Condemn those multinationals, implement a living wage and refuse to do business with companies that will not take action. It is time for us to take concrete action. Our families and our young people simply cannot afford for us not to do so.

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[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

Twelve months ago, I spoke at the launch of the Clifton food bank in my constituency. I was proud to support Wendy White and everyone else in her team of volunteers who had given their time and energy to help support others in the local community. Led by the Clifton churches in partnership with the Trussell Trust, the Clifton food bank is providing vital help to people who simply cannot make ends meet. Many of those referred to the food bank have sought help from the Clifton advice group. Claire Ashton, who has been involved in the group for 13 years and who chairs the management committee, recently said that it had seen a marked increase in the number of people struggling to put food on the table, and that this was a direct impact of Government policies, particularly benefit cuts.

When I spoke at the launch, I was proud of the response from a community that is not wealthy, but where people look out for each other. My view then and now is that it is a disgrace that even though we are the seventh richest country in the world, we face an epidemic of hidden hunger, particularly among children. But as families struggle to make ends meet while the Government stand by, the work of food banks is vital. It is the Government’s failure to act, their standing by in the face of a cost-of-living crisis, that prompts me to speak in today’s debate.

Today, the Prime Minister demonstrated how out of touch he is, completely refusing to recognise his failure to turn things around for hard-working families in cities such as Nottingham. Contrary to what he says, life is getting harder, not easier, for ordinary families. Prices are rising faster in the UK than in any other major economy; average wages are down almost £1,500 a year since this Prime Minister came to office; and we have the slowest recovery for nearly 100 years and almost 1 million young people are out of work—with devastating consequences, as a number of my hon. Friend have already described.

The Prime Minister claimed that people were getting back into work but in my constituency—I recognise that it is not the case everywhere in the UK—unemployment is higher now than it was in May 2010. The unemployment rate in Nottingham South is now 6.5%, compared with a national average of 4.5%. Those forced to rely on out-of-work benefits are condemned to falling living standards because of this Government’s 1% cap on benefit rises, which falls so far behind the current rate of inflation.

Life is hard not just for those who are unable to find a job; it is hard for those in work, too. In Nottingham, the average wage for a full-time worker is about £22,000, but that compares with a national average of £26,500. Of course, many part-time workers, especially women, earn far less than that.

Employees face increased uncertainty about their incomes. Many are under-employed, trapped on zero-hours contracts or reliant on a multiplicity of mini-jobs, and they are at far greater risk of losing their jobs following the Government’s decision to reduce employment protection and workplace rights. I ask Members to compare that decision to reduce job security and make work more uncertain with the decision of our local Labour councils, such as Nottingham city council and Nottinghamshire county council, to provide a living wage. I pay tribute to Nottingham Citizens for its campaign to secure that decision, and its practical action to support ordinary working people and our local economy.

It is no surprise that when people in Nottingham South have had the opportunity to choose who they want to represent them over the last couple of years, they have chosen Labour. They recognise that the present Government are out of touch and make the wrong choices. This Government have chosen to raise VAT while cutting taxes for millionaires; they have allowed energy companies to make huge profits while failing to help people with energy bills that have risen by £300 a year, condemning many thousands to fuel poverty; they have failed to take action to curb bank bonuses while allowing payday lenders to charge exorbitant rates of interest; and they have done nothing to tackle rogue landlords and rip-off letting agents, although many more households are being forced into the private rented sector because they cannot get on to the housing ladder. When we compare average house prices in Nottingham with average salaries, it is easy to see why that is happening.

Any recovery in the United Kingdom’s economic performance is to be welcomed, but ordinary people know that recent improvements are not benefiting low and middle-income families. The 16 food banks in my city are a shocking reminder of how out of touch the Government are, and show clearly why Nottingham needs a Labour Government with a programme that will boost living standards.

Beer Duty Escalator

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 5th March 2013 Westminster Hall

[Mr Jones]

Absolutely. It is not a Conservative principle to impose taxes such as the escalator year on year without reassessing the effect of such a tax. He is right that it would be an excellent move for a Conservative-led Government to scrap the escalator and freeze beer duty this year. That is in the context of the challenge for hard-pressed UK citizens, who now pay 40% of all Europe’s beer duty despite drinking only 13% of the beer consumed in Europe.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate. Does he agree that one purpose of Government alcohol taxation policy is to drive consumer behaviour, and that reviewing and changing the beer duty escalator could encourage drinkers towards lower-strength British-made drinks such as beer, which I am sure is made in his constituency as it is in mine?

