Richard Holden
Main Page: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)Department Debates - View all Richard Holden's debates with the HM Treasury
(4 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Rishi Sunak
The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that I am very happy to take advice on how best to design these schemes. I hope that he will take some comfort from the fact that I have just been talking to Frances O’Grady of the TUC. I am very open to hearing advice from the unions, which I know were involved in helping to design previous schemes.
With regard to green jobs, the measures that we have announced today will help to protect 140,000 green jobs. I agree with the hon. Gentleman about the importance of training, which is why in the Budget we announced £400 million extra, I believe, for further education colleges’ funding this year and an ambitious plan to upgrade the entire FE estate over the coming years.
Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)
Most constituents in North West Durham and across the country will welcome the massive cash boost for employers who both hire our young people and protect employees with our new jobs retention bonus. Does my right hon. Friend agree with me that, alongside the confidence and demand boost delivered by his VAT cut and other measures in this extra Budget, the measures on employment show that this Conservative Government are putting jobs at the heart of our recovery from the global coronavirus pandemic?
Rishi Sunak
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I know that he shares with me a passionate belief, as I said, in the nobility of work. This plan today is about providing everyone in North West Durham and every other part of the country with the opportunity to secure good work.