Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
A report from Sheffield Hallam university shows that Merseyside’s local economy will lose a staggering £847 million—that is, two years and five months’ worth of economic growth—as a result of the Government’s cuts to welfare support. What discussions are Ministers having with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions about the impact on regional growth?
Vince Cable
We do not recognise those numbers. There is a significant resurgence of activity in many successful companies in Merseyside, as there is in the rest of the economy.
Industrial Strategy
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable(12 years, 2 months ago)
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Vince Cable
I am not quite sure what the question was. The hon. Gentleman started with regional development agencies. I know that there is nostalgia for them in some quarters, particularly in the north-east, but my experience, particularly in areas like Teesside, is that they are much happier with the LEP approach, which is much more business-focused, much more action-oriented, and actually getting things done.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
A number of my hon. Friends have rightly raised the serious criticism of Government today by the Engineering Employers Federation. What is the Secretary of State going to do for the estimated 900,000 SMEs—the backbone of our economy—that are struggling because of reduced capital allowances?
Vince Cable
First, the EEF has actually been very supportive of many of the things that the Government have been doing. I am in frequent contact with it. It invited me to give a presentation on employment law some months ago. It is very supportive of our proposals and of what we are doing with regard to industrial strategy.
As far as the SME sector is concerned, let me make one general observation. If the SME sector is so weak, why is it that 900,000 new jobs have been created in the past two years? They have been created by very dynamic entrepreneurs at a grass-roots level, within a business environment that this Government are trying to engineer.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable(12 years, 2 months ago)
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Vince Cable
I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman’s work, and to the workers and managers in Swindon who have made a success of the plant. As many of us remember, many of them went on to part-time working and long vacations to keep the plant alive, and it is now succeeding. I have discussed trade barriers with the Keidanren in Japan and with others. There are a lot of non-tariff barriers in the automotive industry. We must deal with them if we are to have a genuine free trade agreement with Japan.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
The green investment bank was first announced in the coalition agreement. Why, two and a half years later, is it not up and running properly?
Vince Cable
The green investment bank is up and running properly. The parliamentary legislation is being put in place, and the hon. Lady has the opportunity to debate it. The team in my Department that is overseeing the bank has already disbursed significant amounts of money to energy conservation and waste projects. The bank is a success, and it will expand considerably over the next few years when it has achieved state aid approval.
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable
Vince Cable
Yes, I can give assurances on that. We will deal with this subject later, but I totally accept the hon. Gentleman’s crucial point: intellectual property rights are a key part of a market economy. They are not “regulation” in the pejorative sense in which we normally refer to it—absolutely not; but we have to strike a balance between access to information and copyright protection. We think we are striking the right balance, and we are proceeding to implement the Hargreaves report, which has many of those ideas at its heart. On a personal level, I introduced the private Member’s Bill that strengthened criminal penalties for copyright theft, so I have a long-standing interest in upholding that legislation.
Let me deal with the first issue I mentioned—the green investment bank. The transition to a low-carbon economy is a very big challenge. Some analysis suggests that there will be demand for more than £200 billion of investment in the next decade to develop the innovative technologies and products that will underpin it. The challenge is all the greater, given the novelty of these markets and the long-term nature of returns on green infrastructure investment, which may deter private sector investors. There is a market failure here that the green investment bank will address. The bank will break new ground in the financing of projects, while demonstrating to the market that such investments can deliver commercial returns.
Vince Cable
Let me finish, and then I will take interventions.
The bank will also demonstrate the Government’s lasting commitment to important green objectives. For these reasons, I am sure the Opposition will welcome and support its objectives, as I am sure the hon. Lady will.
Luciana Berger
The Secretary of State may be aware that a number of months ago the Deputy Prime Minister committed money from the green investment bank to capitalise the initial run of loans for the green deal, which is supposed to launch in a few months, yet we heard at the end of last week that a number of companies, including British Gas and Kingfisher, are halting their plans to proceed with the non-profit-making green deal finance company because the money that they are expecting from Government has not been forthcoming. Will the Secretary of State say when they should expect those funds to come forward?
Vince Cable
I am aware that the team currently working on this, UK Green Investments, has been looking at the green deal proposal. Of course it must be commercially viable, as well as environmentally sound, and I cannot give the hon. Lady a precise answer as to when the team will have completed its analysis. I think a good deal more information is still required.
Sunday Trading (London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games) Bill [Lords]
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable
Vince Cable
I will take further interventions later if hon. Members still have unanswered questions.
Let me say a little about the benefits. It is difficult to quantify them in a very precise way, but the Centre for Retail Research has estimated that an additional benefit to the UK economy of something in the order of £190 million will be generated by the games. Using old Department of Trade and Industry methodology, we estimate that the effects of today’s change will generate something in the order of £175 million, although we recognise that these figures are extremely imprecise.
As I have mentioned, the flexibility provided by the Bill will boost sales for retailers. Longer opening hours will be an effective showcase for British retailers, allowing visitors to sample the outstanding shopping we offer at a time that suits them. For shop workers, the Bill will create a welcome opportunity—for those who wish to take it—to earn extra money by doing more shifts, while at the same time protecting the right to opt out from Sunday working for those who wish to do so. In addition, it is likely that the suspension of Sunday trading restrictions will increase the opportunities for temporary employment. For consumers, the Bill will allow flexibility over when to go shopping, enabling individuals to combine it with attending Olympic events or watching the coverage on television as they wish. The Bill applies across the country, as was raised in an earlier intervention. The games are a national event, not just a London event. We want families, whether they live in the east of London or the east of England, to have the freedom to plan their weekends so that they can participate in the 1,000 events that will happen right across the country.