[Mr Jones]

I thank the hon. Lady for her comments. It is nice and extremely refreshing to be able to agree with comments made by an Opposition Member. She has made an extremely pertinent point. Beer is a lower-strength product, and it is far better for people, if consumed in moderation, than higher-strength drinks, which may well be more damaging to health if consumed in excessive quantities.

The increases in duty are having a disproportionate effect, in particular on our pub industry and if we compare on-sales with off-sales, especially off-sales made in supermarkets. Before the escalator was introduced, drinking in a pub was four times more expensive than drinking at home; now, after a few short years, it is eight times more expensive, which shows the disproportionate effect on the great British pub.

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[Andrew Griffiths]

Gool Peran lowen to my hon. Friend. He has been fantastic in supporting the British brewing industry and the all-party beer group. He is right to say that massive innovation is taking place in British brewing. Only this month, a beer innovation summit organised by The Publican’s Morning Advertiser was held in my constituency at St George’s Park. It showed the depth and breadth of new ideas and the potential for the industry to export a great British product overseas. It is interesting that almost 90% of all the beer brewed in this country is drunk in this country. That is because we recognise brilliance and what a great product it is. We can export it overseas and create jobs as a result.

The campaign has brought together the British Beer and Pub Association, the Society of Independent Brewers and the Campaign for Real Ale, and all those we would expect to support the brewing industry, but it has also brought others together. The TaxPayers Alliance has got on board and put together a fantastic campaign—“Mash Beer Tax.” I encourage hon. Members to go online to www.mashbeertax.org. The TaxPayers Alliance has a reputation for standing up for the British taxpayer and has done a great job in getting behind this important campaign.

Hon. Members will have noticed the support we have from The Sun, which has launched its own campaign to scrap the beer duty escalator and save the great British pint. I am sure that the Minister will have noticed the contribution to the debate yesterday, made by Sabine from London on page 3, “News in Briefs.” She railed against the unfairness of the duty that British beer drinkers pay compared with what Spanish beer drinkers pay, and quoted:

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

The Minister could make a great many people across the country happy at the Budget by scraping the hated beer duty escalator.

Let us look at the impact of the beer duty escalator since it was introduced by the previous Government. Sales are down 17% in the off-trade and sales are down 24% in pubs. That equates to 1.5 billion fewer pints sold in pubs across the country. Those are jobs. Every time we do not sell beer, jobs are lost in my constituency and in constituencies across the country.

I notice that we have had a fantastic game of “brewery bingo” today; hon. Members have named the breweries in their constituencies.

[Lilian Greenwood]

Before the hon. Gentleman goes on to list the many breweries in his constituency, will he say what impact he thinks the 2.5% VAT increase had on sales of the pint down the pub?

[Andrew Griffiths]

Since the beer duty escalator was introduced by the hon. Lady’s Government, we have seen beer duty increase by 42%, and anybody can work out that that will have a very damaging impact. I am a little disappointed that she is trying to score political points. The debate has been notable for its cross-party support.

Economic Policy

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Monday 25th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We are now looking, through the Basel agreement, at a leverage ratio as a back-stop to regulation in this country, and of course we have the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill coming through Parliament better to protect and regulate our financial services. My hon. Friend is quite right to remind us of who was the City Minister when the City blew up.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

In February 2010, the Chancellor asked:

“What investor is going to come to the UK when they fear a downgrade of our credit rating?”

What I and my constituents want to know is this: does he still think that a downgrade will drive investors away, and if not, what has changed?

[Mr Osborne]

I am very clear, and was clear then, that the test of the Government’s economic credibility is out there in the markets with the interest rates that we can charge and in the corporate tax environment and the general competitiveness of the economy that we offer. Since I made those statements, this country has actually become more competitive and climbed up the league tables of international competitiveness. There was a survey last week on business tax, which said that this country had gone from being one of the least competitive business tax regimes in the world to being one of the most competitive.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 29th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue, and he has contributed to many debates on it in this House. Making the change would mean lost revenue, and we would have to find another way to cover that loss. He may find it useful if I point out some Government measures that have helped pubs, such as the changes in the annual investment allowance, the cut in the small profits rate of corporation tax and the extension of small rate relief holiday.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

Why does the Chancellor refuse to review the impact of alcohol taxation? Is he worried that it will show the effect of VAT on the prices in our pubs, and the impact that is having on our pub sector?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Lady will know that the beer duty escalator was introduced by her Government. This Government have inherited those plans and are carrying them out. If she does not like this tax, perhaps she could make a stronger case if she tells us how she would cover the lost revenue.

