Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stuart Andrew and Greg Clark

Tuesday 8th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

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

[The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)]

In the first 100 days since the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy was created, we have made substantial progress across all our responsibilities. We have confirmed Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear power station for a generation. We have seen British engineering praised following Nissan’s decision to produce the Qashqai and the X-Trail at its Sunderland plant. We have ratified the Paris agreement on climate change to keep the global temperature rise to below 2° C. With the national minimum wage increasing and the number of UK businesses at a record high, this Department is investing in our long-term industrial growth in an economy that works for everyone.

[Stuart Andrew]

This week, a delegation from the University of Leeds is focusing on encouraging research partnerships with businesses and academics in India, as part of the Prime Minister’s visit. Will my right hon. Friend join me in commending Leeds University and businesses in the city for helping to build a reputation for the city as an excellent centre for learning and innovation?

[Greg Clark]

I will indeed join my hon. Friend in congratulating the University of Leeds. In fact, I initiated this week’s tech summit in India during a visit to India two years ago, so I am delighted that it is taking place. I took a party of vice-chancellors with me on that occasion. He is absolutely right that Leeds plays a formidable part in the scientific excellence of the north.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stuart Andrew and Greg Clark

Tuesday 24th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

5. What progress he has made on further devolution in England.

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Greg Clark)]

This Government have a proud record of devolving power from central Government to the cities, towns and counties of this country: we passed the Localism Act 2011; we have initiated and negotiated 28 city deals; we are devolving at least £12 billion of central resources to local places through growth deals; and, with the Greater Manchester agreement, and agreements with other cities to follow, there is now unstoppable momentum to continue that success.

[Stuart Andrew]

I am grateful for that answer. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the constitutional reform priority should be to ensure a fair and balanced devolution settlement for every part of the UK and to introduce English votes for English laws?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why the Leader of the House has made it very clear that the return of a Conservative Government will correct that injustice and there will indeed be English votes for English laws.

Local Growth Deals

Debate between Stuart Andrew and Greg Clark

Monday 7th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is no slouch when it comes to local campaigning. He has been a hugely successful advocate for Reading, and I dare say that that will continue in the future.

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

Unemployment in my constituency has fallen consistently and now stands at 2%. That is good news and shows that businesses are investing, but we need good transport links to get people to work. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the announcement of the West Yorkshire Plus transport fund is a step change in the ability of local providers to get people moving around Yorkshire, particularly given the wonderful advert we had this weekend, which we have already heard about?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Everyone in Yorkshire agrees that the £1 billion fund will make a transformational difference to Yorkshire’s economic prospects.

National Planning Policy Framework

Debate between Stuart Andrew and Greg Clark

Tuesday 24th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

Another person who is keen not to be associated with the strategies—I understand that. The right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne said that he

“quickly found that they had…few friends”—

The right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich is another ex-friend. The right hon. Gentleman continued:

“our regional spatial strategies and our approach to planning…was too top-down”.—[Official Report, 30 June 2010; Vol. 512, c. 272WH.]

That is a matter of consensus across the House.

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that he probably inherited a planning system that meant that constituents such as mine felt completely divorced from any achievement in the planning system? In fact, they had no say whatsoever in the chaotic system of house building that meant that constituencies such as mine were inundated with planning applications that they had no say over.

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right.

I am delighted to welcome a new convert to localism. I chided the shadow Secretary of State when we published the framework and said, perhaps unfairly, that he was an old centralist. It must have had quite an effect, because he has now published an article, in The Daily Telegraph of all places, in which he gives a paean of praise to localism. He writes:

“I want to see a radical devolution of power to local communities. We should do this both because it is right and because there is so much skill and potential in every community to make more of its own decisions.”

I could not have put it better myself and am delighted that he has been converted to the cause.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stuart Andrew and Greg Clark

Monday 31st October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

Time and again, my constituents complain about the effects of garden-grabbing on the character of local neighbourhoods. Will my hon. Friend assure me and the House that planning reforms will protect residential gardens, and stop inappropriate development in future?

[Greg Clark]

I certainly will. We have already changed the definition of brownfield sites so that gardens are not included and no local authority is obliged to build on gardens if it does not want to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stuart Andrew and Greg Clark

Monday 5th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I am happy to give my right hon. Friend an assurance that the primacy of the local plan remains, and that national policy will continue to require rigorous protections to be in place for heritage assets.

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

13. What assessment he has made of the five-year housing plan in the Leeds city council area.