Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Mark Prisk and Vince Cable(9 years, 10 months ago)
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Vince Cable
I am aware of my hon. Friend’s interest in the issue. Harrogate college recently benefited from significant investment in vocational education. He asks how we promote the message about engineering, particularly to women, who are massively under-represented in the sector. I pay tribute to the STEM network of volunteers; there are about 28,000 of them, and 40% are women. We hope that through that process of campaigning, and visits to schools and education institutions, we will gradually turn this unsatisfactory situation round.
Mr Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford) (Con)
The UK automotive industry has had another good year, which is welcomed across the House, but it now needs to recruit even more engineers. What is the Automotive Council UK doing to promote the industry to the next generation of engineers?
Vince Cable
The Automotive Council UK is one of the success stories of industrial strategy. There is a great deal of commitment from industry and, indeed, on both sides of the House. The talent retention scheme is working well: if engineers are lost in particular sectors of the economy, they are speedily re-employed elsewhere and the skills base—which, as my hon. Friend implies, is inadequate—is maintained.
AstraZeneca (Pfizer Bid)
Debate between Mark Prisk and Vince CableUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Vince Cable
Should this proceed—as I said at the outset, we have not yet had a formal bid—it will obviously be a matter for negotiation. I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman would not want me to go into exactly what is being said in the discussions at the moment. Negotiations will clearly happen to make sure that any obligation is binding. I am sure that Pfizer itself would want to ensure that any obligations are clear and binding. Just to reinforce the point about nationality, which the right hon. Gentleman rightly stressed at the outset, we are talking about two international companies. I think we all acknowledge that AstraZeneca is an admirable company. It is Anglo-Swedish, with a Swedish chairman, a French chief executive and an international shareholder base. Pfizer is predominantly an American company and has a British chief executive. We are talking about international companies.
Mr Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford) (Con)
The Secretary of State is absolutely right to keep his options open—certainly at this stage. He is right, too, to learn the lessons from the appalling way in which the Kraft-Cadbury deal was handled. Following on from the remarks of my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman) about research and development, will my right hon. Friend give us some assurance that using purchasing power as part of a long-term industrial strategy is the intelligent way not to pick winners but to make sure that we have the key base of skills that we need for the future?
Vince Cable
That is an interesting new angle. I believe my hon. Friend is talking about NHS purchasing, which we have not considered in this context. We have always made it very clear—there are, of course, European rules on this matter—that public procurement cannot be used in a protectionist manner. We need to be very careful of that, but we are aware that public procurement can be used to secure strategic long-term investment. We are already seeing that on the railways, for example.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Mark Prisk and Vince Cable(11 years ago)
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Vince Cable
Yes, we acknowledge the importance of women in business. Indeed, one of the initiatives that we are leading involves ensuring that women are properly represented on the boards of our leading companies, thereby creating role models for people starting their own companies. I agree that there is a gender gap and I agree that we need to do a lot more about it.
Mr Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford) (Con)
In the past three years, the UK car industry has gone from strength to strength, but there is always more to do. Will the Secretary of State tell the House what further work is planned, in conjunction with the Automotive Council, particularly with regard to new engine and powertrain technologies?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Mark Prisk and Vince Cable(14 years ago)
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Mr Prisk
As you can see, Mr Speaker, we are very keen to answer this question.
Absolutely not. Every area can bid, and the opportunities are clear for every constituency. There are also opportunities for the private sector, but the key point is that when funds are tight, we have to remind ourselves that the reason why is sitting on the Opposition Benches.