Autumn Statement

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I will certainly continue those efforts to ensure that work pays and that we have a welfare system that encourages work, in which it always pays to work and in which working people in Harrogate, Knaresborough and elsewhere are rewarded for being in work. The personal allowance increase and the cut in fuel duty plans will help the people my hon. Friend so ably represents in this Parliament.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

In cutting the income tax of those earning more than £1 million a year while cutting the incomes of those people in my constituency who do the right thing by getting up and going out everyday to try to find a job, is the Chancellor not protecting the richest and asking the most vulnerable to pay the most?

[Mr Osborne]

The richest have paid more income tax in every single year under this Government than in any one of the 13 years for which there was a Labour Government and the shadow Chancellor was the country’s chief economic adviser. If the hon. Lady has a problem with the reduction in the 50p rate to a 45p rate, perhaps she can tell me—her colleagues on the Front Bench certainly will not—whether Labour would reverse that policy if it won the next election.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I welcome what my hon. Friend has said about the regional growth fund. With him, I have visited recipients of that fund in his constituency, and seen at first hand the benefits on Teesside. He will also welcome the fact that Teesside is a candidate in the next wave of city deals, which will provide an opportunity further to enhance the economy of that area. I hear his representation for a fourth round of the regional growth fund, and I will consider that alongside other policies in the normal way.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

T3. Instead of insulting hard-working parents and calling them “fiscal nimbys”, will the Minister explain how it is fair that a couple earning up to £100,000 a year will keep all their child benefit, while a one-earner family on £50,000 will see theirs cut?

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

We looked at introducing this measure on the basis of household income, but it would mean bringing 8 million households into the tax credit system and impose a much greater administrative burden on many people. At least Labour Members are consistent: they have opposed every measure to try to reduce the welfare budget, whether it be the welfare cut or child benefit for higher earners. It is time for us all to look at public spending in that area and bring it under control, but the Labour party will simply not do that.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Nurseries)

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr McCann]

I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman, and I think he will be even more appalled as I continue with my remarks. Not only did Mr Falvey advise that a future contract needed to be re-tendered—something HMRC had chosen not to do—he further advised that there were only eight nurseries for more than 300 HMRC offices, and that HMRC did not provide the same child care service for all staff. Finally, he advised that the number of parents using the nurseries was declining and, most importantly, that only a third of spaces were taken by children of HMRC staff.

There was only one problem: none of that information—provided by a civil servant who is paid more than the Prime Minister—was accurate. I found out several weeks later that the deal between Mapeley and Bright Horizons—the hon. Gentleman might want to listen carefully to this point—contained a provision for an extension of an additional year, to November 2013, which was never disclosed to me by civil servants. I also found out that, even if the eight in-house nurseries run by Bright Horizons were closed by HMRC, it would still have in-house nurseries, including a large one in the constituency of my right hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East (Mr Brown). Finally—I consider this to be the pièce de résistance—I found out that 63 of the 86 children at the nursery in my constituency were the children of HMRC staff.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend sets out a powerful case. I understand that the nursery at Castle Meadow in my constituency currently has a 76% occupancy rate, that more than half of its users are HMRC staff, and that its outdoor play area has only recently been upgraded. Does he agree that that calls into question the account hon. Members have been given of a service in decline?

[Mr McCann]

My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. It also calls into question the decision taken—the account I was given was riddled with similar inaccuracies.

Armed with the knowledge that the HMRC rationale for the closure in my constituency was fallacious, I called Mr Falvey and explained that the arguments he had presented were plain wrong. I asked whether, in the light of reality, he would agree to my modest request to review the decision in full or in part. The chief people officer refused point blank to do so. To digress ever so slightly, it is not difficult to see why HMRC came 36th out of 37 Government Departments last year in the industrial relations league table. Perhaps it is going for 37th place this year.

After that setback, I contacted the Minister’s office to arrange to discuss the matter, feeling strongly that senior civil servants could not dismiss the concerns of elected Members of Parliament in such a shoddy manner, particularly as their decision to shut the nurseries was obviously based in full or in part on erroneous information. Alas, the Minister refused to meet me, claiming that the issue I wanted to discuss was operational. No further explanation was provided by his private office.

When hon. Members are running out of cards to play, politics can be frustrating. However, if you do not mind an “It’s a Knockout” analogy, Mr Speaker, I played my joker and applied for an Adjournment debate just before hon. Members packed up and left for the recess. Whatever gods exist, be they mortal or otherwise, my debate topic was picked for this evening. However, I did not want to wait until this evening—I wanted a resolution—and had a duty to look after my constituents and their children, so I once again pressed HMRC and set up a call with Lin Homer, chief executive of HMRC. Miss Homer was previously chief executive of the UK Border Agency and permanent secretary at the Department for Transport, where she worked on the west coast main line contract.

