Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts

Tuesday 13th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

They are not forgotten. The hon. Gentleman is very good at one-liners. The creative industries are an important source of strength, and that includes comedians.

Some of the most successful places in the world, especially cities, have developed in such a way that they have resilience as a result of having different industries. That even applies to cities in which there was formerly a single dominant industry. We want to work with local leaders to ensure that we strengthen the resilience of our own regional centres.

[Mr Edward Vaizey (Wantage) (Con)]

I welcome the new Front Bench team, particularly the visiting fellow of All Souls, who is appropriately the Minister for the Oxfordshire local enterprise partnership, and the Minister for consumer affairs, who is a brilliant re-tweeter, particularly of my interview in today’s Times.

As part of the industrial strategy, I hope my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will recognise the importance of science and innovation; in my constituency in Harwell we are a microcosm of the future of Britain, linking science with high tech, and I hope it will feature strongly in his industrial strategy.

[Greg Clark]

It certainly will, and the strength of science, not least in Oxfordshire, is one of our national strengths and it will be at the heart of our strategy.