Luciana Berger
The Secretary of State has been kind in allowing interventions. He has said twice in his opening remarks that workers will have the opportunity to opt out. However, the date by which they would have to do so is 22 May, which is just over three weeks away. Does he acknowledge that that leaves people very little time?
Vince Cable
We are reducing the period to two months, in order to give everybody the opportunity to opt out before the games period begins, and we are talking to employers about how to ensure that they communicate to their work force the fact that that opportunity is available to them.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
T5. In January, at a cost of £300,000, the Prime Minister stripped the Business Secretary of his responsibility for media competition and policy issues after he declared war on Rupert Murdoch. Given yesterday’s announcement by News Corp that it is dropping the bid for BSkyB, does he expect to have those powers transferred back to him at BIS?
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)
I do not know the answer to that question, but I am delighted to discover that the whole of Britain and the House of Commons now agrees with me.
Green Investment Bank
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable
Vince Cable
That complements the earlier question about how we integrate SMEs into the process. The fact is that the green investment bank will predominantly be concerned with very large-scale projects, and that is partly where the market failure lies—in mobilising large amounts of capital. In practice, however, large-scale projects can involve combinations of small-scale enterprises, and of course SMEs will also be an important part of the supply chain—particularly, for example, in offshore wind, which is a crucial dimension.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
The Deputy Prime Minister, in his speech yesterday, said that the green investment bank might be used to deliver the first stages of the green deal. A couple of months ago, however, the Energy Secretary wrote to the WWF stating that he was confident that there was an appetite in the finance community to lend for the green deal, and that he had concerns about using the green investment bank for it. Will the Secretary of State outline why the policy has changed?
Vince Cable
There has been no change to the policy. The green deal has a very sound business model, it will proceed and it will be successful. We do not rule out the possibility of the green investment bank complementing and working with its activities.
Trade and Investment for Growth White Paper
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable(13 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Vince Cable
Yes, indeed, and that is the case. UKTI will continue to delegate people to work in the regional areas. In the past there has been an enormous amount of duplication and waste, and those people will continue to work in exactly the way that my hon. Friend describes, but more effectively than in the past.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
We have just heard that the Secretary of State supports efforts to remove barriers to trade, particularly for commodities such as low-carbon products. Will he therefore update us on when his Department plans to release details of the green investment bank, and how much money will be made available for it?
Vince Cable
I gave evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee about 10 days ago on the timing of the green investment bank. As I explained then, the business plan will be available in May. We assume that staff will be hired by the end of this year, and that loans will be made next year. I set out the programme and the road map when I was interrogated by the hon. Lady’s colleagues.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable(14 years ago)
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Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
5. Whether his Department intends to sell assets in its ownership to provide finance for the proposed green investment bank.
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)
The Chancellor announced in the spending review that the green investment bank will be funded with £1 billion from departmental budgets, and significant additional proceeds from asset sales. I will provide further information on which assets will be used to fund the institution in due course.
Luciana Berger
What funding will the Government make available to support renewable projects in the interim period before the green investment bank is established, which current estimates suggest is four years away?
Vince Cable
No, it is not four years away. The intention is that investments will be made in 2012, and that asset sales will be used for that purpose. We are in the process of establishing the bank, and the hon. Lady knows that a substantial number of renewable projects are being supported under the spending review.
Local Growth White Paper
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable
Vince Cable
I am sure that I or the Ministers of State in both Departments would be happy to talk about that, but the key problem, as I understand it, is that there was a dispute between several local authorities, which were not able to get their act together. They must take responsibility for that, but we want to help them through the process.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
Despite all the coalition’s talk of localism, I am concerned to learn today that assets currently owned by RDAs are not guaranteed to remain in local ownership. Will the Secretary of State confirm that none of the assets currently owned by the RDA, such as the Wavertree technology park in my constituency, will not be sold off by his Department?
Vince Cable
I cannot give guarantees on the treatment of specific assets. As I said, they will be managed carefully and in a way that produces value for money for the taxpayer, who originally invested in them. That will be done in a way that reinforces local development.
Higher Education and Student Finance
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable(14 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Vince Cable
That is factually correct and has been endorsed this morning by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. My statement was originally going to say that 20% of graduates would pay less than they do at the moment, but I was fortified by discovering from the IFS’s commentary that the percentage is actually 30%. Almost one in three graduates will pay less than they do at the moment under the scheme that the Labour Government introduced.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
Earlier, the Secretary of State used the term “hypocrisy”. As my hon. Friends the Members for Glasgow Central (Anas Sarwar) and for Leicester West (Liz Kendall) have highlighted, it is hypocrisy that he and every single one of his Lib Dem colleagues signed the National Union of Students election pledge just five months ago. My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) has asked what was in that pledge, so it will be useful for us to remind ourselves. The pledge said:
“I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament”.
Will the Secretary of State confirm that he and all his Lib Dem colleagues will break the personal promises that they made to their local constituencies?
Vince Cable
I signed that pledge with my colleagues, and I have explained the reasons why I did so. It was a stand from a commitment to try to keep universities free, which is what I enjoyed. I have explained, however, that in the current financial situation, which is truly appalling and which we inherited, all commitments and pledges will have to be re-examined from first principles.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Luciana Berger and Vince Cable(14 years, 4 months ago)
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Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
Will the Secretary of State confirm whether he will go ahead with previous plans to introduce financial incentives of about £5,000 for people buying new electric vehicles?
Vince Cable
No, I cannot confirm that because the decision is still awaited, and it lies with the Department for Transport. Only last week, I attended a major series of events with the automotive industry, which impressed on me the importance of this decision in order to promote electric power. I fully understand the rationale behind it, but I cannot confirm the decision today.