Trade Union Bill

Nick Boles Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

This debate has not exactly been notable for its cross-party harmony. Speeches from the Labour Benches have at times sounded like an extended message from their sponsors.

I will start by acknowledging some important common ground between hon. Members in different parties. We all value the work of trade unions. My hon. Friend the Member for Elmet and Rothwell (Alec Shelbrooke) talked powerfully about the role shop stewards can play, and have played in his own life, in helping to protect people from bullying in the workplace. The hon. Member for Middlesbrough (Andy McDonald) quoted Pope Francis and I agree with every word that Pope Francis said. We applaud unions for helping people from ethnic minorities, such as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s father, to overcome prejudice in the workplace and unlock their potential. We admire them for the decades of campaigning that led to the passage of the Equal Pay Act 1970 and the introduction of the national minimum wage. As Skills Minister, I would like to thank them for the work they do through Unionlearn to help thousands of working people to improve their skills. I agree with the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson) that that is a great example of partnership between unions, Government and working people. I want to work with unions to ensure that as many union members as possible benefit from our investment in 3 million new apprenticeships over the next five years.

Every 30 years or so, however, public institutions need to be modernised, to become more transparent, more accountable and more responsive. My hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak) made the very important point that the biggest threat facing unions is not from the Bill or anything that this House might pass, but from a loss of public trust. It is modernisation that will help them regain it.

The Bill will give union members more information about what unions are doing with their money. It will ensure that diverting a union member’s hard-earned cash to a political cause is done only with their explicit assent. I agree with the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Ruth Smeeth). I cannot think of a better cause than HOPE not hate and I have no doubt that union members will willingly opt in to political funds that make HOPE not hate one of their main causes. The Bill will also ask unions to form a direct relationship with individual members as customers of their services by ending the practice of check-off.

The core purpose of the Bill, however, is bigger than that. The purpose is to strike a fairer balance between the rights of unions and their responsibilities towards the rest of society, especially other working people. It asks union leaders to weigh the costs and benefits of calling a strike ballot carefully and to make sure they win the arguments for action convincingly. It ensures that in future unions will only be able to disrupt other people’s lives if their cause has broad support. In British society, we all depend on public services in our daily lives. Parents rely on schools to be open. They cannot put their children into another one if their school is closed by a strike. Patients rely on hospitals to be open. They cannot go elsewhere for the appointment they have waited for anxiously. People rely on trains and buses to get them to work on time. They cannot use another train or bus company if their local service has been shut down by a strike. As the Mayor of London, my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) pointed out, most of the people travelling on public transport are paid much less and work much longer hours than those people driving it.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Hertsmere (Oliver Dowden) argued so powerfully, it is only reasonable to reassure his constituents, my constituents and those of every hon. Member that a strike that forces them to take a day off or to pay for expensive childcare, that makes them late for work or that makes them miss a long-awaited check-up was the result of a recent vote by a decent proportion of union members and not a vote taken several years ago in which only a small minority supported strike action. I have an example of that: the National Union of Teachers strike in 2014 that closed 1,500 schools and colleges was on a two-year-old ballot in which turnout was 27%. That was recent, it caused huge disruption and it was not democratic.

I would now like to answer some of the points made during the debate. The shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Wallasey (Ms Eagle), who I welcome to her place, suggested that the Bill gives the Government powers to add new sectors to the ballot provisions by secondary legislation. That is not the case. There is a power to restrict within the existing sectors those groups of employees to whom the threshold should apply and we have consulted on which groups of employers within those six sectors it should apply to, but there is no power to expand it further.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) raised some concerns about the picketing code, and those concerns were reflected in other speeches, too. I am a little puzzled by those concerns because the clauses in the Bill on picketing were taken directly, word for word, from the code on picketing, a statutory code that has existed since 1992, which the previous Labour Government made no attempt to amend and which no union has ever written to me to ask me to amend. The code talks about registering a supervisor and about picket supervisors wearing armbands or other identifiers. I am happy to discuss the detail of that code, but there is nothing in the Bill that was not already known.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) raised the question of e-balloting, and he is right that there is no in-principle objection to the idea of voting online. The objection is practical. In January 2015, the Open Rights Group—I think that it believes in open rights—gave evidence to your Commission on Digital Democracy, Mr Speaker, in which it said:

“Voting is a uniquely difficult question for computer science: the system must verify your eligibility to vote; know whether you have already voted; and allow for audits and recounts. Yet it must always preserve your anonymity and privacy. Currently, there are no practical solutions to this highly complex problem and existing systems are unacceptably flawed.”

If the Opposition can find a practical solution, I look forward to hearing it.

My hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (William Wragg) made an important point, with which I entirely agree. In asking public sector bodies to measure the amount of money spent on facility time, we must distinguish between union duties, on which it is entirely proper for union members and union representatives to work, and union activities, in which case it might not be so proper for them to be paid while doing them.

Our debates in this place focus on the issues in the Order Paper but on some days they also reveal the deepest shifts in the political landscape. In the speeches from the Opposition, we have heard the last rites being read for Labour as a party of the modern world. This once great movement has become a left-wing sect in thrall to union leaders who have become ever more extreme while their membership declines. It falls to us as Conservatives to stand up for working people in every part of this great nation. It is this Conservative Government who are investing in apprenticeships, creating millions of jobs and ensuring that work always pays. It is this Conservative Government who are giving pay rises to millions of working people by introducing the national living wage. This Trade Union Bill will modernise trade unions to the benefit of everyone in society.

Question put, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Draft National Minimum Wage (amendment) Regulations 2015

Nick Boles Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2015 General Committees

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2015.

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gapes, and indeed to be the first person to address you in the Chair of a Statutory Instrument Committee. I look forward—or I hope to, assuming the Prime Minister keeps me in post—to doing so many more times.

The purpose of the draft regulations is to increase the hourly rate of the national minimum wage for all workers and to increase the maximum amount for living accommodation that counts towards minimum wage pay, in line with recommendations from the Low Pay Commission. Those recommendations follow consultation with employers, workers and their representatives, together with extensive research and analysis. As the expert body on low pay issues, the Low Pay Commission consists of three commissioners from employer backgrounds, three from employee representative backgrounds and three independents. Its recommendations, which are unanimous, reflect the objectives of both employers and unions.

In line with the advice from the Low Pay Commission, the Government are uprating the national minimum wage from 1 October 2015 so that the adult rate will be £6.70 per hour; young people aged between 18 and 20 years old will earn £5.30, and 16 or 17-year-olds will have a minimum wage rate of £3.87 per hour. That represents an increase of 3% for the adult rate, the largest real increase since 2006. Low-paid workers will enjoy the biggest cash increase in their pay packet since 2008, and the adult rate will be closer to the average wage than ever before. The adult rate increase will benefit more than 2 million low-paid workers on the national minimum wage and mean that full-time workers on the adult rate receive an additional £416 a year in their pay packet.

The national minimum wage structure includes a specific rate for apprentices, which applies to all apprentices under the age of 19 or in the first year of their apprenticeship. The Government believe that it is important to improve the attractiveness of apprenticeships for young people by delivering a wage that is comparable to other choices of work. We are therefore increasing the apprentice minimum wage by 21%. That is an increase of 57p an hour to £3.30 and means that someone working full-time on the apprentice rate will be £1,185 better off per year than last year. That is a departure from the Low Pay Commission’s apprentice rate recommendation of a 7p increase to £2.80.