I spent 45 minutes on the telephone with Miss Homer on 21 September, only to find that the reason HMRC wanted to close nurseries had nothing to do with the reasons set out in Mr Falvey’s 5 September letter. I was advised for the first time that the decision was being made to rationalise the HMRC estate to save money on rent.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 11th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I thank my hon. Friend for her welcome. I will take a look at that, but given the amount of money from APD on which the Government rely to deal with the fiscal deficit we inherited, it is appropriate to point out that, if we changed the banding, APD might have to rise for others.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

13. What assessment he has made of the effect on families with children of the tax and benefit changes made in 2012-13.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)]

The Government have taken unprecedented steps to increase the transparency of decision making. All but the highest income decile have on average gained from direct tax changes. The Government continue to help and protect the most vulnerable with, for example, increases in the child element of the child tax credit by £180 per annum above inflation in April 2011.

[Lilian Greenwood]

Up to 1,000 households in my constituency face having their tax credits withdrawn this year, and 275 families with 625 children faced losing working tax credit if parents could not increase their hours. Why is the Chancellor trying to balance the books on the backs of hard-working families, and will he concede that children are bearing the brunt of this Government’s failed policies?

[Sajid Javid]

Under the previous Government, spending on tax credits was out of control, having risen from £18 billion in 2003 to £30 billion in 2010, meaning that nine out of 10 families with children were eligible for tax credits. This Government have reduced that to six out of 10 by taking a more targeted approach. It is important that we support those on the lowest incomes while ensuring that those who can contribute to deficit reduction do so. There is nothing fair about running huge deficits for our children.

Business and the Economy

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Monday 14th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Lorely Burt]

There is a lot of due diligence to be done so that we do not waste taxpayers’ money.

Opposition Members might agree that we have to be fair to employers and to the work force. Liberal Democrats seek a balance to ensure that staff can achieve their full potential and have a home life as well as a work life. Unlike some in the Chamber, we are not in the pockets of the unions, but seek to work with the unions and with management to achieve fair outcomes and fair rewards. We will extend the right to request flexible working, and entitlement to parental leave will be shared. All parties bemoan the fact that we often lose female talent when the babies come along; now there will be no point in employers discriminating in recruitment against women of child-bearing age. Both men and women will be entitled to parental leave. That is one small step for equality.

However, Liberal Democrats would say that in some areas the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of the employee. Some employees take advantage of, and try to play, the employment tribunal system, which has become clogged up with cases waiting to be heard, costing time and money and causing stress for all. New legislation will put a greater emphasis on conciliation and give employers longer to give underperforming employees a chance, before the spectre of the unfair dismissal tribunal looms.

Clearing away unnecessary regulation is a big job, and we have already started. We will reform the competition regime by creating a powerful new body to enable the speedier prosecution of anti-competitive behaviour. We are also taking action on executive pay. If there is one thing that really bugs the British worker, it is seeing overpaid executives getting even more for even poorer performance, so we will give shareholders the power to exercise greater control over executive pay through binding votes.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Lorely Burt]

I am sorry, but I cannot give way again.

I think that all hon. Members are looking forward to the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill, which at last offers some fairness for producers at the mercy of the powerful supermarkets. Then there is the green investment bank. It has £3 billion at its disposal for investment, but Liberal Democrats would like it to have greater powers to act like a real bank, investing and borrowing as well as lending, and we are working on that.

All that will be to no avail if we cannot sort out the biggest problem still faced by business today: access to finance. Project Merlin has had some success, with £195 billion lent by banks to business, but we need more. Liberal Democrats will be doing all we can on policies to widen the range of banks and lower the almost insurmountable barriers to entry for new banks. We want to introduce more peer-to-peer lending, such as the funding circle, and would like to examine the feasibility of community banks.

Perhaps the most important piece of legislation of all is one that will stop a repetition of the banking crisis that resulted in the house of cards that the previous Government allowed the finance industry to build tumbling down. The Business Secretary foresaw it all: he warned Labour that light-touch regulation, over-optimistic ratios, complex financial instruments that few could understand, banks that were too big to fail and banks whose casino and retail arms were wedded would bring disaster, but not even he could have imagined the scale of the economic crisis that gripped the UK, America, Europe and large parts of the world and made them much worse off. The crisis is taking longer to sort out than anyone hoped.

