Tony Baldry
Main Page: Tony Baldry (Conservative - Banbury)
Mr Prisk
Absolutely right—what we, rather than yourself, Mr Speaker, are doing about it is making sure that we have apprenticeships in place and that we put vocational education, which was neglected by the Labour party, back on a proper footing. We are also making sure that people are able to transfer between engineering firms. There is good news to be told.
Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
6. What progress he has made on local enterprise partnerships; and if he will make a statement.
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr Mark Prisk)
Both the number and activity of local enterprise partnerships is continuing to rise. Dorset is the latest to be cleared, bringing the total to 36—or 97% of the country. Of those, 18 now have full board recognition and have begun their work.
Tony Baldry
I am sorry to ask my hon. Friend what I suspect will be perceived as an unhelpful question, but local enterprise partnerships are going to have to raise their game seriously if they are to have any traction or impact. I am sorry to have to report to him that, so far, they seem to have no traction or impact in my area of the country.
Mr Prisk
I am disappointed by my hon. Friend’s comments. I have visited 25 of the 36 LEPs and they are already setting up boards to make sure that they are ready to involve small businesses. Now they are going to be able to lead on enterprise zones, lead on the regional growth fund and make sure that we strip away some of the local regulatory problems on the ground, which I am afraid the Labour party did nothing about.