We would not depart from the commission’s recommendation unless we felt strongly that there was justification for doing so. Apprenticeships are at the heart of the Government’s drive to equip people of all ages with the skills that employers need to grow and compete. We want to ensure that apprenticeships are attractive and to encourage more young people to consider apprenticeships as a credible alternative to higher education and jobs without training. The Government’s analysis shows that many apprentices are already paid considerably more than the current apprentice rate and that the average hourly pay for level 2 and level 3 apprentices is £6.79. Approximately 75,000 apprentices will be affected by the increase, with an estimated cost to business of £29.6 million, based on 2009 prices.

Since its introduction in 1999, by a Labour Government acting on behalf of working people, the national minimum wage has been a success in supporting the lowest paid UK workers. To ensure that working people receive the pay rise to which they are entitled, last week the Prime Minister announced a package of measures that will strengthen the enforcement of the national minimum wage, building on the action that the Government have already taken. That includes doubling penalties for non-payment by employers, a substantially increased enforcement budget, further action on director disqualification and a new specialist team at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to take forward prosecutions when appropriate.

Members of the Committee will also know that the Government will introduce a new national living wage for those aged over 25. Set at £7.20 from April 2016, the Government’s ambition is that it will reach £9 by 2020. However, the national living wage is not the purpose of today’s debate because it is for implementation from April 2016, and the Government will introduce regulations for the House to debate in due course. The Government believe that the rates set out in the regulations before the Committee today will increase the wages of the lowest paid while being affordable for business. I therefore recommend them to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Nick Boles]

Mr Gapes, I hope you will recall that I made a point of giving credit to the last Labour Government for introducing the national minimum wage. It was a good idea, a good policy, and Conservative Members make no apologies for agreeing that we were wrong about the national minimum wage. Labour was right, and that is why we have adopted and supported it, and why we are this year introducing the largest increase since the last Labour Government. It is also why we are going further by introducing a national living wage that will benefit even more people over the age of 25. Therefore, it might have been perhaps brotherly if the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth had responded by acknowledging that we have adopted the national minimum wage, and not just that, but that we have dramatically increased the enforcement efforts relative to those of the last Labour Government.

We have taken a budget, which in 2009-10, amounted to £8.3 million, and during a time of austerity, spending cuts and of an attempt by this Government to close the vast deficit opened up by the last Labour Government, we have expanded it, so that in 2015-16, it will be £13 million. That is a dramatic increase and one of the few budget lines in any budget to increase by that proportion. We have also introduced a naming and shaming scheme, which names individual directors and companies who fail to pay the minimum wage and are not able to provide us with any adequate explanation of why they have done so. It has had an enormous effect. Hon. Members should see the letters from people begging not to be named that come across my desk, and although we are the party of business, we are not the party of businesses that fail in their social responsibilities and moral duties, and we make no bones about doing that.

The hon. Gentleman focuses on prosecutions, which are perhaps a particular obsession of his. I do not know whether he was once a criminal barrister, but he seems inclined towards thinking that prosecutions are the only way to enforce. My view is simply that we want to enforce as effectively as possible. Effective means getting the money that is owed to hard-working people back into their bank accounts as soon as possible and ensuring that employers pay the rates that they should be paying. Prosecutions have been few, but there were few prosecutions under the previous Labour Government after the national minimum wage was brought in. The reason for that—it is a good reason—is that, in most cases, prosecuting is not the best way of achieving the best outcome for the working person who has not be paid their due. It is in some cases, however, which is why we announced last week a new specialist enforcement team at HMRC specifically to focus on prosecutions, which will rightly continue to remain rare because we are trying to achieve results and not just to be able to wave around prosecutions statistics.

The hon. Gentleman asked a reasonable question about the increase in the accommodation offset, and he is right to point out that it is a larger percentage than the proposed increase in the statutory minimum wage. I simply say that we are following the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation on that, as we are on the adult rate for the national minimum wage, but it can certainly be argued—the hon. Gentleman made the point well—that the increase in the national minimum wage will feel rather less generous for some people than for those who are not affected by the accommodation offset. As has been the precedent, we have tried to stick to the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations in almost every respect, except on the apprenticeship minimum wage.

[Stephen Doughty]

I appreciate what the Minister is saying. Given that the discrepancy could grow over time, is any kind of review likely? I accept what he says about following the LPC’s recommendations, but the issue could grow as time goes on.

[Nick Boles]

I would not want to promise formal reviews, but I am happy to say that, in preparing our submission to the Low Pay Commission for next year, I will ensure that we address the discrepancy in the increases. We will ultimately take the advice of the LPC on whether it is reasonable.

The hon. Gentleman made an important point about a particular company, but I do not want to discuss that here and I have no further information about the processes. I am happy to write to him with any information that I can give, although he will understand that that is sometimes limited. He is right to discuss a particular part of the social care sector, where the overwhelming majority of employers discharge their responsibilities fully. As constituency MPs, however, we are all aware of cases in which that does not take place or where the imposition of travel costs on people who are on the national minimum wage is not entirely lawful. Before the summer, I had a meeting with the Care Minister to discuss the matter, at which we are looking closely. Through the naming and shaming scheme, we are able to highlight a particular sector and to bring problems to the fore in order, hopefully, to remind others in that sector of their responsibilities. We are definitely looking at that. I do not want to imply that there are problems in the sector overall, but the hon. Gentleman is right to suggest that such cases exist and we need to root them out, just as we need to do in every other sector.

Question put and agreed to.

Online Retail Delivery Charges

Nick Boles Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

It is a great pleasure to reply to this Adjournment debate with you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate the hon. Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) on securing this debate, which is very much on a subject of constant, day-to-day importance for his constituents and those of so many hon. Members. It is a tribute to the importance of this subject that, perhaps rather later than we hoped and on an evening after a day when we were here even later, there are nevertheless many more people at an Adjournment debate than is customarily the case.

I have a great deal of sympathy for the case that the hon. Gentleman laid out, not least because earlier in my life—you might even say in my mis-spent youth, Madam Deputy Speaker—I ran a business in the fair city of Belfast. I spent a long time commuting and dealing personally with the shipment of goods to the paintbrush factory that we ran just off the Crumlin Road and then shipping its products out of Belfast. I well know the difference in cost between shipping something to Felixstowe and shipping it to Belfast.

I have a great deal of sympathy for the case that the hon. Gentleman makes—that it is very unfair that consumers in some parts of the country should be treated so very differently from those on the mainland. I think he will understand that in an intensely competitive market, which the market for the delivery of parcels is, there will always be a variation in prices that reflects the true variation of shipment costs. When many of the goods purchased are themselves being shipped to the UK from elsewhere, it is not that surprising that getting them to an address in Hertfordshire is going to cost the consumer rather less than getting them to an address in Belfast East.

[Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP)]

Does the Minister agree that the Scottish Government’s road equivalent tariff fare structure should be helping to reduce the cost of delivering goods to the islands of Scotland, such as the Isle of Arran and Isle of Cumbrae in my constituency, and that more must be done to ensure that any such reduced costs are passed on to consumers? Does he further agree that the whole point of the statement of principles on parcel deliveries was to secure a better and fairer deal for consumers in our rural areas? However, more must be done to increase delivery operator and retailer buy-in to these principles, given that Citizens Advice found that only four out of 449 businesses had even heard of this statement of principles.