We need only look across the continent at Greece, Spain and Italy to see what would have happened had we not gripped the situation there and then. Too far, too fast? It would have been “too little too late” if the Labour party had had its way. We would be paying treble the current interest rates, with much higher unemployment and much higher bond yields, as those countries have today. We are sorting it. The little blue and yellow tractor is taking the strain and pulling us out of the mire that the Labour party helped to create.

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[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

I want to speak about my constituents’ priorities, which are unfortunately not addressed in the Queen’s Speech.

Nottingham city council and NHS Nottingham City jointly commission the Nottingham citizens survey, an annual survey of city residents which gathers views on a variety of subjects including the things that make people believe that Nottingham is a good place in which to live—such as its excellent public transport system and NHS services—and the improvements that are most needed, which include more crime-cutting, the provision of more activities for teenagers, and better job prospects for residents.

It is interesting to note that job creation made it into the top five items only this year, but it is hardly surprising. Thanks to the Government’s failed economic strategy, the UK is now experiencing a double-dip recession. More than 2.6 million people are out of work, 3,500 of my constituents are stuck on out-of-work benefits, and long-term youth unemployment in my constituency has risen by 133% in the last 12 months. Sadly, the Government will not address those priorities over the coming year.

At a time when my constituents want to feel safer in their homes and on the streets, the Government are continuing to cut funding for our police force. Last week, like many other Members, I met police officers who had come to protest about the Government’s plans. All those officers—from neighbourhood policing teams, from our city centre response team, and from intelligence and surveillance units—had front-line roles, and they had a simple message to deliver. They described the cuts as catastrophic, and told me that they no longer had the resources with which to do their job properly. How can our police forces continue to cut crime if they do not have the resources that they need?

Opportunities for young people are also a cause for concern among my constituents. That is not surprising, given cuts in youth services, the loss of work experience opportunities and careers guidance, the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance, the tripling of tuition fees, the undermining of vocational qualifications, and the sharp rise in youth unemployment. What hope does the Queen’s Speech offer young people in my constituency? None.

I recently attended a round table at Nottingham Forest football club with business leaders and representatives of the voluntary sector and local councils to discuss skills and opportunities for young people. While there was a real collective will to work together in our city to give young people a hand up, there was also frustration about the Government’s failure to provide the support that would enable them to get on, help them to gain the skills that they needed, and create the economic conditions that would provide jobs for them to do.

As for the need to boost business and create jobs, what does the Queen’s Speech offer? Nothing. When the Government talk of reforming employment rights, they mean making it easier to sack people. At a time when families are already facing a cost-of-living crisis and consumer confidence is at its lowest level for a generation, creating further insecurity is exactly the wrong thing to do. It was not the UK’s system of employment law that sent our economy into recession; it was the Government’s decision to cut public spending too far and too fast. It is this Government’s choices that have landed hundreds of people in my constituency on the dole; it has been this Government’s choice to freeze wages, and now to threaten cuts to real incomes in the public sector by hiking up pension contributions and introducing regional pay; and it is this Government who have raised VAT to 20%, allowed train companies to hike up rail fares and cut support for the bus industry, leading to fare rises, all taking money out of my constituents’ pockets and undermining the retail sector, which is so important to Nottingham’s local economy.

So what have the Government done? Well, Nottingham has an enterprise zone, but it has still to deliver a single new job. We have yet to receive a penny from the regional growth fund, and the Government have scrapped our successful regional development agency. No wonder businesses have slammed the Queen’s Speech for failing to offer an industrial strategy or real measures to boost growth, and we are still waiting for the Government’s previous measures to make the slightest bit of difference.

So here are some questions that people in Nottingham would like the Minister to answer. How will the Government’s programmes support our city’s economic growth plan? How will they ensure that young people in Nottingham have real opportunities to obtain skills and jobs? How will the Government help boost investment in our city’s vital retail sector? How will they ensure our enterprise zone actually delivers new jobs? How will they support the growth sectors in our city’s economy—health and life sciences, digital content and low carbon—to help us attract high-skill jobs in the future? Will the Minister’s Government support investment in the midland main line for both line speed improvements and electrification? Will he ensure that Nottingham benefits from the improved connectivity offered by high-speed rail? Will he support the development of high-speed broadband, which is needed to boost our digital media sector? Finally, will he listen to the views of Nottingham citizens, and prioritise the needs of the many people I represent who are suffering the effects of a recession made in Downing street and this Government’s other disastrous policy choices?

[Several hon. Members]

rose—