Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Hancock and Sarah Newton

Tuesday 23rd July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

I greatly welcome the publication of the prevention Green Paper. How will that strategy enable people to keep well by living in warm homes?

[Matt Hancock]

Clearly, the need for join-up across Departments of Government is a vital part of this agenda, as my hon. Friend knows from her work across different Departments; the specific point she raises is one example of that, and we must drive it forward.

Vocational Qualifications

Debate between Matt Hancock and Sarah Newton

Wednesday 5th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

I agree. A culture change is needed across this country so that when young people leave school they will look to go either to university or into an apprenticeship. Our job is not to make the mistake of forcing people one way or the other—sometimes against their wishes, as has happened before—but instead to make sure that there are two high-quality options available and that people can choose what suits them.

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

I very much welcome today’s statement. Will my hon. Friend join me in congratulating the Cornwall apprenticeship service, which has created 1,000 new apprenticeships in a year? That, with his Department’s support, is enabling micro-businesses such as Feritech in Penryn to take on apprentices.

[Matthew Hancock]

I pay tribute to the Cornwall apprenticeship service. In fact, I have visited Cornwall college twice as skills Minister and have seen the work it is doing, particularly on building links with employers so that the training it provides is what they need. I pay tribute to its work.

Start-up Loans

Debate between Matt Hancock and Sarah Newton

Wednesday 20th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

I was getting ahead of myself. Mr Speaker, if we get to 100,000 start-up loans, I hope that I will be able to make a statement about that too.

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

My hon. Friend was right to single out Mr Martin as a great role model for people of all ages and from all backgrounds in setting up a new business. I would like to give one of the last words this afternoon to Mr Martin. It is important for everyone in this House to listen to what he has to say about start-up loans. He says that they have given him

“the opportunity to start a new life”

and that it is “an amazing feeling”.

[Matthew Hancock]

It is terrific to hear directly from Mr Martin’s MP, who is such a champion of Falmouth and Truro, about the effect that the loan has had on him. Similar stories abound from all 10,000 of those who have received the loans.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Hancock and Sarah Newton

Thursday 8th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

We have sharply increased the enterprise investment scheme limit and we will do all that we can to support people who work hard and want to get on in life and start their own business. As well as making investment in small companies easier, we also stopped the planned increase in the small business rate and we are cutting business taxes. We are doing everything we can to get Britain working.

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

17. What progress has been made on the EU Commission proposal to impose quotas for women on boards.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Hancock and Sarah Newton

Thursday 6th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

11. What steps he is taking to protect and promote access to community learning.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Matthew Hancock)]

This Government are committed to community learning. We have protected the budget, and I want to see funding increasingly targeted at the most disadvantaged people. Community learning trust pilots across England are testing new ways of better involving local communities in how that money is delivered.

[Sarah Newton]

I thank the Minister for that response. Does he agree that it is vitally important that there are opportunities to learn throughout life, and that having protected the community learning budget, it should be focused on those with ambitions to gain new skills throughout their life but not a great deal in the way of formal qualifications?

[Matthew Hancock]

I do agree. I have already heard of the work that my hon. Friend has been doing in supporting Truro and Penwith college and Cornwall college. Improving our nation’s skills is vital for our economic prospects, but learning has intrinsic value in its own right. Henry Ford said:

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young”,

so I hope that I have discovered the secret of eternal youth.

Fuel Prices

Debate between Matt Hancock and Sarah Newton

Tuesday 15th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Newton]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point, as usual. To cover the increased costs that she mentions, TAP has had to put its price up to 41p a mile. It is worried about the future, because it may have to raise it to 45p a mile, which is what similar organisations in other parts of the country are having to charge. Given that the average journey is 25 miles, and that it is not uncommon for patients to travel 50 miles for an appointment, we can see how prices are mounting up for patients. Some are entitled to free travel, but many people on very modest incomes are not.

A report by CAB Cornwall, the citizens advice bureau, has highlighted the fact that some people are not attending hospital appointments because they cannot afford to. That is a waste of precious NHS resources and not at all good for the patients concerned. Work is being done locally to try to address that, with more NHS services being moved closer to people’s homes, but that will take time. I hope that the Minister will commit to considering what further help the Government can provide to keep these much-needed volunteer drivers on the road.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Are there not unfair differences in the local price of fuel as well as the national price? In Haverhill, in my constituency, fuel is up to 10p more expensive than in nearby Bury. Is that not patently unfair?

[Sarah Newton]

It certainly is, and I am sure that that is the experience of drivers right across my constituency and Cornwall.

We have heard from all Government Members who have spoken that they absolutely understand that the Government’s priority is to reduce the deficit and sort out the nation’s finances. People in my constituency broadly understand that. However, I hope that we can ensure that cuts are made and revenues increased fairly, so that they do not adversely affect some of the most vulnerable and poorest people in my constituency who are being affected by the lack of volunteer drivers to take them to hospital.