[Nick Boles]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention, and I certainly agree with her about the statement of principles. I would like to come on in a minute to what we can do to make sure that more people understand and adhere to it.

Let me briefly address the question of the distant and far-flung parts of Scotland, which a number of hon. Members have represented through their interventions. As it happens, another part of my mis-spent youth—and, indeed, my mis-spent middle age—was regularly spent in the islands of Scotland, specifically on the island of Colonsay, where I have often spent the best weeks almost every summer of my life, including this last one.

My one observation here would be that all those islands, including Colonsay, are connected to the mainland —currently by the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, a part of my life that I shall always cherish, not least the fry-ups. I know that this summer the Scottish Government were going through what I understand to be a somewhat controversial process of contracting out the tendering of the ferry service operated by Caledonian MacBrayne. It occurs to me that in the process of tendering that service, it might be possible to suggest to potential bidders—I believe Serco was much discussed in the local papers at the time—that they should group parcels together and take them to the various islands at a flat charge. It might be possible for the Scottish Government to achieve a lower cost and more universal service through these contracts for ferry services than is currently the case. That is simply an idea off the top of my head, having had a number of conversations in the Colonsay hotel this summer about the Scottish Government’s particular proposal.

Let me conclude with a constructive suggestion. The hon. Member for Belfast East made the very good point that the Government have passed legislation, set out principles and have high expectations, and that we have established that people should call trading standards if they have a problem or call Citizens Advice to report any bad behaviour. It is indeed outrageous, as the hon. Gentleman said, that people discover that a delivery option is either not available or available only at a dramatically higher cost only at the very end of the transaction process. It is clear from the principles we have laid out that that is not acceptable behaviour. I suggest that, later in the autumn, we organise a round table. The hon. Gentleman is welcome to come and speak at it, as, indeed, are any other interested parties.

[Lady Hermon (North Down) (Ind)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Nick Boles]

I shall be happy to give way to the hon. Lady, but may I finish describing my proposal first?

I propose that we invite representatives of Citizens Advice Scotland, and, indeed, the representatives of the Northern Ireland organisation who produced such an excellent report. Critically, I propose that we also invite senior executives from the big online retailers, and ask them what they are doing to ensure that information is provided transparently, early, and upfront. What are they doing to ensure that, as far as possible, the same options are available to all consumers, and that, when costs vary, they vary only in accordance with the true underlying costs of transporting parcels? I should be happy to organise such a round table, to chair it, and to welcome the contribution of all Members—

[Lady Hermon]

rose—

[Nick Boles]

Including the hon. Lady.

[Lady Hermon]

The Minister is very kind, and I am very grateful to him for inviting the Independent Member for North Down to the round table talks that he is to chair. May I, however, urge him to do something more, today of all days? Earlier today, in a special statement, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland again conveyed her commitment to a one-nation Government, and the hon. Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) used the same phrase quite frequently this evening. At those talks, could we see those words “one nation Government” translated into proposals for action? That is what people want to see when it comes to online charges for deliveries in Northern Ireland: they want to see evidence that there will be that commitment to a one nation Government.

[Nick Boles]

I am certainly happy to promise action, in the sense of trying to ensure that the statement of principles that we have agreed to publish is adopted by online retailers, and that, if it is not, action is taken to ensure that those retailers step up to the mark. However, I want to be a little bit cautious about implying that we will pass legislation imposing flat charges, meaning that every delivery service must charge the same prices for every part of the United Kingdom. I simply do not believe that that would work, or would be in the long-term interests of consumers, because it would drive out competitive providers of delivery services.

Ultimately, there is progress. The percentage of online retailers who are offering delivery options on a uniform basis is growing, and the percentage who are doing the things that we do not want them to do is shrinking. However, that is not happening fast enough. I think that, working together, we can put more pressure on the industry—on the Amazons, the eBays and, indeed, some of the smaller players—to act more responsibly, without necessarily legislating or regulating further. I shall be happy to work with them, and with SNP Members and other representatives of the fair country of Scotland—the other representative, or two—to achieve that goal. If we can work together, I am sure that we can make some progress, and achieve that one nation for consumers throughout the United Kingdom.

[Drew Hendry]

I have a brief question for the Minister. Would he consider giving consumers the option of using Royal Mail, rather than paying the standard charge that is applied by traders?

[Nick Boles]

That is an interesting question, which leads me to make a point that may correct an impression that was created earlier by the hon. Member for Belfast East. The universal obligation applies to parcels, it is a five-day service and it involves uniform charges, but it is not compulsory for retailers to offer it. What I believe the hon. Gentleman is suggesting is that we should make it a requirement to do so. We may find that, at some points, we will part company on some issues.

This Government are a determinedly deregulatory Government. We do not believe in imposing more burdens on business, and I believe the direction of travel in terms of costs of delivery and the universality of the service suggests that that is the right approach, but I am certainly happy to discuss any issue at this round table; it will not only be me who puts things on the agenda.

If nobody else has any further questions, let me say that I look forward to working with all hon. Members on this issue and I thank the hon. Member for Belfast East for raising it.

Question put and agreed to.

Draft Consumer Rights Act 2015 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2015 Draft Enterprise Act 2002 (Part 8 Domestic Infringements) Order 2015

Nick Boles Excerpts

Monday 7th September 2015 General Committees

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Consumer Rights Act 2015 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2015.

[The Chair]

With this it will be convenient to consider the draft Enterprise Act 2002 (Part 8 Domestic Infringements) Order 2015.

[Nick Boles]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hamilton, and I trust that you had an enjoyable and relaxing summer, along with the rest of the Committee. It is always good to get some early net practice when we come back after a long recess, but I am not sure whether I would choose to have net practice on consumer issues when facing the hon. Member for Walthamstow, who is of course one of the House’s great experts on these matters. I hope she will take it as an act of good will—indeed, of good luck in the current contest for the position of deputy leader of the Labour party—that I intend to keep my comments relatively brief. I know that other Government Members will want to release her to her campaigning duties, and I hope she can persuade her colleagues to do the same.

Although the orders are technical and consequential in nature, they are important elements in the implementation of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which forms part of our wider drive for greater productivity. The majority of the Act will come into force on 1 October. The Consumer Rights Act is a major part of the reform and simplification of UK consumer law, which will empower consumers, improve consumer choice and drive productivity in competitive markets. The Act aims to foster high levels of consumer confidence so that people try new products and services, and shop around. Of course, in order for consumers to be confident, they need to know what their rights are and what they are entitled to if something goes wrong. The Act provides a clear scheme of consumer remedies for when things go wrong with goods, services and digital content.

The two orders simply amend the existing legal framework to take account of the new consumer legislation. The draft Consumer Rights Act 2015 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2015 adds the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 to the list of legislation in schedule 5 to the 2015 Act, meaning that public enforcers of those regulations have access to the investigatory powers they need.

The order amends the Uniform Laws on International Sales Act 1967, which implemented the convention on the international sale of goods. The convention enables parties from different countries to decide that the standard terms set out in the convention apply to their contract. The order will mean that international businesses cannot avoid their obligations under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 when applying the convention terms to consumer contracts. The order also amends schedules 14 and 15 to the Enterprise Act 2002, so that public bodies have the power to disclose and share information obtained through or for the purpose of enforcing the unfair terms and secondary ticketing provisions that have been introduced to the Consumer Rights Act.

