Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Michael Fallon and Marcus Jones(11 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)
4. What progress he has made on encouraging investment in new nuclear power.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Michael Fallon)
The Government are committed to securing the right conditions for investment in new nuclear power in the UK. This is the first nuclear programme in a generation and it is progressing well, with projects to build new power plants moving forward with EDF, Horizon Nuclear Power and NuGen. Between them, those projects involve plans to develop at least 12 new reactors on five different sites.
Mr Jones
My constituents are extremely concerned about future energy prices and continuity of supply. With one fifth of UK generating capacity due to come offline within the next decade, does the Minister agree that we need to bring forward this new nuclear capacity as a matter of extreme urgency?
Michael Fallon
Yes, I do. We are living with the legacy of 13 wasted years in which absolutely nothing was done to replace our ageing nuclear stations. Under this coalition Government plans are now progressing, as I said, and we have every prospect of 12 new reactors on five separate sites.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Michael Fallon and Marcus Jones
Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)
The resurgence of the motor manufacturing industry has had a tremendously positive effect on the supply chain across the west midlands, but further growth in that supply chain is now being challenged by the lack of available skills. Will my right hon. Friend tell me what more he can do to address that pressing problem?
Michael Fallon
This is a pressing problem right across the automotive industry and other engineering industries, and it has to be attacked on a number of fronts, including through more investment by the Department for Education to encourage more children to take up science, maths and technology, and through industry itself getting more involved in the employer ownership pilots and opening up its premises so that people can see the kinds of rewarding career that are now available in manufacturing and engineering.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Michael Fallon and Marcus Jones
Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)
16. What progress the Government has made on facilitating exploration of UK shale gas reserves.
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Michael Fallon)
We have strengthened the regulatory framework to protect the environment and to ensure that hydraulic fracturing is done properly and safely. We want to encourage shale exploration. That is why we have announced fiscal incentives for developers and why we are working on a package of community benefits, such as discounts on bills for residents in drilling areas.
West Midlands Economy
Debate between Michael Fallon and Marcus Jones(11 years, 11 months ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Michael Fallon)
I, too, commend the hon. Member for Coventry South (Mr Cunningham) on securing the debate and on his contribution. I also note the contribution from the hon. Member for Coventry North West (Mr Robinson) and the refreshingly frank things that he said about the need for educational improvement. That probably applies not just in Coventry, but in many of our cities.
No one is under any illusions about the scale of the wider challenges that we face as a country, but we are not just dealing with the deficit; we are rebalancing the economy and helping to protect the most vulnerable. In the west midlands, we have taken 22,000 people out of income tax altogether, and 2 million people in the region will pay less income tax as a result of the personal allowance reforms that we have announced.
The economy of Coventry and the west midlands is a vital part of our national economy. It accounts for more than 7% of the UK’s gross value added, and it is important for us all that it is successful and prosperous. Of course, Coventry has long been at the heart of Britain’s manufacturing sector. In recent years, there has been much welcome news of private sector investment, including investment by BMW at Hams Hall, by Jaguar Land Rover near Wolverhampton and at its other plants and, most recently, by JCB, which is investing £31 million to develop new engine technology. All that is welcome news and a tribute to the efforts of businesses and employees in Coventry and the west midlands.
The Coventry and Warwickshire local enterprise partnership has brought together public and private sector partners to work to deliver economic success. We have provided Coventry and Warwickshire with some £13 million from the Growing Places fund. We have also invested directly in encouraging business growth through the regional growth fund. The west midlands was awarded the largest regional allocation of all in round 3 of the regional growth fund: £184 million was provisionally allocated in October to programmes and projects with a strong focus on high-value manufacturing growth. In addition to that, the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP has been allocated more than £24 million to unlock key sites and drive local business expansion. Companies from Coventry and Warwickshire that were successful include Jaguar Cars, Pailton Engineering, Aston Martin and Bladon Jets. The Government have also announced a range of other investments.
