Oral Answers to Questions

Natascha Engel Excerpts

Thursday 18th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

9. What steps he is taking to increase lending to small businesses.

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

13. What steps he is taking to increase lending to small businesses.

[The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr Mark Prisk)]

The latest official information shows that more than two thirds of loan applications from small firms are approved. However, the Government are determined to press the banks to ensure that creditworthy businesses have the finance that they need. Among the actions that we are taking are enforcing lending codes, improving customer information and extending the enterprise finance guarantee.

[Mr Prisk]

With due respect, the hon. Lady forgets that the banks and the community development finance institutions are a crucial part of this discussion. If the FSB in her area wishes to make representations, I would encourage it, with her support, to do so.

[Natascha Engel]

In spite of what the Minister says, what is he doing to allay the concerns of eBay, which says that banks are still not lending to businesses? His Government did have lending targets for financing small businesses—what happened to them?

[Mr Prisk]

We still have the lending targets. The key thing is enforcement, which, despite the chuntering from those on the Opposition Front Bench, the last Government failed to do. What is important is that we now have a new lending code. The hon. Lady is absolutely right to say that businesses—whether they be eBay-based or real rather than virtual or online businesses—want a lending code and a proper appeal process. We have those, and I am determined to make sure that we enforce them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Natascha Engel Excerpts

Monday 15th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

10. What assessment he has made of the likely effects on levels of participation in post-16 education of the withdrawal of education maintenance allowance.

[The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes)]

We are committed to making sure that young people participate in education and training until they are 18. We will replace EMA with a fund that can more effectively target young people who actually need the support to enable them to participate.

[Natascha Engel]

We all know that scrapping EMA, as well as the Government’s change of heart on tuition fees, will adversely impact the poorest children. What proper guarantees will the Minister give us that children from poorer backgrounds will not drop out of education just because they cannot afford it?

[Mr Hayes]

Let us look at the details a little more, because the hon. Lady will wish to do so. The figures and the evidence show that we are spending more than £560 million to pay 650,000 young people to incentivise them. Only 10% of those young people need that to enable them to participate in learning post-16. That means that the Government have spent £9,300 each year for every additional young person whom EMA has supported to participate. We simply want to spend that money more wisely on the very people the hon. Lady champions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Natascha Engel Excerpts

Thursday 3rd June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I look forward to keeping the House informed of progress. One of my criticisms of the last Government, which I made from the Opposition Benches, was that despite their successful intervention in the latter part of 2008, the banks then ran rings around them. The lending agreements were never enforced, and the semi-nationalised banks simply did not act on the instructions that they were given. We in this Government intend to do a lot better.

[Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)]

On the coalition Government’s rather simplistic policy on regulation of “one in, one out”, will the Minister confirm that the one regulation coming in will be cost-equivalent to the one going out? If so, which regulation will go out when the agency workers directive comes in?

[Mr Prisk]

It is very simple: if a Minister wishes to bring forward a new regulation, they must show that they have removed a regulation and that that will reduce the overall burden of regulation, ensuring that businesses see a net reduction. That is an important change. It is something that the hon. Lady’s Government failed to deliver, but it is something that we will deliver on.