Lastly, the order amends schedule 3 to the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 to enable a local authority to be a primary authority in relation to relevant functions and to take a role in co-ordinating the enforcement of specified provisions of the 2015 Act. That means the benefits of dealing with a single authority are available to business in relation to those parts of the Consumer Rights Act.

The draft Enterprise Act 2002 (Part 8 Domestic Infringements) Order 2015 amends the Enterprise Act 2002, enabling enforcers such as Trading Standards to use civil enforcement powers rather than criminal sanctions for certain breaches of the Act, where such breaches affect consumers’ collective interests. For example, Trading Standards could seek an enforcement order where a business refuses to refund any of its customers for faulty goods it has supplied. Finally, the Consumer Rights Act contains a number of measures to reduce burdens on businesses, some of which will particularly benefit small businesses. For example, in the majority of cases, businesses will receive notice of an inspection from consumer law enforcers such as Trading Standards, which will reduce the costs of disruption to such businesses.

The orders will make for a smoother implementation of the Consumer Rights Act, which alone is estimated to generate net benefits of £1.7 billion over the next 10 years. The wider package of consumer law reform is estimated to boost the economy by £4 billion over the next 10 years. I therefore commend the orders to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Nick Boles]

The hon. Member for Walthamstow has demonstrated to the entire Committee that she does not need any time to get warmed up at the start of a new parliamentary session. I will try to answer her questions as best as I can, although some of them might, understandably, have strayed into a discussion of the fundamental principles of legislation, rather than the precise and technical implementation of the orders before the Committee. I hope that you will not mind if I stick rather more narrowly to the question before the Committee, Mr Hamilton.

The hon. Lady first asked about the secondary ticketing review and when we might announce when it will be launched. It has taken a bit of time to discuss the appointment of the chair of the review with interested parties and to agree on the precise date of the launch, but we have made good progress in establishing the terms of reference. We have been talking closely with key stakeholder representatives, and we have been trying to identify the best possible candidates for the shortlist for the skilled chair and for members of the expert group. That obviously needs to be discussed by my Department, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, but we expect to be able to launch the review and announce the chairman relatively soon. That review will then be able to address many of the issues that the hon. Lady raised. It is of course the case—I hope this provides some reassurance to the Committee—that the rules applying to the resale of tickets on online secondary platforms came into force on 27 May 2015. The review will follow, but those rules are already in force.

The hon. Lady asked why we were delaying the implementation of the provisions for transport sectors—

[Stella Creasy]

Before the Minister moves on, the draft Consumer Rights Act 2015 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2015 refers to the enforcement powers of agencies around ticket touting. The rules on what ticket providers should provide have already been published, but the order gives enforcement agencies the power to act across borders. For example, if I bought a ticket to see a band, wherever I had bought that ticket online, there would be an expectation that it would be a fair ticket at a fair price, with the relevant information and the unique identifier. If that were not the case, Trading Standards in another part of the country—wherever that ticket was being sold—could act. The Minister is talking about the review, so will he clarify why he does not think this change will have an impact on the industry? Being able to share information in that way is quite a substantial change, so why—I did ask this previously—has no impact assessment been made for this order?

[Nick Boles]

A full impact assessment was completed for the Bill, and the review will be able to look into any further issues that are within its terms of reference. I do not believe that a specific impact assessment of the information-sharing powers that the hon. Lady referred to is necessary. The information sharing will differ in each investigation, and it will simply not be possible to identify a single level of impact. If she wants to write to me to make the argument for that impact assessment, I would be happy to go into the matter in more detail and respond in writing.

Moving on, the hon. Lady asked about the delay in implementing the provisions for three transport sectors: mainline rail, maritime and aviation. We created that delay because we want to consult widely with the industries and other interested parties to gather information on the consumer protection available in those sectors. That is down to the simple fact that those sectors are mostly run with elaborate and advanced sector-specific schemes. We want to assess whether it would be appropriate to apply the provisions in full to those sectors or whether it would be appropriate to make an exemption from the Consumer Rights Act to enable transport providers to continue to pay compensation for delays and cancellations under their sector-specific schemes rather than under the terms of the Act. We make no judgment about what the result of those consultations will be. We reserve absolutely the possibility of applying the Act to those sectors, but we have concluded, based on conversations with the industry, that it is right to explore the situation further before applying the provisions. Obviously we did not want to hold back the application of those provisions to other sectors, which is why we have made an exemption for these sectors today.

[Stella Creasy]

I thank the Minister for saying that, but it is a bit of a surprise to those of us who were on the Consumer Rights Public Bill Committee and heard specific assurances from the previous Government that they would offer equivalent protection. I shall give an example of the difference we might see. Over the summer, my rail journey was delayed and the rail company gave me a rail voucher. Under the Consumer Rights Act, I could ask for my money back, rather than be given a ticket to use with the same rail company. Is the Minister saying that he is comfortable for the train and aeroplane companies to dictate to passengers what appropriate compensation is? In other areas, there is equal protection for all consumers—I could ask for my money back, if that was what I wanted. If he is not offering equivalent protection, passengers will continue to get what companies want them to have, rather than what they are entitled to do.

[Nick Boles]

I obviously was not clear, but I will try to be clearer. I am not saying what the conclusion of the further consultation with those industries and other interested parties, including the hon. Lady, will be. I am saying that we will take a bit more time to have those conversations and understand whether there are arguments for allowing sector-specific compensation schemes to continue to operate in those sectors or whether they should come under the full provisions of the Consumer Rights Act, as she has ably advocated. There is no concluding position; there is a conversation with the industry and other interested parties to gather evidence. She is urging further impact assessments on us, so I hope that she will not criticise us for seeking evidence before applying provisions to those sectors.

[Stella Creasy]

Will the Minister give way?

[Nick Boles]

I am not going to give way again on that point; we have discussed it pretty fully.

[Stella Creasy]

There was a promise. Will the Minister give way?

[Nick Boles]

I will give way one last time.

[Stella Creasy]

rose—

[Stella Creasy]

I want to push the Minister. Promises were made to the House during the passage of that legislation, which is why the second statutory instrument is so important. We were assured that passengers would get equivalent protection and that that would include the ability for the Competition and Markets Authority to conduct investigations. If he is excluding particular groups, then the provisions of this SI will also be excluded. That is a serious change to the assurances that we were given during the passage of the legislation. Can the Minister confirm that that is the case?

[Nick Boles]

I am afraid that the Minister cannot confirm that any of the things the hon. Lady says are the case, because we have not decided anything specific on this issue. We have decided not to apply the provisions to those sectors at the moment, while we continue conversations with the industries and other interested parties, which includes the hon. Lady and anyone else. I would point out to her that it is possible to have equivalent levels of treatment without those levels of treatment being provided and arranged in entirely the same way. Although I agree that equivalence is always something to seek, I also believe that it is right to talk to industries that already operate arrangements, to understand whether there is a case for different treatment.

I have done my best to answer the questions raised by the hon. Lady. If she is unhappy with any of my answers, I am happy to go into more detail in writing.

