Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust

Debate between Paul Farrelly and Jeremy Lefroy

Tuesday 7th January 2014 Westminster Hall

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

Thank you very much, Mr Crausby, for calling me to speak. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. Given the interest of several colleagues from the Staffordshire area, with your permission I will take a number of interventions in the course of making my remarks.

On 18 December, the administrators of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust published their final report. It recommended the dissolution of the trust as soon as possible and the absorption of Stafford and Cannock hospitals into the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust and the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust respectively. It also set out proposals for the services that would continue to be offered at both Stafford and Cannock. The total cost over three years would be £220 million, of which £63 million is revenue and £157 million capital.

Let me first address the proposal to dissolve MSFT. I believe that is the right thing to do. It will enable both Stafford and Cannock hospitals to work much more closely with larger specialist teaching hospital trusts. They will both then be able more easily to recruit clinical staff who see greater opportunities for skills development within a larger organisation working across two or more sites and overhead costs will also be reduced.

However, the administrators’ proposals do not go far enough in ensuring that the interests of those who currently use MSFT are fully taken into account. Monitor and the Secretary of State clearly need to state that the expanded trusts should immediately recruit suitable non-executive directors from the areas served by MSFT, such as Stafford, Cannock, Penkridge, Rugeley, Stone, Brewood and so on, to ensure that those areas are properly represented.

[Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

Under the proposals, the University hospital of North Staffordshire will take over Stafford hospital. North Staffordshire hospital has a deficit at the moment, caused by reopening beds to cope with blockages in A and E and in admissions. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that in taking over Stafford hospital, it is very important and in the interests of everybody—everybody in Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stafford—that the University hospital of North Staffordshire has the prospect of attaining financial stability?

[Jeremy Lefroy]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and I entirely agree with him. I would see the situation more as two hospitals coming together, but it is vital that the financial difficulties that UHNS is facing are sorted out. I particularly urge the Government to look at the private finance initiative cost, which is too great for that particular trust.

Industrial Policy and Manufacturing

Debate between Paul Farrelly and Jeremy Lefroy

Thursday 22nd November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I congratulate the hon. Member for Corby (Andrew Sawford) on his excellent maiden speech. I also congratulate the hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) and my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Chris White) on securing this important debate.

I firmly believe that the United Kingdom needs a long-term industrial policy, but it must be rooted in growth. There is no point in focusing on economic sectors that will not create jobs and wealth for the UK in the future. We have fought shy of introducing an industrial policy in the UK for many years, because we believe that Governments should not be in the business of picking winners. It is true that a Government should not select one company over another, but we will be failing our country and future generations if we do not look ahead to see which economic sectors are likely to prosper and which are likely to fade away.

Suspicious as we have been about industrial policies, we have nevertheless had them over the years. In the midlands, in and around my constituency, I can see the positive results of at least three of them. Rolls-Royce aero-engine manufacturing was saved—perhaps fortuitously, and not as a result of a deliberate policy—by a Conservative Government intervention in 1971 after the company overreached itself with the development of the RB211 engine. Rolls-Royce employs tens of thousands of highly-skilled staff, contributes greatly to UK manufacturing exports—I entirely agree with the hon. Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins) on the need for rebalancing—and is one of the best-known British products on earth.

Alstom, the largest private sector employer in my constituency, was assisted by a French Government intervention in 2003. Since then, it has consolidated its world-leading role in developing high-voltage direct current transmission as well as being the only remaining manufacturer of large transformers in the UK. It, too, makes a significant contribution to the UK balance of payments.

Jaguar Land Rover is investing heavily in south Staffordshire, as the hon. Member for West Bromwich West (Mr Bailey) said earlier. My hon. Friend the Member for South Staffordshire (Gavin Williamson) and other neighbouring MPs have worked hard to secure that investment, alongside the strong support of both Staffordshire county council and Wolverhampton city council. In recent years, the UK Government have made a determined effort to attract automotive investment, and this is one of the many fruits of their and the local councils’ efforts.

So industrial policy can work, but only that last one could be said to be the result of a determined effort by the UK to establish a proper policy that is consistent, long term and based on a competitive advantage. That is happening in the automotive industry. Another industry that needs a long-term policy is energy, in regard not only to the consumers of energy but to the manufacturers of the equipment used in the industry. Such manufacturers in my own constituency and many others across the country are world leaders.

What are the building blocks of a successful industrial policy that will stand our country in good stead for the 21st century? I shall make a few suggestions. First, we need a clear understanding of what we will concentrate on. The Netherlands, as so often, provides a good example, as has been set out in Lord Heseltine’s excellent report. The report sets out the nine top sectors in which it believes the Netherlands has a competitive advantage and on which it wishes to concentrate. They include agro-food, horticulture and water—all of which the Netherlands has a lot of—as well as manufacturing and service industries such as chemicals and logistics. The report identifies a “golden triangle” involving links between businesses, research institutions such as universities, and the Government.

Secondly, we need to ensure that we not only make the end products but control as much of the supply chain as possible. That is particularly the case in the aerospace and automotive industries, which are making efforts in that regard. The supply chain has been relatively hollow in those industries until recently. It has become clear that the UK’s manufacturing base has become increasingly reliant on imported components.

Thirdly, we have to ensure that our education and training system is more closely integrated with the needs of the sectors on which we are concentrating. It has been said in this Chamber more times than I can remember that we face a critical shortage of engineers. That is why, this week in Stafford, we are looking into forming a local engineering partnership between universities, colleges, schools and industry. Science and research are an easy target for cuts in both public and private sector budgets because the results are further down the road, whereas the benefits of the cost reduction are felt straight away. But that investment must be maintained. I welcome the Government’s action in protecting the science budget in cash terms in the last spending review, and I urge them to do the same and more in the next one.

[Paul Farrelly]

The hon. Gentleman is also a great friend of the ceramics industry in north Staffordshire. Does he agree that a laissez-faire approach often translates in government to a “faire rien” approach—doing nothing. I mentioned country-of-origin marking a few moments ago. A measure such as that, we agreed, is not protectionist, but it would afford some support to our industry and is much needed.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

I totally agree. I have supported country-of-origin marking for many years to ensure that people know that they are getting the best of British and not some foreign substitute or import. It is vital to maintain the quality of our products around the world.

An industrial policy must set out quite clearly how much we as a nation value research and back up warm words with action. Here, I mention research and development capital allowances. Capital allowances are vital for encouraging companies to invest the cash they have on their balance sheets—some £70 billion at the last count—into productive plant, equipment and other capital investments.

Finally, I turn to finance. It is naive to think that all good projects will attract commercial finance in the UK. If that were the case, we would be the home of many more of the largest companies in the world because the technologies were invented here. The first large computer was built on the work of people such as Alan Turing, and the plasma screen was invented in Malvern by what is now QinetiQ but was then the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment. Then there is the work on the human genome, which my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman) mentioned. We should have more of these large companies, but we lack them because the finance was not available.

That is why I think the Government’s business bank proposal is a good start, but it needs to be the source of long-term patient capital. Lord Heseltine’s reminder in his report of the work that the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation did after the war is welcome, and I urge the Government to consider his suggestion of providing more such long-term capital through the business bank.

In conclusion, an industrial policy is not a panacea, but it is a structure that provides the inventiveness and entrepreneurship of the people of the United Kingdom with the best possible chance to thrive in a competitive world.