Job Insecurity

Debate between Nadine Dorries and Vince Cable

Wednesday 5th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I will get on to regional variation. I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman raises the issue of Wales, because I was studying the regional employment changes and Wales has done relatively well against almost every other region of the UK. Despite the terrible history of unemployment in Wales, its unemployment level is now at the UK average. Its increase in employment levels is greater than in any other part of the UK, including London and the south-east. There is a good story in Wales as well as many very deep problems, which I of course acknowledge.

[Nadine Dorries]

Does the Secretary of State agree that the Government do not create jobs? Many of the new jobs that have been created have come from the SMEs. The cost of living crisis will turn around quickly, and would do so even more quickly if the banks allowed funding to get to SMEs a little more quickly so that they can grow as they want to with the funding that they need.

[Vince Cable]

The hon. Lady is right, and it is one of the major casualties of the banking crisis that SME lending dried up. We are taking action on that through the business bank and in other ways. Restoring credit to the SMEs through the banking sector is a critical objective and it is a constraint on growth.

The shadow Minister’s conclusion was a good issue to embark on, and I just wish that he had spent more than two minutes and the last line of the motion on it. There is a real issue about how the recovery will be sustained. There are deep problems, including the lack of trained people and the rebuilding of supply chains. I would love to have a long debate with him about the industrial strategy, how we extend it, and what a Labour Government would do to reinforce it. I do not know whether the shadow Chancellor will come up with some more money, but I would be delighted to hear that it would have that kind of support. But the shadow Minister dismissed it as an afterthought in the last two minutes of a half hour speech, and I was, frankly, rather disappointed by that.

The shadow Minister chose to focus on jobs, and they are of course central. I want to address the issues of employment and employment conditions—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nadine Dorries and Vince Cable

Thursday 14th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire) (Con)]

13. How many people in (a) Mid Bedfordshire constituency, (b) the south-east midlands and (c) England have started an apprenticeship in 2011.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

I am beginning to appreciate that there is a lot of heavy lifting involved in being acting Minister responsible for skills.

In the first three quarters of this academic year, 420 apprenticeships have been started in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency. It is not possible to quantify the number of apprenticeships started in the south-east midlands region, but 28,230 have been started in the east of England.

[Nadine Dorries]

In 2013, Centre Parcs will open in my constituency, and I have already turned the first sod of earth. It will need a wide variety of employees, from accountants, HR professionals and medical staff to caterers, landscape gardeners and beauticians, all of whom require skills. What will the Government do further to relieve the burden on employers who wish to take on apprentices, so that we can continue with the impressive trend that we have started already?

[Vince Cable]

To reduce what is unfortunately the substantial amount of bureaucracy in this area, we are greatly simplifying the number of funding channels and the number of institutions and introducing outcome-based payments for large employers that are training providers. The point behind the hon. Lady’s question is that apprenticeships and vocational training are a great success story for employers, who are beginning to see their real advantages, for young people, who see benefits for their own careers, and for the Government, who have prioritised them and seen the results.