[Stella Creasy]

rose—

[Nick Boles]

I will give the hon. Lady one last opportunity. She seems keen to have a last crack at it.

[Stella Creasy]

I am just curious; the Minister raises pertinent points about consulting with industries and ensuring that compensation and consumer rights fit well together, but can he explain why that did not happen during the passage of the Consumer Rights Act? From what he is saying, that was not the case. When we looked at the issue in Committee and asked about passenger rights, we were assured that those issues had been considered; he is now saying that that is not the case. Can he account for that variance in the stories being told to the House?

[Nick Boles]

The hon. Lady is seeking to suggest that I have changed the Government’s policy. I would point out a couple of facts to her. First, this Government are not the previous Government—there was an election. Secondly, I was not the Minister then, Thirdly, I have made no statement that we are changing policy on this issue, but have simply said that we are not yet applying the particular, technical provisions of the regulations to the specified sectors while we conduct further conversations with the industry. If there is a change of policy relative to that discussed in the Public Bill Committee under the previous Government, we will bring that policy change to the House, and I have no doubt that she will subject it to her normal, inquisitorial treatment. However, we are not there yet, so I urge her to wait a little longer while we talk to the industry.

[Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)]

Forgive me if I am going out of bounds a bit, Mr Hamilton, but 75% of rail users are not aware of, or know very little about, the arrangements for compensation or their rights to it now, so how will the Minister take that into consideration? People who do not know their rights do not have rights. How often are the arrangements afforded to the individuals affected? If rights in this area are not brought into the Consumer Rights Act through this statutory instrument, how will people have those rights in future?

[Nick Boles]

The hon. Lady makes a very good point. It is a general problem with consumer protection that oftentimes the people who most need that protection are not aware of the provisions for it. That is one of the key motivations for this legislation: to make consumer rights clearer and more consistent. However, as I said earlier, that does not necessarily mean that there cannot be more than one arrangement to provide such protection. That is why we will continue to talk to the industry. There are lots of bodies representing customers and passengers in the affected sectors, all of which will be able to state their case, make their arguments and provide evidence. No final policy decisions have been made; it is simply that at the moment—today, in this Committee—we are not applying the provisions in the Consumer Rights Act to the specified sectors, while we continue the conversation with them.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That the Committee has considered the draft Consumer Rights Act 2015 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2015.

draft enterprise act 2002 (part 8 domestic infringements) order 2015

Resolved,

That the Committee has considered the draft Enterprise Act 2002 (Part 8 Domestic Infringements) Order 2015. —(Nick Boles.)

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Boles Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

On every educational and efficiency measure, sixth-form colleges outperform all other sixth-form providers. When will the Government treat sixth-form colleges fairly in taxation terms and take steps to establish many more sixth-form colleges throughout the country?

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

rose—

[Hon. Members]

Ah!

[Nick Boles]

Mr Speaker, as you know, I am a shy and retiring type, so I was only too happy to remain unheard on the Front Bench.

I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s questions. He is right that sixth-form colleges make strong arguments on this matter, but the blunt truth is that extending the same VAT provisions to them would cost the Chancellor £30 million every year, and those sorts of decisions will be considered in the spending review. However, the arguments that sixth-form colleges have made have been heard loud and clear.

[Mr Speaker]

I hope that the Minister has now overcome his shyness.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T4. I, too, hope that the Minister has overcome his shyness because this question is also coming his way. Colleges in my constituency complain about in-year cuts to funding and the lack of a three-year funding programme. What representations are being made for a three-year settlement for 16-to-19 education so that colleges can plan for the future rather than having to deal with sudden crises?

[Nick Boles]

I hope that my hon. Friend therefore welcomes the fact that 16-to-19 funding allocations to further education colleges, sixth-form colleges and similar have been confirmed and are not targets for in-year cuts this year. The allocations that were announced in March have been maintained for this year. He is right to point out that the ability to plan ahead makes life much easier for any organisation, and I will certainly take into discussions on the spending review that argument about the value of stability.

--- Later in debate ---

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

Surely a review of provision in an area ought to include all provision in that area, so why, in their publication “Reviewing post-16 Education and Training Institutions”, are the Government not including all provision, such as schools, UTCs and so on?

[Nick Boles]

I welcome the chance to clarify that regional schools commissioners—they are of course responsible for all schools, sixth forms and UTCs—will be involved with and invited to area reviews of post-16 education provision.

[James Berry (Kingston and Surbiton) (Con)]

T8. Children in Kingston and Surbiton perform above the national average in speech and language at age five. However, the poorest children are still almost twice as likely to fall behind later in their education, despite the best efforts of their teachers. Does my hon. Friend agree that there is evidence that high-quality early education, linked to the presence of well-qualified staff in the early years, has a positive impact on speech and language development for the poorest children?

Further Education

Nick Boles Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2015 Written Statements

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

The Government’s productivity plan: “Fixing the foundations” sets out the Government’s ambition for a professional and technical education system that provides individuals with clear, high-quality routes to employment, and that supports the Government’s overall fiscal and economic objectives.

These objectives can only delivered by strong institutions, which have the high status and specialism required to deliver credible routes to employment and progression in the labour market. Providers also need to be more efficient to ensure institutional stability, and to make best use of scarce public resources.

As joint Minister for Skills for BIS and the Department for Education, I am today publishing a policy statement setting out how we will facilitate a restructuring of the post-16 education and training sector, through a series of area-based reviews of provision.

The reviews, which will focus on FE and sixth-form colleges, will be led by steering groups consisting of chairs of governors, LEPs and local authorities, FE and sixth-form college commissioners and regional schools commissioners. Under their oversight, the reviews will undertake analysis, consider options and propose solutions. Colleges remain independent institutions, and I expect governing bodies to use the process to make informed decisions on structures to support the best outcomes for learners and employers, and long-term stability.

We will actively encourage local authorities and LEPs to drive these pieces of work in partnership with the commissioners. Where combined authorities with devolution arrangements are in place we would expect them to take lead.

This approach will enable a transition towards fewer, larger, more resilient and efficient providers, and more effective collaboration across institution types. A critical aspect will be to create greater specialisation, with the establishment of institutions that are genuine centres of expertise, able to support sustained progression in professional and technical disciplines, alongside excellence in other fundamental areas—such as English and maths. This will ensure that we have the right capacity to provide good education and training for our young people across England, and will include the creation of a new network of prestigious institutes of technology, and national colleges to deliver high standard provision at levels 3, 4 and 5.

We have already piloted the area based approach in Norfolk and Suffolk and in Nottingham. I am announcing today that the first full area-based review will take place in Birmingham. The Birmingham review will have an initial focus on FE colleges in Birmingham city and Solihull, but will have scope to consider a broader geography and range of provision where relevant. We will take forward the review in partnership with individual institutions, the local authorities and the LEP.

I welcome views on this policy statement, and will issue fuller guidance on the process for reviews in the coming weeks.

The report is available online at www.gov.uk.