The hon. Member for Coventry North West specifically mentioned superfast broadband. I hope to get him some figures on that. I may not be able to do that today; if I do not, I will certainly write to him.
Mr Marcus Jones
I thank my right hon. Friend the Minister for giving way; that is very generous of him. The positive news that he mentions is extremely important. Does he agree that it includes a fall in unemployment since May 2010 in my constituency of Nuneaton, and the fact that in Nuneaton we have had the largest business growth, at 22% nearly, in the country over the past three months? Does he agree that that is a good success story and we should build on it?
Michael Fallon
It is a good success story, and I note that unemployment continues to fall. Coventry and Warwickshire was one of the areas invited to submit an expression of interest in developing a wave 2 city deal. I cannot guarantee its success. Twenty cities have been invited, and they will not all make it; it is a competitive process. However, it sounds from what my hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Mr Jones) has said as though good work is in hand there.
The hon. Member for Coventry South mentioned some specific issues. I look forward to the Friargate development beginning to roll out in 2013; that is important. He asked me about the Coventry gateway. That has not yet, as I understand it, fully secured planning permission; I think it is before Warwick district council today, as a matter of fact, so I had probably better not comment on it. He made some criticisms of the cuts in grant to Coventry council. There was some suggestion that those were somehow politically motivated. The cuts seem to have fallen more heavily, he said, on Labour councils than Conservative councils. The fact is that they have fallen on all councils. We must get our public spending under control. However, I will certainly refer what he said about the impact on social services to my ministerial colleagues.
The hon. Gentleman then raised two or three very specific issues, including the bedroom tax. If people continue to live in a property that is larger than they need, it is not unreasonable to expect them to make a contribution to its cost through a reduction in housing benefit. However, the Government have listened to concerns about that, and an additional £30 million has been allocated to the discretionary housing payment budget from April 2013.
The hon. Gentleman asked me about fuel prices. Cancelling the fuel duty rise in January, which I think the last Government programmed in for us, will reduce the running costs for the 3.5 million vehicles in the west midlands, saving the typical motorist in the west midlands £40 a year.
The hon. Gentleman asked me about HS2. HS2 is a fundamental part of the Government’s plans to promote national economic growth, benefitting the whole country, but of course HS2 also puts the west midlands at the heart of a new high-speed rail network. That is a great opportunity for the region as a whole, with the benefits spreading beyond the station sites and into the wider city region. There is a challenge for councils in the west midlands and their partners to work together on how to achieve that.
I was asked about broadband funding and I can reassure the hon. Member for Coventry North West that it will be a share of some £50 million of funding. There will be an invitation to tender to Coventry, issued in January. He asked me about the timetable. If we stick to that timetable, the contract for the broadband should be agreed in May. I hope that that is helpful to him.
The Government share the desire expressed by the hon. Member for Coventry South to see Coventry and the west midlands flourish, and people in Coventry and the west midlands are responding to the real challenges of that economy. Whether that response is in the established industries, such as the automotive industry, or in developing sectors, such as low-carbon technologies and digital games, the resurgence is being led by the private sector. It is leading the growth of the west midlands economy. There are no guarantees of success. It will obviously require hard work, the ability to harness innovation and the winning of new businesses opportunities, but the Government are there to support the regeneration of the west midlands. That is why we are going all out to create the best possible business environment that will give companies the confidence to invest and grow in the west midlands.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Michael Fallon and Marcus Jones(12 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Michael Fallon
I am certainly prepared to look at that. One of the purposes of the red tape challenge was to ask businesses themselves what were the issues constraining growth, and I am happy to look into that matter for the hon. Gentleman.
Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)
I was disappointed that I could not join my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on his recent visit to the MIRA technology park. Despite my personal disappointment, will he join me in celebrating this world-class project, which will create 2,000 jobs in the midlands region, and does he agree that it has been facilitated by the regional growth fund and the enterprise zone policies of this Government?