Attachments can be viewed online at: http://www. parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2015-07-20/HCWS152/

[HCWS152]

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Nick Boles Excerpts

Thursday 9th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

It is a pleasure to respond to this Adjournment debate. I know that you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and the right hon. Member for Gordon (Alex Salmond) are disappointed that I am replying to the debate rather than his new friend the Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise. She was due to be here, but is on her way to “Question Time”, where she may well meet the right hon. Gentleman again. I shall do my best to respond to the debate on her behalf. If I do not adequately answer any of the detailed questions that have been posed, I will make sure that she writes to hon. Members with all the details.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (Ms Ahmed-Sheikh) on securing this debate on an important subject that has been raised with me by constituents in a number of emails and letters over the past few months. I am glad she acknowledged that this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a very beneficial free-trade area, and that her fine country and the entire United Kingdom rely on trade and have benefited from trade over centuries and generations. Indeed, we think that we are quite good at it and that we usually benefit more even than our trading partners from its expansion.

The Government are confident that the agreement will produce huge economic benefits on both sides of the Atlantic. Outside the EU, the US is the largest export market for British goods and services, and a successful deal could eventually boost our economy by as much as £10 billion each year. That is a large and abstract number, but it translates into additional disposable income of about £400 a year for the households that the hon. Lady and I represent. More money in people’s pockets, cheaper goods and services, more jobs, and new markets for small and growing businesses—those are the things that we are talking about when we talk about this agreement. It is not an abstract or technical process established by elites; it is an opportunity for people up and down the land to benefit.

[Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (SNP)]

The Minister made an interesting point about a £10 billion benefit to the United Kingdom economy. Where did that figure came from, and what analysis was undertaken to produce it?

[Nick Boles]

I do not have that information in my pack, but I shall be happy to provide it. As I have said, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise will reply in writing to any detailed questions that Members may have.

[Rachael Maskell]

Will the Minister give way?

[Nick Boles]

I want to make a bit of progress, but I will give way later if I have time.

The hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire referred to concerns, which have certainly been expressed to me, about the potential impact—or the alleged potential impact—on our national health service. All of us in the House have a responsibility to provide our constituents with the facts as we best understand them, and not to fuel scare stories. I therefore think it important to say that absolutely nothing in the proposed deal would threaten the public nature of our public services, and, in particular, our national health service.

[Catherine West]

Will the Minister give way?

[Nick Boles]

No, I will not.

The hon. Lady referred to, and I will now repeat, some of the words of the European Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström, who wrote to a Minister in January about the NHS. She said:

“member states do not have to open public health services to competition from private providers, nor do they have to outsource services to private providers”.

She also said:

“member states are free to change their policies and bring back outsourced services back into the public sector whenever they choose to do so, in a manner respecting property rights… it makes no difference whether a member state already allows some services to be outsourced to private providers, or not”.

The European Union negotiating position for the TTIP deal is to ensure that EU countries will be free to decide how they run their public health systems. The NHS—our NHS: the Scottish NHS, the English NHS, and the NHS in all parts of the United Kingdom—is not at risk from this agreement.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ms Ahmed-Sheikh]

I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The Minister will have noted that the proposal for a specific opt-out was defeated in yesterday’s vote. How can he be so sure that we will be protected in any future agreement, and can we be assured that we will have an opportunity to debate it?

[Nick Boles]

I shall come to the point about debating it, but let me first deal with the hon. Lady’s point about an opt-out.

Of course it would always be great for the text of any agreement to contain all the reassurances that are required, but, even before yesterday’s vote, the Government were entirely satisfied that the position regarding TTIP would not threaten the public status of our NHS or other public services. We were entirely satisfied that there was absolutely no intention on the part of the Commission in negotiating the agreement, or on the part of any other EU member state, to allow the status of either our public services or theirs to be threatened. We are satisfied with the substance, although I acknowledge that more reassurance for our constituents would be welcome if it could possibly be provided. I fear that, to some extent, the hon. Lady praised 38 Degrees, but I would not be so kind. I think that, all too often, that organisation whips up a great many ungrounded fears. It is important for us, as Members of Parliament, to try to reassure our constituents.

[Catherine West]

Will the Minister give way?

[Nick Boles]

I must move on. I am afraid that there are a number of issues to be discussed.

The hon. Lady referred to—and the right hon. Member for Gordon also dwelt on—some of the questions relating to the ability that corporate interests might be given to challenge regulations. I want to be very clear about what will be involved. The ISDS tribunals will be able to grant compensation for actions and decisions by Governments according to regulations that investors can show to have been unfair or conducted in an undue way. They will not be able to overturn, amend or eradicate any regulations that Governments bring in legitimately.

As a believer in the rule of law and as a practitioner of that rule of law in other phases of his life, the right hon. Gentleman will understand that it is always important that every decision by Government, every rule and every law that we pass can be challenged in court or in proper tribunals by those interests that are affected by them. What matters is that ultimately the responsibility for changing or amending those rules rests with Parliaments, and there is nothing in the agreement that would alter that fact.

[Alex Salmond]

I deny absolutely the suggestion that I am a lawyer. I am an economist. I want to put that on the record. What was the revamping that was proposed by the European Parliament in the vote yesterday? Will the Minister explain how that revamping will improve and consolidate the protection that democratic decision making is going to have against challenge from corporate interests?

[Nick Boles]

I will be glad to get the right hon. Gentleman a specific answer to that question. I do not believe in pretending to know things that I do not know, and I do not have the information required to answer it. I am sorry for having assumed from his eloquence in this place that he must at one point have been a lawyer. I agree that that is an appalling slur on any man’s character and I withdraw it unreservedly.

I want to move on to the important question raised by the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire about whether Parliament will have an opportunity to consider the Bill. I want to be clear so, if hon. Members will forgive me, I will read a little from the text in front of me. The agreement is expected to be a mixed agreement to which the UK is individually a party. It will therefore be subject to agreement by member states’ Parliaments— including that of the UK—the EU Council and the European Parliament. As part of this process the UK Parliament will receive the complete draft text of the agreement to scrutinise in debates in both Houses.

I hope that provides the reassurance that the hon. Lady seeks. I note that the party that currently governs Scotland is now very adequately represented in this House and I note the level of interest shown by her party late on a Thursday afternoon, so I am sure that she and her colleagues will provide the level of scrutiny that she seeks.

In conclusion, I am certain that this agreement could have enormous benefit for the people of Scotland and the people of the United Kingdom. I am satisfied that the agreement will not threaten the public services that we hold dear and that we want in large measure to remain public—there is nothing in it that will do that. I am also satisfied that there is no process in it that will usurp Parliaments or democratic processes for changing regulations or laws, but I endorse and support the desire for proper scrutiny of an agreement that will be a very substantial commitment by all member states of the EU. I congratulate the hon. Lady on starting that process here this afternoon. I have no doubt that she will continue it over the months to come.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Boles Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)]

15. What recent estimate he has made of the proportion of jobs in the economy which are low-skilled.

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

We are focused on increasing the number of jobs at all levels of skill and on investing in 3 million apprenticeships, which will help people to improve their skills and command higher wages.

[Christina Rees]

The Welsh Labour Government have created more than 17,000 job opportunities for 16 to 24-year-olds to develop skills and earn the minimum wage through their flagship scheme Jobs Growth Wales. Some 82% have been taken on by private firms, which has led to apprenticeships, further education and permanent work. Jobs Growth Wales has also enabled more than 270 young entrepreneurs to start new businesses. Does the Secretary of State have plans to roll out similar schemes this side of Offa’s Dyke?

[Nick Boles]

We welcome efforts by all parts of the UK to grow jobs and apprenticeships, and we have our own policies here. We will produce 3 million apprenticeship starts at all levels over the next five years, but we welcome anything else that the Welsh Government do to create jobs and apprenticeships.

[Melanie Onn]

Thanks to Labour’s groundbreaking commitment to tackling climate change, investment in wind energy in Grimsby has created much needed high-skilled jobs in our local economy. With 25% of our young people not in education, employment or training, support for that industry is essential for my constituents’ future, but the Government have now announced the removal of subsidies for onshore wind. What effect does the Minister expect that to have on investor confidence in the offshore wind sector?

[Nick Boles]

It is not my area but, as the hon. Lady said, the cut in subsidies is for onshore wind. Her constituency is focused on offshore wind, where the Government’s support is committed and going up. I welcome the high-skilled jobs that that support is bringing to her constituency, which has seen a 38% fall in the number of people claiming benefits since 2010.

[Kit Malthouse (North West Hampshire) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T3. I have been contacted by further education colleges in my constituency that are concerned about the decisions being made in-year to reduce funding. Will my right hon. Friend lay out a strategy that enables colleges to have a five-year programme, even if it means a gradual reduction in funding?

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

I know my hon. Friend recognises that difficult choices have had to be made and will have to be made during the spending review to bring the deficit down. It is that process of deficit reduction that has led to the massive growth in employment. I absolutely hear the argument he makes. Long-term certainty would be of tremendous value to colleges, and I will definitely make sure that that argument is made.

[Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)]

T2. Will the Secretary of State tell me what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport to ensure that business and growth do not suffer as a result of the delay to the electrification of the trans- Pennine line?

--- Later in debate ---

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

T6. Low-paid workers in my constituency will have been pleased to see the first above-inflation rise in the minimum wage since the financial crash, but what more can the Government do to encourage employers to pay the living wage where affordable?

[Nick Boles]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is tremendously welcome that, as a result of the recovery, it has been possible for the Government to implement this second increase in the minimum wage—and the first that is higher than the rate of increase in both inflation and average earnings—which takes the minimum wage to £6.70. We want any employer that can afford to pay the living wage, without losing jobs, to do so, and we encourage them all to think of doing so soon.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)]

T9. Workers at the Young’s Seafood factory in Grimsby are worried for their futures after Sainsbury’s ended a contract with it. Grimsby already has the 17th highest unemployment rate in the country, and in the past few years it has seen several established companies leave the area, leaving behind nothing to replace them. Given that the Young’s site provides 500 skilled jobs, what support can the Government offer to avoid further losses of skilled jobs?

--- Later in debate ---

[Nick Boles]

My hon. Friend reminds us that this is a “one nation” recovery that is benefiting all parts of the country, including his own stunningly beautiful constituency. We are determined over the next five years to create thousands more businesses, millions more jobs and millions more apprenticeships for his constituents and the constituents of all hon. Members.

[Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

May I congratulate the Secretary of State on his appointment and wish him and his ministerial team every success? On Thursday, he announced the sell-off of part or all of the UK Green Investment Bank, but it is unclear what proportion will be sold off. When it was established in 2012, the bank’s impact assessment said it was the only option that addressed market failure and barriers. How have these market failures been fully addressed and how will the Government’s sketchy plans for the most active green investor in the UK not undermine market confidence?

Skills and Growth

Nick Boles Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

This has been an excellent debate. We have heard a series of remarkable maiden speeches telling the story of what we all want to see: a nation of opportunity and aspiration, and a nation in which people of every background in every part of the country are able to achieve professional success and, in the case of those hon. Members making their maiden speeches, the ultimate accolade of election to Parliament.

We heard from the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (John Nicolson), with whom I have not exchanged words for about 25 years. We met once, many years ago.

[Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

Tell us more!

[Nick Boles]

Sadly, there were other people present.

We heard from the hon. Gentleman that he had been the first person from his family to go to university, and here he is now. He is going to do his constituents proud in this Chamber. I should like to add a note of thanks for his generous tribute to his predecessor, Jo Swinson, who was probably the Conservatives’ favourite Liberal Democrat.

We also heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Amanda Solloway), who will be relieved to hear that I am not going to recall a meeting of 20 years ago with her. She spoke of the idea of a nation of aspiration that had given her the opportunity, despite having had an education that had not given her great qualifications or a degree, to succeed in retail and manufacturing and then to find her way on to these green Benches. Having heard her fantastic speech, I can assure her that she will do much more than double her majority in five years’ time.

We heard from the new broom in Bradford East, the hon. Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain). His grandfather found opportunity in Bradford’s mills. How proud he would be today to see that his grandson had not only qualified as a barrister in the courts of the United Kingdom but now been elected to Parliament.

My hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (David Mackintosh) spoke eloquently and with the experience of a local government leader on the role of education in regeneration and, in particular, on the project that he has spearheaded—the Northampton Alive regeneration scheme. I have no doubt that he will never give any of his constituents reason to follow the example of the assassin of one of his predecessors.

The hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss) spoke very well of the work of the Scottish Government on improving skills training. I have heard good reports about the Scottish apprenticeship programme from employers who provide apprenticeships in all parts of our country. I believe in learning from anyone and everyone, and I would be keen to learn from Scottish Ministers what they have found to be successful. I am planning to visit the hon. Lady’s fair city this summer, and I shall be sure to visit the area of Toryglen, even if I am the only Tory in it.

Following this debate, I wish I could report that Her Majesty’s Opposition were reflecting on the result of the election and on the messages sent to them, ever so politely, by the British public. I wish I could say that they were approaching that subject with humility and an open mind, asking themselves whether there was anything in their presentation before early May that they should perhaps revise. Sadly, however, that was not to be. We heard groundhog day of the Labour story. All we heard from Opposition Members was an endless series of increasingly hysterical attacks on cuts in public spending.

I have a lot of time for my opponent, the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne). I believe he is a good and thoughtful man, and that he was a good and thoughtful Minister in his time, but he can tell his colleagues why those public spending cuts were necessary.

[Tristram Hunt]

Will the Minister give way?

[Nick Boles]

I will not give way.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister spent quite a lot of the past six to eight weeks opening his breast pocket and brandishing a letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill, in which he said that there was no money left. We never wanted to cut public spending and never wanted to impose those difficult decisions; we have done so because of the legacy that he left us and made fun of in a letter—we are living with those consequences.

[Tristram Hunt]

rose—

[Nick Boles]

I will not give way, as the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill has had his go.

We heard barely a word from Labour Members about qualifications reform or about our apprenticeship reforms, which are putting employers in charge of developing standards and controlling Government investment in apprenticeships. [Interruption.]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)]

Order. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to give way, he will do so. It is not for others to tell him to give way—he is not giving way.

--- Later in debate ---

[Nick Boles]

Let me make it clear that I would be happy to give way to a Back Bencher, but I think we can all agree that we have heard quite enough from the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt) this week, in his not-so-pithy contributions to our debates.

We heard barely a word from Labour Members about our plans to ensure that anyone who has been failed in school and who has failed to achieve sufficient qualifications in English and maths should carry on studying them, through a further education college or whatever other route they take. That is a plan we have invested in and that we are developing.

[Alex Cunningham]

rose—

[Nick Boles]

I am happy to give way to a gentleman who is also always pithy.

[Alex Cunningham]

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. He mentioned trying to give opportunities to those who fail to achieve the necessary standard in maths and English. When will the Government provide parity of funding to our colleges so that they can do that job?

[Nick Boles]

I am sure the hon. Gentleman is aware that, unlike under the Government he supported, when sixth forms in schools received much more money per pupil than sixth-formers in other institutions, we have an absolutely equal funding system. Whether someone is in a sixth form or school, or a further education college or a sixth-form college, they will receive exactly the same amount of money per pupil, as he should know well.

We do not believe that we have a monopoly on good ideas, and we are not remotely complacent about the state of education for 14 to 19-year-olds, but we will oppose the motion because a review or, God forbid, the royal commission that one Labour Member called for would distract the Government at a time when we are making real progress. We are making progress in ensuring that everybody secures that vital passport to success which is a mastery of English and maths. We are making progress in reforming qualifications so that they are rigorous, respected and backed by employers. We are making progress with apprenticeships, not just by increasing their number to 2.2 million in the last Parliament, but by introducing reforms that got rid of programme-led apprenticeships, which the last Labour Government introduced. Those involved no employer, no job and a few months of training in a college, yet Labour dared to call them apprenticeships. We have got rid of those and our reforms will continue.

We are making progress with the introduction of university technical colleges, and I was glad to hear support for the concept from Opposition Members. We want UTCs, spearheaded by one of the greatest Education Secretaries that any Conservative Government have ever had, to be within reach of every city. But we want them to flourish too, and we will be looking to make sure that every UTC can succeed, both financially and educationally.

We are agreed on one thing at the end of this debate: we have huge ambitions for our education system, and they are not yet met. We have huge aspirations for every young person going through school and going into a further education institution in our country, and those aspirations are not yet guaranteed. We will not rest until everybody in this country, in this one nation—in Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland—is able to leave school and college with qualifications that equip them for a life of work; a life that is fulfilling and rewarding and that helps to make this country one of the greatest countries on earth.

Question put.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Boles Excerpts

Monday 15th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

9. What plans her Department has to increase the number and quality of apprenticeships for 14 to 19-year-olds.

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

We are determined to create 3 million apprenticeships in the next five years, building on the 2.2 million created in the past five years. We will be requiring all public sector bodies to employ apprentices, and will legislate to protect the term “apprenticeship” against misuse.

[Liz McInnes]

Figures from the House of Commons Library show that there were 440,000 apprenticeship starts in England in the last academic year, but almost 40% of those starts were made by over-25s, and starts made by under-19s have declined as a share of total starts since 2010. Why is the Minister not doing more to help young adults into apprenticeship schemes?

[Nick Boles]

The Government do not share with the Opposition the obsession with the idea that, somehow, anybody over the age of 25 doing an apprenticeship is wasting their time or the Government’s money. We absolutely agree that we want as many young people as possible to have the opportunity, but that includes people aged between 19 and 24, and over-25s. We want the entire programme to expand, which is why we are investing in it. We will deliver 3 million apprenticeships to people of all ages over the next five years.

[Alan Mak (Havant) (Con)]

Five years ago, Staunton community sports college in the Leigh Park area of my constituency had one of Britain’s worst GCSE records. Following its conversion into Havant Academy, it is now one of Britain’s most improved schools. Does my hon. Friend the Minister agree that the Government’s free schools and academies programme is transforming the lives of young people?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The question is in relation to apprenticeships for 14 to 19-year-olds, upon which I know the Minister is focused.

[Nick Boles]

I am delighted to hear that Havant Academy is making progress. That will ensure that many of the young people at the academy will themselves be able to go on to do apprenticeships, which is why I am so delighted to congratulate my hon. Friend.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

Let me—grudgingly, but sincerely—welcome the Minister back to his place.

For all that the Government have said about apprenticeships, the barriers that prevent far too many companies, especially smaller ones, from taking on apprentices remain too high. What more will the Government do for those small businesses? In particular, how will the Government deal with the fear felt by many that they will put all their resources into training a young person, only for that young person to be poached by one of the big boys further up the supply chain once he or she is qualified?

[Nick Boles]

I hope that it will not destroy the hon. Gentleman’s chances in his new position if I say that I cannot imagine anyone with whom I would rather be debating over the next few years, because I rate him highly both personally and professionally. Not surprisingly, he has raised a very important point. It is extremely important for us to make the apprenticeship programme attractive and easily accessible to small as well as large companies. There are specific grants for small employers, but we need to make the system much easier for them to navigate. It is possible for businesses to place some restrictions on people who complete apprenticeships for which those businesses have paid, although not many people know about or take advantage of them. If someone leaves very soon after qualifying, a business can receive back from that person some of the costs of his or her training.

[Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab)]

rose—

[Derek Twigg]

We shall have to wait and see, Mr Speaker.

Further education colleges have an important role in the training of apprentices. In view of the recent announcement of reductions in the education budget, will there be any reductions in the budget for the education and training of those aged 16 to 19?

[Nick Boles]

On that point, I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman. Further education colleges do indeed have a vital role in delivering the training for apprenticeships, and I wish more of them would do more of it. I can confirm that the allocations for the education of 16 to 19-year-olds in the 2015-16 academic year that were announced in March remain in place, and we are not planning to change them.

[Richard Burgon (Leeds East) (Lab)]

10. If she will make it her policy to maintain the number of Sure Start centres in England.

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[Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)]

Spending a third year in sixth form can be vital for some students, particularly if they have suffered from mental or physical illness or have come from challenging backgrounds. Will my hon. Friend tell me whether he has any plans to review the funding rate for 18 to 19-year-olds, which is currently 20% lower than for those in the 16-to-18 group?

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

My hon. Friend asks a very good question. We had to make a difficult decision about whether to continue to fund particularly heavy programmes more generously, which meant making savings elsewhere. The cut in the funding rate for 18-year-olds was the saving on which we decided. I accept her argument that there are some individuals for whom that third year is vital. All of those things will be considered in the spending review, but for this financial year, the funding rates will be as announced.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

T10. On 5 June, the Chancellor, rather unusually, announced amendments to the budget for further education. I do not think that we have yet had full details of how that will affect those 14 to 18-year-olds in further education. Perhaps the Minister could update the House on that matter.

[Nick Boles]

If I am right in understanding that the right hon. Lady wants to know whether the 16-to-19 funding rate will remain as was announced in March, I believe that I gave an answer in a reply to an earlier question. I am happy to restate that the funding rate for 16 to 19-year-olds for the 2015-16 academic year will remain as announced in March.

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[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Why have apprenticeship starts in IT and construction fallen so dramatically since 2010?

[Nick Boles]

The apprenticeship programme is demand-led, because we require employers to create jobs. That is what apprenticeships are under this Government, unlike under the Government the hon. Lady supported, when they took place at college full time. We have seen a dramatic expansion in the apprenticeship programme, and we will see a further expansion. I would have thought that she welcomed that. I am absolutely sure that one reason she is sitting on the Opposition Benches rather than on the Government Benches is the success of our apprenticeship programme.

[Robert Jenrick (Newark) (Con)]

Schools such as Tuxford Academy near Newark, which were built under poorly worded private finance initiative contracts, are finding it expensive to maintain their buildings because the maintenance costs set out in the PFI agreements are higher than school funding. Will the Minister look into that and come back to me?